Steve has no excuse. Whatever was happening, he’s apart of it now, even if he can’t explain why today of all days he feels more extroverted and excitable than he ever has in his life. And Izzy is right. This place is out of the way, low-traffic, a great place to talk, and do a … variety of things. Not that Steve’s mind goes that far. Even spiked coffee isn’t enough to push Steve to proactively pull a woman into a kiss.

But it’s certainly enough to get him to kiss her back.

And he does, kiss her back, like this was the most natural progression possible — like in this moment, when he feels Izzy pull him down, there’s nothing else he’d rather be doing, and suddenly they’re getting to know each other a hell of a lot better than a minute ago.

He lets go of her arm, dipping his body a little as he turns the thirty degrees that will finally put them face-to-face. What was it that he wanted to tell her? Steve can’t seem to remember, because suddenly, this feels so much more important.

It isn’t until the kiss naturally breaks — and somehow, Steve’s hand had found its way to her chin — that he opens his eyes and takes a breath, blinking in awe as he tries to remember his thoughts.

“Izzy…” he half-whispers, before clearing his throat. “Has anyone ever told you…” There’s a lot of ways he can end that sentence, and all of them are competing for the tip of his tongue. Steve shakes his head. God it’s difficult to think straight right now.