CHAPTER THIRTEEN
MOVIE NIGHT

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     "I'm just saying, if my house was haunted to the point that hands came out and clapped inches away from my face, I would simply move away. Or pass away. Dealer's choice, honestly," Riley said as he brought his drink up to his mouth, a soda he'd bought at a nearby fast-food joint. His other hand was taken, fingers linked through his own. At the sound of laughter at what he had said, Riley turned to stare at the other man in question, a little dazed. He'd met Nathan Allen a month ago, nearly exactly, when Riley had decided to stroll through the nearby mall, having nothing else better to do. Despite his claim to start dating and being more social, Riley hadn't really had much time since he had moved to Washington two years ago. He was still in a state of disbelief that he had met a guy he genuinely liked on the one day he had been forced to take off work.

He had been suspicious of Nathan at first, as any good spy would be. They were taught to be suspicious of everyone, no matter how kind their eyes were, or how bright their laugh. Those were the first things Riley had first noticed about Nathan—his kind eyes and the way he always had a laugh on the tip of his tongue. The way he looked—his dark brown hair, a personal favorite of Riley's—came later. But Riley had been careful. He had done a background check—or, rather, S.H.I.E.L.D. had done a background check, as they always did whenever an agent started dating. It was a safety measure, and a required one. Nathan's background check had come back clean. Aside from a brief stay in jail for a single night for public drinking on New Years when he was under twenty-one, he was completely normal. He had an office job. There was nothing more normal than that, so Riley had let himself date the guy for the past month. It felt so nice that sometimes he thought none of it was real.

"Okay, but that wouldn't have worked," Nathan pointed out, bringing Riley abruptly out of his thoughts, and reminding him they had just come back from a horror movie showing at some random festival Nathan had found for them. "The demon was attached to the family, not the house. It would follow you." Riley hummed and gulped down more of his drink.

"Dying it is, then," he decided, making Nathan laugh again.

"You'd still have to deal with the demon, though," Nathan pointed out, tugging at Riley's hand and leading him across the street. They were near Nathan's apartment building. Riley had arrived at his to walk to the festival, which was only a few blocks away. Riley had never told Nathan where he himself lived, far too paranoid for that, even if he was trying not to be. Nathan never seemed to care. He had long ago accepted that Riley was a secretive person, and Riley appreciated that he didn't push for answers.

"And I'd kick it's ass," Riley said confidently, throwing his now empty drink into a nearby trashcan before reaching to open Nathan's apartment building door. Nathan went ahead, and glanced over his shoulder at him as Riley followed. Instead of taking the elevator to the third floor, they turned toward the stairwell. "I'm trained, I could do it."

"I always forget you're a bodyguard," Nathan muttered, but before he could add anything more to that, the tip of his shoe caught on the step. He lurched forward, but Riley was fast enough to catch him, even though Nathan's other hand had flown out to grab the hand railing. He let out an embarrassed laugh as he straightened, shooting Riley a smile. "My hero," he teased. Riley rolled his eyes and released Nathan's arm. He wondered how Nathan would react if Riley told him that he was actually Solar, the mysterious hero from two years ago that had turned into a worldwide phenomenon after the Battle of New York. The world was very frustrated that no one knew who Solar was, that he was one of the only unidentified Avengers from that battle. But Riley would never be able to tell him that. S.H.I.E.L.D.—more accurately, Nick Fury—had forbidden him from revealing his true identity. At least, not this soon. So Riley had been forced to lie, saying he was a bodyguard for various rich people in Washington...which wasn't that much of a stretch, but still a lie, regardless. He didn't like thinking about it.

"Why," Riley asked as they continued climbing the stairs, "do I not look like a bodyguard?" Nathan paused then, just to rake his gaze over Riley, from his black hair, to his baggy black shirt that practically swallowed him whole, to his loose black cargo pants, and finally to his clunky black combat boots. Add on the necklace around his neck—a silver chain with a black widow made of black diamonds that Natasha had given him—and his black-framed glasses, and Riley looked more like a gothic college student than he did a bodyguard. Riley suddenly felt the need to take his glasses off, but that was ridiculous. He needed them to see properly, particularly at night. Ever since he'd moved to Washington and started using his powers a little bit every day, he noticed that his eyesight at night had weakened.

He had panicked at first, thinking he was going blind somehow. A few tests with the best doctors S.H.I.E.L.D. had under their name revealed it wasn't anything career-ending. It was simply that he had always had bad eyesight, but it had stayed stagnant until after his eyes had stopped growing and developing, so he had simply thought squinting at words sometimes was normal. It was perfectly normal, in the end; he just needed contacts and glasses, which were easily available to him thanks to S.H.I.E.L.D. Oddly enough, during the day—particularly when he was in direct sunlight—his eyesight seemed perfectly fine. He had kept that little tidbit to himself. He didn't want to be poked and prodded because of his powers anymore than he already had been, and if it ever got out that he could possibly have healing powers...

People were already searching high and low for the famous—or infamous, considering how one looked at it—and elusive Solar. Riley didn't want more people searching for him than there already was.

"You look like a college student, honestly," Nathan said, moving along after a moment of staring, clearing his throat as he continued up the stairs. Riley bit the inside of his cheek, hiding his smile as he followed. In truth, he couldn't even imagine himself as a college student. That seemed far too normal, and he had never had a formal education anyway. He'd been to school from ages four to twelve, of course, long enough to do basic math, know how to write, and have basic reading comprehension, but the rest of his education had been in the dark, taught by rough and violent hands. If he hadn't shown a particular skill with hacking, he wasn't even sure he'd be alive today.

"In a good way or a bad way?" Riley asked with a grin. His personal style pre-Avengers hadn't been very unique. Just shirts and jeans, and he was mostly in his uniform anyway, since he was always working. But with his new job came more free time, and he'd found he disliked the plain clothes. Casual clothes were still preferable, since they were comfortable and easy to move in, but the plainness of them bothered him. A few experimental shopping trips later, he'd realized he liked darker colors—though he had a fondness for brightly colored shirts, especially if they were yellow. He didn't think his new style was that drastic, but he'd gotten plenty of disapproving looks while walking down the street.

Nat had liked his clothes, though, and so did he. That was all that mattered.

"Good way," Nathan reassured, shooting Riley a smile over his shoulder as he put his key into the door lock. Somehow, the click as the lock was turned was even louder to him, and Riley didn't realize why until Nathan offered him an almost shy smile and asked, "Do you, um, wanna come in?" Riley's heart jumped into his throat, every muscle in his body going rigid. For a moment, he just stood and stared, and then blood was rushing to his face as his heart kick-started in his chest. Groaning in embarrassment at his blush, Riley turned and put his face in his hands. Nathan surprised him greatly by laughing. "God, you're so cute."

"Cute?" Riley scoffed, shooting him a small look out of the corner of his eye. "My inexperience is cute to you?"

"Yeah," Nathan confirmed, coming forward and reaching for his hips, turning him so that they were properly facing each other. Riley felt the cold press of Nathan's apartment keys through the fabric of his thin t-shirt. Riley averted his gaze, face still warm, but he couldn't help leaning into the warmth of him. It felt so nice, having someone touch him this way, the physical affection that came with something romantic. He got plenty of affection from Natasha and Clint, but this type of touch—the kind Nathan could give him—was distinctly different, and Riley found he craved it more than he ever thought he would. "Hey," Nathan said, squeezing Riley's hips, the keys pressing harder. "We're taking this at your own pace, remember? We can just watch another movie, for all I care. Or not. It's up to you."

Riley closed his eyes. Nathan didn't know much about Riley's past, only the things that were safe to know, like Riley being an orphan. Riley had also told him that he had never dated before, had never done anything before. He'd taken it surprisingly well. Apparently, twenty-year-old's having no experience in that regard was more common than Riley would've thought. The only thing they've done was quick, chaste kisses before Riley had to leave, called off on a random mission. Just because Riley knew they were coming didn't mean he was suddenly good at time management. And he had a mission to go to in less than an hour, yet another reason why he hesitated to accept Nathan's invitation inside.

Nathan seemed to take Riley's sudden silence as his answer, because a small, soft laugh left his mouth. Riley raised his eyes to meet Nathan's, raising his eyebrows at the gentle look Nathan was giving him. The hand holding his keys stayed on Riley's hip, but the other raised to push his hair back from his face. Riley couldn't stop himself from leaning into his hand. He had learned he quite liked casual caresses; they turned him into putty.

"Goodnight, Riley," Nathan said softly, taking his silence as a no. Riley wrinkled his nose, not liking the presumption, so when Nathan leaned in for a goodbye kiss, Riley dared to push forward. To deepen it into something he had never attempted before. He tangled his fingers in Nathan's shirt, swallowing the small sound of surprise Nathan let out. Nathan's grip tightened on his hip, his hand cupping Riley's cheek. Riley kept kissing him until Nathan got the point, and then Nathan was turning him until his back hit the apartment door. Riley expected to feel a little uneasy or overwhelmed, but instead he felt warm and comfortable. Nathan was being gentle, his kisses slow, following Riley's own pace. Riley risked moving his hands from Nathan's shirt, settling them on his shoulders at first, unsure of where else to put them. Then he felt Nathan's hand on his cheek, tilting his head to better kiss him, and Riley let his hands rise higher.

He chose to cup Nathan's neck, and almost leaped out of his skin when he felt his pulse. It was racing, hammering against the pads of his fingers. The thought that he was the cause of such a state made Riley even more excited to do this, and every thought flew from his mind, replaced with nothing but want and feeling. He moved on instinct, raising one hand to cup Nathan's jaw while the other moved down and to the side. He found the doorknob to the apartment door and twisted it impulsively, and it was only because of his training that he managed to keep his balance as the door disappeared from his back. He'd seen so many movies and shows where a couple stumbled over the threshold, too consumed with kissing to focus on their feet, but Riley was trained too well. Even with his mind clouded with the thought of Nathan's lips moving against his own, his body moved like it should.

Despite the lack of stumbling, that didn't mean the kisses were any less intense or pleasurable. Riley was enjoying them enough to get bolder, and it wasn't long before both of his arms were coming up to lock around Nathan's neck, keeping him close. Somewhere, the keys dropped to the floor; Riley heard them hit the hardwood of his apartment. Nathan kicked the door shut with his foot, and the slam made them both jump, startled. The break from kissing was brief. They simply laughed at themselves before diving back in. It wasn't long until Riley was backed into the island counter, their bodies pressing close, Nathan's hands falling to his hips, fingers dipping under the hem of Riley's shirt. Heat pooled into Riley's lower stomach just as the thought, and instinctually, his mouth opened against Nathan's. The kiss deepened even more, Nathan's teeth nipping at his bottom lip. An embarrassing sound left Riley's throat, and that was when everything came to an abrupt halt.

Nathan jerked back like Riley had bitten him, hand coming up to cover his mouth. Riley, for a few seconds, stared at him in utter bewilderment, wondering what had happened, what he had done wrong. A few seconds later, he cleared his throat and dropped his gaze, hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck. He resisted to ask what was wrong. Nathan had every right to stop things just as much as Riley did. Why he stopped didn't really matter.

"Sorry," Nathan said, making Riley glance up at him curiously. Nathan wasn't looking at him, a frown on his face. He was staring at his sofa instead. "That got real intense real fast, I'm sorry." Riley stared at him in confusion, but didn't know how to correct him. Instead, he watched as Nathan cleared his throat and motioned toward the sitting area. "You in the mood for another movie?" Riley blinked slowly, still confused. Part of him wanted to talk about what just happened, wanted to ask why Nathan was pulling away, but a bigger part was afraid to. So instead of confronting that, he let it be and looked at the clock above the stove. He had forty minutes before he needed to leave.

"Sure," Riley said, offering Nathan a small smile. "I need to leave soon for work, but maybe we can finish the movie tomorrow?" He made his way over to the sofa, glancing sideways at Nathan, wondering they were okay. If their relationship was okay. Nathan jerking away from him so suddenly had been rather odd, and he didn't know how to bring it up.

"It's a date," Nathan said brightly, flopping down onto the sofa and reaching for his television remote. Riley hesitated, then went to join him, a bit relieved when Nathan raised his arm to invite him to rest against his side. Sighing softly, Riley fell against him, resting his head back on Nathan's shoulder as he brought up Netflix. They both got comfortable as they clicked on a random movie, but Riley barely paid any attention to it. His mind was consumed with what had just happened, going over every detail. He wondered if he had given some sort of signal that made Nathan think he wanted to stop, wondered if he'd taken the embarrassing sound as something negative. His mind kept going over it all that he didn't notice his phone was beeping, not until Nathan nudged him and said his name. Blinking multiple times, Riley straightened and reached for his phone. Across the screen, inside a black block with yellow text—coming from a device hidden inside of his phone that only he had access to—was a message telling him that extraction was outside.

And it was a full twenty minutes early.

Sighing in slightly frustration, Riley locked his phone and shot Nathan an apologetic look. Nathan was smiling knowingly at him, and it did nothing but remind Riley of how often this happened.

"Sorry," Riley apologized, leaning forward to peck Nathan quickly on the lips, then pressed another kiss to his cheek. "Boss wants to go out drinking earlier than usual. We still on for tomorrow?" Nathan nodded, shooing him out of the door. Riley's cover story for constantly leaving abruptly at night was simple. His employer was a random politician Riley couldn't give the name of for legal reasons, and he had a drinking habit, meaning his bodyguard was called at all hours of the night and day. Nathan never questioned any of it, trusting Riley to tell him the truth, and Riley felt more and more guilty about that the more lies left his mouth. Relationships were built on honesty, weren't they?

Riley held in a groan, pressed one last kiss to Nathan's cheek, then hurried to the door, promising he'd be free tomorrow over his shoulder. A few seconds later, he was taking the steps two at a time. If a car for extraction had been sent twenty minutes early, then surely that meant something odd had happened, something unplanned. His mission hadn't been all that serious to begin with. A simple sit-and-watch, something Fury had given him personally. It seemed Nick Fury trusted only a select few of people to spy on those he deemed untrustworthy. Riley was one of them. Exiting the building, Riley took a left like he would normally, as his apartment was in that direction. Two blocks down, however, instead of taking a right and crossing the street, he took a left and dipped into the dark side road there. A familiar black SUV was waiting. Without hesitation, he opened the passenger side door and hopped inside.

"You're usually faster than this," Fury grumbled as he sipped on a coffee. Riley paused to look at him, frowning in thought. He thought about mentioning he had zoned out, but decided against it. It was just an excuse. It was true that he had taken longer than usual, and that wasn't normally like him.

"It won't happen again," he promised. Fury shot him a doubtful look, knowing full well where he had been and who he had been with, but decided not to bring it up. Agents were allowed to have personal lives, after all. S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't care unless that life interfered with their ability to do their jobs. Riley had been slow, but not late. As long as he kept it that way, everything was fine—and even if it wasn't, Riley would still be given only a warning the first few times. "I just wasn't expecting to be called in twenty minutes early. Everything okay? I thought this was just a watch-and-report kind of thing."

"It was until the subject decided to jump on a ship last minute," Fury grunted, clearly annoyed at the inconvenience. Riley arched an eyebrow, and without another word, Fury leaned forward to retrieve a black file from the dashboard. It was clipped closed, so he didn't hesitate to throw it onto Riley's lap. Casting him a curious look, Riley removed the clip and opened the file.

"The Lemurian Star?" Riley said out loud, frowning in confusion. He had heard whispers about the Lemurian Star, a ship sent out to send satellites up into space for S.H.I.E.L.D., for reasons Riley knew better than to ask about. Nine times out of ten, when it came to space, he was better off not knowing. He read further and realized why the file was thrown his way, but it only served to make him even more confused. "What's Jasper Sitwell doing on a launch ship?"

"Don't know," Fury admitted, sighing through his teeth. Riley studied him, taking in his twitching fingers and narrowed eye. He recognized this restlessness in Fury. It was how he got when he felt like he was being watched. "Doesn't really matter now, I suppose. We can find out the why later. Right now, we have a bigger problem." Fury turned to face Riley fully then, and Riley closed the file. "Pirates took control of the ship and now they have hostages. Some agents, including Sitwell, but mostly techs. We're sending in the STRIKE team—as well as Cap—to rescue the hostages. But you and Romanoff are going to have a different mission."

"Well, I do love being different."

Riley nearly shrieked in fright, his body twisting immediately to face the voice that came behind him. It only took him a few seconds to recognize Natasha. She was stretched out in the backseat, looking like a very satisfied panther. Her amused smirk stretched into a grin at having scared him.

"Jesus Christ, Nat," Riley gasped, twisting back around and pressing his back against the seat, trying to calm his heartbeat. "When did you even get back? I thought you were in Albania."

"When did you start dating?" Nat asked, sitting up smoothly to pinch his cheek. "Huh? I leave for three months and when I get back, you have a boyfriend. Do I have to speak with him? Do I have to call his mother?" Knowing her sudden seriousness was fake, Riley groaned and swatted her hand away. He turned to snap at her to knock it off, but then caught the expression on Fury's face and decided it was in his best interest not to. He didn't look the least bit amused in their banter, and it only served to remind him that this was serious. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep his words at bay. Nat glanced at Fury as well, then clicked her tongue and drew her own hand back, sighing softly.

"Are you two done?" Fury asked, voice flat. Riley offered him a sweet, if sheepish, smile. Nat just let out a small chuckle. Fury waited long enough for his disapproval to really get across, and then he was continuing, sounding no less annoyed with them. Riley and Natasha shared mutual looks of amusement. "While Cap leads to STRIKE team and rescues the hostages, I want you two to get to the control room and download Project Insight onto this." Out of nowhere, Fury pulled out a silver flash drive. He handed it to Riley, who studied it curiously. "Afterwards, I want you to erase any record of Project Insight from the hard drive."

"Sounds easy enough," Riley muttered, passing the flash drive back to Natasha. "Why both of us?"

"You'll need to hack through the first firewall. It requires retinal recognition. Nat can use her level clearance after that." Riley nodded, turning to share a look with Natasha. She glanced up at him once, then continued playing with the flash drive. Riley sighed.

"Does Steve know—"

"No," Fury said quickly. "I'm sending him in to save people. If he knows I'm sending you two in to save intelligence and not people, he'll get all self-righteous on me and I don't need that shit right now." Riley gave him a curious look, trying to stop his lips from twitching in amusement.

"Sir—" he started.

"Don't you 'sir' me, you little shit," Fury snapped, and that broke Riley. His amused laugh flew out of him. "Get out of my car before I demote you."

"I knew I should've bought you a coffee," Riley teased, then rushed to get out of the SUV before Fury decided to send what little coffee he had left into Riley's face. Natasha followed suit. She had barely closed the back door before Fury was racing off, off to do whatever he did to calm himself when he was in a terrible mood. Riley waited until his SUV had rounded the corner before turning to Natasha. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, he was cheery, wasn't he?"

"Enough about Fury," Natasha said, throwing an arm around him and leading him toward the sidewalk. "We need to structure a plan for our mission. Besides, I want to hear everything about this new friend of yours. Nathan, isn't it?" Riley shot her a sharp look, one she responded to with a grin. She shook him slightly, still grinning. "Come on, Riles, tell me everything. I've missed you. Throw me this one bone, come on."

Riley sighed long and hard, then told her everything, too excited to see her again after three long months to even consider stopping.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'M SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT. But it's here and part two has officially started!