Heartbeat (Danny Rand)

Seventeen

 "Wow, Ari, you look beautiful," Danny breathes, standing on my porch and staring at me with wide eyes.

"Thanks, you don't look too bad yourself," I reply, nervously tucking my hair behind my ear. It's true, too. The plain black suit he's wearing makes him look especially handsome. I, on the other hand, am especially nervous. Not only is it the first time that Danny's ever been over to my house, it's also our five month anniversary.

Even though I told him I didn't want to do anything fancy, he insisted. He even bought me the gorgeous black dress I'm wearing and a pair of matching heels.

"Ready to go?" He asks, holding out his hand which I happily take, nodding. We walk together down the cracked stone walkway and get into his car.

He drives away pretty quickly, clearly tense. I can't blame him though since the poorly lit streets make me nervous and I've lived here my whole life.

The shimmering stars seem to light our way, though, and before I know it we're driving toward a restaurant making small talk.

"Are you sure you can't tell me where we're going? I mean, I already know it's a fancy place so what else could there really be?" I persuade, trying to get him to tell me the name of the restaurant that we're going to. Don't get me wrong, I doubt I'll know the place even if I do know the name since I don't really go to fancy places too often, but Danny's being secretive enough that I can't resist. 

"If you already know then why do you keep asking?" He teases and I roll my eyes.

The drive passes quickly and before I know it we're parked outside a modernly elegant looking building with an Italian name I can't even begin to pronounce.

Everything about the building has clearly been shaped to perfection - even the hedges outside. I subconsciously smooth down my dress, feeling almost unworthy of even standing in front of such an expensive building, before taking Danny's hand and walking inside.

The inside is even posher than the outside with its red velvet booths and bleach white tablecloths without a single crease.

The host quickly takes our name and leads us to our table, which is a small table for two right next to a giant floor to ceiling window. Since we're on the second floor of the restaurant the view overlooking the Hudson is breathtaking.

"This is incredible. I've never been anywhere like this before," I confess, trying to soak in all the details of the restaurant, right down to their dark brown stained tables. Danny just laughs.

"We can go places like this whenever you want, love," he replies before picking up a menu and looking through it.

After a fair amount of difficulty, I finally decide on just getting a margarita flatbread while Danny gets some sort of fancy pasta dish. Our food comes out abnormally fast, and I try to savor each bite. It's honestly the best flatbread I've ever had.

We both finish our meals pretty quickly and decide to split some seven-layer chocolate cake for dessert. While we're waiting we talk aimlessly about school and what we want to do in the future.

"I think being a programmer could be really cool. Maybe I could even work for Tony Stark!" I gush, a smile spreading across my face at the idea. "It would be amazing."

"You could probably keep working for SHIELD, too. Even if it's only been a couple weeks Fury is definitely a fan of the new things you've been designing and working on," Danny offers, and I nod.

"Maybe, I'm not sure. At least I can rule out supervillain. Been down that path, not going to go down it again," I joke, and we both laugh although it's slightly awkward. Even if my friends continuously tell me that nothing changed and they still see me the same way, I don't buy it. I don't even see myself the same way.

"What do you want to do?" I ask, but Danny just shrugs off the question. Our dessert comes and we both eat in a comfortable silence. When the waiter brings the check I offer to split it, but Danny just gives me a look and pays for the whole thing.

"I wish you wouldn't pay for everything. It makes me feel so useless," I complain as we walk around central park, hand in hand. The moon lights up the winding sidewalks, and I can hear crickets chirping all around us. Without anyone else around it's peaceful and almost freeing in a way

"Ari, seriously. I'm the head of multi-million dollar company at seventeen. The last thing I need to worry about is spending money. Besides, I won't have much use for it soon," he replies, although his voice gets lower toward the end.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask, and he pulls nervously at his sleeve.

"Nothing. I don't know why I said that sorry. But in all seriousness, don't worry about me spending money on you. Speaking of, I got you something," he grins, reaching into his pocket.

"Oh, come on!" I laugh, shaking my head. "You have the best timing."

"I know. Anyway, here," he replies, handing me a silver necklace. I take it carefully, knowing that since Danny gave it to me it probably cost more than my house. After a closer inspection, I can see that a small silver compass hangs from the silver chain. It's beautiful.

"Here," he offers, taking the necklace and brushing my hair out of the way, gently clasping it behind my neck. Damn, that was smooth.

"Now, no matter how far apart we are, you'll always have me to guide you if you need," he adds with a cheesy grin. I roll my eyes but smile back anyway.

"Thank you, I love it," I reply, and he takes my hand.

"Good," he says before leaning in and kissing me.