a partner one-shot to the last chapter "cookies and potential goddesses".

Warning: includes unwanted touching/grinding

Three months after Etta and the boys meet Diana, Steve decides to introduce her to the finer details of American college life: parties. It's a bit shameful, in his opinion, that she's lived in the States for three months now and has never attended a college party, but they're not lacking opportunities. In fact, one of Steve's classmates had just announced on Instagram that he'd be hosting a Christmas Eve party for anyone staying on campus that year. Steve immediately decides they have to go and with a little convincing, Diana agrees it'll be fun.

Somehow, they get the time wrong and show up an hour or two after most people have arrived. Steve doesn't mind, but he is a little annoyed that the others got the better snacks and alcohol. Now that they're late, he'll have to scrounge to find something good to drink.

Diana tugs on his arm before he can slip into the kitchen. "Are they dancing?"

Steve glances over to where she's looking and nods.

"Yeah," he says. "Join if you want. I'll just be a minute."

He presses a kiss to her temple then wanders into the kitchen in hopes of finding either good alcohol or a snack.

Diana watches the others on the dance floor as he walks off. It's certainly not a type of dance she's familiar with. She doubted her mother or aunts would even call it dancing. It's so unlike the way they dance on Themyscira that Diana wonders―not for the first time―if she's on a different planet and not just in a different country.

"Hey, look! It's Greece!"

Diana spins at that and frowns as a familiar guy approaches her. She knows he's in one of her classes, but she's never cared to learn his name. The way he grins and struts rubs her the wrong way and she has never been one to seek out that kind of trouble.

The guy is in front of her before Diana can decide to walk away. She doesn't want to be rude and as far as she knows, this could be his party that she's at. Walking away would certainly be a rude thing to do to the host no matter how unnerved she may be.

"Diana." He grins and wraps his arm around her shoulders in a tight hug. "I didn't expect to see you. I pegged you for someone more sophisticated and, well, Greek."

He wriggles his eyebrows at her but Diana doesn't reply. Instead, she considers joining the dancers and leaving him on the sidelines. Unfortunately, he follows her onto the dance floor and continues to―as Sameer once put it―chat her up.

As soon as she finds her way to the middle of the group, the guy grabs her waist. She's so surprised that it takes her a long second to realise what he's doing before she spins around to tell him just where he can put his hands.

"Excuse you," she snaps, shoving his hands off of her. There's not much space on the dance floor, though, so his hands quickly find her waist again.

"Welcome to America, doll," the guy says, wriggling against her hips in a way Diana's not sure she's comfortable with. "This is how we dance."

"It is not how I dance," Diana tells him stiffly.

"Come on," the guy encourages. He turns her so her backside is pressed against his front and leans forward to say, "You don't want to offend me, now do you? This is my party, after all."

It's just what Diana was afraid of, but if this is really how Americans dance at parties like this, she should at least give it a try. She lets him put his hands where he wants since he knows American culture better than her, but she does make sure his hands don't wander too far up.

Dancing on Themyscira is much different and Diana doesn't think she likes American dances, but she won't be rude and refuse when the guy is clearly the host and showing her a new part of American culture. She tells herself it's simply part of living in a foreign country and tries to follow the other dancers.

They seem to enjoy the dance and they look happy enough, but she can't push past the unwanted hand on her chest and the arm wrapped around her hips. She's too uncomfortable to lose herself in the music like the rest of them.

Steve can't find anything worth drinking, so he settles on devouring the remaining snacks and searching for a can of soda. There's no use in getting drunk if it isn't even good alcohol, plus he's not sure Diana knows how to drive at night yet. As far as he knows, she doesn't know how to drive at all. He's never seen her or heard her talk about it before, so there's really nothing to go off of.

While he's snacking in the kitchen, one of his classmates walks in and he loses track of time as they chat.

By the time the snacks are gone, Steve's worried that Diana might think he left her. It's been about twenty minutes since he'd left her by the dancefloor and even though he knows that she knows he would never leave her, it's still a long time to be gone. Especially since he'd been the one to insist that they go to the party.

"I should go," Steve tells her friend, pushing off the countertop. "My girlfriend is probably wondering where I'm at."

"Right, the Greek one."

Steve's not sure what the guy means by that, but he waves goodbye without asking. Apparently, Diana's already earned herself a bit of a reputation around campus which isn't all that surprising, if Steve is entirely honest.

What is surprising, however, is walking into the main room to see Diana pressed up against Erich Ludendorff. While Erich looks like he's having the time of his life, Diana looks uncomfortable. The crowd shifts and for a moment, Steve catches a glimpse of the way Erich is holding her and suddenly understands why Diana looks so uncomfortable.

He moves without really thinking.

He shoves some of the dancers out of his way and makes it over to Diana before the end of the current song. Her eyes land on him almost immediately and she pulls away from Erich as he stops in front of her.

Pulling Diana under his arm, he scowls at Erich. "What the hell are you doing?"

"We were dancing," Erich replies. "I was just showing her how us Americans do it."

"No, you were assaulting her," Steve accuses. A few people look over at that, but Steve doesn't care. "Don't fucking touch her again."

"Come on, man." Erich chuckles. "It was just dancing."

"She was uncomfortable," Steve argues, his arm around Diana tightening. "Leave her alone."

Before Erich can ruin their night any further, Steve leads Diana off of the dancefloor and into the kitchen where it's much quieter and there are fewer people.

Diana stays glued to his side which wouldn't be a problem, except he needs to make sure she's okay and if her face is hidden in his shoulder, it's going to make things a bit more difficult.

"Diana?" he murmurs. He gently pulls away from her but keeps his arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders. "Are you okay?"

"I do not like American dances," she tells him softly. She doesn't meet his eyes. "They are uncomfortable."

"That's not how Americans dance," Steve replies and Diana frowns. "Well, it is, but―usually it's consensual. You didn't know and he took advantage of that to touch you without asking."

"You touch me without asking," Diana points out, still frowning.

"That's―"

He was about to say 'different', but suddenly he realises that, to Diana, it might not be. For all he knows, touch is very different where she's from and he could very well be making her just as uncomfortable as Erich had been. The realisation sends an icy shiver down his back and he pulls away from her quickly.

"I'm sorry," he says, "I didn't realise it made you uncomfortable―"

"It does not." As if to prove it, Diana pulls his arm back around her and buries her face in his shoulder again.

"Diana." Steve sighs and brings his free hand up to cup the back of her head. She slowly looks up at him. "Are you okay?" he repeats.

Unsurprisingly, Diana shakes her head.

"I do not feel good," she mutters which, yeah, makes Steve's gut clench. "I want to go home."

"Alright, angel." Steve presses a firm kiss to her head. "We'll go home."

He's not sure if she means to their separate apartments or if she wants to stay together, but he finds out when they arrive at her flat and she still won't let him go. Instead, she pulls him in with her and only lets go when she reaches into her cupboard to make herself tea.

Even though they tend to spend most of their time in Steve's apartment, he's been to her place a few times. Not enough to know where she keeps her silverware, but enough to know that she keeps tea on the bottom shelf and stores her mail on the edge of the counter. He also happens to know that her bed is artfully hidden behind a bookshelf that acts as a makeshift wall in her studio apartment.

While Diana makes herself tea, Steve pulls out as many blankets as he can find.

"What are you doing?"

Steve twists around to find Diana standing behind him with a mug in hand.

"Making it comfortable," Steve replies. "Join me, angel."

Diana tips her mug back and drains it quickly which is the only real sign of stress Steve's ever seen her display. Occasionally she digs her nails into her arms, but the best way to tell how stressed she feels is by how quickly she finishes a cup of tea. And he's never seen her finish tea so quickly.

Setting her mug on the bookshelf, Diana collapses onto her bed beside him. She buries into the pile of blankets that he's created and curls around him.

"If something makes you uncomfortable," Steve murmurs, "you don't have to do it. Even if it's actually an American tradition."

"He was the host," Diana explains, still buried in blankets. "I did not want to be mean."

"He took advantage of you, Diana," Steve tells her, a little more insistent this time. "You don't have to make excuses for him."

Diana sighs and while she doesn't argue, Steve can tell she's trying to work out what he's saying.

"People here will use your kindness against you," he says. "If they make you uncomfortable, you're no longer obligated to be kind."

"And if I offend them?"

"It's not your fault," Steve assures her. "You're more important than their ego."

He feels her smile against his neck and he can't help but smile a bit as well.

"You are, okay?" he says. "Don't forget that."

"Thank you." Diana presses a soft kiss to his neck. "I will not."

They spend the rest of the evening curled up under too many blankets in Diana's apartment and a few days later, when Steve sees Erich again in the store, he gives him a black eye for good measure. Diana scolds him for it, but she kisses his bruised knuckles and bakes him some cookies so not all is lost.