"He can get himself home, if he needs to," Steve said, but he didn't make any move to leave. "Just say the word if you want us to leave, though."

"Relax," Gemma said, grinning just slightly. "You're fine. There is literally nothing here you can hurt with your presence. Poke around all you like, if anything catches your attention and you don't know why, let me know."

Steve grinned a bit at that and did as she said, poking around the shop and looking at everything.

Gemma just let him poke around. Hers was a pretty standard magic shop; some books, some candles, the hokey stuff most people expected. But scattered amongst the showy junk was the real thing: the glass witch balls hanging from the ceiling shone perhaps a little too much in the light from the windows, the crystals in the displays seemed to flicker slightly across their surfaces, and the chimes in the far window seemed to jingle faintly for no apparent reason. One entire wall was lined with teas and herbs from ceiling to about mid-way down the wall.

Steve spent a little while with the teas and herbs, since he recognized a few of those, but he always glanced at her before he touched something. He knew enough about magic to know that randomly poking things was not a smart move.

Gemma glanced at him from time to time, but it wasn't to make sure he wasn't touching things. He was really just easy on the eyes. When she caught him hesitating, she grinned a bit.

"You can touch things," she said. "It's a shop. People touch things in here all the time. Just be careful with the witch balls, they can be fragile."

Steve grinned a bit. "I'll be careful," he agreed. "I wasn't sure, pretty much all I know about magic is it kinda sucks when you're fighting it."

"Yeah, no, offensive magic is the worst," Gemma said, making a face. "Mine is more passive, most of the time. Enchantments and such, things that work over time instead of all at once." She paused when she noticed one of the witch balls hanging from the ceiling reacting a little. "Huh." Going over, she pulled it down carefully. It was calming blues and greens, with six or seven strands going through it. "This one likes you, I think."

Steve blinked at that. "Likes me?" he asked, sounding perplexed. "How does it like me?" As far as he could tell, they were inanimate objects.

"I'm not sure," Gemma said, studying the glass ball for a moment. "It's interesting, though. It kind of... echoes you. And I know that doesn't make a damn bit of sense, but that's the best way I can describe it."

Steve grinned a little. "Well, at least you know I have no clue what you mean," he said. "What are those for, anyway?"

"It's a witch ball," Gemma said, taking the blue-green one to the counter and carefully wrapping it in tissue paper. "Traditionally, you hang it in an east-facing window, and it protects you from evil." She slipped the wrapped ball into a bag and held it out to him. "Here."

Steve blinked. "Are you sure?" he asked, looking at her. He wasn't used to just accepting random gifts, after all. Hell, he wasn't used to being offered random gifts.

"I'm sure," Gemma said. "It's fine. It would end up making its way to you sooner or later, anyways. Magic has a funny habit of that. Might as well make it easy."

Steve cracked a bit of a grin before he accepted it carefully. "Thanks," he told her, still grinning rather shyly.

"You're welcome," Gemma said. She grinned a bit. "Easiest way to hang it is a hook in the ceiling and some fishing line."

"That's easy," Steve agreed. Now he just had to figure out how to make Tony not freak out when he brought magic into the tower...

Sam just grinned a bit and quirked an eyebrow.

"Now, how're you gonna get that past Stark?" he asked Steve.

"No clue," Steve admitted with a sigh. "Just put it up in my room? He might not notice it there."

"Might work," Sam said, nodding. "I mean, it just all looks like glass, to me, maybe it will to him too."

"We'll try that, if that doesn't work, I'll figure something else out," Steve agreed with a nod.

Sam nodded, and then grinned.

"So was that a bit of a spark I saw with you and her?" he asked quietly, tilting his head a bit to Gemma.

Steve briefly made a face. "Don't be daft," he muttered. But he didn't give a proper answer, because he wasn't sure, himself.

"Hey, man, just calling it like I see it," Sam said, still grinning. "Barnes might not be the only one coming by for visits, hm?"

Steve rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Don't go looking for trouble," he said. "Can't be pulling you and Buck out of trouble."