Who: Steve Rogers and Verity When: After this conversation Where: For The Lulz What: Showing off a Dream Shield Rating/Warning: Low/None Status: Complete
Verity was working. As she often did … at work. There were children all over the place, it was a bit chaotic, but pretty soon she’d be more focused on the internet orders, rather than the in-store customers. School was starting back up again, and most of these kids were filling up their shopping baskets with last minute “school” supplies. Plenty of books, funny paper, disappearing ink, crude or amusing shaped erasers, pen sets, backpacks, pencil cases, that sort of thing. But there was also a rush on the others; cheap toys and pranks that kids were planning on playing on their teachers.
She’d just finished ringing a little boy up for his fake vomit when she saw a familiar face come through the doorway.
Steve was sort of glad for the excuse to go see Verity. Not that he needed an excuse, they were friends, after all, but he just felt like between all the stuff coming at him about being who he was in the dreams and work and finding an art class to take, there wasn’t much time to get away. So he was going to take what he could, when he got it.
He stepped into the shop with the shield in hand. At first he felt a bit stupid walking into the store with it, but, hey, walking into a joke shop with a shield is probably pretty acceptable. Smiling, he waved at Verity and walked up to the counter.
“Hey, how are you?”
If Verity had known how much she brightened at the sight of Steve Rogers, she would have smacked herself. But she couldn’t help it. Steve was handsome, and kind, and smart… and Verity may have been a bit smitten. She was smitten over a lot of guys lately, even though she was having a bit of help with that problem, but Steve was one of the first she’d really latched onto after Oliver left. So there was a soft spot there.
“Good!” It was chirped, a little too cheerful. She cleared her throat. “You know, chillin.” She added, playfully. “Is this it??” The shield!
“This is it.” He couldn’t help but look sort of pleased. He set the shield on the counter gently. It wasn’t really that heavy, but it had a certain heft to it that Steve already find familiar and comfortable. “It’s made from this stuff called … Uh. Vibranium? Apparently it’s unbreakable.”
“Vibranium?” Verity asked. She’d never heard of it, but she also wasn’t very good at Chemistry. “Oooh. Is it…” she reached forward a hand, tentatively. “Can I touch it?”
“Yeah. I don’t think it exists in this reality?” Steve gave a bit of a shrug and a smile. “Yeah, go ahead. I still can’t really believe it’s here.”
Verity nodded. Same thing could be said for magic, and yet she was able to do it. She reached a hand forward and touched the shield. It was cool metal under her fingertips. “Wow. It’s pretty… I like it a lot.” She said, giving him a smile. “Cool to get things from the dreams, huh? Makes ‘em seem more real.”
"It does." Steve ran his hand over the surface of the shield. "You know, this was made personally for me by Tony Stark's dad," he said. "Just a fun fact."
“Wow, really?” Verity was very impressed. It all impressed her. She was imagining him using the shield, like, in combat. It was a funny idea, but impressive all the same. The smile was resident on her features and wasn’t going anywhere. “Man. You must have had this amazing life in the Dreams.”
“Eh, not really,” he admitted, shrugging a bit and blushing. “I mean. I started as a sick kid who kept lying on recruitment forms to try and get in the army, then I was a performing monkey in a suit who got a lucky break, and then to stop a weapon from destroying New York City, I crashed a plane into the arctic. And spent about seventy years frozen in the ice until they found me.” He paused. “Okay, maybe not amazing, but exciting, I guess.”
Verity’s jaw nearly dropped. It was one of those expressions with wide eyes and a gaping stare. “...frozen? Seventy years frozen??”
“Oh. Uh. Yeah?” Steve cracked a smile, blushing. “I guess the serum helped with the preservation or something. Something like cryogenics? I think that’s the word? Anyway, this plane crashed I don’t remember anything except waking up in New York in … Well. Today.”
“Wow.” There sure was a lot more to Steve than meets the eye. And she liked it. Verity was impressed and infatuated. “So. You’re like a former human popsicle.” She said, breaking into a playful grin.
“Yep. Pretty much.” He laughed. “I know, I have weird dreams. But I’m excited to see where it goes, I guess.”
“Well, excited is good. It’s a lot better than what I’ve got in the dreams.” Verity said, shaking her head, her smile fading just a little. “I’m excited to hear about them when you get there.”
“Hey, come on,” Steve said, hoping to cheer her up, “you have amazing things because of these dreams. Magic, a little Verity on the way, I dunno but that sounds pretty lucky to me.”
“Well, okay.” Verity ran her hand over her tummy. “I’ve gotten some good things out of them. But whenever I go to sleep at night, I dream about…” She paused. “My dreams aren’t fun. They’re not exciting. I get to see Christina’s Dad in them, and he loves me. He’s there for me. Then I wake up in a cold bed.”
“I know it can’t be easy, but you’re a good person, you know? Good things are coming for you, I know it.” He grinned a bit. He knew it sounded awful, and that he didn’t really have a leg to stand on, but as far as he was concerned it was true.
Verity went rather pink at his words. She was flattered. It affected her doubly since she was kinda smitten with the good-looking Steve Rogers with the star on his shield. She liked hearing nice things from him. “Thanks, Steve. You’re a good friend.”
“I just do what I can. Hey, do you get a break soon? I’ll hang around, treat you to lunch.” Steve flashed her another grin.
Those grins were absolutely dangerous. Verity grinned herself, though her cheeks were rather pink. “Sure! Yeah, I’ve got a lunch coming up, and I’d love to let you treat.” She added, playfully. “I’ll just grab my purse and let the twins know where I’m going.”