Who: Peggy and Steve. What: A long overdue meeting. When: April 10. Where: Agency headquarters. Rating/Warnings: Low/Steve is awkward. Status: Complete.
Sudden moves out of country weren’t really Peggy Carter’s style, but she couldn’t pass up an opportunity like the one that had presented itself. Working for a new kind of Agency under the direction of Nick Fury seemed like a dream job. Coming to America was a whole new kind of adventure for Peggy and she had managed to throw things together in a few weeks, but she was still trying to find her bearings. She had stopped by The Agency to fill out a few more forms and get things rolling for when she started at the beginning of the next week. There was a bit of culture shock and she was doing her best to adapt to this whole new culture, but she was probably standing out like a sore thumb at the moment. Her accent garnered a lot of attention and she was starting to get exhausted at explaining where she was from.
So, with a soft sigh her heels clacked across the waxed floor as she made her way down the hallway and hopefully towards the lift. Her arms were filled with papers, but she lifted up a hand to brush some hair out of her face before reaching out to push the button when she arrived at it. Paperwork was just a normal part of the job, but it had been a while since she accumulated so much that she almost felt like her arm was going to fall off. As she shifted the papers she noticed a man coming to join her.
Despite being recently put in charge of his own special team with the Agency, Steve still hadn’t actually been there. He figured this was as good a time as any. With Fury in charge, Steve felt like it was only a matter of time before he was around a lot more often. Also, he’d heard that maybe things would be changing, and Steve didn’t want to lose his little section. There were people in Orange County with the means to help, and he wanted to make sure they were put to use.
Of course, Fury was busy. Steve didn’t expect anything less. He managed to wrangle in a time to see him, though, then wandered around the sections he had access to before deciding he ought to leave. Coming up to the elevator, he saw a woman with her hands full who clearly needed a hand, so he jogged over. “Here, let me get that for you,” he said, pressing the button.
“Thank you so much,” her accent was thick as she pulled her hand back to her pile of papers so they wouldn’t topple over. There weren’t enough men in the world that helped people out with this kind of thing anymore. She lifted her head to take him in as she stepped backwards politely to give him a little more space. She also expected America to be full of men who were slobs and rude, so this was a nice break in that expectation, “Glad to see that chivalry isn’t completely dead around here.”
Steve just smiled and shrugged. “It’s no problem, ma’am, honestly,” he said. He turned to give her a smile and his face froze, somewhere between shocked and overjoyed, and he blinked to make sure he was seeing right. Then his heart kicked into overdrive and he was suddenly worried she would hear it echoing in the hallway.
“I. Uh. I mean. I like to be helpful,” Steve added, completely lamely. He still wasn’t all that great with women, and this one was definitely not a woman he’d ever expected to see.
That expression on his face wasn’t one she normally saw and there was a quirk to her eyebrows as she studied him, “Helpful is good. Do you work around here?” She wasn’t quite sure how to move the conversation along when he ended on a note like that. He seemed quite nice, but it was a little unnerving to be looked at like that.
Great, Steve, he told himself, way to make an excellent impression. He cleared his throat and shrugged. “Sort of. I’m a bit of help on the side.” He had to stop bringing up help. “I mean, I run my own response team that acts on behalf of the Agency. It hasn’t been in place for long, I’m hoping to speak to Director Fury about keeping it in place while he overhauls everything.”
“Oh really? That’s interesting. I’m still not completely sure what the Agency is completely about, but Director Fury managed to get me on board. They’re being a little secretive until I start on Monday,” she explained to him before shifting her papers once again and holding her hand out to him, “I’m Peggy Carter, realized I should at least introduce myself first.” As she waited for him to return the handshake the bell above the elevator dinged and the doors opened up. Was it rude to move the conversation into the elevator? She hoped it wasn’t.
“I know,” he said, as he shook her hand. Then he paused, and smiled, a bit embarrassed. “I mean it’s on your identification badge,” Steve elaborated. “Sorry. I’m Steve. Steve Rogers. It’s … Really nice to meet you, Peggy.” He motioned for her to head into the elevator first and then followed, hitting the main floor button.
“Oh!” her cheeks flushed a little bit as she looked down at the badge attached to her shirt, “You are so right. And nice to meet you as well, Steve. So, tell me about your response team? Maybe it’ll be involved in my work in the future. Or tell me about yourself, whatever you prefer.” She wasn’t sure what Americans liked to talk about - if he was sick of work then she didn’t want to push that conversation. When the doors closed she stepped back slightly and turned towards him.
“It’s not really a full team yet,” Steve admitted. “It’s in the process of being put together. We’re more like back-up, or if there’s a situation that can’t be handled by someone else.” He wasn’t sure how to explain it was a group of essentially superheroes without sounding like a lunatic. “I’m sure you’ll learn all about it.”
"Ah! So basically Director Fury's..." she snapped her fingers for a moment to come up with the right word, "seal team or whatever that was. And I almost want to tell you that there isn't a situation I can't handle, but that would be very presumptuous of me. So, I will say that I am sure our paths will cross and I look forward to it."
Steve wanted to tell her that he agreed, there was very little that Peggy couldn’t handle on her own. He’d seen it. So he just laughed a bit. “No, ma’am, you certainly don’t strike me as a damsel in distress type.” The elevator dinged open and Steve felt almost sad that suddenly the conversation was going to have to end, and he waited until she stepped out before he followed. “Well. Good luck with the job.”
She stepped out and waited for him near the entrance to the elevator so she could finish speaking with him. There was a genuine smile on her face as she brushed some hair out of her eyes at his well wishes, “Thank you so much. I start on Monday, so maybe I’ll see you around here? Also, since I’m still fresh off the airplane here, do you have any recommendations on places I should go try for dinner?” She wasn’t really asking him out per se, but if he happened to pick up on it she wouldn’t completely reject the idea of him accompanying her to dinner.
Steve was, unfortunately, not entirely perceptive on the subtleties of women. Especially when it came to Peggy, and his brain was still trying to wrap around the fact that it was her. He looked momentarily thoughtful. “Uh. You know, I don’t really know, actually.” He gave her an apologetic look. “I don’t really eat out. I … Have a pretty high metabolism. It can get embarrassing. I can tell you where to find all the best donuts and cupcakes, though.”
A small smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth as she smiled back at him, trying to make sure he knew he had nothing to apologize for, “Oh don’t worry, that’s okay. I was just hoping to try something new, but that Yelp site is pretty useful for helping find places to eat as well. But good to know about the donuts and cupcakes, I’m sure that will come in handy very soon. I’ll have to make sure to contact you when I need that information. But again, thank you so much, and I hope to see you around.”
He gave her a smile, and had to keep himself from giving her a salute as well. “You as well. Have a good day, ma’am. Peggy. Miss Carter.” Steve cleared his throat and gave her a significantly more awkward smile before turning to head to his car.