Brooklyn Antiques, Chapter 3
The story so far: Steve met a nice woman who needed help and took her home
Previous Chapter: here
Rating: G
Tag: @wolfpawn
About one and a half hours later they were back in his flat and sitting over a freshly cooked meal. In the end she had paid for the food, something he hadn’t wanted her to do, but on their way he had learned that she wasn't from America and that, where she was from, customs demanded that she had to repay him for his bravery.
He wasn't entirely sure if she had told him the truth or had made up a story to make him feel better, but either way it had made it impossible for him to refuse her.
And now that they were sitting over steaming plates, he gave up on his pride entirely and was just thankful to get a warm meal.
“ I hope you will like it. It's nothing special.” Evy claimed. “ A home cooked meal is always special.” Since his mother's passing his best friends mother was the only source of a cooked meal that didn’t come in a can. But Evangelyne was a much more compelling person to dine with.
He took his first bite and moaned involuntarily. With a shocked expression he blushed and covered his mouth with his hand. “ I'm so sorry!” it seemed like he stumbled from one embarrassment to the next without catching a break.
“ What are you sorry about? Liking my cooking or showing me you do?” she teased him but instead of making him feel worse about it, it reminded him of how Bucky would tease him and so he answered the same way he would’ve answered his friend. “ Both.” He grinned at her and she started to laugh.
“ I thought I had finally gotten you to relax. You are ruining that by tensing up again.”
Her teasing and joking really did put him at ease but every time he remembered he was alone with this gorgeous creature his anxiety spiked. It didn’t help that this dinner was one candle away from an actual date.
“ I'm sorry. I'll do my best to keep my anxiety internal.” that yielded him another laugh from her. The way she acted around him, the way she seemed to accept everything about him without judging him threw him off in the most delightful of ways.
When she looked at him it was like she couldn't even see his flaws. His small stature, his lack of money and status, and an uncertain future.
“Say… do you have anywhere to go? A place you can stay?” she had indicated earlier that she hadn't made arrangements yet and it was getting late. “ I know it isn’t appropriate, but if you want to, you could stay here for the night. Or how for how ever long you want. My mother's room is empty and has a bed.”
It was ridiculous. Why would someone like her want to stay in a place like this with him? There was no way she - “ I would love to. Thank you, you are very generous. But I insist on paying you for that and I will cook to balance out the inconvenience of having another person here.”
Had she just agreed? And offered more cooking?? This was too good to be true! Maybe Bucky had hired her to get his mind off the war? No, he wouldn't go that far. Either way he couldn’t understand why she would agree to this but he wasn't going to fight her on his offer either.
It was scary but maybe for the first time in a long time he could dare to hope for happiness. “ You won’t be an inconvenience.”he finally replied and continued to eat the first of what hopefully would be many similar meals.