stegginelli. Steve impressing Angie's family. Not cause he's "ex-military", or because he's famous. It's because of how much he can eat. His metabolism is 10x faster than normal, means he eats about 10x as many calories. He makes an amazing impression on big Italian family, all while pink, and Peggy thankfully evades too many attempts at refilling her plate. "Unlike him, I'm sure I'll burst." Angie excuses herself to laugh
Peggy honestly thought they would burySteve in questions. So had Angie. They’d reminded him not to panic if too manyItalians started yelling at once. Because he’s Captain America, back from anicy grave. And he’s living with their precious Angela, who’s been living withPeggy for several years now. And Peggy used to be Steve’s best girl, as much asyou can be that for someone when you’ve only shared one kiss.
Basically, it was all terriblycomplicated, and Peggy couldn’t blame her ‘in-laws’ for wanting to interrogatethe new man in their daughter’s life. The man who was very much in love withthe woman n Angie’s life.
But the Martinellis were surprisingly relaxedabout this new arrangement. Perhaps they thought it better not to ask too manyquestions. Their daughter was happy, their daughter-in-law was happy, andCaptain America, a national treasure, was alive and in their kitchen,complimenting Mrs. Martinelli’s breadsticks.
As long as Angie was content and thebreadsticks were treated with proper respect, things were all right in theMartinelli world.
Peggy smirked into her napkin, Steve andAngie on either side of her. Steve, rubbish at taking compliments, was nowbeing pelted with them, as if to make up for the questions he’d dodged. SofiaMartinelli looked on in delight as Steve accepted helping after helping of her lasagna, alternating between English andItalian.
“Look at you. Big, strong man, knows thevalue of good cooking.”
Steve froze, blushing with his fork inmidair. “I can stop…”
Sofia rattled off something in Italian,shook her head no, and shoved three more breadsticks on his plate.”
“You’d best continue eating,” Peggymurmured in his ear. “They quite like it when everyone eats.”
“You’re not,” Steve said, eyeing herempty plate.
“I, darling, am not gifted with yourenhanced metabolism. If I eat anymore, I’m afraid it will all come back up.”
“Yeah,” said Angie. “Almost did, thefirst time I brought her home. She didn’t wanna tell Ma no, so her plate keepsgetting topped off, and she keeps clearing it, ‘cause big, tough super spy isafraid of pissing off my mother—”
Peggy rolled her eyes at Steve,discretely passing him the bread that Sofia had somehow set on her place fromacross the table. “And she wonders why I was concerned.”
“Anyway,” said Angie, as if there’d beenno interruption. “Peggy ate so much that I thought she was gonna be sick in thecab on the way back.”
Steve frowned. “Do you always sound sohappy telling stories about Peggy being ill?”
“Shut up, English. It’s not like youactually got sick.”
“Indeed,” Peggy drawled. “Steve,incoming.”
Steve had half a second to look confusedbefore a large heaping of pasta was dumped in front of him. “Oh no, Mrs.Martinelli, I couldn’t possibly—”
“Nonsense. You were trapped under allthat cold water for so long, you must’ve been hungry.”
Angie leaned in to address Steve. “Justsmile, nod and eat. It’ll be easier that way.”
Steve, ever the soldier, followedorders.
“I do wish you hadn’t been quite solate,” Peggy told him, squeezing his knee under the table. “Do you know howmany calories I had to work off because of these gatherings? So many shortenedworkouts, if only you’d been here to take my share of the feast.”
Steve tried to talk past a mouthful offood, typically more of a Peggy thing. “Sorry I inconvenienced, not being hereto substitute for the dog under the table who gets your scraps.”
“I’ll consider forgiving you. Sofia?Steve looks like he could use a bit more pasta.”
While her mother made a delighted exclamationin Italian, Angie grinned at Peggy, who was receiving a glare from Steve. Asmuch as one could glare with their cheeks bulging out like that. “Be rightback, Ma,” she said, pushing back from the table. She kissed Steve’s cheek asshe left, proud of herself when he choked, just a bit. Suppressing the giggles until she was lockedin the bathroom was one of the hardest acting jobs of her career.
