voice-of-velhart - Tumblr blog

voice-of-velhart · 5 months ago

Text

I love my girls! Someone give everyone here a hug!

Chapter 5: Double Date (Part 2)

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader (refered to as Petal) Word Count: 2,899 Summary: The beginning of Steve's no good never bad day. Warnings/tropes: memory loss, migraines, family trauma, grief, loss, angst, mental health, PTSD, conspiracy theories, stalking if you squint. Soulmate AU. A/N: Did I cry writing the end of this. Yes. Listen I just love my sisters a lot ok... As usual beta read by @voice-of-velhart

Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

It was like something out of a dream, Steve was almost convinced it wasn't real. Because there she was and looking so lovely with her red lips and hair shimmering in the light like some kind of Hollywood starlet. But, more then that, when he talked she listened. Actually listened and contributed to the conversation. She didn't make his dreams to be an artist out to be frivolous or a waste of time, she just… engaged. And as sad as that was, that was a novelty for Steve. Most girls ignored him. Or worse treated him like a kid, or an inconvenience.

Instead Petal had shared her dreams too. She wanted to be a voice actress for one of those radio dramas that were so popular nowadays. And damn it if Steve didn't find that endearing. They're both artsy in different ways, she played piano and sang and he couldn't keep his hands away from a pad and paper. But they just understood each other. And though they came from drastically different parts of Brooklyn, he found that really they weren't that different.

So when Petal asked him to dance, even though he had stuttered and tried to tell her that he wasn't very good, he let her drag him out anyway.

"You can't possibly be as bad as all that." Petal teased, offering a pretty smile that make his knees feel like jello.

"Exactly how many girls do you think I am taking out dancing Miss? I wouldn't exactly call myself a Casanova." he replied, trying to will his eyes up from his feet.

"Oh, I don't know Steve. Earnest interest can be just as charming as debonair suavity when done with a certain level of honesty. Don't you think?"

God, I certainly hope so. Suavity he may not have a tight grasp on, but eagerness he had in spades… "You really mean that Miss Petal?"

Her red stained lips pulled tight across her face. Making her eyes sparkle. "I most certainly do."

The music drifted around them as the low breathy tones of Julie London played over head and Steve barely notices the other couples swaying and kissing as he just melts under Petal's unwavering attention. It was as if every second of his life had been leading up to this moment, and if anyone tried to pull him off this dance floor he may actually commit a felony.

Steve couldn’t help but smile softly. When he was dancing with Petal he was completely and totally lost. This girl was nothing like any of the others he had gone out with in the past. She was so kind, so lovely, and so beautiful. And she seemed to truly listen to what he had to say, which was a first for any girl Steve had gone out with.

As they danced their voices were hushed, making it truly feel like it was just them under the twinkling lights of the dance floor. "Do you believe in soulmates?" she asks, her voice almost distant as Steve's conscious mind has to come back to him to form words.

"Believe in them? uh…" Believe in them? Of course he believed in soulmates and bonds. He had a mark on his collarbone that was buzzing warmly as they spoke. Half the world had a soulmate. It wasn't a maker of belief or disbelief. They were simply a fact. "Doesn't everyone?"

"You would be surprised." she insisted. "There are lots of people that deny them. That go against their bond, and say fate isn't real. I know a girl I work with who is actively avoiding her soulmate right now!"

She giggled, as if it was the silliest thing she could think of and Steve's head went a little fuzzy for a second.

"Why would you do that? I can’t even imagine why someone would try and fight against their bond. I mean, the idea of being with another person who was created for you? That’s amazing, what could possibly be the reason not to?” Steve asked, his brows drawing together as he gave her that little smirk.

She shrugged, totally ignoring that one song had bled into another. "I think she is just scared. I think some people just think the idea per-clandestine love is too restrictive. Or like it's a fate that can't be changed. What if it brings heart ache or tragedy? What if you meet them and loose them and you can never love again? I can understand why it's a little scary…"

He thought about Bucky, and the way he avoided the topic of his soulmate like it was a plague. Some albatross hanging around his neck. He never understood that fear, but as Petal started to describe her friend's fears he saw that maybe Bucky had a point.

“I guess I can understand that fear. The idea of something so tragic happening to your soulmate is pretty awful. But even the chance of meeting someone special, someone I’m destined to be with…That’s something that outweighs that sort of fear, at least for me." he pulled her a little closer, feeling bolder.

"I’ve always believed that fate can be a tricky thing, but if it’s good? And there’s so many happy people who meet their soulmates, why shouldn’t I be one of the lucky ones?” He mused, shrugging his skinny shoulders as he looked around the dance floor at all the other couples laughing and dancing together.

He wasn't looking at her but he didn't miss the way she sighed. "I've always felt that way too. Like someday when I find my other half it will be one of those great loves… ya know?"

“Exactly!” He replied, smiling happily as he met her gaze and gave a little nod of his head. “I’ve always imagined that one day I’m going to find my soulmate, and the moment I lay eyes on her I’m going to know. I guess that’s just the little romantic in me… I’m probably sounding like a big sap now…” He chuckled and looked down, a blush gracing his pretty cheek bones.

"May I ask what your mark is Mr. Roger's?" Petal asked gently, obviously leaving room for him to say no. It was a very intimate question. One most people didn't dare to ask unless they suspected a person was their mate, since you're only supposed to show that mark to your one person.

His smile immediately faltered and he looked down, his hands going slightly clammy. The mark was something he held close to his heart. It was a small red rose that resided on his left collarbone, the steam wrapping around his clavicle. It was in an imitate place he couldn't easily show off without undressing. But that was the point. The only people who had ever seen that flower were his parents and other boys in locker rooms growing up. And after a moment he took a breath and looked up, meeting her inquisitive gaze.

"It's a red rose. Yours?"

She chuckled, somewhere low in her throat. Taking her sweet time in answering. "A rose."

~~~~

Steve was whistling as he walked into the doors of the VA. It was his day off. The sun was shining. the trees were starting to bud after a long harsh winter. And he was gonna get to see his girl today. Oh, sure maybe she didn't know she was his girl yet but to Steven that didn't really matter right now. She was alive and in his life and she would greet him in 3.. 2.. 1..

Nothing.

The nurses station where she would normally be waiting for him with that radiant smile he was looking so much forward to seeing was being maned by… Amanda. he felt his shoulders drop in visible disappointment. He tried to school his face but Steve had never been particularly good at that.

Steve had no personal issue with Amanda. She was a sweet enough woman. She was a kind friend, someone he enjoyed working with and getting to know. But the pang of disappointment always bit him in the chest when he saw that it was her instead of… Well, instead of who it should be.

“Hey there, Steven,” she greeted with a grin, glancing up as he approached. The disappointment must have shown on his face, because she frowned, and added, “No Petal today.”

"Where is she?" Steve asked, the disappointment in his voice clear. The two of them working in the same building meant that they spent a fair amount of time together, which had given him numerous chances to try and get her to remember him.

But it never worked. All he got were curious glances and sweet blushes that had him so sure that he was at least getting somewhere. But it was clear she didn't remember anything past their moments together here in the 21st century.

"She called in sick. Got the stomach bug that floating around the residents. Don't worry I don't think you'll catch it." she smiled. Steve knew he wasn't going to catch it. He never got sick anymore. Not since before the war but that didn't mean he wasn't worried about his girl.

He frowned, worried. If she was sick, he wanted to be taking care of her. Not here at work, not where she wasn't even here to appreciate it. "When did she call in? Is she resting at home?" he asked, as if he wouldn't immediately leave to make sure she had what she needed if she wasn't. He knew he was being irrational. But it was difficult to shake the overwhelming need to protect her.

"She's fine, I think she said her sister came down from Manhattan to see her..."

Sister, Petals family were dead. At least he had assumed they were. Of course, he had thought that about his soulmate too. That caught his attention, and as Steve stared at Amanda a frown spread across his face. Manhattan? Petal's family had lived in Brooklyn, not Manhattan. And why hadn't she told him that her sister would be in town? Surely Petal would have told him that.

His frown deepened as she spoke. This was getting stranger by the minute. Her sister? Family? He was fairly certain Petal's siblings were all...

"Did she say the name of this sister?" He asked, trying to keep any of the suspicion he felt from his voice, but it was getting harder and harder to hold it back.

The nurse looked at him sideways from her place at her cart. "Angel I think, the one that works for Stark Industries? She talks about her all the time. I think this is the first time they've seen each other in months."

"Th-thanks." Steve wandered off, feeling like he had been hit in the head with a brick. So not only was his Petal alive, but so was Angel. Alive and thriving if she was working for Tony. But if that was true, which Steve was still trying to grapple with how, she must be hiding her identity well because Tony had never mentioned that he had a 90 year old WWII tech genius working under him. He felt like somehow that would have come up in conversation.

Did she have the same strange memory issue that Petal had? How had they both managed to live this long? Did that mean that Honey was alive too? Where was she? So many new pieces of the puzzle just landed in his lap. And he had no idea what to do with them. He needed top talk to Nat, and now apparently.. Tony.

"Sure any time Cap!" she called after him. "God that guy is weird."

~~~~

Petal felt like her head was on fire as she turned over in the bed yet again. She could hear Angel in the kitchen making food and though she was trying to be quiet it still felt like an ice pick to the eye. She reached out to her nightstand where the water bottle her sister so diligently filled was sitting and took a long drink.

This was not the flu, or a stomach bug like she told work. And somewhere in the recesses of her brain she felt a little guilty for lying. But how do you explain to your boss that the reason you are having seizures and migraines in because you thought about you're childhood for a little too long.

Groaning you sit up a little as images of piano lessons, brown leather shoes, and Russian nesting dolls flickered through you're mind. It was always so hard to try and get it to stop once they had started, Those little flashes of memory. Sometimes they were as simple as a melody that wont go away, or the image of your mothers face. But other times, like now, they were painful. Colorful and vivid flashes of light and sound and sensation that almost always resulted in blacking out.

They had started when Angel came down to visit. She had brought with her a keyboard. You had been toying with the idea of buying on yourself but you never got around to it. Your therapist said it may help unlock something deeper under her mental block but honestly that just made you feel more anxious. So you avoided playing the piano, not even playing in the rec room at work even though you knew the residents would enjoy it. All because you were afraid that it would trigger an attack, or cause a seizure, or worse.. you would end up in a coma like Honey.

Poor sweet Honey, you couldn't even think about that right now, it made the imaginary knife splitting you frontal lobe in half twist violently. "Petal, hey I'm coming in you good?"

Angel pushed in the bedroom door with an arm full of various things. A frozen eye mask, a new full water bottle, and easy foods like PBJ and bananas. "You haven't eaten, and it's time for another pill so you have to at least try to keep this down for a bit."

"Yeah thats fine," you whispered the words ricocheting inside your head like a pickle ball.

Angel set it all down and took a pill bottle out of her pocket and set it on the side table before scooting into bed with you. "I'm sorry." she whispered. Looking genuinely stricken. Her voice quiet, and not just because of you're head.

Looking over you saw the worry etched on her soft face, Angel had always been the softest of the Darnell girls. At least in appearance. Platinum blonde hair cropped short to her head and large blue eyes that could never hide how they were feeling, she really did look like a cherub. Which had probably been how she got the name. Now a days she always looked stressed and serious. Pressure hardening the soft lines of her face and making her look older than her 24 years. Loaded down with so much work and responsibility that she looked far beyond her 23 years. In fact, you couldn't remember a time when she didn't look weighted down by the burden of her life. She must have been free and silly once but, those memories were beyond your reach. "It's not you're fault…"

"It was." Angel tone was final. Hard on herself as always. "I pushed you to play. I know how fragile this all is and I still insisted." Reaching out you took her hand and squeezed.

"You weren't wrong. I need to try and get better I can't just live in a haze forever." You took a bite of your sandwich and chewed slowly before continuing. "I wanna remember. I do.."

Angel wrapped an arm around you and pulled you close. Leaning on the headboard together. "I know you do Pet."

You ate in silence. Wincing every time a new flash would start. Little girls standing next each other at mass, playing hopscotch on busy city streets, a redheaded woman singing in Irish. It all felt a million miles away but you could kind of piece things together. You knew you had three sisters, that you grew up in New York. Your mother was Irish, she loved to sing and sew. She used to dress you all in matching dresses you made yourself. Your father was an officer of some kind, you had seen the badge in the glimpses but… the uniform looked odd. Angel would only say he worked for the city.

"You don't have to put it all together right this moment. Give you're brain a break."

"Why can't you just tell me. Why can't we just talk about it all."

Angel sighs, "We have Pet. but it always results in a blackout. You gotta ease into it. Piece it together until it makes sense."

"But it never makes senses! OW.." your head panged like some one had hit it with a frying pan and Angel pulled you down to lay against the pillows. Pushing your hair back with cool fingers. Long manicure nails against your scalp soothing away the pain as you writhed in her lap.

"Lets just get you through this episode and we can make a new plan tomorrow." You didn't answer as angel handed you your meds and slipped the eye mask on. "I love you sis."

Tag List: @disneyprincessbuffyannesummers, @delilah-hey @tldrthor @littlestxli @otterlycanadian @moviegurl2002 @goodnightbirdy Tags are still open if you want one. A/N: Some one give angel and steve a hug! I would say that they could hug each other but I don't think that gonna happen for a while...

30 notes · View notes