American Mouth | S. Rogers x OC

Ch. 7 - Infiltrate

Dorothy woke up in Steve's room still in her clothes from the day before, the lights turned off with his covers tucked over her. Was it a big deal that she slept in his room? She could faintly make out rustling in his bathroom, she assumed it was Steve getting ready for his run. Deciding to go with him, she heaved a sigh and slowly got up.

She knocked on the bathroom door softly and announced, "I'll be joining you, Steve, just let me get ready."

When Dorothy heard an "alright" from the other side, she left Steve's room and entered hers. She stripped out of her clothes from yesterday and into her new ones, smiling as she tried to contain a smile.

After Dorothy dressed into athletic gear, she passed her forgotten cuff in the hallway and took the elevator down to the ground floor. She met Steve in the lobby so that they could begin their morning route all the way to Central Park.

"You ready?" Steve asked as she approached him.

Dorothy fell into step with him. "Yep! Is Sam or Bucky joining us?"

"Nah. Buck decided to sleep in and Sam's working on his drone."

"Bucky's always sleeping. And isn't it Redwing?"

"I have no idea."

~~~~~~~

They didn't speak too much as they ran, Dorothy was too busy controlling her breathing. It was only Steve occasionally leading her down different paths on the trail. Sometimes they got so close that they occasionally brushed arms, her heart fluttered every time.

They ran for an hour before Dorothy decided she could no longer keep up. Steve could have kept going forever it seemed, but she needed a break.

"I'm gonna... slow down," she said between breaths as she stopped and put her hands on her knees, expecting him to continue on without her.

Instead, Steve immediately stopped with her and put his hands on his hips to slightly open up his airways. "You alright? Need a medic?"

She waved him off. "Perfectly fine... thank you."

She noticed Steve looking around before approaching her. She only had a moment to react before he scooped her up in his arms bridal-style.

"Steve! What are you doing?" Dorothy squealed as Steve carried her to an unknown location. She forgot all about her burning lungs.

Steve carefully set her down on a bench that he must've been eyeing and then sat beside her with a smile on his face. Dorothy was trying hard to fight off a blush, to no avail. She hoped that Steve thought it was just from the exercise.

"You didn't have to do that," she said to him.

"I wanted to."

Steve reached a hand up and tucked a piece of hair that escaped her ponytail behind her ear. Unexpectedly, he took her chin between his thumb and forefinger and tilted her head to face him.

He looked at her as though he was seeing her for the first time, like he was memorizing the details of her face. His eyes bore into hers with such adoration, you'd think she hung the stars in the sky and was the sole reason the sun rose every morning. She couldn't look away, it made her heart pound.

They were soulmates, of course she'd quickly have strong feelings toward him. They were destined to love each other and to be together forever. It sort of pained the emotional side of her that the logical side of her said to take it slow.

"I've always wanted to find you, and I never thought it possible."

"Why?"

"My, uh... my word. It's only one and it's crazy how many times people have greeted me with it. Eventually, I stopped expecting my soulmate to show up. And especially after I woke up... I definitely thought I lost my soulmate back in the 40s and that I'd never get to meet you."