Man Out of Time - A Captain America / Avengers Fanfiction

Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Steve killed the engine and helped his blushing bride off the seat, her cheeks made all the more rosy from riding in the cold. Her eyes sparkled like a little girl on Christmas morning, as though she were about to throw open the door to the living room and see what Santa had left for her under the tree. No sooner had she gotten the helmet off than he indulged the urge to kiss those decadent lips, allowing the hunger he had kept tightly leashed since the first time he had lay eyes upon her to romp, unbound.

"I can't believe we just got married," Bernice said when he finally let her come up for air. "Pinch me so I know that I'm not dreaming."

"Only if you pinch me first." Steve gave her an embarrassed grin. "So I know you didn't really tell me no."

"I almost did."

Steve's grin disappeared.

"But only because it was so quick!" Bernice laughed, putting both hands on his cheeks. "It usually takes guys years to get around to popping the question. You like to take everything so slow … I had already braced myself to be just your girlfriend for the next ten years."

Steve had never been particularly good about expressing the way he felt. First through art, then action, the last thing he wanted to do was justify why he felt so compelled to make her his forever. Usually he performed some physical act to hide when he got tongue-tied, the momentary delay to flip on a light switch or do some small task enough to provide cover. But Eustebio had left the lights on, tidying up the garage so Steve didn't even have a stray wrench to pick up so his brain would have time to fashion words describing the emotions clamoring in his chest. There was, however, one action which would convey what he wished to tell her.

Scooping her up bridal style, he carried his giggling bride out of the garage and into the empty gym.

"Your apartment is all the way up on the second floor!"

"I want to make sure you don't get away!"

In a few long strides he carried her across the floor and up the stairs. He set her down just over the threshold to get her first look at their new home. He'd never brought her up here before, wise enough to know there was no way he could avoid the temptation it provided … and his shame at how little he had done to renovate his personal quarters. The studio was freshly painted and neat, but it was still little more than an office with a bed shoved into the corner.

As of this afternoon, it was a king-sized bed, not the twin-long he'd had before. The new bedding was the colors of the Puerto Rican flag which, except for the single star adorning the center of a blue triangle, was the exact same colors as the American flag. It had been the only one available when he'd bought his new bed from the local ethnic furniture store this afternoon. Quite frankly, he liked that color scheme. It was why he had stuck with the red, white and blue of his War Bond costume when Howard Stark had created his armor.

"This is … um … interesting," Bernice said, gaping at the garish colors. It appeared his blushing bride was less than enthusiastic about his foray into interior design.

His eyes drifted over to a carved wooden Holy Family which had mysteriously appeared on his bureau while he'd been out, along with candle holders and the most beautiful hand-embroidered scarf he had ever seen. He'd seen them for sale at the local cantina, a traditional Spanish wedding present for a new bride and groom. A gift from Rodriguez? Or one of his other gym patrons who'd helped him carry the mattress and box spring home three blocks by hand as he'd told them his crazy plan to woo the woman of his dreams? On the counter sat two casseroles and a tiny cake from the local bakery with 'felicitaciones' scrawled across the top. A lump rose in his throat. The makeshift family he'd been piecing together out of gang kids, washed-up boxers, and parishioners with no church to worship in anymore had come together to root for his big shot at the gold.