Limerence (Steve Rogers x Male Reader)

The Lies That Surroud Us

"Why'd you lie, son?" Steve asked, looking down at Peter with a grin expression on his face and his voice dangerously low.

Peter gulped, "I-I did not lie, Mr. Rogers. Mr. Y/N was busy and I thought... that maybe..." Peter said nervously and much to his content, Tony got out from the conference hall as well and saw him.

"Kid! What are you still doing here?" Tony came over to him and saw Steve. "Cap?"

"Here for Y/N." Steve said and gave a warm smile. Peter looked at him, confused at his sudden change of expressions and stance.

"Right, he'll be right around." Tony said and turned to Peter, "You sure you don't want Happy to drop you?" He said and Peter shook his head with a smile. Tony nodded and left for his next meeting.

Steve's eyes turned dark again as he turned to Peter, "Stay away from my boyfriend." He warned and walked away to look for you.

Peter gulped. He might be young but he could very well understand that something about this relationship was very wrong. But what mostly broke him down was the fact that the Captain America he idolised was not the man he thought he knew. He knew he had to do something. He couldn't tell Tony either because it wasn't his job to interfere in different people's businesses and unless he has some core evidences, nobody would believe him.

***

"Did you talk to Peter last night?" Steve asked you as he drove back to the tower.

"Yeah... nothing special. Why?" You asked, your eye brow raised at him.

"I don't want you talking to him. I don't like him." He said, his eyes fixed on the road.

"Why?" You frowned. Had he heard your conversation with him last night?

Steve sighed deeply, "Why do you have to question everything, Y/N?" He asked in an exasperated tone.

You scoffed, "Fine, Captain." You mumbled, knowing the remark would spark up Steve but you didn't care. Although a bit surprised, you were mostly relieved that Steve didn't pick it up and make a mess of the situation and the rest of the drive was silent.

Steve, unlike the air in the car, was anything but calm. First Ethan and now Peter... he felt like he was isolating you from other people but he just couldn't help. He had only dreamt of being with you even before he met you in person and now that he finally did have you, he had to constantly battle himself as well as other people for you. He knew Ethan was just a friend. He knew Peter meant no harm. But the daunting thoughts about you leaving him for a certain someone clouded his judgment.

You soon got to the tower and just as you were getting out of the car, Steve's phone rang. He looked at the caller ID and gestured you to go ahead as he accepted the call. You nodded and walked away but not without being curious about whom Steve would be talking to. You weren't exactly a nosy person (who are we kidding?) but Steve had never deliberately isolated himself to answer a call, especially in front of you. He was a very transparent person and he never hid anything to you. He didn't even have a passcode to his phone against the sake of modern day privacy. Having been taken over by your inquisitiveness, you turned around the corner and stood there so you weren't exactly visible but were still in a perfect proximity from Steve to be able to hear him.

"What did you find?... why?... is it really necessary?... okay, fine... no, I get it... 30 minutes... yeah, I'll be there." He said and cut the call.

You immediately walked away so no suspicions could be raised. You sighed and let it go, thinking the conversation must've merely been about a mission. You took the elevator to your floor and just as you got there and were about to enter your room, your phone beeped.

Steve: I'm very sorry, Y/N. But some work has come up and I will have to go to the SHIELD headquarters right now. I will see you tonight.

You replied with an "Okay." And put your phone aside. You had been assigned some previous Avengers mission to analyse so you found this to be the right time for the task. You grabbed the files and sat on your desk.

***

"Why did you call me here?" Steve asked. He was currently at the SHIELD headquarters in the cyber department. A recruit, James, had long ago been assigned to Steve to help him familiarise with the technological advancements of the twenty first century. Over the few past months, they had grown a friendship with each other and Steve would often contact James for any kind of help he would require regarding the Internet, computers or archival SHIELD information.

"Remember when you told me to look into the archives of Dave Carter?" That caught Steve's attention rather to an enormous extent. Of course it had, Dave Carter was in fact none other than your ex boyfriend and/or fiancé that had died during a mission.

"Continue." Steve said as he pulled a seat and sat next to James.

"Well, I looked up into some general files and it was alright. A fair student at the academy, an excellent agent at SHIELD. Although he was quite much of a prankster, really. He loved messing with the systems and so it says here, he was once suspended for allegedly posting Director Fury's nude fakes at the SHIELD server." James chuckled.

But Steve was anything but amused. "How is any of this important?" He asked in confusion.

"Oh, right." James grinned and rubbed his hands together. "So I was looking into his death and I couldn't help but notice everything was quite vaguely described, yeah?" He said in a hushed voice and Steve had to lean in closer to hear what he was saying. "So I did a little, well not exactly little since it took me-never mind, so I did some side research and noticed that about a hundred of other SHIELD agents died during that same year under similar circumstances."

"And?"

"And with the help of a couple of friends, don't ask me whom nor tell anyone about this, I looked into the restricted archives and voila! Dave Carter is still alive." He said, proud of this research.

"What?" Steve almost shouted as his heart sunk at the words.

"Shush!" He said and brought Steve closer again as they spoke in hushed voices.

"What?" Steve whispered.

"That's right. Carter faked his death. And probably so did a hundred other agents and listen to this, none of their bodies were ever found." He said. "And hundred deaths in a year? That's quite unusual at SHIELD. So I looked deep and found about this proposed secret squad of a hundred ex SHIELD agents which was supposed to commence from the following year. Now I'm at least 78% sure that Dave is still alive and kicking in that secret squad. It's obvious, isn't it? His traits and specialities from the academy fit quite perfectly for the job." He said.

"He... he lied to Y/N about his own death?" Steve asked. To say he was baffled out of his wits would have clearly been an understatement. He found himself questioning if Dave ever even loved you or did only just use you. His blood boiled at the thought of someone playing with your emotions.

"Perhaps." James shrugged. "Or maybe it's Y/N that's been keeping everything in the dark all along."