Lessons in Rule Breaking and Other Reader-Inserts*Steve Rogers*Reader*

The Best Mistake of My Life - soulmate AU - Pt. 1/7

Maybe it was that deep inside you had never believed in the relationships you had, because the guy never said the right first words. Or maybe you were full of shit and you couldn't keep a guy interested, god only knew - hence not thinking about it too hard, going on with your life and taking it as it was.

You might meet him, you might not. It wouldn't be the first case of never encountering a soulmate. Life was funny that way.

Best not to let it ruin your day. A rather nice day it was, today. If you only didn't have to spend it in the crowded office with people demanding their licences and taking out their frustrations on you. Well. You were a grown-up; you had to be okay with things not always being okay. Which sucked. But that was life.

...

You had a chance to have a shortest coffee break to exchange hello's with Ryan - your actual favourite person in the world, your platonic 'soulmate' (not in the ominous sense of the word), your boss who never really acted like a boss - and that was it. Apparently, half of Manhattan had gotten their licence this very date years back, so the office was ridiculously crowded. Thank god for the glass between you and the jungle; it shielded you at least partly.

You grabbed the file of request no. 57 that day - you were like a machine, okay, you couldn't remember the office ever managing to deal with so many in only three hours - pulling out the documents and the licence to make another driver happy.

Your hands were acting on autopilot and you didn't even glance up when an ID was pushed to you through the small space between the glass and the counter, checking the renewed licence first.

Your first thought was 'oh wow'. That guy on the photo was gorgeous. You couldn't help but snap your head up, checking out the real-life thing.

OH WOW.

Scratch the 'gorgeous'. Replace it with 'unreal'.

You were tempted to ask if he was made by an ancient sculptor and then brought to life, because his body was as incredible as his face; the broadness of his shoulders begged for a touch. His muscular arms were not so hidden in the sleeves of his dark green shirt. The shoulder-waist ratio was clearly a God's mistake, a one you were thankful for.

Forget ancient sculptures. His face must have been sculptures by angels and they left him with a halo of blond hair as a reminder. And his eyes. Oh god, such pretty eyes...

He gave you an unsure smile, opening his mouth to probably accuse you of staring and you quickly dropped your gaze, returning to check the licence before you would give it to him.

Your hand froze hovering above the date of birth. You hesitantly looked up again, biting your lip guiltily despite not being the one who had messed up. You felt kinda sorry for him waiting the line for nothing.

"Oh no, there must be a mistake..." you half apologized, half said only to yourself, meeting his suddenly alarmed gaze.

You put on your most apologetic face, hoping he wouldn't be too mad. How had someone messed it up again? The birth dates were with typos all the time. How?! There were only numbers for God's sake! It wasn't like the person inserting the data to the computer had to spell Buchwald or Mxyzptlk or something like that!

Damn you, Sheryl or Kira or you whoever have done this!

The man - Steven Grant Rogers, as you had learned from his sadly valueless driving licence - was staring at you, speechless. You were honestly getting worried, though you weren't sure if you were more scared for him or for yourself in case of his reaction escalating.