UNDRESS. ❪ Steve Rogers ❫ ✓

four

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She refreshed his mood each time he saw her. She was like the perfect amount of a citrus flavor in a glass of water with tiny ice cubes on a blazing summer day where the sun was relentless in torturing the citizens on earth.

He never got tired of seeing her or even thinking about her. He lived in the ocean, not even bothering to rent out a room or apartment in the once tiny town that turned into a tourist town. His family members were long dead, but he had accepted that the day Peggy died. It didn't matter that he turned her down because she still held a special place in his heart. For a while, in the past, he had regretted rejecting her because he still hadn't imprinted on anyone to be his mate, but once he visited the tiny town and met Florence, he knew he made the right decision.

She was sweet, and at times - rare times where he couldn't control his thoughts and was bored at simply laying in her bathtub - he would imagine her eating honey and the substance dribbling down her lips. He was a virgin - there was no lie about that - but he had a vivid imagination and a love for the taste of honey.

Whenever she blinked and her lashes would brush against her skin - and with the rare occasion of a lash falling down - it reminded him of a rose petal falling off from its bud, which only reminded him of how fragile the human body could be.

For years, he had waited for her to grow and for the right opportunity, but now he was frightened of his strength and his species - his very own blood. Before the serum, he was a small, fragile seal who dreamt of the world, both land and sea alike. After the serum, he was bigger and stronger and was able to smirk and pretend most things were all right, but it didn't ease the anxiety, stress, or insecurities inside him.

After the fight in Wakanda where Thanos snapped his fingers and his friends had disappeared, he remembered sitting on the floor of the shower in his apartment and scratching himself to the point where he bled. His nails that were normally kept short and neat felt like thorns or a cat's claws. He didn't want to only feel the pain inside. He needed to feel it on the outside as well.

At the point, he nearly crawled back to the tiny town in hopes of seeing his mate for only the second time in his life, but he couldn't bring himself to in case she had disappeared in the snap as well.

He pleaded to God, to whom he hadn't pleaded to in a long time, and pleaded that there would be a chance to fix things - a chance to recover everything he had lost.

He believed in God when he was younger, but stopped when he came out of the ice. Once Tony Stark died saving the world for a second attempt at defeating Thanos, Steve was certain there wasn't a God.

Now, he wanted a home. He brought back most of his friends but lost important ones in the way. He was tired of winning when, in fact, he was losing. He would not lose her.