-- ♛ --
"So, my soulmate's trapped under ice and has been frozen for 70 years?"
"66 years to be precise,"
"What are you? Some fangirl over Captain America?"
"I do have some trading cards,"
-- ♛ --
previously named "Every Step of the Way"
first takes...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
(two weeks after meeting; family dinner)
❝♛❞
GABRIEL HALL stared unimpressed at Captain America who sat across the table from him. Two things that he never thought would ever happen.
That he would be unimpressed with Captain America (aka his favorite superhero growing up).
That THE Captain America would be sitting across from him.
But even though eight-year-old Gabriel would be gobsmacked that he would even have the chance to meet the red, white, and blue hero, his little sister was more important to him than anything. So even though Gabe was itching to grab his old Captain America figurine from his closet shelf for the man across the table from him to sign (in the box and in mint condition), he needed to play the protective older brother. Especially since the whole Merritt incident.
Gabriel always knew that there was something wrong with Merritt. There was something unsettling about his everlasting smirk plastered on his face and his striking grey eyes that had the similarity of a wolf to its prey. So, Gabriel wasn't exactly surprised when Cadence told him that they broke up, but he was surprised (and a few other emotions) to hear that Merritt cheated, very publicly at that. He knew Merritt was an asshole. He just didn't realize he was a dumb asshole.
So even though, Captain Steve Rogers was America's Sweetheart and the poster man for the heart of America, Gabriel could not trust him blindly. Who knew what stuff could be in the heart of America anyway? Bad cholesterol and political debates? McDonald's BigMacs and oppression of different minorities? Poor healthcare and culture erasure?
"So, Steve." Gabriel addressed the tense man sitting across from him at the dinner table. Gabe could hear his wife sigh from the seat next to him. Elsie had given him a stern talk on the ride over to Gabe and Cadence's parents' house about not giving Steve too much of a hard time.
Elsie shouldn't be surprised about what Gabe was planning to do. If you asked him (which no one did), it was HIS job to be protective of his baby sister, even against THE Captain America.
Steve looked up from his large plate of mashed potatoes, steak, and asparagus. Sitting beside him was Cadence who gave her older brother a glare, almost a warning for him not to interrogate the poor man lost out of time. She had been through this rodeo too many times to not recognize the look on her brother's face.
And Gabriel wondered why Cadence often said her favorite sibling was Elsie.
Too bad Gabriel's skill of ignoring his sister was too strong to care.
"How old are you?" Gabriel asked (although he already knew the answer, he googled it earlier).
"27." Steve automatically answered before he backtracked, "But, uh, I was born in 1918 so I guess I've been alive for-"
