#dikwinters

It was very hard to keep a straight face when Steve’s face was turning so adorably red.  But she lived for these reactions, for his flustered stuttering that accompanied the closest thing to jealousy that she ever saw out of him.  She tried to press the edges of her lips downward, especially when he spoke again.  “He’s old!”

She faked shock, though it was difficult when she only wanted to laugh.  “Might I remind you, so are you, darling.”

“Yeah, but…”  He ran a hand through his perfectly bouncy blonde hair and gaped for words.  “Why?  Han Solo is your favorite?  Why?”

 Peggy opened her mouth to speak, but Steve pointed at her, effectively cutting her off.  “Besides the fact that he’s handsome.  We’ve… we’ve established that already.”

 This time, she didn’t bother to bite back her smile.  Peggy took a long moment, pretending to consider her opinion of the matter in depth, which really was just an excuse to take Steve’s hand as they walked toward the parking lot.

 Steve had invited Peggy to see the new Star Wars movie with him.  He told her that he needed to see it, since the new movie meant that his “welcome to the future” list was incomplete again, but she was fairly sure that he invited her to get her out of headquarters.  Peggy hadn’t been out in public, not really, since her tangle with the Time Stone a few months ago.  It wasn’t that she hadn’t wanted to go out, but between re-training for her agent status and getting over how weird it was to be the same age as her grandchildren, she hadn’t made it into the outside world.  Steve had taken it upon himself to fix that.

 She had seen Star Wars when it first came out.  The original three, anyway.  She wasn’t exactly fit to watch or interested in the new three.  In fact, Peggy wasn’t exactly sure that she was interested in the newest one either.  But Steve was persistent.  And those puppy dog eyes… How could she say no?

 But there was a question at hand.  The movie—which had been quite enjoyable—had ended, and they had gotten onto the topic of characters.  “So I can’t use his handsomeness as an argument?  That doesn’t seem fair…”

 He squeezed her hand, and she continued on.  “I like that he speaks his mind.  He’s pragmatic, and he’s good with a gun.”

 “A blaster,” he corrected.

 “A blaster,” she conceded with a slight laugh.

 “What about Luke?” Steve asked.

 She lifted an eyebrow. “What about him?”

 “Well, they’re kind of his movies, aren’t they?  Except for the prequels, of course.”

 “I’ve never seen the prequels.”

 “Maybe that’s for the best.”  His head was lowered, but his eyes found hers with a sheepish smile.  In that instant, Peggy wished that she had a camera.  She loved that look.

 Steve took his hand from hers and fished the car keys out of his pocket.  He watched them intently as he spoke, fiddling with them as he did so.  Peggy had never known Steve to stay still for very long.  “I mean… He’s really loyal, right?  He loves his friends, and he fights to protect them and his family.  He always does what is right, even if it’s the hard thing to do.  And he always sees the good in people.  We don’t see a lot of that anymore.”  There was a slight pause as he seemed to find the key he was looking for.  “In real life, anyway.”

 All pretence of seriousness in Peggy melted away at his speech.  He had clearly thought a lot about this.  Luke Skywalker struck a chord with Captain America, and she was pretty sure it wasn’t just because they were both handsome, blonde heroes.

 A smile crept onto her face.  He was the most endearing man that she had ever met.  It was sweet, actually, how much he had taken Star Wars to heart.

 As he pressed the unlock button on his key fob, Peggy acted quickly.  She grabbed his hips, digging the pads of her fingers into the waistband of his jeans, and pushed him back against his shiny car.  They stood close now, facing each other, Peggy with a smug and satisfied smirk on her face, Steve with that slightly dazed, surprised look that she enjoyed so much.

 “My goodness, Steve Rogers, you really identify with Luke Skywalker, don’t you?”

 “What?”

 “He reminds you of yourself.”

 He shook his head unconvincingly.  “No!  No, it’s just—”

 “That’s not a bad thing, darling.”  She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed his lips lightly.  “I never really thought of it that way before.  You two have a lot in common.  He’s a true hero, albeit fictional.  But that’s why he’s the star of all of the films, isn’t it?”

 Steve’s face eased and settled into an easy grin, a pleased grin, the kind that made Peggy feel incredibly girly.  “Except for the prequels.”

 She groaned.  “Who cares about the prequels?”

 “Well, I mean, they do a really good job of explaining just how the political atmosphere of the Republic turns into the—”

 He was cut off mid-sentence by another kiss, this one softer and deeper.  Peggy had stepped closer to him, wrapping her arms fully around his waist.  Steve held her close, and when she pulled away, there was still only a sliver of light between their lips.

 “I was giving you a hard time earlier, you know?” she whispered.

 “About what?”

 “Well, as handsome as Han Solo is… Princess Leia is actually my favourite character.”

 “That’s more like it.”  Steve beamed.  “You’re a lot like Princess Leia.  You’re strong and—”

 She could sense the teasing in his tone.  He was making fun of her previous observation.  So she punched him in the arm.  Peggy was pleased that he was kind enough to wince, though she knew that his big arm probably felt nothing.

 He was grinning again before she knew it.  “You know… Luke and Leia do kiss in one of the movies…”

 “And they’re siblings.”

 “Not really the point I was going for,” he murmured as he leaned down and touched his lips to hers.  She let him, even if he had been teasing her moments before.  It was only fair.  Peggy did enjoy that cheeky side of him.  It was what had attracted her in the first place.

 As she pulled back from him, she slid her arms up and around his neck, still keeping him pressed into the car’s door.  She sighed contentedly.  “Steven Rogers, I love you.”