Author's Note: This is a fic that was done for a song fic challenge for the song "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen on a fanfiction board that I write for regularly. I thought I'd post it here as well. It's a crossover featuring Steve Rogers from The Avengers and Maxie Jones from the soap opera General Hospital. Another pairing that's hinted through the fic is Bruce Banner and Maxie's cousin Robin Scorpio who, for those who watch GH is not dead or kidnapped or whatever in this, lol.
~*~i'd trade my soul for a wish, pennies and dimes for a kiss~*~ part one of five
(i wasn't looking for this, but now you're in my way)
pairing: maxie jones/steve rogers
fandoms: general hospital/the avengers
Steve doubts he'll ever forget the first time he met Bruce's girlfriend Robin's younger cousin Maxie.
He was still getting used to the way things were in this new century, how different they were from his own time. His cheeks burned from the look of blatant appraisal that was evident inside her sparkling diamond eyes. He could feel the blush that was staining his cheeks drift down to his neck, possibly even seeping into the contours of his chest at the sight of her tongue slipping out to lick her lips.
"OMG," She breathed, the combination of letters causing his eyebrows to pinch in confusion. "Please, please, please," She clasped her hands together and her eyes drifted toward the ceiling, almost as if she was in prayer. "Tell me this is not a dream. And if it is, please, please, please don't ever let me wake up. Like, ever. Cause I doubt I'll see a guy as hot as this outside of my dreams."
"Miss," He says, taking a cautious step toward her. "You aren't dreaming, I'm afraid."
"Duh." She remarks, tone flat as her thick eyelashes flutter, revealing her diamond eyes once again. "As if I'd dream a hot guy like you into – ugh - " Her nose scrunched in disapproval. "Pleated pants," His eyebrows drew closer together, head titled in confusion as she shuddered, despite the fact that she was wearing a tangerine trench coat, a style he recognized. "And Old McDonald's rejected plaid shirt. Please. You'd be wearing Dolce in my dreams. Actually..." The appraisal was back in her eyes in a flash and the grin that curved at her pink lips was nothing less than salacious. "You'd be wearing nothing and so would I."
Now Steve was sure the blush on his cheeks had seeped into every inch of his body. He's not sure how to respond to that, his body tensing as if she's going to pounce on him the way the secretary at the base had done all those years ago after he had returned from rescuing Bucky's platoon from being captured by HYDRA.
Before she can – not that he's certain she will – the sound of Robin's familiar warm tone enters the fray, "Maxie!" She calls, surprise evident in her voice and Steve feels like he can breathe again.
His eyes widen as he watches the blonde – he's just realized her hair's the color of platinum, not unlike Jean Harlow's was back in his day – smacks the friendly brunette on her shoulder. "What the hell is the matter with you?" She hisses. "Like, seriously, Robin you're more than my cousin, you're like the big sister I never had and you couldn't bother to tell me you and your Bill Nye the Science Guy boyfriend were roomies with a freaking Abercrombie model?! Because, um, hellooooo!" She exaggerates the word. "I think that's obviously valuable information. Duh. In fact that should've been the first words out of your mouth, not I'm moving in with my boyfriend in a ridiculously super awesome, state of the art tower that belongs to THE TONY STARK, but that my boyfriend is roomies with an Abercrombie model! Lulu totes would've told me if Dante's roommate was that gorgeous. I should give her all your Christmas presents this year."
"Maxie!" Robin hisses right back, lightly tan skin flushing bright.
"What?" Maxie fakes innocence, batting her lashes preciously. "Like, he hasn't been told he's out-of-this-world-OMG-my-ovaries-just-exploded-hot before. Please. He hears it all the time, I bet. Because let's be real here, only someone that ridiculously good looking can sort of, kind of maybe make dressing like a Grandpa not a completely heinous fashion crime. So," She turns away from Robin, her diamond eyes meeting Steve's baby blues. "Which one are you, anyway? There's, like, three other guys that live here besides Robin's boy toy and duh, Tony Stark," Her eyes cut to Robin briefly. "Who you're soooooo introducing me to later. His spread in French Vogue last month was fabulous. I swear he's like the only guy, ever, who could pull off a full-on plaid suit and still look smoking instead of, you know, dorky. ANYWAY..." Steve's eyes were wide, wondering if she even took a breath during her rambling. "Are you the archer dude, the one who wears the cape, which is awesome – capes are in this season – or the guy who's, like, wrapped in the American Flag? I know, I know," She waves her hand dismissively. "I should be able to put names with faces – you guys, the Revengers or whatever – are, like, everywhere these days, but the news is soooooo depressing, you know? And since you guys haven't made Us Weekly or Life and Style or Just Jared, I'm not exactly up to date on who's who. Oh and Tony's the only one of you who's been in, like, all of my Bibles... You know," Steve watched, amazed at how she was still talking and still unsure if she had taken a breath. "Vogue, French Vogue, GQ, Glamour, Elle, Elle UK, W, and Harper's Bazar."
"Um..." Steve fumbled, unsure if in between all of her rambling, she had asked him to introduce himself. He was honestly still stuck on the fact that her "Bibles" were not The King James version he was familiar with and that she apparently had more than one.
"Are you okay?" She questioned, perfectly plucked brows furrowing together.
"Fine." He answered somewhat smoothly. Tentatively he took another step toward her, her perfume – a heady scent – he couldn't name, hit him full force making him dizzy. Or maybe it was the plunging neckline of her skin-tight dress with its indecently [at least during his time, anyway] short hem and all that creamy, flawless skin he could see that did it.
Either way he could feel his body temperature rising steadily.
Swallowing thickly, he felt like he was thrown back in time and put into the backseat of the car with Peggy as they rode toward the facility that would change his life. Even with his new found height and the way the super-serum had transformed his body, he was still hopeless around such pretty women, and Maxie – now that he was closer and actually concentrating on looking her in the face – was pretty.
His fingers itched, in a way they hadn't in so long, to find a piece of charcoal and just draw. The lights in the foyer of the tower highlighted the sharply angled planes of her high cheekbones perfectly and there was still the hint of moisture on her lips – from when she, he flushed even deeper, licked them, looking like dew glistening on pink rose petals.
"Steve," Robin's easy tone broke through the silence, soft smile gracing her pert berry colored lips. "This is my cousin, Maxie Jones. Maxie," There was affectionate warning in her tone. "This is Captain Steve Rogers."
"It's a pleasure, Miss Jones." He stuck out his hand for her to shake, which she did. Her hand was small and delicate, her fingers slender and light as they wrapped around his broader, heavier ones.
Her head was tipped coyly, a small but devilish smirk painted her cupid's bow lips as she intoned huskily, "You mean it's a pleasure for me, don't you, Captain?"
"Aaaaand on that note," Robin quickly stepped between them, steering Maxie toward the elevator banks. "I think it's about time I finally introduced you to Tony."
"Oh, please," Maxie grumbled, swatting Robin's hands away. "It's not like I was going to molest him in the hallway. I was just flirting. Jeez."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Steve doesn't think he'll see Maxie again after she leaves the tower the first time he encountered her. He figures she'd be a fleeting presence, just another in a long line of pretty girls that came and went from his life.
He's wrong.
A few weeks later, Tony's latest assistant quits. As long as Steve has known Tony that job has been filled with a rotating cast of flustered men and women, none of whom Steve manages to see more than once or twice. Knowing Howard's son like he does now [after they first saved the world and got off to a less than stellar start], it doesn't surprise him. Miss Potts and JARVIS – his AI, that Steve's still not quite used to – seem to be the only two who can come close to keeping the man in line.
But with Miss Potts now CEO of Stark Industries and JARVIS far too valuable to be relegated to being a token memo book/nanny/calendar/appointment tracker – in Tony's colorful words – the hunt for another assistant begins.
Steve wouldn't put it past Tony if he did the things he did on purpose so Miss Potts would go back to being his full-time assistant and CEO.
Then one evening when they're all having dinner, Robin mentions to Miss Potts that her younger cousin Maxie is in need of a job and with her experience at being the assistant for someone named Kate Howard, Steve doesn't recognize the name, should be considered for the opening of being Tony's assistant.
This makes Steve confused because the way Robin speaks of Maxie – her tone so warm and loving, although sometimes exasperated but always affectionate – he thought she would never want to put the young woman through the hell that was working for Tony.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Pepper took Robin's suggestion to heart because a week later, Steve nearly collides with Maxie as she's coming off the elevator. He reaches for her, his enhanced reflexes, springing him into action the moment she looks like she's going to teeter, and he has to swallow hard. He's overwhelmed by the heady scent of her perfume and he can feel that dizziness creeping over his head like a fog.
He's aware – painfully so – of the heat of her skin and how the feminine shape of her frame melds into his. He also can't help but notice just how tiny – there's no other word – she really is. It wasn't something he took the time to pay attention to the first time he encountered her, but now that she's pressed against him, he can see he's practically towering over her, something he never would've been able to achieve once upon a time.
"And here I thought," Her tone is unabashedly flirty just like the spark in her diamond eyes and the grin on her cupid's bow lips that glisten from gloss. "The perks of being Tony Stark's assistant would be getting chauffeured around the city, walking the red carpet in drop dead gorgeous designer gowns, all access to the best restaurants and parties around, Pepper never mentioned getting up close and personal with Stark Tower's resident Captain Hottie."
Suddenly, it's as if he's unable to form words, like his brain has shut down. Flirting was always more Bucky's bag than his. Banter and repartee with a pretty dame was something he'd never been good at, super-serum or no super-serum.
He swallows again, this time because his throat is dry, and he manages to catch her sparkling gaze, red staining his cheeks. "I..." He fumbles and she laughs, bright and bouncy, like the delicate, sprinkling sound of wind chimes.
"You can still talk, right?" Her eyes are wide with alarm. "Cause, seriously even though you have, like,nothing to do with being Tony Stark's assistant I'm pretty sure breaking one of his superhero playmates is grounds for getting fired, and that cannot happen. Seriously, it can't. I, um, need this job, bad. Like badder than you could ever imagine. I mean not even a crappy one bedroom apartment is as cheap as it should be in New York, and I just I..." Her bottom lip started to tremble. "I can't go back home. Or where home used to be or whatever. And Robin's the only person I know here and she stuck her neck out for me, I don't have the greatest resume or, like, much of one, honestly, but I can assist with the best of them and I just reaaaallly," She stressed the word. "Need this. So you're not broken, are you?"
"B-broken?" Steve stammered, brows pinching in confusion.
"Thank God!" Maxie breathed, features smoothing into relief. "Cause, seriously, Captain Hottie, I thought I had totes, like, caused a major malfunction for you or something. I mean it's like no one's ever flirted with you before, which is just crazy because, you're, you know, mega hot and all. So... yeah, I better get my ass in gear and start assisting and stuff cause like I said, I cannot get fired. Later!"
She was gone in a blur of platinum curls bouncing, heady perfume catching his nose and the clacking of heels, but the sight of her legs in sheer stockings, complete with seam going up the back, would be etched into his mind like a photograph.