A/N: Here's a one-shot set in the Proof Positive series. This is set in between Chapters 6 and 7. I had fun writing about Steve discovering modern music and being introduced to modern movies. He's a precious baby animal. :)
Unbeta'd, and Marvel owns more of this than I do. Also, all music belongs to those that wrote/performed/produced/etc them. I use them for humor and good times.
Also, if you go to my Tubmlr page (megaranoelle. tumblr. com) you can catch some behinds the scene stuff about the fic. No spoilers, promise. Maybe you can influence the story.
March 2010
Mary knocked on Steve's door, knowing the man was in there, and waited. Peter was with Tony so Mary thought that she would check in on Steve, see how his modern education was coming. She tilted her head when no one came. Pressing her ear to the door she raised an eyebrow when she heard a faint bass beat, some snares, and- Pop music? Mary took out her key and unlocked the door to Steve's apartment, slipping in and closing the door as soon as she was inside. Yes, that was Pop music, from the mid Two-Thousands.
Steve was in the kitchen, laptop open with the music playing, and Mary raised an eyebrow. His back was too her, but that could easily change as he moved around, dancing around the kitchen to the music. This was not the type of music that she had expected to hear from Steve's apartment, but she wasn't exactly surprised. And it was entertaining. Mary decided to lean against the entrance to the kitchen, arms crossed over her chest, smile in place.
The high pitched yelp, and Steve stumbling back into the counter, wide eyes, and red cheeks, were totally worth the wait until the current song had ended. The blonde rushed over to the laptop as another song started to play, one that Mary was too familiar with. She ran forward and stole the laptop from the counter, grinning wider now.
"Oh no, Rogers! You are so dancing to this one!" Steve's eyes seemed to widen more. "You picked the songs, you should have learned the rules." She started to swing her hips to the music, moving backwards and away from Steve's grasping hands. "No one turns off Justin Timberlake."
"Marrrrry," Steve whined. That only served to make her grin wider. She set the laptop down and moved closer to him, putting her hand on his chest and pushing him backwards, mouthing the words to him.
"You don't have to admit you, wanna play," Steve's cheeks managed to turned redder, and Mary tried not to giggle. "Dance with me. Just let me rock you, 'til the break of day."
"When you play Justin, and more specifically, Rock Your Body, you set into motion way more than you thought." Mary kept moving, following the unwritten rules of having to dance, and noticed that Steve wasn't moving anymore. She raised an eyebrow at him then grabbed his hands and started moving him with her.
"Don't feel right dancing with another man's gal," Steve muttered, moving, but not feeling the rhythm like he was before. Mary let out a laugh and grinned at him.
"Watch this!" She never stopped moving, her shoulders now falling into step with her hips to the song, and moved over to Steve's laptop, opening up Skype. She called Coulson, grinning when the man accepted the video call right away. He of course heard the music as Mary hadn't paused it, and he smiled at Mary, watching her unable to sit still.
"Rogers? Why aren't you dancing?" Even Coulson's head had started a little head bob. Mary crowed with excitement, turning back to Steve and grabbing his hands again, trying to make him move. "It's a crime against music to not dance to this song, I don't care what time period you're from."
Mary grinned as Steve started to let himself go a little more, knowing that Coulson wasn't even batting an eye at the fact that his girlfriend was dancing with Steve now, and to a song with lyrics such as these. "Didn't want it to inappropriate, sir," Steve said over the music, Mary sliding across the floor a little to the words, 'And you sail to the right.'
"It's just dancing, and Mary does it all the time." Mary turned to face the camera now. "Especially when she thinks no one's watching." She squawked at him as he grinned, and the call hung up.
"Traitor!" Mary turned back around to face Steve. "Better start shaking that ass, Rogers! The song's almost over!" Steve let out a laugh, finally relaxing and started to dance around the floor again. Mary smiled and hopped back over to his laptop, looking through the playlist that he had generated.
When the song was over, Mary stopped the music player, and Steve walked over, leaning next to her against the counter, arms crossed over his chest. "These are some interesting songs you picked, Steve," she said as she scrolled through them all. "Seems like you've picked up on a genre that you like?"
"Music certainly has changed," Steve commented, and Mary couldn't help but nod her head. "The subject matter has changed for sure."
"Not the innocent loves songs that you're used, too?" Mary glanced back at him over her shoulder. "That was about the same time that Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby were showing up, right?" Steve nodded. "Oh yeah, music certainly has changed since then. Although, I still hold a fondness for Bing Crosby movies, his voice is magical." Steve hummed with a smile while Mary went back to looking through his music.
"It was kind of a shock to see, well listen, to what songs are supposed to mean now a days." Steve leaned next to Mary. "Is it all about sex now?" Mary made a little noise with a shrug, kind of nodding. "I know I found some songs that weren't, but, those were few and far between it felt like. And there were-"
"Do you understand what all these songs mean?" Mary asked suddenly, cutting him off. Usually she wouldn't do that, would let Steve ask whatever he wanted, but a couple of songs, and their play count, had her questioning something.
"Depends on which songs you're talking about," Steve said. "There are some that I don't get all of."
"This one?" She looked at him, pointing at a particular song. The blush on his cheeks told her that further, gentle, prodding was needed. "I think that maybe some of these songs have done some explaining about cultural changes that I should have been doing."
Steve cleared his throat a little, swallowing, and Mary could see that he was actively trying to force out the words he wanted. Yeah, she'd have to use her Peter-sized gloves for this one. "Do you know, uh, know much about, uh, what uh, this song is about?"
Mary motioned for Steve to follow her over to the couch. Standing in the kitchen was not where they should be for this. "This should never get back to Tony, but yeah." Mary glanced at the Katy Perry song title, having brought the laptop with them. "I heard that song, and thought back to college. She wasn't far off, despite how many people didn't like that song. A lot more people than that liked it, and I'm sure a larger number could relate."
"So you've, uh, you and another woman," Steve coughed a little and Mary took pity on him.
"I'm sure that you've noticed this already, but it's different being told as well." Mary turned a bit to face him. "It's no longer illegal for same sex couples to be in a relationship. It's maybe not as accepted as it should be, and there's still violence related to the topic, but it's not nearly as taboo as it used to be. Some States have even made it legal for same sex couples to get married."
Steve let out a breath, leaning back against the couch. "Wow, married, really?"
"Yeah. Big change from your time." Steve snorted a little as he nodded.
"I read about 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'," Steve started carefully. Mary waited patiently, letting him gather his thoughts and words. "Sometimes, things just don't change with the military."
"Wasn't just the military took on that way of thinking," Mary murmured. "Stevie? If they tried to recruit you back into service, would that be an impossibility?" Steve took a breath, lifting his eyes a little to meet hers, and she nodded. "Well, if that ever happened, I heard a rumor that they're trying to repeal that."
"Doesn't stop the feelings, or opinions, about it," Steve commented.
"No, it doesn't," Mary agreed with a shake of her head. "Alright, so, here's the new plan for the day."
"There was an old plan?" Steve asked. Mary reached forward, putting one finger to his lips.
"Peter is with his Dad until tomorrow, and Phil is working late so we're not doing anything tonight," Mary started to say, pulling Steve's laptop up to them. "So, that means that we are going to educate you on the ways of Gay." Steve looked at her, slightly deadpan expression. "I'm serious, I'm going to work on getting you comfortable with this, and with yourself. It's not going to happen overnight, and it'll be an ongoing process, but I am willing to take on the challenge! For the good of all future boyfriends of Steven Rogers!" She put a hand over her heart, a fist up in the air, a determined expression on her face. "For all those that might-" She squealed and laughed when Steve put his hand.
"What's your master plan?" Steve urged, trying to get her to play down the dramatics. Not that it bothered him too much, by the little hints of a smile that Mary could see on his face.
"We're going to watch some movies, first. And we have to start with a classic." She opened up Netflix and Steve turned on his TV. Mary was glad to see that Peter had at least trained Steve to be able to transfer the movie to the big screen with the wifi connection. He was slowly learning.
"My Best Friend's Wedding?" Steve questioned looking at the title.
"Everyone needs a George in their life," Mary said as she put the laptop on the coffee table, turning up the volume on the TV. "After you see this movie, I hope that you will become my George, Steve. Steve raised an eyebrow, and Mary just snuggled back into the couch, getting comfy. "Be my George at my future wedding, because Tony would be my George."
"I have no idea what any of that actually means," Steve said. Mary sighed and started the movie.
"You will, sweetie, you will." She pat his knee a couple of times. "And afterwards, you'll take me out dancing."
"I can't dance," Steve told her automatically. "I have two left feet."
"We can work on that as well."
"That wasn't really a happy ending," Steve commented softly at the end of the movie. Mary sniffed, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.
"But she danced," Mary said, sitting up on the couch. "My god, did they dance." Steve chuckled a little and bumped Mary's shoulder with his.
"Still have two left feet," Steve reminded her. Mary leaned over to the laptop again.
"Two more movies, Beginners, which is more serious but incredibly sweet, and then another classic, The Birdcage." She grinned at Steve when she mentioned the second movie.
"Is Peter's Dad gay?" Steve asked suddenly when Mary came back with some ice cream for them. It was dark outside, and they had finished the movies.
Mary blinked a little, then glanced at Steve, licking the chocolate sauce from her spoon. "Does this have to do with the cupcake incident?"
"Tony had this, Deer in the headlights look, when Peter said that he could help with having a crush on a boy," Steve said, taking a bite of his own ice cream.
"He does that sometimes," Mary said with a nod. "Tony's, complicated. In the simplest terms, he's bisexual." Steve raised an eyebrow at her. "He likes both men and women, hence our son," she chuckled. "I think he's happier with men, but that's just my observation."
"So, Tony can't be your George?" Steve asked with a smirk.
Mary let out a laugh and fell against Steve's side. "Nooooo, Tony could never be my George. Did that look like a Tony thing?" Steve snorted and Mary pointed. "Exactly! Yes, he can dance, but I don't see Tony calling me up when my former lover decides to get married, and I fail at breaking up his wedding. He's not going to have that sultry smooth voice as he seduces me in a non-sexual way just to dance in my lavender gown. Yes, he can dance, but he needs more than skill to be my George."
Steve smiled, eating his mint chocolate chip ice cream. "And you think I'd be a good fit?"
"You'd be a good fit for any movie role," Mary said, kicking her legs up and draping them in Steve's lap. "You fit the, obvious, superhero role, the best friend role, the uncle slash babysitter-for-your-awesome-and-single-parent-neighbor role. You're like, the headlining Actor, and the Supporting Actor, and it makes sense that you're gay, or possibly bi."
"Why's that?" Steve asked, putting his own legs up on the coffee table, making it more comfortable for Mary.
"Because, you're incredibly good looking, and off the market for me." Mary said, leaning forward and stealing a bite of Steve's ice cream, making him squawk in outrage. She grinned at him, putting the spoon in her mouth. Mary loved her job. Maybe she should try setting up-
Naaaaah.