The air was heavy and suffocating as the figure neared her. The silhouette of the familiar brought her painted nails to outline the clasp of her clutch. In all anticipation as the footfalls neared, she rose from her seat unceremoniously, breathless. He made his way to her awkwardly bumping into outlier dancers from the club's floor. Peggy had tried to keep her composure-her authoritative, calm, and patient personality from when they had last met during the War but she could not restrain the smile creeping up on her features. Lips curving, she straightened, hands resting at her sides and feet separated at ninety degrees. Her stand at attention was useless against the relentless fluttering within her stomach. The agent's dark eyes never left his face, as Steve finally was standing parallel to her.
The music of Jo Stafford faded into complete silence and so did the chatter of the crowd. At this moment, it was Peggy Carter and Steven Rogers shaking with apprehension. There were no ranks, no war, injuries, code of conduct to withhold them from whatever they wanted to express. Peggy had imagined their relationship like this-if he would arrive at their date, which he had now. Her mind was wiped clean of anything she had planned. She inhaled to calm her nerves only to smell faint cologne and her face softened. Steve had stepped an inch closer, azure eyes expressing disbelief then slight panic quickly replaced by glee. Yes, Captain America was in complete delight examining her to be sure he was seeing correctly.
Peggy's lush red lips formed into a full beam, assuring. She could see the creasing of corner of his eyes, a boyish and sheepish smile gracing his features. Steve was a strong and proud looking man but she knew better. He was still the shy and gentle kid from Brooklyn. Her gaze flitted downwards, touched at his adorable behaviour of twiddling his fingers in pure anxiousness. She cleared her throat, hands smoothing the sides of the dress he had seen her in before. Honestly, she had run this scenario in her head many times in the months after his crash. V-J Day was the worst as her thoughts became obsessive- outlined, yet, here she was licking at her lips and feeling of the texture of the vibrant red Revlon . She averted her gaze to the table for a moment, suddenly finding the branded ashtray interesting, before she heard a slight rumble.
Turning to face her partner, she could see now that he was chuckling, smile painfully wide. The chuckle was evolving into a giddy giggle and with much effort on his part; he leaned closer, out of breath. "Hi," Steve said as his shoulders tensed and his fingers finally stayed put near his suit pockets. Peggy's eyes widened while she tucked a strand of her curled hair behind her ear, smile equally as wide as she nearly choked words in response, "Hi."
