A/N: I don't own Agent Carter nor the characters within. So, this was inspired by a post on tumblr by queenatwell: Imagine Peggy finding out that Angie is having a secret relationship with one of the other girls in the house and not understanding why she's so upset about that. Thanks!
Angie's standing with her forehead practically to the surface of the door of the apartment on the opposite side of the hall. An almost blushing, floaty smile on her face, hands cupped on the wood, she whirls around at the sound of Peggy stepping outside of her room and closing her door behind her.
"Angie?" Peggy asks curiously.
"Oh, hey, English," Angie chirps, straightening, her smile tamping down into something less entirely ebullient as she glances at Peggy, then the door she'd been in front of, "Just wishin' Evelyn good night. She's not gonna be at dinner."
Evelyn. The one who works as a lounge singer at a club at midtown. The one who lives in 3B.
Nodding, Peggy doesn't think much of it. "I see. That's very nice of you. Willing to accompany me, then?" she smiles.
Angie grins. "Of course!" she falls into step with Peggy, starting quickly into an innocent chatter about her day and Peggy's day and if Peggy thinks they'll have something unique for dinner.
Peggy doesn't think so, and is proven correct minutes later. Sharing a commiserating smile with her before she has to take a seat at a table away from hers, Angie's done well before she is and slips away.
Peggy's not particularly bothered. She's known for a while how fast Angie eats.
The next time Peggy sees Angie, she's sitting in the public area of the Griffith lobby. It's morning, before the normal start of a day shift, and a blonde, almost sandy haired, pretty woman - Evelyn, Peggy's mind fills in from that first afternoon she'd walked into the Griffith - is sitting across from Angie in a chair close enough that their knees are almost pressing against each other's.
"Good morning," Peggy greets, bothering to interrupt the air of privacy Angie and Evelyn had cultivated out of sheer propriety, barely paying attention as she strides past.
Glancing up, smile tugging up in a responding hello, Angie waves.
Evelyn, twisting in her seat to peer at Peggy walking by, smiles and waves as well.
Granting the two distracted, well-meaning nods, Peggy's out the door and down the street before she realizes there was something peculiar about her friend and her across-the-hall neighbor.
Chalking it up as not knowing Evelyn as well as she might, Peggy puts it out of her mind.
The next night Peggy has free to spend for herself, not being occupied with running around the town after one of Howard Stark's errant inventions, she decides that it will be a nice evening to spend with her young friend. Angie had been in her room the night before, complaining about her job and offering schnapps and sweets for the nth time, and though Peggy had turned her down then, perhaps the waitress will still be interested. Leaving her room, walking over to 3C to rap on the door, calling softly for Angie, Peggy pauses.
It doesn't sound like there's anyone in Angie's room.
A little put-off, Peggy tries again. "Angie?"
Silence, again, and Peggy sighs. Just her luck. Turning, heading back to her room to grab a piece of paper to write a note, intending on slipping it under Angie's door, she slows, head tilting and brow furrowing as she crosses in front of 3B.
That sure sounds like Angie's laugh.
Frowning, Peggy stops completely in the middle of the hall. Her body leans towards 3B, and she shuffles closer. The walls are shamefully thin, especially now during the warmer part of the month, and that's quite clearly Angie in Evelyn's apartment. The radio's faintly playing, combining with indeterminate burble of voices, Angie's obvious due to the hours Peggy's spent with her, and somehow, it sounds intimate.
Getting ready to knock anyway, Peggy's knuckles slow before they actually touch the door. What reason does she have to interrupt? Angie's occupied - good for her. It's not like Peggy has precedence over how she spends her time, and especially not with how she's not always available whenever Angie comes around.
Receding, still feeling a little putout that Angie had decided to find someone else to occupy herself with, and telling herself that is what she gets for not being there when Angie had actively sought her out before, Peggy goes back to her room. Writing a quick note inviting the younger woman to her place if she's back before nine PM to see it, she pushes it under Angie's door.
With barely a glance at Evelyn's room as she walks back, Peggy stays up until ten.
Angie doesn't show.
Weeks pass, Peggy and Angie spend time together at the automat and in Peggy's room whenever Peggy has a day free from her undercover work, not to mention during dinner time and breakfast time whenever Angie isn't already occupied with Evelyn.
Only, Angie's most often occupied with the blonde woman.
Peggy tells herself she's glad Angie has another friend to spend her time with while simultaneously managing not to notice the times Angie pops out of Evelyn's room with her lipstick smudged, her blouse or dress mussed, her eyes bright and cheeks pink with a loss of breath. She gets to know Evelyn, rationalizing how often it's only because she's joined at the hip with Angie. She doesn't even put together how much Angie and Evelyn only seem to have eyes for each other.
She doesn't... Until she catches Angie and Evelyn in an amorous embrace, mouths slotted together with arms wrapped around each other, barely an inch away from falling back onto Angie's bed.
Freezing with her palm against Angie's door, her greeting caught in her throat, half-uttered and dying as she immediately jerks herself to windmill back, out of Angie's room and away from her unlocked door, Peggy finds herself taken over by panic and a pounding heart.
Angie's not the first violet woman she's known. She's also not her first friend to be similarly violet colored. She's just...
Angie's door snaps open, wide-eyed blue eyes wild as they meet Peggy's. "Peggy - " Angie blurts, "I didn't mean for you to - Not like this. Not - please don't tell anyone - "
But Peggy's already raising her hands, cutting Angie off before she can continue. Though she's not looking Angie in the eyes anymore, retreating down the hall towards her own room, she musters a smile. "It's okay, Angie. I apologize for barging in. Please - have a splendid evening." She glances helplessly at her own room. "I'll just be, uhm, heading to bed. You see, I'm tired. Yes, quite tired. Just wanted to wish you a good night. So - good night!"
Slamming her door closed and locking it before Angie manages a response, Peggy stares down at the floor, white-hot noise crowding in her ears and up into her eyes and flowing down into her rib cage where her heart won't stop tripping.
How... Did she not notice?
Her body sags, and she barely makes it to her bed before her legs give out.
Angie...
Sweet, sweet, Angie...
Peggy lets out a long, slow exhale. Good for Angie. Nice for Angie. She has love. Evelyn treats her well, from what Peggy's seen. Evelyn's also not afraid to love Angie, from what Peggy's seen as well.
Good for Angie.
Pressure squeezes tight around Peggy's throat.
Her friend has love – the most Peggy could wish for her. Especially in this time and how hard it must be for Angie to give in and love without caring about society. Peggy could never begrudge her that. Never.
Never.
Peggy swallows again. Her heart sinks as old fears rise to clutter up her mind.
Angie's happy. Good.
That's all that matters.
Evelyn can take care of her.
Good.
Peggy should be happy for her. Is happy for her.
She is.
Raising a hand to her face, pushing her knuckles against her lips to stop herself from trembling, Peggy barely manages to close her eyes before succumbing to numb, shocked tears.
...She's just upset, too.