A/N: Prompt from an anon; Peggy REALLY wants to tell Angie about her secret life. Thanks!
Holding her head, Peggy exhaled deeply, moving her hands back to lightly grasp the area above her ears as she looked up at the wallpaper opposite herself.
She was honestly thinking about telling Angie.
…Which was suicide and ridiculous to even entertain the idea of doing so, she reminded herself seconds later, fingernails digging into her scalp. Angie could hate her. Never speak to her again. Insist on helping her. Any of the millions of ways she'd thought about Angie reacting could be catastrophic.
But still, sliding her hand down to briefly cover her mouth, Peggy wanted to. She could stomach the dying of light in the younger woman's eyes whenever Peggy had to blow her off or lie only so much.
Pulling her hand away, she glanced down to see if she had mussed her lipstick.
She hadn't, but she still felt the overwhelming need to verify it visually as well, even so. Rising, padding into her bathroom and the mirror within, Peggy stared at her reflection. With her curls still mostly curled and clothes barely rumpled even though she'd wrestled with a lackey only hours before, Peggy could still see where her pulse fluttered in her throat, her adrenaline not yet completely gone.
If that night was like the other nights, Angie was going to knock on her door soon. But this time, Peggy determined, shoulders slumping before she straightened dramatically, recentering herself, she would be better prepared than the previous nights. Giving herself a cursory look over her appearance, then walking into her main room to make sure everything was in order, with nothing suspicious or suspect in sight, she picked up her symbol book, studying it like it wasShakespeare after all.
Not five minutes later, Angie's hard, insistent raps sounded on her door.
"Angie," Peggy started, but was quickly cut off when Angie barged in.
"Fifty cents would have been a welcome today," Angie offered as a greeting, taking a familiar seat on Peggy's bed, giving Peggy a wide, suffering teeth-filled smile after Peggy closed the door to her room after her, "Can you believe I only got thirty-four cents in my eight hour shift today? Thirty-four cents! It's like I've said before - I doubt that people even know the war's over, you know?"
Walking over to take a seat next Angie, Peggy looked down at the inches separating them. She allowed a small smile to pass her lips as she briefly met Angie's gaze. "What a travesty," she murmured, absolutely meaning it.
"You know it." Sitting back, tilting her head as she took in Peggy, a slight frown passed across Angie's features. "You okay?"
"I'm sorry?"
Angie nodded, leaning in towards Peggy. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
Laughing, smoothing down her as-yet-unchanged-skirt-from-work, Peggy shook her head. "No," she continued smiling, scooting infinitesimally closer, her heart giving a strong, painful thump as her knee brushed along Angie's, "I'm glad you're here." Pausing a moment, she swallowed through a thick lump, unable to stop herself from almost compulsively straightening and squaring her shoulders. "Angie…" she stared into curious blue eyes, "There's…" She trailed off.
"English?" Angie prompted, smiling softly, "I assume there's a full sentence in there somewhere. Gonna prove me right?"
Peggy smiled back, shaking her head, then closed her eyes briefly. "May I speak frankly with you?"
"Of course," Angie nodded, searching Peggy's eyes as her expression sobered. "Though I think I'd kind of insist you do anyway, with the way you're acting. What is it?" Her eyes widened. "Wait, no one's dead, are they?"
"No," Peggy half-laughed again, more out of jerk reaction than actual humor, "Not this time."
This was it. The point of no return.
Taking a deep breath, Peggy then, hand flying out to take hold of Angie's, squeezed it tightly, knuckles whitening as Angie unconsciously squeezed back. "There's something I wish to speak to you about," she murmured, meeting Angie's eyes directly, "Something…" Her hand tightened even more around Angie's with every purposeful word that dropped from her lips, the faintest of smiles on her face as she committed to her choice, "Of the utmost importance."