Pencils

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Steve played with pencils.

He didn't necessarily mean to; it just seemed to happen. If there was a pencil or pen within reach, chances were good that he was either doodling or fiddling with it.

Which was fine - even though it didn't exactly go along with the image of Captain America the War Office was trying to promote - only he also tended to drop the pencils he played with, and that could be a problem. Smack dab in the middle of a tense meeting or a serious moment, Steve's pencil would whirl out of his fingers or rattle across the table and he'd either have to sheepishly scramble after it or simply pretend not to notice that he'd just lost his writing implement - again.

It got worse when Peggy was around.

They all noticed it. Whenever Agent Carter walked into the briefing room, Steve's pencil was at least three times more likely to fly away from him than at any other time. The whole thing kept him in a perpetual state of embarrassment, but the Commandos thought it was hysterically funny.

Nobody ever asked Peggy what she thought about it. They didn't need to - the half-exasperated, half-amused quirk to her lips every time Steve dropped his pencil around her was enough to make her opinion quite clear.

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"Captain?" Peggy asked, turning away from the map on the wall after Steve's pencil clattered to the floor for the fourth time in thirty seconds.

He had been bending to pick it up, but sat bolt upright in his seat at her voice, desperately trying to project an air of innocence. "Agent?"

Peggy pursed her lips severely, though her dimples were struggling to show through. They could all distinctly hear the rogue pencil rolling further and further beneath the table, the only sound in the room until it ran into a jutting board and stopped short.

Steve's ears were scarlet. Bucky's forehead was puckered into a fearful scowl and he looked to be deeply interested in the material he was studying, most of his face safely hidden behind his hand.

Never mind that the paper was upside down and written entirely in Polish.

"We're discussing the logistics of the air drop," Peggy reminded them both severely. Her voice was as crisp and businesslike as ever, but there was a quirk to her mouth that suggested she was on the very edge of laughter. "Captain, I'm going to need you to discuss this with your men, ensure they've all undergone the requisite training."

Steve nodded seriously, dutifully attentive. Beside him, Bucky skillfully palmed his own pencil and then got his friend's attention by the simple expedient of jabbing the sharpened end into the captain's knee under the cover of the table. Steve flinched visibly, smothered a yelp, and shot Bucky a dirty look that almost instantly changed into one of gratitude as he recognized the offer for what it was.

"I'll talk to them," he promised Peggy, and slipped the pencil out of Bucky's hand so he could jot down a note to that effect.

He must have used too much force in his haste to sweep his previous awkwardness under the rug though - because then, of course, the borrowed pencil broke.

It didn't simply crack in his hand - it snapped clean in two, leaving a dark smudge of graphite across the paper. One half flipped up to hit him smartly in the face, but the other half was sent skittering across the tabletop, slipping just past his desperately reaching fingertips to rest directly in front of Peggy Carter. Her eyebrows flew up to her hairline in surprise.

Steve froze and looked up guiltily, arm still outstretched from his vain attempt to intercept the pencil end.

For a very long moment, nobody spoke.

Then Bucky cracked. His shoulders trembled violently until with a strangled chortle he leaned back in his chair and laughed until he cried.

"Buck," Steve protested, red-faced, torn between his mortified desire to sink into the earth and the equally pressing need to collar his infectiously laughing friend. Across the table, Colonel Phillips snorted loudly before hastily pinching the bridge of his nose in his hand, unsuccessfully trying to cover his own chuckles with a series of progressively unconvincing coughs.

Peggy set down her clipboard and regarded the broken pencil end in front of her with as much gravity as she could muster, though her dimples had long since won the battle. Then she picked it up, stepped decidedly around the table and stopped in front of the suddenly wide-eyed captain, holding it out.

"Yours, I believe," she informed him with great solemnity.

Bucky howled weakly, slapping his knee - and despite Steve's flushed embarrassment and stammered apology as he meekly accepted the broken end, the captain couldn't quite bring himself to regret the whole debacle.

He hadn't seen Bucky laugh like that since Brooklyn.

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Because if you watch Steve just after he marks the Hydra bases on the map for Peggy in the first movie, he's talking with her and playing with his pencil. And then if you're watching the deleted scene, you'll see him very carefully and intentionally lay it down on the table before following her.

He's not going to risk dropping that thing one more time.

Hi, people. I am beyond remorseful that it's been so long. It's not for lack of trying - every minute has been spent either doing something incredibly important that will directly affect the next 2-5 years of my professional and educational life, or trying to complete the myriad of other, equally demanding things I've agreed to do. And every time I sit down to proof a chapter (which is almost daily), I wake up later with my face smashed into whatever piece of furniture I'm sitting on and sleep-written jargon on my screen.

So - here is this at last, and a Cradle update will follow as soon as I can get Natasha to behave sufficiently.

Thanks for being so patient and supportive and wonderful!

ChildofGod: Ha, ha! I'm so glad the exploding pancakes worked for you. It was one of those truly unusual pieces of information that I stumbled across and thought, "I have got to write this" - followed quickly by "but nobody will ever take me seriously again if I do." :)

A Guest and Fan: Thank you! I'm really glad you liked both chapters. I was a little worried about posting each of them - for different reasons, but it's nice to know they both worked.

LaughyTaffy: Oh dear, you spoil me. :) Now that's the kind of pancakes I really like. Yum, yum!