Quickly after Steve and Bucky finished their breakfast and their conversation, the door to the hideout opened. "Mr. Stark would like to let you know he has arrived."
"I apologize in advance." Steve took both of their plates into the kitchen.
Pepper's heals could be heard down the hall, "We just got back from an opening in Seattle, so his behavior could go either way." She had gotten used to apologizing for her boyfriend. She saw Bucky sitting at the counter, "I should introduce myself, I'm Pepper Potts." she extended a hand.
Bucky shook her hand, following what he was raised to do. "Bucky," the name felt strange to say, like a fake name- not that Hydra gave him a second one. "But you've probably heard of me."
Tony walked in next, "Yeah, Steve's told s all about you. I swear, if it wasn't for Peggy people would get the wrong idea."
"Tony." Pepper scolded.
"Let's cut to the chase, I want to see the inside of that arm." Tony ignored Pepper.
Bucky looked over at Steve, "He looks failiar."
"He's Howard's son." Steve felt bad for not explaining everything before, "We knew him in the war."
"We saw him somewhere else.." Bucky tried to think, "Something about a car.."
Steve laughed, "Right! The flying car."
"It didn't work, that I remember." Bucky smiled.
"You know that's one of the first things Steve brought up too." Tony rolled his eyes, "Turns out flying cars are a bit unrealistic to a public market."
"Said the man who flies around in a metal suit." Pepper gave him an incredulous look.
He held his hands out as if to say 'what do you want from me women?' and clarified, "I said public market. I can make myself whatever I want."
Bucky stood up, "I guess I should let you mess around with this thing."
"Just to make sure it's working okay… and you know… how it works." Tony shrugged and walked with Bucky back to the lab, leaving Steve and Pepper.
"How was staying with Clint?" Pepper asked.
Steve leaned back against the counter, "It was good. Peggy and I had a good time. The kids are cute." He looked around, to check if the coast was clear to talk about something he needed to get off his chest. Steve walked closer so no one could over hear them, "Can I ask you for a favor?"
"I suppose so." She kept her voice down. "What do you need."
"A…" Steve took a deep breath and turned bright red, "An engagement ring.." he whispered so even Pepper could barely hear,
Pepper's mouth went agape, "Really?!" she hissed, "Of course!"
"I could probably figure it out, but I don't want to get something that she wouldn't like, or worse get caught-" Steve rubbed the back of his neck.
"Don't even worry about it Steve." Pepper insisted, "Do you want to create one or are you just shopping for one."
Steve looked at her hesitantly, "I didn't know that was possible."
Pepper smiled, seeing Steve out of his element was always adorable, "Yeah, I'll set up a meeting for when we're back in New York with someone who knows what they're doing and I'll help you figure something out.
Steve sighed in relief, "Thank you Pepper. You're a lifesaver."
"I'll be expecting an invitation to the Avengers any day now."
"Oh my god why am I doing this?" Steve paced back and forth in a side room. They were all invited to a rather elaborate Veterans day party in Washington DC. Probably because of Peggy and Steve's… revival of sorts, but the country had embraced it's patriotism. "What a terrible day to do this. I'm calling it off. I'm just going to do it.. never." he was almost becoming unhinged. Sam and Bucky were there helping through his crisis. The tie of his old WWII uniform was completely untied and his shirt was a mess.
Sam was dressed in his more modern uniform from his days before joining The Avengers, and someone- probably Natasha- had even convinced Bucky to wear the 40's uniform. Steve wasn't convinced Bucky wasn't suffering through this whole thing. The last thing that he wanted to happen was for anyone to be Triggered but the whole thing. "Steve you gotta calm down. What do you really think she'll say? No?"
"It's just that… it shouldn't be happening. It needs to be perfect because it's so remarkable that everything lined up together. And I'm doing it at a stupid Veterans day party?"
"Natasha thought it was clever." Bucky tried to console his friend, "Just wait for the right moment, walk out there and pretend that everything is fine."
"Right.." Steve took a few breaths, "Everything is fine, and I don't have a ring in my pocket." He repeated it a few more times.
Sam shook his head, "I've seen you jump off planes with no parachute before, walk in front of bullets, You're fine. Fix yourself, and get your ass out there before everyone notices that you're in here freaking out."
Steve fixed his jacket and then his tie repeating, "I'm fine" until he actually believed it for a second. "Alright. You're right!"
"I'm aware." Sam stood up and opened the door, "Now get your ass out there."
Steve walked down the hall and into the party, quickly looking around for Peggy. All around were people in various uniforms that made his worn out greenish brown stand out. "Steve!" Peggy called from behind him.
He turned around and froze. Seeing her, was like walking straight into a dream. Her hair, her clothes, her makeup, everything down to the last detail was exactly how she used to be. "You look amazing-"
Peggy stepped forward fixing his collar, "Thank you. I felt it was a bit theatrical, but Pepper insisted. It's probably a good photo opportunity or something."
Steve looked back at the crowd, noticing how diplomatic the whole thing felt, "Let's go find some people who haven't been elected into being here." He reached for her hand pulling her to where he thought he saw Tony.
They walked up to a table where Rhodey, Tony and a few other people neither of them recognized were listening to Rhodey talk, "And I dropped it outside his door and went- 'BOOM, lookin' for this?" Everyone laughed except for Tony. He got up once he saw Peggy and Steve.
"Thank god you here, I can finally get away from Rhodey telling that story again." Tony looked at the two of them, "Why don't you two look dapper." He gave an embellished hand gesture, "Thank you for your service you brave souls."
"Do you know how long we have to stay?" Peggy asked looking around.
"You don't like it?" Steve's stomach sank. Abort abort abort abort..
Peggy shrugged, "It seems so stiff and unemotional."
"Get used to it." Tony raised his hand to catch Peppers attention. She quickly came over with a glass of champagne in her hand. "Our wonderful elder couple wants to ditch."
"That's not what I said and you know it." Peggy scolded.
Pepper scoffed, "I don't blame you. Remind me to let you throw a party instead next year. You guys should get out of here. Today probably means more to you than standing around at a political party." Steve was trying to figure Pepper out and at that moment he realized she planned the whole thing.
"Yeah…" Steve said slowly, "Let's go to some of the monuments, it's dark no one will see us… I think I know a good place."
Peggy relaxed feeling complete relief. "Please lead the way."
Hours later Peggy and Steve were still on their evening aventures to nowhere. They had gone to look at every memorial in the Washington Mall without a single disturbance. Everything had gone so smoothly he even forgot about the weight in his pocket. They walked with their arms linked beside the reflecting pool. The only sound was the fountains around them and the occasional tourist, "I guess it's only natural we see the WWII memorial last." Their last stop was getting close and the lights and fountains stopped being in front of them, and settled in around them. Peggy stopped in front of a plaque with a large Patriotic wreath in front of it. The bright red made Steve remember why they were there.
"Did you know I was colorblind before the Serum?" Steve broke their silence.
"Yes I remember hearing about it." Peggy leaned on his shoulder.
"Yeah. I couldn't really see red." He sighed. "Blues were fine and everything else was this shade of Yellow. I knew I was color blind, obviously but I never really knew what I was missing until I came out of that capsule and saw something red for the first time." Steve looked down at Peggy and picked up her hands to see the red nail polish. "It was your lipstick."
Peggy leaned up from his shoulder and looked him in the eye, "What was?"
"The first time I ever saw the color red. And your nails. And when you talked to me, everything was just brighter. When I woke up after the 70 years, things weren't as bright. Nothing was, until you came back…" Steve took a deep breath, "I don't want to live without you Peggy. I'm tired of waiting." He reached into his pocket and pulled the ring out before kneeling down. "Will you marry me?"
Peggy didn't notice she had started crying until she went to reply, "Of course Steve. Of course." She offered her hand to him as he slid the ring on.
He stood up and picked her up, spinning around before kissing her. "I love you, more than words than I have the words for."
"Then don't say anymore." She wrapped her arms around his neck, forgetting about everything in the world except for him.