Revamped!
[This is a little filler I just wanted to write].
Chapter 32: Not Kids Anymore
Rogers House - Brooklyn - 7:32 AM
Angela wakes up one morning after spending the night with her parents since they needed her help with the boxes in the attic and the garage. She loved sleeping in her childhood room again, which her parents left untouched ever since she moved out for The Academy just like with Xavier's. It just brought back so many memories from all the years spent in that room, as if she never left.
She walks into the kitchen and sees her dad already there, reading the newspaper. From the looks of it, Angela believes that her dad spent the whole night awake.
"Dad," Angela starts, "when was the last time you had a proper sleep?"
Steve looks up from his paper. "I've slept for seventy years -"
"You've used that line before."
"Give me a break, I'm a senior citizen."
Steve looks up at Angela with a joking smile but it fades when Angela's lips remain serious. She doesn't like to think of her dad as old. Despite his young physique for a man who came from the 20th century, Steve was in his 90s when she and Xavier were born. He was the age of great-grandparents when she and Xavier were babies.
"You're a grown woman," Steve tells her, "and I couldn't be prouder of you. There were days when you wore your hair in pigtails and now you wear a uniform; instead of dolls, you have guns; instead of being scared of you falling off your bike, I now fear for you falling off a building." He sighs. "Forgive me for worrying but the first time I saw you in action was on the news and you were pregnant in disguise."
Angela was following her father's spiel but lost him when that last part came in.
"So?" Angela questions.
"It didn't hit me that you were running on a mission, it hit me that I could have grandkids running around."
Angela looks up at her dad and finds herself smiling at that thought. She loves kids and spent many years babysitting them so why not just have some of her own? She'd have to figure out her relationship first before that life stage.
-o-
Angela's Apartment - Manhattan - 2:47 AM
Angela lies awake in her bed. Her bedroom lights are off since her boyfriend is sleeping beside her, nestled in the bedsheets close to her. Her father's words ring in her mind as she glances at him. She and James have been together since high school and are still going strong to this very day despite a blip during the Academy. They don't live together but would occasionally spend the nights at each other's places. That was it in terms of their relationship. Why don't they live together?
They weren't Emily and Daniel who have been engaged since they graduated high school and will move in together when she comes back into town. What were they doing?
"Why are you still awake?" James mutters to her through the pillow. A muffled laugh suddenly escapes his mouth. "We could have a pillow fight if you're up for that."
Angela's mouth curves into a grin as she watches James's arm travel under the sheets to wrap around Angela's mid-drift and pulls her closer. He begins to kiss her shoulder and Angela turns onto her side to face him.
"Where is our relationship going?" Angela asks him.
"I was hoping a pillow fight…"
Angela bites down on her bottom lip, resisting his charm. "I'm serious."
"As long as we're happy," James starts, "which we are, then I don't care for the technicalities. Statuses are a little much, don't you think?"
"I disagree. You know you disagree too."
"You're just being old-fashioned. I'm just being … something."
Angela narrows her eyes at him. He smirks, kissing her forehead.
"You're accustomed to how things were back then but now we're in a new age," James tells her. "Couples have sex and have children before marriage. If you wanted to save it all for marriage, in the beginning, I would've popped the question. Or not, that's a little much. In fact, studies have shown that the rate of marriage is on a decline. Why are we even talking about this?"
"Why do you know all that?"
"I'm smart. Why were you asking?"
Angela shrugs. "My dad wants grandkids."
James's mouth hangs open. He'll have to provide them since Xavier is probably not giving the old Spangled Man any. "My mom said the same thing, unlike my dad who doesn't want miniature versions of me running around, or so he says. She just doesn't want to look old in photos."
Angela laughs a little. "Well, tell Jan that she'll have to wait a while. Unless -"
She whacks him with her pillow.
-o-
Xavier's Apartment - Manhattan - 9:09 AM
Xavier wakes up and walks through his apartment. Mid-yawn, Xavier looks around his living room and notices something odd sitting on his couch. It's a circular package. When he picks it up, he notices how thin and light it is. Tapping his fingers on it, he feels how sturdy it is. Xavier tears through the unaddressed parchment paper. His eyes widen and his jaw drops as he sees the red, silver, and blue object underneath.
It's his dad's shield.
Never in all his life did he think that the shield was some sort of family heirloom. It was his father's shield. It was Captain America's shield. Xavier doesn't see himself as the star-spangled hero, he's only his son. He didn't think he would receive it as his own but The Academy made him train for it (him more than Angela).
"Did you really have to wrap it?" Xavier asks.
He turns and sees his dad walking out of his kitchen, drinking a coffee he helped himself to.
"It felt right," Steve responds.
"But are you sure?"
"You need it more than I do."
"Dad -"
"Xavier," Steve puts a hand on his shoulder, "you're ready for it. Call your sister."
He immediately goes to call Angela, holding his phone against his ear with his shoulder as he still looks at the shield. As the call rings, he looks at his father who's smiling in a way that's both happy and sad. His son's growing up but he's prepared for this. It's different now from when he's held it as a child. Back then, he and Angela were playing around or tobogganing. Now? Now it's his.
Angela: Hello?
"Dad gave me his shield," Xavier says. His heart flutters as he says those words.
Angela: He did? Oh my god, finally!
Then it dawns on Xavier that Angela is his older twin and who he thought was their dad's favourite child (or what everyone thought and he still thinks) - yet he got the shield. But despite that, people did believe he would get the shield. Even Angela thought that.
"Crap…" Xavier mutters. "Did you want it?"
Angela: No, no … it was always meant for you. Dad knows that I can protect myself without it.
Xavier narrows his eyes as Angela snickers on the other end. He should've seen that coming. What makes it all worse is that he can hear James laughing in the background as well and his dad's laughing beside him.
James: Roasted!
