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Howard was so engrossed in the new numbers from the Science department, he almost barged right in on Cap and Peggy in the bullpen. He couldn’t hear what they were saying down at the other end, but Howard had a pretty good idea. He backed quickly out of the room.
Steve Rogers, down on one knee. Howard felt a funny sort of twist in his gut. “Better you than me, pal,” he muttered as he walked back to his own office. But he couldn’t keep the smile off his face.
Steve was tidying up his desk when Howard walked in.
“Rogers! We’re going out and getting soused regardless, but I gotta know: did she say yes?”
“What?”
“Carter! You two were in here earlier—”
Steve could feel himself go bright red. Howard had seen them? Oh no. Peggy would be furious.
Howard was still talking, “And like I always say, if you’re gonna make the biggest mistake of your life and get hitched, it better be to someone smarter than you.”
What.
“Which is why I can never marry.” Howard chuckled at his own joke and slapped Steve on the shoulder. “But you! You definitely picked someone with more brains. Did she say yes?”
Steve felt his chest tighten the way he hadn’t since before the serum.
Howard scowled behind his moustache and clapped him on the shoulder again. “Steve?”
Aww, crap. Peggy would be mad either way, but this way might save them both a little dignity. “Yes,” he wheezed. “She said yes.”
Howard gave him an appraising look. “Just hitting you now, huh? Come on, I’ve got just the thing to make you forget about that lifetime commitment you’re about to make.”
Peggy Carter was irate.
She’d had every intention of a peaceful night at home: she’d drawn a bath and had a bottle of wine and a truly excellent book waiting for her. Plus, she’d ended her day at the office in the most unexpectedly pleasant of ways. She and Steve had been finishing up a report, and the rest of the office had emptied out rather suddenly. Though Peggy preferred to be much more circumspect regarding their relationship in the workplace, she supposed there was something to be said for allowing oneself to be caught up in the heat of the moment. So long as one was sure not to get caught in the middle of an indiscretion, of course.
She’d had a lovely, relaxing evening planned. And then the phone rang.
Steve was on the other end, and he actually sounded...drunk? She could hardly tell from the shouting in the background. It took a considerably long time to even get a location out of him. Steve shouldn’t have even been able to get drunk, and now he was at some bar with God-only-knew who else there, on a weekday, and they had a briefing in the morning, goddamnit. She was going to kill him.
Except, when she arrived at the bar, Jarvis had ushered her quickly into the back room, where there was an entire party happening. A raucous one. In her honor.
“Peg!” Howard hollered from across the room. “Come get your man.” He hurried over to her side. “He agreed to be my guinea pig tonight and the experiment was a smashing success, if I do say so myself.”
Steve was, she had to admit (if only to herself), a rather adorable drunk. He was pink all the way to the tips of his ears, and when he saw her, he giggled. Never in her life did she expect to see that mountain of a man giggle .
“Peggy,” he hiccuped, “you’re here!” Steve was beaming at her in sheer, unguarded admiration. It was, truth be told, quite disarming.
“Yes, dear, you called me.” She arched an eyebrow at him. “Drunk.” No need to let him feel he was off the hook that easily, though.
“Oh, right!” He pointed a finger in her face. “I have something to tell you.” He swayed a bit and closed one eye. “Stay right there. This will wear off in ten minutes.” He turned towards the bar, then immediately back to her. “Don’t let Howard dose me again. He’s inten–isstay– isistent on celebrating our engagement with a lotta booze.”
“Our what ?” Suddenly, Angie was at her elbow, Peggy’s favorite drink in hand. Peggy ignored her and yelled at Steve again. “Steven Grant Rogers! Our what?”
“Hiya English!” Even Angie was slurring a little bit. “He finally popped the question, huh? I tell ya, all the girls down at the automat were starting to think maybe it’d never happen.” Peggy tried to interject, but there was no stopping her friend when she got on a tear. Peggy just gripped her glass tight in one fist and gulped down the gin. Several friends from work pressed in to offer their congratulations, but no one let her get a word in edgewise.
Eventually Steve made his way back to her on much surer footing and Angie finally relented.
Peggy turned to her boyfriend with fire in her eyes. “What is going on?” she hissed.
Steve’s shoulders slumped, but he nodded. “I can explain.” He nodded at a door in the corner. “Let’s get some air.”
Once they were outside in the alley, Peggy couldn’t contain herself. “What on earth is going on? Angie thinks we’re engaged ,” she exploded.
“Peggy! Peggy!” Steve threw his hands up and took a quick step back from her. “I didn’t mean for it to happen!”
“How precisely did it happen then?” She took a deep breath and tucked a wayward curl back behind a pin.
Steve, who had rightfully blanched in the face of Peggy’s fury, pinked up again. “Uh,” he said, scratching at the back of his neck, “well, it’s a funny story…”
“I do love a laugh.”
“You see, I ran into Howard when I was leaving the office tonight. After our, uh,” he broke off in a cough.
Now it was Peggy’s turn to blush. “Oh! After we—”
“He didn’t see much!” Steve rushed to assure her. “Far as I can tell, he saw me, well, on my knees, uh, just before I—” He met her eyes briefly. “—you remember.”
Did she ever.
He coughed again. “But that’s all he saw. He assumed I was, um, proposing to you, so he gave us our privacy.” He shoved his hands deep into his pockets. “And then when I bumped into him after, well, I thought that was better than explaining what we’d really been up to.” He looked up and shrugged. “I didn’t think he’d turn it into a party.”
Peggy groaned. “You should be well aware that Stark will turn anything into a party.” She put a hand to her forehead and started to pace, thinking fast. “Well, we can just explain that he was mistaken. You were—tying your shoe, or something, and didn’t realize until Howard had gotten everything swinging what he really thought.”
“Or,” Steve interrupted her, “you could just say yes and we could start planning a wedding.”
Peggy stopped short.
Steve was down on his knee, not for the first time that day, but now he had a ring box in his hand. He looked up at her, his face a mixture of hope and amusement. “It’s not quite how I thought I’d do this, of course,” he reached out for her hand, “but seeing as I’ve had the ring for the better part of a year and still haven’t found the perfect way to do this, I guess now’s as good as ever.”
He took a deep breath. “Peggy Carter, will you—”
She cut him off with a kiss, launching herself into his arms. “Yes,” she laughed, “of course!” She kissed him again, soundly. “All the girls at the automat were starting to think it would never happen!”