“Please?” Harper was giving you the puppy dog eyes. At the tender age of six years old, your daughter had learned that you couldn’t say no to the puppy dog eyes, and she had the pile of teddy bears to prove it.
“Of course I will chaperone your museum field trip” you said, sitting your cup of coffee down opposite to her on the breakfast bar.
“Good” she announced, pushing her empty bowl to you before hopping down from her stool. “Because I already signed your name on the permission slip and told them you said yes.”
You spent a few moments staring into your coffee before her words sunk in. “You forged my signature on a school document?” You called, making your way into her bedroom. “And they bought it?” Harper simply nodded, continuing to pull her cardigan on. “Babe, we talked about this.”
She just shrugged, carefully placing a few books into her book bag and then slipping it on over her shoulders. “I knew you would say yes.”
“That’s not the point.” You followed her to the front door, knowing she couldn’t miss the bus again this month, but also knowing that she probably shouldn’t be mastering her forging skills before her tenth birthday. “We’ll talk about this later.” you said, dropping a kiss on the top of her head and opening the door.
You were somehow on your way to the museum and you had not talked about it. At this point it was the least of your worries. You always thought that Harper was exaggerating when she said that her class was full of ruffians (her words, not yours) but looking around, she wasn’t wrong. Harper may have been stubborn and a lot wiser than you would have liked her to be sometimes, but at least she wasn’t at the stage of getting peanut butter stuck in her eye. Needless to say, Jeremy was not having the best Tuesday.
Harper on the other hand, looked like she had won the lottery. She’d proudly emerged from her bedroom that morning with her Captain America shirt on, a matching headband holding back her hair. “He’s your favorite Avenger too” she argued from the backseat of the car, a few steps away from being furious with your choice of a more subdued ensemble.
You had already left the house, and she knew that you wouldn’t be turning around, but when Harper got an idea in her head, it was hard to shake it. “I think you’re projecting” you said, raising an eyebrow at her in the rearview mirror.
“I know that I’m not, because you always sit down to watch when he is on the news and your eyes get all big because you think he’s dreamy” she said, leaning forward and sticking her tongue out at you.
You chose to say nothing, instead choosing to turn up the music and pretend you hadn’t just lost an argument with your daughter about whether you were in love with Captain America. It was a ridiculous notion. If anything, you were in love with the idea of Captain America. It’s not as if the men that you actually knew were living up to any expectations.
You were hoping that Harper would drop it once you got to the museum, but she dug her feet in and really got to work. She took you in between every exhibit with even a mention of Steve Rogers. Unfortunately, it did not seem like she was going to run out of ammunition anytime soon.
Her class was learning about World War II, and that meant a trip to his Smithsonian exhibit was all but required. You had been thinking about taking Harper for a few weeks, because you knew she would enjoy it, but when the time came to actually get up off of the couch, it didn’t seem as important anymore.
Thankfully, the museum wasn’t too busy, so the screaming class of first graders wasn’t ruining too many people’s afternoons. You had expected there to be more people there, in all honesty. The exhibit was one of the most popular things for people from out of town to see, and everyone you had talked to about it said that it was always packed, and for good reason.
The donations on behalf of Captain Rogers and the Stark Foundation were incredible, and as time went on, you found yourself being less of a chaperone and more of a lovesick teenager. You spent way too long looking at the Captain’s old uniforms and not enough time paying attention to your daughter, because when you looked down to where Harper had been standing a few minutes ago, she was nowhere to be seen.
Harper was getting frustrated that you were not admitting your undying love for her favorite hero, and decided that she needed to find something that would convince you. Her eyes landed on the small screening room, and she barely stopped herself from running and planting herself on the floor directly in front of the screen.
Even if she was running away from you in order to scheme, she knew that you would want her to sit in a chair. There was only one other person in the viewing room, and he looked lonely. Harper had declared herself a “Warrior Against Loneliness” when she came home to tell you about the boy who had to sit alone at the lunch table last week, and she knew she couldn’t let him watch the movie by himself.
“Hello, sir” she said, pulling herself onto the chair directly beside him.
“Hello there,” he said, turning so that she could see his face fully for the first time. It was a good thing that she was fully situated on her chair, because the sight of Steve Rogers beaming directly at you is enough to knock anyone over.
“A baseball hat is an awful disguise, Mr. Captain America”.
Steve blinked at her a few times, processing the words before letting out a body shaking laugh. It was the last thing that he had expected out of the girl, who looked very confident in her introduction.
“Well, I can’t argue with that,” he said bashfully, pulling the cap off of his head and running his hand over his hat hair a few times.
“I’m Harper,” she said proudly, sitting up a little straighter and offering him her hand to shake.
“It’s very nice to meet you, Harper.” Steve shook her hand, trying his best to suppress his grin.
“Why are you here all alone?” Harper was never one to beat around the bush, apparently even when superheroes were involved.
Steve’s eyes managed to grow three sizes, stunned by how blunt she was. Steve’s non-answer was not enough for her, and she was about to tell him when you burst through the door.
“Harper Elizabeth what in the world were you thinking?” You marched over to your daughter, crouching down in front of her chair while completely ignoring the man sitting beside her.
“I was thinking that you would like this movie” she said, shrugging and gesturing towards the screen.
“You might have thought to tell me instead of wandering off into a dark theater with a strange man-” Your words died in your throat as you locked eyes with the man sitting beside your daughter. You tried to find the right words as Captain America- THE Captain America extended his hand for you to shake.
“Pleasure to meet you, ma’am.” he nearly blinded you with his smile as he gripped your hand in his own. “You have a real firecracker here.” Steve said, winking at Harper who was sitting in her chair, arms crossed proudly over her chest.
“I am so sorry if she disturbed you. We are here with her class on a school trip and she wandered off,” You hadn’t meant to start talking but now you couldn’t make yourself stop. “I thought I raised her better than wandering off on a class trip and certainly better than forgery, but-”
“Forgery?” Steve’s voice sounded concerned but his face was a mix of surprised and impressed, something that should not have looked as good as it did on him.
Unfortunately, Harper saw this as her time to shine. “I knew that my mom would love to come because she is obsessed with-”
“History,” you cut in, your voice slightly too panicked to sell the lie you were telling.
She glanced at you briefly, before turning her attention back to the Captain. “Yeah, especially-”
“World War II” You tried to shoot Harper a look that said ‘Hush right now or no dessert for a week’. It was clear that she got the message, but apparently your daughter had a death wish. “I’m sure that Captain Rogers-”
“Please, call me Steve.” He said, with a smile that made the corners of his eyes crinkle. It was a wonder that you were still able to form a sentence.
“I’m sure that Steve has much better things to do than listen to a long list of things that I am interested in.” Steve looked as if he was about to say something to the contrary, but you were determined to make it out of the dark viewing room before your daughter managed to ruin your entire life.
He glanced at his watch, eyebrows raising when he noticed the time. “I actually do have a meeting upstairs in a few minutes. But I was hoping that the two of you might be free for dinner?”
You could only blink a few times, too stunned by the offer to give a proper reply.
“We are having chicken nuggets for dinner,” Harper informed him proudly. “They’re dinosaur shaped.”
You had never thought that your daughter’s love of dino nuggets would save you from dinner with Captain America, but she could have as many as she wanted for the rest of her life.
“Have you ever had a dinosaur chicken nugget, Mr. Rogers?” her little voice filling the silence that had briefly fallen over the room as the credits for the short film rolled across the screen.
“I can’t say that I have.” Steve laughed.
“I’m sure that we have extra,” Harper said, sparing you a glance before continuing. “And there are four chairs at our table.”
Harper was never going to see another dinosaur chicken nugget for as long as she lived.
“Do you think that your meeting will be done by dinner time?” She asked, blinking at him with wide eyes.
“I would think that I will be done by then, that is, if your mother wouldn’t mind having me?” He glanced up at you through his lashes, his own version of the puppy dog eyes working wonders.
There was no way you would be able to say no to that. “I’m sure that we would love to have you.” Your voice wavered as you answered him, unsure of how you ended up in this situation.
His smile could have lit up an entire city block, and it was focused entirely on you.
Thankfully, your tour was cut short after Jeffrey tried to crawl into one of the exhibits, which gave you just enough time to rush home and attempt to hide any Avengers memorabilia away. Funnily enough, as soon as you stashed something in a drawer or the back of a closet, it mysteriously found its way out and into a more obvious spot that before. Harper claimed that you were losing your mind, but you knew better than that. She was on a mission and would not be swayed.
Eventually, you gave up, knowing that Harper thought that this was her chance for a superhero best friend and that she would not allow you to stand in her way. You were in the process of deciding if one entire bag of nuggets was enough, when the bell rang and your breath caught in your throat
If you had thought that meeting Steve at the museum was beyond comprehension, your brain nearly shut down when you opened your door to see Steve Rogers in a blue button down shirt with two bouquets of daisies in his hands.
“Hello again,” he said bashfully, holding out the larger bundle of flowers to you.
“Hello Mr. Captain Rogers!” Harper cheered, pushing her way in front of you.
“Hello again,” Steve smiled, taking a knee so that he was at eye level. “I hope that you had a wonderful rest of your trip.”
“I did. Mom thought that you looked very handsome in your uniform.” Her voice sounded like the epitome of innocence, but you would have to be stupid to think that she didn’t know exactly what she was doing.
You didn’t miss the faint blush that appeared on his cheeks as he handed Harper the slightly smaller bouquet he had brought with him. Thankfully, Harper didn’t allow you to dwell on it very long, taking Steve’s hand in her own and leading him to the living room. “Do you like to color?” She didn’t wait for a response before handing him one of her coloring books and a crayon.
“Harper, I don’t know if we have time for coloring right now.” You said over your shoulder as you made your way back into the kitchen, pulling the tray of nuggets from the oven. “Can you come and set the table please?”
“I have actually just entered the most important part of my artistic process,” she said, eyes never leaving the construction paper.
You held in a sigh, hoping to avoid a fight in front of Harper’s super-guest. “I really don’t think-”
“If you could show me where the plates are, I would be more than happy to help.” You turned around to see a shy Steve Rogers standing in your kitchen, bashfully rubbing the back of his neck. It was enough to make your heart skip a beat.
You pointed to the plates and silverware you had set out for Harper, trying not to sound too flustered before grabbing the food and heading into the dining room.
“Thank you for making dinner mom,” Harper said, hitting you with doe eyes before climbing into her chair across the table from you. You were instantly suspicious. She only ever pulled out the doe eyes when she was planning something that you were not going to like. “Thank you for setting the table, Mr. Captain Rogers,” she said, in her sweetest voice.
“Really, just Steve is fine.” He insisted, taking the seat in between the two of you.
She nodded, ultimately ignoring his request. “I drew this for you.” She handed Steve a drawing, looking you dead in the eye.
Immediately, your eyes shot down to the construction paper that Steve was smiling at. She had drawn what you would politely call the most obscene thing you had ever laid eyes on. It looked to be a picture of the three of you at a wedding, and if the veil and bouquet were an indication, you were marrying Captain America.
Before you could snatch the paper out of his hands, Steve had politely thanked your daughter, congratulated you on raising such a wonderful artist, and tucked it safely in his pocket.
Dinner went surprisingly well. Steve and Harper chatted away about what the best dino shape was while you tried to get yourself to stop beaming. Steve seemed to fit so perfectly into the picture in front of you, it was a wonder the two of you were ever without him.
“I have to show you our poster collection” Harper announced, pulling Steve from the table and showing him to your office and the spare room, where Harper had placed most of the Captain America memorabilia.
You knew that it was impossible to fight it, instead choosing to gather up all of the plates left on the table and hope that you could wash away the embarrassment along with the dirty dishes. You managed to zone out a bit, until a presence behind you drew your attention away from the task at hand.
“If you would have told me you were washing up, I would have been more than happy to help.” Steve moved to stand beside you at the sink, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. “My mother taught me better than that.” He grinned at you, grabbing one of the plates and started to rinse the dishes left in the sink as if he hadn’t just gotten a tour of your embarrassing amount of Captain America merchandise from your overly enthusiastic daughter.
The two of you worked in silence for a bit, until a screech rang through the apartment, making the both of you turn to find Harper dragging a dining chair in between to two of you. She plucked the plate from Steve’s hand, drying it before placing it on the counter and gesturing for another.
Your jaw dropped. Harper hated the dishes more than any other chore in the house. “You’ll have to come to dinner more often,” you laughed, meeting Steve’s eyes over her head. “Especially if it means that this one is going to help clean up after.”
“I was hoping that I might take the two of you out, the next time.” Steve shrugged, handing Harper another plate to dry.
In all your years, you never would have guessed that Captain America was so smooth. You were speechless for a moment, the combination of Steve’s nonchalant offer and the sight of Harper wiggling her eyebrows at you catching you off guard.
“I think that we would love that,” Harper announced, nudging you with her elbow in a manner that was decidedly less discreet than she had thought it would be.
“I think that we would as well.” You admitted softly, refusing to meet either of their eyes.
It was one of the easiest nights you’d had in a long time, even if Harper had demanded three bedtime stories from Steve. He read each of them to her without protest, complete with a different voice for each character and dramatic hand gestures worthy of both stage and screen. Each request was obliged without question, while you leaned against the doorway, trying to figure out why it felt like he had been doing this since day one.
Thankfully, Harper was starting to have a hard time keeping her eyes open. Steve took it as a sign to pull the blanket up to her chin and tell her “sleep tight”, before making his way out of the room as quietly as possible.
“Thank you,” the words broke the silence of the room as Steve pulled on his jacket.
“No thanks needed.” He smiled bashfully, taking a few steps in your direction. “I should be thanking you. She’s wonderful.”
“I know. I got so lucky. I couldn’t ask for a better girl.” You smiled, glancing back in the direction of her room.
“I don’t know if I would say you got lucky.” A small smile appeared on his face as he met your eyes. “I would say that she had a pretty great mom.” You could feel the warmth on your cheeks as you refused to meet his eyes. It was silent for a few beats, before Steve said “I meant what I said before, about hoping to take you out.”
You smiled to yourself, the sincerity in his voice was nearly tangible. Before you could find the right words, Steve’s hand timidly found its way to your waist, pulling you flush against his chest. “Is it alright if I kiss you now?”
You simply nodded, a little lost in his eyes and a little unsure that this was really happening. He leaned down, pressing his lips to yours.
You were surprised that the fireworks you had dreamed of didn’t come. Instead, as you felt Steve rest his forehead against yours and wrap you up in his arms, you felt perfectly whole, like the last piece of your puzzle was finally in place.
Toad's Cave 