Chapter Text
Captain America couldn’t be seen wandering around his old neighborhood, it just wasn’t smart. Anything could happen, he could be mobbed!
Steve Rogers, on the other hand, did whatever he wanted.
He walked through Brooklyn with his hands in his pockets, a baseball cap concealing his face. The warm spring breeze hit his arms as he dodged a few skateboarders on the pavement. God, things have changed… He thought. Everything’s changed.
The neighborhood moved when he was frozen, much like the rest of the world. The demographics changed rapidly. Part of it made him nostalgic, begging for the good times when he and Bucky caused trouble together at any chance they could. It also made him happy, he woke up to a new world. It was taking some work to adjust, but it wasn’t impossible and the news wasn’t all terrible.
It was interesting seeing everything, but he did tell Sam he was getting a snack, so he might as well come back with something to prove that he wasn’t just wandering aimlessly, even if he 100 percent was. He found a corner store and walked in when he saw two women arguing at the front.
“This could be my big break, momma!” shouted the younger of the two women.
She looked about, dressed for the warm weather with a crop top and some cut-off denim shorts. She wiped sweat off her full dark hazelnut colored face as she carried a huge box into the back.
“Acting?! You expect to make money pretending to be someone else?!” Her mother asked. Hands on her hips, sipping on a bottle of water while her daughter tried not to let the box slip from her hands. “Your grandmother didn’t clean some white man’s sheets for forty years for you to waste your time on a damn pipe dream.”
The daughter turned around and huffed as the box slid down her legs. “Acting is the exploration of human emotions, momma! It’s one of the purest art forms on the planet, and I’m good at it! A shitty production of Rent might be what I need!”
“Watch your mouth, little girl!”
“I’m sorry, momma. It won’t happen again.”
“Lord help me… You always were the special baby…”
“Momma! If I make it big, I can get you and daddy a nice place to live and get things patched up around the store. If you wanna work, of course.”
“I like working, honey. You should too.” The mother looked at Steve and grinned. “Hello, sir. Alora, get that stuff in the back so you can help him. I’ll go check on your father at the house. I swear that man will give me a heart attack.”
“I told him not to walk on his ankle.”
“I know we’ve both been trying but you know that’s where you get your hard head from. I’ll be right back, baby.”
“Okay, momma!” Her mother left and she turned to Steve. It was the first time he’d seen her face, and he instantly thought she was gorgeous. Her dark brown eyes glittered as the sunlight peeked in through the window, her full lips were a shiny plum color that illuminated her bright smile. Her black hair was in Marley twists that reached down to her waist. If she couldn’t make it as an actress, she could’ve been a model. “I’m sorry, sir. Is there something you’re looking for?”
He shrugged, not even trying to hide the fact that he was staring at her. “Just something to eat.”
“Snacks in the back by the fridges. Which is convenient, I guess, if you want something to drink.” The box slipped again, this time past her knees. She let out a squeal of absolute fear as soon as it dropped. “SHIT- sorry, I don’t even know why I just said that. Obviously the fridge is full of drinks.”
“Do you need help, ma’am?” Steve asked her. He’d already run over in case the box slipped again.
She nodded. “I’m definitely not made for heavy lifting.” He took the box from her completely and she raised her eyebrows. “Damn boy, what do you bench?”
He laughed. “I actually don’t know.”
“Just put it on the lowest shelf. Thank you so much!”
“No problem. Your name is Alora, right?”
“Yup, Alora Isoke.”
He quickly lifted up his cap and put it back on. “I’m Steve.”
She stood back a bit. The surprise on her face was obvious. “Do that one more time real quick.” He did it and she gasped. “YOU ARE…. Bruh…”
“Shh, no one knows I’m here.”
“No shit, Sherlock! What are you doing here?”
He smiled. “Getting a snack, remember?”
“This is new. White guy with superpowers in my mom’s store…”
“This is new for me, too. I haven’t just walked around the neighborhood in a while. Things have really changed.”
“I know! I used to live in Queens.” said Alora. She leaned on the counter while he walked through the store. “Way more white people here than I’m used to.”
He threw his head back in laughter. “My sentiments exactly.”
Seeing him laugh made her laugh. “Was it like this back in the golden days?”
“The golden days were pretty shitty, believe it or not.”
She tried not to get caught off guard by Captain America swearing. “Oh, I believe it. So you like what we’ve done with the place?”
“For the most part, yeah. I think little stores like this are still my favorite part. I always meet the best people in places like this.”
“Brooklyn is full of wonderful people. Everyone is so great. It’s like nowhere else on earth, honestly. You met anybody interesting today?”
He grabbed a bag of trail mix and dug into his pocket for his money. “I met you, didn’t I?”
She scoffed. “Bye, boy. I’m just... me."
“Oh come on, even I can see that you’re more than that.“
“What is it exactly that you see?”
Steve took his cap off and ran his fingers through his hair. “I see a woman with a lot of dreams, a lot of optimism… I was like that.”
“Actresses have nothing but their optimism, if we didn’t have optimism we’d never go to auditions.”
“Optimism is rare these days, it seems. I’m glad to see it still exists somewhere.”
She grinned. “Are you always this nice?”
“Only to the pretty girls, of course.”
She blushed and rolled her eyes. “Oh my God, wasn’t that just smooth?”
“Historically, it doesn’t usually work out this well for me.”
“That’s shocking. I thought Captain America got all the girls.”
He shook his head. “Not even a little.” He paid for his trail mix and she printed off his receipt. Then she pulled a pen from her back pocket and started writing on the back of it. Her tongue ran across her glossy bottom lip and Steve almost felt ashamed for watching so closely. “What are you doing?”
“Writing my number down.” She smiled and handed him his change and the receipt with her phone number written on it. “It worked out really well for you this time.” She winked and put the money in the register. “I’m free on Saturday, by the way. I like Italian food.”
“Wait, you’re not going out with me because I’m… you know…”
“Captain America is cool and all, but right now I’m so fascinated by the cute dork underneath the suit, now that I have confirmation that he is, in fact, a dork.”
“Thanks.” Flushed, he stuffed the receipt in his pocket. “I’ll, um, I’ll definitely call you.”
“You better call me.” She smiled one more time. “See you soon, Steve.”
“See you, Alora.” He left the store with the biggest, goofiest grin on his face.
“Well look who decided to show up!” Sam shouted when Steve finally got back to their apartment. Steve took his hat off and fell on the couch. “I thought you went to the store!”
“I did, I went to the store in Brooklyn.”
Sam glared at him. “Well you look like you had a great time, you’re smiling like you found a million dollars on the ground. But, because I know you, I know you wouldn’t actually keep a million dollars if you found it on the ground. So, what’s her name, or his name? What’s their name?”
“Her name’s Alora.”
“Alora, huh?” Sam asked. “That’s an African name.”
“You should’ve seen this girl, she is just… so beautiful.” He pulled the receipt from his pocket. “She gave me her number.”
“Look at you flirting with Black girls! Tell me all about it.”
“I might tell you later.”
“Really, Steve? Really? You meet a random woman in Brooklyn and come back looking like there’s a rainbow in your ass and you don’t even want to share details? Really? That’s lame.”
“We have a date on Saturday. Satisfied?”
Sam smiled. “Ooh, it went really well!”
“I guess you could say that.”
Alora’s mom returned with some ice cream for her. It took nothing more than a short glance to notice that her daughter was smiling and know exactly why.
“You wrote your number on his receipt, didn’t you?” She asked. “You’re always doing this, baby. This is my place of business, not a dating website!”
Alora giggled and licked the ice cream that was beginning to melt down her hand. “Did you see him, momma?”
Her mother let out a long suffering. “Yes, honey.”
“Was he not fine?”
“Just be safe.”
“With this guy, I can’t get much safer, trust me...”