Work Text:
Of course Steve Rogers believed in soulmates. Even though he had few memories left of his parents, he knew what true love looked like. The way his ma had described her connection to her own soulmate, his father - Steve would be lying if he said it didn’t inspire him and make him wish for his own soulmate connection. She described it so effortlessly - the way things were easier when they were together, the calm feeling that filled the air, the warmth that seemed to radiate off them. That had been an undeniable soulmate bond. And as a kid, it was all he could dream about.
But then, well, he grew up. And his life trajectory changed in a way he never could have anticipated.
He figured if he was lucky enough to have had a soulmate, their time had certainly come and gone. Lost to the war, to the ice, to the future. Whoever they might have been, all he could hope is that they found happiness and contentment another way.
Just like he had. His role as Captain America filled him with a sense of pride and fulfillment that he had a difficult time articulating. His life felt quite full - even outside of mission planning and fighting off bad guys. He had found a family with his friends and coworkers, he volunteered his time at the VA leading groups and art therapy, and recently he had decided he was finally going to bite the bullet and adopt a dog.
He was fulfilled, sure. But in the stillness of night, when he stared out at the Brooklyn skyline under the faded stars above, an ache of emptiness still remained. It wasn’t loud or distracting, it was just there, steady. And maybe one day, he’d finally have the opportunity to distinguish that flame of curiosity and longing.
Until then, he just continued on like he did every day.
Some days he felt very in tune with the new century. And other days, when he made decisions that reminded him of how things used to be, like going to the bank, he was reminded how his old fashioned habits were hard to break.
But, for some reason he couldn’t quite figure out, he knew it wasn’t the right day to let Tony teach him the wonders of online banking.
You didn’t believe in soulmates.
Even though there was the lore that had been passed down for generations, and scientific data backing it up plus thousands of research studies vouching for the validity of the idea, you had always been unable to get on board.
You were barely ten years old when your twin sister claimed she found her soulmate. She jumped off the school bus and ran into your mother’s arms, rambling on and on about the butterflies in her stomach and the glowing yellow light and the way she could easily figure out the answers to all her math problems. All because a new girl had been welcomed to your class.
Your mother had been elated, of course. Your sister was describing all the common signs of a soulmate bond - indescribable clarity, a rush of every emotion at once, witnessing an ethereal glow of colour, an undeniable connection that only made sense when the two people bonding felt it - and that had been it.
For a time, watching your sister and her partner grow and feel and develop a bond of love together, it was inspiring. It hadn’t been easy for them, dealing with the angst of growing up and figuring out how to settle all the feelings that came with being a soulmate, especially being apart from one another for long periods of time. But still, they made it work.
And that made you think that yes, this could all make sense.
And yes, everyone had a different timeline.
But as the years grew on and you never experienced even an ounce of something like what your sister and many other people felt, the pessimism and doubts took over. Now, nearing the end of your twenties, you were in even more disbelief that you had a soulmate.
“It just doesn’t make sense, Mina.”
You could already hear your sister sighing as you went headfirst into your usual tirade.
“On a molecular level, sure. I believe in the concept of a soulmate. I believe in the science of it, even. But in the grand scheme of things, it’s all bullshit. You’re telling me out of the billions of people on this planet, there is one destined for me? How does that even work?”
Your sister typically flip flopped between placating your unhinged rambling and arguing with you. Today, she was feeling ready to debate apparently. She said your name sternly to get your attention away from the croissant sitting on your plate.
You were pulling it apart piece by piece instead of eating it.
“God, do you hear how contradictory your words are? The universe finds a way to bring you and your soulmate together. You don’t have to do anything but let it happen, you know. Remember how Rachel missed her connecting flight to Dublin a few years ago and the moment she sat down at the airport bar.. boom. She meets Devi, the stars align. All the steps they took led them to each other when the time was right.”
You rolled your eyes.
“Whatever. Just keep floating through that dumb app and thinking some other nonbeliever will be enough for you. Newsflash: they won’t. Until you find your soulmate - your person - that feeling will always be there.”
You scoffed. Your sister didn’t know shit. She especially didn’t understand what the dating pool was like anyway. Currently you were paying for a dating app designed for people without soulmates or who were ignoring their biological destiny. Paying for it emotionally and financially, really.
“I know you think you’re above all this,” she continued on, gesturing around the table vaguely. “But fate is fate.”
“I think it’s a cruel concept. How is it fair that you’ve had Anna in your life since you were ten but people like me don’t have their mate? I’m nearly 30 and I’ve never felt even a spark of that stupid feeling before. The one time I did, it turned out to be food poisoning, not the person on a date with me turning out to be my soulmate.” You shuddered at the memory - especially since your night out at that fancy restaurant had ended with you throwing up in the bathroom then escaping through a swarm of press outside when all of The Avengers had decided to pick the same restaurant for dinner that night, too.
That had been a rough night.
You pursed your lips and before you could even control your train of thought, it surged forward. “Plus, are you telling me everyone gets a soulmate? Spencer Bailey - the creepy, unshowered flute player from our high school band - he gets a soulmate? Serial killers? The people who scam old ladies on the internet - they’re all worthy of a soulmate?” You scoffed, finally eating a piece of your pastry. “The concept sucks.”
Mina was not discouraged by your outburst. She was used to them by now anyway. You watched as she took a deep breath and you prepared yourself for her lecture. “I’m not going to fight with you about this anymore. You’re just hurt because of what happened with Jordan and you need to get over it.”
You chewed on your lip. You knew better than to give in to your sister’s baiting commentary. So what if you thought you found the love of your life only for him to suddenly break up with you because he found his real soulmate? You were over that. Yes. You were very much over it.
Totally, completely over it.
Taking a sip of your cold coffee, you offered a curt smile. “I actually have a date tonight. So.. I will let you know how it goes. I’ve gotta get back to the office.”
“A date. Huh. Must be why you’re trying so hard and wearing heels today.”
You stuck your tongue out at her, leaving the shreds of your pastry on the plate. “Hah. Just putting myself out there, okay? The heels help with my confidence in a weird way.”
“Hey.” She grabbed your hand before you stood up. “The world isn’t out to get you. Maybe just.. stop fighting it.”
Sometimes it felt like your sister wasn’t treating you like a sister. You felt like one of her clients. Though you knew she wasn’t intending to talk down to you, her tone really walked the line.
You headed back to work with much less purpose and energy than before. Once you found your desk, you smoothed out your skirt and blazer. A final glance was given to your phone and the dying conversation with your date for the evening. Greg, a personal trainer at a local gym, was ‘looking forward to meeting you!’
You sighed and sent him a single smiley face emoji.
You wouldn’t consider yourself a pushover per se but when your boss asked you to take a last minute deposit to the bank after work, you felt guilty even thinking about saying no.
So you said yes, of course.
And based on the crawling movement of the line inside the bank, it seemed like you were really going to be rushing to make it to your date on time.
Your mind kept wandering as you waited. Your thoughts kept bouncing back to the conversation with your sister and you couldn’t help but feel irritated.
Soulmates.
You took a deep breath.
Maybe just… stop fighting it.
Something strange happened when you stepped forward. As the line shuffled, there seemed to be a stillness in the air. Without even a second thought, you raised your hand up towards your chest to make sure you were still breathing, that your heart was intact and functioning properly. Some voice in the back of your head.. something told you to turn around.
Right behind you stood a taller man, who seemed unusually familiar. You couldn’t quite place him in your racing mind. Sandy blond hair, broad shoulders wrapped in a leather jacket, an unyielding presence he seemed to be trying to hide, given his downward cast eyes. You didn’t mean to stare but it was hard not to. When his head suddenly tipped upwards, you met a pair of beautiful blue eyes.
You blinked hard. The buzz and activity clouding your mind seemed to dissipate all of a sudden. The man titled his head, curious, as he stared you down and he opened then closed his mouth more than once to try and say something.
Before you even had a chance to catch your thoughts up and think about controlling your heart rate, a piercing scream sounded out. One of the bank tellers was standing from her chair, arms held high in the air as the man in front of her wielded a large gun. You couldn’t hear what the words were exchanged among the chaos but it wasn’t hard to piece together.
An attempted robbery. Did it make any sense for someone to even rob a bank this way? Didn’t most money crimes happen digitally now? The whole concept seemed absolutely asinine, really, but you supposed banks must still have physical cash on hand and -
“Get down!” The mystery man from behind you pressed his hand against your back suddenly, pushing you towards the cold marble floor as the Man With The Gun Trying To Rob The Place fired his gun into the air. More screams sounded out and it was suddenly very clear Man With The Gun was not working alone.
The small crowd in the bank seemed filled halfway with bad guys, as more guns appeared and angry voices started yelling instructions out to both the bank employees and the civilians caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time. They cried out about cellphones and following the rules and how they didn’t want anyone to get hurt.
You couldn’t focus on that. How could you even think about your safety and well being and the men with guns when you might have just met your s-
No, it wasn’t possible. Was it? Of all the days..
When your brain finally caught on to what was happening, you scrambled across the floor and pressed your back against a nearby pillar. Another gun shot rang out, followed by more scared cries from the bank staff. When you looked up again, the mystery man from the line, Mr. Broad Shoulders himself, was crouched in front of you, with wide blue eyes boring into your soul.
Wait. Did you hit your head on the way down? Because surrounding him were waves of blue light, circling around like a halo.
Wait.
Wait.
Maybe.
Wait.
Your stomach lurched.
Before you could say anything, his hands were reaching to grip yours and Jesus, your heart nearly exploded at the touch. Warm, calloused, gentle. You didn’t want to let go.
“Are you alright?”
Were you concussed? His voice felt like velvet. How was that possible? How could a voice be so soothing and -
You nodded hard, ignoring all the new thoughts swarming your mind. “Yes.”
“Okay, stay here. Keep your head down. Do whatever they say, okay?”
They. They, the gun wielding psychos, who were currently harassing the poor bank staff. It seemed their attention was split between their main goal of robbery and rounding up the innocent bystanders.
You watched him stand, though his eyes kept lingering on you. He scanned your face, somehow both concerned and painted with something else you couldn’t figure out.
You reached for him, voice barely a whisper. “Please don’t go.” What? Who said that? What kind of desperate, unhinged-
He squeezed your hand before he pivoted. “I’ll come back for you, I promise.”
Steve wouldn’t consider himself lucky. He worked hard to strategize and execute mission plans, instead of leaving anything up to fate or luck. But today, when he made a trip to the bank later than usual, on a day he typically reserved for late workouts with Sam (who had uncharacteristically canceled at the last minute), today he crossed paths with you. You.
If the electric feeling dancing through his body hadn’t been enough of a sign, that wispy blue light that lingered above you had sold him - out of all places, out of every single moment of time, every choice in his life that had lead his feet to that very instance of you turning to look up at him - he saw you. His soulmate.
Lucky? No. The universe worked in mysterious ways. Timing was everything.
Unlucky? Maybe. Because why did someone have to choose that very same moment in time to execute their poor bank robbing plan? Of all goddamn days, of all goddamn minutes.
Because despite this new fire in his heart and soul, the one that screamed that he had to be near you, touch you, feel you - he also had his own duty.
Yeah, the duty to protect his soulmate.
No, the duty to do the right thing. To switch into superhero mode. So he reluctantly left you there, praying to God and anyone else who may be listening, to keep you safe - for a few more minutes, until he could be at your side again.
While he sprung into action, Steve spoke into the watch on his wrist. The one embedded with some sort of fancy technology Tony was proud of - with enough special turns of phrases that alerted local authorities of what was going on. And then Captain America got to work.
Even without his cowl and uniform, Steve could do his strategizing on the fly. He headed towards the vault and safety deposit boxes, quietly and efficiently stopping anyone playing Bad Guy with a mask and gun. He yanked off a filing cabinet door to work as an impromptu shield. The magical physics didn’t apply but it did what it needed to - acting as an extra layer of protection and the perfect projectile when required.
Once those men were dealt with and any remaining staff back there were checked on, his feet moved with urgency back towards the lobby. Only two of the wannabe bank robbers remained. One stood in the middle of the room, with a radio in hand. The other was posted in front of the civilians - where you were sitting quietly on the floor, a few feet from where Steve had left you.
You.
Steve approached cautiously, hiding behind a short wall. When he turned the corner, he saw you shift - it was slight but it gave him peace of mind. You were okay. Thank God you were okay. It didn’t take long for him to survey the space and weigh his risks before his next step - you sat with just two other people, one older man and another woman about your age.
How fast could he move now? How quickly could this be over? How soon could he touch you again, clasping the smooth skin of your hand between his once more?
Letting out a long breath, he propelled the broken piece of the filing cabinet across the space as he ran, taking out the person guarding the center of the room. But, before he could react to deal with the last guy, the idiot shifted.
“What are the chances a goddamn Avenger gets in the way of this operation? After weeks of planning..” The final man took a step back and pointed his gun towards his new hostages instead, towards you.
Steve sucked in a breath, his eyes darting from the gun to you before squaring up the man. “You’re telling me. What are the chances a rookie team of bank robbers ruins the first day of the rest of my life?”
The man sneered as he raised an eyebrow. “What are you waxing poetic about? Let’s make a deal, Captain.”
Steve’s feet shuffled slightly. God, what a strange feeling - his mind had one set of thoughts while his body seemed to be arguing against it. This energy that was washing through him, it was more intense than he felt before. He wanted to protect you from danger, he needed to put himself between you and this man and-
“Hey dumbass!”
The next few seconds felt more chaotic than before. Steve blinked into action once he realized what you had done - ripping off one of your heels to launch at the back of the man’s head. Admittedly, it was a terrible tactic. But it gave Steve the perfect opportunity to launch himself at the man too, easily disarming him and tackling him to the ground. He barely resisted under Steve’s hold, crying out into the marble floor.
The sound of NYPD sirens outside couldn’t even drown out the thoughts running through Steve’s mind now. About what had just transpired, about what was happening next, about you.
It was so stupid. So illogical.
If your therapist sister decided to do a deep dive into your compulsive decision making skills, you were certain she’d be drafting a new case study to present to a board of specialists.
But something in your heart, as it pounded out of your chest, it screamed at you to help. To do something, to do anything, to help him out.
Steve Rogers.
You had pieced it together, who he was, soon after he had jumped into action - only to solidify your hunch when you heard the idiots with guns talking into their radios about how Captain America of all people had been in the bank when their plan had started. How he had taken them all down without a wasted breath, how their timing had been so bad..
Truthfully, it seemed like their whole plan had been awful.
And the decision to throw your stupid shoe at the man with the gun - that hadn’t been great either. But that look you got from Steve - from your soulmate Steve - when he handed that criminal off to an officer, how he smirked with strange giddiness (and maybe pride) when he extended his hand to help you up off the floor, that seemed to make up for the stupid decision making.
You gripped his shoulder as you pulled your heel back on and for what felt like way too long, you couldn’t even formulate a sentence as you stood in front of him.
Thankfully, amid the racing police officers and shuffling of an evacuation from the building around you, it was Steve who took the lead to speak.
“Hi.”
An uncontained burst of laughter bubbled up and escaped your mouth. “Uhm, hi. How’s your day been?”
“Well, it has not gone how I anticipated when I got out of bed this morning.”
“Is this real?” You paused and closed your eyes briefly, opening them again to see that lingering blue wave of light hovering above Steve. “I’ve been waiting so long and I never thought…”
You watched as Steve studied you. His eyes seemed to sparkle with fascination as he considered the same thing as you - the impossibility of chance, the unlikeliness of this entire scenario. And yet - there you were. He cleared his throat. “I sure hope it’s real.”
You barely had a chance to quip back before a police officer was ahead of you, requesting statements and information from both of you before you were allowed to escape the scene. When the officer asked to sit with you somewhere else, somewhere not with Steve, it felt like someone else was speaking for you again.
“Actually, I’d like Steve to stay with me for this. Is that okay?” You couldn’t bear to spend another second away from him.
Maybe it was unconventional, how this entire relationship was beginning for you and Steve. How he was learning what your name was for the first time because you were delivering it as a witness for a police report. How you listened attentively as he described the actions he took physically to thwart the robbers’ plans. You nearly died over his kindness when he apologized so politely for breaking the filing cabinet and assured the officer that The Avengers would replace the damaged furniture.
And then it was over, the bank was closed off to the public and you were both free to go.
You were both free to start. Because the next step felt so effortless - with Steve suggesting going to a diner nearby to enjoy a milkshake. He smirked again when you ordered a plate of fries to dip into the ice cream, too. Your stories overlapped in both excitement and wonder and sadness, with your similar doubts about finding each other and the unlikely events that had brought you together.
Then you were laughing again, this time in bewilderment. “Wait. Wait.” You tugged your hand away from Steve’s (you’d been holding hands across the table the entire evening already). “A few years ago, I was at this restaurant with my sister and some friends. And.. there’s no way.” Your face scrunched up as you recalled that night. The strange sickness that came over you, the dizzy lightheaded feeling, how you had felt weirdly compelled to stay at the restaurant. How it was The Avengers, coming in after a mission you had heard a few servers mutter, interrupting the ambiance of the restaurant.
Maybe the hands of fate had already tried to get you and Steve together before.
Steve tilted his head curiously. “I remember that night. It was a place in Midtown - that little Italian place, Patsy’s? Tony loves that place. My head was spinning when we got there, worse than after any other mission.”
“Yes!” Your eyes grew wide once you pieced it together. “Wow. I wonder if we had any other near misses along the way.”
“Speaking of near misses,” Steve tapped his fingers against the side of his milkshake glass, raising an eyebrow as he stared at you with a playful smile growing on his face. “Should I be concerned that my soulmate made the reckless decision to throw a shoe at the man with the gun? Or should I be impressed by your aim?”
“Something compelled me to try and help!” You tried to defend your choices but you weren’t sure he was buying it. But god, the way he looked at you, the way his smile lit up his face. You grabbed one of the last remaining fries and broke it in two, tossing a piece into your mouth. “And hey, it worked.”
“I won’t argue about the outcome, sweetheart. But your risk analysis might need some work.”
You couldn’t believe how lucky you were: those soft blue eyes, that smile - you got to look at that for the rest of your life. Steve Rogers, your soulmate, sitting across from you looking almost too handsome in that goddamn leather jacket - he was yours. Truthfully, you still couldn’t believe it. You were kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop but until you and Steve could determine what your future together might look like, you decided it was time to just enjoy the ride.
You had to stop fighting it, just like your sister had said. Mina was going to have a field day when she found out how your day unfolded. After all that stupid joking about trying hard for your date, too.
Oh no. Your date.
Your eyes grew wide once more, frowning awkwardly as you impolitely reached for your phone to check if you had any messages.
“Everything okay?” The concern in Steve’s voice was immediately evident and you couldn’t help but offer him a soft, reassuring smile.
“Yes, more than okay. I just.. I sort of had a date planned for this evening..” You tipped your head in contemplation, feeling a slight pang of guilt about Greg - although it quickly disappeared when you realized that he had sent you a text message to cancel, just a few minutes before your planned meeting time anyway. “Actually, nevermind. The universe clearly had other plans for me tonight.”
Steve couldn’t fight off the warmth that had crawled up from his chest. “I’m glad those plans lead us right here, to these milkshakes.” He clutched his glass and raised it up towards you.
With a laugh, you did the same, clinking it against his. “To the first day of the rest of our lives.”