Lessons in Rule Breaking and Other Reader-Inserts*Steve Rogers*Reader*

The Line between Respectful and Stupid - Pt.4/5

Steve dreams. Aka Steve's POV for about a 1,6k words. Enjoy. It's totally fluffy.

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4. Sweet dreams

Steve was dreaming a nice dream. It had not started out pretty as he was re-dreaming falling straight into the deep ocean, the sharp icy water eating him alive, cutting into his skin, his muscles, his bones... but then something changed. When he squeezed his eyes shut to keep the scream of pain inside - because opening his mouth would mean letting the cold water in - he felt something shift. The chill was gone.

He opened his eyes to a whole new world. There was a hand patting his shoulder, Bucky's laugh echoing in his ears, and the warm summer breeze was caressing his hair, the water of the lake they went camping to tickling his feet.

"Hey, punk, you with me?"

The night was falling, but the air proudly carried the summer heat, still warming his skin. Steve focused his gaze, finding himself staring at a woman who was walking in the sand barefoot. The wind was playing a teasing game with her long airy skirt, twirling it around her feet; with her hair lightly fondled by the force of nature, her appearance was almost eternal. She was smiling for herself as the water caressed her feet.

"You should talk to her, ya' know."

Steve jumped out of his skin when he heard his friend again. "What? No. It... she wouldn't want me anyway. Sorry to zone out, you were saying?" He shook his head, forcing himself to look back at Bucky.

"Man, you got it bad. And come on! Who wouldn't want you?"

"How about every woman I've ever encountered?"

"Peggy Carter one of them?" Bucky asked him sarcastically and Steve was surprised to find himself not in a body of a scrawny Steve Rogers from Brooklyn who had been going camping with his best friend's family, but in Captain America's. Huh.

It was when he realized he was dreaming a new dream and not reliving a memory. Bucky was still here as if he hadn't fallen off the train, Peggy was clearly in his past for some reason, and thinking about it, this woman definitely looked familiar, yet didn't belong to this moment at all.

The strangest thing was that the dream didn't sadden him, didn't fill him with the heavy nostalgia it usually did. He casted a glance at the agent he had only just met and was now casually walking in his consciousness - she quickly escaped his gaze when he caught her staring, a shy smile curling up her lips.

Steve sighed. "It's not a good idea."

"'Cause?"

"She's an agent. We work together," Steve replied with a shrug, his eyes losing themselves in the warm colours of the horizon. The sun had set a long time ago, but the sky was still shining pink and orange undertones. It was a sight to behold - yet, he felt an urge to look back at you instead, seeking a different kind of beauty, breath-taking all the same.

"And?"

"And it would get in the way. Not to mention that she would only want me for the title if for anything at all." They all do, don't they?

A slap on his bicep startled him. "Dumbass. She gave you that impression? She seemed awfully cosy with Steve Rogers if you ask me."

"Not that you would know. You're just in my head, jerk."

"Not the one who's being a jerk, punk. Or you know, asshat, 'cause clearly your buttock is so tight that it's worth a tribute. She's fun. I like her."