one

It was a warm day. Peggy had taken off her jacket, hanging it off the back of the chair where she sat in the office. He was late, which she had expected, but it didn't make her any less displeased when he sauntered in like he owned the place.

Howard Stark, as portrayed in tabloid headlines, was a charming, womanizing scandal of a man, but all Peggy saw was unbridled arrogance. She had never liked the look of him but managed to force her face into a neutral expression.

"Good morning, Mr. Stark," she said. "Colonel Phillips is expecting you."

He made no effort to hide his glance up and down -- appraising her. "Please, call me Howard," he said. "If all goes well in there, we'll be seeing a lot of each other."

She thought a moment, then smiled widely. "You know, having all sorts of interesting people coming and going, it makes a girl curious." She leaned in and Howard did the same. "What exactly goes on in there?"

"Well, I won't say too much, top secret and all that, but--" He lowered his voice. "Let's just say the Germans won't know what hit them once Dr. Abraham Erskine and I get our minds together."

She laughed lightly. "How exciting!"

"I'd better get in there," he said. "I'll catch you later." He winked and passed by her desk and through the door.

Peggy watched him go, then stood and pulled on her jacket, doing up the buttons and adjusting the SOE pins on the lapels.

"You can have your desk back now, Trudy," she said.

Trudy, the actual secretary, popped out of a storage closet. "What was that all about?"

Peggy smiled. "Just a bit of reconnaissance."

"He's kind of a sleaze, huh?"

"I would have to agree with you."

∴

Howard had his back to her when Peggy entered the room. He and Dr. Erskine were discussing some plans on the table.

"Ah, Agent Carter, there you are," said Colonel Phillips. "I believe you've already met Howard Stark."

Howard turned and regarded her with some surprise. "Agent Carter?"

"SOE," she said and held out her hand. "I will be working under Colonel Phillips on Project Rebirth with you and Dr. Erskine." She smiled at Dr. Erskine. "Doctor, it's good to see you."

"Agent Carter," he said. "Likewise. You've recovered from the bullet wound well I see."

At Howard's look of confusion, Erskine said. "She's the one who got me out of Germany."

"Agent Carter has worked with the Resistance in Europe and is skilled in espionage," Colonel Phillips said. "Speaking of, what did you learn?"

"Howard Stark has difficulty keeping secrets when it comes to women. He was all too eager to tell me Dr. Erskine's full name two minutes into meeting me," Peggy said.

Colonel Phillips turned to Howard, who looked a bit sheepish. "This project is highly classified. You cannot go spilling secrets to someone who catches your fancy," he said. "I daresay that'll get you into trouble someday."

two

One evening, a few days later, Howard caught up to her on her way out.

"Hey," he said. "I feel like we got off on the wrong foot. I get that the colonel wanted you to check me out, but if I'd known you weren't actually the secretary–"

Peggy shot him a glare. "Believe me, Trudy would have been no more impressed than I was."

"Let me buy you a drink," he continued. "We can get to know each other."

"Let me make this clear, Mr. Stark," Peggy said. "I think you're a brilliant scientist, but I don't like you. I have no desire to get to know you any more than as colleagues."

"Colleagues get drinks all the time," Howard said. "C'mon, Peggy, live a little."

"It's Agent Carter," she said. "And the answer is no."

She turned to leave. "Have a good evening, Mr. Stark."

He watched her go with a slight grin, then said to himself, "I always love a challenge."

three

There were different guards in the lab. Howard had not noticed until Peggy came in to talk to Dr. Erskine. They did not even try to keep their voices down as they made their approval of her known to each other. To his surprise, she ignored them, continuing her conversation with Erskine like she couldn't even hear them.

"Do you think she's a share crop, or did her daddy get her the job?" said one of them.

"Share crop? Really?" he said. "Have some class."

They looked over at him.

"Pretty sure she could beat you all up for that if she wanted to," Howard said.

One of them snorted.

Another mumbled, "I would not mind that at all."

But they quieted down after that. Howard looked over at Peggy, but she gave no indication that she had heard him.

When she left a few minutes later, he caught up to her at the stairs. "You look nice today," he said.

"Mr. Stark, I wear the same uniform every day," she said, sounding tired.

"Those guys are real dicks to you, huh?"

"Believe me, I'm used to it." She glanced over at him.

"So," he said. "I assume you're still a no for drinks."

"You assume correctly."

"But there's this movie showing in–" he continued.

She stopped walking. "What? You defend me so now you think I owe you?"

He blinked. "Well, not exactly, but--"

She stared at him, then shook her head. "Unbelievable," she muttered as she walked away.

four

One evening, Dr. Erskine suggested they all go out for dinner together. It would hardly be a good idea for them all to dine in public, so Howard had bought out a whole restaurant for the evening. Peggy rolled her eyes at such a display of wealth but secretly thought it a kind gesture.

Dinner was nice and afterwards, Peggy stepped away from the busyness to sit at the bar. Predictably, Howard came around the other side of the bar and grabbed a dishtowel to toss on his shoulder.

"So," he said. "What can I getcha?"

"Can you even mix drinks?" Peggy asked.

He shrugged. "I've seen my butler do it loads of times. How hard can it be?"

She sighed and decided not to order a complicated drink just to be mean. "I'll have a whiskey, neat."

"Whiskey neat, coming right up."

It took him a few moments to find the bottle and then the right glass, and Peggy tried not to laugh at him. He looked rather proud of himself when he slid the glass over to her. She took a sip.

"Satisfied, madame?" he asked.

She nodded.

"So, what brings a girl like you to a place like this?" he asked.

She thought for a moment. "I have a friend who likes to throw his money around."

"So we're friends now, are we?" he asked with a smile.

"A colleague who likes to throw his money around," Peggy amended.

"No takebacks,” Howard said. "We are friends now. Does that mean I can call you Peggy?"

She pursed her lips. "Very well, Howard, you may call me Peggy – outside of work, only."

"Sounds good, Peg," he said. "Is Peg alright?"

"It's fine."

He grinned. A small victory, but a victory nonetheless

five

"Agent Carter, your mother is on the phone."

Howard watched as Peggy strode across the room, keeping her face as blank as she could. He glanced at the clock. It was three in the morning in England. He hoped for her sake it wasn't bad news. When the door closed behind her, he glanced over at Dr. Erskine, who also looked concerned.

"Her brother died on the front about a year ago," Erskine said to him quietly.

Howard nodded.

She was gone for some time. Finally, Howard stood and said, "I'll be right back," to Erskine and left the room.

Peggy wasn't in the small side room with the phone or in any of the smaller offices. He was about to return to the main room when he heard something from a maintenance closet. As he stepped closer, he realized it was somebody crying.

He had never been good at comforting people, but he couldn't just ignore it, so he opened the door a crack.

"Peggy," he said quietly. "Are you alright?"

"I’m fine," she said rather sharply. "Get out."

He pushed the door open slightly more and poked a head inside. "Do you want me to--" He stopped when he saw her.

He knew that Peggy's no-nonsense, firm exterior had to be at least partially an act, a way to get ahead in the man's world of the military. But still, the sight of her sitting on the floor against a shelf, curled into herself, covering her face so he couldn’t see her cry, was extremely disconcerting.

Unsure of what else to do, he slipped inside, closed the door behind him, and went to sit down beside her on the floor.

When her crying subsided, he asked, "Do you... wanna talk about it?"

She shook her head.

"Is your mom okay?"

Peggy took a breath. "She's fine. She... she worries about me."

Howard nodded. "Does she know what we doing here?"

"Of course not, top secret and all that." She managed a small smile. "It's hard, not being able to talk about it with anyone."

"Well," he said. "You can always talk to me, you know."

She looked over at him, smile soft. "Thanks," she said quietly.

And Howard, well, he wasn't blind. She was attractive. He leaned in, eyes flicking from her dark eyes to her red lips. And he was, he was Howard Stark, right? This was what he did.

He reached out a hand to cup her face, but it was unceremoniously slapped away. Peggy pushed him back, stumbling to her feet. Howard looked up at her, slightly stunned at her reaction. She glared down at him, tears threatening to flow once more.

"So this is how the infamous Howard Stark seduces his conquests," she spat at him. "You catch them in a vulnerable moment and then swoop in for the kill?"

Howard just stared at her.

She stepped toward him. "If you try anything like that again--" She was nearly quivering with rage. "I don't care if you're the one who's going to win us this whole bloody war." She left the closet, slamming the door behind her.

Howard sat in the semidarkness for some time, going over the conversation in his head, still roundly confused about what had just happened.

the one time

Peggy did not speak to him for a full week. She relayed Colonel Phillips's wishes through Dr. Erskine and ignored Howard when he tried to talk to her.

And he really did try. He tried to make the kind of jokes that she normally found funny. He even tried to piss her off, just to see if she would react.

But nothing.

Howard tried to ask Erskine for help in winning her back, but he seemed to be firmly on her side, which was incredibly frustrating.

Because he was used to her now. He would read something or see something or come up with some idea and want to tell her about it. He wanted her to roll her eyes at him. He wanted her to give him the pointed criticism he had come to rely on these past few months. He felt like he was legitimately better when she was around him and surely she had noticed that.

So why had she rejected him?

It ate away at him until he finally convinced the secretary -- not Trudy, she hated him, but a different secretary -- to give him Peggy's address. After work one day, he knocked on her door.

She nearly slammed it in his face.

"I'm sorry," he exclaimed.

She opened the door again and looked at him expectantly.

"I'm sorry I tried to kiss you," he said. "It wasn't a good moment, you're right."

Peggy sighed and stepped aside to let him in.

"I, uh, I miss talking to you at work," he said, watching her as she filled up a kettle and set it on the stove. "And I think you miss it too."

She sat down at the table, and he sat down across from her. "Howard," she said. "I thought I had made it clear that I wanted to be your friend."

He frowned. "Yeah?"

"And, to be even more clear, I did not mean a friend now and then maybe more later."

He blinked slowly and she watched his face carefully.

Finally, she said, "Do you not have any female friends?"

"Not purely platonic ones, that's for sure."

She rolled her eyes.

"So, you're pissed at me because I hit on you when you just wanted to be friends?" he asked.

"You are remarkably observant."

He was quiet for a moment, just looking at her. Then he said, "Okay."

"Okay?"

"I think I wanna be your friend too."

Peggy looked confused.

"I've never been good at being friends," he said quickly.

"Shocker."

"But I wanna try."

She pursed her lips. The kettle began to sing. "Alright," she said, standing up. "Do you want tea?"

"Yeah, sure."

♥ epicalliope ♥