~May, 1941~
"Can I look now?" Steve begged, trying to peel Everly's hands from his eyes. She kept them in place and let out a small laugh while pushing him through the crowd. The sound of bustling city life filled his ears, making him even more curious as to where they were headed.
"No. Shush." She led him a bit farther before stopping him with both of her hands on his shoulders. A frown covered her face as she sifted through her pockets, beginning to panic when she couldn't find what she was looking for. She let out a sigh of relief when her fingers brushed the tickets.
"Okay, open."
Steve squinted as light flooded his eyes. After blinking away the blinding light, he saw a beaming Everly standing before him. She held a pair of tickets in her hand, fanning the air with them. His eyes rose to the enormous stadium looming behind her.
"Baseball?" He grinned, raising a questioning eyebrow. "You hate sports."
"But you don't. I thought it could be fun." She shrugged, starting for the entrance. He hurried to catch up to her and dove his hands into his pockets. Everly handed the man working the concessions some money for a bag of popcorn and offered some to Steve.
"Why are you doing this?" He asked seriously. She tossed a few pieces into her mouth.
"I just told you?" She cocked her head to the side questioningly. "I thought it would be fun."
"And that's it?"
"Yeah, we finally got a day without a show. I just wanted to make the most of it." She frowned.
Steve was silent for a second or two before he smiled down at his shoes. His bright eyes flicked up to the woman before him. "Alright then."
As they made their way to their seats, they were stopped on two separate occasions. Both times involved a little boy begging Captain America to sign something. And each time, Steve happily obliged, sending Everly an apologetic look as she waited. But she didn't mind. In all honesty, it made her beyond happy to see that so many people looked up to him. It was starting to become easier having to share him with the world. Finally, they found their seats and waited for the game to start. She soon grew bored of the waiting, and tipped her head back allowing her eyes to flutter shut as she drifted off to sleep.
How Everly managed to sleep through the all the noise of the game, Steve had no idea. He only smiled as he watched her head slowly bob to the side, then straight back, and forward. Every once in a while she would jerk awake, spilling some of the popcorn from the bag in her hands and start clapping as the rest of the crowd was.
'Curve ball, high and outside for ball one. So the Dodgers are tied, 4-4. And the crowd well knows that with one swing of his bat, this fellow's capable of making it a brand-new game again. Just an absolutely gorgeous day here at Ebbets Field. The Phillies have managed to tie it up at 4-4. But the Dodgers have three men on. Pearson beaned Reiser in Philadelphia last month. Wouldn't the youngster like a hit here to return the favor? Pete leans in. Here's the pitch. Swung on. A line to the right. And it gets past Rizzo. Three runs will score. Reiser heads to third. Durocher's going to wave him in. Here comes the relay, but they won't get him.'
'The Dodgers take the lead, 8-4. Oh, Dodgers! Everyone is on their feet. What a game we have here today, folks. What a game, indeed.'
Steve could just barely make out the voice of the announcer who was narrating for the radio as the crowd erupted into cheering and clapping. He too stood to his feet cheering and laughed as Everly jerked awake, immediately clapping without having a clue of what had happened. He sat back down beside her and she was already beginning to fall asleep again. But this time, her head fell to his shoulder where it then rested. He tensed, caught off guard. He wasn't quite sure how to react, but a smile naturally registered on his face as he watched on with the game, careful not to make any sudden movements.
~~~
"You slept the whole time." Steve chuckled as he glanced down at his best friend walking beside him. The sidewalk was illuminated only by the street lamps that pierced through the darkness of the night sky.
"I was resting my eyes, there's a difference." She argued, her tone stern. Though her cheeks grew to a light shade of red from embarrassment. The entire idea of the day was to be able to spend time with her friend again, and she slept through all of it.
"Oh of course, silly me." He gave in, still trying to suppress his laughter. They walked side-by-side in silence for a while. It wasn't the type of silence that makes you feel as if you're drowning. Instead, it was a comfortable silence that for a while, both were scared to interrupt.
"Thanks, for today." Steve said shyly. Everly stopped walking and her eyes flicked up to him.
"For what? Drooling on your shoulder and spilling popcorn in your lap?" She joked.
"Well yeah," He let out a small laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. "And everything else in between."