This is wrong. If he'd thought he'd been hurt at her not wanting him to touch her... this was a hundred times worse. Steve couldn't stop the quick inhale he gave at hearing her say that. But listening to what she said afterward, he began to understand just what she meant, and berated himself. This wasn't about him, it was barely even about them - this was all about Rogue, and the issues she had that he barely knew anything about, because she kept such a tight wrap on them. He understood wanting to keep your pain away from the people you loved, so he'd never begrudged her her secrets, never questioned the little things he could tell slipped into her words on accident.
But he wasn't going to shy away from it, either. Truthfully, it kind of made him angry, that she thought - what, that he was so perfect he didn't understand at least a little of what she was going through? That he deserved something better than the sheer perfection of the last several weeks with her, just because she had problems and issues she had to deal with?
He kept listening to her, his jaw clenching. Finally, when she called him an angel, he couldn't hold in the bark of dark, incredulous laughter. A humorless, angry smile, more a baring of teeth than anything, crossed his face. "Sweetheart," he said, anger leaking into his words (and if he weren't so very angry, at the entire world at the moment, he'd hate the fact that he used the term of endearment on her with anything but love), "if you think I'm an angel─ I am not. And if you think, for one goddamned second, that this?" he gestured around the room to indicate their current situation, "is gonna scare me away from you, or do anything other than keep loving you, then you really haven't been paying attention. I'm not going anywhere, Rogue. And if you wanna go ─ fine. But not tonight. Not like this."
If she wanted to call this whole thing off─ well. He honestly had no idea what he'd do. Soldier on, like he had been before he'd met her, and she'd changed his world. But he wasn't going to let her do it just because of her insecurities and fears about herself. Captain America was the Sentinel of Liberty, the Leader for Justice.
Steve Rogers was just a stubborn sonuvabitch who never backed down from a fight.
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But he wasn't going to shy away from it, either. Truthfully, it kind of made him angry, that she thought - what, that he was so perfect he didn't understand at least a little of what she was going through? That he deserved something better than the sheer perfection of the last several weeks with her, just because she had problems and issues she had to deal with?
He kept listening to her, his jaw clenching. Finally, when she called him an angel, he couldn't hold in the bark of dark, incredulous laughter. A humorless, angry smile, more a baring of teeth than anything, crossed his face. "Sweetheart," he said, anger leaking into his words (and if he weren't so very angry, at the entire world at the moment, he'd hate the fact that he used the term of endearment on her with anything but love), "if you think I'm an angel─ I am not. And if you think, for one goddamned second, that this?" he gestured around the room to indicate their current situation, "is gonna scare me away from you, or do anything other than keep loving you, then you really haven't been paying attention. I'm not going anywhere, Rogue. And if you wanna go ─ fine. But not tonight. Not like this."
If she wanted to call this whole thing off─ well. He honestly had no idea what he'd do. Soldier on, like he had been before he'd met her, and she'd changed his world. But he wasn't going to let her do it just because of her insecurities and fears about herself. Captain America was the Sentinel of Liberty, the Leader for Justice.
Steve Rogers was just a stubborn sonuvabitch who never backed down from a fight.