Fic: Five Steve Rogers Who Weren't
Title: Five Steve Rogers Who Weren't (or here at AO3)
Summary: What it says on the tin. (Because being Captain America doesn't require also being male, blond, blue-eyed, and of Western European extraction.)
Characters: Steve Rogers, in various forms; Howard Stark; Abraham Erskine
Rating: PG
Content Advisory: References to racism (historical and contemporary)
Word Count: 800
Notes: This is boosette's fault. Also, I have a 'fic:mcu' tag. What.
One
"Rodriguez, Esteban--need to talk to you."
Steve walks up to the recruiter holding his file and says, "Yes, sir, that's me."
"We need some more information." He gestures, and Steve follows him into the tiny cramped office, packed with forms and pamphlets.
"I'm sorry, sir; what information is that?" He takes the indicated seat and jiggles his knee. He's not nervous, but a little on edge, sure.
The recruiter--Sergeant Wilkes--taps the page in front of him with a pen. "Where were your parents born?"
"I don't see how that's relevant. I have a U.S. birth certificate." This is not standard nor required questioning. He knows, because he looked it up on the internet. Actually, it's borderline illegal for the recruiter even to ask, but he can't complain or his military career is over before it even starts.
"Don't be a smartass," Sgt. Wilkes says. "Where were your parents born?"
He stands a little straighter and says, "My mother was born in San Luis Potosí, and my father was born in Soledad de Graciano Sánchez. Both are cities in San Luis Potosí, Mexico." He pronounces it May-hi-co, like a native Spanish speaker, because he is.
The recruiter's lip curls. "Oh?"
"I was born in Brooklyn," Steve adds, and taps the paper with his finger.
He can hear all the ugly words simmering under Wilkes's silence--words like illegal immigrant and anchor baby. He's heard them all, and he's gotten his ass kicked over them before, because even in twenty-first-century New York City there are privileged assholes who will use any hurtful word they can find.
But he, Esteban 'Steve' Rodriguez, is an American citizen and he wants to be a member of the American military, and he isn't going to let some bully of a sergeant get between him and that dream.
"That's all," Sgt. Wilkes says after a long moment.
Steve nods, and returns to his seat by Bucky.
Two
"We're sorry," Dr. Erskine says, "but we can't consider any women for the procedure. The serum would have to make you biologically male."
Stevie squares her shoulders and says, "That would not be a problem, sir."
Three
Stevia is on the phone with her mother, just a brief phone call to make sure everything is okay, the first time she meets Howard Stark. She finishes the call and hangs up, but not before reassuring her mother that yes, she does love her, and yes, she is getting enough to eat.
"Stephania Rogers?" Howard Stark says, and holds out a hand to shake.
"Stevia," she says, and shakes his hand, "although it would probably be best if you stuck to Miss Rogers." She can hear the faint accent that clings sometimes after she's been speaking with her mother, and does not wince, although it is close.
"Howard Stark," he says, although it's not as if she doesn't know who he is. He holds her hand for a moment too long, and although there's nothing overtly sexual in it, she is starting to get uncomfortable when he says, "Was that Greek?"
It's probably in her file, which he has undoubtedly read, that she can speak the language of her mother's family. If not, her first name and nickname give her heritage away (and her middle name is Athena, which always makes her wonder what her mother was thinking), so she doesn't know why he makes it sound like a guess, but she nods.
His eyes, dark as hers, take in the blond curls she got from her father, and he nods back. "How well do you speak it?"
"Well enough," Stevia says. "We spoke it around the house." A lot more after her father died.
"Hm," he says. "We can probably use that. Welcome to the program!"
"Thank you," she says automatically, although she is thinking: Greece is an allied nation. How can my knowledge of Greek be useful?
Four
"You can't use that fountain. Yours is over there."
Figures. He's Captain America. He survived the testing and experiments when dozens of his peers didn't. He's the living embodiment of the perfection of the human form--other than his race, if you ask some people, but what do they know. But out of uniform, the goddamn Jim Crow laws still apply to him.
Five
She was supposed to be named Caroline, but she was born on Grandpa Steve's birthday and there was no way her grandmother would let her mother get away with not naming her after him. So, her mother being contrary, of course, she got saddled with the name 'Stevana.'
Predictably, when Tony Stark discovered her full name, there was no end of needling. "Stevana? Sounds like an artificial sweetener."
Stevie narrowed her eyes at him. "That's stevia, and it's far from artificial. It's a plant."
Director Fury probably had an assistant who could help her change her name to Stevie, right?
Summary: What it says on the tin. (Because being Captain America doesn't require also being male, blond, blue-eyed, and of Western European extraction.)
Characters: Steve Rogers, in various forms; Howard Stark; Abraham Erskine
Rating: PG
Content Advisory: References to racism (historical and contemporary)
Word Count: 800
Notes: This is boosette's fault. Also, I have a 'fic:mcu' tag. What.
One
"Rodriguez, Esteban--need to talk to you."
Steve walks up to the recruiter holding his file and says, "Yes, sir, that's me."
"We need some more information." He gestures, and Steve follows him into the tiny cramped office, packed with forms and pamphlets.
"I'm sorry, sir; what information is that?" He takes the indicated seat and jiggles his knee. He's not nervous, but a little on edge, sure.
The recruiter--Sergeant Wilkes--taps the page in front of him with a pen. "Where were your parents born?"
"I don't see how that's relevant. I have a U.S. birth certificate." This is not standard nor required questioning. He knows, because he looked it up on the internet. Actually, it's borderline illegal for the recruiter even to ask, but he can't complain or his military career is over before it even starts.
"Don't be a smartass," Sgt. Wilkes says. "Where were your parents born?"
He stands a little straighter and says, "My mother was born in San Luis Potosí, and my father was born in Soledad de Graciano Sánchez. Both are cities in San Luis Potosí, Mexico." He pronounces it May-hi-co, like a native Spanish speaker, because he is.
The recruiter's lip curls. "Oh?"
"I was born in Brooklyn," Steve adds, and taps the paper with his finger.
He can hear all the ugly words simmering under Wilkes's silence--words like illegal immigrant and anchor baby. He's heard them all, and he's gotten his ass kicked over them before, because even in twenty-first-century New York City there are privileged assholes who will use any hurtful word they can find.
But he, Esteban 'Steve' Rodriguez, is an American citizen and he wants to be a member of the American military, and he isn't going to let some bully of a sergeant get between him and that dream.
"That's all," Sgt. Wilkes says after a long moment.
Steve nods, and returns to his seat by Bucky.
Two
"We're sorry," Dr. Erskine says, "but we can't consider any women for the procedure. The serum would have to make you biologically male."
Stevie squares her shoulders and says, "That would not be a problem, sir."
Three
Stevia is on the phone with her mother, just a brief phone call to make sure everything is okay, the first time she meets Howard Stark. She finishes the call and hangs up, but not before reassuring her mother that yes, she does love her, and yes, she is getting enough to eat.
"Stephania Rogers?" Howard Stark says, and holds out a hand to shake.
"Stevia," she says, and shakes his hand, "although it would probably be best if you stuck to Miss Rogers." She can hear the faint accent that clings sometimes after she's been speaking with her mother, and does not wince, although it is close.
"Howard Stark," he says, although it's not as if she doesn't know who he is. He holds her hand for a moment too long, and although there's nothing overtly sexual in it, she is starting to get uncomfortable when he says, "Was that Greek?"
It's probably in her file, which he has undoubtedly read, that she can speak the language of her mother's family. If not, her first name and nickname give her heritage away (and her middle name is Athena, which always makes her wonder what her mother was thinking), so she doesn't know why he makes it sound like a guess, but she nods.
His eyes, dark as hers, take in the blond curls she got from her father, and he nods back. "How well do you speak it?"
"Well enough," Stevia says. "We spoke it around the house." A lot more after her father died.
"Hm," he says. "We can probably use that. Welcome to the program!"
"Thank you," she says automatically, although she is thinking: Greece is an allied nation. How can my knowledge of Greek be useful?
Four
"You can't use that fountain. Yours is over there."
Figures. He's Captain America. He survived the testing and experiments when dozens of his peers didn't. He's the living embodiment of the perfection of the human form--other than his race, if you ask some people, but what do they know. But out of uniform, the goddamn Jim Crow laws still apply to him.
Five
She was supposed to be named Caroline, but she was born on Grandpa Steve's birthday and there was no way her grandmother would let her mother get away with not naming her after him. So, her mother being contrary, of course, she got saddled with the name 'Stevana.'
Predictably, when Tony Stark discovered her full name, there was no end of needling. "Stevana? Sounds like an artificial sweetener."
Stevie narrowed her eyes at him. "That's stevia, and it's far from artificial. It's a plant."
Director Fury probably had an assistant who could help her change her name to Stevie, right?