31 Plays in 31 Days 2025, #17 - "Intermission"

[breakinglight11]

Another little piece of The Show, my MCU fanfic in the Forever Captain series about Steve Rogers's life post his retirement to the midcentury in Endgame. The thing I try to do with a lot of these stories is explore the impact being a time-traveling super-soldier has on Steve psychologically and emotionally. Like, what is it like to have lived out of time in the future and the past? What is it like to not know if your foreknowledge means your actions have no ability to affect the course of the timeline, or way too much? What is it like to age more slowly than everyone you love? How much does it separate you from others when they cannot possibly know what you've been through? What was it like to have the weight of the world on your shoulders? Those questions are ripe for drama, and I do my best even in this story, which is primarily supposed to be comedic, to make them feel present in my exploration of the character. I'm afraid that, like the last scene I did for this story in this year's challenge, #9 - Singing and Dancing, this is a bit insubstantial. But I think you can see me gesturing to the impact it's had on Steve to have lived such a singular life.

Day #17 - "Intermission"
From Forever Captain: The Show
By Phoebe Roberts

STEVE ROGERS, formerly Captain America, now retired and living as Grant Carter
ANGELA CARTER, his sixteen-year-old great-granddaughter

New York, 2025
~~~

            (At intermission, STEVE waits contemplatively in the lobby. ANGELA approaches with concessions.)
 
ANGELA: You want the Goobers or the Crunch-a-Bunch?
 
            (Pause.)
 
ANGELA: Granddad? You okay?
 
STEVE: Yeah, honey. Just… haven’t thought about a lot of this stuff in a long while. Some of it was a little rough.
 
            (Pause.)
 
ANGELA: Granddad, I’m sorry.
 
STEVE: What? What for?
 
ANGELA: I shouldn’t have dragged you to this. 
 
STEVE: Aw, sweetheart…
 
ANGELA: I thought it was just going to be some silly bullshit, and we’d have a few laughs. 
 
STEVE: Well, you’re not wrong there.
 
ANGELA: But I didn’t think about how… this was your life. Your real life. I didn’t mean to… make fun of the things you’ve been through.
 
STEVE: Oh, Angie. I never thought that. I think it’s just that, well, I’ve lead a strange life, no doubt about it. I don’t blame anybody for not understanding what that means. Not if you haven’t lived it.
 
ANGELA: I want to understand.
 
STEVE: Yeah?
 
ANGELA: Yeah. I mean, I know it’s not the same as going through it, but… if you want to tell me, I’d like to try.
 
STEVE: Aw, sure thing, honey. I appreciate that. Well, I don’t know how well I can explain it, but I’ll do my best. At least, better than the jokers behind this dog and pony show.
 
ANGELA: Thanks, Granddad.
 
            (They hug, then the house lights flicker. They turn to return to their seats.)
 
STEVE: Give me the Goobers. You use my credit card for these too?
 
ANGELA: Well— they didn’t take cash!