Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, any characters referenced or the song used. This comes from a prompt I saw on tumblr. We've never met but our showers are on opposite sides of the same apartment wall so sometimes we're showering at the same time and we sing duets AU.

Steve's singing: italics
Wanda's singing: bold

The way it usually begins is with Steve. Once the daily ritual is finished and enters the shower each morning, he starts the music. Some days it is quiet and he just enjoys the sounds. Others he cannot help but join in on the fun, singing every word.

And on those rare days, Steve finds himself in a duet. The women next door seems to share the same showering schedule as him and will sometimes match Steve's noise making. Unlike Steve however, the mysterious singer does not make ears bleed like he does.

For Steve, today was a day he knew that he would not enjoy. His recent ex-girlfriend had called him and decided she was ready to talk, a week after he dumped her. Steve didn't want to hear it but he was too nice to say no to her, or to any girl. His Ma had raised him better than to just ignore a person.

So it surprised Steve when he heard the first few notes of one of his favorite songs play from the other side. The sound of piano and plucked guitar rung out from the women's speakers. Before Steve had the chance to sing the first few words, the woman took the first verse as hers.

"Any dolt with half a brain
Can see that human kind has gone insane
To the point where I don't know if I'll upset the status quo
If I threw poison in the water main."

Steve could only smile as the mystery neighbor took charge and sang wonderfully, in Steve's opinion, the darker half of the song.

"Listen close to everybody's heart
And hear that breaking sound
Hopes and dreams are shattering apart
And crashing to the ground."

Even though Steve knew every single word to the song, he could feel waves of pure emotion rolling through the thin barrier between the two. Steve wasn't sure why, but the words hit so much harder today than they had every before.

"I cannot believe my eyes
How the world's filled with filth and lies
But it's plain to see evil inside of me
Is on the rise."

There was a little pause before Steve started the next verse. He took a deep breath as though he was preforming on stage and opened his mouth to let the words fall out.

"Look around
We're living with the lost and found
Just when you feel you've almost drowned
You find yourself on solid ground."

The words seemed to fall from Steve's mouth, the singing for once not hindering the horrible voice of the man. Silence other than the water running encouraged Steve to continue what felt like him pouring his heart out.

"And you believe there's good in everybody's heart
Keep it safe and sound
With hope you can do your part
To turn a life around.

I cannot believe my eyes
Is the world finally growing wise?
Because it seems to me
Some kind of harmony
Is on the rise."

Steve finished his opening portion and felt a smile creeping. This song was one of his favorites and with everything he had gone through, it reminded him of both the hope and desperation he had once felt. Especially with all that had happened to him in the last few months, the song seemed to serve as a sign that maybe things would soon change.

Steve however felt worry for his partner. The lyrics she sang and expressed so well involved a certain amount of both pessimism and Steve hated that anyone could feel that amount of pain. Especially if that person didn't have anyone else, like he suspected this woman did. She never had guests and other than when they shared the music in the shower, he heard not a single peep from her.

Pushing the thoughts from his mind for the moment, Steve prepared for the duet piece of the song that was coming.

"Anyone with half a brain
Take it slow."

The two voices blended well, the harshness of the women's with the warm compassion of Steve's formed a synced melody.

"Could spend their life howling in pain
She looks at me and seems to know."

Steve remembered the pain that an action as simple and involuntary as breathing caused him as a child and continued on with the song.

"Because the dark is everywhere and
The things I'm afraid to show."

The more the song continued, the more Steve wanted to meet this woman. He resolved to introduce himself to her in the next few days. He just needed some sort of witty way to do so. That was usually Natasha's job, not his.

"He didn't seem to care that soon the dark in me is all that will remain
And I suddenly feel this glow."

But Steve did care. If he knew that a darkness was forming in this woman and he could help, Steve knew he would whether she was a stranger or not. And so, instead of only singing a duet, it felt as though the two were carrying a debate on how the world works. Steve knew it sounded ridiculous but he was enjoying this, even if in the back of his mind was a forming amount of worry for his partner.

"Listen close to everybody's hearts
And I believe there's good in everybody's heart."

Steve believed the words that he was singing. Growing up, he had always tried to see the best in others, even if nothing else than to make his Ma proud. It was the only excuse he could give as to why he remained friends with people like Tony Stark.

"And hear that breaking sound
Keep it safe and sound
Hopes and dreams are falling apart
With hope you can do your part
And crashing to the ground
To turn a life around."

Steve knew about both hope and shattered dreams. The hope that the pain would stop, the hope that his Ma would wake up, and the hope that he'd fill the hole left by Peggy. Instead Steve's Ma would never get to see her grandchildren, the physical pain Steve felt turned inward and Peggy would always haunt a part of him, no matter what he did or how much he changed.

As the music signaled the next part of the song, Steve slumped against the wall and felt the woman do the same. If there had been an observer, they would have seen the unfolding scene mirroring how the song was preformed in the film.

"I cannot believe my eyes
I cannot believe my eyes
How the world's filled with filth and lies
How the world's finally growing wise."

After the two finished their separate lyrics they quickly fell back into a synchronized voice.

"But it's plain to see
And it's plain to see
Evil inside of me
Rapture inside of me."

This had all lead to this point, the finale line of the song. Steve took the smallest of breaths and let everything that had built up over the progression of the last few minutes into these last four words.

"Is on the rise
Is on the rise."

The music stopped and Steve heard the water in the other bathroom shut off. Steve closed his eyes and softly hit his head against the wall. He then proceeded to slide down the shower wall, not ready for the water to stop flowing just yet. As he sat there, he once again tapped his against the wall and groaned softly.

Steve whistled the haunting tune as he grabbed his bag and sketch pad, turning towards the door. His plan was to escape from his apartment and head to the school before his neighbor headed to work. He needed to collect himself before the students, or god forbid Tony and Natasha find out he was even thinking about a girl of any type. Last time anyone from the group knew about any female in his life, Steve didn't hear the end of it until they broke up.

After fiddling with his keys and locking the front door, Steve turned and made it three steps before bumping into someone. Mind starting to race, and the voice of his Ma starting, Steve started to apologize profusely.

"I am so sorry. I was a little lost in my head."

"It's alright, I wasn't paying attention either." A quiet voice responded that forced Steve to look at his victim of chance.

From just the simplest of statements Steve knew that this was the girl he had just enjoyed sharing a duet with. Steve felt both joy that even by chance that he found her so quick, and wanted to curse that it was so soon. He had barely had time to try and come up with a snappy one liner.

Unfortunately Steve couldn't help himself and said "I cannot believe my eyes."

The moment Steve uttered those words, a grin wormed its way to his face. The emotion displayed was warm and caused the woman to at first widen her eyes at his reference. With a slight blush on her face, she responded with smile.

"I guess you're my duet partner then."

"I am."

"Well I'm Wanda. Wanda Maximoff. And to further disappoint, I do not have a PhD in horribleness."

Steve and Wanda both laughed at her joke for a few moments, glad some of the tension was easing. Steve then extended his hand for a handshake with this new person.

"I'm Steve Rodgers and I guess I am obligated to say that I am not dating Nathan Fillion."

"Well that's a relief." Wanda replied more enthusiastic than she wanted too.

After Wanda laughed at the joke and then took Steve's hand in hers to complete the handshake. With her other arm up, Wanda checked her watch. Steve stood nervous for a moment trying to grasp for words. As he remained still, he took a good look at the woman in front of him. She had auburn hair tied into a messy bun and clothes that seemed like they were for a dancer, or maybe an actress. He also noticed the dark circles under her hazel eyes, the marking something he was all too familiar with.

"I'm sorry but was there anything else? I'm running a bit late." Wanda asked, pulling Steve from his wandering thoughts.

"Um...well.." Steve stuttered out. He was terrible at this whole thing. He had only dated twice and both times he was not responsible for asking the partners out. "I was just wondering if you'd like to get coffee sometime?"

Wanda just smiled again and laughed at Steve's nervous demeanor. Diving into her bag once again, Wanda retrieved a ballpoint pen and clicked it to life and grabbed Steve's arm. The woman scrawled a string of numbers across the man's forearm.

"I'd love to. If you're not busy tonight we could go and grab a bite yes?"

Steve had not noticed the slight accent that Wanda spoke with until now. Glancing at the number on his arm, and recalling that Sharon wanted to see him tonight, Steve grinned at getting to spend time and get to know this woman so soon after meeting her and having an opportunity to escape his ex and what otherwise would be a night of torture.

"Sure. Does six-thirtyish sound good at the diner down the street sound good? They make a mean milkshake."

Wanda laughed once again before responding "That sounds great. I guess I'll see you then Steve."

"I'll be waiting Ms. Maximoff."

Wanda smiled at Steve once more before moving away from the man. Before she began her descent down the stairwell, Wanda tuned and gave a short wave to Steve and then disappeared from sight. The blonde man stood for a few moments watching where his date had disappeared when his phone buzzed to tell him he had a text message.

'Hurry up Fossil. Smithsonian is only open for so long.' Was the message that Natasha, a fellow teacher and friend, had sent Steve.

Moving quickly down the opposite set of stairs that Wanda had moved down, Steve found the smile creeping on his face hard to contain. He was happy that he had found a date with a nice girl that he had sung a Dr. Horrible duet with.

Author's Note: Hello I have almost risen from the hellish chains that are AP tests. With just Economics tomorrow, I will have time to actually publish more stories on here. So expect some ScarletAmerica, Snowbarry and maybe a little Romanodgers fics soon. This story will be a three parter, with part II hopefully going to be up by the end of the weekend.

As always, I hope you please read and review. Without them I can't grow and they fuel my desire to publish this crap I call writing.