ship mingle: february is for starstruckers.

[mucked]

Who: Crew of the Starstruck
Broadcast: N/A
Action: Y, aboard the ship
When: All month

[ welcome to february. y'all know the drill. ]

Comments

[uprightness]

Only to prove a point.

[ and he had partly failed in that. proving a point would be not taking his time at all. instead, curiosity got the better of him.

still - ]

How long did you think I was going to take?

[mucked]

No. [ peggy shakes her head. ] Not telling. You don't get to know everything -- [ as if for any moment of any day she ever made it seem as though that wasn't the case. she's always kept secrets. good ones and bad. ]

Although -- what did you end up bringing along?

[uprightness]

You'll have to find out for yourself.

[ he counters. It's as natural as that, this back and forth, part banter and mostly flirting. Steve doesn't think he can win this but he can at least try to hold his own. ]

If you're not telling, I'm not telling.

[mucked]

Crumbs -- [ such insincere disappointment. his counter-argument doesn't do much to dampen her spirits, it seems. admittedly, not much could. ] Perhaps I ought to guess. Did you pack the red set? [ ... ] The red set's nice.

[ she lifts her chin and digs in her heels. so to speak. ]

[uprightness]

[ some weeks ago this might have been a winning move but this time, determined not to lose so easily, steve steels his nerves and pushes away about two dozen mental pictures ( he rather likes red on her, always has).

He smiles, takes a step closer and presses a short, loving kiss to her jaw. ]

No.

[ no, not that one. No, he's not falling for this ploy. ]

[mucked]

[ heaven help her, he's gone from calling her earlier bluff to raising the stakes. peggy turns her cheek -- as though inviting his kiss. ]

The blue, then. It's a lovely dark blue. [ one might even think the array of colours had been bent towards a theme. ]

[uprightness]

[ it's all mighty difficult. He harbored many such thoughts at the hotel but until today, he mostly succeeded in putting all those thoughts of these particular items aside, thinking they stayed behind.

But as it turns out, they didn't and steve knows it should have been Peggy's winning card but perhaps everything is still open. Hoping to beat Peggy Carter at her own game is reckless at best, but not entirely impossible.

He hums, as if he's trying to remember. His next kiss is pressed just beneath her ear. ]

No. But it is nice.

[mucked]

[ the trouble with inviting him into her bed -- and allowing him to sidetrack her in the mornings with a cuddle and a kiss -- is that he must have begun to catalog all the places and all the spots and all the little hidden hollows where she likes to be kissed. this particular one makes her exhale audible. ]

I hope it wasn't the white. [ her palm finds the small of his back. instead of rebuffing his moves, she chooses instead to anchor them together. ] Because I prefer the black.

[ in addition to a patriotic sense of humour, the red, the white, and the blue sets all had a modern sensibility to them. structured, but skimpy when compared to the classic lines and trappings of the black lingerie. ]

[uprightness]

No.

[ he stays where he is for a moment, swallowing as he chases away a myriad of thoughts ( has she worn them already? ) and all the while soaking up her warmth, the distant scent of her perfume and that single, louder breath. ]

Not the white one.

[ at the very least, there is pleasure in knowing he didn't get it wrong. ]

[mucked]

[ her smile says enough -- although there's a moment when she gives in to the temptation to bite down on her bottom lip. it's a flicker of hesitation in a conversation otherwise characterized by confidence. she uncurls her hand from around his fingers just long enough to lace their together instead. ]

So you did bring something. [ she has her answer, in the end. ]

[uprightness]

You said a change of clothes.

[ he reminds her. And say what you will, one thing remains a fact: ]

I'm pretty good at following directions.

[mucked]

You're good at following directions as you want them to be followed. I'd say the odds were about fifty-fifty on you showing up with only the most camping-appropriate attire in tow. Because there's nothing rugged or outdoorsy about the black set.

[ which means he made choice. and where there's choice, there's want. ]

[uprightness]

Well you know, you could have made it a neat hundred.

[ and so easily at that! Perhaps a bit too easily. ]

Next time tell me which ones to pack.

[ but he's beginning to suspect this was all a test of some sort. If he succeeded or failed remains to be seen. ]

[mucked]

Next time? [ she turns her head and kisses his cheek. quick, and almost perfunctory. ] I will. That's a promise.

[ a promise that there will be a next time; that she'll give directions; that this won't be the last 24-hour period where they're allowed to abscond a little from their duties and spend time together.

in that respect, their time at the hotel had done them wonders. ]

[uprightness]

[ it's a daring concept, promising anything under the fleet's fragile circumstances. at the end of the day, however, it's exactly that which makes him happy. if only because he realizes that it could all have been different if they were held back by it all, fate and the atroma and the what ifs.

as it is, it's a promise and one that he's glad to accept. ]

You promise? clear directions?

[ no ambivalence and odd codes. ]

[mucked]

[ she slides her palm away from his back -- only so she can hold it up as though taking an oath. ]

I give my word, Steve Rogers, that next time I'll tell you exactly what I want.

[ -- and she doesn't hide how much of a double-edged sword that might be. except now she's retreating by a step and sitting down in the lush green grass, inviting him to join her on the ground. there's a whole strange and beautiful sky to witness. ]

[uprightness]

You make it sound so ominous.

[ by right, he should be a bit worried by how it all turned out but the day is too nice and the sun is too warm and he figures that peggy carter will always be three steps ahead of him anyway.

he sits by her side but a moment later lies down, folding both arms behind his head. ]

Dunno how you manage it.

[mucked]

[ she cants her head against the crook of his arm -- glad to use him as a cushion. ]

How I manage what?

[ genuine curiousity. after the little back-and-forth about her lingerie, her urge to challenge him seems to have settled into a pleasant camaraderie. ]

[uprightness]

You always win.

[ honestly, he might have gotten better at holding his own against her without being reduced to a babbling mess but winning against her seems like a rather far-fetched aspiration.

he turns his head and smiles. this, here, some would view as complicated when in reality, it feels simple and gratifying. ]

Dunno how you do it.

[mucked]

I don't always win -- [ she replies. but she says it with just enough of a conciliatory tone to suggest she's being sportsmanlike. peggy rolls onto her side to face him and tucks her fingers under his upper arm. ] And you're holding your own more than you used to. Don't think I haven't noticed.

[ a drop of praise, then, before the clincher: ] Besides. Tell me, does it ever feel as though you've lost when I've won?

[ peggy suspects not. those aren't the sorts of victories she chases with him. not any more. ]

[uprightness]

No.

[ it's an easy truth to admit to, especially now, when they're face to face like this. it's a quiet, breathless moment. he and Peggy has been an almost for so long that simply being like this, inches away from one another, is enough to make him release the breath that he's been holding and confess, once more, ]

Not at all.

[mucked]

[ peggy settles her palm against the angle of his side. there's a miraculous sky above them with the planet's ring stretching out into a bizarre and inverted horizon. but she'd rather watch the blue of his eyes and commit every variation in hue to memory. ]

So? We win. Both of us. [ she might have told mister jarvis that she lacks a romantic side, but there's something undeniably sentimental in her voice just now. doubtful it'll last for long. ] Together.

[uprightness]

[ there is a deeper meaning there that serves as an almost physical tug, drawing him closer to her. perhaps it's the concept of we and perhaps it's that of victory but something about this sudden softness melts away any reminder of banter. ]

Yeah.

[ he shifts, turning sideways freeing one arm, using the leverage to loop it around her waist. ]

Maybe that's really what it's all about.

[ today; more than the date and the holiday an far more important than silly cards and boxes of sweets. ]

[mucked]

[ as lessons go, this one had been hard-won. even after the war, peggy had been disinclined to do anything together. she'd struck out fiercely independent -- unwilling to depend on anyone else. but then came edwin jarvis. and angie. daniel. rose. good god, even howard. by the time she wound up in the fleet, she'd been primed to reach out. connect a little. or, as is the case of late, connect a lot.

peggy supposes it's just about time to admit as much. she sidles nearer -- almost nose-to-nose. ]

I think it might be, yes. [ a crinkle of uncertainty. she touches his upper arm -- ginger as she does it. ] You know, I once thought you could carry the world on these shoulders alone. Which doesn't mean I'm about to suggest I'm at all disappointed. I'm really not. But because I thought you could do it, I started to think I ought to as well.

[ she furrows her brow and shakes away a bad memory. peggy's fingers walk themselves up to his cheek, where she presses her palm with similar tenderness. ]

[uprightness]

Sometimes it felt like I should.

[ it has been a bit of a nagging feeling at first. he had the least to lose out of all of the avengers, out of time and out of place and without connections or a personal life to put in jeopardy of anything were to go wrong.

but then there was Natasha and Sam and Bucky and the others and slowly, the team became more than a group of allies. allies don't break apart as fiercely as they did; what happened between him and tony was a falling out between friends and it's that friendship that he would try to salvage one day, when the time is right.

his frown clears, however - he seems to realize something. ]

It's funny. You know, it's not very different than how I used to think of you. Everything you ever told me - I guess I've been trying to make good on those. Still am.