Centennials Are A Nuissance

[reconstitution]

Who: Bucky Barnes & You!
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: SS Heron
When: 3/10


[Broadcast;;]

[ The feed opens up with a view of the Heron's cargo bay, set upon a surface and focused on a very plain, yet sizable crate set in the center. Bucky comes into view, absolutely suspicious of the box addressed to him. He circles the crate a few times before kneeling and pulling out a knife so he can shimmy the lid off. It's removed very carefully and set to the side, much like he's diffusing a bomb. It may as well be, he knows what day it is, and this is obviously some weird thing from the Atroma.

He lifts a piece of paper from the top, skims through it quickly and crumples it and tosses the offending thing across the cargo bay. Bucky takes out a package that looks harmless enough- the crate is filled to the brim with very questionably made bottle rockets? Fiddling with it ends in a very harmless but extremely unnecessary explosion of glitter and confetti.

Boy, those sure aren't very nice words are they? Bucky seems to realize that the communicator is broadcasting this catastrophe, so a very glitter and confetti-covered captain stomps over to the device to shut it off. Not long after, a text comes through the network. ]

I don't care who takes the damn things, just get them off my ship. There are 99 more...

[Action;;]

[ Throughout the day, Bucky can probably be found sulking around the Heron, or sitting in the kitchen trying to clean glitter out from between the plates of his arm. His mood would be so much better if there were cake. ]

Comments

[outstandingbalance]

Nice. All right...

[Her hand slips down to his shoulder, staying there briefly before falling back to her lap like she's not entirely sure where she should put it now.]

I guess from now on, it won't be as surprising?

[She's not sure what she's doing. But she pretends pretty well.]

[reconstitution]

So you're saying I should expect more of that?

[ Which.. isn't a bad thing? It's just new and slightly terrifying. He looks back up at her, offering a small, but genuine smile. ]

Guess it'll keep me on my toes. [ He'd like that. He'd like that a lot. ]

[outstandingbalance]

I'm saying... [Does she even know what she's doing? She hasn't thought it through. She didn't have a plan where she meant to go from here.

Natasha is playing this all by ear.

But she finds she knows the answer when he smiles.] I'm saying I wouldn't rule out the possibility.

I like keeping you on your toes.

[reconstitution]

[ They both don't do plans well. That's not how spies work- not how they were engineered to work. Plans get fucked up. Making it up as you go along works much better so long as the end result is the same.

But what does that make the end result? It's not something he's going to think about right now. ]

I like that, too.

[outstandingbalance]

[That answer very nearly gets him another kiss right here, but she holds back. She tells herself it's because she doesn't want to spook him, but it has as much to do with not wanting to spook herself.

It feels good though. She doesn't let herself examine that reaction too closely.]

Happy Birthday, Barnes.

[reconstitution]

Have to say, it's one of the best ones in recent memory.

[ How far back 'recent' is can be up to Natasha. It started out as something he was bothered by, but that's not quite the case anymore. ]

[outstandingbalance]

I'm glad to hear that. I think at this point, you deserve a few nice things. And—

[She slips off the counter, feet hitting the floor lightly.]

Maybe we can give you that.

[reconstitution]

Maybe one or two. Let's not get carried away.

[ He takes a step back so that he's not crowding her when she slips off the counter. His fingers brush against her hand briefly before he pulls back. ]

[outstandingbalance]

Do I look like someone who gets carried away?

[Gently, still smiling. Her fingers twitch at the touch, not quite reaching to meet it, but a reflex she doesn't quite tamp down.]

[reconstitution]

I'd say yes, but I know you better than that.

[ Or at least he likes to think he does. ]

[outstandingbalance]

You know, I think you do.

[Not many people know her well. Most of them know only as much as she lets them, what she shows them.

Barnes is a rare exception.]

[reconstitution]

[ It's still a strange concept, knowing someone this well. There are still plenty of secrets between them, but slowly the walls are coming down. They're discovering themselves as well as the situations they find themselves in being caught in the Fleet.

He doesn't know how their pasts intertwine save for the two brief meetings they've had, but the future remains to be seen, and they've done a decent job laying some ground work. He's bound to fuck it up somewhere, but right now, this is fine. This is enough. This little spark of something can be tended. ]

I'd like to.

[outstandingbalance]

[Inviting people to try to get closer to her wasn't something Natasha did often or lightly.

But she found she'd like to try.

They'd just... have to play it by ear, see where it went.]