✮ video.

[uprightness]

Who: Steve Rogers + you.
Broadcast: yep.
Action: on the starstruck, if you're inclined!
When: current.

[ It has been a long time since Steve Rogers has done one of these little network announcements, seven months, if you want to be specific about it. Some things have changed, others haven't. He still looks awkward about addressing a whole lot of people at once for something that isn't an emergency. The uniform is gone, however, replaced by a simple blue t-shirt and jeans and the shield is nowhere in sight.

He seems to have spread many sheets of paper all over the Starstruck's kitchen. Some feature tables of dates - undoubtedly a calendar in the making and others feature, well, drawings; each sheet contains one scenery. They would strike some people as rather familiar, a hand-holding tree, a sandy beach, the market of the tri-fraction system with people wearing clothes in various colors, the woods of the Lagan system, the Nebula lights and lastly, the mountains of Siourew and the Co’kal. ]

I meant to finish a few calendars by New Year's Eve but it seems I'm behind on my deadline.

[ To say the very least. He rubs his chin, there's a beginning of a stubble there. How many days has he devoted to this as of late? it's hard to tell. ]

I'm not going to write years on 'em, since it's different for all of us but I thought it might be a nice way to keep up with dates and holidays.

[ He frowns and confesses, ]

I feel like I've left some things out - and some of you have seen planets I haven't been around to see for myself. I figured I'd ask - if you have the time, you can describe some of them to me and I'll add them to the calendar. It can be anything you liked on any of the planets we've been to.

[ and, okay, fine - ]

I could use a description of where we're currently docked, too.

[ How can a person so big can seem so awkward? ]

Thanks you.

Comments

[mucked]

Suitor! [ a shake of her head. ] Makes it sound as though you're still in pursuit.

[uprightness]

I am, aren't I?

[ his intent is made clear a second later. He was denied a kiss earlier; he's quickly sweeping down for it now. ]

[mucked]

[ oh fine -- a kiss, then. earnestly given. peggy locks her hands behind his back and anchors herself in place. ]

Or perhaps I'm the suitor.

[uprightness]

You?

[ it's not doubt so much as amusement. ]

What are you in pursuit of, Captain?

[ he's rather fond of the fact they share the title now. ]

[mucked]

You came here, didn't you? [ perhaps she'd been luring him more than pursing him. still. ]

[uprightness]

You know I would.

[ and if that's the case, ]

I guess it really does mean it fits you better.

[mucked]

[ she's like the mounties. she always gets her man. ]

However, it does imply a certain ongoing nature to the pursuit.

[uprightness]

And?

[ will he make her explain? apparently he's going to make her explain. ]

where's the mistake?

[mucked]

Why, Captain Rogers -- [ she locks her fingers behind the small of his back, as if to secure him to her. ] I believe I've already got you.

[uprightness]

Yeah, you did.

[ a long, long while ago. he sighs then frowns, seems like they have a problem at hand. ]

So that doesn't fit, either.

[mucked]

[ she leans her chin on his shoulder -- thoughtful. ]

We keep coming back to this, don't we?

[ nothing's right. nothing works. except, of course, for them. but it defies any label they try and place on it. ]

[uprightness]

Seems like.

[ there are some things that are worth waiting for. Peggy Carter falls under that category but so is what he tosses at her next. ]

But I guess if we're going to follow your secret plans and get hitched we won't have this problem anymore.

[mucked]

[ her what?

she freezes -- just for a moment -- before deciding this is some horrible attempt at a joke. peggy leans back, eyeing him. ]

Oh, yes, very funny. Get hitched? Indeed.

[uprightness]

It's your plans.

[ it costs him great efforts not to laugh. ]

You should probably keep them off my phone, next time.

[mucked]

[ no, this requires further addressing. peggy steps back -- but her hand stays gripped tenderly on his elbow. she reads his face for any dissembling, but finds nothing but his amusement. hmm. ]

My plans? [ for marriage? and it's just long enough ago that the answer doesn't click into place like it should. ] I've made no such plans.

[uprightness]

No point in denying it. I mean, I didn't think that's what you needed my phone for. But you do know those emojis were made for messages and not codes, right?

[ shrugging. ]

You could have just said it.

[mucked]

Said what -- honestly, Steve, this isn't terribly amusing.

[ peggy doesn't appear angry. only perplexed. her brow crinkles. ]

Your phone gets used in my lessons with Winn. We barely every discuss emojis.

[ perhaps the word should have jogged her memory, but she'd been rather drunk at the time. ]

[uprightness]

Not even the ones sent in messages? You know, it only got sent since it was from my phone to my phone.

[ he has to wonder what she's up to in those lessons with winn? ]

A whole stream of them - car, groom, bride, house.

[ rings a bell? ]

It's all right there.

[mucked]

[ wait. wait.

her mouth goes dry. ]

-- Steve, are you trying to say I've proposed? To you? With little pictures?

[ somehow. ]

[uprightness]

Coded pictures.

[ which is that much more sensible. he doesn't bite back a smile anymore. ]

Don't look at me, I've been trying to figure this out for a while now. It was there in the unread messages.

[mucked]

[ gears turn in the back of her head. peggy frowns, as though puzzling over a problem that's giving her more pause than she'd first anticipated. ]

Steve, [ she starts -- watching him (and his smile) with mild indignation. ] When I ever ask you to marry me, it won't be with coded pictures. There'll be no mistaking it. That much I can promise.

[ ok, you old grammarian. pick that part. when. not if. ]

[uprightness]

There wasn't a lot of room for mistakes with the pictures, either.

[ just saying. ]

Are you saying Winn is asking me to marry him?

[mucked]

[ an indignant snort. not laughter -- not really. ]

What exactly were the pictures? In what order?

[ a big ask for some, perhaps, but she knows steve's memory is precise enough to recall it exactly. not least of all because if he truly did think it was some secret message about their (hypothetical) impending marriage, he'd doubtless have scrutinized it often. ]

[uprightness]

Like I said - bride, groom, heart, wedding ring, applause, I think one of them included another heart - and then confetti, house, car.

[ and then he chuckles, perhaps because the very memory makes this look even more silly. ]

[mucked]

Jarvis! [ it hits her all at once, and peggy offers a snap of her fingers as she unravels the mystery. ] Mister bloody Jarvis -- New Year's Eve, he came over to the Starstruck. Not long after he'd joined the fleet.

[ peggy shakes her head. ] I used your phone to show him a few 'wonders' of the modern world. He's the one who made those selections, Steve, and not me.

[ but only now does it hit home how he might have built that code up in his thoughts -- how he might have gotten himself excited for what they could have meant. ]

I'm terribly sorry.