» we're all starstruck in september

[mucked]

Who: Crew + Visitors
Broadcast: N/A
Action: Aboard the Starstruck
When: Septemberish

[ an open mingle for crew and visitors throughout the month. go wild. just not too wild. ]

Comments

[outstandingbalance]

Like I said, not trying to change your mind. Just—advancing an additional perspective.

[She smiles at Peggy's answer. She'll leave that there.]

The two of you have that in common.

[mucked]

You have no idea. [ a huff of breath. ] Our latest stand-off is a thing of remarkable bullheadedness.

[ she can admit as much just now -- much to her chagrin. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha raises an eyebrow at that, but doesn't ask the obvious question.]

I find that easy to believe.

[mucked]

[ actually! peggy's better angels fail to shout her down, and she asks: ] Did you know he got a ring? A ring.

[ it's an earnest question; natasha might not be glitched, this time, but she almost hopes for honesty all the same. ]

He hid it in a book. Bloody amateur.

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha might be a good actress, but she doesn't have to fake her surprise to that news.]

He did not mention that to me, no. If he had, I would have told him to find a better hiding place.

[mucked]

Anywhere would have been better than the one novel he's read just about ten bloody times since he's arrived.

[ -- and jane austen at that? ]

[outstandingbalance]

I'd say ideally he should be keeping it on him. Just in case the right time pops up.

[Is that serious? Probably not. Not entirely, at least.]

[mucked]

An optimistic bit of advice, I think.

[ implying (perhaps) that it's a bit foolhardy to wait for a 'right' time. there is no 'right' time. ]

[outstandingbalance]

No more optimistic than buying the ring. If he has it, seems like there's a strong possibility he meant to use it at one point or another.

[And lets be real.]

The only way he was going to do that is by being ready when the opportunity presented itself.

Plus, then you don't get caught unprepared because someone decided to borrow a book.

[mucked]

-- Good Lord, I wasn't borrowing it. [ she huffs, as though she takes more offense at this than anything else. ] Merely moving it. We paid to have the rooms merged; the upgrade came with a bit of a need to reorganize.

[outstandingbalance]

Peggy, I'm not questioning why you'd open one of Steve's books. I was just playing the odds.

[Suddenly, Peggy's defensiveness is almost funny again.]

Either way.

[mucked]

I'd sooner be caught dead than reading Mansfield Park for pleasure.

[ APPARENTLY she is beating this dead horse. she'll blow herself out eventually. ]

[outstandingbalance]

I guess that's in keeping with your general disdain for fiction.

[Movies and books both, clearly. A part of Natasha wonders what Peggy would have made of Barnes reading Natasha The Hobbit on the Marsiva.]

Maybe that's why he thought it would be safe there?

[mucked]

Perhaps. Had he hollowed it out. Made himself a nook in the pages. But -- the bulge in the spine was telling enough.

[ honestly, she knows subterfuge isn't steve's bag. but still. ]

How could I not have a peek after seeing it?

[outstandingbalance]

It can't really have come as that much of a surprise. Either the ring, or the bad job hiding it.

[mucked]

It did. [ peggy admits -- and perhaps that's a sore point: the fact that she'd never seen it coming. she'd been blindsided. ] Not the botched hidey-hole. That was always going to be a given.

But everything else? [ a low whistle. ] It did.

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha believes her, but she can't help but think that there's an element of denial there—not guessing because she didn't want to know.]

So I take it your answer is no.

[mucked]

Upon multiple occasions, yes.

[ because they've already identified steve as a stubborn bastard. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[That also isn't a surprise. Steve is stubborn enough to keep asking, and Peggy is stubborn enough to keep saying no.]

Doesn't seem like he's taking it personally.

[mucked]

Frankly, each refusal seems only to encourage him. [ it's inevitable. and it's exactly why steve hasn't asked her throughout this glitch -- because they both know she'll say yes, in the end, and that steals the game out from under their feet. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[You two have strange sex games. But that's between Steve and Peggy.]

I figure you know how to stop him from asking if you really want to.

[mucked]

And I may yet. [ which is dreadfully honest in and of itself. ] I haven't decided. For the time being, no one's feelings are being bruised.

[outstandingbalance]

I'm sure you'll figure out when the time is right.

[mucked]

I've been engaged before; I'm in no rush to try it again.

[ -- simple as that. somehow, it's less scary to say aloud than she'd thought it would be. ]

[outstandingbalance]

You should know I'm not judging.