driftfleet | Starstruck Mingle

[ ah, there it is. a wisp of truth. peggy doesn't engage with it too directly -- well aware that she might spook him back into his dark humour if she did. ]

Rather depends on why they keep leaving, I suppose.

[ he can only hold her gaze for a moment before he has to look away again. the truthful answer is... sad and kind of dumb. he doesn't want to keep things unsaid between them anymore, especially not here. but. howard swallows. ]

What might satisfy a person as a good reason? [ he quests uncertainly, knowing he'll get scolded before he even begins. ]

Howard. [ there's a sharpish rebuke in her tone, yes, but also an undercurrent of care. ] It's no good fishing for the answers before you give them.

[ it's like a blow, even if she wasn't even mean about it. he flinches and ducks his head. ] You seem to get on just fine without me. [ it isn't really bitter or jealous, though maybe there's a note of that in the words. mostly he just wants to be... out of their way. peggy and jarvis, who seem to make a great team. he really doesn't want to infringe on that, especially when he always makes everything worse somehow just by being there. ]

[ coolly and calmly: ]

I would be dead, you realize, were it not for those specs you sent through from Peru. Samberly handled the assembly, but it was all you.

[ and maybe her life would be a lot simpler WITHOUT howard stark, too, but damn she has a great deal to thank him for. ]

[ the look he gives her then is unbelievably vulnerable. he did kind of save the day at the end there, but does that mean he should be around all the time? even when she doesn't necessarily need him for his particular skillset. he takes in a shallow breath. ]

I wouldn't let anything happen to you, Peg. [ no matter what his issues are... he'll always come through for her in the end if he's capable of it. maybe that's not enough. ]

No, of course not. [ he's too far to nudge -- so she scoffs instead. ] You'll simply instigate the 'happening' instead.

[ but the feelings aren't hard ones. even with dottie, well...it had been a problem that needed looking into, regardless of howard's motivations in it. ]

[ he can tell she isn't cross with him, but that won't stop him from blaming himself okay!! ]

How can I do better by you, Peggy? I don't want any more bad business between us. [ he gestures vaguely across a space that seems indicatively expansive suddenly, somehow. howard stark has his listening ears on for a change, it might do well to take advantage. ]

Howard.

[ dear dear dear howard stark. now she does reach out -- a hesitant arm on the crook of his elbow. she's been turned into a gentler creature, it seems, these last few years. year, perhaps. singular.

it's a miracle what an influence steve has had on her. ]

There's no bad business between us. I suppose I can't promise there won't ever be -- you're you and I'm me. But -- I suppose we're family. Aren't we?

[ aren't they? ]

[ o-oh she's touching him. in a way that isn't a slap. he kind of uncertainly glances down at his arm -- it doesn't make him uncomfortable at all, quite the opposite, telltale heat beginning to bloom in his chest. ]

I should hope so, after all we've been through. [ he's still holding back. he doesn't want to, but there's more he should say now -- that she and jarvis are all he has in the world. he knows she knows, but he should still say how important they are to him. his gaze snaps downward when he can't take the brunt of hers any longer. ]

Precisely.

[ she's pleased, then, that he should agree with her. it shores up the last little flickers of uncertainty she'd been feeling. loosens something in her heart. ]

And family, I vaguely recall, puts up with all manner of hell. So don't go losing sleep over 'bad business.' We're not business partners, you and I.

[ not even close. ]

[ he would put up with ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING margaret carter threw at him. you know, literally and figuratively. so she must be right. he looks up and offers her a brave nod that says as much. ]

Thank the universe for that. [ little do they know... but hey for now it's a safe bet at least. ] Both of us have a lot of Hell to put up.

...That we do, Howard. That we most certainly do.

[ which seems an appropriate enough time to lift her touch and sit back. johnny cash's gruff voice still winds about the room, putting a funny note into the whole affair. ]

Although I am curious to see what makes us decide to formalize a partnership of sorts -- in SHIELD.

[ he always feels bereft when she pulls away from him in moments like these, but he knows too it wouldn't be right to linger overly. he wraps one arm around the other and stays put, though it's easier to meet her eyes with all of that put out of the way.

wait-- his face screws up. did he hear her right? ]

We-- you and me. We did that? [ somehow howard can't see himself getting in bed with the government that way, but look at all he's done for the ssr. is it really so much of a leap? ]

You. Me. Philips. [ peggy's head half-shakes. ] Or so I've been assured. Although it's rather difficult to imagine, at times.

Philips. [ jeez. he shakes his head. ] Only at times for you, eh? A step ahead of me then. [ for every new and weird future factoid he's presented with here... well. he needs to start keeping notes, that's all he knows. ]

The SSR is on its way out. [ she can tell that much already. ] It's only a matter of time before it collapses in on itself. One hopes.

So -- naturally, I can imagine something must take its place.

[ what's harder to imagine is that they should spearhead it. ]

Sure, but... [ he agrees with all of that, it's just the part where he, howard stark, starts up a division of the government. a secret division, even. he sighs and sits up, leaning forward out of his seat a little. the music seems kind of out of place now though he'd stopped noticing it a while back. ] Me. Howard Stark. An agent.

[ nat had said something about tony being agent-like in the future. but even so this is surreal. ]

Perhaps not a field agent -- [ peggy cautions him. it's not about a lack of faith, but rather that she understands the training she's endured and how much of it howard doesn't have. ]

And likely not an agent at all. [ a hum. ] A director, more like.

[ one of three. ]

A director of agents. [ he still sounds unsure, but at least that seems more plausible. though, he's not so bad at helping out peggy in a pinch, if he really thinks about it -- even if jarvis is better at it. ]

Do you have a timeline on this?

Starstruck Mingle | October 2017

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