（ ＶＩＤＥＯ ｜ ＡＣＴＩＯＮ ）

[uprightness]

Who: steve rogers + you.
Broadcast: yep
Action: on the starstruck if you're so inclined
When: current

[ there's no need to address the last few weeks. others have done it, offering drinks and comforting words or just a down to business attitude. steve would have normally gone for the latter but today is an exception.

there are boxes scattered around the starstruck's cargo bay and it seems he is slowly unwrapping them all and unpacking a collection of decorations. they're not strictly christmas decorations but one must make do with what one is given.

and speaking of which - ]

I know the last few weeks have been difficult but I also know we're approaching the holidays. Those can be a little rough around here.

[ but look at him gesturing to those boxes ]

I thought we might start making it a little easier. I got these at the Kayanni system a couple of months ago. If you want to take a box for your ship, you're more than welcome to.

[ lord knows they have too much tinsel. ]

and if there's anything else you need help with - you know where I live.

[ oh look, it's a smile. apparently those do happen, still. ]

Comments

[uprightness]

[ the only time Steve Rogers ever carried Peggy Carter anywhere was last year in February when he scooped her into his arms just to throw her into the water of a lake. He misses those times now; the way the sun kissed her skin and the sound of her laughter.

Those were easier days, the fleet heading to known as many troubles back then. But now, he seizes the same chance. Her hands settle behind his neck and bends down and scoops her up. ]

There's no one in the halls, I'd here them.

[ oh this is lovely. This is a lovely, lovely day. ]

[mucked]

[ it's not her favourite thing: the sensation of her feet leaving the ground, the way her whole world seems to shift and pivot and suddenly depend wholly on him. but peggy doesn't hate it, either. perhaps with someone else (anyone else) it would feel like something of a necessary evil. with steve, at least, she can curl toward his chest and settle her nose against his neck and find all the little ways she might enjoy him while he carried her to their room.

it's ridiculous. it's wonderful. it's the sort of thing she'd perish of embarrassment if she tried to explain to someone else. ]

If there was, would it even stop you? [ peggy teases, kissing the shell of his ear. ]

[uprightness]

Yes ma'am.

[ it's a light, easy assurance. He's always leaning on these protocols, on official military language. By now, it's never used without a flirting edge, something sharp and sweet that pours from those words. But this is brand new and utterly delightful. Steve rushes it, still, doesn't risk an intrusion on this little moment.

He's dangerously infatuated. He doesn't need the ring, he'd have asked her to marry him right now if he didn't think it'd endanger the mood. ]

I have some survival instincts, you know.

[mucked]

Some, perhaps. But still barely enough to fit in a mint tin.

[ she kisses his cheek, she leaves a mark -- another smudge to go with all the rest. peggy keeps her arms draped around his neck until they reach their bedroom. and only then does she squirm as though she sees fit to find her feet on the ground again.

he's had his fun -- she can stand under her own steam, now, thank you vert much. ]

[uprightness]

[ there's an over the threshold joke to be made here. it's right there on the tip of his tongue but steve manages to bite back on anything too suggestive, joke or not. In the end, he lowers her back down, stumbles backwards and finally inside. ]

You still have snow in your hair.

[ he doesn't see fit to do anything about it. He reaches for her hips, tugs her into the circle of his arms once more. ]

It looks nice.

[mucked]

[ there's no escaping his tight orbit. peggy goes from arms to floor, yes, but steve keeps her near, fettering himself to her with a kind of happy urgency she's come to recognize moment from moment. it seems he can't wait for their bed, but insists on erasing that distance between them while they stand in the middle of the room.

-- she doesn't complain. well, not about the proximity at least. ]

It's not snow. [ not real snow. she noses against his cheek. ] And it'll take hours to pick it all out.

[uprightness]

Is that what we're going to be doing?

[ picking it all out. he poses it as a serious question, an inquiry about the day's agenda, as if that one hasn't been set from the first step out of the cargo bay. it's then, just then that his grip loosens just a bit, enough to let her move away but not enough to lost all manner of contact. ]

Because you know, I'm pretty good at being patient.

[ at times. ]

[mucked]

Oi, now. [ she takes her lease, her bit of slack, and steps backwards -- drawing him with her toward the bedside. ] Being more patient than me doesn't give you the right to then call yourself good at being patient.

[ those are two very different things, captain rogers. ]

[uprightness]

What?

[ oh he heard her just fine. All of this is easy, comfortable flirting. He lets her lead him, step by step until his knees knock against the metal of their bed. It's easy to kick his shoes off, it's easy to stretch and feel the tension leave his limbs. It's easier to reach for her, to try and tug her closer, always closer. ]

Are you implying that I'm not? Dunno what makes you say that.

[mucked]

What I'm implying, my darling, is that your great patience is a great facade. How you fool anyone else into thinking you're saintly, I'll never know.

[ moments after he's kicked off his shoes, peggy steps out of her heels. they leave a path of footwear to the bed's edge. and, once there, she gives the man a firm nudge.

he's built like a brick base perhaps but she's convinced he won't take more than that to go down. ]

[uprightness]

Now I know that can't be true.

[ he counters but doesn't elaborate, not for another moment or two. he's predictable, he goes down with a happy chuckle, tugging on her waist, trying to pull her with him into what might be a shared tumble, limbs knocking together until he can find his way beneath her. secretly ( or perhaps not so secretly at all ), there are few place steve would rather be. he reaches for her hand, entwines their fingers in an attempt to tempt her closer. ]

I'm wanted in over a hundred countries. I think I'm past saintly.

[ happily so, at the moment. the corner of his mouth curves into a grin and he shakes his head. ]

I think I've blown my cover.

[mucked]

[ this is perfectly acceptable. and, yes, she stages a token resistance when he tugs her down. peggy stands her ground by the thinnest definition possible. all until, like suddenly giving in, she topples down on top of him -- easing both their hands above his head as she leans in for another kiss. ]

Not here, you haven't. [ she warns him between long, slow pecks. ] The fleet loves you.

[ i love you. ]

[uprightness]

Careful -

[ but it's said through waves of laughter, the sound of it rises and falls and breaks against her lips. he can't keep her stable, can't grasp her hips as he has done so far. not with she traps his wrists, not when she holds them like she does. he could break free, of course he does and not one part of him wants to. instead, he just noses a line up her neck, kisses the edge of her jaw. in the end, this past month has been terrible. this is about assurance as it is about comfort, even if they would never really say it.

there's no need to. he understands peggy just fine, he reads between the lines, picks up on the little clues she leaves for him. ]

I don't really care about the fleet.

[mucked]

[ peggy is stretched across his body. arms reaching, shoulders locking. and when his lips find her chin, she sighs. she shivers. she flexes against him, breathing out her own flutter of laughter.

her stockings catch on a metal stud in steve's jeans, but she doesn't much care or mind. let him leave tears in the silk; some experiences are worth the expense. ]

Bollocks. You mightn't care what they think of you, but you certainly do care.

[uprightness]

At the moment.

[ he corrects himself, he emphasizes and it seems as if he's about to say something else but he's easily distracted. by her laughter and her movement and the sound of a small, barely-there stretch and tear of fabric. ]

At the moment, I only care about one of them.

[ there is no outer world, no outer concerns, not now. surely, they're allowed this, he and her who fought battles and wars to keep others safe from harm. this moment of indulgent is something hard-earned. ]

and you're right here.

[ so the rest of it can wait. it can wait an hour. it can wait two or three hours for all he cares. ]

[mucked]

[ she's right here. and the christmas decorations, thank god, are far from them both. she kisses along the bridge of his nose -- leaving one last smear of red before taking his mouth again. hard and insistent, leaving him with no illusions as to her intentions.

they're drifting, after all. and she and he had come to an agreement before everything had gone to hell once again. ]

I wouldn't care to be anywhere else. [ being above him, astride him, is one of her favourite places to be. ]

[uprightness]

[ no part of steve would want her anywhere else, either. She's warm and ever-present and they're drifting. yet where her kiss is hard, his own is softer, slower too. They have time and steve is more than willing to both give and simply let her take.

But he also knows how much he wants to stretch each second into eons, how much he wants to hold her and assure her and love her. His lips curve into a smile against hers. ]

Peggy. Can I have my hands back now??

[mucked]

Oh, I don't know.

[ her fingers tighten on his wrists. playfully -- kindly, almost. because she knows there's nothing gained in going tough on a man who could break free as easily as he breathes. it's all about the principle, in the end. ]

What on earth would you need those for?