（ ＶＩＤＥＯ ）

[uprightness]

Who: peggy carter, steve rogers and all of you guys

Broadcast:  amazingly, yes

Action: on the starstruck, if you're so inclined
When: current.

[ New Year’s Eve has come and gone without anything exploding or going awfully wrong and so today is just safe enough for something else. Steve Rogers doesn’t address the network for no reason, after all. Only today he keeps looking back and eventually, calls: ]

Are you really going to stay there throughout the whole thing?

[ There’s a flicker to Steve’s left: dark curls and a flash of a silk blouse as Peggy leans into view. ] Perhaps. After all, of the two of us, you’re the one with experience in addressing the public.

[ But! Fine! Here she is, framed beside him onscreen, and refraining from making any more jokes about the old USO show. ]

Very funny.

[ but he is smiling, small but amused. For all of his experience, he seems as if he’s been practicing his lines for this one broadcast. ]

I know some of you will say this is long overdue, but after months of asking, mostly on her part, I’ve said yes and we’ve decided to get married.

[ -- and that’s when Peggy slaps the back of her hand against Steve’s shoulder, hissing something (something for him alone) about twisting the truth and tarnishing her well-earned cred. ]

I mean, after a careful observation of mutual interests, we’ve decided to get married. What this is really about is a simple matter of proving me right. I’d like you all to tell her three weeks is a perfectly reasonable duration for a honeymoon.

[ She reaches for the device, tugging its focus onto herself. ] -- For God’s sake, don’t encourage him. We’ve only just got engaged; it’s far far too early to start discussing the rest. [ Aside, to Steve: ] I warned you when I agreed to this ridiculous message. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

[ But she’s laughing. ]

It's not getting too ahead of ourselves. Call it careful consideration of facts.

[ he'll reach out and close the device for the sake of this banter. ]

Comments

action.

[mucked]

Deception and eavesdropping. [ she gives his nose a tug. ] Look who thinks he's Mata Hari.

action.

[uprightness]

I thought you'd be proud.

[ he's quick to trap her fingers when she pulls back, holding them hostage for a heartbeat or three. ]

I'm finally learning something.

action.

[mucked]

And perhaps I should be. [ proud. ] Except like a true thorn in my side, you're taking all you've learned and you're using them against me. Not so kindly done.

[ only peggy's smirking. and in such such such good spirits, despite the exhaustion of their joint announcement. ]

action.

[uprightness]

that's why they say careful what you wish for.

[ how smug can one man be? ]

how would you know I picked the skill if I don't try it on you?

action.

[mucked]

I've got two eyes. And two ears. [ she twirls a finger. ] I would have noticed.

action.

[uprightness]

It's hardly the same thing.

[ this is much much better if only due to the way she's looking at him. it's much better than their slowly forming audience and their long list of congratulations. ]

you know, most of those people think I have a point.

action.

[mucked]

Most of these people aren't like us. [ -- a dangerously naive position to take, maybe, but she's a little high on romance and keen to make some mistakes. ] I'm not sure I can trust their verdicts over our own. Together.

action.

[uprightness]

Especially since their verdict is in my favor.

[ a dry, amused reminder that's followed by a negotiation attempt of a sort: ]

I'll settle on two weeks and we can call it a deal.

action.

[mucked]

Not all of their verdicts -- [ she reminds him, smiling. ]

Eight days.

action.

[uprightness]

Just most of them.

[ and hold on - ]

Gotta say no. twelve.

action.

[mucked]

Nine. [ a beat. ] And I'll let you pick the venue.

action.

[uprightness]

You were going to let me do that anyway, that's hardly sweetening the pot.

[ just saying. ]

How about ten. Ten's fair. Ten's a good number.

action.

[mucked]

-- Ten was what you were after all along, wasn't it?

action.

[uprightness]

I was after three weeks.

[ it's not a very convincing attempt of denial, not with the smile that accompanies it. ]

This is a compromise. we're compromising.

action.

[mucked]

We're compromising exactly where you wanted us to -- which, if you think about it, isn't much of a compromise at all.

action.

[uprightness]

Peggy.

[ he implores, sweet and indulgent. he was close to a win before she picked up on the pieces of his grander scheme. now, it's a matter of working his way back to an agreement. it's also a matter of keeping her close, of bumping their noses and providing a distraction while also reasoning, ]

ten days seems okay. it's not two weeks. it's reasonable.

action.

[mucked]

[ -- she must be going soft. love has made her pliable. tractable, even. she nods against his cheek. ]

I suppose I'd survive ten days. As would the ship without us. But not a day longer, Steve. I'll have your word.

action.

[uprightness]

Hey, come on.

[ he argues and that's a feat, too - to hold any sort of argument while he plucks at pins and tracks the shape of a curl with a finger. it's all affectionate - every move brimming with emotion.

but there's still an argument. ]

I gave you my word for three days and I brought you back after three days, didn't I?

action.

[mucked]

Under duress. [ she leans into his touch -- undermining every protest. ] And with complaint.

[ can they stop talking, now? she's so tired of talking. tired of hearing her own voice. all she wants to do is lose herself in that boyish smile of his. the one she'd started falling for long before he was the taller of the two.

peggy leans forward -- nudging him onto his back. ]

I think I want to hear you promise me. Ten days.