bakerstreet | The "Wedding Dress" Meme

The "Wedding Dress" Meme

In the past, weddings and marriages were simply business contracts to bind family and property together. Though that remains in some cultures, weddings in the modern day tend to be a time of joy, commitment, and looking forward to the future. That is, of course, if you're the one getting married to the person you love. But what if that person is getting married, and you're the one on the outside looking in? Maybe they left you, maybe you didn't know a good thing until it was gone, or perhaps they were forced into marrying someone else.

That decision is made, and the only one that remains is this: what will you do?

HOW TO PLAY
- Comment with your character and preferences. State whether or not you want your character being the one married or the one crashing the wedding - the default state, and for best results, is characters being able to do both.
- Tag others.

PROMPTS
1. Can't Believe What's Going On: You've just been told the "happy" news. How do you respond?
2. Screamin' Out of Control: There's still time before the wedding day. You could still talk them out of all this foolishness! You're the one they should be with!
3. Is It too Late?: Uh oh, it's the end of the line! You have to get to the church and crash this wedding.
4. Hurt the One I've Cared For: You were hesitant about trying to interfere, but then you heard the person your love is marrying has hurt them in some way.
5. I Was Never Perfect: You weren't exactly good to your ex-lover, and now you're willing to change. Too bad you picked this day to tell them that...
6. Making You Uncomfortable: This isn't a marriage of love, it's an arranged marriage! That stings even more, and you're determined to set things right.
7. Claimed Everything Was Okay: Right before the wedding, you're trying to get him/her to call it off, but they seem hesitant, even with the past history between you. They really love their spouse to be...or there's something else...
8. Gotta Keep My Cool, Be Calm: Okay, just barging in isn't the right thing to do. You have to find some way to get this wedding derailed, whether it be calling in an anonymous bomb threat, raising your army, or ordering party clowns.
9. No, No, No: There's nothing else to do but crash this in front of everyone the old fashioned way. I OBJECT!
10. I Know We're Done: It's your wedding being interrupted by a familiar face! Are you angry? Hurt? Happy?
11. Cause You Should Be My Lady: You're one of those people of dubious morals, so when in doubt, kidnap the object of your affection so they can't get married! Great plan!
12. Take My Hand: Or, on the other, more ethical side, they've come along with you and the two of you are going to start a life away from all of this.
13. I'd Never Let It Go: You may not even love this person or your love may not yet be clear, but one thing's for certain, and that's that you don't want to share or give them up.
14. Life Carries On: You've decided to let the wedding go on and live with your regrets.
15. WILDCARD

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Leaning against the door a moment, Clint started at the sound of her voice. No question of why he was sneaking in here, no telling him to get out; just straight to the point, all business Natasha making a request she’d made dozens of times before on more missions than he could count, but every one of which he remembered.

Turning to face her back, he tried not to focus on the expanse of skin left uncovered by the open zipper as he crossed the room to stand just behind her.

“You never could master the art of zipping yourself into your own dresses,” he said, proud of the fact that he was so far managing to keep his tone light and normal. “That why your uniform zips up the front?”

Grasping the dainty zipper between his fingers, he drew it slowly upward, the back of one finger trailing lightly along her skin just ahead of it.

She watches his expression through the reflection. Her head tilted to slip in first one earring and then it's mate.

"Well, I suppose I should be honest with you." Natasha sucks in a little air, whether it's a reaction from his just barely noticeable touch or a preparation of sharing secrets, that would be difficult to tell.

"I've always been able to. I just like it better when you do it for me."

As she exhales, she laughs in that soft and low way that is her real expression of amusement. Natasha has many laughs, but that's a rare one. She proceeds to reach behind her and brush her nails along Clint's palm to prove her point.

He forced himself to keep his eyes fixed on his task, not letting himself look at her face or meet her eyes. Her words caused him to suck in a breath of his own and his previously steady hands faltered, but it was her laugh that was his ultimate undoing. He knew that laugh, just like he knew all of the others, and it sent a shiver down his spine and his heart thudding in his chest.

He finished his job quickly, but he lingered, not wanting to step away. He wanted to press his lips to her neck, to bury his face against her and breathe her in, but her sudden touch made him back up quickly like he’d been burned, his eyes finally meeting hers in the mirror.

Christ she looked beautiful.

“Yeah, well, I, uh...” He couldn’t find the words and his throat felt suddenly dry. “I guess you’ll have to get used to doing it yourself.”

Of all the reactions she expected, that hadn't been one of them. Frowning slightly, Natasha turns around to face Clint. "What's the matter with you?"

It's not a harsh accusation, but rather a moment of concern. She doesn't even have to fake it.

"Aren't I supposed to be the one all nervous and jumpy?" It's a short step towards him and then Natasha is lifting her fingers to his chin. Forcing Clint to meet her eyes directly. She is not nearly as clueless as she could pretend to be. There are reasons that he's here, and they're the same reasons that she decided to do this in the first place.

"This is the last opportunity you're going to get, Barton. I suggest you take it."

She just had to go and turn around, didn’t she? The dress was fairly simple compared to some of the over the top numbers he had seen her in over the years, but as usual she looked absolutely amazing in it. Amazing and stunning and... about to marry someone else.

He wanted to back away from her when she approached but he was frozen in place by her beauty, her concern, his own own sense of complete and utter loss for what to do.

“Yeah, I guess you are,” he said, but as usual she was cool as ice, not even the slightest hint of nerves. “But then you also shouldn’t be the one propositioning someone else right about now.” He didn’t know how to take her words at all. They sounded like an invitation while at the same time guaranteeing that she planned to go through with this, and what was he supposed to do with that?

"Shouldn't?"

Natasha rolls her eyes, but lets her hand fall away from his face. She knows exactly the kind of person she is, and isn't likely to listen to his advice. Since when has she ever listened to someone when she didn't want to?

"If you ever thought I wasn't the kind of woman that would fuck another man on her wedding day, you were wrong." Or maybe it was just the fact that she was about to marry the wrong man. That could play a big part in it, though Natasha is willing to admit the worst about herself, she's not quite ready to face the truth of what she wants.

"...and it would have been great." She challenges him to disagree.

He missed her touch the second it was gone but he held strong. He wasn’t that kind of guy.

Her words felt somehow like a slap to the face even though they had nothing to do with him. No, he had never thought she was that kind of woman, but then any time he had ever thought of Natasha marrying anyone, in his mind it had been him. Maybe the problem was that he hadn’t given it enough thought, that he hadn’t stepped up and told her how he felt and asked her himself, but he had never dreamed it was something that she wanted until it was too late.

It was too late, wasn’t it?

“Can’t live life on ‘would have beens’,” Clint replied, his expression hardening slightly, trying to turn himself to stone to combat her cold exterior. “Why are you doing this, Nat?” he asked suddenly, because it was now or never and he wasn’t just going to stand there and let her call all the shots and push all of his buttons. “‘cause you don’t sound very happy, and you sure as hell aren’t acting like you’re in love.”

It's her turn to back away from him, and she did. Natasha moved to the table that had all of her supplies laid out in a precise line. The same way that she lined up the pieces of her guns as she cleaned them, as if her makeup and hair brushes and jewelry could defend her from social attacks the way that bullets could from physical threats.

"This was never about 'love'." Her finger drifted over one delicate looking hair pin. She continued to talk, though now it was more to herself than it was to him. "Why couldn't you ever understand that?"

Natasha shrugged and picked up the pin to fasten it behind her ear.

Clint’s brow furrowed when she backed down and turned away. This was wrong, all of it was wrong. He should never have let it go this far as it was pretty damn clear she was doing this for all the wrong reasons, whatever they were.

“Because it should be!” he replied a little stronger than intended. He should have talked to her long ago but he had been too scared. Scared of rejection, scared of accepting what he felt in his heart, and scared that... scared that maybe she did love this guy, because that would have been the worst. She had always claimed she couldn’t love, but maybe what she had really meant was that she couldn’t love him. “Otherwise what’s the point?”

"There is that should again." Natasha scoffed at the notion. For some reason, he wanted to put her on a pedestal. Clint, who could see the world so clearly, had the largest blind spot when it came to her.

Though if she knew how to push his buttons, he was always capable of returning the favor. It stings, the idea that there is a rosy little endgame just waiting for her. When, by all rights, what she really deserves was something far worse than a shame of a marriage or even the broken partnership that she's facing now. By her own hand, she's willing to crush Clint's dreams, and here he is; trying to convince her to buy into this delusion of love he's clinging to.

"I have my own reasons, Clint. It's time for me to leave SHIELD, things have gotten too- compromising."

So that was it, then; she wasn’t just getting married, she was leaving her job and everything it entailed behind as well.

Wasn’t that a good thing, though? Wasn’t that exactly what Clint had been planning to do, to avoid her to save himself the pain of still seeing her every day knowing that she had pledged her love and life to someone else? Road to hell...

“So you’re just gonna quit and marry this guy and... what?” he scoffed, taking a step toward her again. “Play the happy housewife? Host dinner parties and join a country club and live a normal life?” He couldn’t even begin to picture that. “You really think that’ll make you happy?” He laughed bitterly, but he took another step, his eyes dark and intense. “You’re gonna miss the adrenaline, the action... you’ll be bored in a week.”

The simple life just wasn’t her, just like it wasn’t him. They lived on the edge, they lived for the action, for the chance to use their skills, to show off, to make a difference. There was no giving that up, not for the likes of them.

"I don't know. I thought I might have a couple of kids too." Natasha rolled her eyes. Really, it isn't like she's ever going to be one of those women. It was a physical impossibility. The best she was hoping for was an escape from the current situation that had become too, emotionally tangled.

"I'm sure I can find something to keep me busy." Retiring her particular skill set was something that should be better for everyone. Even when she did what she did for the 'good guys', the weight of responsibility was a slow crush on her soul. Or it would be, if Natasha believed she had one left to crush.

"Maybe I'll take up tennis."

She wasn’t taking any of this seriously, that much was made obvious when she mentioned having children, and it was making Clint’s blood boil. He knew she couldn’t have children, but he never expected to hear her joke about it so flippantly.

This was all wrong; none of this was right. She wasn’t acting like herself, she was just putting on another mask, one designed to push him away, to make him storm out and let her go through with whatever the hell she was doing. Why? Why was she doing this, doing any of this?

That was when something she had said a moment ago finally clicked in: she had to leave SHIELD because it had gotten too compromising.

For a moment Clint just stared at her as realisation dawned. “You’re scared,” he said, sounding a bit surprised himself. “You’re scared,” he said more strongly this time. “And you’re running.”

She tried to joke about it, Natasha opened her mouth to unleash another round of sarcasm.

Instead, no words come out, but a small sound caught in the back of her throat. Which was her equivalent to a normal woman's point of breaking down into tears. She could do that too, if she wanted, but this wasn't an act.

"Clint. You need to leave." She turned away from him, going ridged and stiff in the shoulders. All of this was something she had anticipated, something she thought she could control through a careful offer of physical release. Then again, he usually wasn't a fan of her plans. Which was why Fury partnered them up more often than not.

He saw it, he heard it, and he knew he had hit on the real problem. Maybe he was still behind on her logic, maybe he didn’t see how this was any sort of solution, but he knew he had hit the nail on the head: Natasha really was scared.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Clint said. When she turned away he moved in close behind her, not quite touching her but close enough that she could feel him nonetheless. “What are you so scared of?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper, his breath playing across her neck as he spoke. “Tell me.”

He somehow managed to keep the desperation out of his tone, to keep his voice controlled and commanding. It was a feat of strength he didn’t know he possessed when all he really wanted to do was beg her not to go through with it.

"You really don't listen well. Do you know that?" If she turned around and pushed him away, how would he react? Probably just step back up, and get even more stubborn. She sighs.

"It's you, okay. I just can't anymore." Natasha is done pretending that he was just a partner. Someone she would protect, but nothing more. "You're the one who's always so convinced that feelings and love are a good thing. But guess what, this is what all of that nonsense gets you."

She's getting married to someone that doesn't even matter, and she's running away from Clint as fast as she possibly can.

He had wanted to hear it, had wanted to hear her acknowledge it for months, for years, but now that she had, now that she had admitted to having feeling for him he didn’t know how to react. Marrying someone else certainly wasn’t how most people dealt with those kinds of feelings.

“Love is a good thing, or it can be if you just let it in,” he said quietly despite the hammering in his chest. It was him, everything she was doing was because of him, because she was falling for him too and was afraid. “It’s not nonsense, it’s... amazing. You just gotta stop running from it.”

He was probably going to get a punch in the face for it but he risked it anyways and rested a hand on her shoulder, taking just a half a step closer. “Why are you so afraid?”

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The "Wedding Dress" Meme

I must be a masochist

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