bakerstreet | A Taste of Normalcy

A Taste of Normalcy

A Taste of Normalcy
shipping meme

how to play;

Comment with your character and preferences.
Respond to others.
THERE WILL BE QUESTIONABLE CONTENT. Just because it's a shipping meme doesn't means everything's fluffy; in fact, more options than not have some unfortunate implications.

prompts;

Open Secret: You two have never specifically said who you are in this new place, though you've never denied it.
Witness Protection: To protect your lives, you must live under assumed identities.
Your Real Life: What you knew before was false. This is the actuality.
After a Tragedy: All your friends are dead. Your group is shaken. You saw someone you love murdered. The only other person you have left is the one you're with.
Second Chance at Life: After a brush with death, you've decided to do things right and actually live.
I Don't Want this Life, Dean: You don't want to continue in the family business - er, in your old ways set up by someone else, so you cling to someone who can give you a normal life.
Criminal: You did a bad thing and are wanted. For your protection and the safety of the one you lo...that person, you have to hide.

Turning Over a New Leaf: You're genuinely trying to become a better person and you can't do that with the reminders of your old home and old life.
Rehabilitation: Your lover is helping you get over your wounds, your traumas, or your flaws.
Blank Slate: You have to have a new life because you don't know your old one! All you know is the person you're with and the things they can tell you.
Partners in Crime: You two are rough around the edges, but you're reformed. Really, you just want a peaceful life!

Old Habits Die Hard: No matter what your life is now, you can't shake the need to double check the locks or hold your magic wand tight.
Guilt: You're guilty about your relationship, so you have to reside in hiding.
Through Elicit Means: You got with your partner through cheating and you want to keep that fact on the low.
Stolen Away: You stole your partner - from a bad situation or from someone cruel - so you have to keep your heads down
Taboo:
1. Incest: It's better for you to live where no one know's you're related.
2. Age Difference: You can always fake IDs and birth certificates.
3. Interspecies: There has to be somewhere that doesn't have the prejudices of your home.
Tyrannical Government: You're political enemies drawn together. Perhaps you're working to undermine the government, or maybe you've escaped from that place and are living in peace.
Pulled from the Darkness: Your previous life was so terrible, you don't want to even ponder it any more. End of story, it doesn't matter.
Dependent: You don't know anyone else in this new world of yours, or you don't know how to navigate it, making you dependent on your partner.
Protecting Them: You're with them and hiding them for their own benefit.
They Don't About Your Past:
1. Secret Monster: If they knew about who you used to be, they'd be disgusted and want nothing to do with you.
3. For Them: You're dangerous to be around, so you can't clue them in lest an old enemy or your own abilities come back and harm them.
4. Florence Nightingale: They found you and took you in to help you, no questions asked. You couldn't help but fall for them.
Using Them: This new life is just a sham. You want them to be your camouflage, maybe even getting others to believe you've changed.
Faked Turned Real:
Brainwashing:
1. One-Sided: You love them and want them to believe that things have always been like this. Can you be blamed for going about it this way?
2. Mutual: Both of you think you've always lived this life, thanks to outside forces.
Who Am I, Really?: You love your partner, but you feel like you're losing yourself.
WILDCARD

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ normalcy? what's that? ]

Edited 2016-05-13 22:54 (UTC)

Steve doesn't know what's driving him down the hall more: annoyance at Natasha's games and vague innuendos, or curiosity about whether she's actually being straight with him in her own roundabout way. Well, there's also the possibility which he hinted at to her, as well-- that he's in the same state as she is and could use some help with it.

It isn't so crazy to think so. Everything has kind of exploded and everyone's nerves are worn and frazzled. Needing some relief from that is just human, right? And with all else that they are, under the armor and costumes and powers, the Avengers are only human.

Just as promised, he finds Natasha's door open, so he steps inside. "Nat?"

"Over here," she calls, lounging on the couch in a display of utter relaxation. Even buzzed (or a little more than buzzed), she calculated most of her moves. She'd known what dice she was throwing when she texted him. She knew there was a fifty-fifty chance he'd take it the wrong way. And even with him coming here, it was still up in the air as to what would actually happen, but she could do her best to facilitate the outcome she wanted. And while she tried to be as honest with him as she could, old habits died hard, and the need to put on the face she wanted was strong. Overwhelmingly so. Which is why she didn't bother getting up, wanting him to see how unaffected she was by the thought of him in her room -- no matter his state.

The scene Steve walks into is as staged as anything he's seen on Broadway, but it still piques his curiosity completely. He knows that Natasha's playing him, testing him, or just trying to get under his skin, but she's caught him on a night where he's not about to let it go. On the other hand, he's not just going to play along.

Maybe he can surprise her. Maybe not. Either way, it's a lot more interesting a way to spend the evening than "sitting in his rocker and listening to big band music".

He drops onto the other end of the couch. "If you're gonna invite me over, you could at least offer me a drink. If there's any left."

She moves only so much to reach down for the bottle on the floor, lifting it up and holding it out to him. There's about a quarter of it left as she waggles it at him, one brow lifted. "I would have offered off the bat, but you seem like more of a social drinker, what with the whole metabolism thing."

He could have sat on the chair, but that he'd chosen the end of the couch let her know that the game was on. What game, exactly, she wasn't sure, but the idea of it had her feeling that tingle of anticipation.

Steve takes the bottle and raises it to his lips. "What, this isn't being social? I'm here, you're here, and so is the booze." He knocks back a hefty swig and pointedly doesn't return it. If Natasha wants it, she's actually going to have to show a little interest in something.

He isn't sure where this is headed, and he definitely can't guess what's in the woman's head, but he'll be damned if he won't find out tonight.

"Just like that, huh? The value of proximity..." She prodded at him with a foot, not minding making the first breach in the barriers each wrapped around themselves. Ignoring personal boundaries was a specialty of hers, seemed only fair that she utilize that skill for her own gain. She felt a muscled thigh under her foot, prodding it again. "I've been close before, Rogers."

Steve all but shakes his head in amusement. So she's really going to play things like this, nudging and poking-- now quite literally-- and dancing around whatever it was she has on her mind. But then, that's Nat, and being annoyed isn't much compared to wanting to know she's okay.

"Sparring and me pushing you against a wall to get information out of you isn't social. Maybe to you."

"That's practically a first date." Another nudge, then she moves to rest her foot on his lap, lying there looking completely at ease. She wasn't entirely relaxed, a part of her waiting for whatever retaliation he might have in mind, but being around Steve was never much of a hardship. He was honest -- almost to a fault. He'd never intentionally hurt her for no reason. And he had a sneaky sense of humor that crept up on people. She appreciated it.

"I don't even want to know what constitutes the second."

Steve glances down at the foot now laying in his lap. So personal space, he realizes, is how she's starting things. There's a number of things he can do from this point, but what he'd like most is something that she's not going to expect. So his hands close over her foot. He pauses a moment before his fingers start to press against it, massaging her arch.

She'd expected a few things from him, namely for him to shove her foot off him, but when his hand had moved, she'd changed it to expecting a tickle along the bottom of her foot. When he started to press against her, thumbs kneading into tense places, an unbidden little sigh left her, eyes slitting for a moment as something close to pleasure spread up from that touch. "Don't you?" A dig at the second date comment, and pushing things a little back to that wobbly edge they were on at the moment.

He continues the foot rub, mentally patting himself on the back for having gotten even that small reaction out of Natasha. Steve has never met anyone so self-possessed as her, and it's a trait he admires greatly. But tonight, if he can crack that shell some, he's definitely going to enjoy it.

"Okay," he replies, still massaging her foot. "Shock the old man."

A twitch of her lips that turned into a smirk, amused as ever when he referred to himself as 'old'. Chronologically, sure, the guy had been born in the 40s, but between the serum keeping him at peak physical condition and his very long nap... Steve sometimes reminded her of someone younger than herself. She wasn't deluded. She knew that there were bad things happening back when he'd been around. Globally bad things that got swept under the carpet. He wasn't some blushing school girl with eyes wide at the world -- but every time she got his cheeks to tinge a little pink, she considered it her own personal victory. "I've never considered myself one to follow traditions. The third date rule is completely ridiculous if there's anything there. Besides, the way we live? Waiting for 'the right time' is just a recipe to miss out on all the good things. I like to grab life by the... well. I like to grab more than life by those. Consider the second date something along those lines."

Steve listens, not hearing anything particularly surprising or scandalous. If he knows anything about Natasha, it's that she's generally unafraid to speak her mind and pursue what she wants if she wants it. Which makes her current tap dancing all the more suspicious-- and therefore, makes him more curious.

"It's okay, Natasha," he says with a roll of his eyes. "You can say 'balls'. I have a pair, and I don't mind the word."