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[sockblocked]

slow dancing ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ a meme → COMMENT WITH YOUR CHARACTER'S NAME, FANDOM, AND PREFERENCE. → PICK A CHARACTER YOU WANT TO TAG AND GO FOR IT. → PLAY NICE; NO WANK, FLAMES, OR GENERAL HUMBUGGERY. ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ the deal FORMAL OR INFORMAL, WITH MUSIC OR WITHOUT, YOU COULD BE AT A GLAMOUROUS GALA WHILE A SINGER CROONS SOFTLY OR IN THE SILENCE OF YOUR OWN LIVING ROOM. WHEREVER YOU ARE, YOU HAVE THE URGE TO DANCE. DID YOU ASK YOUR PARTNER OR DID THEY ASK YOU? HAVE YOU GOT TWO LEFT FEET OR IS THE VIENNESE WALTZ YOUR JAM? IT COULD BE AWKWARD, IT COULD BE ROMANTIC. EITHER WAY IT'S CUTE AS HELL.

Comments

[hazarding]

I guess Alabama has some pretty different ideas than us sinful city folk.

[He glances down at the glass of water Gene's holding as if just noticing it.]

Sure I can't get you something more than that?

[preseance]

[He blinks down at the water, and then shakes his head.]

Nah, this is fine on my account. Ain't much of a drinker, and if the air raid sirens go on and start up tonight I'd rather have my wits about me. Maybe I'll order a Coke after this. [A slight pause, and then he gestures to Tony with his free hand.] Providing you're still up for company.

[hazarding]

[At the mention of the air raid sirens, Tony absently raps his knuckles against the wooden bar. Don't jinx them, Gene, honestly. He'd like to enjoy the rest of his night not cowering under cover somewhere.]

I've got no other plans for the evening.

why am i like this omg

[preseance]

[It merits a raise of his eyebrows. A New Yorker, superstitious? He thought you fellas were beyond that. But he tips his glass anyway, in acknowledgement of the deed.]

Well, then. To new friends, an' all that.

this is what happens when you actually play more than one person

[hazarding]

[When you've seen the kind of weird shit he has, it's not superstition it's just common sense. Will some foul curse befall them while sitting in this dinky London bar? Probably not. Could some foul curse befall them? Yes.]

Stick around long enough and I'll tell you about the time I fought a dragon.

true that. but you do too!! what if shatterstar tho.

[preseance]

[what.

The bewilderment is actually clear and plain on his face. There's only a few emotions he ever really bothers at hidin', but this? The daylights and the dickens all in one.]

For real? Y'ain't pullin' one over on me?

and gene? oh no.

[hazarding]

[Oh, that's delightful. He hasn't met many people, or at least Americans, who don't already know all his stories.]

Eugene, do I look like the kind of man who'd do that?

[Ignoring his near devilish grin right now.]

... point, star would just confuse him

[preseance]

[He studies Tony a moment, and then,]

Well, I try not to judge a book by its cover. Ma always said it was the Christian thing.

[He might be teasing, a little. Just so.]

star just confuses everybody

[hazarding]

[Well, two can play at that game. He rests a hand over his heart, feigning shock and hurt.]

It's the beard, isn't it? It doesn't make me look as ruggedly handsome as I thought. You can be honest.

including me sometimes tbh

[preseance]

[There's a faint chuckle, and he shakes his head.]

Almost forgotten what a beard looked like out here, truth be told.

[Though grooming discipline is startin' to slip, this late on into the War. Fellas are still by and large clean-shaven. Part of the uniform. The only folk he can recall seein' with any facial hair to speak of were the Maqui, and even they started shavin' just so's they could blend in better, lessen the risk of gettin' caught out by the Nazi forces.]

Reckon John Gilbert would approve.

[Man had a very similar moustache, okay.]

i miss my weird alien son

[hazarding]

[He grins and pretends to preen for a moment, stroking his thumb and forefinger over his facial hair.]

Oh good, that's all I ever cared about, now I can die completely at peace.

[Nothing against John Gilbert of course. He did look very dashing with that mustache.]

i miss him too

[preseance]

[No one ever dies at peace. Ain't just the medic in him that says that, but the man that sees ghosts and has since he was just old enough to walk. Dyin' is a hard thing, but sometimes the only option. His smile is crooked.]

Well, happy to have helped.

[He polishes off the last of his glass, and then reaches for a pack of cigarettes. Chesterfields, only type he smokes when he's got the luxury of choice. He holds the pack out to Tony. This particular sin is a wartime invention for him. He ain't never touched the stuff before it.]

don't say that or i'll have to start playing him again

[hazarding]

[Tony doesn't really smoke. Alcohol is his vice of choice, and when he does smoke it's generally cigars. But he reaches for the offered cigarettes out of habit of politeness, only to stop before he plucks one from the pack, drawing his hand back.]

I shouldn't.

[He doesn't say why--he doesn't want to take one of the few pleasures the kid probably has on him out in the field--since he figures Gene's the kind who would insist on sharing anyway.]

said as if i can't entice you back anyway...

[preseance]

[Nah, he ain't that sort of fellow. He tends to respect people's choices as they come.]

Suit yourself. You don't mind if I do, though?

shhhh

[hazarding]

[He shakes his head.] Go ahead.

[He does however motion over the bartender again, figuring if he's going to be here a little longer one beer won't hurt.

Glancing at Gene,] Still want that Coke?

[preseance]

[He lights up without much ceremony, and takes a long drag on it.]

Ah... sure. You buyin'?

[He's happy to pick up the next round, that's just manners.]

[hazarding]

Wouldn't ask if I wasn't.

[He's got manners too! And more money than Gene anyway.]

[preseance]

[He ducks his head in acknowledgement of that.]

Well, all right then. Coke it is. And thank you kindly.

[hazarding]

[He glances around the room as the bartender gets their drinks, taking in the crowd that had thinned out some since the violinist left. The atmosphere was much more subdued now, people in little clusters of twos or threes, if they weren't drinking alone. Tony misses the cheery air from before.

He thanks the bartender when he hands over his beer, taking a sip once he's gone to attend to someone else. Not the greatest taste, but it'll have to do.]

You know what I miss over here? Hamburgers.

[preseance]

[Jasper has a fall fair with a selection of hamburgers, hot dogs and the like. That simple statement has those memories all flooding back, and Gene closes his eyes and raises a wistful hand up to press his knuckles against his lips.]

Fella, you just had to go and mention hamburgers. Man, I ain't sure when the last time I had real meat was. The D-rat don't hardly count none.

[It's good-natured ribbing. Military rations were made by the lowest bidder, an' there ain't a soldier that knows it. But at least it's food.]

[hazarding]

[Sorry not sorry. Seeing the Coke made him think about it and he had to share the pain. But at least he's not surviving on military rations, for which he is infinitely grateful.]

Aw, kid, you're breaking my heart. I'd remedy that if I could.

[But it's getting pretty late, and short of inviting Gene back to his hotel... Where's a 24 hour IHOP when you need one.]

[preseance]

Awful kind of you.

[He means it, too, and leans into Tony's space to bump his shoulder companionably.]

I ought not to be complainin', though. Food's food, huh?

[hazarding]

[He smiles and bumps him back.] Think nothing of it.

[Gene's been nothing but kind to him as well, and it's refreshing to talk to someone with no expectations of him.]

Food's food, but doesn't mean you have to like it. [He waggles the beer in his hand as he says that, making a face at it. Complaints may not change anything, but they help.] Tell you what, when we catch up after the war, I'll find us the best burgers in the continental United States.

[preseance]

Mr. Stark, I'm startin' to think you might like me some.

[It's playful enough, and Gene takes the world's most innocent drink outta that bottle of Coke. It's still such a damn novelty to him. Back home, he and his brothers would share one sometimes on special occasions. Fourth of July, and the like. Here-- well. Maybe just survivin' is a special enough occasion for him.]

[hazarding]

[Tony doesn't even look abashed, though it's Gene's tone that keeps him relaxed. It's not accusatory or insinuating in the way that's gotten Tony punched in the past, and he smiles and jokes along.]

Oh darn, what gave me away?