bakerstreet | Settle into a routine

Entry tags:

Settle into a routine

COUPLE'S NIGHTLY ROUTINE MEME

It's time for you and your significant other to go to sleep...no, not that way. Get your mind out of the gutter! You two are sharing a bed for whatever reason and have been for a while. Surely by now, you have a routine on how you get ready for bed.

Do you help each other out with your tasks, like putting up your hair, changing into PJs, or brushing teeth? Do you watch TV before you hit the hay? Read? Does one of you want to stay up all night long while the other one just wants to sleep?

Then, of course, there's the actual sleeping habits. Does trouble with human contact lead you to sleep with miles between you - and is that an issue - or do you snuggle? Could both of you whisper sweet words into each other's ears across the pillows? Most importantly, who steals the blankets?

HOW TO PLAY

Comment with your character, preferences, and any information you'd like to include.
Reply to others.
Thread out a nightly routine.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ busy geneticist seeks cuddle partner for evening unwindings. ]

[ I'll be honest - my tags will probably be slow as molasses for a while thanks to work. But if you're still up for something with Bruce despite that, let me know! He is Very Good at cuddles. ]

[ Slow or no, I'm so down. I think they'd be some cute potential here. ]

[ Being an Avenger is tiring. Transforming, dealing with the post-transformation stress, knowing that he'll have to go do it again - it isn't easy. So, when he gets "time off" - in other words, when the world doesn't need saving - he tries to take it easy. He spends all day in his lab, of course, but it's a different kind of exhaustion, the type that makes him crave sleep instead of fight it. He has fewer nightmares when he's home.

It helps, of course, that Helen is there with him. Tony is a great lab partner, but he doesn't understand Bruce's fields the same way Helen does. He's also not quite as pretty as she is, though he'll never say as much to him.

Being with Helen makes Bruce feel normal again. Not a monster, not a freak, just a man who does normal things like brushing his teeth and showering. There's a calm that comes over him during the evenings they spend together, and it's something he wants to protect with every fibre of his being.

On this particular night she gets home late, so he takes some time to get washed up before brewing tea for both of them. When she finally walks through the door, she'll be able to smell the fragrant aromas of jasmine and honey. He's set up the tea in their small living area, where he's sitting on the couch and reading a book, clad in nothing but a pair of sweatpants and his glasses. ]

[ Helen hasn't had someone to come home to since...well, long enough that it takes a moment of contemplation to put a college boyfriend in his proper timeframe. In a surprise to no one, internationally-employed scientists fit much better in research labs than they do longterm relationships. And that's no real issue for Helen; her work had always been enough, fulfilling in its scope so that she never mourned the long nights propped up at some desk lit by fluorescent bulbs, working until equations seared into the insides of her eyelids.

The work is still enough, don't get her wrong, just shifted and neatly rearranged in her life to accommodate the presence of Bruce Banner. Some might say that'd require a Hulk-sized space, yet when Helen looks at the Avenger who often shares her apartment, she doesn't see the Other Guy. It's only Bruce, bleary-eyed when he forgets his glasses, who lets her pick the movie when she rarely wants to watch something as long as he gets the throw and has mastered the art of not being patronizing when he catches a mistake in her work.

Bruce, lips turned upwards into an almost smile when she plays a song on her laptop that they both remember from longer ago than they might want to admit. ]

My favorite blend. Good choice. [ Given the way she carries her shoulders, she's tired to her bones, exhausted enough that she didn't change into her street clothes before leaving the lab. On the other hand, in her hand, she carries a tell-tale white plastic bag of takeout.

She'll be cutting through the den to get to the tiny kitchen so she can bestow her bounty, but not before she swings by the couch and leans over to press her lips against the crown of his head.

Not a second's hesitation. It's like clockwork. It's normal. ]

Did you eat already?

[Basic habits: check work emails, take a bath, eat supper and maybe have a beer or some hot tea, maybe watch some movies or the news. In no particular order. Once in bed, Touma's a snuggler. He won't cling, but he likes to be close, even if it means his back is touching another's. Smut's fine, too. That's also an option before sleep.]