The Domestic Meme

[considers]

RULES! ❧ Leave a comment with your character's name, fandom, and any preferences you have. ❧ When replying, RNG for a number between 1 and 15. The number corresponds to the scenario that you will play out in whatever way you want to. ❧ Go from there!

THE LIST! 01] baby Suddenly, there's a new addition to your family! Are you expecting? Adopting? Struggling to find the perfect name for your child? Or maybe you're up at a ridiculous hour in the morning because they're crying like crazy. 02] just married Congratulations! You and your loved (?) one are about to start a whole new life together! It's time for the honeymoon... 03] house hunting Are you seeking out an apartment? A dream house? Or just any old place, as long as you're with your other? Make sure to weigh your options very carefully... 04] household chores It's time to clean/cook/garden/take care of something! Do you work together, or does one of you hide until everything is done? 05] shopping Whether it's for furniture, groceries, or something in between, shopping is something that everybody must do at some point in time! What varies is if they like it or not. 06] family vacation WE'RE OFF TO DIDNEY WOOOOOOOOORL or wherever ... well, as long as the kids are happy, right...? You may not be happy (or maybe you are), but it's mainly about ~family bonding~. 07] romantic retreat It's you and your loved one's anniversary, and you decide it's time to take some time off and take them somewhere nice, where you only have each other. 08] comfort Is somebody sick in bed? Or perhaps they just had a bad day? Sometimes, a good breakfast in bed or a home-cooked meal can really lift the spirits! Or perhaps you want to try medicine, or laughter, or something else? 09] pet Suddenly, you have another addition to the family! Is it a puppy? A kitty? A fierce dragon? Whatever it is, make sure to give it a name and to take good care of it! 10] holiday Happy birthday/New Years/Christmas/Valentine's Day/whatever! It's a very special day that only comes once a year, so make it count! 11] argument Oh, no, who left the stove on... Or maybe it's about why they were out late last night? Either way, there is a lot of tension today, and one of you may or may not be sleeping on the couch tonight. 12] making up It's time to make amends for that fight/divorce/whatever you had before! After all, you love each other... right? 13] surprise, surprise You are feeling rather loving tonight, so you want to remind the other person how much you cherish and appreciate them... if it's by something cute and adorable or hot and sexy is completely up to you. 14] proposal SHUT UP THIS TOTALLY FITS You've been with your other for what feels like forever, and finally you want to tie the knot with them. Will you go down on one knee before them, or get a little creative? 15] other I know I'm forgetting like a bajillion and one different things here, so this is the option for that!

Comments

[couldntdecide]

[He may not have said it — and he won't, not because he doesn't want her to know, but because he's well aware of the struggle she has with feelings like these — but he does love her, and he knows she knows it too. Phil is better with words than with actions, but she's teaching him how to say something without opening his mouth, and he thinks he's got his message across. He's certainly received hers, loud and clear. He'd never have thought he'd fall in love with the Black Widow, but Natasha is so much more than her codename to him...if asked why he fell for her, his response would only be that he couldn't not fall for her.

She's everything he could ever ask for and then some.]

Mm, no. [He holds his hand at the side of her head as she kisses his wrist, his thumb brushing over her temple.] I'm awake now. There's time to sleep later. [Later, when he won't feel like he's missing out on spending time with her, learning every little secret she's kept up behind the walls that have slowly lowered in their quiet little sanctuary.]

[debts]

Alright. [ Her smile is warm, then. No, she wouldn't have minded, and despite how this feels — like they have all the time in the world, like being in love means you're not afraid to lose it — there's a certain finiteness to it all. The pad of her fingers trace the line of his scar, her head bowed with a certain kind of attentiveness, not because she wants to memorize it but because it's a part of him, and with that comes a simple acceptance.

Natasha shifts against her pillow and the red of her hair trails out behind her, like blood in water. When she looks up at him, her mouth quirks a little, palm flat over his heart. ]

We should stay in bed.

[couldntdecide]

[His hand drops to curl around her wrist, just holding on gently as she touches his chest. He hates that scar, hates everything about it — what it signifies, what it cost him, what it almost cost him — but for some reason she makes him hate it less. Perhaps it's the way she just accepts it and doesn't make a big deal of it, no more so than any of his other battle wounds. It make it easier to pretend it's not as life-changing as it was, like it was just another scar he's managed to collect over his years in SHIELD.

He turns his head to watch her as she shifts against his side, smiling fondly at her.]

I like the sound of that.

[debts]

[ She hums, sated for the moment. Natasha dips in to kiss him slowly, a light press against his chest as she leans in like she's searching out warmth on purpose, like she's chasing that smile because she wants it to stay, mapping the beats of his heart to the flutter of her own pulse.

When she pulls away, it's not far, just enough to share cool air and breath, her top lip still touching his. Maybe once it would have meant she was scared; lately, it's of a different kind. Natasha's eyes search his face quietly, a smile curving her lips. ]

All day, [ she clarifies, as if that changes his answer. ]

[couldntdecide]

[He sighs into her kiss, his hand squeezing her wrist lightly when she pulls away. There's a deliberateness to her even when she's in repose like this that he finds fascinating and more than a little endearing — she does things because she chooses to, which somehow makes the press of her palm that much more precious to him.

His eyebrow lifts slightly and he shifts his head to press a small little kiss to her lip, his nose sliding against hers.]

That just means I'll never leave this bed.

[debts]

Imagine that. [ Her mouth quirks against the brush of his, a subtle shift against his own. The kind of smile that she gives easier, here in the space between them, sunlight shuttering in through old glass and the smell of fresh air settling on her skin.

Later, she thinks, she might go swimming. But for now: now it's just this, pressing a little closer to him, the amusement in her eyes mild but no less genuine. ]

Just as planned.

[couldntdecide]

Your ability to persuade is staggering. [He's not laughing but his eyes are, and his arm snakes around her to hug her closer to his side, his hand splayed possessively over her hip. Within a few days, he'll start to feel guilty about all the work he's shirking, but right now he couldn't give less of a shit, because not working means he gets to sleep in with the woman he loves curled around him like a living blanket and that is worth far more than anything he could ask for.]

You realize we fucked over the office betting pool, right? [His thumb brushes a slow arc over her hip bone.] Everyone was convinced either Barton and I were fucking married, or you two had some sort of friends with benefits thing going on.

[debts]

[ Natasha's laugh is a slow-curling thing, but it's hers alone. It's not so hard to track like smoke or wisps of air or anything so romantic — it's just plain like the rest of her, maybe a little dry with the way her sense of humor pitches. ]

Hill guessed, [ she offers, but it's not really much of anything. Natasha angles her chin to kiss the nearest bit of skin she can reach; his cheek, it turns out, her breath warm as she huffs out her laugh. ] But predictability has never been our strong suit.

[couldntdecide]

She did? [His eyebrows arch sharply.] She never said anything to me about it. I would have put all my money on us, we might have got a nice vacation out of it.

[He smirks a little — they're already having a very nice vacation and all it cost was a phone call to his extended family, but that's neither here nor there.]

No, where's the fun in that?

[debts]

Somewhere warm. [ Agreement, again, and it's— it's strange to talk about everything and nothing in a way that's distanced from work, but it's not a bad thing. ] Bali, maybe. [ Her smile grows to match the pitch of his, though hers is a little more subdued, like she can guess where his thoughts are and she's determined to divert them. ]

One day we'll be as boring as the rest, you know.

[couldntdecide]

I've never been to Bali. [Which is a wonder in and of itself. Phil's been virtually everywhere thanks to the Rangers and then SHIELD. Bali, however, has remained elusive.] Might be nice.

[He squeezes her around the waist in a little hug and presses his lips to her temple.] Is it bad that I'm actually looking forward to that? [Phil's a domestic type, even though he's mostly trained himself out of it by now. But he was married before and he likes the rhythm of it, the one they're just settling into now.]

[debts]

[ It's a rhythm that Phil's felt before but Natasha hasn't. She's studied it, forced herself to be a part of it but never willingly, never because that was the natural evolution of things. It's something she's only ever experienced and seen from a distance, from second-hand: she might be older than him in years but this kind of thing is new, nevermind her original reservations. (She likes that he's patient with her.)

Natasha, impossibly, seems to shuffle a little closer, like the tiny breadth of that extra closeness was too fleeting for her. She smiles almost lazily at him, a quiet exhale on her breath. ]

You know that I love you. [ And maybe that's not a so am I, but it's a step towards it. ]

[couldntdecide]

[He cranes his neck to look down at her, his expression quiet and not quite a smile, but there's a gentleness in the way he looks at her that should be becoming quite familiar to her now. It's how he always looks at her these days, and some of the other agents of SHIELD might have thought about teasing him about it, but Phil has made it very clear that he'll put up with a lot of things from his coworkers but he will not put up with them mocking what he's managed to cultivate for himself

The threat of the Black Widow's retribution is a pretty good deterrent, too.]

I know. [He reaches up to brush his thumb over the soft curve of her cheek, a reverent touch that should telegraph exactly what his feelings are without any effort. That doesn't stop him from replying, though.] And you know that I love you too.

[debts]

[ It's the way he always looks at her these days, and once upon a time that would have been how Natasha had known she was doing her job right, that she was on schedule, that she'd have the data soon. These days, it makes something warm pull at her chest — stability of this kind is strange and wholly encompassing. It's a luxury that she's able to take in, her eyes closing against the touch of Phil's hand because it's warm and even though they're in the middle of nowhere, safe, she loves him in the only way she knows how, in a blitz of grace and red.

Maybe it's what makes all of this so terrifying, the idea that he came so close to— to going somewhere she can't follow.

She smiles, gently closing the distance to press her lips to his. ]

Before you know it, we'll be going on double dates.

[couldntdecide]

[Sometimes Phil's chest aches when he remembers how he had nearly died, aches in a way that has nothing to do with the permanent pain left from his surgeries. He would have died a lonely man, surrounded by coworkers and the occasional friend, but alone for years after his wife left him. He would have missed out on this, seeing Natasha this unguarded, this soft and delicate, the way she arches into his touch and lets her eyes slide shut, trusting him not to hurt her. He'd never.

His hand slides back a little when she leans in to kiss him, his fingers tangling in her sleep-mussed hair.]

With whom? [He won't admit how that idea has a certain appeal.]

[debts]

[ Her mouth quirks at him, like if he's going to drag himself along to the joke it's with at least something she can answer, her fingers lightly pushing at his shoulder in a half-shove. Saying we don't have any friends, remember sounds — Natasha's not nearly so new to love as some might think but there are some things she still has to do on her own, so we's are territory she hasn't quite mapped out yet. ]

I have no idea. [ And god forbid somebody mentions Tony Stark, who Natasha generally avoids showing any trace of personality around (only half of which is out of genuine annoyance). ] Anyone who knows how to shoot a gun.

merry xmas, bb~

[couldntdecide]

[Phil trails his fingers up and down her tricep, just stroking gently as he smiles at her. Indulging him by spinning out this silly little fantasy about what if we were normal? at least in that one aspect of their lives is very kind of her, and he appreciates her just going along with it.]

That doesn't narrow it down much, you know. [Most of the people he speaks to on a daily basis are fairly proficient in firearms.] Maybe we should set Clint up with someone. Then we can be obnoxiously happy together, all four of us. That would be an interesting date.