hold my hand, keep me steady.

[mirrormirrormeme]

handholding meme

ONE: comment with your character and preferences. is that ever not the protocol?
TWO: reply to others.
THREE: your character. that character. holding hands.
FOUR: comfort somebody! reach out for emotional support! keep a kid from running into the street! escape certain death, saving another hapless victim along the way! confess deep-seated feelings! get closer on a date! intimidate your opponent! ...hold their hand for no reason at all, since you don't l-like them or anything.
FIVE: this can be a gen meme. it can also be a romantic meme, if you're a filthy pervert. gross. how can you be so lewd?

Comments

[godaxe]

The light might not have caught in Steve's eyes, but Thor was glad that his shadow hid that one lone tear that managed to escape. He watched it fall, eaten by the grass, and then it was like it never existed. He took a breath, surprised at the urgency in Steve's grip. Of course, he might have been imagining it, needing it.

His eyes flicked over to Steve's face - the robotic addition tracking perfectly with his real eye. He needed to reach out to Rocket, to thank him, and to check on him.

"We both know you're more than capable of shaving, Steve." Thor spoke softly, but a warmth entered the words by the end of it. An idea struck the god, and his eyes went wide. "But before, I'd like to savor this moment."

His lips were on Steve's before he could talk himself out of it, the wiry hair, soft at its base, crushed between their chins. A breeze swept through Thor's short hair and all he wanted to do was be with that man.

[bottledblond]

“Hey, I used to shave off stubble. This is—“ Well there was no need to finish his train of thought. Thor was kissing him again and as usual, it took his breath away.

This was a different sort of kiss than the devastated one they had shared almost a full day ago, but it left him feeling charged - literally - just the same.

Steve wrapped an arm around Thor’s
Wide shoulders and presses his fingers against the back of his neck. Funny. He could almost hear the thunder rolling in.

[godaxe]

This type of kiss wasn't frenzied or delirious. They were both there, had won the coin toss on whatever that mad titan had decided was the criteria. They were together and Thor knew they would figure it out. Maybe it wouldn't bring everyone back, but perhaps there would be justice.

When Thor finally moved his head back, their lips made that soft little noise he'd only ever seen on television. The hummingbird in his chest threatened to riot. "If I could march horses made of lightning through the yard, or erect a gazebo of light around us, I would. But it does not work like that."

There was a storm moving in, and the stars were slowly being eaten by clouds. "But the one truth I know is, to shave such a princely beard, you will have to remove your shirt." Thor's eyebrows flicked up, and his fingers slid between Steve's.

"For starters."

[bottledblond]

“Smart,” Steve replied as he took a step back towards the building that held his apartment. “I don’t want to get little hairs everywhere.”

He had already changed out of his uniform, Nomad hung up and put away, Captain America back again it seemed. Tony wasn’t here to shame him out of it, though the title belonged to the idea, not to the man.

“You should take yours off too. It could just get everywhere. You know how glad I am that you’re here right? Beard expertise, sure, but... Never really settled with me that I couldn’t follow you when you leave.”

[godaxe]

A low chuckle was Thor's only response until his right eyebrow poked up. "This will be your first true shave, I take it. The hair? It gets everywhere. Best to save our shirts and pants, but you will still want to shower afterward." The image of the two of them in briefs, Steve on the toilet, Thor with shaving cream on his palm...it was such a welcomed escape.

Blunt nails brushed through the growth along the right side of Steve's jaw. "I will carry you next time, and the worlds will fear us." Thor meant every word he'd just said, because someone had hurt them, had hurt all of them, and that person and those associated, would pay.

The play of lightning across his pupil was involuntary, and when it went away, he was back into the moment, back with Steve.

"But tonight, we ready for battle. Your shorn cheek may be just the weapon we need." He was kidding, of course, but it sounded like something they both needed to hear. "First," Thor said, his arm wrapping around Steve's waist.

"We take the long way," he said, and up they went, diving into the sky like the deep end of a swimming pool. Thor was sure to cradle Steve, to make the trip as comfortable as possible.

"Fill the clouds," Thor urged, punching through one. He had screamed to the heavens and it had done no good, but he had felt better afterward. "Make them fear your wrath." Because perhaps the clouds could carry the warrior's song to whoever needed to hear it, and they would tremble.

[bottledblond]

Steve was not prepared to be lifted and tensed up immediately. His fingers clutched at Thor’s shoulders until he felt the security of the other’s arms. He wasn’t afraid, he knew that. He’d probably die if he fell from the heights they were going, but Steve also had a tendency to stay resilient. Besides, Thor would never drop him.

His eyes took in the sky and the clouds as they moved through them, took in the acres upon acres of forest that shielded the Avengers compound from Manhattan miles away. He could spot the singular road that led from the highway and then that faded away too.

Steve wasn’t much of a romantic, but Thor still spoke his kind of language. He’d been born a warrior. The fight had filled him even when he was too sick to lift his head. It wasn’t just stubbornness and a sense of justice, it was a need to fight.

And Thor understood that.

It wouldn’t be until they had landed that Steve would really think back on the lightning in Thor’s eye, why he tasted of ozone, or how the weather bender to his whim.

Thor had come into his own.

[godaxe]

The invitation for Steve to shout into the heavens might have been lost in translation. How many nights had Thor jetted off the ground just to holler at the sky, punch through clouds, swirl them around him like a cloak and then shove them away in his mind? Too many, but probably just enough.

It helped to have Steve with him because while the god hadn't felt alone since reuniting, he'd felt lonely. But it was a loneliness that didn't come from distance, but from inside himself. Showing Steve the sky like this was also showing the man a part of Thor himself. It was a silent explanation, the most intimate part of himself that wasn't on his body, and something he'd neglected to show the other before.

The trip back down was slower, but the draft still shifted Steve's hair, making Thor smile at him. The two touched down gently outside Steve's private entrance - private, but not secret. Smelling like the breeze and with his cheeks surrounding a good-natured smile, Thor cocked an eyebrow.

"Now, about that beard."

[bottledblond]

Steve wasn't that much of a shout-your-feelings sort of guy, but he did always admire that about Thor. He was much too busy taking everything in anyway, much too busy holding on and feeling thrill and safety at the same time. Thor would not let him fall.

He might ask how he managed to do that without the hammer, later, but he had a good idea that was part of why Thor's very body seemed filled with the spark of electricity now.

It would be a good story, when they had time to tell it.

As they walked inside, Steve pulled the shirt off from over his head, folding it neatly to place on the table by the front door. "I'm curious if I still look the same under it."

[godaxe]

When Steve's back was exposed, Thor almost tripped over his own feet. The muscles rippled under the skin and the god just wanted to get his hands on it. How long had it been? For someone as old as Thor, it felt like a lifetime.

Only through the discipline Thor had learned through his training was he able to resist. The door slid shut behind him and Thor removed his own shirt. Unlike Steve, Thor liked the way the material plopped onto his hardwood floor, a puddle close enough to the door that Thor would remember it when he left.

"Close enough, I'm sure," Thor said, his hand turning, the top of his fingers so close to Steve's skin that the air that shifted with them could probably be felt. But the god didn't make contact, because first he had to make sure Steve wanted him to. Secondly, the exquisite intimacy that the gesture held made Thor need to bite the inside of his cheek for a moment.

Steve wanted help shaving, that was all they were doing.

Looking around the hallway as Thor followed, if the place had been decorated, Tony had done it. Or, more likely, Pepper had done it. It was pretty Spartan anyway and Thor had a passing thought if Steve had ever been in a place long enough to call it his own. "Bathroom?" He asked.