Sharon's answering laugh was startled, unsure. "What?"
"Steve," Sam replied. His boot had come untied and he cradled the phone between his ear and shoulder to rework the knots in the laces. "How'd that happen?"
Silence stretched between them, rolled out lazily like a threadbare rug, tenuous but comfortable. They'd waded through much more difficult memories together, companions on each end of an intercontinental call. Sam knew the cadence of Sharon's breath by heart.
She wasn't offended. She was thinking.
"I don't know," she finally sighed. "Haven't you ever kissed someone who turned out to be a huge mistake?"
Sam grinned to himself and the owl in the nearby tree.
"Stephanie Parcell, tenth grade."
"That bad?"
"She had braces and I had an overeager tongue. You can imagine how well that went."
Sharon laughed. A quiet sound, muffled by what he could only imagine was her pillow or her mouth pressed too close to the receiver, but it was there.
He kept a notebook tucked in his gear on the Quinjet, safe from Natasha's prying eyes and Steve's furrowed-brow scrutiny, for nights like this. Nights when they didn't have a safe house to bounce to, when being on the run meant living a little more rugged, when Sam drew the short stick to stand guard overnight.
Towards the back of the notebook was a page filled with tally marks, each one an indicator of a laugh he'd drawn out of Sharon Carter. Nonsense to anyone else, but to him it felt like victory.
"It was stupid anyway," she yawned. Sam imagined her laying in bed, one arm over her head, toes pointed as her long legs stretched the length of the mattress. "I mean, look how it all turned out."
"Says the woman who ain't on the run."
"Yeah, well, it's not exactly five star motels and luxury living over here, pal," she reminded him.
She didn't have to. Sam was well aware of the sacrifices she'd made to help them.
Sharon insisted she didn't want to come along on their little road trip. She was plenty capable, Sam knew, otherwise she probably would have ended up on the Raft with the rest of them. He worried about her safety, sure, but mostly he worried if she was okay.
She balked at his concern during every phone call. Swore up and down she was fine, making the best of whatever undisclosed location she'd ended up in, that she was being smart and avoiding the feds.
But Sam kept calling, and Sharon kept answering.
"You got a nice cozy bed, at least?"
"Mhm." Her voice sounded filed rough at the edges, thick with fatigue. "Cozier than yours, I bet."
Sam chuckled. His butt had gone numb from the cold, hard ground an hour earlier and the flicker of the campfire he'd built was slowly dimming. He was freezing, his stomach twisted angrily, and a tingle up his back promised a spasm in the morning.
"It ain't so bad," he told her. "Company's decent."
Sharon let out a rush of air that crackled through the speaker, and Sam's fingers itched for his notebook.
"Just decent?"
"Yeah, she's alright."
A pause where he could almost feel her smile, and then, "If I could do it again, I wouldn't kiss Steve."
"Too much tongue, huh?"
"I don't know why I even talk to you."
"Cause I'm a bundle of fun," Sam reminded her. "For the record, I've tamed my tongue since tenth grade."
He heard another muted sound and imagined Sharon rolling over, blonde hair trailing over her pillow.
"Is that so?"
"I have it on good authority. Could always test it out, if you're curious."
Sharon laughed outright then, so loud and pure that Sam gave himself two whole tallies.
"I'm going to sleep now."
He grinned so hard his cheeks hurt. "Hey, that ain't a no."
"Goodnight, Sam." Sharon yawned again, the rest of her words a near afterthought. "Be safe."
"You too," he told her.
Sam tucked his phone away and checked his jacket pocket for a pen to scribble out his score.
He was still pretty damn cold, and he hadn't really gotten an answer to his question. There was no way of knowing how many miles there were between him and Sharon, or the next time he'd see her, or if she even wanted to see him.
But he knew the next time he called, she'd answer.
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Ooh! For winterwitch, who: Gives nose/forehead kisses? Brings the other lunch at work? And who is an embarrassingly drunk dancer?
pairing: wanda/bucky
who gives nose/forehead kisses - wanda! itâs embedded in her dna to dole out casual kisses to easily accessible areas of a personâs body as a means of comfort [see: irina kissing her head, pietro kissing her temple, her kissing the twinsâ foreheads...]. sure, she and bucky share plenty of longer, more purposeful presses of lips - that usually lead down some super fun roads. but neither of them would dream of discounting those tiny pecks that check if buckyâs okay or thank him for setting her alarm again after she totally killed the sound instead of snoozing it.
who brings the other lunch at work - neither! with wandaâs job at a PS in brooklyn and buckyâs position as a pi+ - he basically does recon, protection details, anything people hire him to, as long as itâs on the up and up - they have a routine where they put their lunches together the night before. wanda levitates items at him and catches whatever he tosses back at her in a cloud of crimson. they donât really think about the food; theyâre busy brushing hands and talking about nothing important and maybe her hair tends to fall over his arm when she moves sometimes.
whoâs an embarrassing drunk dancer - bucky! okay, listen! heâs not a bad dancer and, sure, copious amounts of alcohol is required to even get him buzzed. BUT. jane and thor have a dj - who knows zero forties tunes - and asgardian mead at their wedding! bucky + 125 proof liquor + Â la macarena? is quite the sight. daisy catches the entire attempt on video - wanda had tried, but had been laughing so hard she kept having to float her phone back into her hand - and air-dropped the file to wanda immediately!
Just going to slide in here and ask you for Taserhawk, who: Gets jealous the most? Is an embarrassingly drunk dancer? And who still cries watching Titanic?
I answered this in my head yesterday and forgot to do it for reals whoops!!
Who gets jealous the most?
Oh, for sure Clint. I think thereâs always that little lingering self-doubt in his head that makes him wonder what the fuck Darcy is even doing with him and so of course heâd tend to the jealous side of things. I do think Darcy would be jealous too, though.Â
Who is an embarrassingly drunk dancer?
Both. Of. Them. Theyâre absolutely ridiculous. Clint has no issues making a fool of himself when heâs drunk (or any other time, really), but Darcy reaaaaaaally shines after one too many wine coolers. Sheâs like, the get up on a table and try to Dougie kind of dancer, but she can stay on beat pretty well.
Who still cries watching Titanic?
Darcy, who wails âIâll never let go, Jack!â dramatically at the screen every damn time, and who scares Lucky when she yells at the lookout for not seeing the iceberg sooner.
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wonât you pick the pieces up (donât let me keep on walking on broken glass) [for my dearest @pasmonblogâ! an entirely overboard fulfillment of winterwitch; kiss by a campfire; *vague references to wandavision, the first episode of falcon and the winter soldier, and schittâs creek*]
Part II of my Wanda-centric series iâll have a cup of tea (and tell you of my dreaming)
and what if i could live like this - but not forever
and what if you could move the needle to a more forgiving song
and what if this was never really broken all along
but - for tonight - i'm sleeping with my television on
television | jack's mannequin
...
There's a story here, thereâs always a story. This story starts with the good doctorâs helpful suggestion that a machine that cycles through soothing sounds might help with the nightmares. You know, the ones Bucky doesnât have? Actually, she recommends an app he can download, but his phone needs to age a couple decades to be able to support the damn thing.
He's standing at the check-out of Atlantic Avenueâs Best Buy with three different types, already planning to chuck every single one in the garbage. A tropical rainforest is going to work miracles that the cityâs constantly blaring siren soundtrack canât?Â
A hand reaches from behind to tap one of his boxes, as a pleasant lilt he can almost place warns: âIf you leave this running all night, it dies after a week.â
âThanks. You use either of these?â He turns, holding the two that are still contenders out to his informant. And grinning like an idiot because he recognizes her. Her hair and her affect are both less fiery than theyâd been when heâd met her in Wakanda - her messy bunâs edging toward brown and her eyes have painful memories crammed behind them. But her expressionâs warm, slightly guilty, when she shakes her head.Â
âI have thisâ - Wanda touches number two - âbut itâs still in the box.â He wants to ask if sheâs okay, if thereâs an ass that needs kicking â not that heâs supposed to engage in that extracurricular anymore, and she sure as shit can take care of herself; heâs caught the news coverage, though â but she keeps going. âMy therapist tells me this only hinders my recovery, but - â She shrugs, passes him a plastic case with what looks like a family and a misspelled curse on its front â- I love it. Itâs comforting.â
âHas to work better than whatever crap I was about to buy.â
âI think so. You're welcome to judge for yourself. Iâm happy to start at the beginning again.â
They trade numbers on the sidewalk out front, he brings lattes to her apartment two nights later, and David drives out of town in Rolandâs truck as the sun rises.
âŚ
Wanda's totally right, the doc lectures him about media immersion simply blocking his negative thoughts rather than eliminating them. He smiles serenely at her, says âBut I have two whole friends now! Arenât you excited?â and leaves Wanda a voicemail on his walk home: âWhenever we do season two, foodâs on me. Mental health should not, actually, be entertainment-dependent and Raynorâs not any happier about our combined coping skills than your guy.â
He knows sheâs got class at Fordham until seven-thirty, but sheâll call when she gets out.
âŚ
They finish the series right as the semesterâs ending.Â
He hen-pecks his way through Wandaâs dictation of the final paragraph of her unit plan for her Educational Methods class.Â
[She'd started crying so hard at Davidâs âI am continuously impressed by youâ compliment to Alexis that there was no way in hell she could see her screen and heâd been afraid her laptop might end up with water damage, erasing all of her efforts in a flash.]
Once sheâs hiccupped one last citation at him and heâs saved her paper in four different places, he glances over at her. âThe docâs still bugging me about finding more sustainable sleep aids. She fails to understand the medicinal properties of the Rose family. And I basically filibustered her ass on the subject last week. Nothing.â Wanda laughs through her tears. âAnyway. I'm thinking of trying out the up close and personal version of ambient noise. You want to come camping this weekend?â
Wandaâs nose scrunches in disgust and her head slides from side to side, answering for her on its own. But what she offers next is a surprise: âI'm only coming because you canât afford to lose any other limbs, and I canât say that wonât happen if youâre alone.â
âWeâll start another show as soon as we get back,â he promises.
âŚ
Camping blows.Â
Which, judging by Wandaâs expression underneath her soggy hood, is a secret that she really wants to let him in on. Like he isnât already fully aware.Â
The fireâs somehow soldiering on despite the downpour, but theyâve got maybe five minutes before it gutters. âShould we admit defeat? Stay city couch commandos forever?âÂ
Wandaâs entire being lights up at his suggestion, and sheâd probably take flight right now if he wasnât around. âThank youâ she says instead, leaning over to frame his face between her wet palms and pressing her mouth to his.Â
âMolniya, if you were dying to go home that badly, all you had to do was say so. I can take a hint,â he tells her after theyâve spent several minutes otherwise occupied.
âThat, sir - â she smirks â - was for everything but this brilliant disaster of yours.â
And she might levitate a little on the way to the car.Â
this is, like, a month early ... i totally had everything queued for the proper day, but i needed a little mood boost. so here we are! happy birthday month [and a half] and happy listening, @pasmonblog! đđľđ§
the habitually lovely @hondagirll hit me up to divulge the details below! thank youuuu, darling! iâm passing along to @cashewdani, @simmerandcry, @swimthroughthefires, @sarahbeniel, @semperlitluv [if they so desire, of course] and anyone else who would like to!
favorite color: ballet pink
last song/album: for real? âit wonât be long nowâ / the in the heights soundtrack! other than my brainâs one-track propensity? song: the barenaked ladiesâ âodds areâ | full album: sam huntâs âbetween the pinesâ
last movie: in the heights! which i loveeeeee to pieces and have been listening to bits of/watching constantlyyyy with no qualms whatsoever. GOOD GOD, MY HEART, MY BRAIN, JUST LEAVE ME IN MY PUDDLE
currently reading: @pasmonblogâs delightful beyond explanation âHow We Spoon Like No One Elseâ, a winterwitch coffeeshop AU! book-wise? i just bought malibu rising and the last thing he told me, so. weâll see how those are...
currently watching: the annie pulls a wanda show [actual title - kevin can f himself], the eugene and sarah levy credit card commercial that literally just appeared on my tv
currently craving: winter weather, chai cupcakes
coffee or tea: BOTHHHH; if i had to choose, though? coffee, unless the teaâs chaiiiii