It surprised him to hear his voice within the ocean of mixed mumbles and screams, his head tilted slightly to the side to focus a little more on him because he was…intrigued to know the reason that pushed Steven to put his hands together and direct a word to him.

A small smile decored his features when he found it wasn’t a request…and it wasn’t an apology, at least not for him.His eyes shut for a second and gave a small nod, he hadn’t been around the returned souls for a while now but…now seemed like a good moment to go.

            “I’m going.”

THE DOOR TO HIS OFFICE SLAMS BEHIND HER, IGNORING THE HANDFUL OF AGENTS WHO WERE TRYING TO SAVE THEIR ASSES IN AN ATTEMPT TO STOP HER FROM BURSTING IN. They failed. Arms cross over chest, her stance saying she was wasn’t ASKING him for permission but TELLING him what she was going to do. It’s probably not in her best interest to be barking orders at him like this, especially when she’s trying to get her way but she tends to be less rational around him than she is others.

the fact i still tear up when steve gets the text that she went in her sleep

the way he just leaves the convo and tony's like ugh sure just fkin walk off then

the way he stands in the fuckin stairwell to wallow in grief for what i know was only a fkin minute, long enough for the weight forcing the sob up his throat that immediately tried to choke him and then FORCE himself to pull it together. i love him so much i hate him alkdsjflj a

@divinityrisen's been invited to the garden...

'I used to hate seeing aerosol cans. When they first came out the guys from the docks were pulled into factories to pump the air in. Didn't last as long as it did later, but all that work, eighteen hour shifts for something to just empty out in a couple days...'

'It did mean that some of the older dock workers got good paychecks again since they took the younger ones to work the plungers to pump the air. But still... Just rough.'

- @asgardianhammer's been invited to the garden...

'Listen, no one wanted to eat the damned thing. They used cat whiskers to lay out the wafer parts and and measure them out. An absolute nightmare trying to find enough whiskers out and about left by the strays.'

'I got into so many damned fight with kids that were tryin' to go to the source. My ma banned KitKat's from the house because it just broke her heart.'

@survivics sent a raven: “It is possible to care about a woman without wanting to bed her. I just didn’t think you wanted me like that. It’s been months and you haven’t even so much as kissed me.” (Sakura for Steve)

       It's  hard  not  to  feel  smug,  she  almost  sounded  put  out  about  it  and  he  couldn't  be  more  thrilled  and  amused  at  the  same  time.  He  knew  she'd  had  a  hard  time,  which  was  putting  it  lightly,  so  Steve  had  made  sure  to  keep  distance  between  them.  It  had  driven  him  a  little  crazy,  but  that  wasn't  nearly  as  bad  as  the  possibility  of  reaching  out  to  touch  her  face  and  see  her  flinch.  Even  if  she  hadn't  the  way  she  would  have  watched  him  as  he  moved  closer,  calculating  risk,  possibility,  instead  of  simply  enjoying  the  moment. 

       He  knew  that  the  ghosts  weren't  going  to  leave,  trauma  didn't  heal  cleanly.  It  wasn't  like  wounds  in  flesh  that  could  knit  back  together,  scar  over,  smooth  with  time.  It  was  a  jack  in  the  box  with  a  muted  home,  no  mulberry  bush  rushed  around,  just  suddenly  leaping  out  to  startle  the  tentative  peace.  So  he  didn't  push,  he  mimicked,  gave  what  she  took  in  equal  measure.  Fingers  that  skimmed  the  back  of  his  wrist  before  taking  hold  to  shift  his  direction  was  echoed  later  by  his  knuckles  brushing  her  elbow  before  tugging  her  onto  a  corrected  course. 

       Did  the  occasional  step  back  in  progress  irritate  him?  Of  course,  he  was  human,  and  the  involuntary  distrust  was  still  distrust  even  if  it  wasn't  him  she  was  attempting  to  avoid.  It  still  stung  as  if  she'd  slapped  him,  even  though  he  played  it  off.  And  now  she  was  trying  to  piece  it  together  to  make  sense.  His  fingers  are  light  under  her  chin,  easy  to  twist  away  from,  easy  to  stop  before  it  even  began. 

       The  lean  in  is  slow,  watching  her  for  any  sign  of  panic,  before  coming  to  a  stop  less  than  a  breath  away.  He  could,  and  God  knew  he  wanted  to,  but  instead  he  hovered  there  just  shy  of  kissing  her.  To  wait,  as  he  had  been,  for  the  same  inevitable  push  and  pull  they'd  been  playing  on  an  uneven  field  littered  with  mines  that  no  one  was  sure  of  their  still  being  active  or  not. 

"You  first.'

@asgardianhammer asked: ' You do not see it, do you?' Words are more breathed than spoken, the god's bass a low, whispered crafting just below the captain's ear. ' The way I could split you open on the breadth of me, how my hand could hold you fast by throat or waist, until you are nothing but shuddering need. You think yourself iron and shield, yet I know I could ruin it all, take you apart again and again, slow or savage, until you could no longer distinguish where your ache ends and I begin.'

He was starting to get the picture, forced to adjust his breathing feeling the god's chest pressed so tightly to his own. Fingers tightened their grip on bicep, not that he wanted to push him away, just needed to ground himself to have something to focus on. But that didn't work either because all he could think about was the way the muscles would shift under skin as he got man handled.

Should he be fighting this?

'That's mighty big talk.'

Proud of himself, that he managed a low purr of sound, squirming, using the surface behind him to shift higher, a shameless invitation to get started. Couldn't lie that sounded amazing, he couldn't remember the last time he'd managed to fuck himself senseless. Too many things to do and not enough who's that were capable of keeping up. Thor could, he wasn't even going to entertain the notion that he could outlast him, he knew his limits. But he could push them if goaded, and that sounded like a gauntlet thrown to him.

'I can do this all day.'