brushpass | threads

"How do you know that's not my whole plan," Bucky jokes, relaxing his posture and leaning closer over the table. Mock conspiratorial, he adds, "I can get every crime boss in town turning up at my door with rustic Italian loaves. Maybe butter too, if I'm lucky."

Natasha leans in on her side of the table as well, her eyes alight with humor. It's a treat to see him joking around like this - he's clearly relaxing a bit.

"Wow. That's diabolical," she answers, all playful humor. "I'll keep you in butter if you promise to share." There's a flirtatious hue in the way she says it, even though she recognizes that it's patently ridiculous to flirt about butter.

The thing about flirting is that sometimes, done right, it's a little ridiculous. The fun part is that they're being ridiculous together.

Or something like that.

"I won't ask where you're getting all of that butter," Bucky says, half smiling. "Or what you were planning to do with it."

Natasha would vouch for that. And certainly the opportunity to see him leaning in to the opportunity to be ridiculous is encouraging. Maybe even more encouraging than getting him to blush.

"You sure? I could have some fun ideas," she answers, giving him a wicked grin as she picks up the cup to take a sip of the drink she'd ordered.

"Oh, I'm sure you could."

Bucky doesn't blush at that, but he does swallow, his throat bobbing as he tries not to think too much about the specifics of what she could cook up. Not for the butter, really. For anything.

"I'm sure you could give me gray hair with your fun ideas."

"Don't worry, it's only fun if you want to participate." Meaning: sure, she might tease him a little bit. But she's not going to outright torture the man.

Though to be fair, she's not sure if the vague allusion to fun things she could do is any better. It certainly leaves a lot of space for him to color in his own details.

"Didn't say I didn't want to. I just know better than to ask questions."

It is fun. Bucky is, in fact, having fun. Natasha seems to have a way of inspiring him to let his guard down just a little.

Not all the way. He wasn't sure he could even do that anymore... but enough to play around a little.

"On the bright side, I don't think we're going to see any photographers when we leave."

A partially lowered guard is a win, as far as she's concerned. Honestly, the fact that either of them can relax at all could be considered something of a miracle.

"We could still sneak out the back," she offers, smiling a little at the suggestion. There's really no need for it, but she's not above doing something a bit ridiculous. Especially if it'll help keep that guard of his down a bit. "I'm just impressed I got you to take a picture with me by the exhibits."

"We can see how we feel about that after dessert." Bucky can't help but smile a little at the suggestion. Maybe the image it makes.

Like the adult, spy equivalent of sneaking into a movie, something like that.

"Or maybe we just slip up to the roof for the fun of it."

"Implying that if dessert isn't great that we'll make a break for it?" Which is still patently ridiculous, but honestly, she's still not opposed. They could both stand to add some more good memories.

There's an interested look on her face when he suggests sneaking up to the roof for the fun of it. Rebel. "Bet there's a decent view of the neighborhood from up there," she muses, smiling a little in a way that looks mischievous. "Could be fun to see if either of us get spotted."

"C'mon," he says with half a smile. Bucky can never completely shake a certain grimness. It clings to him like coffee stains. But there's a little light in his eye, even a little cockiness. "If either of us got caught doing something that simple, what are we even doing here?"

"Having a nice dinner," Natasha answers cheekily without missing a beat, her little smile shifting into something that looks more like a smirk. She doesn't mind that grimness. It would be more surprising if it wasn't there. She's so practiced at blending in that she doesn't tend to carry the same grimness. But someone that knows what to look for would doubtlessly realize that, even relaxed, she's always alert. And always armed.

But that doesn't mean they both don't deserve a night off. So she leans back in her seat a bit, eyes widening a little in a feigned look of innocence. "But if you're worried you might not be up for it, old man..." she lets the obvious bait trail off, mouth pulling to the side as she tries not to laugh.

"Very funny," Bucky rises to the bait, knowing it exactly for what it is. That's part of the fun, how he sees it. Especially with a woman like Natasha.

Keeps him on his toes.

"I think I have enough energy to have a nice dinner," he assures her, then flashing a wryer smile as he adds, "But I might have to turn in early if I'm going to go play dominos in the park tomorrow with the other old men."

Natasha makes a little flourish with her hand as if to acknowledge that yes, she knows it was very funny. She then picks up her drink to take a sip, her eyes glimmering with amusement as she looks across the table at him.

"We can't have you disappointing Walter and Cecil. They'll never let you live it down if you tell them you let a red head keep you out past your bedtime."

That gets a laugh out of him, and something like color in his cheeks. "When you put it that way, I'm not sure how I could show my face if I didn't let you keep me up past my bedtime. They'd be very disappointed."

"You're going to be the talk of the park with that," Natasha answers with a chuckle. The smile lingers on her lips as his face pinkens a little. "I promise I'll let you go if you start yawning."

"Hey. I'm old. I'm not tired," he responds gamely, even with the faint blush still lingering in his ears. "I stay up past 9pm regularly. On week nights even."

"Wow, you're a real rebel." The mischievous gleam that lingers in her eyes is the only tell that she's still lightly ribbing him. She lets a bit of the playfulness fade so she can ask, with genuine curiosity, "what do you usually do when you're up late? That's usually the only time I can focus to read."

"Depends. Reading's good. Definitely one of the better evening activities." And probably a sign he's in a good headspace, if he can focus. A sign he might get a good night's sleep. "Sometimes, it's Sports Center."

Neutral sounding, but more likely to be something he has on just for noise, something to focus on so he doesn't start getting twitchy.

"Not a bad time to take a walk, either. Especially in a city like this."

She can understand that need for background noise. Sometimes she'll put on an old movie, but she's more likely to keep music playing in the background. "Read anything good lately?" It feels like a remarkably mild question, given the kind of shit both of them regularly get involved in. But there's something nice about a remarkably mild question.

She smiles a little when he says he likes to take a walk at night. "Nice when it's snowing, too." It sort of brings a hush over the city that never really happens otherwise.

"Well, I have most of a century worth of books to catch up on. I don't think I have any recommendations more recent than the Lord of the Rings." It's a weird thing, going to war after reading the Hobbit, a cute children's fantasy about a little guy who goes on an adventure. Come back and find out the story goes into the horrors of war.

"Just getting to Ursula Le Guin."

It's a pretty mild answer, all things considered.

"Anything I should check out?"

"I hope you're not going to try to go in order of release," Natasha comments with a chuckle. Even if she suspects that might actually be the case. She hums thoughtfully, considering her recommendation based on the fact that both Le Guin and Tolkien lean decidedly fantasy.

"Definitely get through the Chronicles of Narnia if you haven't. And I haven't read all of them, but I think you'd like the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. I'd say they're sort of comedic fantasy. They're very clever."

"Do you have a better way to do it?"

He's only half kidding. He doesn't intend to read every book he might be interested in in order of publication, but... well, it gives him a place to start when he's trying to sort through the things he missed.

"I could use a few more laughs. I'll keep him in mind."

"We could start a book club." She's also only half kidding, but she's not opposed to the idea. Having someone to talk to about the books is nice. Having someone to sit around while you both read quietly is even nicer. And she's pretty sure that's more along the lines of what he'd consider a good time.

"There's enough of them to keep you busy for a while. Over thirty of them."

"That'll take me the rest of this century with how much free time I get these days."

It's a joke, but one he figures she'll understand. There's always something. Even when they're trying to get some rest (or legally required to), they always get dragged into something.

The down side of not being able to look the other way when things go to shit. Steve must have rubbed off on Bucky all those years ago.

"But having someone to read with wouldn't be the worst."

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Sorry for the delay! It's been a rough couple of weeks.

oh no! don't worry about it. i hope things ease up for you <3

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