[ MISTLETOE ]

[selfkismesis]

who ; YOU
what ; MISTLETOE
where ; All over Sacrosanct. Due to the wonderful evolved ability of producing spores, Singlings who have ventured too close to the kissing plant may find themselves in romantic entanglements later on in the day, even once escaped from plant itself. Neither organics or inorganics are safe.
when ; Next week or so.
warning

Comments

[nolimitation]

Olivia's been getting more and more homesick lately. It's the Christmas decorations. She was doing okay, but then the decorations showed up and... Back home, she could usually manage to get a day or two off to stay with Nina and Rachel and Ella in New York over the holidays. Sometimes Christmas would come a week early, or a few days late, but it still happened, and the reminder that she's missing it now makes her miss her family so much it's almost physically painful.

She thought going for a run through the park near her apartment would clear her head - or the cold would - but it's not helping as much as she'd hoped. Even the parks are decorated.

[usavatar]

Steve is out in the part himself, sketching away. Not in his journal this time - this time he's working on a portrait of Peggy, her back slightly turned, her expression a distracted glance over one shoulder. He's thinking about giving it to her for Christmas since he doesn't have much else, but-

Well. That would be.

There's just something embarrassing about it.

He looks up at the sound of snow crunching under a quick jog, bundled up except for his hands. He hates how art tools feel through gloves. "Oh- Agent Dunham. Hi."

[nolimitation]

Olivia slows as she approaches him, and stops a couple steps away, her breath clouding in the cold air.

"Captain Rogers," she says with a smile and a friendly nod. Glancing down to his sketchbook and bare hands, she adds with a slightly brighter grin, "This is an odd place to be drawing, in this weather. Can you even feel your fingers out here?"

[usavatar]

He looks at the sketchbook, then ducks his head a little more, ears going pink. "I- Wh- I needed a little air. I haven't been out that. Long."

Steve peers up at her from his place on the bench. "What about you? Just... out for a jog?"

Wince. Of course she's out for a jog. Steve gets up, tucks the sketchbook under his arm and- takes a step closer to Olivia? He blinks at her suddenly-very-close-self. "Um. Sorry, I."

[nolimitation]

"Yeah. I was..."

Lonely. And it's not just missing Nina and Rachel and Ella, though that's part of it. It's that inexplicable feeling that there's a hole in her life, something missing she can't even begin to name.

"I needed some air-" She breaks off for a second in surprise as he steps closer, but doesn't back up. She should back away, but though the thought occurs to her, she somehow isn't managing to follow through - just standing there, looking up at him, and vaguely wondering if maybe getting closer is a better idea than moving away. "...too."

[usavatar]

He tries to think of something to continue the conversation in the most innocuous way possible, all the while thinking he should back away.

It's nice air?

Back away.

Still not moving.

He should apologize.

Except instead he's thinking she has beautiful lips, and that the contrast between her eyes and the burn of cold on her cheeks is stunning. "There's. Lots of it."

He's not even sure what he's referring to at the moment. Just that he needed to say something.

[nolimitation]

"...of air?" she asks with a soft laugh. "Yeah, there... really is..."

Not that anything less awkward is coming to her mind either. She stands there for a moment longer, studying his face - and then blushes and looks down, reaching up to brush a few stray hairs back behind her ear.

"I'm sorry, I'm..."

She's not sure what she meant to say. She glances up again, almost shyly, bites her lower lip for a second, and then stands up on her toes to kiss him.

[usavatar]

He makes a small, startled noise, contemplates pulling back, and instead leans into the touch. She's pleasantly tall-

-and not Peggy -

-and the shyness is reassuring in a way-

-and she's not Peggy-

-and what was he thinking about because all of the sudden he's got his arms around her and there is tongue.

How did that happen.

[nolimitation]

Oh. Okay then.

The addition of tongue is a little startling, but there's just a momentary pause before Olivia closes her eyes and leans in toward him, one hand against his chest. She hasn't been this close to anyone for a long time - not since John - and she can't say she didn't miss it. He's solid and warm and, maybe more important, someone there.

...if her brain were actually working, the fact that that someone is a near-stranger would be something of a problem, but that would require thinking past the feeling of his lips on hers and his arms around her. Not happening at the moment.