(Untitled)

[broken_brushes]

I really think I deserve credit for doing my best to embrace the steampunk Victorian lifestyle. I've never been a fan of cold weather, and I grew up in a place where a bikini was considered appropriate attire 90% of the time. When the island made the switch that December, I was definitely not in my element. I'd always loved pretty dresses, though,

Comments

[rage_andlove]

This Victorian shit is really starting to get on his nerves. He can live with the leg, almost, if it wasn't for the pants and the coats and the fucking vests. He hates the fucking vests. Jesus. When he sees her, he pauses. He resists the urge to bend and fuss with his prosthetic. He just shifts his weight instead.

"Okay, Shari?"

[broken_brushes]

"No, not really so much," I replied before I really thought about it. There wasn't a lot of sense in lying, anyway; there were only so many viable excuses I could make up for hanging out in an open doorway in the middle of winter. "Just being victimized by holiday greenery. I don't suppose you're up for a very brief and exceedingly sisterly kiss on the lips?"

Tunny could very well be the best option to come along. We were acquainted, but not close enough for there to be weirdness. Well, not more than the standard allotment that came with forced mistletoe kissing.

[rage_andlove]

Tunny pauses, for a moment. As far as he's ever been able to figure it, there's definitely something going on between Shari and Mace, even if it's difficult to pin down. As far as friends go, Mace is probably the closest thing he's got to Will or Johnny.

He arches an eyebrow and wanders closer.

"Don't have a sister," he says, with a crooked smile. "But I'll give it a shot."

[broken_brushes]

"Chaste," I emphasized, not swayed by his admission of not having a sister. "Like kissing your mom or your auntie or something." No guy I knew kissed his mom or his auntie on the lips, though, so the metaphor might not have worked as well as I wanted.

"Just don't slip me any tongue, okay?"

[newkindofcop]

Steve's come to grips with the reality that he's going to have to suffer through whatever clothing the island gives him for the next several weeks, but a few days out in the cold is a clear lesson that more layers are better than less. He can't pretend to ignore the way Danny smiles appreciatively every time he dons his coat over a nice dress shirt and trousers, especially since this is the closest to work-appropriate he's ever been, at least in Danny's mind

[broken_brushes]

"Ooohhhh, why did you do that?" I groaned. "Why did you- I have to work with your boyfriend, you know. Like, daily."

I'd thrown my hands up to block Steve's body, and belatedly realizing that my palms were still resting against his chest, I jerked them quickly away and took the half a step back I was able before coming up short. I tipped my head back and peered up at him with a pinched expression. "You know how much he talks, right? I am never hearing the end of this."

[newkindofcop]

"Oh, I - " He looks down, first, at her, and then his gaze flicks up and up farther, to the point where he sees the mistletoe in the doorframe above their heads, and his expression takes on an entirely different level of apology.

"I'm so sorry. If I'd known, I never would have - " Steve cuts himself off, jaw setting firmly, and briefly considers taking out his knife and hacking at the thing the way he's seen others do. Something tells him that would only get them so far.

[broken_brushes]

"We can make it quick," I insisted, if only because he looked so damned apologetic about it. It's not like Steve was unattractive; I could have done so much worse. "Over in a snap, and we never have to speak of it ever again. Ever." I offered him an encouraging if vaguely manic smile. No awkward glances across the Council meeting table for me, no siree.

[badblood_rising]

Sam hated the cold, but he hated being cooped up in his house or Natalya's more. He could go for most of the day reading, curled up on the couch, finding anything to do inside, but at some point he snapped and needed to at least walk around.

He was on his daily constitutional when he passed by the line of offices that had once been inside the Compound. Grinning as he caught sight of Shari, Sam raised his hand. "Hey Sh--"

There were plenty of times when the Winchester brothers had fallen stupidly into traps, but most of the time they avoided them. They kept their eyes open and knew the dangers. Sam had been keeping an eye out for mistletoe since the first day of December and he saw it now, bright and leafy above her.

Sam came to a stop in front of the bottom step of the landing, staring up at her as his smile grew broader. He laughed.

Yeah, it was childish, but it was also very funny.

[broken_brushes]

"Laugh it up," I replied, and put on an exceedingly sour smile. "Just because you're too far away for me to kick you in the shins now doesn't mean I won't do it later. I'm going to save that one up for when you least expect it."

The bigger concern wasn't Sam being a total butthead, though, but rather that he was, at the moment, the only option I had for getting free of the doorway. I cannot fully express how horrifying a concept this was; I still wasn't over having to kiss Dean a couple of years before.

"Go away," I hastily added with a little wave of one gloved hand.

[badblood_rising]

"Saying that is a sure fire way to make sure I do expect it," Sam pointed out, but he couldn't blame her for her need for physical vengeance. This had to suck, and Sam knew he wasn't making it any easier.

He was pretty sure Shari couldn't kick hard enough to do any lasting damage anyway.

His brow twitched into a frown and he tilted his head. "What? And miss this? No way. I could sit here for a while. Or do you not want to beg me for a kiss?"

[broken_brushes]

"That's fine, we'll both just freeze, then," I insisted with a sniff and a lift of my chin. When I'd had to kiss Dean, it had been bad enough. We'd agreed very clearly to never speak of it again, despite that it honestly wasn't even that big a deal. Sam, though. Sam I'd had a crush on once.

There was just no way. I'd stand in that door until the cows came home.

[heretofight]

He was like a goddamn gorilla in a tuxedo.

It had been that way starting on that very first day. The hats and the scarves or cravats or whatever the hell he was supposed to call 'em. The tailored coats and trousers with no goddamn zippers. The cold, he could handle. The strangeness of the city, he'd gotten used to. The clothes were another story. Marines had taught him to take care of himself. Look presentable. Keep himself neat, but his uniform hadn't been anything like this.

And anyway, he'd abandoned that uniform a long time ago.

Even tailored, his coat seemed too tight across his shoulders, and his rolling, heavy-footed gate seemed to be at odds with the smartness of his suit. Still, when he saw her head poke out from a doorway, his mood wasn't dark enough that he didn't pause, arch a brow and said, "You lookin' for somebody, Shari?"

[broken_brushes]

Victoriana did not suit everyone. Since the change, I'd seen more than a few people in half-managed clothes, like they'd gotten to a certain point and just given up on all the buttons and layers. Tommy, though, looked as supremely uncomfortable as anyone I'd seen yet, enough that it made me forget about my predicament for the space of about three seconds.

"Well," I began after that tick of hesitation, and then laughed awkwardly. "You could say that. How are you at randomly kissing chicks you barely know?" If there was a smooth way to issue that kind of proposition, I definitely didn't know what it was.

[heretofight]

Arching a brow, he came toward her, hands in his pockets and his eyes drawn to the little sprig of leaves hanging over her head.

"Depends on the situation," he said, "Why, you offerin'?"

[broken_brushes]

"Politely pleading, actually," I replied, and bit briefly against my bottom lip in a play to cover up how awkward I felt.

"Help a girl out? Just a peck should do." My eyebrows arched hopefully.

[off_the_ceiling]

"Oh, there you are, I knew you'd probably be around here somewhere," says Jess, adjusting her hat and not even taking particular notice of Shari's surroundings. "I was just playing around on the piano again, hoping that there's some tiny bit of muscle memory left from my piano lessons as a kid, but it might be a lost cause. I should just go buy myself a guitar, what do you think? I mean, when else am I going to be able to-" Only then does she realize that Shari isn't moving from the doorway for a reason. "Oh." She manages not to laugh, or even smirk, but she still can't entirely keep her amusement off her face. "Okay, so are we agreed on no tongue?"

[broken_brushes]

"Oh, go ahead," I huffed out with a roll of my eyes. "Laugh. Get it out." I'd really like to paint myself as the milk of human kindness, but the truth was I'd probably do the same were our positions reversed. "And yes, I think we can agree to avoid tongue, thank you."

Truthfully, I was glad it was Jess who had stumbled upon me first. There were many less comfortable options. With Jess, I at least knew it would get over quickly and with a minimum of fuss.

[off_the_ceiling]

"Although I should tell you, I have it on good authority that I'm an excellent kisser," said Jess, leaning in and giving Shari a quick peck on the lips, just enough to free her from the local plant life. "You might have just missed your chance at untold bliss."

[broken_brushes]

"Or an audience. I'm pretty sure there's a betting pool on whether or not we're secretly getting it on," I replied as I hopped gratefully down from the stoop and let the heavy door swing shut behind me.

"Thanks for the rescue. And sorry I'm not gay for you. I'm pretty sure life would be about a million times easier for me if I was."