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Tweak says, "No scooby snacks for you!"

Steve "Fight Me" Rogers (_onyourleft_) wrote in somerealityrpg,
@ 2020-03-08 19:18:00

Entry tags:

!open, active: darcy lewis, active: steve rogers

Who: Steve Rogers and Darcy Lewis
What: Tried and true distractions
Where: The gym
When: Saturday afternoon
Status/rating: Ongoing/Probably low

The gym made for a good place to go and escape his thoughts for a while. Or at least try to. The rhythmic feel and sound of fists hitting the bag was as much of a distraction as he was really capable of any more, and it was a lot better than trying to find ways of avoiding Bucky's probing questions and then, well...Diana's frankly horribly timed arrival back at the apartment. And then he'd gone and acted like a bumbling idiot. Which he was sure his friend would remind him wasn't all that out of character when it came to him and women.

It was just some stupid infatuation, anyway. A crush. That's what people called it. It didn't mean anything. It sure as hell didn't warrant all the ways he couldn't get Peggy out of his head right now. The shine in her hair, her red lips. The intoxicating smell of her perfume.

No matter how hard he punched or how many bags he wrecked, she was everywhere. His memories of her were consuming him, and he resented how guilty he felt at wishing them away.

There was nothing wrong with how he was feeling. It was normal. Diana was lovely. Kind, and compassionate, and - it didn't mean anything. So why did he have to feel so messed up about it? It just needed some time, and it would go away, just like every other unwelcome sight or smell or memory he found himself assaulted with. He just had to turn his focus somewhere else for a while. This place had pretty good at providing opportunity for that, too.

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halflistening
2020-03-08 09:00 am UTC (link)

Darcy understood why wrapping a person's hands was important if you were going to be boxing, she really did. It was just... not something she was good at. She was good at a lot of things. She was great at a lot of things. Taping her hands? Not one of those things.

Still, it was worth it to try. Out of all of the incredible people she knew, she was the weak link and she knew it. She was the soft spot that needed to be protected... and it chafed. It would do no one any good if people like Wanda, Bucky, Steve, and Thor were distracted by something happening to her when they should be focused on other things... like kicking major ass when something bad was going down. It was past time to toughen up.

She heard the tell-tale sounds of someone working the heavy bag before she even entered the gym. That was potentially inconvenient, but also might be a good thing? Because with any luck, they'd help her with this hand taping thing and if that meant she had to spend a little bit on the treadmill? Fair trade.

Thankfully, the person pummeling the bag was Steve. He would definitely help her with her hands when he was done, because that ball of beefcakey sunshine wouldn't say no to something like that. Doing the right thing was in his DNA, she was pretty sure. He was focused on what he was doing, so he didn't seem to notice her entrance and she knew better than to jump on him or something, no matter how funny it would be, so she took a seat on the floor, criss-cross applesauce style, and just watched him for a few minutes. It was partially because she was watching him work, making mental notes for when it was her turn. There was a way to hit and there was a way not to hit, after all. If she was honest, though, it was also partially because he was a good-looking man who was sweaty and intense and that ticked all kinds of boxes. It wasn't like it was illegal to just look. She objectified Bucky that way too. She was an equal opportunity objectifier.

She didn't let that go on too long, though. It would just be weird if someone else was to walk in and find her staring at her friends backside.

"So, Captain Cutie," she said after clearing her throat. "I don't want to be, like, nosy or anything, but you're beating that bag like it owes you money."

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_onyourleft_
2020-03-08 09:13 am UTC (link)

Steve was aware enough of someone else entering the gym. Necessity had made him good enough at knowing when he wasn't alone, after all. But he didn't pay them, whoever it was, much more attention once he'd decided whoever it was wasn't any sort of threat. Just someone else here to use the space. Hardly a ground breaking notion, given it was a Saturday afternoon.

It wasn't until she'd spoken that he realised it was Darcy, and that she was actually sitting behind him and doing nothing but watching him. Stopping the swinging bag with both hands following his last hit, he turned more fully to face her. He wasn't sure when, but at some point he'd stopped reacting to the names she threw his way. It was just Darcy being Darcy, and he honestly didn't mind it in the slightest.

"Yeah?" He asked, feigning disinterest with the rhetorical question, attention on his knuckles as he began to unwind the tape from his left hand before ploughing ahead with his own question. "Dare I ask what's caught your interest at the gym today?" It didn't seem to be exercise of her own.

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halflistening
2020-03-08 10:12 am UTC (link)

Oooh, a deflection. That was probably as "dishonest" as Steve would ever be. Interesting.

Darcy let it go, though. She wasn't into forcing confidences with people. If he didn't want to talk about it with her, she wasn't going to force him into it. That was a level of emotional terrorism that she was frankly not into.

"Actually, I came down here to do some of that," she said, motioning toward the heavy bag. "But it was a little busy. Plus I can't tape my hands. So I thought I'd just wait." She gave him a crooked little smile. "Plus, like... I was enjoying the show so," she shrugged, "I didn't mind waiting."

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_onyourleft_
2020-03-08 10:19 am UTC (link)

He was more than prepared to grab her need for help as the lifeline it was. Whether or not she'd noticed his less than subtle subject change wasn't something he was going to dwell on.

Tossing the discarded wrappings from his own hands out of the way on his bag he took up more of the tape. He did laugh at her comment about enjoying the show, but without having any idea of what to say without sounding probably more than half way to moronic, he let it go.

"You want a hand?" He had started classes, after all. And May had been by for a couple of one on one lessons already. He didn't much like the idea of anyone going into it without knowing what they were doing and getting hurt, regardless.

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	halflistening 2020-03-08 10:27 am UTC (link)
	"Yes, please," she said with a smile, uncrossing her legs and extending both hands towards him in a silent request to help her up. "Share with me your taping secrets so that one day I might be able to do it myself." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	_onyourleft_ 2020-03-08 10:32 am UTC (link)
	Steve obligingly took hold of both of her hands and pulled her upright. "It's not especially complicated," he observed, releasing one of her hands but shifting his hold of the other to allow him to set the end of the tape against it and begin winding it around her knuckles. "If you don't like how it feels, you can always try gloves." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	halflistening 2020-03-08 10:50 am UTC (link)
	"The big puffy kind?" she asked, watching how he wove the tape around and between her knuckles. "Those seem like an enormous pain in the ass, not gonna lie. The smaller ones are cuter." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

_onyourleft_
2020-03-08 11:00 am UTC (link)

"I can't say I've ever considered either from that perspective," he replied with a small smile, meeting her gaze for a brief moment before taking her other hand and beginning the process a second time.

"Okay." He spoke again when he was done, taking a step back out of her personal space. He glanced up at the old analog on the far wall, noting the time. He still had a while before he needed to get back to the apartment with the promised Thai food. And conversation he was admittedly avoiding right now with full cowardice.

He shook himself out of the thought, turning his attention back to Darcy. "Do you need me to take you through the basics first?" He didn't want to presume she had no idea what she was doing, but then she had asked for his help wrapping her knuckles, so it was a fair bet.

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