#stupid blind umpire

[fazcinatingblog]

god i hate melbourne but i've seen the kick from petracca at the very end and that was a goal

[stephstars08]

If you thought NFL referees are bad MLB umpires are the fucking same. The O’s just had to deal with a so called ump that is fucking blind! Half of the strikeouts the other team had were on balls! And then ninth inning he’s going to throw out one of our players and then our manger because we finally had enough of his shit! YOU ALREADY LOSS THE GAME FOR US YOU STUPID SHIT!

I JUST HAD TO GET THIS OFF MY CHEST BECAUSE MY BIGGEDT PET PEEVE NOT JUST AS A PERSON WHO WATCHES BASEBALL BUT PLAYED SOFTBALL SEEING UMPIRES LIKE THIS PISSES ME OFF!!

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch6: That Makes Two Of Us

Summary: Things heat up between Katie and Steve as their relationship progresses, but when Tony caches them out, he’s on the war path.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Warnings: Bad Language, Smut (dry humping, oral- male receiving) NSFW, 18+. and a VERY angry Big Brother...

A/N: One of my favourite chapters. Thank you to @angrybirdcr​ , its a pleasure to have your edits for the repostings!

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 5

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

End of May 2013

“For the one hundredth time, no, Tony I am NOT coming.” Katie groaned as she pulled up outside Steve’s apartment building “I have work to do.” “But the damned meeting is in DC!” Tony protested “Surely you can manage to spare an hour! You’re part of the board!” “You know full well that’s only to make sure that Starks maintain a controlling stake!”

“So basically what you’re saying is that you don’t care about our business.” Her brother’s voice took on a petulant tone. He could be such a child at times. “Stop being a dick.��� She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose “Look, I’m busy with work, I can’t just drop everything you know just because you-” “Have you got a man on the go?” Tony asked suddenly, cutting her off “Because I’ve not seen you for weeks. Do I need to prep a Shovel Talk?” “Goodbye, Tony.” Katie cancelled the call before she stepped out of the car and headed to the lobby door.

In his apartment Steve was reading a proposal and groaning to himself. They wanted him to record videos to talk to high school kids about puberty, keeping fit, being in detention, not doing drugs…and he had agreed, just to shut them up mainly, but he was already regretting his decision. With a final wrinkle of his nose, he threw down the document he was looking at and was about to make himself a coffee when the buzzer to his apartment went off.

“Hey, Handsome.” Katie’s voice rang over the intercom and he smiled just as he always did when she called him that, a habit she’d slipped easily into over the last three weeks of dating, which had consisted of early morning breakfast meets on their way into work, stolen lunchtimes away from the office where they could hold hands with a slice or a burrito as they walked around the Mal, three more intimate evening meals at quiet restaurants and one trip to the cinema. That had been Steve’s favourite date so far, not just because it had been his first time in a movie theatre since the 40s, but more so that he he’d enjoyed the feel of her as she leaned into him when he’d put his arm round the back of her chair, sharing popcorn, stolen quick kisses on the lips in the dark as they sat on the back row in between their bursts of hysterical laughter at the film. They had gone to see the third and final instalment of the Hangover trilogy, which Katie had been ridiculously excited about. She loved those films and Steve had to admit he agreed they were pretty good, as all three had made him laugh in places until tears rolled down his face. Movie and TV nights in their apartments had also turned into something special too as they snuggled down together, sharing snacks and personal space along with deep kisses that left him wanting a lot more… “Hey Sweetheart, come on up.”

He waited for her by the door and felt his breath catch as she emerged onto the landing from the stairs. She was wearing a blue and white LA Dodgers T-shirt, which was tight and finished just above her hips and clung to her chest flashing a strip of her toned stomach, tight grey jeans which fit snug to her ass and black baseball boots. Steve had seen her in all sorts of clothing items- jeans, tops, dresses…but never like this.

And fuck, she looked hot.

“Hi!” She greeted him with a huge smile and a gentle kiss, standing on her toes to meet his lips, before she stepped into the apartment and headed into the living room. Spotting the file on the coffee table she picked it up.

“What’s this?” She asked, opening it.

“A proposal from Fury. I’m going to be doing some videos, for high school kids..phys-ed classes that kinda thing.” “Videos?” “Yeah, apparently they get Celebrities to do them normally but they thought they’d use me this time.” Steve shrugged. “You’re not some kind of performing monkey they can trot out when they want.” She winkled her nose in distaste as she remembered those awful USO videos as she thumbed through the file. 

Steve smiled at her indignation on his behalf. “It’s only a couple of videos.” he assured her. 

“Hmm.” she dropped the file with disdain onto the table “Anyway, enough about that. You busy?” “When it comes to spending time with you? Never.”

“Oh that was smooth, Captain Badass!” She smirked and he gave her a quick shrug and a smile.

“What you got in mind?”

Grinning like a Cheshire cat she pulled out what looked like two tickets from her back pocket and suddenly it became apparent why she was dressed as she was.

“Are we…no, you’re kidding?” Steve couldn’t help the childish grin which flickered across his face “Baseball?” *****

“Oh what?” Katie cried out, jumping to her feet as the umpire made an atrocious decision for what felt like the 100th time, turning to Steve in disgust. “Is this guy blind or just really fucking dumb?”

Steve let out a snort, leaning back in his seat with his hand gesturing to the field. “Blind, he has to be. No one can be that stupid. I mean he’s been calling bad ones all game.”

Katie angrily dropped to her chair and Steve gestured to the vendor for two more beers. He passed one to Katie who hesitated as she took it.

“I bought the car.” She said, looking at him.

“Sweetheart,” he leaned over, kissing her cheek, “ridiculously fast metabolism, remember? I can’t get drunk. I’ll drive home…”

He handed over his money, waved away the little bit of change he would have received before he turned back to his girl who was pouting at him.

“The last time you drove Rainey you didn’t respect her. You drove her through a fuck tonne of puddles.”

“Doll, it’s a…”

“Er, she.” Katie looked at him. “She is not an it…”

Steve rolled his eyes. She was ridiculously attached to her Range Rover. He had to admit, as far as cars went it was pretty damned nice both to be driven in and to drive. White with black wheels and windows, and every gadget in it known to man. Mind you, he expected nothing else from the Starks.

“Ok, she is a damned four by four…” He raised an eyebrow for her. “They’re supposed to go off roading, so what’s a few puddles?”

“Off roading?” Katie spluttered, her eyes wide. “No! You’re so not driving her ever again.”

“Fine I’ll drink both of these then.” He shrugged, moving to take the beer he’d handed her back, and she moved it out of his reach, glaring at him. The desire to drink and have fun won out over protecting her car from a haphazard Captain who was on the sly a bit of a speed demon and probably never actually completed any kind of driving lesson in his life, let alone a test. She dug into her pocket and handed over her keys.

“One scratch and you’re a dead man.” She narrowed her eyes playfully.

“I’ll take good care of her.” He said solemnly, putting the keys into his pocket.

As the game progressed, despite his protestations that the LA Dodgers just weren’t his team, he found himself rooting for them and he was getting more and more frustrated at the current batters method. The guy was swinging it around with more force than Thor wielded his hammer and it wasn’t working. But just as Steve was about to let out another cry of frustration, the bat suddenly connected with the ball, and it was a good hit. Both Steve and Katie got to their feet shouting for the players to speed up and go for home. When they made it the pair both let out a loud cheer, and Steve hugged Katie, grinning wildly. At that moment, stood there, surrounded by strangers but with the girl who made him feel so grounded, he had never felt so normal since coming out of the ice, and he loved it. 

The rest of the innings passed far too fast, but at the end of the game, the Dodgers won, much to Katie’s delight. They joined the throng of people streaming out of the stadium hand in hand and Steve, still grinning like an idiot felt Katie tug on his hand.

“Shall we head for a drink?” She asked as he looked at her.

He nodded, tilting the peak of her cap back slightly and giving her a quick peck on the lips. “Sounds great.” And it was a great idea. Until they parked up, walked into the sports bar and spotted half of STRIKE in there round a table.

“Turn around.” Katie hissed with a groan and, just as they were about to do so, Rumlow yelled from the bar.

“Hey Cap, Nova…”

“Too late.” Steve muttered as Katie rolled her eyes and turned round.

“Fancy seeing you here!” Rumlow smiled and Katie shrugged.

“Yeah, small world, huh?”

“You want a beer, Cap?” Rumlow gestured to the bar and Steve nodded.

“Sure, thanks.”

“Stark, what do you…woah, what is this shit?” Rumlow pointed at her shirt and it didn’t escape Steve’s notice that the man’s gaze was lingering far too long on her boobs. He took a deep inhale, his fists clenching in his pockets as Katie let out a scoff.  

“This shit just kicked the Nationals asses!” she responded, jabbing Rumlow in his chest.

“Whatever man!” Rumlow shook his head. “Fucking Dodgers…” They didn’t have much option then but to join the rest of the team. Rumlow took the opportunity to eyeball Katie at every given opportunity and it was really starting to piss Steve off. At one time Katie looked up and caught Steve simply glaring at Rumlow, and in an attempt to keep him calm she gently squeezed his knee under the table. Steve was glad when it was his round, giving him an excuse to leave the table, Evans following to give him a hand.

“Enjoy your date?” Thee ginger haired man looked at Steve with a smirk.

“What?” Steve replied, a little too quickly. “I saw you and Stark kissing.” Evans popped a shoulder. “Outside the stadium. Don’t worry, no one else did.” Steve let out a sigh. It wasn’t like they were doing anything wrong, but he knew that Tony didn’t know yet and the pair of them were simply enjoying the early stages of a new relationship on their own before the inevitable tornado of interest hit once they did go public. Glancing at Katie who was talking to Rollins and Rumlow at their table, he turned back to Evans and dropped his voice slightly.

“We’re not deliberately keeping it from everyone, it’s just early days, don’t want everyone sticking their noses in, get what I’m sayin’?” “Secret’s safe with me.” Evans nodded. “Although I suspect it won’t be a secret for much longer if Rumlow keeps eye fucking your girl.”

Steve let out a snort as he took his change from the bar tender. “He’s a pain in the ass.” “Yeah well do me a favour, Cap.” Evans chuckled, picking up three of the glasses “When you do eventually snap and beat on him, make sure I’m there. Been waiting for someone to smack the shit outta him for years.”

****

Later that evening the coffee table at Katie’s apartment sported a number of empty plates, which had previously contained several frozen pizzas, and a good quantity of empty beer bottles. Katie was happily snuggled under Steve’s arm, curled against him and he was enjoying the closeness and comfortable silence that had fallen over them as they watched another ‘Game of Thrones’ episode. Katie had gotten him hooked on the fantasy programme and promised not to watch any of the latest season until he had caught up on the last two. As the episode finished he felt her stir and he didn’t want her to move, thankfully she didn’t too far, simply shifting her head slightly.

“So I never asked if you enjoyed yourself” She asked, looking up at him.

“Doll, it was amazing. Thank you.” “We should go more often” She mused “I haven’t seen a game live in years but I really enjoyed it.”

“You know what I didn’t enjoy?” He looked down at her, the soft light from the lamp illuminating her pretty face, highlighting the freckles spattered across her nose. “Sitting in that bar with Rumlow watching him looking at you.”

“Aww were you jealous?” She teased, sitting up.

“Not at all.” He shook his head, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as he recalled what Evans had said at the bar “Just don’t appreciate him eye fucking my girl.”

She let out a large snort before she looked at him, as her brain registered what he had just said.

“Your girl?” Her tone was teasing but the look in her eyes told him she was anything but, in fact she looked almost nervous. “Is that what I am?”

Steve hesitated, realising that he’d never actually asked her that question before. Was three weeks too soon? He had no idea. To him it wasn’t, he’d been waiting to be able to call her his for months now, but was he outside of modern day dating etiquette?

He looked at her and took a deep breath, before he swallowed and spoke quietly, the nerves making his stomach flip slightly. “Well I’m kinda hoping you wannabe. I mean, if it’s not too soon.”

“It’s not too soon, it’s not too soon at all.” She whispered as she looked back at him, her features soft, eyes alive in the dim light of the lamp. “Stevie, I already am.”

And that was it, his lips crashed onto hers and he was kissing her like he’d been wanting to kiss her all day, his arm curling tighter round her, pulling her close. Katie took the initiative, every inch of her body was on fire for him, and she wrapped her arms round his neck and pulled him down as she fell slowly backwards, sinking into the couch. The movement came as a not-entirely unwelcome surprise to Steve and he didn’t resist. Automatically his hands crept to her hips, settling just under the hem of her top as she placed both hands on his face, the pads of her finger tips cupping his jaw. She broke away this time to breathe, head laying back on the arm of the couch and he dropped his head, pausing his lips inches from her neck.

“Can I kiss you here?” He whispered softly. .

“God, yes.” Katie sighed and he obliged, pressing his mouth to her neck. He gripped her hips again and they gave a little jerk of their own accord, pushing up against him and they she let out a soft moan at the feeling of his crotch bumping against hers. At the noise Steve pulled back to stare at her again, almost as if he was needing her permission to carry on. Katie wordlessly answered by tilting her hips up again, causing him to give a little grunt as she did so, before he took a deep breath and swallowed.

“Doll, I don’t want to rush you or do anything-”

“It’s okay Steve,” Her voice was low and slightly breathy as she looked at him, her eyes, locking onto his. She wanted this, more than she’d wanted anything before. She pushed her head upwards, lips pressing back to his and her hands slid under his t- shirt. His muscles twitched at her touch as the sensation of her gently dragging her nails across his stomach sent a spike of desire, like a red hot poker through his entire body. At that point, something snapped inside him and he let out a growl and Katie paused, hands still on his stomach.

“Did you just growl at me?” Her eyes flashed, dark, a smirk on her face. She was enjoying the effect she had on him, and right now so was he.

“Yeah.” he nodded, simply.

Her smirk grew wider as she grasped the bottom of his T-shirt. He held his arms up so she pull it over his head, and once he was free, he glanced down to see Katie looking at his chest.

She’d never seen him topless before and she was momentarily stunned. She let her hands wander, tracing the lines of the flowing muscles and Steve let out another groan wanting to feel her skin against his. He interrupted her hands exploration by gripping her top and looked back at her, ever questioning. As means of an answer she moved her arms and sat up slightly to allow him to yank it up and off, her hair falling around her shoulders, his lips catching hers as he gently slipped one strap of her bra down at a time placing a soft kiss on each of her shoulders. Her breasts spilled over the tops of the lace lined cups and his groin twitched, the crotch of his jeans now painfully tight.

“You’re beautiful.” He whispered gently, and then he kissed her again. Her fingers gently took his hands and she guided them onto her, sliding them up her rib cage to her chest and he obliged, boy did he oblige. Gently at first, softly squeezing and kneading the soft flesh and white lace, before his hand slid into the cups, teasing her taught nipples with his thumbs, acting completely on instinct, listening and watching her as she groaned gently, arching her back, her reaction telling him he was doing something right as all the time his groin bumped against hers.

Katie could feel the fabric of her underwear sliding in her jeans with every thrust of his hips against hers, that’s how wet she was. Steve was rocking hard against her and she buried her fingers in his hair, pulling sharply, forcing his head back, almost violently. As she tugged he let out another low growl and when she let go he stared down at her to see her smirking as she watched him, his pupils blown so wide there was hardly any blue left.

The rhythm of his hips was growing more frantic and their kisses were growing more desperate. “More,” she moaned into his mouth, and he gave her what she wanted, moving his hips even faster, rubbing against her in ways that had her clutching at his back like her life depended on it. Steve had never felt anything like this in his life. It was so good, so right, in a way nothing had ever felt so right before. This was a first for him, rutting up against someone fully clothed. Making out, Bucky had called it, but none of Steve’s bedroom experiences had ever entailed anything like this, and God, his head was a whirl of lust, desire, and he didn’t give a fuck about anything else at that moment other than her as she lay underneath him.

He started to lose his rhythm and he let out another groan as the tell-tale tightening across his lower stomach warned him he was fast approaching his release. This was too soon, he needed to get her there first. Clenching his teeth he desperately fought back the high as he pushed his hips down hard, making her gasp and claw at his back.

“Sweetheart, I’m close.” He breathed. “You almost there? Tell me your close baby, please?”

He needn’t have worried, at his words it was all she could do to moan brokenly and nod and his mouth fell to that spot on her neck which seemed to drive her wild. She tipped her head back as he gently nipped beneath her ear with his teeth and a few more thrusts of his hips against hers and she was done, fingers wrapped around his hair as the lights exploded in front her eyes and she felt the coil in her stomach unravelling as she came hard underneath him, hips bucking upwards, almost violently. Her voice was broken as she gasped out “Stevie…”and it was the single most beautiful sound he’d ever heard in his life. Her name for him, the name that no-one in this day and age called him other than her, tumbled from her lips and seeing and feeling her fall apart in his arms sent him over the edge right behind her in a pure surge of ecstasy. He fell forward, his arms shaking as he fought to keep his body up, not wanting to crush her under his weight. His head dropped forward, as he lowered himself ever so gently onto his elbows, his face pressing into the crook of her shoulder and she gently ran her fingers through his hair as they both breathed deeply as they waited to regain control of their bodies. Eventually both of them evened out and he raised his head to look at her, to find her smirking a little, her eyes twinkling with what looked like humour.

“What?” He managed to ask, his nose sliding against hers.

“I haven’t dry humped since I was about sixteen.” she said closing her eyes again with a smirk.

“Dry humped?” He snorted. “What-“

She laughed “Dry humping, making out, whatever. It’s been a while, Rogers.”

He felt himself chuckle again and she pressed a soft kiss to his lips, one of her hands running up and down his spine causing the muscles to gently twitch at her touch, neither of them in a hurry to move, but Steve’s arms were starting to hurt.

“You ok?” Katie looked at him, seeing the tension in his muscles and he nodded.

“Yeah, just, my arms.”

“Lay down.” Her hands moved to his biceps, gently trailing shapes on his skin.

“Doll, I don’t wanna hurt you.”

“I’m not made of glass, handsome. I promise you, it’ll be fine.”

Steve licked his lips and with a deep breath he lowered himself down gently, shifting and moving lower, pressing as little of himself to her as he could, despite the fact he could have happily smothered her to feel her body pressed against this. He closed his eyes and lay his head gently on her chest as she carded one hand through his hair, the other softly trailing down his neck and across his shoulders. Her touch was soothing, relaxing, loving even, and h felt himself beginning to doze off.

Katie was also growing sleepy, so she gently kissed his head and whispered a single word to him.

“Stay?”

It was a question to him, an invitation to stay with her that she was desperately hoping he’d take up.

He opened his eyes to blink lazily up at her. “Do you want me to?” he asked, his voice thick.

She nodded, “Let’s go to bed.”

He made to stand before he remembered his trouser predicament having just shot his load into them like a pubescent teenager and stilled, his cheeks flushing even more.

“I uh…I think I need to…”

“There’s some stuff of Tony’s in the spare room.” she said, looking at him cutting him off knowing exactly what the problem was because she was also in need of a clean-up “Should be a pair of sweats in there. Might be a bit short on you but…”

With another soft kiss, he pushed himself up off the couch before offering her his hand. She took it and he pulled her up, a little more forcefully than he had intended and she fell forwards, crashing into his chest.

“Steady on Soldier.” She grinned and he apologised, dropping a kiss to her forehead as his gaze once more dropped to her chest. With a certain glint in her eye she turned around, undid her bra and slipped it off before bending over in front of him, picking up his T-shirt from where she’d tossed it to the floor before heading over to the stairs.

Steve was hard again like it had never left.

After he had cleaned himself up and managed to calm himself down, he thrown on a pair of Tony’s sweatpants retrieved from the spare room and exited the main bathroom, heading to her room. She wasn’t asleep as he found out as he settled down in the bed next to her, and she moved to rest her head on his bare chest tangling her legs into his as his hand stroked her back, gently underneath his T’shirt, light fingers brushing her soft skin.

“This is mine…” He teased with a yawn as he tugged at the bottom of his shirt and she moved laying a soft kiss onto his lips.

“You can have it back tomorrow.” She said, laying her head back down on his chest. As her breathing grew even he felt himself start to drift off too, the warm feeling in his chest made him want to burst with happiness.

*****

When Steve woke the next morning it was peacefully. Katie had shifted positions through the night and now her back was to him pressed as close as she could get, he still had his arms around her, his face buried in her hair. She smelt so familiar and comfortable. As his sleepy brain reminded him of the previous night he smiled and felt a familiar twitch. He was hard, again, which wasn’t uncommon when waking up, but suddenly he felt her stir, and then he realised with horror that she was going to feel him poking her in the back.

It took Katie a few seconds to recall the night before, but when she felt a solid, warm wall of muscle pressed against her, a small hum of contentment rumbled in her throat as she pushed back further into him. They both lay there for a moment, silently, basking in the warmth and softness of each other before Katie turned over and looked up at him. Her face was devoid of any make up, not that she wore a lot anyway, but her freckles were more pronounced, clear skin was bright, cheeks flushed and her hair was tousled in waves around her shoulders. He reached out to tuck a long strand that had fallen over her cheek behind her ears, when she looked up at him, her eyes glinting.

He was about to wish her good morning, but before he could she kissed him, hard and fast, tongue tangling with his. And then she was straddling him, his head against the pillow, as her lips began to trail down his chest. By the time his sleep and lust addled brain had caught up with what was going on, she had reached her destination and had flipped the waist band of the sweats he was wearing down, taking his erection firmly in one hand, making him hiss slightly.

His size had taken Katie slightly by surprise, although she knew with retrospect it shouldn’t have. She looked up and locked eyes with him before she gave him one final smirk and took him in her mouth. Steve panicked for a second, this had never happened to him before, his hands flying to the bed sheets either side of his waist, but it wasn’t for long, as all worry flew out of his mind as she began to work him.

From the noises he was making Katie knew he was enjoying himself. Which was her aim. After a short while, she pulled off of him to suck at the tip and worked her hands over the rest of his length. When she glanced up at him, he had his head thrown back against the pillow, face contorted in utter pleasure. She continued to lick, suck, and when she pulled away slightly to suck at the sensitive tip, working the rest of his length with her hands he let out a loud groan and he looked at her. Her eyes locked onto his and he felt that tell-tale warmth rising in his groin and stomach.

“Katie, sweetheart, shit.” His voice was raspy from desire and the fact it was morning and Katie was beyond aroused at the sound as he babbled the first words either of them had spoken since waking. “I’m gonna-” his words caught in his mouth as she took him in hers again, this time all the way to the back of her throat. At that, he was gone, his fingers gripped her hair tight the other clutched at the bedsheets, noises escaping him that he’d never heard before as he spilled himself down her throat and slumped back completely blissed out.

Katie rolled onto her side watching, as he finally opened his eyes and looked down at her.

“Morning, Handsome.”  She grinned and he felt himself chuckle.

“Morning, Gorgeous.” he said, still fighting to control his breathing.

“You want breakfast?” She asked, leaning over to peck him on the lips. He hummed a response and she smiled once more before climbing out of bed. Steve watched her head into the bathroom and found himself thinking that as far as mornings went, he’d had worse.

She emerged a few moments later, her hair slightly less wild, and she was still in his T-shirt, which fell to midway down her toned thighs, giving him a better look at that intriguing tattoo that adorned her right which he still hadn’t seen in full properly. She flashed him a smile, fully aware he was looking her up and down, and then she left without a word, clearly with no intentions of getting dressed fully yet. Which was fine by him.

Katie turned the radio on and set about making coffee, singing softly to herself as she replaced the filter paper. She tossed in a liberal amount of Columbian Roast and was just pouring two mugs when Steve, who was now out of bed, appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. She smiled at him and slid a mug of the coffee over the island where the creamer and sugar already lay waiting and he took it with a thanks.

“How hungry are you?” she asked and he arched an eyebrow over the top of the mug and she gave a laugh. “Sorry, dumbass question. Fancy pancakes and fruit?”

“Don’t got to any trouble, Doll.” He began to protest but she shook her head.

“It’s no bother, I can whip up a batter in five minutes.”

Turning away from him, she reached up into the cupboard for the flour and the T-shirt she was wearing rode up slightly giving Steve a perfect view of her ass which was clad in black lace panties. The fraying tendrils of self-control he had been holding onto snapped completely and stood up from the stool he’d been perched on, right hand still clutching his coffee. He rounded the island in three long strides and placed the mug down on the counter beside her, his hands falling to her hips and he gently spun her to face him. She giggled slightly before his lips met hers and he reached down and cupped her ass in both hands picking her up easily and setting her down on the counter.

“Something got you worked up Captain?” She teased, looking up at him. Last night had clearly unlocked something in the Soldier, and she was liking what she was seeing, and feeling.  

“Yeah, the sight of you wearing nothing but a pair of panties and my t-shirt…” He said raising an eyebrow as he reached for his mug again, taking another drink, trying to play it cool. But it wasn’t working clearly, as she simply laughed and slid both arms around his neck as she leaned in to kiss him again. His free hand slid to her thigh, tracing a path up until, just as he had reached the bottom of her panties, they were interrupted by the sound of the lift doors opening.

“Hey Kiddo, you in?” Steve and Katie exchanged a look, utter horror spreading from Steve’s head to his toes as Tony’s voice hit his ears.

“Kiddo?” he shouted again. “I can smell coffee, you in the kitchen?”

“Shit…” Katie said as she gently pushed Steve backwards, jumping down from the counter, adjusting the T-shirt. Steve was now a shade of crimson pretty much from his neck upwards as he desperately tried to rearrange his pants to hide his once more ebbing arousal. She debated telling Steve to hide in the bedroom but there was no way he’d get across the open plan living space to the stairs without Tony seeing him.

They were well and truly caught.

As she clocked the utter horror on Steve’s face she was suddenly overcome with giggles at how ridiculous the entire situation was. A super soldier and a SHIELD agent, both of them having faught aliens, deadly terrorists and weapons traders, were stood in her kitchen panicking about being busted fooling around by her brother.

“So, the damned board meeting was cancelled which would have been fine had I not already been on the jet over, so I thought seeing as I now in town with nothing to do we could hang for the day or if you’re too busy at least have breakfast…” Tony’s voice was getting louder as he walked through the apartment.

Steve looked at her in utter astonishment as she began to laugh now because frankly he couldn’t think of a single thing that was funny about this situation if he tried. Her laughter didn’t stop even as her brother walked into the kitchen, his brown eyes flashing from his sister to Steve and their various state of undress, a look of utter horror on his face as he processed the implications.

“Oh you have gottta be fucking kidding me…” Tony muttered, dropping the box he was carrying onto the kitchen counter. “Please tell me there’s a perfectly innocent explanation for this…” “Explanation yes, innocent…not so much.” Katie said through her laughter and Steve let out a groan. This was not how he wanted Tony to find out.  “Don’t you know how to buzz Dickwad, before just walking into my apartment?”

“I have a key…” “For emergencies…” she shot back. “Stop changing the subject.” Tony demanded his eyes flashing dangerously and Katie folded her arms and tilted her chin up defiantly.

“Look, this isn’t a big deal, Tony…”

“No, this…this is a very big deal…” he snapped back as he looked from her to Steve, every line on his face was contorted with anger and shock.

Steve took a deep breath and placed his mug down on the side. “Tony…” he began trying to placate the billionaire but he was cut off.

“What, you gonna tell me this aint what it looks like?” he shook his head. “That Captain America isn’t banging my little sister? I might be like nearly 60 years younger than you old man but I wasn’t born yesterday.”

Steve took a breath, his nostrils flaring at Tony’s snipe.

“Tony, I’m 29 next week, I can do what or who I like” Katie snapped at him “And besides you’ve no room to talk, the amount of times I’ve walked in on you and whichever bimbo you decided to bring home that night…”

“That is completely different!” Tony spluttered.

“No it isn’t” she shot back, hands going to her hips.

Tony’s eyes locked onto hers, before he looked back at Steve who held his gaze evenly, before the dark haired man shook his head and looked at the super soldier.

“Can you go and put some clothes on please, frankly the amount of flesh on show is disturbing me.” “Well I would but your sister is still wearing my shirt.” Steve shot back, his temper rising. Tony gave another growl and then he stopped, open mouthed.

“Are those my sweats?” He spluttered, his voice practically a squeak.

“Yes.” Katie replied simply, and at that point she grabbed Steve’s hand and pulled him out of the room and up the stairs. The initial humour she had found in the situation had ebbed away and now she was livid at her brother.

“He is…” she started, opening the various drawers to pull out a hooded top. Taking Steve’s T-shirt off, as she threw it over the bed to him. “The biggest hypocrite going…”

“To be fair I can kinda see it from his point of view…” Steve said shrugging on his T-shirt and making a point of averting his eyes as she strode over to her dresser, naked bar her panties.

She pulled on a hoody and narrowed her eyes at Steve. “Don’t defend him…”

He chuckled and crossed the room, walking round the bed. “I’m not.” he placed a peck on her lips “But I do think that I should go, let you talk to him alone…”

“Yeah, probably for the best…” she breathed out a sigh and followed him down the stairs where he retrieved his sneakers.

“Wait, do you wanna take my car or…” He gestured up and down his body, and she took in his trainers, slightly too short joggers and a T-shirt “Nah, Baby Girl, I’ll run.” She smiled at the term of endearment that he hadn’t used before then, as he dropped a kiss to her cheek.

“I’ll call you later.” He promised, before disappearing in the elevator.

Katie took a deep breath and walked back into the kitchen. Tony eyed her from where he was leaning against the counter, mug of coffee in his hand.

“Don’t start.” Katie warned him, to no avail

“Oh I’m gonna!” Tony spat, before he paused and looked around “Where is the Star Spangled Ass-hole?”

“Gone home.” Katie folded her arms.

Tony snorted “I bet he has…” “You know I don’t remember me reacting like this every time you brought a girl home, which from my recollection happened quite a lot.” Katie sniped back, as she walked to where he was stood by the coffee pot and reached round him to pour herself a fresh mug.

“That..that was different…” Tony stammered at her back as she walked to the counter for the creamer.

“How so?”

“Because, well, it’s him…” he whined “I mean, seriously? Of all the men in the world…”

“Yeah because the last one worked out so great…” Katie said sarcastically, replacing the carton down with a slightly harsh action, causing some to spill over the top.

The room fell silent bar the chink of the spoon on the edge of her pink unicorn mug as she stirred in sugar and milk. She took a sip of her drink and turned to face her brother who was hunched over the counter slightly, eyes on his mug. Eventually he straightened up and met his sister’s eyes before he spoke again, this time his voice was softer.

“How long?” he asked,

“Three weeks, give or take.”

“Three weeks, and I’m only just finding out?” “Yes, Tony.” she groaned, with the air of someone talking to a small child “And your reaction is exactly why I didn’t want to tell you.”

To be fair, Steve was right. It wasn’t an ideal way for him to find out, but she knew the reaction from Tony wasn’t about her being caught, it was about her being caught with Steve. The two men got on okay, which hadn’t always been the case, but after the battle of New York Steve had spent a lot of time with them both at the tower. Tony was still a little reserved with Steve, more so due to the fact that Captain America was someone their dad had idolised but, whilst the two men were immensely different, there was a mutual respect between them and Katie was hoping now that that was going to be enough for Tony to be reasonable about the situation.

“Please don’t kick off about this. I care about him, a lot.” She said gently, looking at her brother, appealing to his better nature and the fact that she knew he would want her to be happy.

And sure enough, that was exactly what Tony asked as he looked at her.

“Does he make you happy?”

“More than anything.” she replied honestly. “I really like him Tony, I want this to work.”

Tony studied her face for a moment before he let out a deep sigh, looking away. “Damned it.” He groaned “I can’t believe I’m going to have to have the Shovel Conversation with Captain America.”

In the silence that followed Katie debated pointing out that Steve wouldn’t be frightened in the slightest of Tony’s various threats anyway, but who was she to rob her brother of his opportunity to try and protect her?  Instead she placed her mug on the counter and leaned forward, wrapping her arms around Tony who sighed again and reciprocated the gesture.

“Suppose he is an improvement on Agent Shitweasel” he said, resting his chin on her head.

“That’s not exactly a glowing endorsement.” she snorted.

*****

Steve was reading a book in his lounge when Katie messaged him later that afternoon. Apparently Tony had calmed down enough to take her for lunch at some Italian place in the Business District following which they’d had a walk round the city together before Tony had left to go back to New York. Steve was pleased, he knew that despite the fact that he drove her insane at times, she loved the bones of her brother which was why his reaction before had pissed her off. He messaged back, telling her he was glad she’d had a good time and that he would call her later before he picked his book back up, but he’d only managed another chapter or so before there was a buzz on his intercom.

“Rogers, it’s me.”

Steve sighed “Come on up.”

He wasn’t surprised Tony was on his doorstep, he’d been half expecting it. And, judging from the lack of stupid nickname, no Spangles, no Capsicle, no Old Man, he wasn’t here to exchange pleasantries. A fact that was confirmed when Stark didn’t wait for Steve to invite him in, he simply pushed past the door into his flat and stalked inside, glancing around.

“You can tell Kiddo helped you decorate and furnish this gaff, far too modern to be your doing. There’s no Dig for Victory posters or wind up radios…” Tony said, causing Steve to roll his eyes “Holy shit, is that an original Dekka?”

“Katie said you’d like that” Steve watched the inventor cross the room and run his hands across the sleekness of the record player’s casing. “But I have a feeling you didn’t come here to admire my music equipment.”

“Perceptive” Tony turned to face him, his eyes flashing. Steve took a deep breath.

“Tony, I…” “No, you don’t get to talk, you get to listen. And you better listen good.” the billionaire cut him off “Katie was heartbroken when Agent Shitweasel did the dirty on her. She came home and I held her as she cried herself to sleep for 2 goddamned weeks before she shipped out to New Mexico… ”

“Tony…”Steve began, knowing already where this conversation was going. He wanted to assure Tony that he would never do what Ward had done, ever. But Tony ignored him.

“I hated him.” Tony said “he was an absolute dickhead with her at times and she changed because of it.  And then, after New York she seemed to go back to being her old self. She was laughing, socialising…and that was down to you” Tony looked at the Super Soldier, who cocked his head slightly to the right as he listened, a small smile tugging at his lips “ She had a friend, something she hasn’t had much time for since my little sioree in an Afghan cave, my bad, and for the first time in ages I can see she’s over it, you know…” he took a deep breath and Steve waited for him to finish “But Katie puts her heart into everything, and I gotta ask Cap, is this serious for you or you just after getting your dick wet?”

“What? No, of course it’s serious for me Tony…” Steve said, his temper flaring slightly at his crass tone. “I can’t believe you think that little of me that you had to even ask me that!”

“Oh get off your high horse, Rogers!” Tony shook his head, and Steve raised his eyebrows “This has nothing to do with what I think of you, this is about my sister…you know the girl I brought up from the age of 7.  The girl I couldn’t love any more if she was my own. I’d die for her you got that? Die for her!”

“Well that makes 2 of us!” Steve said loudly, silencing the other man. There was a moment where no sound was heard in the apartment bar the ticking of the clock on the wall and Tony raised his eyebrows slightly as Steve looked down at the floor taking a deep breath.

“Look, I know you’re not happy about this…” Steve sighed, looking at Tony again “But do I care about her Tony, more than you know, and nothing you do or say to me is gonna change that.”

Tony’s eyes softened, but his jaw remained set. Steve took a deep breath and wet his lips before he continued.  “And, for what it’s worth, I think you did a damned good job of raising her. She’s an incredible woman.”

“She’s a pain in the ass…” Tony sniffed, Steve was glad to hear his tone was less confrontational “And she’s stubborn, always thinks she knows best…”

“Wonder where she gets that from?” Steve said cheekily

“Absolutely no idea” Tony deadpanned back.

Steve’s face cracked into a smile as did Tony’s.

“Look.” Tony sighed, “I just want her to be happy and with someone that treats her right…”

“I don’t ever want to hurt her, Tony. You have my word…” Steve said, honestly.

“Good, because if you do, make no mistake I will fucking kill you, slowly and painfully and there will be no defrosting 70 years down the line.” Tony’s brown eyes flashed slightly as he stared at Steve, And Steve knew, absolutely 100% that he meant it. He was surprised to find himself slightly unnerved by the threat. Hoping that his face didn’t give him away her merely nodded and then Tony’s demeanour changed completely and he turned back into the Tony Stark that Steve knew, and had to admit quite liked after all.

“Good, this was a good talk…” Tony said, clapping Steve on the shoulder.

Steve smiled as the weight he hadn’t even realised he’d been carrying was lifted off his shoulder. Having Tony’s, albeit grudging, approval would mean the world to Katie, and if he was honest, it meant a lot to him as well. Not only was Tony his friend also, but he was the closest thing Katie had to a father, and he wanted him to be alright with the fact the two of them were together.

He offered the man a coffee which he politely declined, stating he needed to get back to New York. The two shook hands on the threshold of Steve’s door before Tony gave him one last look, raising his index finger and middle finger of his right hand to his eyes, before turning them to point at Steve in an “I’m watching you” gesture. Steve raised his eyebrows in understanding and felt his mouth tug upwards at the side as Tony turned on his heels and left.

He retreated back to his living room and pulled out his phone.

“Hey Badass” Katie greeted and Steve chuckled.

“I’ve just had a visitor.” Katie groaned into the phone as he sat back on his couch

“Let me guess… my darling brother turned up to give you the shovel talk?” her tone was exasperated. “No mention of a shovel, just threatened to kill me slowly and painfully if I hurt you, and you know what? I have absolutely no qualms about the fact he would.” Steve grinned as he spoke.

“Don’t tell me Captain America is scared of Iron Man?” she questioned playfully. “No, Steve Rogers is slightly disconcerted by Tony Stark.” He corrected as she let out a chuckle.

“Best make sure you don’t hurt me then aint ya?” “I’ve no intentions of doing doll.” He said, honestly before he let out a breath, smiling “I really enjoyed last night.”

“And this morning?”

“Yeah, another first.” He said, unable to stop the smirk on his face spreading into his voice “I’ve never, errr, had a woman use her mouth on me before…or vice versa for that matter.”

“I like being your first.” she said softly and his chest warmed at her words.

“You know what else was a first? Waking up next to my girl.”

There was a pause before she replied, and he could hear the smile in her voice.

“And you know what else I like? You calling me your girl.”

A shit eating grin crept back across the Captains face. “Well, you better get used to it, Doll.”

**** Chapter 7

**Original Posting**

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Stark Spangled Banner Ch 6: That Makes 2 Of Us

Summary: Things are heating up between Steve and Katie as their relationship progresses, but when Tony catches them out, he’s on the war path.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x O/C Katie Stark

Warnings: Bad language,  Smut (dry humping, Oral sex) NSFW, No under 18! Plenty of fluff and a VERY angry Big Brother!

End of May 2013

“For the one hundredth time, no Tony I am NOT coming.” Katie groaned as she pulled up outside Steve’s apartment building “I have work to do.” “But the damned meeting is in DC!” Tony protested “Surely you can manage to spare an hour! You’re part of the board!” “You know full well that’s only to make sure that Starks maintain a controlling stake…”

“So basically what you’re saying is that you don’t care about our business…” her brother’s voice took on a petulant tone. He could be such a child at times. “Stop being a dick.” she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose “Look, I’m busy with work, I can’t just….” “Have you got a man on the go?” he asked suddenly, cutting her off “Because I’ve not seen you for weeks. Do I need to prep a Shovel Talk?” “Goodbye Tony…” Katie sighed, cancelling the call before she stepped out of the car and headed to the lobby door.

In his apartment Steve was reading a proposal and groaning to himself. They wanted him to record videos to talk to high school kids about puberty, keeping fit, being in detention, not doing drugs…and he had agreed, just to shut them up mainly, but he was already regretting his decision. With a final wrinkle of his nose, he threw down the document he was looking at and was about to make himself a coffee when the buzzer to his apartment went off.

“Hey handsome.” Katie’s voice rang over the intercom and he smiled just as he always did when she called him that, a habit she’d slipped easily into over the last 3 weeks of dating, which had consisted of early morning breakfast meets on their way into work, stolen lunchtimes away from the office where they could hold hands with a slice or a burrito as they walked around the Mal, 3 more intimate evening meals at quiet restaurants and one trip to the cinema. That had been Steve’s favourite date so far, not just because it had been his first time in a movie theatre since the 40s, but more so that he he’d enjoyed the feel of her as she leaned into him when he’d put his arm round the back of her chair, sharing popcorn, stolen quick kisses on the lips in the dark as they sat on the back row in between their bursts of hysterical laughter at the film. They had gone to see the third and final instalment of the Hangover trilogy, which Katie had been ridiculously excited about. She loved those films and Steve had to admit he agreed they were pretty good, as all 3 had made him laugh in places until tears rolled down his face. Movie and TV nights in their apartments had also turned into something special too as they snuggled down together, sharing snacks and personal space along with deep kisses that left him wanting a lot more… “Hey sweetheart, come on up.”

He waited for her by the door and felt his breath catch as she emerged onto the landing from the stairs. She was wearing a blue and white LA Dodgers T-shirt, which was tight and finished just above her hips and clung to her chest flashing a strip of her toned stomach, tight grey jeans which fit snug to her ass and black baseball boots. Steve had seen her in jeans, tops, dresses…but never like this. And fuck, she looked hot.

“Hi…” She greeted him with a soft kiss, standing on her toes to meet his lips before she stepped into the apartment and headed into the living room. Spotting the file on the coffee table she picked it up.

“What’s this?” She asked, opening it.

“A proposal from Fury. I’m going to be doing some videos, for high school kids..phys ed classes that kinda thing.” “Videos?” she wrinkled her nose “Yeah, apparently they get Celebrities to do them normally but they thought they’d use me this time.” “You’re not some kind of performing monkey they can trot out when they want.” she scoffed, remembering those awful USO videos as she thumbed through the file. 

Steve smiled at her indignation on his behalf. “It’s only a couple of videos.” he assured her. 

“Hmm.” she said, dropping the file with disdain onto the table “Anyway, enough about that. You busy?” “When it comes to spending time with you? Never.”

“Oh that was smooth, Captain Badass!” she smirked and he gave her a quick shrug and a smile.

“What you got in mind?” he asked.

Grinning like a Cheshire cat she pulled out what looked like 2 tickets from her back pocket and the penny finally dropped. Her outfit, tickets…

“Are we…no, you’re kidding?” and he couldn’t help the childish grin which flickered across his face “Baseball?” *****

“Oh what?” Katie cried out, jumping to her feet as the umpire made an atrocious decision for what felt like the 100th time, turning to Steve in disgust. “Is this guy blind or just really fucking dumb?”

Steve let out a snort, leaning back in his seat with his hand gesturing to the field. “Blind, he has to be. No one can be that stupid. I mean he’s been calling bad ones all game.”

Katie angrily dropped to her chair and Steve gestured to the vendor for 2 more beers. He passed one to Katie who hesitated.

“I bought the car.” she said, looking at him.

“Sweetheart…”   he leaned over, kissing her cheek. “Ridiculously fast metabolism, remember? I’ll drive home…”

“The last time you drove Rainey you didn’t respect her.” she pouted. “You drove her through a fuck tonne of puddles.”

“Doll, it’s a…”

“Er, she.” Katie looked at him. “She is not an it…”

Steve rolled his eyes. She was ridiculously attached to her Range Rover. He had to admit, as far as cars went it was pretty damned nice both to be driven in and to drive. White with black wheels and windows, and every gadget in it known to man. Mind you, he expected nothing else from the Starks.

“Ok, she is a damned four by four…” he raised an eyebrow for her. “They’re supposed to go off roading so what’s a few puddles?”

“Off roading?” Katie spluttered, her eyes wide “oh no, you’re so not driving her ever again…”

“Fine I’ll drink both of these then.” he shrugged, holding both beers up before she glared at him. The desire to drink and have fun won out over protecting her car from a haphazard Captain who was on the sly a bit of a speed demon and probably never actually completed any kind of driving lesson in his life, let alone a test. She dug into her pocket and swiped a beer from his hand, exchanging it for her keys.

“One scratch and you’re a dead man.” she narrowed her eyes playfully.

“I’ll take good care of her.” he said solemnly, putting the keys into his pocket.

As the game progressed, despite his protestations that the LA Dodgers just weren’t his team, he found himself rooting for them and he was getting more and more frustrated at the current batters method. The guy was swinging it around with more force than Thor wielded his hammer and it wasn’t working. But just as Steve was about to let out another cry of frustration, the bat suddenly connected with the ball, and it was a good hit. Both Steve and Katie got to their feet shouting for the players to speed up and go for home. When they made it the pair both let out a loud cheer, and Steve hugged Katie, grinning wildly. At that moment, stood there, surrounded by strangers but with the girl who made him feel so grounded, he had never felt so normal since coming out of the ice, and he loved it. 

The rest of the innings passed far too fast, but at the end of the game, the Dodgers won 8-6, much to Katie’s delight. They joined the throng of people streaming out of the stadium hand in hand and Steve, still grinning like an idiot felt Katie tug on his hand.

“Beer?” she asked as he looked at her.

He nodded, tilting the peak of her cap back slightly and giving her a quick peck on the lips “Sounds great.” And it was a great idea. Until they parked up, walked into the sports bar and spotted half of STRIKE in there round a table.

“Turn around…” Katie hissed with a groan and just as they were about to do so Rumlow yelled from the bar.

“Hey Cap, Nova…”

“Too late…” Steve muttered as Katie rolled her eyes and turned round.

“Beer?” Rumlow asked as they walked towards him.

Steve nodded. “Thanks” “Stark, what do you want to…woah, what is this shit?” Rumlow swerved, pointing at Katie’s shirt. Katie felt a flash of annoyance at the insult to her team.

“This shit just kicked the Nationals asses!” she responded, gesturing to her top.

“Whatever man!” Rumlow shook his head “Fucking Dodgers…” They didn’t have much option then but to join the team. Rumlow took the opportunity to eyeball Katie at every given opportunity and it was really starting to piss Steve off. A few times Katie looked up and caught Steve looking at her, and she would flash him a small but knowing smile. He was glad when it was his round, giving him an excuse to leave the table, Evans following to give him a hand.

“Enjoy your date?” the ginger haired man looked at him.

“What?” Steve said, a little too quickly. “I saw you and Stark kissing.” Evans said, cutting him off. “Outside the stadium. Don’t worry, no one else did.” Steve let out a sigh. It wasn’t like they were doing anything wrong, but he knew that Tony didn’t know yet and the pair of them were simply enjoying the early stages of a new relationship on their own before the inevitable tornado of interest hit once they did go public. Glancing at Katie who was talking to Rollins and Rumlow at their table, he turned back to Evans and dropped his voice slightly.

“We’re not deliberately keeping it from everyone, it’s just early days, don’t want everyone sticking their noses in, get what I’m sayin’?” “Secret’s safe with me.” Evans nodded. “Although I suspect it won’t be a secret for much longer if Rumlow keeps eye fucking your girl.”

Steve let out a snort as he took his change from the bar tender. “He’s a pain in the ass.” “Yeah well do me a favour.” Evans said, picking up 3 of the glasses “When you do eventually snap and beat on him, make sure I’m there.”

****

Later that evening the coffee table at Katie’s apartment sported a number of empty plates which had contained several frozen pizzas, and a quantity of empty beer bottles. Katie was happily snuggled under Steve’s arm, curled against him and he was enjoying the closeness and comfortable silence that had fallen over them as they watched another Game of Thrones episode. Katie had gotten him hooked on the fantasy programme and promised not to watch any of the latest season until he had caught up on the last two. As the episode finished he felt her stir and he didn’t want her to move, thankfully she didn’t too far, simply shifting her head slightly.

“So I never asked if you enjoyed yourself” she said, looking up at him.

“Doll, it was amazing… thank you.” He grinned. “We should go more often” she mused “I haven’t seen a game live in years but I really enjoyed it.”

“You know what I didn’t enjoy?” he looked down at her, the soft light from the lamp illuminating her pretty face, highlighting the freckles spattered across her nose “Sitting in that bar with Rumlow watching him looking at you…”

“Aww were you jealous?” she teased, sitting up.

“Not at all.” He shook his head, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as he recalled what Evans had said a the bar “Just don’t appreciate him eye fucking my girl.”

She let out a large snort before she looked at him, but then what she registered what he had said she looked at him, her face curious.

“Your girl?” her tone was teasing but the look in her eyes told him she was anything but, in fact she looked almost nervous. “Is that what I am?”

Steve hesitated, realising that he’d never actually asked her that question before. Was 3 weeks too soon? He had no idea but to him it wasn’t, he’d been waiting to be able to call her his for months now.

He looked at her and took a deep breath, before he swallowed and spoke quietly, the nerves making his stomach flip slightly. “Well I’m kinda hoping you wannabe”

She bit her bottom lip and looked down at her hands for a moment before she looked back at him, her features soft, her eyes alive in the dim light of the lamp. And then she went and said 3 words that sent a tingle up and down his spine.

“I already am.” she whispered,

And that was it, his lips crashed onto hers and he was kissing her like he’d been wanting to kiss her all day, arm curling tighter round her, pulling her close. Katie took the initiative, every inch of her body was on fire for him, and she wrapped her arms round his neck and pulled him down as she fell slowly backwards, sinking into the couch. The movement came as a not-entirely unwelcome surprise to Steve and he didn’t resist. Automatically his hands crept to her hips, settling just under the hem of her top as she placed both hands on his face, the pads of her finger tips cupping his jaw. She broke away this time to breathe, head resting on the arm of the couch and he dropped his head, pausing his lips inches from her neck.

“Can I kiss you here?” he whispered softly. .

“God, yes…” Katie sighed and he obliged, pressing his mouth to her neck. He gripped her hips again and they gave a little jerk of their own accord, pushing up against him and they both groaned slightly at the contact. At the noise Steve pulled back to stare at her again, almost as if he was needing her permission to carry on. Katie wordlessly answered by tilting her hips up again, causing him to moan once more.

“Doll, I don’t want to rush you or do anything-”

“It’s okay Steve,” she said, her voice low and slightly breathy as she looked at him, her eyes, locking onto his. She wanted this, more than she’d wanted anything before. She pushed her head upwards, lips crashing onto his and her hands slid under his t- shirt. His muscles twitched under her touch as the sensation of her gently dragging her nails across his stomach sent a spike of desire, like a red hot poker through his entire body. At that point, something snapped inside him and he let out a growl and Katie paused, hands still on his stomach.

“Did you just growl at me?” her eyes flashed, dark, a smirk on her face. She was enjoying the effect she had on him, and right now so was he.

“Yeah.” he nodded, simply. Her smirk grew wider.

“Do it again.” she said, her voice sultry, laced with desire and this time it was his turn to smirk.

“Make me.” he said, using the 2 words she often uttered to him at the height of one of her stubborn outbursts.

“Challenge accepted…” she muttered as she grasped the bottom of his T-shirt. He held his arms up so she could remove it, and she pulled it over his head and once he was free he glanced down to see Katie looking at his chest. She swallowed, she’d never seen him topless before and she was momentarily stunned. She let her hands wander, tracing the lines of the flowing muscles and he let out another groan wanting to feel her skin against his. He interrupted her hands exploration by gripping her top looked back at her, ever questioning. As means of an answer she moved her arms and sat up slightly to allow him to pull it up over her head, her hair falling around her shoulders, his lips catching hers as he gently slipped one strap of her bra down at a time placing a soft kiss on each of her shoulders. Her breasts spilled over the tops of the lace lined cups and his groin twitched, the crotch of his jeans now painfully tight.

“You’re beautiful…” he whispered gently, and then he kissed her again. Her fingers gently took his hands and she guided them onto her, sliding them up her rib cage to her chest and he obliged, boy did he oblige. Gently at first, softly squeezing and kneading the soft flesh and white lace, before his hand slid into the cups, teasing her taught nipples with his thumbs, acting completely on instinct, listening and watching her as she groaned gently, arching her back, her reaction telling him he was doing something right as all the time his groin bumped against hers.

Katie could feel the fabric of her underwear sliding in her jeans with every thrust of his hips against hers, that’s how wet she was. Steve was rocking hard against her and she buried her fingers in his hair, pulling, hard, forcing his head back sharply. As she tugged he let out another low growl and when she let go he stared down at her to see her smirking as she watched him, his pupils blown so wide there was hardly any blue left.

The rhythm of his hips was growing more frantic and their kisses were growing more desperate. “More,” she moaned into his mouth, and he gave her what she wanted, moving his hips even faster, rubbing against her in ways that had her clutching at his back like her life depended on it. Steve had never felt anything like this in his life. It was so good, so right, in a way nothing had ever felt so right before. This was a first for him, rutting up against someone fully clothed. Making out, Bucky had called it, but none of Steve’s bedroom experiences had ever entailed anything like this, and God, his head was a whirl of lust, desire, and he didn’t give a fuck about anything else at that moment other than her as she lay underneath him.

He started to lose his rhythm and he let out another groan. “Sweetheart, I’m close.” He breathed, the tell-tale tightening across his lower stomach warned him he was fast approaching his release “You almost there? Tell me your close baby, please?” He wanted to get her there first. Again, he’d never really given a shit about that before but he wanted her to feel good like she made him feel.

He needn’t have worried, at his words it was all she could do to moan brokenly and nod and his mouth fell to that spot on her neck which seemed to drive her wild. She tipped her head back as he gently nipped beneath her ear with his teeth and a few more thrusts of his hips against hers and she was done, fingers wrapped around his hair as the lights exploded in front her eyes and she felt the coil in her stomach unravelling as she came hard underneath him, hips bucking upwards, almost violently. Her voice was broken as she gasped out “Stevie…”and it was the single most beautiful sound he’d ever heard in his life. Her name for him, the name that no-one in this day and age called him other than her, tumbled from her lips and seeing and feeling her fall apart in his arms sent him over the edge right behind her in a pure surge of ecstasy. His head dropped to the crook of her shoulder and she gently ran her fingers through his hair as they both breathed deeply as they waited to regain control of their bodies. Eventually both of them evened out and he raised his head to look at her, to find her smirking a little, her eyes twinkling with what looked like humour.

“What?” he managed to ask, his nose sliding against hers.

“I haven’t dry humped since I was about 16.” she said closing her eyes again with a smirk.

He felt himself chuckle and she pressed a soft kiss to his lips, one of her hands running up and down his spine causing the muscles to gently twitch at her touch, neither of them in a hurry to move. Steve closed his eyes and lay his head gently on her chest as she continued to card her other hand through his hair. He felt himself beginning to doze off, and Katie was also growing sleepy so she gently kissed his head and whispered a single word to him.

“Stay?”

It was a question to him, an invitation to stay with her that she was desperately hoping he’d take up.

He opened his eyes to blink lazily up at her. “Do you want me to?” he said, his voice thick.

She nodded, “Let’s go to bed.”

He made to stand before he remembered his trouser predicament having just shot his load into them like a pubescent teenager and stilled, his cheeks flushing even more.

“I uh…I think I need to…”

“There’s some stuff of Tony’s in the spare room.” she said, looking at him cutting him off knowing exactly what the problem was because she was also in need of a clean-up “Should be a pair of sweats in there. Might be a bit short on you but…”

With another soft kiss, he pushed himself up off the couch before offering her his hand. She took it and he pulled her up, a little more forcefully than he had intended and she fell forwards, crashing into his chest.

“Steady on Soldier.” she grinned and he apologised, dropping a kiss to her forehead as his gaze once more dropped to her chest. With a certain glint in her eye she turned around, undid her bra and slipped it off before bending over in front of him, picking up his T-shirt from where she’d tossed it to the floor before heading over to the stairs.

Steve was hard again like it had never left.

After he had cleaned himself and thrown on a pair of Tony’s sweatpants he retrieved from the spare room he exited the main bathroom and headed into her. She wasn’t asleep as he found out as he settled down in the bed next to her, and she rest her head on his bare chest tangling her legs into his as his hand stroked her back, gently underneath his T’shirt, light fingers brushing her soft skin. He loved touching her, in any way he could.

“This is mine…” he teased with a yawn as he tugged at the bottom of his shirt and she moved laying a soft kiss onto his lips.

“You can have it back tomorrow.” she said, laying her head back down on his chest. As her breathing grew even he felt himself start to drift off too, the warm feeling in his chest made him want to burst with happiness.

*****

When Steve woke the next morning it was peacefully. Katie had shifted positions through the night and now her back was to him pressed as close as she could get, he still had his arms around her, his face buried in her hair. She smelt so familiar and comfortable. As his sleepy brain reminded him of the previous night he smiled and felt a familiar twitch. He was hard, again, which wasn’t uncommon when waking up, but suddenly he felt her stir, and then he realised with horror that she was going to feel him poking her in the back.

It took Katie a few seconds to recall the night before, but when she felt a solid, warm wall of muscle pressed against her, a small hum of contentment rumbled in her throat as she pushed back further into him. They both lay there for a moment, silently, basking in the warmth and softness of each other before Katie turned over and looked up at him. Her face was devoid of any make up, not that she wore a lot anyway, but her freckles were more pronounced, clear skin was bright, cheeks flushed and her hair was tousled in waves around her shoulders. He reached out to tuck a long strand that had fallen over her cheek behind her ears, when she looked up at him, her eyes glinting.

He was about to wish her good morning, but before he could she kissed him, hard and fast, tongue tangling with his. And then she was straddling him, his head against the pillow, as her lips began to trail down his chest. By the time his brain had caught up with what was going on, she had reached her destination and had flipped the waist band of the sweats he was wearing down, taking his erection firmly in one hand, making him hiss slightly.

His size had taken Katie slightly by surprise, although she knew with retrospect it shouldn’t have. She looked up and locked eyes with him before she gave him one final smirk and took him in her mouth. Steve panicked for a second, this had never happened to him before, but it wasn’t for long as all worry flew out of his mind as she began to work him.

From the noises he was making Katie knew he was enjoying himself. Which was her aim. After a short while, she pulled off of him to suck at the tip and worked her hands over the rest of his length. When she glanced up at him, he had his head thrown back against the pillow, face contorted in utter pleasure. She continued to lick, suck, and when she pulled away slightly to suck at the sensitive tip, working the rest of his length with her hands he let out a loud groan and he looked at her. Her eyes locked onto his and he felt that tell-tale warmth rising in his groin and stomach.

"Katie, sweetheart, shit.” His voice was raspy from desire and the fact it was morning and Katie was beyond aroused at the sound as he babbled the first words either of them had spoken since waking. “I’m gonna-” his words caught in his mouth as she took him in hers again, this time all the way to the back of her throat. At that, he was gone, his fingers gripped her hair tight the other clutched at the bedsheets, noises escaping him that he’d never heard before as he spilled himself down her throat and slumped back completely blissed out.

Katie rolled onto her side watching, as he finally opened his eyes and looked down at her.

“Morning handsome.”  she grinned and he felt himself chuckle.

“Morning baby.” he said, still fighting to control his breathing.

“You want breakfast?” she asked, leaning over to peck him on the lips. He hummed a response and she smiled once more before climbing out of bed. Steve watched her head into the bathroom and found himself thinking that as far as mornings went, he’d had worse.

She emerged a few moments later, her hair was now pulled up into a pony tail and she was still in his T-shirt, which fell to midway down her toned thighs, giving him a better look at that intriguing tattoo that adorned her right which he still hadn’t seen in full properly. She flashed him a smile, fully aware he was looking her up and down, and then she left without a word, clearly with no intentions of getting dressed fully yet. Which was fine by him.

Katie turned the radio on and set about making coffee, singing softly to herself as she replaced the filter paper. Reaching up into the cupboard for the Columbian Roast, the T-shirt she was wearing rode up slightly giving Steve, who was now out of bed and leaning in the doorway watching her sing, a perfect view of her ass which was clad in black lace panties. The tendrils of self-control he had been holding onto snapped completely and he crossed the room in 4 long strides and gently placed his hands on her hips, causing her to jump slightly as she hadn’t heard him approach. As he spun her to face him, she giggled slightly before his lips met hers and he reached down and cupped her ass in both hands picking her up easily and setting her down on the counter.

“Something got you worked up Captain?” she teased, looking up at him. Last night had clearly unlocked something in the Soldier, and she was liking what she was seeing, and feeling.  

“Yeah, the sight of you wearing nothing but a pair of panties and my t-shirt…” he said raising an eyebrow. She laughed, her arms snaking around his neck as she leaned in to kiss him again. His hands slid to her thighs and they both glanced down as he pushed his T-shirt up to her hips, taking in the design on her thigh. Various entwined flowers, four butterflies and four stars, one for each member of her family she had explained when she’d told him about it, all bound together with a delicate line of green leaves which ran from just above her knee right up to her hip. She smiled at him as his fingers started to trace the design, all the way up until just as he had reached the bottom of her panties, which he fully intended on slipping his fingers into, they were interrupted by the sound of the lift doors opening.

“Hey Kiddo, you in?” Steve and Katie exchanged a look, utter horror spreading from Steve’s head to his toes as Tony’s voice hit his ears.

“Kiddo?” he shouted again. “I can smell coffee, you in the kitchen?”

“Shit…” Katie said as she gently pushed Steve backwards, jumping down from the counter, adjusting the T-shirt. Steve was now a shade of crimson pretty much from his neck upwards as he desperately tried to rearrange his pants to hide his once more ebbing arousal. She debated telling Steve to hide in the bedroom but there was no way he’d get across the open plan living space to the stairs without Tony seeing him.

They were well and truly caught.

As she clocked the utter horror on Steve’s face she was suddenly overcome with giggles at how ridiculous the entire situation was. A super soldier and a SHIELD agent, both of them having faught aliens, deadly terrorists and weapons traders, were stood in her kitchen panicking about being busted fooling around by her brother.

“So, the damned board meeting was cancelled which would have been fine had I not already been on the jet over, so I thought seeing as I now in town with nothing to do we could hang for the day or if you’re too busy at least have breakfast…” Tony’s voice was getting louder as he walked through the apartment.

Steve looked at her in utter astonishment as she began to laugh now because frankly he couldn’t think of a single thing that was funny about this situation if he tried. Her laughter didn’t stop even as her brother walked into the kitchen, his brown eyes flashing from his sister to Steve and their various state of undress, a look of utter horror on his face as he processed the implications.

“Oh you have gottta be fucking kidding me…” Tony muttered, dropping the box he was carrying onto the kitchen counter. “Please tell me there’s a perfectly innocent explanation for this…” “Explanation yes, innocent…not so much.” Katie said through her laughter and Steve let out a groan. This was not how he wanted Tony to find out.  “Don’t you know how to buzz Dickwad, before just walking into my apartment?”

“I have a key…” “For emergencies…” she shot back. “Stop changing the subject.” Tony demanded his eyes flashing dangerously and Katie folded her arms and tilted her chin up defiantly.

“Look, this isn’t a big deal, Tony…”

“No, this…this is a very big deal…” he snapped back as he looked from her to Steve, every line on his face was contorted with anger and shock.

Steve took a deep breath “Tony…” he began trying to placate the billionaire but he was cut off.

“What, you gonna tell me this aint what it looks like?” he shook his head. “That Captain America isn’t banging my little sister? I might be like nearly 60 years younger than you old man but I wasn’t born yesterday.”

Steve took a breath, his nostrils flaring at Tony’s snipe.

“Tony, I’m 29 next week, I can do what or who I like” Katie snapped at him “And besides you’ve no room to talk, the amount of times I’ve walked in on you and whichever bimbo you decided to bring home that night…”

“That is completely different!” Tony spluttered.

“No it isn’t” she shot back, hands going to her hips.

Tony’s eyes locked onto hers, before he looked back at Steve who held his gaze evenly, before the dark haired man shook his head and looked at the super soldier.

“Can you go and put some clothes on please, frankly the amount of flesh on show is disturbing me.” “Well I would but your sister is still wearing my shirt.” Steve shot back, his temper rising. Tony gave another growl and then he stopped, open mouthed.

“Are those my sweats?” he said, his voice practically a squeak.

“Yes.” Katie said simply, and at that point she grabbed Steve’s hand and pulled him out of the room and up the stairs. The initial humour she had found in the situation had ebbed away and now she was livid at her brother.

“He is…” she started, opening the various drawers to pull out a hooded top. Taking Steve’s T-shirt off, as she threw it over the bed to him. “The biggest hypocrite going…”

“To be fair I can kinda see it from his point of view…” Steve said shrugging on his T-shirt and making a point of averting his eyes as she strode over to her dresser, naked bar her panties. Ok, maybe he didn’t avert them completely, he was still a normal man after all.

She pulled on a hoody and narrowed her eyes at Steve. “Don’t defend him…”

He chuckled and crossed the room, walking round the bed. “I’m not.” he placed a peck on her lips “But I do think that I should go, let you talk to him alone…”

“Yeah, probably for the best…” she breathed out a sigh and followed him down the stairs where he retrieved his sneakers.

“Wait, do you wanna take my car or…” He gestured up and down his body, and she took in his trainers, slightly too short joggers and a T-shirt “Nah baby girl, I’ll run.” She smiled at the term of endearment as he dropped a kiss to her cheek.

“I’ll call you later.” He said, before disappearing in the elevator.

Katie took a deep breath and walked back into the kitchen. Tony eyed her from where he was leaning against the counter, mug of coffee in his hand.

“Don’t start…” Katie warned him, to no avail

“Oh I’m gonna start!” he said, pausing “Where is he?”

“Gone home.”

Tony snorted “I bet he has…” “You know I don’t remember me reacting like this every time you brought a girl home, which from my recollection happened quite a lot.” Katie sniped back, as she walked to where he was stood by the coffee pot and reached round him to pour herself a mug.

“That..that was different…” he stammered at her back as she walked to the fridge, for the milk

“How so?” she asked, wrenching it open.

“Because, well, it’s him…” he whined “I mean, seriously? Of all the men in the world…”

“Yeah because the last one worked out so great…” Katie said sarcastically bumping the fridge closed with her hip.

The room fell silent bar the chink of the spoon on the edge of her pink unicorn mug as she stirred in sugar and milk. She took a sip of her drink and turned to face her brother who was hunched over the counter slightly, eyes on his mug. Eventually he straightened up and met his sister’s eyes before he spoke again, this time his voice was softer.

“How long?” he asked,

“3 weeks” she said. “Give or take, not long.”

“3 weeks, and I’m only just finding out?” “Yes, Tony.” she said with the air of someone talking to a small child “And your reaction is exactly why I didn’t want to tell you.”

To be fair, Steve was right. It wasn’t an ideal way for him to find out, but she knew the reaction from Tony wasn’t about her being caught, it was about her being caught with Steve Rogers. Tony and Steve got on ok. That hadn’t always been the case, there had been a lot of tension between the men when they first met but after the battle of New York Steve had spent a lot of time with them both at the tower. Tony was still a little reserved with Steve, more so due to the fact that Captain America was someone their dad had idolised but, whilst the two men were immensely different, there was a mutual respect between them and Katie was hoping now that that was going to be enough for Tony to be reasonable about the situation.

“Please don’t kick off about this. I care about him, a lot.” she said gently, looking at her brother, appealing to his better nature and the fact that she knew he would want her to be happy.

And sure enough, that was exactly what Tony asked as he looked at her.

“Does he make you happy?”

“More than anything.” she replied honestly. “I really like him Tony.”

Tony studied her face for a moment before he let out a deep sigh, looking away. “Damned it…” he groaned “I can’t believe I’m going to have to have the Shovel Conversation with Captain America.”

In the silence that followed Katie debated pointing out that Steve wouldn’t be frightened in the slightest of Tony’s various threats anyway, but who was she to rob her brother of his opportunity to try and protect her?  Instead she placed her mug on the counter and leaned forward, wrapping her arms around Tony who sighed again and reciprocated the gesture.

“Suppose he is an improvement on Agent Shitweasel” he said, resting his chin on her head.

“That’s not exactly a glowing endorsement.” she snorted.

*****

Steve was reading a book in his lounge when Katie messaged him later that afternoon. Apparently Tony had calmed down enough to take her for lunch at some Italian place in the Business District following which they’d had a walk round the city together before Tony had left to go back to New York. Steve was pleased, he knew that despite the fact that he drove her insane at times, she loved the bones of her brother which was why his reaction before had pissed her off. He messaged back, telling her he was glad she’d had a good time and that he would call her later before he picked his book back up, but he’d only managed another chapter or so before there was a buzz on his intercom.

“Rogers, it’s me.”

Steve sighed “Come on up.”

He wasn’t surprised Tony was on his doorstep, he’d been half expecting it. And, judging from the lack of stupid nickname, no Spangles, no Capsicle, no Old Man, he wasn’t here to exchange pleasantries. A fact that was confirmed when Stark didn’t wait for Steve to invite him in, he simply pushed past the door into his flat and stalked inside, glancing around.

“You can tell Kiddo helped you decorate and furnish this gaff, far too modern to be your doing. There’s no Dig for Victory posters or wind up radios…” Tony said, causing Steve to roll his eyes “Holy shit, is that an original Dekka?”

“Katie said you’d like that” Steve watched the inventor cross the room and run his hands across the sleekness of the record player’s casing. “But I have a feeling you didn’t come here to admire my music equipment.”

“Perceptive” Tony turned to face him, his eyes flashing. Steve took a deep breath.

“Tony, I…” “No, you don’t get to talk, you get to listen. And you better listen good.” the billionaire cut him off “Katie was heartbroken when Agent Shitweasel did the dirty on her. She came home and I held her as she cried herself to sleep for 2 goddamned weeks before she shipped out to New Mexico… ”

“Tony…”Steve began, knowing already where this conversation was going. He wanted to assure Tony that he would never do what Ward had done, ever. But Tony ignored him.

“I hated him.” Tony said “he was an absolute dickhead with her at times and she changed because of it.  And then, after New York she seemed to go back to being her old self. She was laughing, socialising…and that was down to you” Tony looked at the Super Soldier, who cocked his head slightly to the right as he listened, a small smile tugging at his lips “ She had a friend, something she hasn’t had much time for since my little sioree in an Afghan cave, my bad, and for the first time in ages I can see she’s over it, you know…” he took a deep breath and Steve waited for him to finish “But Katie puts her heart into everything, and I gotta ask Cap, is this serious for you or you just after getting your dick wet?”

“What? No, of course it’s serious for me Tony…” Steve said, his temper flaring slightly at his crass tone. “I can’t believe you think that little of me that you had to even ask me that!”

“Oh get off your high horse, Rogers!” Tony shook his head, and Steve raised his eyebrows “This has nothing to do with what I think of you, this is about my sister…you know the girl I brought up from the age of 7.  The girl I couldn’t love any more if she was my own. I’d die for her you got that? Die for her!”

“Well that makes 2 of us!” Steve said loudly, silencing the other man. There was a moment where no sound was heard in the apartment bar the ticking of the clock on the wall and Tony raised his eyebrows slightly as Steve looked down at the floor taking a deep breath.

“Look, I know you’re not happy about this…” Steve sighed, looking at Tony again “But do I care about her Tony, more than you know, and nothing you do or say to me is gonna change that.”

Tony’s eyes softened, but his jaw remained set. Steve took a deep breath and wet his lips before he continued.  “And, for what it’s worth, I think you did a damned good job of raising her. She’s an incredible woman.”

“She’s a pain in the ass…” Tony sniffed, Steve was glad to hear his tone was less confrontational “And she’s stubborn, always thinks she knows best…”

“Wonder where she gets that from?” Steve said cheekily

“Absolutely no idea” Tony deadpanned back.

Steve’s face cracked into a smile as did Tony’s.

“Look.” Tony sighed, “I just want her to be happy and with someone that treats her right…”

“I don’t ever want to hurt her, Tony. You have my word…” Steve said, honestly.

“Good, because if you do, make no mistake I will fucking kill you, slowly and painfully and there will be no defrosting 70 years down the line.” Tony’s brown eyes flashed slightly as he stared at Steve, And Steve knew, absolutely 100% that he meant it. He was surprised to find himself slightly unnerved by the threat. Hoping that his face didn’t give him away her merely nodded and then Tony’s demeanour changed completely and he turned back into the Tony Stark that Steve knew, and had to admit quite liked after all.

“Good, this was a good talk…” Tony said, clapping Steve on the shoulder.

Steve smiled as the weight he hadn’t even realised he’d been carrying was lifted off his shoulder. Having Tony’s, albeit grudging, approval would mean the world to Katie, and if he was honest, it meant a lot to him as well. Not only was Tony his friend also, but he was the closest thing Katie had to a father, and he wanted him to be alright with the fact the two of them were together.

He offered the man a coffee which he politely declined, stating he needed to get back to New York. The two shook hands on the threshold of Steve’s door before Tony gave him one last look, raising his index finger and middle finger of his right hand to his eyes, before turning them to point at Steve in an “I’m watching you” gesture. Steve raised his eyebrows in understanding and felt his mouth tug upwards at the side as Tony turned on his heels and left.

He retreated back to his living room and pulled out his phone.

“Hey Badass” Katie greeted and Steve chuckled.

“I’ve just had a visitor.” Katie groaned into the phone as he sat back on his couch

“Let me guess… my darling brother turned up to give you the shovel talk?” her tone was exasperated. “No mention of a shovel, just threatened to kill me slowly and painfully if I hurt you, and you know what? I have absolutely no qualms about the fact he would.” Steve grinned as he spoke.

“Don’t tell me Captain America is scared of Iron Man?” she questioned playfully. “No, Steve Rogers is slightly disconcerted by Tony Stark.” He corrected as she let out a chuckle.

“Best make sure you don’t hurt me then aint ya?” “I’ve no intentions of doing doll.” He said, honestly before he let out a breath, smiling “I really enjoyed last night.”

“And this morning?”

“Yeah, another first.” He said, unable to stop the smirk on his face spreading into his voice “I’ve never, errr, had a woman use her mouth on me before…or vice versa for that matter.”

“I like being your first.” she said softly and his chest warmed at her words.

“You know what else was a first? Waking up next to my best girl.”

“Best girl? I hope I’m your only girl Rogers.”

A shit eating grin crept back across his face. “Always baby. Always.”

Tags

@momobaby227

@the-omni-princess​

[queenscoolcat]

A Girl On The Field - Pat Murray x Reader

Request: Would you be willing to do a little blurb maybe about Pat Murray (from Undrafted)?? I was watching the movie and thought maybe it could be about how you were a softball player and they put you on the team and pat falls for you :) thanks in advance but if you don’t want to it’s no problemo

Pairing: Pat Murray x Reader

Word count: 2k

A/N: I love this request so much, I used to play softball so if any terms are wrong or off I am sorry, but I haven't played in a while and all the terms I know are in Spanish. hope you like it.

The way Pat looked at you the moment you entered the dugout would get everyone to make fun of him, only if the others hadn’t the same look on their faces.

“Everyone! This is y/n and from now on she will be part of the team, please give her a warming welcome,” Ty introduced you while he had a hand on your shoulder “I know this isn’t the best moment to have a new player, but she is pretty good and since our catcher is still sick, y/n will help us with that.”

You smile at everyone trying your best to hide how nervous you felt, previously you were in a softball team, but since there weren’t many teams of all girls, the league was unfortunate cancelled, you were pretty bombed out about it since you love softball with all your heart, but when a friend of yours introduces you to Ty who was in need of a good catcher, it all seemed to fit.

Ty made sure to see you play only to figure you were extremely good, good enough to be drafted, which made Ty really excited to have you on the team.

Before you could sit down, Ty made sure to introduced you to everyone, and even though all of them seemed interested by you, your eyes couldn’t stop staring at the cute ginger guy whose name was stuck in your head, Pat.

You made sure to sit next to him as Ty went with the umpire and a few members of the other team to see who would bat first.

“So y/n… what’s your favourite position?” Pat asked only to blush like mad when he heard you laughing “no no no, I meant what position do you like… I mean play, fuck.”

You laugh a little more, feeling better when you noticed you weren’t the only nervous one, though you didn’t know if you were making him nervous or the game was, which made Pat even more interesting.

“I’m normally playing as a catcher,” you said smiling at him “what about your favourite position?”

You winked at Pat making sure he knew you were only joking, but before he could answer, you saw Ty walk back to the dugout with a big smile on his face.

“We are going first,” Ty announced while he grabbed his board where he seemed to have everything written, “y/n will be first to bat, then Maz…”

Ty couldn’t continue talking since the entire team’s attention seemed to be on you, they all had their mouths open clearly impress you would be the first to bat before Maz, you didn’t notice their started since you were tying your shoe, making sure to keep yourself calm so you could make a good job.

“She must be good,” you hear Maz mutter making you finally acknowledge everyone’s stares, you smile at them and wink at Maz.

“She is really good,” you said with a proud smile on your face.

Before anyone could say anything more, you stand up ready to go practice feeling all the guys staring at you.

“She really is,” Ty told them feeling quite happy he had you on his team.

No one else tried to question your abilities as they all keep watching you practice, you were putting your helmet on when you felt someone tap your shoulder, you turn around only to find Pat with a cute smile on his face.

“We have a tradition to eat ice cream with sprinkles on top, I brought you one,” Pat said extending his arms handing you the ice cream.

“Thank you so much, Pat, that is really nice of you,” you mutter taking the delicious dessert, you kissed his cheek before you started eating the ice cream only to hear everyone on the dugout whistling and screaming at you two.

“Shut the fuck up!” Pat turned around to yelled at them, making not only his friends laugh but you too.

When everyone seemed in position, you made your way to the base, you take a few deep breaths already feeling the adrenaline of the game.

“Hey Bob, it’s a girl, go easy on her,” one of the guys from the other team yelled at their pitcher making everyone laugh, you smile at the comments already ready to shut their mouths then you saw everyone on the field take a few steps forward.

“Your first mistake,” you whisper making your smile grow bigger.

You could hear all your teammates yell and cheer for you as you stare at the pitcher and the ball he had on his hands, the moment it left his hands, you didn’t move, noticing it wasn’t a good one.

“Ball!” The umpire yelled making your team cheer even louder.

"Second mistake," you mutter again feeling more confident as the time went by.

The pitchers smile seemed to still be there, making you want to erase it from there as quick as possible, and you did it, the moment you saw the ball coming, you hit it just in time to send it to the end of the field, it was a clear home run and before you could run to first base, you wink at the pitcher making his smile fall as you whispered "third mistake, you are out."

When you entered the dugout everyone cheered for you, Ty even embrace you in a tight hug and lift you up as he yelled how good you are.

“Take that mother fuckers, she is even better than all of your sorry asses together!” Pat yelled at the other team making you laugh of how passionate he seemed.

As the game continued, you keep making everyone notice how good you are, which lead to having a great advantage in the score of the game.

Pat was sure he was already falling in love with you, so when he was about to bat, he felt more nervous than ever, all he could say under his breath was that he couldn’t screw this up and made himself look stupid in front of you.

You scream at the top of your lungs encouragement to Pat, you couldn’t stop laughing when you saw how frustrated he was when the umpire call strike.

“You are in for a treat y/n,” Palacco joked when the umpired said Pat was out.

You turn to look at him with confusion only for his to point you to look at Pat, and Polanco wasn��t wrong, Pat was yelling like mad as he started hitting the ground with his bat.

When he entered the dugout, you sat next to him and kiss his cheek seeing how all of a sudden his anger went away.

“You did good, Pat,” you told him as you grabbed his hand and give it a light squeeze.

“Easy for you to say when you are that good,” Pat argued though his tone was all soft and calm.

Everyone was so confused at what they were seeing even Palacco rubbed his eyes thinking his hangover was making him see things.

“You are a great player, just stop being so hard on yourself, Pat,” you told him seeing how he was calm all over again.

“Thanks, y/n,” Pat whispered feeling like the words stop when he was staring into your eyes.

“You can make out at the end of the game, but now we have a game to win and it’s almost your turn, y/n” Baron joked placing a hand on your shoulder.

You felt your cheeks grow hot only to see that Pat was the same mess as you, before you went to bat again, you softly smile at him making sure you would make another home run so you could win the game and go celebrate.

“You got this y/n!” Maz yelled along with everyone else.

You grabbed your bat and gave the pitcher a cocky smile before getting into place, you saw the ball leave his hand but instead of going to the strike zone, you saw it was coming directly to you, you move quick enough making sure the ball would not hit you, but by doing that you fell on the ground.

“Are you okay?” The umpire asked before he yelled it was a ball, you nod making sure you would give that pitcher a hard time.

“You fucking lunatic! You were about to hit a girl! Are you fucking blind? Do you need me to call your fucking mother to bring you your goddamn glasses?” You hear Pat scream behind you, you smile to yourself as you stand up and clean your uniform.

“Time!” You hear Ty yell making you sigh in annoyance “are you okay, y/n?”

“Yeah, I am,” you told him making sure you never stop staring at the pitcher tying your best to make him know you weren’t afraid.

“They will pretty much try to make you walk to the base, so keep it cool,” Ty told you, his voice sounded still concern, and before you walk back in place you flash Ty a quick smile trying your best not to show your intentions.

The pitcher threw the ball again throwing it way down, making it a ball, you shake your head already ready for the next, only to be a ball again, you tighten your grip on the bat, and when the ball was coming at you again you hit it  even though it wasn’t in the zone.

All your teammates ran to get to home as the other team tried his best to stop what you were doing, you saw how the catcher was ready to receive the ball so you dive in not wanting you to be an out.

Your feet were on the base when the catcher caught the ball, everyone holds their breaths as you waited for what the umpire was about to say.

“Safe!” He yelled making you jump up your feet and ran to your teammates that were as ready as you were to tackle you in a hug.

Pat was the first to great you and everyone join the both of you with cheers and praises, your smile was as big as it could be, and the happiness of being able to play again was taking you over as you buried yourself in Pat loving the feeling of being part o a team again.

While everyone was packing their stuff to go celebrate, Pat intercept you before you could get into your car.

“So I know that we are going to celebrate the win, but I was wondering if later on, you would grab a drink just the two of us?” Pat asked you, holding open the door of your car making sure you wouldn’t close it on him.

“I would love that, Pat,” you answered feeling even better than before.

“Good, Yeah, shit,” Pat ramble with a big grin on his face “Oh I almost forgot.”

Pat grabbed something that was in his back pocket and handed it to you, showing you it was the ball of the game.

“I thought you might like to keep it,” Pat mutter seeing how your soft hands grabbed the ball “it’s the one of your first win with us, and you were the best out there.”

You got out of your car not taking your eyes off the ball, you start giggling before you turn to look at Pat, he had such a sweet smile that never in a million year would you think he would act like a child on the field, and as a thank you, you move closer to him to kiss his lips in a sweet loving manner.

At first, Pat was surprised by your actions, but when he realized that you were kissing him, he started to do it as well.

“Thank you so much, Pat, really,” you whispered inches away from his lips.

“You have nothing to thank for,” Pat answered while his hands made their way to your hips to pull you closer for another kiss.

[lovehelpmewrite]

Pat getting a bad call during a game

Hhhhh I'm in a real Pat Murray mood tonight so please enjoy even though this is not smutty just vaguely fluffy and in my opinion hilarious. Also big thanks to @borhap-socials for letting me steal prompts from their asks because I know that its kind of annoying so sorry.

Pat was muttering as he stepped up to the plate like he always did. I caught little bits of it because the crowd was so quiet today. Whispers of "fuck" and "hit it" and "please" floated across the field.

Finally, Pat held the bat back and I held my breath as my eyes turned to the pitcher. He wound, he followed through, and he released; a fastball.

Pat knew right away, the smallest of pleased smiles overcame his face as he swung, there was the crack of the bat, and the ball flew off just over first base.

"Foul ball!" Called the umpire.

Ty, Palacco, and David tensed in the dugout, preparing for Murray to release his worst but just as he went to open his mouth, yelling from the other side of the dugout erupted.

From me.

"You call that a fucking foul ump, it was right fucking over first you absolute cock wallet!"

Pat's head whipped around, a grin growing on his face as he watched me, stomach pressed hard against the top of the chain link fence as I yelled.

"He fucking hit it over the base, if you can't see that you're as blind as my fucking grandmother!! Maybe you can stop being like her diapers: full of shit! You mother fucking piss stain of an umpire! He hit it over fucking first!"

In the dugout, Zapata and Palacco stared on at me in awe.

"Who the fuck is that chick?"

"No fucking clue."

"You about done there sweetheart?" The umpire called back at me.

Fury rose in my bones and I made to raise my leg and climb the fence just to get at this guy but Pat's voice cut me short.

"THAT'S MY FUCKING GIRL!" His signature yell sounded and my heart raced in fear for a second as he appeared to be lifting the bat to swing at the umpire. Maz quickly came up behind him before he did, yanking the bat backward so Pat almost fell over.

"WHAT THE FUCK MAZ?!"

"Do you want to get arrested or are you just going for a new record of stupid?" Maz asked back.

Pat stuttered, dumbfounded.

He ended up striking out.

At the end of the game he jogged over to me and I hopped the fence. I was a little surprised when he hugged me tightly, knocking the wind out of my chest.

"Woah Pat, easy, gonna knock me down," I laughed.

"Thank you, I fucking love you," he mumbled, face pressed into my neck.

"Of course baby, that call was bullshit. Foul ball my ass."

I could feel him smile against my neck as he hugged me tighter.

- - -

I hope y'all are enjoying reading Pat as much as I enjoy writing him! If so maybe some feedback?

[lookbluesoup]

Since you said so in your kiss prompt list... how about 47 and make it NSFW?

Nora Ronan/Some Poor Fool …out of spite

Fic under the cut! This one ended up being more angst than steamy blush fuel, but I hope you like it! ;w; I really enjoyed the opportunity to explore how Nora would cope with losing Nate if their roles were reversed 😎

“So uh, you must be new around here. I’ve never seen y’before.” 

Nora gave him a blossoming smile that didn’t reach her eyes. He failed to notice the falsity of it as she lied, “That’s right. New in town.” 

In truth Nora had seen more of this damn ballpark than she ever needed or wanted to on behalf Nate. She could probably traverse it blind. His obsession with the sport, particularly as the Sox clawed their way into the lead of a World Series race, could not be understated. But of course, all this had been very different, then. A real dugout instead of a (not) cleverly named moonshine distillery. 

“Yeah, that’s what I figured.” The other patron - Ed, or something - gave a rather pathetic looking smolder, “I woulda remembered someone with, well, your kinda figure.”

“Mmhmmm.” Nora sipped vodka from her glass, half-lidded eyes fixated on her conversation partner. He didn’t have the look of a man who knew too much about women. That was alright. He was eager to please. A pliable companion could chase the loneliness away just fine. She didn’t need anything more than a night to pretend. 

“What’s a dame like you doin’ here alone anyway, huh? Seems a real shame.”

Her gut twisted, prompting Nora to stop sipping and down the rest of her cup instead. Burn it out. “My man abandoned me.” She flouted back, “All alone out here, without even a goodbye. So much for promises of forever, hm?” 

Ed scowled, looking a little too far south as he made his condolences, “That’s a crime, Miss. It truly is.”

She smiled again.

He was a fool, to be sure. Pretty, though. And clean. The cleanliness alone was almost enough. Nora was tired of sleeping in a cold bed with nothing but empty space to reach for in the night. If that meant picking up a stranger at a bar in some rundown shantytown, so be it. Wasn’t like she had anyone else, anymore.

“You deserve a fella who’ll treat you right.” Ed continued his visual expedition.

“That’s awful sweet of you to say, Honey.” Honey. She grimaced. It was just a word now. Didn’t have any meaning.

Ed smirked. He’d black hair and pale eyes. If she was being honest, that was probably the main reason she’d picked him out of the melancholy drunks collected in the Dugout. Only a dusty black, cut short, greying out - not at all as soft looking as Nate’s. And roving eyes without any warmth to them. Her husband’s blue-hazel always reminded her of the sea at sunrise. Ed’s were just cloudy glass.

No. He wasn’t strong or safe or brave or anything at all to be proud of. Just a prop, a plastic imitation of the man who left her behind in this godforsaken wasteland.

They bantered for a while. By his third beer her potential liaison was doing a poor job of hiding his interest, so Nora switched tactics from coy to - well, something even a sober bystander could’ve understood to mean her intentions for the night. Subtlety was a lost art on Ed. Not much of a game. 

Still, she reminded herself, that wasn’t the point.

The main downside was that it gave her time to dwell on other things between their exchanges of increasingly implicative banter. Like Nate. And what a fool he’d been. And how she hated him. 

You didn’t have to die. Anger flared through her, callous and indiscriminate in its fury. Growing up, she always loved the great Tragedies of Old World literature. Naive mortals who challenged Fate and were left wanting in ruin. Realizing she’d married one of them didn’t carry the same appeal. 

Don’t expect me to drag on the rest of my life mourning you. Her fingers tightened around her glass. Don’t expect me to waste one more minute being lonely because you couldn’t show a shred of sense. 

Stupid man. Stupid soldier. What had he thought? He’d fend Shaun’s kidnappers off all by himself? No. He hadn’t thought at all about what it would mean when she had to bury him. Always running off to the next battle. 

He’d promised not to leave her. And in the end, she was alone. You liar. She was only returning the favor. 

The bartender refilled her drink and Nora went to down it immediately - glad that, if nothing else, they didn’t skimp on alcohol in the apocalypse. She couldn’t say exactly what happened next. The glass never met her mouth. It slipped from her hand and shattered on the floor, contents spilling across her lap. 

“Jesus.” She snapped. 

“Slow it down there, Baby.” Ed chuckled, “Think you’ve had enough?”

Hardly. But she grinned playfully. Might as well make the most of the opportunity presented. “God, I’m such a clutz. Would you, ah-” Nora drifted off, batting her eyes at him implicatively, “… Maybe come out back, and help me clean up?”

Ed’s brows narrowed as her meaning dawned on him. He smirked, “Wouldn’t think to leave a lady in such dire straits.”

They barely made it out the door before Ed pressed her to the wall in a shadowed corner of the alley. He clutched at her with clumsy drunken fervor. And his fingers weren’t practiced or gentle like Nate’s had been, but it was nice to feel wanted. 

Quickly Ed slithered up her skirt. Hungry. Groping. The unwelcome memory of a more nervous first touch needled at her mind. And a moonlit night. And warm summer air, full of fireflies. 

With a hiss she yanked Ed’s mouth up to hers to kiss him, hard. Her teeth pried his lips, the way Nate had always loved so much. Ed let out a sloppy groan. “You like that?” She whispered, pressing up against him so he could get the full sense of her figure, once reserved for a single treacherous lover, “Show me how a real man treats a woman.”

Those wide eyes blared in her mind, and the way Nate had smiled on their wedding night. He always had the brightest smile, and God she missed it.

Pain sprouted from her chest as Ed slobbered down her neck and he stopped prying at her underclothes long enough to rip the buttons down her dress. As if falling from a great height, Nora was thrown by the sickening realization that she wasn’t enjoying a single moment of his advances.

He already had her top halfway off and more of her lay exposed in the cold than was comfortable. Any passers-by would know exactly what sort of mischief they were up to. She grasped wildly for the sense of reckless devilry that’d possessed her in the bar, for the blistering spite towards Nate that’d sustained her every motivation up to this moment.

Damn you Nathaniel Ronan. I waited for you, all those years I waited for you. And he’d left her. He was gone. He wasn’t coming back. His memory couldn’t warm her bed. It couldn’t soothe the ache in her chest. There was nothing left of their vows except broken glass. Shattered to pieces.

To hell with our vows. 

“To hell with you.” The angry sob pealed out. 

“Unh?” Ed’s rhythm faltered.

Tears bled down her cheeks as she recoiled, “Get off.” And when he hesitated too long, she shoved. Hard. “I said get off! Scram. We’re done.”

“Damn, alright, fine!” Ed slurred with aggravation. And then muttered less savory retorts regarding her nature under his breath as he stumbled back to the bar. 

“Oh yeah? Come back and say that to my face, asshole!” she snarled, and Ed lurched quickly out of sight.

Unable to will her feet into motion, Nora sank to the dirt and wept bitterly. The last time she’d cried like this, it’d been against Nate’s shoulder, and he’d held her through the night until she no longer felt small and helpless anymore. “Damn you.” She whimpered. “Damn you…”

She hated him. And she would give anything, anything in the world, just to hold him again.

A DC guard hovered on the far end of the street. Hot frustration bubbled back up in Nora’s throat when she realized she was being oggled. “Like what you see, Umpire?,” she growled, tugging her ripped shirt against the chill of night. The tear-smeared makeup across her face itched terribly, but she refused to rub at it. “Fuck off.”

He seemed to hesitate a moment further, but took the hint and left her alone again in the narrow alley.

Alone. Alone. Alone. 

God, Nate, why did you do it?

She knew, of course. Deep down. It was because he loved her. Because he loved Shaun. And because he did not love himself. She wasn’t sure which had really gotten him killed. Maybe the reason didn’t matter, anyway. He was gone, and she wasn’t, and now the night was much too dark to see.

______

(Ask for a Kiss!) | (AO3 Archive)

[heungtanbts]

love of the game

reader x jungkook

1,577 words

complete utter fluff

Your first baseball game. At that time all you knew for sure was that it was the KIA Tigers versus the Lotte Giants, Jungkook was a major Giants fan, and the sport involved a lot of swinging and sprinting. But Jungkook enjoyed the sport so much that he decided to take you to your first game on the 7th date, having already bought a season pass and everything. It was funny, though, being at a baseball game when the sport itself piqued negative interest in you. But your one and only loved the sport, and you wanted to love it too. Or at least try.

It wasn’t as hard as you had expected it to be, growing to love the sport that initially bored you to death. Game after game, date after date, one patient explanation after another from Jungkook, slowly but surely you started to actually enjoy the sport. There was something about the casual atmosphere, the booming voices of the announcers on the PA system, the blinding stadium lights and the blur of cheering that was addicting, and soon you became a fan of it all. So much of a fan that you even began to catch yourself standing up with indignation whenever the umpire made a bogus call, joining in with other fired up fans because the ump was definitely biased towards the opposing team. You began to lose count of how many games you’d attended, and how many times Jungkook had to pull you back down in your seat to calm down from all the yelling, but never bothering to hide that big fat cheeky grin of his. He was obviously overjoyed with your transformation into a new woman - one that appreciated this sacred sport as much as him (or dare he say it, possibly even more than him.)

But it was true - he changed everything for you.

You liked baseball now, for crying out loud. One of the few sports you never thought you’d ever learn to enjoy. And now, baseball games didn’t just mean cheap beer, greasy stadium food and feeling alive for a couple of hours, feeling like one body with the rest of the fans filling the stadium bleachers. It was about being with him, feeling alive because of him, simply being in his presence and soaking up every moment of it. It meant having stupid silly conversations with him about nothing during lulls in the game, or more serious ones while walking home hand in hand after some games when there were no Ubers available for pick-up. It meant admiring his wide toothy smiles, his cackling laughter, the way he’d always turn his baseball cap backwards when things were getting serious. The way he’d furrow his eyebrows together in concentration, or death grip your hand as the batter prepared to swing during the last inning. The way his eyes would light up and his cheers would echo clearly in your ears as he’d shoot out of his seat at an amazing homerun, pulling you up with him so he could wrap his arms around your waist and hoist you high in the air, planting kisses to your cheeks that were tinted a dusty pink from a mix of beer buzz and pure elation. You had grown to love the game not just for the game itself - but because a certain someone loved it first.

The October weather was still just as unbearable as the humid sticky summer months but luckily was easing off now that it was growing late into the evening. Crowds of people flooded through the stadium exits, hands waving at taxis and all the post-game chatter serving as the perfect summer soundtrack. The Lotte Giants had just demolished the Samsung Lions in a suspenseful game of ups and downs, and to your and Jungkook’s delight they were steadily making their way to glory. The excitement for the upcoming playoffs was enough to get your nerves buzzing and for you to bear the sudden drop in temperature as you stood outside of the stadium, waiting for your ride home. A sudden sharp gust of wind did make you shiver though, your short sleeves Giants jersey doing very little to warm the skin on your arms. You distractedly rubbed at your arms as Jungkook’s gravelly voice caught your attention. Turning, you observed as he paced around just a couple of steps away from you, his phone held up to his ear as he calmly explained your exact location to whom you assumed to be your lost Uber driver. He looked content, the post-win glow still radiating off of him as he caught your eye and winked playfully, still somehow keeping the phone conversation going.

“Yes sir, the corner of 56th and Washington... Yes, and then make a left there and keep going to avoid the game traffic.”

Another bout of wind swept on by and you couldn’t help but instinctively let out a small yelp, the chilling air mercilessly slapping against your bare skin and nearly blowing your cap off your head. You were beginning to shiver, every muscle in your body tensing up. Looking up, you caught Jungkook’s gaze again, except this time his eyebrows were creased, lips quirked downwards in a slight frown. You gave him a puzzled look with a cock of your head, silently questioning his expression when he simply responded by opening up one side of his jean jacket with his free hand, his posture welcoming and inviting you in. A smile stretched across your cheeks and without hesitation, you leapt forward and into his embrace, looping your arms through his jacket to wrap them around his warm jersey clad waist. Your sudden attack tipped him off balance just a bit, enough for him to have to take a small step back to regain his bearings, but he just chuckled and wrapped his jacket tighter around your back, nuzzling affectionately into your hair.

“Then once you hit McDuffy’s Pizza Parlor, you wanna make a right.” You quietly groaned into Jungkook’s shoulder at the sound of your favorite ball game restaurant, suddenly feeling ravenous from all that cheering and shouting, even though you just had their pizza a few hours earlier. Still, there was nothing you wanted more in that moment than some piping hot pizza - well, that and Jungkook’s warmth and embrace of course. He had to hold the phone away from his mouth to laugh at your reaction, knowing how much you loved McDuffy’s, and he gave your side a loving squeeze as he continued to give the driver directions. You contentedly stood there, Jungkook gently rocking your intertwined bodies from side to side, the brutal wind no longer having any effect on you. Was the wind even blowing anymore? You were so blissfully warm, from your bare short-clad thighs pressed up against his jeans all the way to the crown of your head where he rested his chin comfortably, leaving absentminded kisses there during pauses in the phone conversation. It was like the chilling temperature ceased to even exist anymore, or at least matter. 

Standing there, you took the time to breathe in his familiar scent - lingering clean cologne mixed with a slight hint of beer and an overwhelming amount of just him, his own unique scent. It suddenly dawned on you that you were here, all wrapped up in Jungkooks embrace, feeling the vibrations of his velvety voice against your ear, hearing his heart beat, slow, strong and steady, his arm wound around you so tightly like a silent reminder that he’d always keep you safe and warm. You thought about just how you came to be a part of his life, how he entered into yours, how this all started with a baseball game and some pretty low expectations on your part. The night air was still freezing, the stadium lights were still illuminating the surrounding area, and the crowds were still slowly dispersing to return to their respective homes, and yet internally it was all so overwhelming for you. To others, it may have seemed like a small, trivial moment, and yet it was monumental for you.  And you wanted to enjoy every bit of this seemingly small yet monumentally huge moment - the realization of your love for this man. 

“How many riders are there?” You heard Jungkook repeat the driver’s question, causing you to look up at him, only to see him already staring down at you, his large eyes sparkling from the glow of the stadium lights. Or maybe they were sparkling for another reason, maybe, just maybe it was because he was there with you. The amount of affection in his gaze certainly made you feel that way, like you were the only other human being to exist, at least in his world. As if to confirm your suspicions of his affection, he crinkled his nose adorably and leaned in to brush it against yours. “There’s just two of us, sir. But please do hurry, my poor girlfriend’s about to get frostbite out here.” He pleaded dramatically. You snorted audibly at his ridiculousness, pulling away to roll your eyes with a smile to make sure he could clearly see your reaction. And utterly satisfied with your reaction, he grinned in response and pulled you into his chest again, rewrapping his jacket and arm around you like he was never planning on to letting go. A sigh of content left your lips and you buried yourself deeper into his embrace, eyes closing, a soft hum resonating from your chest. You wanted this moment to never end.

This surely must be why you loved baseball. Simply because you loved him.

[duaneodavila]

Outspoken Federal Judge Launches Amazingly Dumb Twitter Tirade

In the wake of the allegations of years of sexual misconduct by Judge Alex Kozinski (and, by extension, years of failure on the part of his colleagues), Chief Justice Roberts decided to take swift action by convening the Federal Judiciary Workplace Conduct Working Group to put together a report. To do so he charged… well, mostly the exact same group of people who apparently turned blind eyes to decades of misconduct before.

As they always say, if you’re trying to catch a fox, you should always put a fox in charge of the henhouse!

This uninspiring leadership decision, coupled with a good but at times lackluster report provides the context for the Law Clerks For Workplace Accountability, a group of current and former law clerks who read the report and have some thoughts as representatives of the group that this whole process is ostensibly supposed to protect. They’ve drafted a letter with a bunch of entirely reasonable questions and criticisms of the Report.

And it’s this letter that brings us to Judge Richard Kopf’s rough weekend on the Twitter machines. The federal judge famous for penning Hercules and the Umpire, a blog that offered humanizing and often humorous judicial transparency, took to Twitter Friday night to express his views on the mounting critique of Report. His thoughts were… not great.

How Appealing:

"[All female] Law Clerks for Workplace Accountability launches a web site, a Twitter account, and issues its 'Response to the Federal Judiciary Workplace Conduct Working Group’s Report.'”

New Spanish Inquisition by SJWs? Thank goodness for Article III.

RGK pic.twitter.com/SSicuI41rO

— Richard G. Kopf (@JudgeKopf) July 20, 2018

Not entirely sure why the fact that every member of this group is a woman matters much except to poison the well with some old-timey misogyny. I mean, “women employed by powerful men have strong thoughts on sexual harassment”? No kidding. It would be weird if this group weren’t mostly if not entirely female.

After fielding angry Twitter replies all weekend, Judge Kopf is now challenging the Law Clerks For Workplace Accountability to allow him to post a full response to their critique on the Law Clerks website because apparently it’s incumbent on people making serious, detailed policy arguments to indulge Twitter trolls now:

Since being on Twitter, I followed Scott Greenfield alone. I am uninterested in stupid. Scott is not stupid.

Today, added: @ClerksForChange Looking for an invitation to submit my criticism of their "Response" for publication on their new website.

Waiting.

All the best.

RGK

— Richard G. Kopf (@JudgeKopf) July 22, 2018

And, as one might expect, people generally don’t really give a f**k what a judge who has proudly described himself as “a dirty old man” has to think about the propriety of women chiming in on a sexual harassment debate.

But for the laughs, let’s actually breakdown the Law Clerks For Workplace Accountability letter to see if there’s a single thing in there worth complaining about.

First. The Working Group asked the Judicial Conference to revise the Judiciary’s Code of Judicial Conduct to reflect that judges have an obligation to report misconduct…. We believe that the Working Group’s proposal to revise the Code of Conduct would be stronger if the Code specified what kinds of conduct that judges have an obligation to report and how judges should report such conduct.

What a crazy SJW request! Asking that an agreed upon edit not be wildly vague? Preposterous!

Second. The Judicial Conference should expand the scope of all relevant misconduct policies to include externs and other court staff that are not necessarily covered under many current EDR policies.

Make sure everyone in the courthouse is covered. Frankly, it’s embarrassing that the gathering of federal judges and judiciary executives didn’t come up with this themselves. That should be the real scandal here and not the audacity of a group of women to have opinions about harassment.

Third. We agree with the Working Group’s recommendation that former employees should have ongoing access to guidance on the scope of their obligation to protect chambers’ confidentiality…. The Report recommends extending the Model EDR plan’s reporting time limit to 180 days from the date of the alleged violation; however, we would recommend that the time limit be extended to at least one year following the violation, i.e., the term of a typical clerkship.

In Judge Kopf’s follow-up Tweets he complains of an inquisition-like effort to go after judges for past acts. Putting aside whether or not federal judges — the very faces of the law in America — should be shielded from misconduct by the passage of time, this recommendation asks for the length of a clerkship before a clerk has to report.

Perhaps the crux of Kopf’s complaint is the suggestion that the Working Group take a retrospective look at misconduct. Though the Law Clerks don’t suggest undertaking this effort with an eye toward punishing anyone, but as a source of valuable information about the nature and pattern of harassment to assist and inform forward-looking measures. That’s about the closest thing to “bold” in this letter and it’s still reasonable.

First. The Report recommends that “proportionate corrective action” be taken where misconduct has occurred without further defining that term. The Report does not clarify what processes and remedies are available to a complainant, especially when the accused employee is a sitting federal judge. The Report also does not explain who will conduct investigations or how these investigations will proceed. We recommend that the Judicial Conference adopt a clear definition of harassment, provide non-exhaustive examples of what constitutes harassment, identify the remedies available to victims of harassment, and explain in detail what the investigation process entails.

It’s stunning that a federal judge would think “vague edicts” are better than specific, predictable language. So much for textualism!

The letter goes on to ask for clarification on whether the Working Group’s proposed transfer program would operate from the date of complaint or only after the amorphous adjudication concludes and for the new Office of Judicial Integrity to coordinate with law schools and a whole bunch of small, targeted, common sense clarifications. For instance, the Working Group doesn’t clarify which — if any — of its recommendations would be mandatory and which would be left to the discretion of the circuits. Come on.

But the stupidest possible critique of the Law Clerks focuses on their request to have representation in future work addressing harassment in the judiciary. How dare these young lawyers be so presumptuous? Why do they think they’d be better at combatting harassment than the federal judges who’ve accumulated years of experience aiding and abetting it? Blah blah blah millennials.

Um, just read the Working Group Report and then read this letter. These clerks have done all the work they need to show they’re more than capable of contributing to and improving the effort.

Judge Kopf is an enlightening read on a lot of issues. This is not one of them. Just take the L on this one and move on Your Honor.

Joe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

[paharvey99]

No Waitrose October 6 - Day 31

Day 31

Today is Halloween, the worst day of the year. I dislike everything about Halloween; scary things in the shops, trick or treating, the Monster Mash, people on Twitter changing their names to spooky puns, shops in real life changing their names to spooky puns (hi Arghost), people dressing up as scary things… the whole lot. Don’t like any of it.

I got up this morning with the three year-old I live with and we put the telly on while we had breakfast (me: poached eggs on toast with Frank’s Red Hot Sauce; the three year-old I live with: bread and butter) and CBeebies was showing all the Halloween episodes of its regular programmes. The Halloween episode of Hey Duggee is predictably good, a Scooby Doo homage, while the Halloween episode of Bing is predictably whingey. Bing is dressed up as a dinosaur for Halloween, but baby Charlie gets frightened of his outfit, and… hang on, dressing up, outfits… Oh god there’s definitely some kind of Halloween party at nursery today that we haven’t prepared for at all, isn’t there.

I asked the other person I live with about the Halloween party and she said yes, there is a Halloween party, they all have to wear yellow, but it’s tomorrow. I suggested that it probably wasn’t tomorrow, as tomorrow is November 1st, whereas today is 31st October, which is a more likely time to be having a Halloween party. “Is it 31st October today? It never is, is it?” I almost pointed out that as someone who has been documenting the passing of October quite fastidiously, I was more likely than most to know what day in October it is. However, I decided it was no time for showing off and kept quiet.

The other person I lived with checked her email and it turned out that there was a “pumpkin party” for which the three year-old I live with would be expected to wear orange clothes. The three year-old I live with doesn’t really have any orange clothes, so I dropped her off at the pumpkin party wearing a mustard yellow dress and some peach leggings, clutching a squeezy orange plastic pumpkin she got free off the front of the magazine we bought yesterday. I knew that ocean of plastic crap we’ve been accumulating from the front of magazines would come in useful at some point, the law of averages said it had to.

Banishing the pumpkin party from my mind I drove to work, where I did some work. I was the only one in the office and I couldn’t really get going. I had a weird headache and a kind of nervous energy all day that I couldn’t shake off, not even with a walk down to Sainsburys to buy some stuff for tea.

As ever, I was left underwhelmed by anything Sainos had to offer in the fresh aisles, but the tinned aisles were a different story. There were a load of fancy jars of stuff reduced to clear. I got some giant chickpeas in sauce, some sautéed mushrooms in oil and some fancy tomatoes all for 50p each, down from like £3.29 a pop or whatever. I got a chorizo ring to go with them in a sort of Spanish storecupboard stew, which I would probably do with cous cous or rice, depending on my mood.

I walked back to the office from Sainsburys, did a load more work and then drove home, collecting the three year-old I live with on the way. The member of staff doing the pickup was beset by screaming orange children; he did manage to tell me that the three year-old I live with had had a nice day, but not much beyond that. On the drive home, I quizzed the three year-old I live with on what had happened at the pumpkin party, but no information was forthcoming. Clearly what happens at pumpkin party stays at pumpkin party.

Back at home I shoved the jars of stuff and the chorizo in a pan, the wok actually, and then sat down on the sofa, a bit worn out. The three year-old I live with had a load of energy to use up and was being a bit Halloweeny, shouting about monsters, so I tried to get into the Halloween spirit a bit more by putting the X Files theme tune on. This went down remarkably well, so I followed it up with Zombie by Jamie T, which I think is brilliant. The three year-old I live with didn’t think it was brilliant, so I decided to show her how brilliant I think it is by doing a really stupid dance to it and pretending to be a ghost. She thought this was hilarious, and then it turned into a bit of a Halloween indie disco for 10 minutes.

We did a lot of dancing to Friday I’m In Love by the Cure (not a Halloween song, I know) which the three year-old I live with seemed to enjoy, and then my phone suggested Lust For Life by Iggy Pop. I remember the first time I heard Lust For Life by Iggy Pop, thinking it was the most impossibly exciting song I’d ever heard, so I wanted to see if it would have a similar effect on the three year-old I live with. It certainly had some kind of an effect, she picked up her drum and led us marching through the house and we all jumped on the bed and declared that we were just modern guys.

Afterwards I noticed that my weird headache and nervous energy I’d had all day had dissipated. Turned out I just needed to do some daft dancing. I might send a card to Iggy Pop, let him know.

Also this evening my dad sent my sister and I a picture via Whatsapp of us from about 25 years ago getting ready for a Halloween party in front of a mirror with spooky facepaint on and stuff. It’s strange, because if you’d have asked me I’d have sworn blind we never did any Halloween stuff when I was growing up. I’m in the picture, but I have no memory of it whatsoever, can’t even work out where it was taken. Maybe I used to like Halloween and I’ve blocked it out. Maybe I’ve been going to Waitrose this whole month and I’ve blocked it out. Who even knows.

After the three year-old I live with went to bed we ate our reduced stuff in jars tea, with cous cous in the end actually, it was dang tasty. Then we watched Drag Race UK which I enjoyed a lot (especially the bit where Blu Hydrangea shouted “despunk my balls”, probably enjoyed that a bit too much to be honest) and now it’s the end of No Waitrose October for another year. Unless I go to Waitrose in the next hour, which seems unlikely. No, sod it, the umpires are taking the bails off, this one’s done.

Didn’t go to Waitrose.

[leycaria-blog]

A Collaborative Typhoon

Ich bin ein Berliner. Nein! No, Ley, no. That was last week’s joke. You can’t just cobble together a quick article from whatever you had lying around; people notice when something that’s meant to be luxurious has been scrabbled into being in a blind panic. Wait. What was the treat on The Apprentice this week? Danke Gott, mir geht es gut. Usually, the winning team on The Apprentice gets a treat where they go and have a meal or do some activity lead by some expert. This week, they hired an ice rink, gave them some inflatable rubber rings and told them it was ‘human curling’. There wasn’t anyone there to run it or umpire the game, so it was just seven loons with an inflatable doughnut in an abandoned ice rink. High quality treat, milord. I’m thinking of opening a similar enterprise myself actually, called human golf. The price would be £100 an hour, and you get to curl up in a field while I hit you repeatedly with a 5 iron. ‘But that’s horrifically overpriced!’ You may be screaming, and you’d be right. However glorious my tee shot, no one wants to pay one hundred pounds to be abused for an hour, just as nobody in their right mind is going to pay five pounds for a BLOODY DOUGHNUT.

I thought myself to be relatively sheltered and middle class until I saw this week’s episode, where the candidates pranced around London flaunting five pound doughnuts like that’s a thing. Doughnuts cost a pound for five. They come in ring, jam and custard varieties, and if you’re lucky there’ll be a Homer Simpson style one with the icing and technicolour rabbit droppings that costs a pound. You can’t justify charging five pounds for what is essentially the same mixture as a Sainsbury’s custard blob with a Jammy Dodger stuck on top. I did the maths for this, and excluding energy costs but including oil for the friar, I could make a batch of doughnuts now for 24.62 pence a doughnut, and that’s with shop bought ingredients which would be much cheaper wholesale. Add thirty five pence for a Custard Cream, spout some tripe about British flavours and sell it for five quid, I’m looking at an eight hundred and thirty three per cent return. That’s no making a profit, that’s taking advantage of people stupid enough to buy from you.

The contestants had to make and market doughnuts this week, if you hadn’t already guessed from the rant about rising doughnut prices above. Some days I worry I’ll never get a little doughnut of my own, let alone a great big doughnut out in the country. Regardless, however offensive the task itself seemed to be, you can always rely on it to be eclipsed by the sheer stupidity of the people attempting to complete it. Camilla decided it was a good idea to garnish her British themed doughnuts with some Earl Grey tea straight from the tea bag. Delicious, the brown grit you get at the bottom of the cup when the bag splits. The other team elected to top some of their doughnuts with enough chili sauce to set a clergyman on fire, whether they had just drunk two litres of sunflower oil or not. Both wound up with a fairly pathetic looking end product, certainly neither were worth the five pounds they tried to sell them for. Team Collaborative did better and produced something vaguely presentable, but Typhoon’s offering looked vaguely as though a typhoon had ripped through a builder’s yard, scattering the place with broken biscuits, ripped tea bags and neon paint. It was a mess, I’m greatly impressed that they won.

Having said this, it seemed at a couple of times almost as though the candidates themselves wanted to distance themselves from the program. At one point one of the girls, I believe it was Sarah Ann, started cooing ‘they’re so golden!’ at the man showing her how to cook doughnuts like they do in the professional kitchen on Masterchef. Later, Frank had paddy about how his team’s doughnuts were under proved, like a Great British Bake Off contestant who didn’t expect to around for much longer. I don’t personally think that Frank did anything too bad, he was fired for the unfortunate reason that he didn’t do anything too well either. Game show contestants have got off with far worse this week. Oh come on, don’t look at me like that. I wasn’t going to mention it but I’ve brought it up now. What choice do I have? Frank’s transgressions were certainly far fewer than Rahul’s on The Great British Bake Off on Tuesday. I know everyone is going to have taken a shot at this, but when two judges take leave of their senses enough to send Manon home on a technicality when Rahul outright gave up on his showstopper, you have to say something. At this point you get the feeling that Rahul could have produced a sloppy blue glazed ring with half a Penguin biscuit balanced on top and still got away with it. Anyway, I feel a bit sorry for Frank, even if his greatest achievement in the competition was frying seven million pounds worth of infinity shaped doughnuts. So goodbye Frank. You were rubbish.