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fairvercna‌:

     ❝ are you a menace to society, too ? ❞ chloe inquires jokingly. she doesn’t mean to be a trouble magnet. it just.. happens. ❝ nah. i’m not familiar with repressed anger. ❞ the live studio audience laughs. she’s the poster child for teen angst bullshit and she knows it, second only to the likes of jason dean himself, who y’know—murder people. she didn’t go thar far. not in every timeline, anyway. sorry, frank. ❝ let’s just say that some people think i’m difficult to deal with. my bullshit is more easily tolerated on a learn as you go basis. i get on dean’s nerves because i always seem to be in view when he strikes out or does something stupid. ❞

“i used to be.” he laughed, thinking about the various alley fights that he had gotten into-- that he hadn’t lost, because he never actually went down. he would count that as a surrender. “then the army got me, and i became a menace to other societies.” he started to lean against the wall, one arm coming up over his chest. “uh, honorable discharge, so i guess i’m back to-- you gotta just let it all out. don’t repress it. hit something. hit something that’s supposed to be hit. that’s my only real advice here.”

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ofcmotions‌:

     “my dude, are you sure that’s not what an addict would say? i’m not trying to spite you, but i feel like i’ve heard that line before.” at his remark, she raised her eyebrows and gave him a look that could only be described as dubious. “it’s not a pot thing, just a millennial thing.” 

     ‘that’s going to be a no from me,” mj responded just as quickly, pushing out her hand. her flat palm stood as a safe barrier between the two of them, her playful smile right behind it. as he turned away, the smell of smoke stung her nose. even after living in queens, she couldn’t get used to the strong scent. it was a love-hate type of thing, and mj didn’t have the patience to even try to like it a little bit. “but try me later and i might just change my mind.”

it was definitely not what an addict would say, was the line that steve wanted to fire back at her immediately, but he knew that she had a point. and that there was nothing that he could really say or do here that wouldn’t raise red flags with her. and so the debate would go on, and he still held his offensive weapon away from her, but now he was leaning in, past the hand but not pushing on it at all, balancing against it instead, with just enough pressure that it might be a struggle for her. “come on, one kiss.” 

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dandelionwines‌:

jumpy joyce strikes again. her sensitive anxiety has always been easily triggered. “i can- but i make it a point to steer clear of the crowd passed 2 am. safer behind the bar. or at least that’s what i tell myself. ” joyce explains. she’s comfortable where she works, and she enjoys it most days, but she doesn’t love being in the center of the drunken rowdiness. she nods. she looks behind her shoulders at the building she just came out of- it’s still surreal to think she owns a business. from there she goes digging through her purse and manages to find a lighter towards the bottom. “ah-ha.” joyce announces to herself before she hands it over. “i’m pretty sure it’s my last one.”

oh, steve knew exactly what his role was here. a woman, a lady, who was scared of being harassed by a crowd of yahoos? not on his watch. “i’ll make sure no one tries anything.” and he looked the part, far over six feet tall and with boxy shoulders that, from some angles, looked just as broad. “though we do have something to take care of first.” he held out his pack, offering her a cigarette.

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upsidcdowns‌:

lily watches quietly as steve finally manages to fish a pack of matches out of his pocket, her shoulders rising in response to his question. “not waiting for anyone today,” the witch answers, tapping her fingers against the fabric of her leggings. “just wandering around for the time being.” she lets the conversation fall into silence for a few moments before abruptly speaking again. “are you waiting for someone ?”

steve had had the suspicion before, but that was the kind of response that just strengthened his running theory. this woman was a prostitute who was looking to pick up a client for the night. and, now, steve wasn’t interested in that kind of thing. but he couldn’t just leave this poor girl out here alone in the cold, with no one looking out for her. he wouldn’t have that on his conscience. “no. my friends are inside. i just stepped out to...” he gestured with the cigarette. “you... hang around here often?”

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daisychased‌:

“fred,” he answers, giving steve a firm handshake that his father could be proud of. too bad he wasn’t around to see it. “more like looking for someone, actually,” he reluctantly admits. fred glances up and down the street but there doesn’t appear to be another soul. “now are you waiting for someone or did you just ask that to make sure no one would look for me if i go missing?” 

steve was... admittedly a little caught off guard with a response like that. he hadn’t at all interpreted it as fred being there to look for one specific person, like... his brother, for instance. but rather that fred was scoping the bar scene for a date. there was a little color high up in his cheeks, and he did his best to relax his posture. “uh, my friends are inside. just stepped out for...” he lifted his other hand. “uh, but i don’t know if they’d miss me much."

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plasticdxntshine‌:

“ hm? oh yeah i’m fine, ” CADY reassured. she had debated if she was staying to drink at this point or just to people watch. the latter felt more likely. “ if i was drunk enough, i’d completely lose track of time and i still want to be home at a reasonable hour. i’m just trying to waste a few sensible hours outside the house and maybe even get a little more socialized. ” she offered a smile as she tried to make sense of why she was still there. “ y’know. just trying not be a general hermit. ”

steve had few blessings in the real world, but one of them was that he could now actually properly metabolize alcohol. it came with him actually having to watch what he ate, and actually had to get more than a couple hours of sleep. but... in the long term, with how he spent his days, it was a pretty good trade-off. “not a lot of people just try to find new friends at the bar these days.” even he’d found himself on social apps, trying to connect with people when he’d first gotten here. and it had worked.

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god im just thinking about how much going to public school in the MCU would’ve made me hate captain america. every time i got caught giving some bitch the finger or writing on bathroom walls or ditching class or stealing books from the library cause i got a fine or what have you, and then they gave me lunch detention or ISS and i sat in that dumbass eraser-smelling room and im in My Chair (the chair i always sit in and yell at anyone else who tries to take it), fuming, arms crossed, full of teen angst and hating everyone around me, and AGAIN had to watch this stupid fucking video ive already seen so many times that i know it by heart and every word grates on my eardrums and i’d just see this fuckin familiar face

and i would be ready to LOSE MY SHIT

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fairvercna‌:

      ❝ oh, that ? no, not at all, ❞ chloe corrects, shaking her head. she’s seen too much of dean trying to have game to ever deny that what steve described happens. ❝ i meant it was surprising that i’ve held a job for almost a year. i’m not exactly a business owner’s ideal candidate—or so i’ve been told, ❞ she shrugs. ❝ this m.j. chick sounds like an absolute dream, ❞ chloe muses. and she truly means it. who doesn’t love a girl who is willing to kick a man in the chest ? shit’s magnificent. ❝ eh, don’t. you can consider me his karma. he has to put up with me after terrorizing the neighborhood. ❞

“yeah, i know what you mean.” steve’s string of odd jobs back in brooklyn filtered through his mind. he couldn’t say that he fell into the things that he was good at accidentally, but he never would have really met his potential in the army if it wasn’t for a long, long string of incredible coincidences. “you know the type. a lot of, uh, repressed anger. you have to just let it out.” he took another long drag off the cigarette, hand bouncing on his knee as it came back down. “what’s so bad about you? or do you just intentionally make his life hell?”

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fairvercna‌:

     ❝ touché, ❞ chloe scoffs. that’s one of the only things she can’t lie her way into accomplishing. not that she needs to rent a car or anything—but she’s hard wired to want for anything that she’s told she’s not allowed to have. dean being referred to as a dick from a stranger ( who looks awfully familiar to a comic book geek like chloe, by the way ) pulls a chuckle out of her. ❝ uh, yeah ! for almost a year now, which is.. surprising. and he’s not so bad—when he’s not talking. but if she ever wants to kick him in the nads, i can pass along his address. ❞ 

“it’s a surprise that he didn’t leave mj alone?” that rose his eyebrows up, because this guy had seemed to have a little bit of a routine. steve had had to hand it to the guy. not a lot of people would have had the balls to try something like that on a girl like her who was standing next to a guy who was built like steve was. “she’s not really the nads-kickin’ kind. would probably go right for the face. or the sternum. i’m sorry you gotta put up with someone like that.”

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upsidcdowns‌:

“hmm ?” lily’s attention is drawn away from the list she’s making in the notes app in her phone, bright emerald hues searching for the owned of the voice asking if she would light their cigarette. once they finally land on steve, she offers a simple shrug and a quick shake of her head. “don’t have any matches on me. sorry ‘bout that.”

steve was more and more surprised, though he couldn’t be disappointed. this wasn’t exactly the first time that he’d found himself in this situation. back in the day, you could just walk up to anyone on the street and they’d have something or another in their pocket. eventually, he found a half-empty matchbox in the inner pocket of his coat, having rifled for quite a while. “you waiting for someone?”

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dandelionwines‌:

said bar belonged to none other than joyce byers. even she disliked the no smoking rule. but with her maternal instincts cemented into her conscious, she felt guilty watching the younger crowd sit in a cloud of smoke. so she banned it altogether- with a few exceptions like her sneaking a smoke during the slow shifts. she stepped out of the back door to the alley on her way to follow in steve’s footsteps- but was startled seeing anyone else back there. “oh!” joyce gasped. it was followed by a quiet “fuck.” her hand raced to her now fast beating heart. the heavy door shut behind her, the same one she had meant to prop it open with a nearby cinder block when she stepped outside. “well if i don’t, i just locked myself out for nothing.”

steve was surprised that this woman was so surprised, jumping a little bit at her reaction, because she looked pretty genuinely terrified. he was pretty sure that the alley wasn’t private property, but no one could ever be certain. “you can just go ‘round the front, right? i mean... you came out of the bar, right?” he wasn’t positive where the door went to, now that he thought about it.

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plasticdxntshine‌:

“ wow, what a mood. ” CADY knew she was trying too hard with the right person. she didn’t even know what mood his situation was, but it was a habitually thing she wanted to say. “ as tempting as that offer is, i think i’m sticking around for a little while longer. i just… needed a breather before figuring out the next step. basically, i just don’t wanna go home. ”

steve could relate to the feeling of not wanting to head home-- at least, back in brooklyn, or when that had meant the u.s.o. encampment, especially. really... most of the time before he’d come here-- at least when he wasn’t staying with his best friend. he turned her strange maxim over in his head. “you’re sure you’re fine? or did you mean that you’re not drunk enough yet?” he gestured toward the door to the bar.

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ofcmotions‌:

     mj laughed, the rich sound bright in its softness. while they had originally agreed to meet inside the bar, mj felt like they had been talking outside for hours. a part of her was half expecting steve to interrupt her by asking for a lighter. she could swear that the man smoked at least a pack a day. mj made a spectacle of patting all of her pockets, both of them well aware that she was a strict non-smoker. “your lungs would thank you if you started vaping. would i be too optimistic if i said  maybe they’ll finally be able to breathe again?”

“vaping. i keep hearing this word. that’s not a pot thing?” steve finally decided to check the pocket of his jeans, and was surprised to find a bic there, something in a pink cheetah print that he had definitely not purchased for himself. well, he had no hope of finding the owner now. so he flicked it, insulating the flame against the wind as he lit his cigarette. “i can stop anytime i want to. i just don’t want to.” he pulled the cigarette from his lips, making sure to hold it far away from her, to turn his head from her as he exhaled. “kiss me.” he was pretty sure he’d have to find a toothbrush and maybe some mouthwash before she would 

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daisychased‌:

“not cigarettes,” fred answers plainly. he sees the appeal of them but there isn’t a timeline in the world where ol’ mollywobbles wouldn’t kill him for being within a soccer field’s distance near tobacco. if anybody could go against time and space to reprimand their son, it was molly weasley. “my dabbles are more medicinal than anything else.” 

steve stowed the pack away as soon as he heard the no, because he didn’t want that riding on his conscious. not that the guy across from him didn’t look like he could make his own decisions. from the sound of it, either. he extended his free hand. “i’m steve. you waitin’ for someone?”

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plasticdxntshine‌:

“ wow… y’know some ladies consider that question a compliment, ” CADY offered a laugh. she didn’t think she looked that young, but it wouldn’t be the first time someone mistook her for something along the lines of a high schooler. “ but, yes, i am allowed to be here. and drink here too. i’m just… not. came to meet someone and realized i just didn’t like the vibe. and now that someone is having a lot more fun without me, so…” she shrugged. “ i’m chilling out here. what’s your excuse? ”

oh, me?” steve glanced back in the direction of the bar, thinking about the inside. “a couple of my friends and i are grabbing a drink. no one wanted to join me out here. not drunk enough yet.” the side of his mouth quirked up into a smile. it wasn’t the type of friends who were going to miss him if he was gone for too long. besides, he was pretty sure that he could take care of himself. “you need me to call you a ride?”

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fairvercna‌:

    ❝ brush up on vine compilations before setting out tonight, did ya ? wanted to make sure the youths saw you as one of their own ? ❞ chloe asks teasingly, brow arching as she eyes steve with only a hint of puzzlement. in her experience, the only viable option is ‘get killed’. but considering she’s died about eight different times, it’s to be expected. ❝ well the two aren’t mutually exclusive, so both is a safe bet, ❞ chloe muses with a small shrug. knowing the spare is the last cigarette she has, she decides to save it. ❝ but i definitely deserve a better alter ego name. ❞

steve didn’t realize how long he’d been quiet, brainstorming various alter ego names for the girl that was across from him. none of them really seemed to fit. but then again, he didn’t really know her. “you’re right. i got one foot in the grave over here. i can rent a car, too.” back in his day, a birthday hadn’t meant a thing once you were eighteen. drink, smoke, join the army, all of it was legal, even though you’d already been doing it for years. he took a drag, hand lingering somewhere near his hip. “you work down at the mechanic’s shop, don’t you?” now that she’d brought attention to it, he remembered the flash of blue hair. “uh, with that dick who wouldn’t leave my lady friend alone.”

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plasticdxntshine‌:

CADY was confused for a moment. she had encountered countless frat boys in snap-backs blowing vapor in her face in passing. she even had the occasional student pull one out during a study session. as much as she wished people kept their vapes at home, they were very much in the public. “ um… they sell them at the local drug store, so i’m gonna go… no? i know you can’t use them on airplanes, but it’s allowed most everywhere else, it seems. it’s just water vapor, or so i’m told… ”

well, apparently he’d guessed wrong, and now it was all that he could do to backtrack, or change the subject entirely. water vapor. so you had to stand outside, in the cold... or maybe you didn’t, apparently he didn’t know, and inhale water vapor. there were some things about the future that would always be lost on him. “oh, yeah, i... hey, are you old enough to be at the bar?” he should know better than to let his mouth run rampant, especially around beautiful women.