Topic: One Of A Million Dreams

Lucy Rogers

Date: 2012-12-13 18:20 EST
As Steve and Lucy's wedding day approached, there was still a lot that needed to be done. The girls had gone off on their own to shop, as women often did, which bored Johnny to death. He'd gone with Liv a few times while she tried on outfit after outfit, and it was fun for a while, but got boring pretty quickly, and before long he could usually be found poking around the lingerie section for something more interesting than office wear. But not today. Today, the girls had gone off on their own, leaving Steve and Johnny to their own devices, which was not necessarily a good thing, as Steve didn't really know his way around Rhy'Din and Johnny was about as mature as a ten year old most of the time.

Despite the stern lecture from Liv to behave, Johnny had wasted no time once the girls were gone, dragging Steve out of the apartment to show him around Rhy'Din. They had been given a to-do list of their own to fulfill, which included buying rings, and Johnny wanted Steve's opinion on an engagement ring for Liv. He'd made Steve promise not to say a word on threat of death, cross his heart and hope to die, and all that, though it was mostly an idle threat. The rest of the day had been spent showing Steve around Rhy'Din and the Marketplace and trying their best to avoid Liv and Lucy. When Johnny realized that Steve had few friends and that no one was going to have a chance to throw him a bachelor party, he decided to take it upon himself to drag the reluctant Captain to the nearest strip joint - a place Johnny had once frequented before meeting Liv known as The Cat's Meow - to celebrate his last night as a bachelor, much to Steve's chagrin.

There were certain things that were traditional and necessary, in Johnny's opinion anyway, and a bachelor party was one of them, despite Steve's insistence that a.) He couldn't get drunk, and b.) He didn't really need a bachelor party. Five hours later, Johnny was three sheets to the wind, and Steve was still stone cold sober.

The girls, on the other hand, had not had such a meandering day as all that. Lucy had some very clear ideas about what she wanted to get, and where she wanted to get it from, which resulted in Liv being dragged cheerfully from one end of the city to the other and, at one point, standing on a stool while a seamstress made a few pivotal changes to the dress she was wearing. The quieter twin was ever so slightly gleeful about being in on the secret, thoroughly enjoying herself as she watched Lucy get herself fitted and kitted out for the big day with all the determination of a drill sergeant on parade, from the dress to the underwear. They even had a moment to choose a suit for Johnny to wear, confident in Liv's ability to talk her boyfriend into just about anything.

By the time they returned home, the apartment was empty and had been for quite some time, leaving them plenty of room to spread out in their pajamas to enjoy some in-depth girl talk over Chinese, ice-cream, and a bottle of wine that had been sitting in the back of the cupboards for months. It wasn't often Lucy and Liv got to sit and just be with one another, and even if it hadn't been intended, it was the best gift their respective other halves could have given them. Of course, by the time the food was eaten, the wine almost finished, and the couch made up to fit both of them for the night, night had fallen, and the boys still weren't back, a little sliver of worry began to settle on both women. While Johnny was a little wild and could easily lose himself in the city for hours on end, Steve was not the sort to disappear without even finding a way to call. Was he"

Though Steve had certainly seen women in various stages of undress, the only one he'd ever seen naked other than pictures in magazines and on pin-up posters was Lucy. Once the girls in the strip club found out he was getting married, there was no lack of attention, most of them assuming the pair were brothers. Johnny did very little to discourage that assumption, thoroughly enjoying the attention, as innocent as it was. His heart belonged to Liv, as much as Steve's belonged to Lucy's, but he was determined to show Steve a good time if it killed him. Fortunately for Johnny, he survived, just barely.

With Johnny practically incapacitated, Steve managed to call a cab, get Johnny inside, and direct the driver back to Luks Condos. He hoped the girls wouldn't be too worried or too angry, but there wasn't much he could about it now. He found Johnny's wallet and paid the cab driver, before slinging the half-conscious Human Torch over his shoulders and up the elevator to Apartment 303.

"Hey, do you work out?" Johnny quipped, dangling from Steve's shoulders with an upside down view of Steve's *ss, cackling with laughter as he gave the other man a swat.

There are few things that travel quite so well as the sound of a highly intoxicated man laughing at the top of his lungs, whichever way up he might be. Liv and Lucy certainly heard the approach of the heroes from where they were sat on the couch, exchanging a glance that was as much alarmed as it was amused at the sound. "That can't be ....can it?" Liv asked, not particularly relieved by the wide grin appearing on Lucy's face, and both women scrambled up from the couch, wine glasses in hand, to pad over to the door.

Reaching out, Lucy pulled the door open in time to see Johnny Storm, dangling over Steve's shoulder and laughing like a drain, give a pretty substantial slap to the other man's rump. Somehow managing to hold in the laughter, she drew Liv to her side, both twins looking up at Steve with identical expressions of slightly bemused mirth. "Good night, was it, love?"

Steve looked unamused, to say the least. "If he doesn't have a headache in the morning, I'm going to give him one," he remarked stepping into the room and unceremoniously dumping Johnny on the couch.

Johnny groaned as everything went from upside down to rightside up in a matter of seconds, feeling a little like a ragdoll, easily lugged around by the super solider. "Whoa..." he muttered, as he tried to find his balance, swaying a little, even though he was slouched against the couch. "Hey, Livvie!" he wiggled his fingers at her with a wide grin. "Me and Steve were bonding. Weren't we, Steve-o' Boys night out. Guy can't get married without having a little fun first," Johnny said, swinging his grin up at Steve from the couch.

Steve rolled his eyes. "More like watch you flirt with everything in a skirt," Steve replied under his breath. Or out of a skirt, for that matter. "I told him I can't get drunk, but he wouldn't listen!" he exclaimed, hoping they wouldn't blame him for this fiasco.

Lucy Rogers

Date: 2012-12-13 18:26 EST
"Sounds like you had more than enough fun for the both of you," Liv giggled down at her boyfriend, setting her wine glass down to move over to the kitchen and get Johnny the biggest glass of water she could manage. She didn't hear the comment about flirting with everything in a skirt, but Lucy did, eyeing Johnny with a knowing smirk.

The elder Broderick reached up to gently smooth a discernible lipstick mark from her own fiance's cheek, unable to keep herself from laughing a little at how quick he was to drop Johnny in the dog-house. "Of course he wouldn't listen, he's Johnny," she giggled, more than a little merry herself judging by the sheer size of the wine glass in her hand. "Didn't you even enjoy it a little bit?"

As Lucy grinned up at Steve, Liv slipped back to Johnny, laughing at his exuberantly slurred cheeriness. "Here, best man, drink this," she told him, closing his fingers around the glass.

"Don't worry. I made sure he didn't do anything stupid," Steve assured Liv when she returned, having gotten stuck playing Johnny's babysitter for the evening. He knew Johnny meant well; he just got a little carried away sometimes. Steve shrugged a little at Lucy's question, furrowing his brows as she dabbed at his cheek and the tell-tale lipstick stain. "Sorry, Luce," he apologized, looking guilty, though he'd done nothing wrong.

On the couch, Johnny scrunched his nose up at the glass Liv was handing him. "What is it?" he asked, examining the contents of the glass she had wrapped his hand around. It was going to start boiling if he didn't drink it fast.

Steve pulled Lucy aside to confide, without Liv overhearing. "I had to practically sit on him to stop from going on stage and....you know."

"It's water," Liv assured her boyfriend with a warm smile. She had, after all, seen him drunk before - this wasn't as bad as it could have been. "And if you drink it, you won't wake up in the morning feeling as though your tongue is welded to the roof of your mouth." As she ministered to the happy drunk now leaning heavily against her side, Lucy skipped along with Steve's gentle tug, listening to his slightly scandalised confession with what seemed to be a permanent grin.

"You mean you didn't leap up there and join in yourself?" she asked him impishly, knowing full well that he had probably spent the entire visit to whatever club they'd gone to trying to get out anyway. She laughed softly, tucking a hand around to gently squeeze the backside that had been so rudely abused by the Human Torch. "He's just trying to give you a good send off, you know. He didn't mean anything by it."

"Water?" Johnny echoed, making a face. "You know how much I hate water." He pushed the glass back at her, spilling a little in the process. "Livvie," he pouted. "Do you love me" Steve says you must love me to put up with me all the time. Am I really that hard to put up with?"

Steve furrowed his brows at Lucy, looking appalled at her question. "No! Of course not. Why would I?" He'd done his bit on stage selling war bonds years ago and had never really felt comfortable doing it. It wasn't where he belonged, and he certainly wasn't going to strut his stuff on stage to a cheering crowd of half-naked woman and drunk men. He narrowed his eyes at her as she gave his backside a squeeze. "Are you drunk?" he asked, giving her a pointed look.

"No, darling, of course you're not," Johnny's currently long-suffering girlfriend assured him, despite the slop of warm water now soaking the skirt of her nightie and trickling down her leg. She cupped a hand to his jaw and kissed his cheek, holding her breath so she wasn't overwhelmed by the fumes on his. "And it's water now, or the mother of all hangovers in the morning. Your choice." She patted his cheek fondly, and waited for the reply.

By the door, Lucy was unashamedly grinning up at Steve in the face of his pointed enquiry. "Little bit," she told him cheerfully, waving her glass as if to show off that she had at least been drinking something relatively grown up. "Why, want me to show you how a strip tease is really done?" Her dark eyes sparkled with wild mischief as she blew him a kiss, daring him to stay serious in the face of silly good humor.

"You're just being nice," Johnny frowned, even as she kissed his cheek, lifting the glass of water to his lips, making another face as he took a sip. The water hit his stomach and didn't seem to want to stay down. "Oh, sh*t!" he exclaimed, hopping to his feet and half-stumbling, half-running to the bathroom, a few flames trailing behind him, thankfully not enough to set anything on fire.

Steve arched a brow at Lucy, still giving her that pointed look, tempted by the offer, but remembering the promise he'd made the previous evening. "I thought you wanted to wait until we're married," he reminded her, and serious he stayed. He'd seen more than enough flesh tonight, but the thought of her doing a strip tease for him was doing something to his anatomy that the strippers had failed to do.

As Liv wandered after her fleeing boyfriend at a far more sedate pace, pausing in the kitchen to renew his glass of water on her way, Lucy laughed again, taking a deep gulp of her wine. "Oh, you want me to save it for the wedding night, hmm?" she teased cheerfully, taking his hand and drawing him away from the door finally. She released him for just a moment, to flick the radio on, and proceeded to do what she always did when she was merry or worse ....dance. And it certainly wasn't the kind of dancing Steve was used to. It was highly unlikely that he had ever been used as a pole for the kind of gyrating he'd been trying not to watch all evening, after all.

Steve's gaze followed the fleeing Torch and his girlfriend for a moment before turning back to Lucy, realizing she was just a wee bit tipsy and almost envying that fact, though he wasn't envying Johnny's rush to worship the porcelain god. He arched a brow as Lucy gyrated to the beat of the music using him as a prop, his temperature skyrocketing, but not as high as Johnny Storm's. He gulped air, flushing pink and not from the heat, and reached for the glass of wine in her hand. "You're drunk," he proclaimed as she giggled and jiggled. He drained what remained of the wine in the glass, mostly so she didn't, almost forgetting it wouldn't do a thing to relax him.

"Only a little bit," she declared cheerfully, pouting as he removed the glass from her fingers. "Hey, there's still some in the bottom of that!" Not that the theft and swallow of her wine stopped her from hooking her arm about his hips and humping his leg in time with the music, her body bent back so far she was in very real danger of tipping over backwards. "Dance with me!"

Lucy Rogers

Date: 2012-12-13 18:31 EST
Now he had an empty glass in his hand and a slightly inebriated Lucy humping his glass. What was a superhero to do' He leaned forward to slid an arm around her waist to hold her up, just in case she lost her balance and tipped over backwards. "Lucy, that's not dancing!" he exclaimed, stammering, "That's....I don't know what it is, but it's not dancing."

As he drew her up, she threw her arms around his neck, bumping the tip of her nose slightly harder than she had intended to his, her grin wide and wild and aching with good humor. "So dance with me your way, or stand and take it, sexy," was her challenge, not helped by the way her leg rose to wrap about his hip as she undulated to the music. Was she being deliberately risque, or did this happen every time she got tipsy' He'd have to wait for another day to find out.

"I don't..." He was stammering again, wondering if she was going to climb him. "Luce..." he began, needing to put the glass down before he dropped it, but unable to unwrap himself from the hold she had on him. "I don't know how to dance and..." He trailed off, gulping again as she was having an awkward effect on his body, and it was starting to become rather obvious, if she didn't notice it already. "I think it's time for bed," he suggested, and he meant for sleeping.

"Not until you dance with me," she insisted, pouting at his shy insistence on getting away from her as soon as he could. This time, she took the glass from his hand, leaning back over his arm to set it with exaggerated care on the table before pulling herself upright. Arms about his neck, she jumped up into his arms with a grin, rolling her hips wickedly as her lips tasted his. "Dance with me," she repeated softly, gazing into his eyes with only a slight tendency toward the unfocused. "Please?"

How could he say no to that' He could never say no to her. He loved her too much. His arms went around and beneath her to support her while she clung to his hips, his desire for her all the more apparent now that she had her legs wrapped around him. This wasn't really dancing either, but maybe he could dance her into the bedroom and tuck her into bed. "I don't know how to dance, Luce," he reminded her again, frowning, wondering if he was going to step on her toes at the wedding.

She growled under her breath, her pout even more pronounced at his continued insistence that he couldn't dance. "Everyone can dance, you're just not trying," she informed him, looking quite a bit like a spoilt child as her legs unwound from his hips. Dropping onto her feet, she staggered a little bit, moving back over to the radio. One hand waved at him wildly. "Take your shoes off," she ordered, twisting the tuning knob until she found a classical channel. Turning, she offered him a happy smile. "I'm going to teach you how to dance." Yes. Drunk Lucy genuinely thought she could teach sober Steve how to dance in a style she'd only seen on Disney films.

"My shoes?" he asked, as she slipped out of his arms to change the dial on the radio, wondering what his shoes had to do with anything. "You're not gonna use me as a pole again, are you? Because that's not dancing." He reached out an arm to steady himself against the wall as he pulled off one boot, followed by the other, wondering what she had in mind. He'd seen people dance plenty of times, watching from the sidelines like a wallflower, wishing he had a partner to dance with. He couldn't help but see the irony in the fact that the partner he'd finally chosen was a long lost relative of Peggy Carter's. The music she'd chosen wasn't the kind he was accustomed to hearing in dance halls, but he wasn't sure it mattered. If he didn't take a crash course in Dancing 101, he was going to be the laughing stock of his own wedding.

Thankfully, the music she'd found was in three-four time, which meant there wasn't anything wildly complicated in working the steps out. Padding back to him, she grinned, taking his hands to pull him into a relatively free space. "No bed until you dance with me, so we're gonna dance," she insisted once more, drawing his left arm about her waist and patting until he held on. That hand crept up to his shoulder as the other folded itself into his right palm. "I learned this from Sleeping Beauty," she informed him, momentarily forgetting that he'd probably never even heard of Disney, much less the films that had been made after his crash. "I think you step forward once, and sideways twice ....whatever. I'll lead." And she did, lurching backwards in time with the music and hoping like hell he moved with her.

He knew the stance. He'd studied the form from afar many times, but he'd never even once had a girl to hold in his arms and lead across the dance floor. Not until now, anyway. He may never have seen the movie version, but the tale of Sleeping Beauty wasn't created by Walt Disney. It was an old tale, retold many times. He followed her lead, hoping he wasn't holding her too tightly or too loosely, hoping he wouldn't step on her toes. Thankfully, his palms weren't sweaty, but the same couldn't be said for the knots in his stomach. He listened to her instructions, nodding mutely, hesitating briefly before following her lead.

"When did Sleeping Beauty dance?" he asked, curiously, as he tried to mimic what her feet were doing, his head tipped forward to watch their feet.

He could have held her as tightly as he liked and she wouldn't have minded, looking down at their feet as earnestly as he was as they hesitantly moved around the little space of floor. "Oh, she danced in the woods when she met Prince Phillip and he thought she was Briar Rose, and then at the end when he woke her up and the fairies kept changing her dress color," she informed him breezily, accidentally landing on his foot with a wince. "Sorry!"

"What?" he asked, utterly confused by the rendition of Sleeping Beauty she was giving him, and thinking she was starting to sound a little like Johnny as she rambled on. He halted a moment as she stepped on his foot, and he had to figure out where they were in the dance steps before he found the rhythm again. He wasn't really that bad for his first try, if he could just loosen up and relax a little. "It's okay. Try again," he encouraged, as he took the lead. One step forward, one step sideways...

It was easier this way, with Steve leading. With him in charge as she swayed with him, finding more easily the rhythm of the steps even as the music switched from the first waltz to the tune that Disney's Sleeping Beauty had taken over for their theme. Lucy's face lit up in a child-like smile as she recognised the music, lifting her head to look up at Steve as she joined in with the words she knew, her voice nowhere near out of tune as it had been when she was teasing her sister. "I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream ....I know you, the gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam ..."

Lucy Rogers

Date: 2012-12-13 18:34 EST
He recognized the tune, though he couldn't name it, but he'd never heard the melody put to words and sung before. He arched his brows at her as she broke into song, and it felt as though she was singing just for him. The arm around her waist pulled her a little closer, the expression on his face softening, the blue of his eyes glittering with unexpected moisture. His heart melted not only at the words of the song, but at the woman who was singing them, her voice as sweet as any songbirds, as beautiful as an angel. He would have let her continue, but he was suddenly compelled to draw her up close and kiss her, cutting off her singing, though the melody, full of violins, continued to flow around them. She was right about one thing - it felt like a dream, a beautiful dream come true.

He swallowed the last words of the stanza in his kiss, something soft and gentle to match the music and the aching swell of tender affection that filled her chest as the playful atmosphere settled into loving quiet. As the music wound around them, she rose up onto her toes, answering his kiss with her own, pouring her heart into the single gesture of intimate affection, and knew in that instant that she had one more detail to add to the list she had left with Agent Croft and Director Fury. Some moments can't be replicated, but this one ....this one was worth a try.

He poured his own heart into that kiss, his heart and his feelings for her laid wide open, with nothing to hide. His feet had stopped moving; he didn't so much as sway, all of his attention going into that one kiss as though it was their first all over again, as though nothing else mattered. He tasted the wine on her lips, but that didn't matter either, and he suddenly realized that it didn't matter if he knew how to dance or not. They were about to embark on the greatest adventure of their lives together, and that was all that mattered.

"All right, you two, break it up!"

Lucy pulled away from Steve with soft giggle as Liv's voice made itself known in the pink bubble of perfect he'd drawn around them, offering her fiance a smile that was half-apology, half-promise even as her sister slapped her firmly on the behind. "Come on, put him down," Liv told Lucy, giggling herself at the lovestruck look on her big sister's face. "No playing until after the wedding, remember" You paid me a whole copper penny to make sure."

Poking at Lucy's ticklish sides, she ushered her sister away from Steve, flickering a cheeky smile up at him, too. "You should be ashamed of yourself, taking advantage of her when she's drunk and half-dressed." It was a gentle, familiar kind of tease; Liv knew perfectly well that Lucy was the one taking advantage, and the grin on her face made it absolutely clear.

Steve chuckled as Liv burst their bubble, interrupting the romantic interlude and smacking her sister on the rear, just as Johnny had smacked him. "Party poop," Steve teased, smirking at Liv. "Is Fireball gonna be okay?" he asked, more concerned about Johnny than he let on. "I wasn't taking advantage!" he called back as Liv pulled Lucy away from him. "She was taking advantage of me!" His arms hung loosely at his sides as she was pulled away from him, and he suddenly felt all alone, watching as Liv led Lucy away, like a boy who'd just lost his best friend.

Liv laughed, half-turning to grin back at Steve. "Cheer up, captain, no one's going to press charges," she assured him, the glass of wine she had drunk earlier giving her the confidence to tease him a little better than she had done a while before. She let out a yelp as Lucy flung her arms around her from behind, humming loudly along with the music as she inexpertly waltzed the more sober Broderick backwards and forwards in the narrow hallway. "Johnny's fine," Liv managed to assure Steve, laughing again as she tried without much success to untangle herself from her ove-excited sister. "He should be sleeping it off now - get off!"

This last was said to Lucy with a snicker of laughter. The elder Broderick cackled delightedly. "Never!" she declared. "Steve, come and hold her down while I - Whoops!" With a thump and a tangle of feet, both twins went down hard, landing in a giggling heap of limbs that flailed wildly around one another.

Steve watched wide-eyed as the two Broderick twins clumsily waltzed their way toward the guest room, laughing with them as they went down in a heap. He wondered if he should go untangle them, but thought if he did, he'd probably just end up part of the heap. It warmed his heart to see them together, even if one of them was pretty drunk, and despite his apparent annoyance with Johnny, he was touched by the other man's desire to do something nice for him, even if it had turned into something of a fiasco. It could have been a lot worse, and Steve realized he wasn't just getting a wife out of the deal, but a brother and sister, too. That thought made him smile, hands shoved in his pockets as he watched the twins giggling like schoolgirls at each other on the floor. "Go to bed, Lucy!" he called. "I'll still be here in the morning."

"But I want you to tuck me in," she wailed plaintively, the effect somewhat spoiled by the fact that by this point, she was holding onto Liv's hand as her younger sister pulled her along the floor and through the door to the spare bedroom. From inside, her voice called out once more. "I love you, Steve Rogers! You're the bestest, loveliest, most wonderfullest person in the world ever!" There was a thump, and more giggling, and finally the sound of a quieter goodnight as Lucy was tucked up in bed by her little sister.

A moment later, Liv reappeared, still chuckling to herself as she pulled the door closed quietly. She met Steve's gaze, and her snickering grew for a moment before she composed herself. "Still sure you want to marry into this crazy family?"

He smiled as she called to him from the bedroom, no longer embarrassed at Lucy's antics, anymore than he was by Johnny's, at least not so long as they were safe inside the condo. He had to chuckle a little at her over-enthusiastic compliment, thinking she was laying it on a bit thick, but then it was more than likely the wine talking. He sat down on the couch, reaching for the comic book that had been left on the coffee table and idly thumbing through it. The Origins of Captain America. But the comic book only told part of the story, and he wasn't yet sure how it all was going to end.

He pulled his gaze away from the comics as Liv reappeared, the two troublemakers settled down for the night. "So long as you still want to have me," he replied, tossing the comic book onto the table and leaning back against the couch, feeling that slightly shy awkwardness coming over him again now that it was just him and Liv.

"Sorry about Johnny," he apologized. "He got a little carried away."

"I'm just glad it was you who carried him back," Liv smiled cheerfully, for once not feeling that same awkwardness despite being alone with a man whose sheer physical presence made her nervous. "Would you like a drink, or something?" She paused by the door to the kitchen, absent-mindedly squeezing the water from the hem of her nightie as she studied him. "Thank you," she said suddenly, her voice quiet and sincere in the companionable silence. "I've never seen her this happy, and it's all down to you. So ....thank you, Steve."

Lucy Rogers

Date: 2012-12-13 18:35 EST
With the two sleepyheads in bed, it allowed him and Liv a little quiet time to get acquainted, hopefully without the other two eavesdropping like they had earlier. Steve lifted his brows, a little surprised at the thanks, which he thought she had all together backwards. "I should be thanking you," he told her. "I'm not trying to take your sister away from you, Olivia, but the truth is I love her, and I don't want to be without her."

She moved over to the couch, leaning onto the back with a gentle smile that was so unlike and yet very reminiscent of her sister. "You're not taking anyone away, you're joining us," she pointed out softly. "You're family now, Steve. I know we're a little unconventional, but everyone should have family."

"I appreciate that, Liv," he replied, turning to face her, contemplating a cup of coffee, almost wishing a little wine would relax him like it had relaxed Lucy. "Johnny loves you, you know," he continued, unsure why he was telling her that, when she probably already knew. "He's been talking about you all day." And then some. He even asked Steve to help him pick out a ring, but that little secret was between Steve and Johnny.

Her smile deepened just a little, the faint flush on her cheeks just for the way Johnny made her feel, giving the younger Broderick a soft glow that did set her apart from her sister. "He's the best part of my life," she said simply, her gaze flickering to Steve's for a moment. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him. Did he tell you that?" She crooked a finger, inviting him into the kitchen as she turned her attention to making coffee.

"No, Lucy did," Steve replied, as he arose from the couch to follow Liv into the kitchen, grateful for a cup of coffee and some friendly companionship. "He doesn't think of himself as a hero, but he that was a pretty heroic thing to do," he continued as he opened the cupboard to pull out two coffee cups, one for each of them.

"I know," she smiled. "He wants to be a hero, but he never notices the heroic things he does every day." As the coffee pot began to bubble happily, she leaned a hip against the counter, facing her soon to be brother. "It's taken a long time for him to find where he fits here in Rhy'Din. I'm glad he's found it." She reached out, gently squeezing his arm. "He didn't set fire to anyone's thong in the club, did he?"

Steve listened quietly as Liv talked about Johnny, recognizing the adoration in her voice and her eyes when she spoke of him, just as he had noticed with Johnny when he spoke of Liv. He smiled warmly when she touched his arm, but then he was furrowing his brows and looking a little confused. "Thong?" he asked, trying to place the word and how it related to the strip club. It took a moment before realization dawned. "Oh!" He chuckled. "No, he didn't set fire to anyone's thong. He did light a few cigarettes though and set a few drinks on fire."

She chuckled quietly, relieved that she wasn't going to have to send her boyfriend around with an apology and cooling cream to soothe any inadvertant burns the next day. "Cigarettes and drinks are fine," she nodded cheerfully. "Oh, and, um ....sorry about the grabby hand on your backside." This time, she couldn't help laughing. "At least he didn't try to kiss you."

Steve rolled his eyes, blushing a little, but smiling just the same. "He's just a bit of a livewire is all. Reminds me of someone else I know, except he's a lot friendlier. I know he's a fan, but it's just a comic book. It's not the whole story." Steve took a lean against the cupboards, arms crossed against his chest. "Anyway, he means well. He just gets a little excited."

She nodded again, opening up the dishwasher as she waited for the coffee to brew, emptying it of the clean dishes. "He thinks the world of you," she told Steve softly. "All he really wants is a little approval, but what he needs ....well, I think he needs a friend who can understand a little of what it is to be a hero. I can't help him with that side of himself, I'm always going to be just me as I am." She shrugged lightly, understanding her place in Johnny's life would always be a little on the sidelines. "And he misses New York. He misses being the center of attention, I think."

Steve pushed off the cupboard to help her empty the dishwasher, even if he didn't know where all the dishes went, his sense of duty even extended to that, needing to do his part and not be waited on hand and foot. He frowned a little as Liv explained about Johnny, and Steve straightened, setting a few plates and bowls on the cupboard, opening cabinets to see where they went. If anyone could relate to what she was saying, it was Steve. He found where the dishes went and put them away, thinking how different he and Johnny were and yet how alike.

"He has family in New York, doesn't he?" Steve asked, skipping past all the talk of friendship and of being a hero.

With quiet directions, Liv let Steve help her put the various dishes and pots away before setting to pouring out the coffee into the cups he had already found and set on the counter. "He has a sister," she told him in her quiet voice. "Sue Storm ....no, Sue Reed. She's married to another member of the team he was a part of, the Fantastic Four. And she's expecting her first child within a month or two." Her smile warmed at the thought of Johnny with a baby. "I want him to be there as often as we can, so he can get to know his niece or nephew as they grow up."

"Yeah, Lucy mentioned a little about that," he replied, as he took up the cup of coffee and took a lean against the cupboard again. "Family's important. More important than anything," he continued. More important than honor or duty or doing the right thing. "My dad died when I was a kid. My mom raised me on her own. We struggled sometimes, but we had each other." He wasn't sure how much Liv knew about his background, how much Johnny or Lucy might have told her, how much she gleaned from a thin comic book. He wondered why he was telling her about his family, when he'd hardly even mentioned them to Lucy.

Lucy Rogers

Date: 2012-12-13 18:47 EST
Hands wrapped about her own cup, Liv leaned with Steve against the counter, blowing lightly over the surface of her steaming coffee. "It's sad when families can't stay together, for whatever reason," she agreed very quietly, her voice just a little thicker than it should have been. But then, Lucy had warned him that Liv still took it very much to heart that they had been abandoned, and without knowing the truth, she did not like to think of their origins. "I'm glad you had your mother. You must have been very close."

"Yeah, we were," Steve replied, leaving it at that. From the past tense of his statement, it was obvious his mother had also passed away, but he didn't feel the need to go into details about his childhood or family life. The point he was trying to make was simple, and considering what Steve knew about the twins' past, he felt it was something Liv needed to understand, if she didn't already. "And you have Lucy. You're always gonna have Lucy. Nothing's gonna change that," he promised, reinforcing what he'd said earlier - that he wasn't taking her sister away from her, that she'd always be part of her life, no matter what. He couldn't tell her much more than that; it was up to Lucy to do that. Steve took a sip of his coffee, a thought coming to mind. "Maybe you can do me a favor."

Liv nodded slowly, her heart already open to anyone Lucy loved, whether Steve was ready for it or not. He had a sister in Liv, whenever he was ready to accept her. "I have you, too," she told him softly. "And Johnny." Her entire face softened when she said her boyfriend's name, the smile on her lips unique and only for the currently snoring Human Torch sleeping off Steve's bachelor party. She looked up as Steve mentioned a favor, her brows rising with interest. "I can certainly try."

"And Johnny," Steve echoed with a small smile, already fond of them both, even if the guy snoring in the other room was a little annoying at times. He took another swallow of his coffee before lowering the cup, looking just a little bit nervous about the favor he was about to ask. "I was just wondering if you could maybe teach me how to dance, so I don't make a complete idiot of myself tomorrow."

The face that was so like and yet unlike that of his beloved fiancee - also snoring - lit up with a bright smile, genuinely pleased to have been asked. "Why didn't you say that was bothering you?" she asked softly through her smile. "I'd be happy to teach you, Steve. And it won't be the kind of dancing Lucy's familiar with - I actually know how to dance, you know." She giggled cheerfully, knowing exactly what Lucy's preferred kind of dancing was like. "You'll have to lead, tomorrow, but it's fairly easy to pick up."

"I don't think we can dance like that in public," he remarked, almost blushing as he recalled Lucy's gyrations against him like one of the dancers he and Johnny had seen earlier that evening at the strip club. "I just need to know enough to get by." He set the coffee cup aside on the cupboard. "What kind of songs do they play at weddings these days?"

"Whatever you'd like them to play," Liv assured him, setting her own cup upside down in the dishwasher to clean overnight. "I assume there'll be a band or something ....they'll play whatever you request." She smiled again. "And I would assume that Lucy's already given whoever was making the arrangements a list of music you're familiar with. She's ....Oooh, I'm not supposed to say." She blushed, covering her mouth with one hand in a sudden paroxysm of guilty embarrassment.

"I doubt anyone plays my kind of music anymore." Except maybe people in old folks' homes, he thought to himself, arching a brow when Liv started to say something about Lucy before cutting herself off. "Do I need to be worried?" he asked, wondering what his fiancee was up to that she hadn't shared with him.

"Trust me, you'll like it," Liv promised him with a smile, patting his hand before heading into the living room. "And believe me, nostalgia is a big thing on Earth. I'm pretty sure there won't be anyone who doesn't recognise the music Lucy wants played." As if to prove this, the younger Broderick slipped over to her CD rack and extracted a disc that, when placed into the player, filled the living room with exactly the sort of music Steve knew well. She grinned impishly. "See?"

There went Steve's brows again, arching upwards in surprise at the familiar sounding music he was hearing coming from the phonograph or whatever they called it these days. "They're still playing this stuff?" he asked, obviously surprised. He wasn't sure what he thought of modern music yet. He'd liked some of what he heard, but had hated most of it.

"It's very popular," Liv assured him, nodding. Now she had a job, of sorts, her nerves were fading away entirely, despite the fact that she was just in her nightie. After all, Steve was family now. He was just going to have to get used to it, that was all. "People enjoy hearing real music more than they'd like to admit. Now ..." She came to a halt in front of him. "I'm going to assume you've at least seen people dancing, right?"

"You must think I'm pretty old fashioned," he told her, trying to ignore the fact that she was in her nightie. He almost wished she'd put a robe on or something. She looked too much like Lucy for comfort, and yet there were obvious differences, at least to him. "Um..." he cleared his throat. "Yeah, I've seen people dance. I just never learned. Never had the right partner."

Her smile turned a little more mischievous at that. "Well, I'm obviously not the right partner, but I'll try and teach you enough so you can stop her falling on her face tomorrow," she assured her very-soon-to-be-brother-in-law. The music was upbeat, but the rhythm remained steady as Liv took one of his hands. "Nice and simple, okay' Just follow my lead."

Steve nodded, taking her hand, assuming the form that he'd learned from watching other people dance. It was more a problem of what to do with his feet. One hand came to rest against he waist, trying to maintain as polite a distance as he could from his future sister-in-law while still able to dance with her. "She showed me a little. I think it was a waltz."

Lucy Rogers

Date: 2012-12-13 18:54 EST
"Yeah, Lucy's a sucker for Sleeping Beauty." Liv was just a little shameless in sharing that she had been listening in, despite the blush that colored her cheeks as she spoke. "That was a waltz she showed you, I think she'll probably want you to waltz her a little bit. But this is more upbeat, so loosen up a little. Dancing's about enjoying yourself, not getting it perfectly right."

"How am I supposed to enjoy myself when I'm worried about stepping on your toes?" he asked, taking a deep breath to try and relax. At least it was just the two of them. No one would notice if he made a mistake. "Isn't that Tchaikovsky?" he asked of the waltz in question, unfamiliar with the Disney version, but somewhat familiar with the classical ballet - an influence, no doubt, of his mother's.

"You're not wearing boots, it's fine," Liv assured him, taking a firm grip on his hand and shoulder and heaving to get him to move with her to the beat. It was such a simple step, just from side to side with a bit of bounce. She wasn't going to add anything complicated until he relaxed. "I think it is Tchaikovsky, but the reason everyone knows it as Sleeping Beauty is because an animated film was made of the fairytale that used the waltz as its main love theme. Not a single little girl hasn't wanted to be Aurora during that love scene, I'd bet my toes on it."

"Animated" Like Snow White?" he asked, arching a brow. He loved movies, and he loved drawing. He'd seen some cartoons, but as yet, he didn't really know how big animation had become in the last seventy years. He still had a lot of catching up to do. "I went to art school for a while before I got recruited," he continued. Talking seemed to help relax him a little as Liv lead him around the room. "I wanted to get into comics or animation. It was pretty new at the time."

"Yes, just like Snow White," she nodded cheerfully, pleased that he was at least relaxing a little bit. "There's no reason why you shouldn't try again, you know. I'm sure you could make a good go of your art, if you wanted to. And Lucy would be right behind you." Judging him relaxed enough, Liv let go of his shoulder and spun herself under his arm, swinging his hand back and forth for a moment before spinning back to resume the easy side-touch they'd been bouncing around the living room with. "I prefer the old-style animation, when it was all hand-drawn, personally."

He was about to reply when she spun away from him, and he followed her lead, pulling her back as she spun back into his arms, studying her movements and hoping he did it right. It was a tricky move, but with a little practice, it should be easy. "Old style animation?" he asked. "I'm not sure I'm following." What other way was there besides hand-drawn animation'

"Oh." Liv's smile was a little nonplussed for a moment as she tried to think of how to explain the difference between what he thought of as a computer, and what they could do now. "Professionals use computers these days. They're very advanced, and they don't fill a room anymore. Remind me to show you my laptop sometime." She spun again, giving him the chance to lead this time and see how confident he was feeling.

He was a little familiar with computers, at least, from what he'd seen at S.H.I.E.L.D. and been provided with for his personal use, but there were still some things that took him by surprise. "Yeah, I know about computers. I have one back at my apartment in New York," he told her, though he hadn't learned what all he could do with it yet. He was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that animation was apparently now done with computers. It seemed like cheating to him somehow. He still wasn't sure if all the advances over the last seventy years were for the better. Distracted by his thoughts, he flubbed the spin, getting his arms tangled with hers. "Sorry!" he said as he untangled himself.

Liv only giggled, turning the untangling into something that looked complicated but turned out to be something pretty simple and stayed in time. "Don't be so serious," she suggested. "Have fun, Steve, it won't kill you." She grinned again, dropping back into the simpler steps again for his sake. It might not have been the bachelor party Johnny would have chosen, and probably not what Lucy would have wanted her fiance to be doing the night before his wedding, but it was fun and simple, and with any luck, he'd be almost a natural at any dance he could care to try by the time the little reception wound around the next evening.

"I'm trying!" he exclaimed, a little exasperated. It wasn't that he wasn't having fun; he was just nervous. Funny how he could march head first into the heat of battle and not think twice about it, but faced with the idea of a simple waltz, he was a nervous wreck. "Tell me a joke," he suggested, as he took the lead, having seen enough of the footwork to duplicate it pretty closely.

"You'll groan," Liv warned him cheerfully, obviously having more fun than she was letting on as Steve took the lead, bouncing on her toes and being just a little more flamboyant than Johnny or Lucy had seen her before. But then, she'd never danced with either of them like this, in her own little slice of comfort zone. "What's big, and red, and eats rocks?"

"Big and red and eats rocks," Steve repeated as he led her around the room closely in time to the rhythm of the music. He thought about that a minute. Well, it sure as heck wasn't The Hulk. He was big and green and smashed rocks. "I dunno. What?" he asked, after a moment, unable to come up with anything and hoping the answer was something he'd actually understand.

The grin was enough to warn him that what was coming was worthy of a Christmas cracker. "A big, red, rock-eater!" And yes, Liv dissolved in giggles at her own appalling joke, her knees buckling a little as her infectious laughter bubbled over and threatened to knock her on her *ss.

Steve's arm slipped around Liv's waist a little tighter to keep her from falling, looking a little confused at the punchline for a moment before chuckling in amusement. "Liv, that doesn't make any sense! It's not even funny!" But there was something about it that had him laughing, even so. "Okay, my turn..." he proclaimed, smiling as she broke into giggles.

"I know, that's what makes it so good!" she declared impishly. "I know a ton just like that, too." Beaming at the triumph of having made him laugh despite her awful joke, she skipped to keep up with the rhythm as the music changed up, lifting her head to smile encouragingly as Steve tried to think of a better joke than hers.

The beauty of it was that his jokes weren't much better than hers, all picked up during an era of time when most jokes were corny and clean. "Okay..." he started, clearing his throat before he continued. "Why couldn't Dracula's wife get to sleep?" he asked, unable to repress a smirk because he already knew the punchline.

Somehow, he'd managed to find one that Liv hadn't even heard a dirty version of. The quality of her smile changed from mischievous to genuinely interested in the punchline, half-wary because of the smirk on his lips. She'd seen expressions like that on Johnny's face plenty of times before, after all. "I don't know, why couldn't Dracula's wife get to sleep?"

The smirk grew as he delivered the punchline. "Because of the coffin. Get it' Coffin?" He enunciated the word slower so that it sounded like cough-in, his smile widening into a grin, rather proud of himself for making a funny. He hoped she'd get it and he wouldn't have to explain because that took all the funny out of the joke.

Oh, she got it. If he'd thought her giggles for her joke were bad enough, they were nothing compared to the spluttering roar of laughter that erupted from the usually quiet and well-mannered Broderick twin. And this time, she really did stop dancing, sagging against her new brother in a fit of giggles that would have woken anybody but the two Sleeping Beauties tucked up in other rooms. "I love that! I've never heard it before," she gasped, snickering as she released one hand from his to wipe her eyes.

He smiled, blue eyes shining merrily that he'd managed to make her laugh. "Save it for Johnny, but don't tell him you got it from me." He caught her as she sagged against him, smiling warmly and daring to brush a kiss against her cheek. "We should probably both turn in. We've got a busy day tomorrow. Thanks for this, Liv. I had a really good time. Thank Johnny, too."

"Oh, I will," she giggled, taking a deep breath to calm down before stepping away. "I really enjoyed this, too. We should take the others dancing properly sometime, show them how it's done." She grinned again, glancing at the couch. Unlike Lucy, she knew better than to ask if Steve was sure about sleeping on the couch, simply reaching around the wall to turn the kitchen and hall lights off, leaving the living room illuminated only by a single lamp by the couch itself. "Sleep well, Steve. We'll be family this time tomorrow."

Flashing him a gentle wink, she trailed off toward her own bedroom, to curl up with her snoring boyfriend and settle into her own sweet dreams of what was to come, the opportunity to see Lucy settled down and happy in love. And perhaps, someday not so far away, she'd have a wedding night of her own to look forward to. Just one of a million dreams wrapped up in her heart.

((Sweet little scene for the night before a wedding, don'tcha think? :grin: Steve's settling in well! Muchos thankos to the other AWESOME player involved!))