controlledvariable | (no subject)

All I'm getting here is "mistress".

[steph u need 2 stop]

I thought the word was 'Madam'?

[GOD HE IS TRYING SO HARD TO HOLD HIS GROUND I mean come on he lived in a building with plenty of hustlers it's literally decades too late for his virgin ears, but-- this is the sort of locker room banter he'd get in the army, not-- you know, with a lady.]

[His mistake is thinking that Steph's a lady.]

I'm not nearly organised enough to run a brothel.

[god, Steve, its like you don't even know her]

[HE SIGHS AT HER IN FOND EXASPERATION.]

If you're trying for shock value, you'd probably have better luck practicing on Bucky.

[JUST SAYING.]

[This is how she makes friends]

If I was trying for shock value I'd just take my clothes off.

[He is taking it as a personal challenge not to let her fluster him, and right now he's half winning that battle.]

You think I got through any kind of respectable art program never having seen a naked woman?

[People were hard up for money in the Depression. It used to be, life models were prostitutes or hustlers looking to make a little on the side, but in the 30s it became common to see anybody down on their luck trying it out. Nudity without passion isn't anything that could even remotely ruffle him.]

[Meanwhile it's now her personal challenge to fluster him.]

You think some naked model in an art class has anything on me?

[like wow, Steve, rude.]

[It makes him bristle a little, although he's sure she's kidding, it strikes him as being disrespectful to the men and women he's drawn, and his mouth thins a little in disapproval.]

Bodies tell a story. As an artist, you try to capture that. It's not always about being an ideal beauty.

[She raises an eyebrow, head cocked slightly to the side as she notes that bristling. But she wouldn't be her if she packed down, though she can also try to... backpedal, just a little.]

That's what I meant, Rogers.

[Well, it kind of is, but between her muscles and her scars, she sure as hell knows she's not most people's idea of beauty.]

[He frowns a little, because be more obvious, Steph, but doesn't call her on it. Softly,]

So long as we're clear.

[She watches him again for a moment, weighing up her next words, then:]

I hit a nerve. Sorry.

[If she's going to make this friendship thing work, she needs to be a) more self aware and b) willing to apologize when she screws up. And she does want to make this friendship thing work.]

[That was... unexpected, but it does make him relax by bare degrees.]

It's all right. But thank you.