moodshifter | Alice Cullen | Natasha Romanova

"Well, that's just it," Jasper says with a quiet, distant smile of his own. "I'm not sure I have any idea. I've read a lot of books on philosophy—most of the languages I know, I picked up for that reason—and all that distilled wisdom makes me awfully secure in saying 'I don't know.' But I know who I'm not, anymore." Sometimes that's the difference between veering off and attacking a distant hiker whose death would be chalked up to a mountain lion attack, and staying the course and going after the mountain lion.

He can hear Alice wrapping up her conversation with Esme. She's told them they'll stay here in Forks for a week, while Alice takes care of a few pesky details that hadn't been tidied up before they'd disappeared. They'd like to come back to Forks one day, maybe sooner rather than later, if they can evaluate the rumors about them. Not as easy without Edward around, but...Jasper lifts his head a little, suddenly thoughtful. Maybe they wouldn't need a telepath to help with that.

"Alice didn't say anything to you about being turned, did she?" he asks absently, still caught up in thoughts of asking Natasha to suss out rumors in town about the Cullen family's sudden disappearance. "She never brought it up with me, there wasn't the time."

It's so simple, the way that he says it, yet it hits Natasha so hard the wind is almost knocked out of her. He knows who he's not. "That's what I want." She says it aloud almost too quickly, letting on that she hadn't made the connection until she heard it in his words. "I want to know who I'm not. I thought I did, that's what SHIELD was supposed to do for me but..." she trails off with a frown. He knows the rest. They weren't who they said they were, which meant Natasha wasn't who she thought she was.

Her eyes fall to the couch, tracing idle patterns in her jeans with a distracted mind, but at his question she looks up abruptly with narrow-eyed uncertainty. "...No, she didn't say anything to me about that." The response is slow, as if she's thinking about several things when she says it. "Why? Do you think that it's going to be necessary?" Does he think that one of his family members will insist upon it? She can see, though, that there's distraction in his mind and Natasha tries to read him once more.

"What are you thinking?" She finally asks outright. "You've got that face, what are you thinking right now?"

It's reassuring to have the flavor of Natasha's emotions back, even if she hasn't gone back to the point they'd reached before. There's time, he won't demand anything like that of her. In truth, it's still impressive to him that she can guard herself so well. He doesn't want her to lose that skill.

"Hmm? Oh, no." He reaches over and rests just the tips of his fingers against her hand, and there's no real spike in his hunger when he feels that appealing flood of warmth. "I am sorry, that was misleading of me. I was considering our odds in moving back to this place. Ordinarily, Edward keeps his ear to the ground, as it were. He's our first tipoff when people are beginning to suspect. But I thought if you'd be interested in going and collecting some rumors about our departure, maybe gauge the temperature of the situation."

He shakes his head as he watches her, and while his fingers don't move to stroke her hand, they aren't tense and neither is he. "That would be more difficult if you were in the throes of a change, that's all. I don't know what you girls were finding to talk about, after all."

The simple gesture of reassurance is not only unexpected, but it's pleasantly reassuring in a way that Natasha didn't know she needed. There was no hesitation in it at all, Jasper simply reached for her, and for some reason that makes it all more real than the night before had. The night before, she had to approach him, and yet this time...

Well. The smile on her face probably makes her look remarkably foolish, like some light headed teen, but she doesn't find that she minds so much.

"We were talking about you," she teases. "Just about you. The entire time, you know. Gossiping." Of course it's not true, but she's playing with him, and she waves the hand that he isn't touching dismissively. "I can go into town and collect intel, that's easy. I've got the basics I need for some disguises I have in the trunk of the car, I don't know if my face is on the news yet but even if it is it shouldn't be a problem." She looks curious. "Is that what you want? I can drive in today, if you need me to."

"We'll consult with our communications expert," Jasper says serenely, turning his head again to watch Alice hang up the phone and hop back off the railing. Impulsively, Jasper's fingers slide along Natasha's to lace them, without gripping, just resting there together. "How's everyone?" he asks Alice lightly as she slides the door open.

Alice takes a few steps in and pauses in delighted surprise at seeing Jasper touching Natasha so easily. Without a moment of hesitation, she blurs across the room and settles into Natasha's lap, draping her legs over Jasper's thighs with a bright smile.

"They're fine," she says, resting her head against Natasha's shoulder. "Carlisle's thinking about going back to medical school, and Emmett brought a polar bear back to the house."

he laces his fingers between hers and Natasha finds herself smiling again, and she's certain that her face is absolutely not the faintest shade of pink because that would be absolutely ridiculous. Before she can respond Alice is back, she moves so quickly that it actually makes Natasha jump when she's on the couch. She knows that they can move that fast she's just never seen it.

Somehow this is easier. Alice is leaning back into her, Jasper is holding her hand and for the first time Natasha has the oddest sensation of being a part of something. Something that she wants to be a part of, not something she's been assigned to, and that's when she not only realizes that she actually wants to be a part of it but that she's never really been a part of anything on her own free will before.

"He brought back a polar bear? That's just showing off at that point, that's ridiculous." She rolls her eyes, smiling to herself as she does. Every time she hears about Emmett, she finds that she quite likes him. Natasha's free arm wraps around Alice's middle to keep her steady, and she starts to question herself as to why such an action came so easily before she stops the train of thought abruptly. Alice has already proven that she makes Natasha more comfortable than she should be. No reason to question a nice thing.

"Jasper and I were talking, I was thinking about going into town?" She glances at Jasper for confirmation before looking at the side of Alice's face. "See if I can gather intel on the family and what people are saying about them. I'd have to hide my identity but I already told him that's not a problem, I have everything I need to do that in the car. What do you think?" Natasha offers a hopeful smile. "So that maybe your family can come to us instead, and we can have the house fixed up before they get here?"

Alice kicks off her shoes as Jasper rests a hand easily on her knee, the fingers of his other hand still laced easily with Natasha's. "You'll find Emmett has a bit of a vendetta against bears," Jasper murmurs in explanation. "Probably the lethal mauling that did it."

Alice sighs dramatically, how is she supposed to incorporate a polar bear skin into their decor, they're so Seventies and she's already needed to deal with Seventies style once, but the conversation makes her blink in surprise. "Really? Do you think...oh, we always loved it here," she says wistfully, looking around at the familiar furnishings of the beautiful house, filled with natural light even when the skies are overcast. It's peaceful here, even with the Quileutes up the coast, even with everything that had happened here.

"You'd do that for us?" she asks, turning her head to look up at Natasha, hopeful and excited. This hasn't changed the vision she's had of them going to Calgary to meet the family, but maybe that's just because they don't know anything yet.

"Is that how he went?" She frowns when Jasper explains, falling silent for a moment at the thought that all of them, the entire family, had to have died in some way to be where they are. And yet they found each other, there's a sort of beauty in that.

"Of course I would." The immediate answer should probably surprise her more than it does, but Natasha pushes that away as well in favor of smiling down at Alice. The physical affection helps... she simply hasn't realized how longs it's been. "This is kind of what I do. Jasper knows more about it, but..." she glances at him for a moment before looking back at Alice.

"It won't take me long. I know the sort of places I need to hang around to overhear the chatter, and that might not even be necessary. It's a small town, if they know anything it'll probably be all over the local papers. I'll just pop into town, grab some groceries since we'll be staying here for a while and I don't want you two to have to run out all the time finding me a pizza," a coy smile, "see exactly what's being said and we'll have our answer. Don't be surprised if nothing is reported." She looks back at Jasper again to address the both of them. "The way SHIELD does things, the less people talk the better. I wouldn't be surprised if they already sent a clean up crew to make sure that nobody here saw anything."

Edited (Allison = / = Alice) 2017-03-04 03:40 (UTC)

"It is. I'll let him tell you the story, wouldn't want to steal his thunder." He pauses for a moment, openly admiring the picture they make curled up together like this. He hadn't been certain how he'd feel, seeing someone else's arm around his wife's waist, but as it turns out, it's not difficult at all. Quite the opposite. He wouldn't need his extra abilities to sense how comfortable and contented Alice is like this, and Natasha's getting awfully accustomed to it herself, even after such a short time.

He nods thoughtfully. "The diner is where the gossip-mongers congregate. But Police Chief Swan is Edward's father-in-law, you may want to avoid him for now. He'll be more in the know than most but he's a suspicious type and he'll wonder at any stranger in town showing an interest."

"So I won't show interest." She shrugs, as if it's that simple to her. "Don't worry, I know how to avoid the feds. And if I manage to make myself look intimidating and unapproachable, nobody is going to ask me any questions about why an unfamiliar face is around. The diner will be my first stop." She plans it aloud, partially talking to herself. "If I don't hear anything there I'll get my hands on a local paper. But I'll be careful, you don't have to worry about me."

She gives Alice a little squeeze and a playful smile. "But that means that you have to get up so I can go put on a different face." She moves, finally letting go of Jasper's hand to get to her feet and head to the garage. She comes back in a moment later with a duffel bag, calling out to them as she climbs up the stairs. "Don't have vampire sex on the couch, we've already got enough to clean up around here." She calls back to them with a smirk because... well, Alice is adorable and Jasper is proper, she can't help but want to tease just for the sake of doing so.

The wig takes the longest time, but after that Natasha applies some fake jewelry and makeup. The entire process takes her under an hour, only because she's as efficient as she is, and she walks down the stairs with a heavy step to stop at the bottom, slipping her rings on as she does. "Alright so exactly what am I trying to figure out, if they even know whether or not you're missing? I'm assuming that you all worked or went to school around here, right? Missing persons should have something if I keep hitting dead ends."

Alice had groaned a little, as if it was such an effort to move, but she'd shifted right over to sit on Jasper's lap instead, and they both watch her walk up the stairs with twin expressions somewhere between admiring and affectionate.

"I think we'll be okay," Alice whispers as she tucks her head under Jasper's chin and he wraps his arms around her. They stay like that, unmoving, curled together, soaking in each other's presence after so long separated. She'll tell him what it was like, but not right now. There will be plenty of time for them to spend with each other when Natasha needs to sleep, or when she's running errands, or gathering intel.

When Natasha reappears, they won't look as though they've moved an inch, because they haven't, not until she stops on the stairs and Alice looks up, and immediately hops up and hurries over to her. "Tash! You look amazing," she gushes, taking one hand and then the other to examine the rings she's collected. "If you didn't smell the same, I'd definitely need to look twice! You know, vampires are terrible at disguising themselves, our nature somehow shows through no matter what we do."

Jasper follows more slowly, hands folded neatly behind his back, to actually answer her question. "We need to know what the town thinks happened to us," he says a little briskly, something like a briefing. "They'll have noticed by now that we've been gone, but we've always been a little...unorthodox. It's more than possible they haven't thought much of it, and no one believes we're gone for good, but if they do think we've up and vanished, we need to know. It might be too risky to come back yet if that's the case."

"We'd need to wait a few decades," Alice explains calmly, as if it's a mild inconvenience. "Until the children we went to school with have all grown and their children aren't in school either. Grandchildren are okay, we can associate with grandchildren without much trouble."

Jasper nods in agreement, staying businesslike even as he also gives Natasha an interested once-over. "Carlisle worked in the clinic. The rest of us were in high school, until we graduated." He can't help the half-smile of amusement at that. "Then we all went off to colleges, so they believe, and we went a good few years without being sighted in town much at all, but we've been in this house during that time. All we need to know is if that six-week absence has been noticed, and if so, what they think caused it." A lazy smile. "Should be no trouble at all."

Alice exclaims the name so naturally that Natasha has to reply it in her mind as if she had heard it wrong, but she hadn't and it's... simply adorable. Clint calls her Tasha, Steve calls her Nat. Tash is a new one, and the smile she gives doesn't seem to match the look that she's painted on her face. "It's the easiest way to keep people at a distance, look unapproachable." She explains to the shorter woman, her attention only moving when Jasper begins speaking. The amusement fades, his business like tone catching her attention in a way that even she doesn't realize, and after he's finished explaining everything she gives a nod. "Easy enough. ... You went to high school, here?" She asks him directly, looking a little amused by that, but she doesn't press. She has a job to do now.

"Intel, food. Shouldn't take me more than three hours, if I'm not back by then I want you both to get out of here and get as far as you can." The command comes naturally as she moves toward the garage. "But that's not going to happen. ...Probably not going to happen. I'll be back." She gives them both a shy smile before disappearing into the garage, and Natasha takes the car to drive into town.

It takes her less time than she thought. The papers are empty, she gets a simple coffee at the diner, and she watches the news that they have playing on the television behind the counter. It's the group of school girls that walk in that does it, one of them complaining about how they haven't seen Emmett around and how they don't have anything to look at in History anymore. There are theories thrown around, from camping to backpacking through Europe, but nothing negative. It's comforting.

She goes food shopping, and the man behind the register takes the entire purchase to try and hit on her, which she stops with a flat 'don't' before the sentence completely leaves his mouth. She's back within two hours, and Natasha carries all of the bags inside because more than one trip is, in her opinion, for the weak.

"I'm back," she calls out to the house as she moves into the kitchen to start putting everything away. "Either you're camping or you're backpacking through Europe," she continues, knowing that they can hear her wherever they are, "but the rumors are all manageable. Like I said, SHIELD doesn't really do getting 'caught'. Do one of you want to use that handy speed thing you've got going on, because I really don't want to take forever putting all of this away."

Natasha had had a point earlier when she'd mentioned fixing up the house for the family. The immediate aftermath of his fight had been cleared away into the garage, but the crack in the wall hasn't been fixed, and the whole place hasn't been dusted or aired out in a month and a half. There's a decent amount to be done, even with their speed, and then Alice goes out to hunt.

She isn't too hungry, it's more that she's missed these woods, but Jasper begs off going with. Someone should be there when Natasha gets back, in case she assumes the worst, in whatever form that might take. He's finishing up the coat of paint on the now-spackled damaged wall when Natasha comes home—somehow it's easy to think of it that way—and at her not-quite-request, he steps out from behind that wall and walks even more slowly than normal into the kitchen.

She's bought enough to make quite a few meals for herself, he notices as he starts stocking the refrigerator, and it's a relief. He's still waiting for her to back out, he realizes, he's waiting for her to tell them thanks but no thanks, there are too many unknowns, she can't leave the familiar, she won't take the risk.

"Competing rumors, we can handle," he says with a nod. "Thank you, Natalia. That'll make things much easier, if the family wants to come back here. It's...troublesome, generally, to stay somewhere too long. People begin to notice when their friendly neighborhood doctor looks just the same as he did ten years ago, or when the kids come home from college for vacations and they haven't changed either, but Forks is different. People seem to be taking it all in stride." He smiles again, and it's sharp and humorless this time. "I'm sure the pack of mutts will be thrilled to hear we're coming back. They've probably already picked up on me and Alice."

"Oh, there's a nice face." Natasha greets him warmly with a playful smile, and she continues to put things away as she filled Jasper in on everything that she heard and saw. "You're welcome. Where is Alice, is she out hunting?" Why is that so amusing to her? The idea of Alice, a small whirlwind of warmth, bringing down a large buck. She doesn't doubt that she can do it, but Natasha would be lying if she said the image wasn't an amusing one in her head.

She's just managed to put the last of it away when Jasper finishes his thought, and it takes Natasha a moment to realize what he's talking about. Mutts? What mutts? The first thing she does is wrack her brain on any sort of vampire lore that she's seen in pop culture despite how inaccurate most of it has proven to be, but it doesn't take her long to have a suspicion. She's seen Underworld.

"Ooooh no," she groans suddenly, grabbing the edge of the counter near the sink with one hand and dragging the wig off of her head with the other. "No. Absolutely not." She closes her eyes before she takes a deep breath, and Natasha looks at Jasper with an annoyed glare. "Jasper Whitlock Hale, I swear to christ if you are about to tell me that werewolves are a thing... are werewolves a thing?" She asks it as if it's a challenge. "Don't you dare stand there and tell me that werewolves are an actual goddamn thing."

"She is, she doesn't strictly need to yet but she's missed these woods, and—" He actually takes a step back from the force of that glare. What, why is he in trouble? No one likes the wolves but that doesn't mean they're just going to go away, they were going to need to deal with that sooner or later.

"...I hadn't mentioned them before, had I," he says after a few moments, and at least he has the self-awareness to wince at his misstep. "I apologize. Yes, I'm very afraid werewolves are an actual goddamn thing. Like most of the lore about us, most of the lore about them is wrong, and we have a treaty with them. We don't bite anyone, they leave us be. They have their land, we have ours. Carlisle arranged it with their alpha when we first moved here. And," he sneers a little, "technically, we're related. It's complicated. But they don't actually pose us any danger."

"No!" Natasha throws her hand in the air, eyes wide. "No, you just forgot to mention that part! You forgot to mention the werewolves, Jasper. Werewolves." She repeats it, looking up at the ceiling as if expecting answers to come from it. "There are werewolves. You're attracted to a pair of vampires and there are - oh good." She returns to the conversation once she registers what he said, "a treaty. We have a treaty, with the werewolves. And you're related, to the werewolves, that we have a treaty with, yes, fine. This is fine. You, springing the existence of werewolves on me, that's fine."

She's glaring. It is not fine.

Natasha sighs and she starts to clean up the bags that the groceries came in before pulling pins out of her hair to let it fall loosely over her shoulders. "So? How do we kill them?" She lets the question hang between them, and after a moment she rolls her eyes. "I'm not saying I'm going to, I know what a treaty is, but I need to know how to just in case. You know, insurance."

"However you'd kill anything else," Jasper says immediately. Carlisle isn't here, he doesn't need to tiptoe around the central point with a lot of talk about keeping the peace and unnecessary measures. "They don't transform at the moon, they don't need silver-tipped anything, they're just a bunch of Quileute boys who turn into wolves the size of bears. Vicious, and fast. Good fighters. Far from invulnerable."

He could keep explaining, try to sort out the part where they're related, that the pack hasn't bothered them in years but an absence this long might have lulled them into a false sense of security that the Cold Ones had finally moved on, which could prompt them to come investigate, but he doesn't. Not yet. Just deliver the facts, he can go into more detail after that. He's watching her with that same sharp intensity, unconsciously standing straighter as he always does whenever he puts himself into a more military mindset.

"I see." Natasha's eyes are trained on Jasper directly as he speaks, her voice somewhat distant with a distraction that can't be placed visually. The way that he stands there, briefing her as if the soldier in him never faded... Natasha realizes what's happening a moment after, and she stands up a little straighter with a raised eyebrow when she does.

"I like it when you do that." She gestures to him, "that thing you do where you brief me instead of simply telling me something. It's probably weird that that turns me on, right? Yeah, it's probably weird." And yet she has no qualms about letting him know about it, or letting him feel it, the hint of arousal that his outward strength sets in her.

She turns to face him, head tilting to the side to let her hair fall over her shoulder, and she gives him a slow once over that she doesn't attempt to hide before her eyes fall back onto his. That sharp intensity in his stare... yes. That's what does it. "You don't like them very much, do you?" She smirks a little, and the look in her eye has changed as well. It's something more focused... almost predatory.

"I don't think we'll have to worry about them. I've killed wolves, I've killed bears. If they step out of line, we can handle it."

He's focused on assessing her as an ally against the wolves and passing her the straight facts, and her reaction takes him entirely by surprise, even more so when he can feel the truth of her words in that little ribbon of shimmering heat that's wrapping through her now. Alice has felt that way about him, so had Maria, but he's never, not once, had someone react to his decidedly military manner of speech in such a way. It surprises him how much he immediately enjoys it. It's another way they're similar, he thinks, another reason this might really work.

"No ma'am," he says with a slow smile, "I do not much care for them. Acting against them would only turn the rest of the tribe against us, or I'd've done it already. Which," he glances outside, toward the woods where Alice is no doubt running through the branches for the joy of running, "we should keep to ourselves, if you'd be so good. As far as the other, I certainly can't speak for what's weird or not, but I'm far more in favor of it."

"Already trusting me with secrets?" Her eyebrow lifts with interest once more, and the crooked smirk she wears is a tell tale sign that she's hiding something, although Jasper wouldn't know that just yet. He'll learn. The way that he stands there smiling at her just makes that heat in her build more, but Natasha keeps it behind her wall, knowing all too well that Jasper is much too polite to go digging around there to see what he can find. Manners won't get him far when it comes to Natasha, but he'll learn that too.

"My lips are sealed. But it's good to know." She gives her head a little tilt to the side with a facial shrug, and she holds the bags that she's gathered in one hand before she starts to head to the trash. "And the fact that you're in favor, that's also good to know." She waits. Natasha gets closer to him, still keeping a foot or so between them as she passes him on the way to the trash, but as soon as she's in close proximity her walls come down with surprising abruptness and she unleashes the warm arousal he set in her all at once for him to feel as suddenly as he had felt her guilt the first night that she showed up at the cabin.

There's no pause in her stride as she throws out the plastic and moves to the fridge to get something together for her dinner. "What did I tell you about calling me that?" She continues to search what she had just purchased, as if trying to make up her mind. "It's good to know. If they cause problems for us in the future, you'll have an ally. That stays between us as well."

Edited 2017-03-05 23:17 (UTC)

His reaction is much the same as the first time he'd been hit with a sharp, powerful wave of feeling from her, but this time he doesn't cringe away like he's been slapped, he finds himself leaning into it, chasing the scent, the flavor of it, he can smell it on her, and it takes a concerted, visible effort for him to keep his feet planted and his hands resting on the counter behind him, and not to follow her across the kitchen and back.

He actually needs to wet his lips before he can answer, she's made his throat so dry, but this isn't the thirst, this is a separate kind of hunger, and he's starting to understand how Edward had been able to make those distinctions. It isn't something that can be understood until it happens. "You said you were a lot of things, but 'ma'am' wasn't one of them," he says slowly, drawing out the drawl because he knows for a fact that she likes it, "but then, you weren't always one to be a stickler for the rules. I don't see why I should be. Especially if you're going to insist on making use of my abilities like that."

"I don't know what you're talking about." She says it so dismissively that it's almost convincing, but she closes the refrigerator door with a bottle of water in her hand instead of making a decision on what she should eat and turns to reveal a knowing smile. She moves closer to him, slowly to give him a chance to back up if he has to, and Natasha leans against the counter a foot or so away from him as she twists the cap off of it. She sees what he's doing; the way that he accentuates his drawl isn't lost on her, and she knows flirting when she sees it. Even when it comes from old fashioned southern gentlemen.

"I would never use your abilities against you," she promises, obviously falsely as she keeps her walls down. It's almost as if she can concentrate on one emotion and strengthen it, because for Natasha, she almost can. Her emotional focus was something that was trained into her at a young age, and Natasha knows how to narrow in on one thing to feed off of it. Now, she's letting him feed off of it instead, and the sensation of want that's in her practically surrounds her like a particularly potent aura. Outwardly she's fine; she pauses to sip her water.

"And, my rules are different." The clarification comes with a grin, and she stares up at him with an intensity that may be strengthened by the still-there makeup of her earlier gathering of intel. "You have to follow my rules. There's repercussions if you break them." She practically bats her eyes at him as she looks up at him through thick lashes. "I'll let you off with a warning this time but in the future, remember that you've been warned. You know how to take a direct order, don't you, soldier?"

His skeptical raised brow indicates that it was not in fact convincing whatsoever, he hardly needs the ability to read moods to know that much by now. He doesn't back up, doesn't feel the need to, but he notices the careful approach and it warms him a bit that she's taking into consideration his potential discomfort, even as she aims to discomfit him. It's an odd duality, but strangely it makes him trust her that much more. She knows the difference between limits and hard limits.

He shifts to lean an elbow against the counter, turning to face her and incidentally lowering himself closer to her height. He's almost lightheaded, something close to drunk on the flavor of her right now, but he's in no danger of anything worse than that, and neither is she. The thirst isn't rising. "Ain't been a soldier in many a year," he says thoughtfully. "Might've forgotten that little detail. I'm meant to be a man of peace now. Vegetarian and all."

He blinks slowly at her, body language at ease in a way it hasn't quite managed before when she's been this close. It's inviting, and if he still fed on humans, it might be too inviting, but he doesn't. He could never be this relaxed around other humans. It's just her.

The laugh that Natasha gives is a little more playful than her usual one, rare and genuine and almost melodic in its own quiet and contained way. He seems comfortable and Natasha is highly aware of that even if she's not showing it; she's watching his mannerisms closely. Perhaps if she were more reckless or careless of his feelings she wouldn't be so concerned, but this isn't about her safety; it's about his comfort. She knows that he doesn't like having to run off every time his hunger hits him too strong, and she knows that there's a sense of guilt in that even though he's doing it to protect her. Jasper doesn't keep his distance because he wants to, perhaps not even because he has to, but because he believes that he has to in order to keep everything safe. He does that for her, and she has no plans on showing anything but gratitude for that.

"I think someone is forgetting who he's speaking to." It's almost singsong when she speaks, and she briefly catches the corner of her lip between her teeth before releasing it and taking a few inches closer. Then she stops. She's testing his boundaries but not to push him, she's doing it for both of them. She needs to know how close she can get without making him too uncomfortable, and he needs to know how close she can get without having to freeze up and avoid breathing. It's something that they need to work on together, and a part of her wants to show him that it doesn't have to be tense and uncertain with little words on a balcony outside. They can figure it out together, because that's why she's here in the first place.

"A man never stops being a soldier. He just chooses different battles to fight." She pauses, staring up at him with a look that matches the heat radiating off of her, and Natasha moves slowly as she reaches out. Not to warn him; she knows he can move away fast if he needs to. She moves slowly so that she can read him, and know that she needs to pull away if she senses any discomfort so he doesn't have to. With slow movements she manages to get all the way to his shirt, and with a nimble touch she unfastens the top button for him before placing her hand on his chest and then letting it fall away.

"Not too peaceful, I hope." Eyes widen and they're paired with a faux pout, bottom lip sticking out as her voice takes a sorrowful turn. "Wouldn't be much fun if I was the only one looking for something a little more exciting than peace."

He laughs, and even ducks his head a little, caught out in the lie. "Can't pull one over on you, I can see that," he murmurs, and watches her as she comes closer. This is as close as they've ever been, even a bit closer than the first night they'd arrived, before Alice had come back, and while her scent still surrounds him and the thirst is still there, he's somewhat separated from it. Whether it's familiarity or just a streak of stubborn willpower he hadn't needed until now, he's still at ease.

Her slow isn't a timid slow, it's a careful slow, it's careful because of him, his limits, he thinks as her fingers tease a button open and slide hotly against his skin. There's a hesitation to her again, but it's the hesitation of exploration, because they're walking those limits again, finding the borders, and it's them together now.

When her hand falls away, he catches it, quicker than maybe he ought to move, but cradling it carefully as he lifts it and sets her hand against his cheek again. "I think we're winning this particular battle," he whispers as he turns his head just enough to brush his lips against her palm. There's an urge to bite that surges up, but he fights it back down, it doesn't take much effort at all, he doesn't even need to pause. "Winning is always more exciting than peace."

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