bionicstaringmachine

Must be. I wonder who she learned that trick from.

[ Yeah, he can take a wild guess who his cat would learn that kind of thing from and there's about three guesses on who would be on the top of that list. ]

With her best behavior being that, her worst can't be all that bad.
🤝

[ There's a pause because he's used to holding back, trying to keep himself from hurting anyone who doesn't have a similar serum running through their veins or if the time ever comes he spars with anyone with powers, able to fight back with a little more than he can with his training and enhancements. ]

How are you planning on doing that?

Probably Steve.

[Which sounds like a smart ass comment on the surface, but she's equally confident Mr. 'I learned how to steal cars in Nazi Germany' is more than capable of some light b&e when he puts his mind to it.

Even though it was absolutely her. Misdirection, okay?]

Guess I'll keep her.
🫡

I've got a couple of different ideas.
Weapons and a stand in for the widow's bites since I don't want to electrocute you this time.

['This time' isn't exactly a comforting thing to say, Natasha. But he's not the only one that's used to holding back in battle. The difference is that he has to pull his punches whereas she reserves certain moves and skills so she can disrupt the fight pattern people expect from her.]

Here I was worried he'd try to steal her from me, the whole time he was turning her into a bigger pain in the ass than him.

[ He sees through the misdirection but, he'll humor it. He can see Steve making sure that Alpine gives him a little grief, even if she's usually well behaved. ]

Not that she'd make it easy for you if you tried to get rid of her.

That's 'cause it's cheating when you do that and you know it. Even if I guess I can try and use the dead weight of it while I'm waiting for my arm to work again.

[ He's making light of it because he knows she wouldn't be trying to electrocute him on purpose, if she's looking for other alternatives...but it would get in the way of their continued sparring if his arm was out of commission for even a short period of time. ]

Should've known.

[She does appreciate that he's clearly playing along with her misdirection.]

I already went from telling her I'd feed her but she couldn't come inside to letting her live here and make cat friends.

[Doomed. She's so doomed. Never tell anyone that she has a cat shaped soft spot, Bucky.]

It's not cheating, it's just utilizing my skills to my advantage.

I'm gonna have to supervise his visits with her from now on, can't have him teaching her too much.

[ He can indulge things like this because it's more fun to pretend that Steve is the one trying to turn his innocent cat into a little troublemaker. ]

Alpine and I gotta thank Liho for that, since I'd probably be stuck with some mean alley cat if you didn't have her.

[ He's been told he resembles Grumpy Cat, so he probably would've ended up with a cat that is similar in nature and he'll take Alpine over that cat any day. If she keeps his soft spot secret, he'll be able to keep hers a secret too. ]

Sounds like a lot of words for cheating to me.

This could be a good way to teach him about subterfuge.

[Even when he's being sneaky, Steve still brings a certain amount of...'wearing a red and white target on his back' to the party that's about as subtle as getting punched in the face with an American flag.]

Liho accepts her thanks in the form of catnip. Which she is happy to share.

[She couldn't see him with a grumpy cat. Even if there is a certain resemblance. But she could see him with a cat that's slower to warm up. Alpine's still the better option. His secret will be safe with her.]

One could make the same argument about super strength.

I don't think he knows what it means to try and be sneaky. He didn't know what it meant back then and now he's harder to miss.

[ And it's not just because he's taller than he used to be. But if anyone could teach it to him and make it stick, it would be them. ]

Good thing I started buyin' it in bulk.

[ It was more cost effective to do it that way, but he's beginning to develop a habit of getting a few things for Liho when he's getting things for Alpine. ]

I can't shut off the super strength and I already pull my punches because of it.

I've gotten him to try a few times. It's definitely not his forte.

[But she does appreciate the willingness to try. All things considered, he'd done a decent job when they'd all been on the run.]

Did you really?

[There's a possibility that he's joking. But she thinks it's more likely that it's true. It hasn't escaped her attention that there are enough supplies at his place for two cats.]

Guess I'll just have to convince you not to pull your punches when we spar by using every trick in the book.

[And some tricks she wrote on her own.]

inbox.

oh it's happening and will they be sorry about it? nope

both of them trying to pretend like they're not proud of the destruction

they're 100% proud because if it ISN'T trashed then they were holding back still tbqh

this is the actual truth

lmfao did i debate on tagging the morning after meme with this EXACT situation? yes i did

lmao just [scene opens on an absolutely ruined apartment. there's a knife stuck in the wall.]

look it might still happen and they're like huh how'd that get there

they will immediately launch into a game of "guess who the knife belongs to before we go get it"