bionicstaringmachine

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.

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"