etcelsior | ლ(´ڡ`ლ) sloth birthday meme, let's go!

Famous last words.

[ that comes out somewhere between mocking and teasing, but all in good nature. he's confident enough by her measure -- she thinks he can take it. water off a duck's back, even if she feels so inclined to be a bit of a bully, like she tends to when she's affectionate. ]

Not that I'd ever dream of suggestin' that y'didn't have game, hon. I jus' like speakin' from personal experience, that's all.

Are you stalling, Lil?

[Now it's a game. If she's going to challenge him he's going to challenge her right back. Matt doesn't know where they should go- hell, does it even matter? But one way or another, it's obviously going a very specific way.]

You wanted a date. Let's have one.

What, right now?

[ she pauses, eying him a second like she's half-surprised and half-impressed that he'd call her out that way. it isn't something that most of the other men she'd ever been with would've bothered to do -- certainly not her husband, and not frank castle either. that man just wasn't the type to play along.

she enjoys it, really. ]

I ain't even dressed up.

[ but that's not a no. not at all. ]

[Likewise, he might have slacks on, but that shirt's definitely a bit rumpled, the sleeves rolled up and the collar slightly askew and no tie or jacket to speak of. Who cares? Not him. Certainly not her, unless she'll take it as an excuse to straighten it all up, and Matt's not sure she cares either.]

You're as attractive to me in sweatpants as you are in an evening gown, Lil.

[ fortunately, lil was only ever particular about her own clothing -- at her height, she was conscious of the things she wore. but at the same time, after being married for years to an engineer who only ever seemed to own shirts in various degrees of flannel, she'd given up on putting energy into minding too much when it came to what the men in her life decided to put on.

still, she is still the type to touch, so it's probably no surprise that she does reach out to absently give his collar the slight straightening it needs. ]

Yeah? Still makes a difference though. One of those is easier t'take off than the other.

[Matt does his best to be well put-together. Most days, he succeeds. But sometimes it's nice to not do that, and let somebody else clean up the mess for you. However tiny a mess it might be.]

Which one are you trying to make an argument for?

[ she's not always the sharpest tool in the box -- lil operates on feelings much more readily than she does on plans or logic -- but she's attentive. she notices the little things. those are, after all, the things she likes best.

it's cheeky, when she answers: ]

Depends on how much foreplay y'like, I guess.

[At this point, they are just all in, aren't they? This isn't even flirting so much any more, not propositioning, as it is setting terms.]

Well, since I can't see you to tell you how beautiful you are, I have to show it in other ways, don't I?

Y'don't know that I'm beautiful at all. It might be a mess.

[ she's teasing mostly, her amusement apparent in the shape of her mouth when she quirks a little smile. ]

Could jus' be takin' advantage of a blind man.

Well, let's review the evidence, shall we?

[Before, he might have asked, just to be sure. Now, he knows she won't care when he reaches out, unfalteringly, and sets his hand against her cheek. His fingers pushing gently into her hair, exploring the boundaries of his face while his thumb traces the line of her cheekbone, his hand then trailing down along her jaw, carefully mapping out the curve of her lower lip, the line of her nose with one finger.]

Hmmm.

[ She parts her lips to respond with something cheeky, but the words stall in her mouth when he reaches for her. Instead, she stills for him, unsure why she suddenly feels just the faintest little twinge of self-consciousness. Despite all her joking around, she isn't certain what the verdict will be. Even with the layer of her bioaura, there's something about having someone touch her face with such attentiveness that leaves her feeling a little exposed.

Finally, quietly: ]

So?

[Of course he can feel the signs of her age, subtle as they are. For a woman who claims to be 40, she's selling herself short on that front. It's an interesting new experience, in a way. All the women Matt has ever been with have been his age, or slightly younger (not including Natasha, with her unique background.) But he can also generally feel the subtle indications of beauty that other people might miss, too, matching up the planes and curves of her face with the crude radar image he has in his head.]

Oh, you want a verdict?

[It's one of the few times she's been self-conscious, with him, and there's a warring desire to reassure her with drawing it out a little bit more. Her skin is soft; he could seriously spend a great deal longer just entertaining himself learning all the little idiosyncrasies of her face. Later, maybe, later.

He lets his hand linger on the side of her face, for a moment, stroking back a few stray strands of hair.]

...I stand by my previous opinion.

[ He can probably feel the way her skin grows warm under his hands when he finally answers her. It's not that she's ever lacked in confidence -- at least not superficially -- but the times a man has complimented her beauty are few and far between. It's strange to think but, even being blind, she feels like Matt is really seeing her. It makes her feel real somehow. Tangible.

She gives a small smile. It wrinkles crow's feet at the corners of her eyes. ]

Y'sure y'don't want a second opinion?

[ Wry, quiet teasing. To hide how much she appreciates all this, maybe. ]

[It's hard to hide much from him. Matt politely ignores a lot, because he knows most people aren't aware of just how much they reveal without meaning to, and he's blind; he can't call attention to that. But it's nice, to be able to make somebody happy. He knows, even if she wouldn't ever say it.]

My own judgment has always been good enough. I'm usually not wrong.

[Says Bad Decisions-Man. But he's not going to back down on this one, even if it does turn out to be a terrible decision in the end.]

[ Lil's made her fair share of bad decisions -- probably more, and not the little bad decisions that you can easily sweep under the rug either. That's what happens, maybe, when emotions rule over reason, but she's never really been able to convince herself to take much of it back. That's impulsive and reckless, especially for someone whose heart isn't nearly as invulnerable as the rest of her.

Still, that doesn't stop her from being impulsive now. There's a fleeting moment of self-consciousness -- a little pause where she's remembering his hands pressed against her face -- but when she speaks, she's quietly bold, offering as much as challenging: ]

Y'wanna find out if the rest of me's as pretty as my face is?

[There are plenty of other places he'd be more than willing to put his hands. Maybe not here, on the street. They could at least find an alley or a dressing room or something, if it's going to come to that. That would be pretty hard, and admittedly probably give him some nasty distractions from the task at hand...for about two minutes. But sometime in the next couple of hours, which is probably the limit of his self-restraint at this point of time.]

I don't think you need to ask. You know.

[This is practically a Han Solo moment, right now.]

ლ(´ڡ`ლ) sloth birthday meme, let's go!

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