smartass_captain | Suit up (Literally!) It's a Birthday Bash! (For Verity and Clint)

Guess who's back in the Nexus. Well, mostly back in the Nexus. Jim is standing outside his world's door and calling Verity's phone.

What? Genius level repeat offender remember? He bought a phone in the Nexus and got her Number from Clint's phone a while ago.

It's the morning of October first. The Nexus' resident lie detector is getting a call from an unknown Nexus number. Does he have to leave a voice mail message?

Current Mood: energetic

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From:

aw_hawkguy

"You got her a space car?" Clint teases, mock-confused. (Although, seriously, he doesn't know what the key is for, either.)

From:

smartass_captain

There's a second key, actually. This one fished out of Jim's pocket and tossed Clint's way. He knows the archer will catch it. Probably. He didn't pelt the damn thing, it should be easy.

"They're spares. For my house in Riverside. I can get you guys coordinates later. If..." He looks like he doesn't want to explain much. Why they might ever be necessary. "If you ever need a safe place to stay." Safe. As long as Jim Kirk has a say in it, his Earth IS safe. "You've got one. It's the family house."

From:

brave_heart_verity

The idea of a space car makes her giggle. She knows how to drive a regular car, but adding a third dimension and subtracting much practical experience is a recipe for disaster.

Her gaze follows the second key into Clint's hand, and then she looks back at Jim while he's talking. And now she's speechless and crying a little bit. The latter part she tries to hide, but between makeup and glasses it's hard to get to the tears before they're noticeable. "Oh." There will be more words later, but for now, she takes his hand and gives it a squeeze.

From:

aw_hawkguy

Clint catches the key because of course he does, though he nearly drops it again at what Jim says--not because he doesn't want it, but because he's surprised. "Oh. Wow. Jim... thanks. That's not saying enough, but... wow. Thanks."

No one who knows him has ever accused Hawkeye of eloquence.

From:

smartass_captain

"Clint got you something too." Jim is fiddling with the wine menu, clearly a little bit uncomfortable with all the attention. It's not that big of a deal, it's just a house. It had never been a home, not to him. Except it was. And maybe, just maybe, giving his new family access to it would make it into a home. Not because they were even using it.

Because good things could finally come from those four walls.

He appreciates the hand squeeze. It gives him something else to focus on.

"S'what family is for, right?"

From:

brave_heart_verity

Right. She knows Clint got her something too, and she'll be excited about that in a minute, so stop rushing her. It's not going anywhere.

"Thank you." It's not nearly enough, but he's already looking uncomfortable and she doesn't want to make it worse. Plus, she still can't think of any words that are close to enough. She'll find other ways of thanking him. There's this whole probably-empty house that needs attention... "You two are the best family."

She gives Jim's hand another squeeze before finally turning her attention more to Clint and his present. "Your turn."

From:

aw_hawkguy

"Well, it's not a house," Clint admits, as the box when opened reveals... folders. A stack of folders, stamped with the various Avengers logos from throughout the years.

"I know you like stories," he explains, "so I pulled some copies of field reports--what actually happened on our missions, the stuff that doesn't make the news."

From:

smartass_captain

"Yeah well, no one's lived in that house for about six years now. It's a contingency plan. If..you know. If either one of you or both need it." If either one of them needed to lay low for a while. If something happened to the Nexus again. If, god forbid, another planet went pop. It's not their home world, but it is their home now.

Just like it's Jim's. His mother gave it to him after Frank passed away, and well. Jim hadn't been able to get rid of it, even though he'd wanted to at the time.

"Holy hell, Clint. Isn't this like ten kinds of breaking the law?" He sounds impressed, not upset. That's the Kirk/Barton/Willis way!

From:

brave_heart_verity

They'll make it a home again. Together. That's what family is supposed to do, right? If nothing else, it's a place to host Thanksgiving dinner. (They have to have Thanksgiving together, they're her family and she needs to feed them.)

"I'm sure it won't be hard to make it comfortable again," she remarks as she looks through the folders. Some of the names and places she recognizes, and it isn't long before she smiling in anticipation. "Oh, thank you! This will be fun."

From:

aw_hawkguy

Clint offers Jim a shrug and a grin. "Who keeps a secret better than Verity?"

"Hey, yeah, we can make it all home-y." Thanksgiving dinner would be nice. Having a family for Thanksgiving would be really nice.

From:

smartass_captain

Jim's not quite sure how they're going to get to Riverside at the moment, considering his door leads to his ship....which is definitely not anywhere close to the end of the galaxy Earth is at the moment. And moving farther every day.

He will have to be introduced to Nexus tech. For now he's just glad they seem happy.

Especially Verity, because birthday girl.

"Glad you like your gifts then." He smiles. Jim means it, too. "Hope these two idiots did a bang up job at something." Jim grins self depreciatingly. How he manages to make that look cocky even is beyond mortal men.

From:

brave_heart_verity

He said it himself: he'll get them coordinates, and Verity's been taught how to use a PINpoint. Pretty much nothing is out of her reach now. Except Loki, but we're not thinking sad thoughts tonight.

"Other than getting yourselves banged up, you mean?" The teasing is affectionate. She doesn't love when they get hurt, but she loves them for who they are and knows it's all part of them being true to themselves. "Yes. Marvelous job. I'm looking forward to the challenge of returning the favor."

Edited Date: 2015-10-06 04:58 pm (UTC)

From:

aw_hawkguy

Jim, you've got a guy who can beam you from Earth to Qo'noS or into a ship at warp several sectors away. Going home is not the obstacle it seems, even without a PINpoint.

Clint chuckles. "Hey, it's a talent. And we didn't even need ice packs for this." Although he is looking forward to seeing what Verity does for somebody's birthday. Jim's is probably next, he figures.

He should find out.

From:

smartass_captain

"Pfft. Get Clint a cozy for his quiver and he'll love you forever." Jim snorts and picks up the wine list again.

This is sweet and all, but insecurities demand booze to deal with this level of feels. Healthy, Jim. He's going to reign it in though, verity's birthday.

"When is your birthday anyway, Barton?"

From:

brave_heart_verity

A talent, huh? "The getting in trouble, or the avoiding it?" The teasing is again affectionate, but she has a point there Clint.

Jim's suggestion gets an eye roll, even though she has to admit, "I could probably make one of those."

Oh, like they couldn't already tell she was a little bit of a hipster.

"And yours, Jim." He's not getting out of this.

From:

aw_hawkguy

"Getting in," comes the reply, with a can't-help-it grin. Yeah, she's got a point and he knows it.

"June eighteenth," Clint answers, after a moment's thought. When was the last time he really did something for his birthday, anyway?

"Ha, nah, quivers're plenty cozy on their own. How 'bout a place to hang a bow?"

From:

smartass_captain

"No its...Barton, you philistine. It's like this knit thing you slip over teapots and like." Jim rolls his eyes and holds himself back from throwing the wine menu at Clint's head.

June 18th is still committed to memory.

"January fourth." Hard to forget his birthday, considering history class and the like. Ugh. Jim's stomach rolls even thinking about it. He swallows. "I don't celebrate though. And I don't want to explain it while we're enjoying a night out. And I don't celebrate Christmas. Could do Thanksgiving though. I'm not really a holiday kind of guy."

Where is the waiter. Jim needs a drink to lose himself in like yesterday.

From:

brave_heart_verity

Clint's teasing is met with a smirk, although it isn't long-lived. Jim is a lot more sensitive than she would have expected, but she's not upset to be one of the people he trusts with these things.

"Okay. Why don't you tell us what we'll be drinking? You're going to have to do all the picking tonight since I don't know anything about the vintages here and Clint..." well, she doesn't expect Clint knows much about wine. "I'm sure he's curious too."

Smooth, Willis. Real smooth. But if it distracts him from whatever's wrong, that's good.

From:

aw_hawkguy

That smoothness is, clearly, a family trait.

"Yeah. I haven't had much, uh, space wine." There it is now. "January fourth. We're all over the year."

From:

smartass_captain

"Yeah. We're not so alike that we share a birthday." Jim snorts and smiles, but he's trying not to look toward Verity. Because it's fake. It's very good fake. Jim is amazing at faking emotions.

Luckily he bounces back quickly. By the time they've flagged down a waiter Jim is all smiles, genuine ones. He's going to get Verity the best damn dinner she will ever have away from Earth. Any Earth.

"We'd like a bottle of the Nu Vird Cabernet Sauvignon and a bottle of the Rache Reisling, please." He doesn't know whether Verity and Clint prefer red or white wine, so one of each seems safe.

"As for the food, most of it is stuff you'll at least sort of recognize. This place specializes in 'traditional Earth' cuisine. There's a few Vulcan dishes or the like, but. Oh, if you're a vegan you might like the Vulcan stuff."

From:

brave_heart_verity

She's starting to see the reasoning behind those fake smiles. Or she thinks she's starting to. It's not something to discuss in public, so she'll hold his hand again instead if he allows. Let the movers and shakers of the Federation think he's on a date with the two hottest people in the room, that won't exactly hurt his reputation.

The wine choices get an approving nod. If asked, she would just have said "yes".

"Nothing wrong with fruits and veg, but there's bacon in the world for a reason and that reason is to make people happy." Maybe that's what Vulcans are missing out on. "So long as it's not bacon milkshakes, that never works."

She knows from experience. Drunk experience.

From:

aw_hawkguy

What Clint knows of wine is that bottles are fancier than boxes, and no, it doesn't matter how big the box in question is. That doesn't mean he can't appreciate the good stuff when he has it.

"I'm no vegan," Clint offers, "but I like to try new things. I've had some big mushrooms that were kinda like a burger; do the Vulcans have anything that's kinda like a steak?"

From:

smartass_captain

This knowledge would not surprise Jim in the least. From either of them. Jim will flip through the menu and nod appreciatively.

"Their tastes are more subtle. I have it on pretty good authority that the plomeek soup is as close to authentic as you can get off New Vulcan, if you want to try it." Jim will pull out a PADD and give it a look over while he's perusing the menu. Then flip to a different part.

"Personally, I take every chance at eating out to get the old familiars I can only eat facsimiles of on the ship." Jim chuckles lightly. "Though if the birthday girl just wanted wine and dessert she's welcome to do so. Whatever you'd like Ver. I mean it."

From:

brave_heart_verity

"Portobellos," she supplies for Clint at a near-whisper. Just a gentle reminder.

"Tempting, but I'm really curious to see what's considered 'traditional Earth cuisine' in this mysterious future of yours. But you know you can have real food any time you like now, right? I'm a good cook and I'm determined to find something you'll like." She's noticed his lack of appetite, but she's trying to be gentle about it. Especially now that they know.

"Do you need to go do captainy stuff? I'm sure Clint and I can entertain ourselves if you do."

From:

aw_hawkguy

Clint nods to Verity--he knew, but he wasn't sure Jim would know he meant burger-shrooms from the name. It's the future, who knows?

"Yeah, we can hold down the fort if somebody just said 'what could go wrong?'" Beat. "That doesn't count, I was quoting."

He's looking over his own menu while he speaks (please oh please let it look like English--or have pictures).