"Well, I give you my approval, and that's really all that matters."
You hummed, thinking about it for a second, and then you furrowed your eyebrows, lifting the bottle, "Thanks – but like, do you think if me and Natasha got married, Melina would object?"
You both stopped in the middle of the bridge over the lake, the moon shining bright in the sky, making the other lights around seem dim in comparison, but they still glittered, and you liked that even though summer was ending, there was still a warmth in the dead of night.
"Probably."
"Hm," You were finding it hard to care as you watched a cluster of baby ducks burrow into their mother's feathers, trying to sleep, "I know she does like, super sketchy jobs overseas with Bucky, but...does she kill people?"
"Sometimes."
"You're being awful honest!" You laughed, taking a few sips after.
Your phone kept vibrating in your pocket and you finally pulled it out, trying to see who was calling this late, but your vision was a bit blurred, and you tried to use your other hand to answer it, slipping with the neck of the bottle in your grip, dropping your phone into the lake with a self-righteous plop.
"Whoops." You chuckled, too out of it to give a shit.
"What happened? Tell me you didn't drop the vodka, I'll kill you."
"No, no, just my phone." You assured, shaking your head too much.
"Oh, thank fuck." Yelena sighed, taking said bottle from you as the two of you continued walking through the park until the sun started to rise, chatting about things.
"And that's why I think Toucan Sam and Captain Crunch would have a love-hate relationship."
"What about the Tricks the rabbit? Where does he fit in?"
"We don't have time to unpack it – that's like asking if Chip the wolf is secretly in love with the frog from that snap cereal – oh! Speaking of, I heard a rumor that Cap Crunchies is actually the grandpapi of the three Rice Krispy guys!"
"Snip, Cracker, and Pup?"
You snorted a laugh, "You're drunker than I am."
"I think this started because I asked if you've ever toured in Russia."
"And I think you got your answer."
She looked to be about to deny that, but then she paused to think as you two reached the end of the park, the street not as busy as it was during the day, just bits of cars here and there before she decided, "You know what? I think I did."
You decided to share a cab, dropping her back at her apartment as the city was casted in an orange hue from the sun waking it up, and then you tried your hardest not to fall asleep in the back before you got to yours, just barely succeeding.
You were still a bit tipsy as you fumbled with the code and keys to get inside, but you didn't get further than the couch in the living room before you passed out – the stairs were for the ambitious people with goals in life.
One of the first things you noticed when you stirred awake was that the sun can be a real buzzkill. The second thing you noticed was that you had your favorite pillow under your head and a blanket over yourself. Something you had a hard time believing your drunk self would've thought to do. Third thing – promise, we're almost done – was the glass of water and two pills next to it with a little folded piece of paper.
You cringed between moving and the sunlight on your face as it gave you a blinding headache when you reached for the note, rubbing a bit at your eyes before opening it.
Good morning baby,
Went to get breakfast because we both know I can't cook.
Hopefully I'll be back before you get up,
Love you,
Your girlfriend xx
You laughed a little at the last part since she knew it made you feel good to call her that, and it worked because it felt like your headache drifted away. It also reminded you of how whenever Melina was talking about the two of you yesterday, she kept saying 'friends' or something along those lines. It wasn't a homophobic thing, nope, it was just to belittle your guys' relationship and try to invalidate it. So, this was a nice little reminder that no matter what anyone close to you guys said, nothing was going to change the sexy, sexy facts.
You chugged the glass of water, swallowing the pills somewhere in between, and then you just laid back down for a while. You went to text Atlas, but then you remembered what happened to your phone, groaning at the memory.
You couldn't help but to let your thoughts trail off to the mess you were still in with your career. It was all fun and games to get out of the contract and drop your agent, label, management, and everything in between while you were kicking Johnny's ass in court, taking back your millions, but in the reality of it, you needed things like an agent or a personal assistant even if you never wrote another album ever again. It was too much to manage on your own and you weren't experienced in the field – also, saying you're going independent on your label really just means you have to pay for everything and practically cold call places to see if they'll let you play for a night or two.
You're not so humble to say it'd be difficult to get gigs, but there was always the added need for security and knowing people weren't going to leak your location ahead of time.
It was nice, in theory, to think you could travel the world and play for free in pubs or wherever, but there was still a lot of behind the scenes to hash out and you'd rather hire someone to do the hashing for you because it really sucked the fun out of it.
There was also the Bucky thing with Natasha. He seemed to really need her on the job and since you've known your little firebird, she's never turned down anything to do with what she loves. Including yourself, but ya know. It really worried you that maybe you were taking her away from her career and passions. You didn't want to do that, and you'd have to talk to her about it.
You groaned loudly again at the thought of a real talk and then you heard someone unlocking the door – you only gave the code and a copy of the key to three people – before you heard your favorite voice from your favorite redhead.
"Sweetheart?" She called out, probably having heard your sound of agony, and then she was coming into the room as you slowly sat up, clutching your head and probably looking like death itself while she looked soft and wonderful and lovely, "Are you alright?"
"Do you think the leprechaun from Lucky Charms is a long-lost brother of the Rice Krispy boys?" You frowned as she did, but for different reasons, "I wonder if they abandoned him because he's a ginger," You grimaced apologetically, "No offense."
She parted her lips, a bit speechless, and then she held up a bag, "Grease?"
"I'm more of a Mama Mia girl myself, but sure."
She rolled her eyes with a chuckle, moving towards you, "You're impossible, you know that?"
"Yeah, but you love me."
She smiled fondly, handing you a bottle of orange juice that you happily took before taking the food out, "More than anything, now eat up."
"Oh," You remembered between bites a few minutes later, "A family of ducks ate my phone."
She raised her eyebrows, watching as you happily went back to munching, "Sounds about right."
