cuddlecity | (ota / with a locked starter)

Entry tags:

(ota / with a locked starter)

CHARACTERS: Steve Trevor, Diana Prince, & an open prompt
LOCATIONS: Golden Park (and the gun range)
WARNINGS: None yet
SUMMARY: Exercise and also a dog, and a very Steve-and-Diana date

Golden Park - ota

Steve has slowly been settling in to life here, in the months since his arrival, and somehow without him noticing or thinking about it too much, that life has turned out decidedly domestic. It's not that he minds his new domestic life; he just didn't think it was something he wanted. Being here he gets to leave the horrors of the war behind for awhile, and he gets all the time with Diana that he wants. So maybe what makes the difference isn't that he didn't want a domestic life. It was that he hadn't met anyone he wanted that kind of life with, until Diana.

He hadn't been here that long, really, when his look had been shook up again by the addition of a four-legged, furry member of the household. Having the almost-fully-grown dog around is a good excuse to get some activity, though, and he has made a habit of regularly taking Apollo to the park and getting both of them some exercise.

Sometimes it's Apollo getting some exercise chasing a Frisbee. Sometimes it's Steve getting some exercise chasing Apollo. Whatever. It works for them.

Apollo, still being a puppy (albeit at this point a rather large one), is still easily distracted, and it doesn't take much for him to decide that he wants to meet that person over there, and he'll come bounding over to someone, Frisbee dangling from his mouth, tail wagging. Which leads to Steve running after him again. "Apollo!" he scolds, but not too terribly, since he didn't have to chase very far, after all. "He's friendly," he assures the dog's would-be target. "He just likes to play."

Gun Range – for Diana

It's perhaps a quirk of their relationship that Steve not only suggested a visit to the gun range as a date, but that Diana agreed. Or maybe it's just why they work so well together. Theirs is a relationship forged by war, after all. Not fighting for the sake of fighting, but because it's something that must be done, in order to protect those who can't fight for themselves. Sacrifice of one for the good of the many.

Plus, while there are a lot of things about this modern life that Steve has learned by now, the only weaponry he's familiar with is a century old. He hopes that marksmanship is a skill he never needs to use here, but it's something he should maintain anyway, just in case. And anyway, he's curious how much that has changed in the last century. He's read some about the wars in the years since the one he fought in, but what are those weapons like? It's something he wants to experience for himself. And he just likes time with Diana.

He's waiting for her there after work one day, glancing over the options available, trying to decide where to start.

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"Yeah. They can certainly be effective." Usually more effective than the weapons used on Themyscira, although with archers like the ones on Themyscira, those weapons are plenty effective despite being archaic.

"Have you ever used one?" He doesn't know exactly how they compare to bows and arrows, but he can give her some pointers in using one.

"Only a handful of times. I prefer my weapons. The creations of men make battles unfair," Diana admits. "It makes it seem like sport, almost, to kill and I think taking a life is something only done in the most dire of circumstances."

She levels her gaze at Steve. "Teach me?"

That's how he feels about it too, which might sound strange for someone who willingly went to war when he didn't have to, but he hadn't gone to war to kill. He'd gone to fight for those who couldn't fight for themselves.

"Of course I'll teach you. Which one do you want to try first?"

"Let's try the handgun," Diana says, putting her hand on one of them. It's a revolver, an old fashioned six-shooter, and while it's hardly the most modern weapon to choose from it's the one she wants to learn on.

"You'll help me with aim? I don't know if I'll be as good a shot with this as with a bow. You might outshoot me."

The one that Diana chose is more like the ones he's used to from his war days, like the one he carries in his holster, than the one he chose to try today. He knows how to use a six-shooter well, and he can definitely help her with it.

"I might be better at something than you are? I'm not sure I know what that feels like."

But he says it fondly. If Diana were more like the typical women he knows, he wouldn't love her nearly as much as he does.

Diana laughs a little and arches a brow. Whenever Steve says something like that, she takes it as a challenge and wants to do better, prove herself stronger, and she's glad he doesn't seem to be threatened by that.

"Well, show me how it's to be done properly first and then I'll see if I can repeat your results. We'll see who's the best at shooting before the end of the day, won't we?"

He hadn't meant for her to take it like a challenge, but it doesn't surprise him when she does. She's Diana, after all, always striving to be better.

"Sure. You know that I will still love you even if you don't beat me at this, right?" No matter what.

"I know. I think that's why I love you so much," Diana says, grinning back at him. Steve is not challenged by her abilities as a woman or a fighter and is, instead, proud of what she's capable of doing.

"Come on, we'll have some friendly competition and then go for dinner?"

"Then I guess that's why we work so well together." They both know what the other's strengths are and complement them. And it doesn't hurt that she doesn't mind having a date at a shooting range.

He picks the clip up and loads it into the gun. "That sounds like a great plan."

Diana takes the gun and levels a shot, carefully pulling the trigger and watching as the bullet grazes the edge of the target. It's not as good as she'd have done with a bow and arrow, to be sure, but she's at least hit the target and she calls that a small success.

"Hmm, it's pulling to the left. Do you know why it would do that?"

"Maybe." Not because he's no good at it. But he knows just by looking at the guns that they're not like the ones he's used to, and the principles might be different. There's no way to know until trying something, and he suggest to her something that might fix the problem.

Then he lifts up his own gun and aims at the target, hitting just shy of the bullseye. "This one has some amazing aim."

It's not all down to the gun, of course, but it's better than the ones he's used to using.

"Hmm. Let me try the one you have," Diana says, putting the weapon she has down and holding her hand out for his. "I think I could stand to have my stance corrected as well."

This is less true, honestly, but she's not above pretending to need a little bit of help so that Steve has to get his hands on her. "Will you help me?"

She doesn't need help with that, he can see that, but they can both get something out of pretending that she does. "Here." He hands the gun to her, muzzle pointed safely away from them both, and steps in close.

"Like this," he says, placing his hands in various places to direct her how to stand to take aim.

He might also be smelling her hair, because it's right in front of him. One of the advantages of her being as tall as he is.

Diana really just wants to be close to him and correcting her aim is a thinly veiled excuse. She takes a shot, hitting fairly close to the center of the target, and turns her head just slightly to talk softly to him.

"It seems I am much, much better with you around. It's almost as if we fit together, Steve Trevor."

She doesn't need any more of his help, but he's leaving his hands where they are anyway. Any reason to touch her, honestly, and he's going to keep doing it even if they're technically in public. It seems he's adjusting to this new modern world.

"I never imagined getting so lucky after crashing my plane." Or if one of the other Amazons had found him first. "I wish I could show that world to you."

"I got a chance to see it," Diana admits. "but it was hollow without you. I tried to move on so many times, Steve, but everything came back to you. You're the only one I've ever felt like this about." It's a heavy thing to admit, just how much she loves him, and she's glad it hasn't seemed to change with the years between them.

"I want to explore this world with you. We have time back. I don't want to waste it."

Steve doesn't know what to say to that. What does he need to say? He'd already had a pretty good idea of how she felt about him. "The war was like nothing anyone had seen before. It was terrible. I don't have to tell you that. You made it bearable." It's not as eloquent as what she said, but he's a solider and a spy, not a writer. She knows what he means.

"Anywhere you want to go, we'll go."

"I live in Paris now," Diana says, giving him another slow, soft smile. "It's so different now than it was during the war, Steve, and I wish I could show you. I wish you could see just how beautiful it is."

She's spent so many evenings in the Louvre watching couples hold hands as they look from painting to painting and wished that was her and Steve. Perhaps now it can be?

"Maybe I will." He had wished for them to have more time, which they're getting here, and he doubts that fulfilling his end of the bargain means he won't die in that plane in Belgium but will get to enjoy life in Paris with Diana instead. So what he'll do is enjoy the time they have here.

"You could tell me all about it."

"Ah, yes, I could. Now, you've been before I imagine?" Diana presses on before waiting for a response; considering Steve's in the war and has been in Europe for years now, she imagines he's been to Paris at least once.

"Imagine all that old charm, the new pressed right up against the antique. Paris is very particular about maintaining its history and that's exactly what I do now - I'm a curator and antiquities acquirer for the Louvre."

"I was there once, yes." He'd been pretending to be a German officer, so he'd been working, but he'd been there for weeks and had seen much of the city.

"That sounds like a good job for you. Maybe one day you'll get to show me everything."

"I want to. It's nice to be a curator here at the museum," Diana says. "but I want to show you my true element, the thing I love most."

She has a natural edge when it comes to antiquities, especially Greek and Cretan ones, but she has acquired so much knowledge over the past decades and wants to show it off.

"That sounds nice." Anything that tells him more about Diana is something he wants to know. "You could show me around the museum here sometime." She knows more about those things than he does. Maybe she could teach him something next time.

"I'd love to. It's a quiet place," Diana admits, "But it's the sort of place you can get lost in for hours if you want. I can imagine it'd make for a good date after closing."

She grins at him. "And I know someone with a key."

"Then I think the next date should be a glimpse into your world." Since this one relates to his world. "I think I'd like to get lost with you."

"I think we could start out chronologically, if you wanted?" Diana asks, her grin getting even wider. "Start at the beginning of man, bring it through to the present day?"

"That sounds like a long time. In the museum. Just us." So it sounds like the perfect date, actually. "I look forward to anything you can teach me."

"We have an awful lot of missed time to make up for," Diana agrees. "And I'm not looking to spend any time apart while we're here. I don't know what the future holds for me but - I want to enjoy the present."

"It's just too bad we have to do things like go to work. Then we'd have even more time to spend together." Although when they're apart for the day, he does get to look forward to seeing her again.

Diana laughs a bit. "I know we get a stipend just for being here but you're right, we do have to work. I think I would lose my mind otherwise."

She reaches out and touches his cheek lightly. "As tempting as it might be to only spend my time with you, that is."

"It is nice to get out other places every so often. I can't miss you if I see you all the time, right?"

And missing her makes seeing her better.

"No, that's not exactly how it works," Diana agrees. "But I can live without you missing me if it means I get to see you."

"It's much better this way," Steve agrees, although he doesn't really know what the other way is like.

"Are we ready to try again?"

"I'm always ready, when it comes to you," Diana says, eyes gleaming as she issues a challenge. "So, lets try to hit these targets and then move on to something else for the rest of the evening? Sound like a plan?"

"That sounds like an excellent plan." He removes the clip and loads another. The capacity of the gun sure does make it more efficient, but he can't imagine many scenarios where that much firepower is actually necessary. "Where would you like to go for dinner?"

"The Italian place? I was always fond of Italy," Diana admits. "And I do prefer Italian food over French food most days of the week."

"I'm not that familiar with Italy." They had been on the other side of the war, after all, and his focus had been Germany, since he knew that language. "You can tell me about it over dinner."

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