[oom] let's go dancin' in the light

[from_the_outside]

She's late to the lab, having cited an errand she needed to run once they made their way up to the Citadel from the hut by the lake, and her footsteps ring out quick and firm as she makes her way down the walkway from the train platform. Shuri's voice is clear as she makes her way into the lab, and Sharon can't help but smile at the note of gleeful triumph in the princess's voice.

"Good," Shuri's saying, as Sharon walks into the side room where Shuri has been conducting her design fittings and reviews. The princess stands in front of Bucky, who wears a white sleeveless shirt that clearly shows the new vibranium shoulder joint Shuri had constructed... and a new left arm, gleaming beneath the lab lights.

"The dimensions are perfect. How does it feel?"

Comments

[from_the_outside]

"Spent a lot of time in D.C.," she says, getting beneath the ball and letting it drop into her glove before tossing it back again.

"Visiting Aunt Peggy at first, then for work. Richmond's only got a minor league team, and it's not even the same one it was when I was a kid."

That quirking smile is back tugging at her lips as she says: "And I hate to tell you, baby, but it's affiliated with the Giants."

[nerves_of_ice]

He groans aloud and pitches her a curveball. "Yeah, okay, glad you've got better taste than to follow any team linked with them."

[from_the_outside]

She barely snags the curveball with the tip of her glove and throws the ball back again. "I do what I can," she says, amused.

"But when I moved to D.C. for SHIELD... There were a lot of late nights. The Nats kept me company while I was up working, you know?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Mm-hm," he agrees, sending her a low, easy lob. "I still remember the Dodgers' first night game. God, that was a big deal, baseball under the lights."

[from_the_outside]

"I bet," she grins, snagging the ball and side-arming it back to him.

"Who did they play?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"That one? The Reds." He makes a face as he wings the ball back to her. "Lost, too. Oh, well."

[from_the_outside]

"That's baseball," she agrees. "But I love a night game."

This time as she catches the ball, she tosses it up and down, giving it a little spin off the tips of her fingers as she grins at him. "Batter up?"

[nerves_of_ice]

He grins back. "I'm game if you are."

[from_the_outside]

Her smile brightens further, and she jog-trots to the tree to dig her sweatshirt out of her tote, then picks up the bat before coming over to him.

"Home," she says, and drops the sweatshirt on the ground, then nudges it with her toe into the approximate size of home plate, though a bit squishy in shape. She hands him the bat.

"Try not to send them too far, huh?"

[nerves_of_ice]

He laughs, clear and bright. "No promises, but I'll see what I can do."

Bucky considers her. "Pitch six and bat six, then pick them all up and switch?"

[from_the_outside]

"Sounds good to me," she says, utterly delighted by how much he's enjoying himself. She'd give a lot to be able to hear that laugh as often as possible.

Heading back to pick up the rest of the balls, she heads to a good pitching distance and waves the first ball at him. "Nothing fancy," she grins. "I'm not a pitcher. It's all meatballs, all the time with me."

Getting it in the strike zone at all will be an accomplishment, honestly. She eyes the plate, then lobs a reasonably accurate pitch right over it.

[nerves_of_ice]

He works the handle of the bat a little in his hands, getting the feel of it, then taps the makeshift home plate and settles into his stance. It's an easy pitch, and should be an easy swing, so he takes it with medium force, just to get a sense of things.

Or would have, if the mechanics in the left arm hadn't let out a sudden high-pitched whine and tried to compensate by skewing with much more force, reading the batting motion as a combat strike. The bat swings wide as he whiffs the swing, although he's able to hold on to it. Bucky straightens and eyes his own arm.

"Oh, come on."

[from_the_outside]

Peals of Sharon's laughter float through the air towards him. "Now there's a note for Shuri," she says, amused.

"Try again?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"No kidding." He settles his left hand into the small of his back and steps up to the 'plate' with the bat in his right hand alone. Bucky swings it through the air a few times, then holds it ready and gives her a challenging look.

"Okay, baby, show me what you've got."

[from_the_outside]

"I'd keep your expectations low," she says, amused, then stoops to pick up a second ball. "Here it comes!"

The second pitch is a lot like the first: accurate and with a little zip to it but nothing fancy.

[nerves_of_ice]

CRACK.

The ball goes up in the high arc of a pop fly, and Bucky grins up at it. "Not my best, but it'll do for a one-handed batter," he calls to her.

[from_the_outside]

She shades her eyes and looks up to follow the arc of the ball; it soars towards the right and lands with a soft thud about ten feet from the lakeshore.

"Not bad at all," she agrees, and grabs a third ball. She waits until he's ready, then pitches again.

[nerves_of_ice]

This time he adjusts the angle of his swing slightly, and drives a grounder back at her.

"Better," he concludes.

[from_the_outside]

They aren't playing on a perfectly level, meticulously groomed field; the grounder hops on a clump of grass and she has to scramble a little to field it.

"You're dialing it in," she says, keeping that ball and tossing it as she waits for him to get ready again, then tosses a fourth pitch that skews a little high and outside.

[nerves_of_ice]

"Wait until I try using my left arm again too," he says, amused, and watches the fourth pitch go by rather than swat it down.

"Two more," he calls out.

[from_the_outside]

"We'll never see these balls again when you do," she tells him, grinning, and pitches again, this time right on the money in the strike zone, a perfect meatball.

[nerves_of_ice]

The sound of the ball against bat is clear as a bell ringing. As the ball soars into the air over her head and lands somewhere in the outfield, Bucky leans his head back and laughs, full-throated and free.

[from_the_outside]

It's worth everything, everything, to hear him laughing like that: like everything in the whole world is for one shining moment absolutely perfect; like he gets to be a kid all over again.

She tracks the arc of the ball in the sky, grinning so hard her cheeks hurt. "And it's outta there," she calls, in her best commentator voice. "Holy smokes, that was a beautiful hit, baby."

[nerves_of_ice]

He sets the bat on the ground and jogs over to her. Bucky puts both hands at her waist and lifts her up, spinning her around in a circle before he leans in for a quick kiss.

[from_the_outside]

She yelps in surprise and then delight as her feet leave the ground; his kiss knocks her hat back on her head and she can't care at all, only puts her arms around his neck and kicks her feet up before she kisses him back through her smiles.

"I did good, huh?" she murmurs with a laugh against his mouth, and kisses him again.