[OOM] some enchanted evening

[nerves_of_ice]

He's been thinking about it for a while. Long enough to come up with a few ideas, long enough to find what he needs, but not long enough to stop being nervous about it.

It's late afternoon, almost evening. The kids are gone for the day, the goats are fed and watered, and there's nothing else to do but wait.

Sharon should be coming down from the Citadel soon. Probably. In the meantime, Bucky does his best not to pace a hole in the hut's floor, and tells himself to stop being an idiot.

Comments

[from_the_outside]

"No," Sharon gasps, staring at the familiar stadium, the players jogging out to their positions. "No way!"

She steps away, running her fingers through the projected light, then turns back to him, her eyes shining, so happy she can hardly speak. "I can't believe you did all this."

[nerves_of_ice]

She looks delighted, and at the sight of just how happy she is Bucky decides that no matter what happens in the game they've already had the best home run of the night.

"Not all surprises are bad ones," he teases.

[from_the_outside]

"You're right," she says, a laugh running beneath her voice like a bubbling, irrepressible stream. "This is a really, really nice surprise."

[nerves_of_ice]

"I'm glad you like it." He moves carefully to the purple throw, so as not to disturb the broadcast, and never mind that Shuri's assured him it's anchored in space once activated. Bucky takes a seat and holds out his free hand to her.

[from_the_outside]

"You're not hiding a couple of Nathan's dogs back there somewhere, too, are you?" she teases, as she comes to join him. Sharon settles on the throw and curls next to him, the bark of the tree rough against her back, her eyes locked on the team warming up on the diamond. "Who's the starting pitcher?" she muses to herself, then gasps and pats at Bucky's leg, as if he might not be paying attention.

"It's Scherzer! Watch this guy, baby, he's amazing – "

[nerves_of_ice]

"Couldn't quite figure how to manage that," he drawls, "but I've got a couple of bottles of that Wakandan beer you like cooling in the lake."

Bucky studies the pitcher with keen interest. "Yeah? What kind of record does he have?"

[from_the_outside]

"Three Cy Young awards, five-time All-Star, he's led the National League in strikeouts the last two years," Sharon tells him, her eyes fixed on the pitcher's mound. "He had two no-hitters his first year with the Nats."

She leans forward to point out the right-fielder. "You're going to want to keep an eye on him, too. That's Bryce Harper. He was Rookie of the Year when he first came to the Nats. Five-time All-Star, too."

[nerves_of_ice]

“Pretty impressive. Both of them.” Bucky slants her a teasing look. “The rest of the team as good?”

[from_the_outside]

"Pretty good," she says, loyally, and nudges his side as she grins.

"But we'll see how they play tonight."

Or whenever this was recorded.

[nerves_of_ice]

He grins back. “We sure will.” Movement on the field draws his eye, and Bucky leans forward beside her.

“Looks like they’re about ready.”

[from_the_outside]

"Come on, boys," Sharon tells her team. "Crush 'em."

It starts well; the Mets get an early run in, but the Nats come back with a vengeance in the bottom of the first when Anthony Rendon crushes a homer to deep left center, driving in two runs as Sharon cheers.

[nerves_of_ice]

By the third inning, when Rendon drives a second one into the stands, putting the Nats up three to one, Bucky's laughing aloud.

"That's what you get for sending the Dodgers to California!"

[from_the_outside]

"He's having a great game," Sharon says, fondly watching Rendon jog around the diamond.

The next few innings squeak by with only one more run for the Mets to tighten the score and a whole slew of fastballs from "Mad Max" Scherzer. Sharon points out the team members to Bucky as they come to bat or make defensive plays, so caught up in the game she almost forgets they're watching it all the way across the world and that what they're seeing has already happened.

[nerves_of_ice]

He's watching her more than the game now, although he doesn't think she's noticed it, a quiet smile on his face and satisfaction in his heart.

"Harper's no slouch," he observes.

[from_the_outside]

Sharon gets up sometime in the fifth to grab two of the beers Bucky had set to cool in the lake and hands them to him to uncap. "I told you," she says, slightly smug. "All-Star."

She's even more satisfied when Harper smacks a home run over the right field wall in the seventh inning, putting the Nats two more runs ahead – but it's still close.

[nerves_of_ice]

It stays close, too, until the Nats are only up by one as they close out the top of the ninth, with the New York crowd screaming as the Mets come up to bat.

"You can sure tell it's a home game," Bucky murmurs, leaning forward.

[from_the_outside]

"We've got it in the bag," Sharon bluffs, but she forgets to sip at her beer until Madson closes it out, giving the Nats the win.

Her delighted cheer echoes across the lake.

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky laughs. "Congratulations. Good game."

[from_the_outside]

"That was a good game," she agrees, grinning as she lifts her bottle of beer to clink against his.

"It almost felt like really being there."

[nerves_of_ice]

"It really did," he murmurs, before taking a swallow from his drink. "I'm glad."

[from_the_outside]

She's slightly wistful as she watches Citi Park flicker and fade away, running her fingertips lightly over her delicate new necklace before she takes another sip of the beer.

"What a good date you are," she tells him, and smiles as she shifts next to him on the purple throw. It's full dark now, and the tiny glimmering lights sparkle around them like the stars he said he wanted to give her.

[nerves_of_ice]

"I try." Bucky reaches to put a supportive arm behind her back. "Comfortable enough?"

[from_the_outside]

"Mhm."

She curls her legs up and leans on him, setting her head comfortably into the crook of his shoulder. "You?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Uh-huh." He finishes his beer and sets it aside, then starts toying with a lock of her hair. "More than."

[from_the_outside]

"Good."

She smiles again to feel his fingers in her hair. "This is really nice."