Classic New York City Pastimes - Episode One - Baseball

[iam_ironwoman]

[Mets Tickets were not, as Toni had feared, too insanely hard to come by a week off. At least not when you could afford to drop a bit on them, anyway.

She had woken up to one of those blissful Saturdays where nothing went wrong in the lab before she'd finished her second cup of coffee and none of her e-mails was marked urgent, managing to actually be ready to leave long enough before Steve left to squeeze in a couple rounds of pinball.

The ballpark when they arrived was loud and crowded, full of cameras, but wearing worn jeans and a t-shirt, with a ponytail pulled through the back of her baseball cap, Toni seemed to blend into the crowd fine. The sense of anonymity was most of what allowed her to relax.

The seats they ended up with were fairly close to the diamond, a good view of the action in Toni's admittedly uneducated opinion. She turned to Steve as they reached the right row, gesturing him on ahead of her.]

You want the aisle seat or does it matter?

Comments

[themanoutoftime]

[Steve had a kind of horrible morning. He slipped in the shower and banged his elbow pretty good (though it was healed by the time he met up with Toni, thankfully) and by the time he got down to the kitchen at about 6:30am, he found out they were out of eggs. Which meant he had to venture out into New York, get things for breakfast, bring it back, cook it, and fight off Clint and Natasha for his own share.

By the time the ball game came around, though, he was feeling better and happy to be spending time with Toni, who, surprisingly enough, is about the only person who hasn't been getting on his nerves lately.

He's never sat this close to the diamond before in his life. It's kind of amazing. He slips in past her, letting her have the aisle seat.]

I'll take this one. You can sit on the aisle.

[iam_ironwoman]

[She settles in next to him, adjusting her sunglasses and taking in the field.]

You ever been to a major league game before?

[themanoutoftime]

[He lifts his arms above his head to stretch and then brings them back down in what would be the classic 'arm-around-the-shoulder' move, if he did things like that. So, instead he just brings them back down to rest his hands on his knees.]

Yeah, used to go whenever I could. Last time was in 1941. [He grins at her.]

[iam_ironwoman]

[Knowing Steve she'd have honestly been a bit surprised to see him pull a move like that...]

Holy smokes...

[She laughs, gesturing up above the field to the enormous screens currently playing various advertisements]

Well, Steve, allow me to introduce you to the jumbotron, the best thing to happen to modern major league sports since electric lights.

[themanoutoftime]

[He looks at it obligingly, pretty amazed at the size of it. And then he laughs when it shows a scan of the crowd.]

That's amazing. What does it show? Just advertisements?

[iam_ironwoman]

[Toni likes explaining modern things to Steve. It's an opportunity to sound really smart to someone without immediately being perceived as an arrogant smart ass. Not that she isn't either or both of those things some days but... not always.]

They follow the game with cameras to televise it and use the same cameras for the images up there. What you're seeing now is just them panning the crowd for people with signs and stuff like that. Once the game starts they'll show the active parts up on the screen so you can see what's going on even if you're far away.

[themanoutoftime]

[Most of the time when people explain things to Steve, they manage to be pretty condescending or patronizing about it. Toni's never been that way, which is nice, so he generally asks her. Even if sometimes her explanations go over his head. Not this one though. This one he gets.]

Well that's neat. I guess it wouldn't even be that bad to sit in the nosebleeds.

Are the hot dogs still awful?

[iam_ironwoman]

Actually those have probably improved since the last time you were here. They were pretty good the last time I was at a game.

Mind you I was about ten years old so I could be wrong.

[themanoutoftime]

Hah! I'll be sure to try one at some point then.

[Annnnnddd he doesn't have much to say. But oh! everyone's standing for the national anthem and that's important, obviously, so he does, and puts his hand right over his heart.]

[iam_ironwoman]

[His earnestness is endearing in a way Toni never expected it to be, honestly. Off the battlefield he doesn't carry himself like any soldier she's ever met, strolling around with the mannerisms of someone far more meek and unassuming than he could ever hope to appear, physically.

She stands alongside him, hand where it should be, for the anthem. Rather than watching the singer on the jumbo screen, though, she watches Steve while he listens, trying to absorb the sheer patriotic-ness of the moment before the song ends.

As they settle back into their seats she can't help a smile.]

At least we didn't go and change the anthem on you, huh?

[themanoutoftime]

[He turns to her, a very serious look on his face.]

That's not even a little bit funny.

[iam_ironwoman]

[She lifts her hands in defense]

Easy there! Far as I know changing it hasn't even been considered, so don't get upset over nothing, okay?

[themanoutoftime]

[He lets out a deep sigh.]

Oh good. Sorry. I just-- So much is different, you know?

[iam_ironwoman]

[She nods, reaching over to lay a hand on his shoulder and squeeze a little.]

Sorry. I didn't mean to make you homesick.

[themanoutoftime]

You didn't. [He pats her hand, briefly, and clears his throat.]

You know I slipped in the shower this morning?

[iam_ironwoman]

Oh jeez. Been there. Broke my collarbone that way once. Showers are dangerous.

[She totally accepts this new conversation direction for the excuse to think of Steve in the shower that it is, thankyouverymuch]

Didn't get too banged up did you?

[themanoutoftime]

No, no, just smacked my elbow pretty good. [He puts it up to show her, but it doesn't look hurt at all. Maybe a tiny bit pink.]

I just felt silly. It's not exactly dignified.

[iam_ironwoman]

[She takes his arm between her hands and peers at the faint mark there critically before nudging it back down to the arm rest, though she keeps a hand on his.]

Hardly a bruise. I think you're going to make it Mr Rogers.

And trust me, yours truly has had FAR less dignified injuries over the years. I once got my hair caught in a garbage disposal and got yanked into the sink. Pepper had to cut me loose. Faucet gave me a black eye and the tabloids gave me an imaginary abusive boyfriend for a week.

[themanoutoftime]

[Steve doesn't mean to laugh, but-- a garbage disposal? That's kind of funny. Only because Toni's obviously okay. And maybe it makes him feel a little less stupid.]

How does something like that even happen?

[iam_ironwoman]

[Toni laughs too, because it IS pretty funny, reaching back and running her fingers through her ponytail]

I was trying to fix the faucet in place and I hit the disposal button with my elbow.

Long hair is just dangerous to have around equipment in general. I've nearly been scalped by a lathe a few times. I wore it short for a couple of months but...

[She shrugs, gesturing to her clothes]

This kind of stuff is okay. It's comfortable it's functional. Most people that work in a garage all day would prefer to just dress down keep their hair low maintenance and not bother with lipstick and hair clips and shit like that but that's just not me.

It's time consuming in various ways, but I can't help it. I like to be pretty, I get the same sort of satisfaction out of putting together an outfit as I do from piecing together an engine.

Design is all aesthetics, whether it's engineering or fashion you know? And when people follow you around with cameras stepping out of the house looking sub-par is just asking for trouble.

[themanoutoftime]

Hence the fake abusive boyfriend, right? [A pause as he watches a guy on the opposite team hit the ball and run to first.]

It works well, though. You're-- I think you're very pretty. [Another pause, as he realizes what he just said.]

Not that you wouldn't be pretty without it. Not that you're just pretty-- I-- [Stop now while you're ahead, bud.]

[iam_ironwoman]

[It's the most awkward and simultaneously most genuine compliment she's heard from someone over the age of twelve. It nets him a delighted smile and small hand squeezing warmly on his wrist.]

It's okay, I know what you meant.

Thank you.

[The next crack of the bat brings her gaze around to the diamond, a shot the crowd cheers for as it goes sailing past one of the outfielders and she joins them with an earsplitting whistle, thumb and forefinger between her lips.]

[themanoutoftime]

[He smiles back at her and manages not to wince at her whistle. Are whistles allowed to be that loud? He claps with everyone else anyway, whooping for the player.]

Do you want anything to eat? I'm gonna go grab something really quick.

[iam_ironwoman]

Yeah sure, grab me a coke and a hotdog? Ketchup and relish. Thanks.

[She gets up to let him slide by to the aisle, whooping as the next hit sends a player sliding into home.]

[themanoutoftime]

[He nods and tries not to block her view as he slides by, hand brushing her hip accidentally. He goes to get their food and only gets kind of lost on his way. He gets back to the seats with way more food than any normal person should have, but he figures he'll eat most of it, so it's fine, right? Right.

He manages to slide back in without making Toni stand again and hands her a drink once he's seated.]

I got you two hot dogs, but only because I didn't want you to get jealous of all my food.

[iam_ironwoman]

[She takes it happily and cracks it open for a sip, laughing as he hands over her two dogs and she takes in the stack he's still got in his lap.]

Jesus man, you eat like a teenager!

[She's so not complaining about the two hot dogs though, seeing as she skipped lunch. She'll probably be hungry enough to finish them both. She digs into the first happily. Eating curtails her cheering but she still winces as one of the home players is tagged out.]

[themanoutoftime]

It's a serum thing. [He's about to take a bite of his own hot dog when the player gets out, so he ends up yelling instead.]

They're ridiculous today.

[iam_ironwoman]

[Toni waves a placating hand at him]

S'only the first inning, they got time to turn it around.

[She's never been the biggest baseball fan but she at least knows that the Mets are having a decent season thus far.]

[themanoutoftime]

I hope you're right. [The game goes on. It's not the most exciting game he's ever seen, but it's still pretty good, and by the fifth inning, the Mets are up by two. Steve's glancing at the jumbotron screen thing when it's suddenly scanning the crowd again. It stops on a couple and a heart shape appears around them.]

What is that?

[iam_ironwoman]

[Toni looks up from the field to the video and snorts as the couple in the frame laugh and the gentleman pulls his companion over for a kiss.]

Oh, it's just this sort of dumb crowd participation thing they do during events.

People have arranged for some super-public proposals at games and it's always been pretty popular to watch, so they started doing this thing where they skim the crowd and find people who look like they're out together, then they frame them up and egg them on to kiss for the camera.

[themanoutoftime]

Oh. [Steve finds that more embarrassing than anything else. Still, he's slightly interested as it scans the crowd again, but not so much when it lands on him. And Toni. And does the heart thing. He's officially turned red. The crowd is 'awww'ing at him. Oh Christ.]

Uh, how do you make it go away?

[iam_ironwoman]

[Oh christ, of all the things to happen. Toni adjusts her sunglasses and waves dismissively at the camera but it just gets a goading 'awww!' out of the crowd and she sighs, throwing up her hands and turning in her seat, tugging Steve closer by the shoulder of his shirt and pressing a quick kiss to his cheek.]

There, that'll get em off -

[There's a loud crack as the next pitch is struck and before Toni can finish her sentence she's cut off by an even louder duller crunch and her own shriek of pain. She curls up on herself, breath knocked right out of her, clutching her side where the rouge baseball nailed her right in her barely healed ribs.]

[themanoutoftime]

[One second, Steve's getting kissed on the cheek by Toni, his teammate, and the crowd is making noises at them that he doesn't like, and in the next second, a baseball is hitting Toni in the ribs with a frankly disturbing sound.]

Oh my god. Toni! Are you alright? Toni!

[iam_ironwoman]

Son of a BITCH...

[She pretty much just curls in a ball, wheezing and cursing, as the crowd around them flinches and 'ooohs' in sympathy, the camera wisely moving back to the field and the player tearing off for home seeing as that ball is not coming back...

After a second she manages to sit up straight again, but still with her arm wrapped around her side. It REALLY hurts to breathe now.]

Well. That was fun. And probably televised. Grand.

I think I may need to go home. Or possibly to emergency. One of the two.

[themanoutoftime]

[Oh Christ on a cracker. Steve leans over to try to examine her, forgetting that they're in public and uh, that's not entirely appropriate. He swears under his breath when she sits up again and nods quickly.]

Yes, yes, let's do that. Hospital sounds good, okay. [And he's standing to help her up because holy crap.]

[iam_ironwoman]

[Toni wasn't actually planning on expecting him to leave with her - she'd have made sure Happy gave him a ride home - but it doesn't take her long to realize she will have a hard time even getting to her car, little alone driving herself someplace while she can't focus on much besides breathing and OW.

She accepts his help out of her seat and leans into him to keep stable while they make their way down the aisle.]

Can you drive standard?

[themanoutoftime]

[What kind of person would Steve be if he didn't leave with her? Baseball's not that important. He puts an arm around her while they make their way to her car.]

Of course I can, that's all they had. Might be a little shaky, but it's better than nothing, right?

[iam_ironwoman]

[Toni smiles weakly and tries to remind herself that she can surely fix anything that Cap's shaky driving might break later, fishing into her pocket and tossing him the keys.]

Just be gentle with her, she's a favorite.

[themanoutoftime]

Of course. Don't worry about it.

[He helps her into the car when they get to it and runs around to the driver's side, hopping in to speed off to the hospital.]