It's casual, friendly, even affectionate touch - and it's also information. The reaction doesn't surprise him. The... sad part isn't so much just that there's tension, as the type of tense. It doesn't even read to Steve as a 'don't', so much as a checked pivot and strike.
He does not draw attention to it, directly, doesn't back off, and isn't awkward. In silence or return from it, for that matter.
"Sounds good," he says, easily. "Though I am gonna grab that shower and change first. My hair's about 8 hours from qualifying as an oil spill." Look, he can and often is filthy around any battle scenario, but given the option of not being, he's taking it.
Besides, there's a steady kind of normal in that, while he drops his bag on the bed, and grabs his own sweats and t-shirt out of it. "I think I managed to find a place that'll work for us."
no subject
It's casual, friendly, even affectionate touch - and it's also information. The reaction doesn't surprise him. The... sad part isn't so much just that there's tension, as the type of tense. It doesn't even read to Steve as a 'don't', so much as a checked pivot and strike.
He does not draw attention to it, directly, doesn't back off, and isn't awkward. In silence or return from it, for that matter.
"Sounds good," he says, easily. "Though I am gonna grab that shower and change first. My hair's about 8 hours from qualifying as an oil spill." Look, he can and often is filthy around any battle scenario, but given the option of not being, he's taking it.
Besides, there's a steady kind of normal in that, while he drops his bag on the bed, and grabs his own sweats and t-shirt out of it. "I think I managed to find a place that'll work for us."