Hushed Willows furnace

Now that was something she hadn't heard yet, his laughter.  It was deep, just like his voice, and she felt the merriment settle down in her bones.  Banner decided she rather liked it when Buchanan laughed and she wondered at the same time if he'd do it more often.  Because now they were.. well,  together.  The two emotionally distant wolves somehow came together and became a thing.

And didn't that just make her heart beat faster.

It felt like forever that she had to wait for him to return her open gestures of affection but in reality it had only been minutes.  His wolf kiss was met with a short burst of laughter - it had just bubbled up before Banner could think to do anything about it.  Then again, it wasn't something she wished to quash.  If she was going to feel something unabashedly, the Beta would much rather feel this all day, every day.  Her heart fluttered when he nipped her.  What had she been so afraid of?  Slow was okay.  But they'd gone quite slow, hadn't they?  It wasn't like their relationship sprang up out of thin air.  No, she and Buchanan had allowed this to grow organically and it felt.. right.

The shiver that ran down her spine at his murmured admission caused her to close her eyes and revel in her own quiet way.  Banner pushed herself up on her toes and grabbed one of his mahogany ears gently between her pearly teeth.  I can live with that, she quipped upon release.  Might be hard work to keep me happy - I'm awfully high-maintenance, you know.  Her green eyes sparkled when she pulled back, the friendly saracasm feeling playful on her tongue.

Her laughter was a beautiful sound to his ears: it made him feel buoyant, even more so to know that he was the reason she was laughing. Buchanan grinned against her before she stretched up and the assassin felt her grip his ear between her teeth. The gesture didn't hurt yet it elicited a soft, startled gasp from the Gamma, regardless. It hadn't been expected, but it wasn't exactly unpleasant. He let out a soft snort of amusement a few seconds later when she teased to him that it would take work to make her happy and that she was high-maintenance. “You're worth the effort.” Buchanan purled to her, knowing that he was repeating himself. He remembered saying something very similar earlier in their conversation and though she was teasing him it hardly mattered: whether she'd been teasing or not wasn't going to change his response. Banner was worth it; she'd always be worth it and this Buchanan confidently and firmly believed. “Guess you'll have to break your other suitor's hearts now, huh?” He teased her with a soft chuckle.

wrap up..? :D <3

"You're worth the effort."  Now there was a sentence she'd never tire of hearing.  Stark spent a lot of time reassuring her, but hearing such sweet words from someone who wasn't related to her by blood gave them more meaning.  Buchanan's teasing words caused her to puff up her chest a touch and she turned her nose up at him in a show of faux-haughty playfulness.  They'll weep for days, she said with a huff.

It only took a fleeting moment for her mask to crack and her features were smoothed by a winning smile.  You can take 'em.  Hell, I can take 'em, she joked, not really knowing who "them" was.  Most likely it was anyone - or anything - who tried to get in between them.  Banner was incredibly proud of the man Buchanan had become and she knew she'd done quite a bit of growing herself.  Emotionally, of course, because there was no way the small female would grow another inch in her life.  She found she didn't mind being short, though, especially when she had nothing to fear here among the willow trees.

But for now, you can take me.. she trailed off, taking a hilariously inopportune moment to think if this was a good time to tell Stark or not.  The Alpha's reaction would be joyous, no doubt, but Banner selfishly wanted to have some time just for the two of them to enjoy their newfound status.  Hm.  Maybe.. oh!  It was then that her unfinished sentence suddenly clicked in her mind .. for a stroll! she rushed, eyes going wide in embarrssment.

Ah, some things would never change.

Sure thing! ^-^ <3

Some different variations of “good” in varying degrees of arrogance ran through Buchanan's mind when Banner mentioned her other suitors weeping for days. He did not voice them aloud. Arrogance wasn't his “thing” if only because it clashed terribly with his subservient personality. The Officer had invested a lot of time and immeasurable amounts of effort in ensuring that Buchanan would always believe himself as inferior. It was scarred into his psychological makeup. Perhaps he would learn to combat that, in time, but it was what was most comfortable for him despite his current rank as Gamma and newly minted title of trophy husband to the Marauder's Beta — despite that Banner's accomplishments were not connected to him. Still, he was proud of her and supposed that he had to set some sort of personal standard. It probably wouldn't reflect well if he didn't maintain a decent rank; plus the idea of being a disappointment to her was a horrible one as it entered his mind and stuck there for a few moments.

“Better yet,” The assassin drew, pressing his muzzle against her cheek, inhaling her scent deeply until it consumed him. “We can take 'em together.” Because wasn't that some of what it meant to be mates? Weather the storm together, facing down obstacles in their path side by side. Buchanan had to admit that he liked the romantic notion of it a lot. Who knew that Buchanan seemed to be something of a closet romantic? Or perhaps that was simply Banner's influence upon him, and his own idea of the man he wanted to be for her. For a moment as he stared down at her he had to remind himself that she, that this was real. Then again, he wasn't particularly imaginative enough to come up with anyone as amazing as Banner, nor was he ever so kind to himself.

Banner started saying something and then trailed off, leaving Buchanan to attempt to decide if she'd just gotten lost in her thoughts and forgot to finish it or if she'd meant what she said. A partially nervous sort of laugh left Buchanan as she finished her sentence in an adorably embarrassed rush. “A stroll sounds perfect.” The dark wraith mused with a charming for his lady as the pair took their stroll.