New fic for the Cap Septender challenge

[gwyn]

I Don’t Like Your Fashion Business, Mister (3626 words) by gwyneth rhys
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov (Marvel)
Additional Tags: Shopping, Clothing, Fashion & Couture, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Cap Septender, Developing Friendships
Summary:

“Relax,” Natasha assured him, “you’re in good hands.”

“Oh, I know. It’s just...” and he waved a hand vaguely toward the racks of the men’s department. “I wasn’t expecting we’d start somewhere like this.”

So, I've wanted to write this for a while, and when I first heard about the Captain America Septender Challenge, it seemed like a great time to write it. I'm all about softness for the characters lately, especially with canon so cruel and disappointing. And then there was this hilarious post on Tumblr that used all these fanworks titles to show how overused "Hallelujah" is, and a discussion on musesfool 's DW morphed into minim_calibre making a community (hall_no ) and AO3 challenge for works that use Leonard Cohen lyrics from "any freaking song but 'Hallelujah'" and I figured I could kill two challenges with one fic stone. I think it was brilliant that the scansion for her challenge matches the actual song perfectly, and hall_no is totally genius.

I'm trying to get back into a head space of writing so I can work on that original fiction thing, but it's...hard. I hoped this might jiggle something loose, but so far, not.

Comments

[mackiemesser]

This was very charming. I really like stories like these that take on the small moments.

Also, I agree with you on the misreading of Steve's clothes - he's not in Dockers, FFS. Like so many things about him, Steve's clothes are clearly divided between Public and Private. To grossly over simplify it: Public Steve is button-downs and slacks, while Private Steve is t-shirts and jeans. It seems pretty obvious coding to me.

(The Lenard Cohen lyric titles thing cracked me up!)

[gwyn]

Thanks! It's been bugging me for years that so many fans insist he's in old man clothes. This fandom has always made me grind my teeth.

[mackiemesser]

It gets on my nerves, too! And there's only 2 times where he's wearing old man clothes: in the first Avengers when he's wearing clothes someone else bought for him, and in WS, in the first big fight with Bucky, when he's wearing what's presumably a mix of his own and Sam's clothes - and Sam's clothes aren't going to fit him right. Every other time Steve is wearing current, fashionable clothing. He's not dressing flashy, but he's not off trend.
Also, if he was wearing clothing that called back to the 30's and 40's he'd look damn sharp! I don't think most people really understand what that era of clothing looked like...

[kore]

Aw, this is great. I love the opening and how Nat's constantly comparing it to field maneuvers, and the little old shop, and how she really does want to help him. It's sweet but not soppy.

[gwyn]

The little old shop is totally based on a real-life store that I knew, and apparently Greenpoint is the kind of place where that sort of thing still exists.