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[ It's Tuesday in Avengers Tower.

A lot of the particulars of this arrangement had gone over his head, given that he'd been all but catatonic from shock and exhaustion through half of it (turns out using the Cube for a major temporal displacement actually took a lot of energy from the bearer, in this case him) but it seemed to include a lot of shouting and posturing while he'd suffered a fatal disconnect over which Steve he was supposed to back up, the tiny angry one or the big angry one. But the gist of it, explained by Howard Stark's son, is this: the Tesseract fucks with time, and sometimes deigns to answers wishes. Even those not spoken out loud. One flash of blue light later it had dumped all four of them here in the future in some kind of 'temporal bubble,' whatever the fuck that was, and it's keeping them here indefinitely.

Stark promises he's working on fixing it, but the future has things like inhalers and endless amounts of hot water, so there's that. Bucky's not in any big freaking hurry to head back to the war front in any case, even if being stuck here means staring at the frankly terrifying person who is supposedly future-him, or one possible version of future-him.

They're all under what's effectively house arrest in Stark's future robot building, given leave to go wherever they want in the Tower. They've all got their own bedrooms, their own kitchens, even their own floors if they want them, but Bucky had shown up at younger Steve's door at first opportunity and hadn't left him since.

(Part of him thought that maybe, maybe he should be throwing in with the other one, the older one with shadows under his eyes and a look on his face like someone had just kicked him in the stomach, the one Bucky remembered from Europe, but stress had brought on one of Stevie's attacks and Bucky couldn't leave him alone for that.)

He'd been kicked out eventually, though, told to go do his worrying and hovering somewhere else and take his stupid glowing alien box with him, which meant that Steve wanted some space to be upset in peace and that was fine, that was all fine, Brooklyn Steve didn't really know him since he'd been taken off to the camp and. Yeah. He's different. He's killed a lot of people since then, has watched his best friend waffle between science experiment, propaganda darling and one man army with maybe 10% of the training he needs to do the jobs they've got him doing. He's got a glowing alien box that always comes back to him, no matter how he tries to get rid of it. It bothers Steve that he's different. Not a one of them really know each other right now.

He drifts into the kitchen out of lack of anything better to do, still dressed in yesterday's clothes because he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep while Steve rasped in the bed next to him, mechanically opening cabinets and going through drawers, staring in something like hopeless frustration at the array of supposed edibles. The packages are all brightly colored and there are three kinds of everything, all declared to be low-fat or pure organic or a good source of vitamin whatever, like it wasn't possible for a guy to just get milk anymore without having to make some kind of choice about it. The labels are in every kind of language possible, of which he can only read three with his fragmentary French, Italian, and German. There's butter, more than he knows what to do with, and real meat, impossibly fresh, and the house robot has told him that if there's anything he wants that isn't there, he just has to ask for it and it'll be delivered.

All he wants is a goddamn loaf of bread and some cheese to make a sandwich, jesus. ]

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[ the second steve's nose wrinkles, he thinks he's said something wrong. steve turns away and a small flare of panic rises, like maybe he's already chased away the face he sees most often in memories that aren't quite his yet. but steve doesn't go far and then he's offering food. the mention of his other self keeps him from easing entirely ( buck, because that man is the bucky steve called for when he was dying beneath him ).

he glances briefly back down the hall; maybe he should just. leave. ]

Um.

[ oh. he's still talking, still offering him things. he could take them and leave easily enough; steve probably wouldn't try to stop him, would be too weak to stop him by force if he really wanted to go.

but - he doesn't. not really. it takes him a second to slowly cross the kitchen and sit down at the counter. he doesn't touch the sandwiches though, not yet, and focuses on steve with his box instead. ]

I don't really remember what it tastes like.

[ Yeah, he's still talking, still offering things. That much isn't going to change. Steve purses his lips a moment, not quite sure what to tell him to keep him from running the other way. He's trying not to be overwhelming but he knows that it's not exactly possible when you're confronted with a thousand different ways things went wrong, smacked on the faces of people you love.

There are about sixteen more kinds of tea than there needs to be, but Stark keeps this place stocked to the gills, which is so horrifically wasteful he doesn't even want to contemplate it. ]

It...depends which one you want to try. You could smell them.

[ It's the easiest way he can think of to do this, for better or worse. ]

[ this time, his nose wrinkles. equal amounts of distaste for tony's unnecessary extravagance. ]

That's too much fucking work.

[ it's mumbled mostly, and he only belatedly realizes it might've be been too quiet for steve to hear. probably for the best; he never did approve of swearing. he picks up one half of the sandwich tentatively and contemplates it before adding: ]

I'll drink whatever you are.

[ and waits for steve's response before taking a bite. ]

[ It's such a Bucky look that for a moment, he just stares at Bucky and smiles, stupid and warm and a little unsteady. Thank God, because this whole series of events has gotten progressively worse and worse until he was afraid he was just imagining things. ]

I'll make two.

[ It's enough of a peace offering he doesn't question it, instead starting up the pot with plenty of water and settling it to boil near them. ]

It's chamomile and a few other things. Good for getting back to sleep.

[ his smile seals the deal. it's - stupid, to feel privately proud of getting to see it without the others around, especially when he has no idea what caused it. but he smiles a little himself and dives into the sandwich.

eats the whole thing before he can even realize. he might've been more hungry than he thought. ]

Wasn't sleeping in the first place. [ well. not the point. ] Does it help?

[ you, he means without saying. ]

[ That's good, though. He doesn't judge him for eating everything; he'd rather Bucky stuff his face right now than go hungry ever again. ]

Me get to sleep?

[ He openly hesitates at that. For all that he wants to think that he belongs here - with them, with all of them, he knows he doesn't. He's not as fucked up as the rest of them are. There's no military, no nightmares about experiments, about the war, nothing that'd ever trigger him like the smallest things do here for them. ]

It doesn't hurt.

[ if he knew, he might laugh. none of them belong here; everything is so spectacularly fucked up. he shouldn't even be alive, especially not at the cost of everyone he's hurt as the winter soldier. with this steve, at least, there's a sense of normalcy. they lived fairly simple lives before the war, for all their hardship - but that life doesn't belong to him. it's bucky's, not his, and he can't pretend he understands.

all he can try to do is shield steve from the future as much as possible. he wouldn't talk about what he's been through even if he had the mental capacity to make sense of it. ]

I go to the roof sometimes.

[ it's almost a non-sequitur, doesn't quite follow the conversation without context. he's still learning how to convey things logically. he takes a moment, staring at the last half of the sandwich and then at steve ( maybe silently looking for permission to eat it, because he remembers making sure steve had enough good before he did ) before adding. ]

When I can't sleep. It helps.

[ There's this clawing fear that he stomps down every so often that wonders when things are going to go back to how they were - when they're all going to be sent back from where and when they came from.

Will he even remember, if that's the case? He doesn't want to consider a world where this happens again, where it's all a loop, where Bucky ends up falling every goddamn time and HYDRA gets him and everything goes to shit. He can't imagine that. ]

Me too.

[ It's the best place to draw, and JARVIS keeps him from being interrupted. Steve turns to the tea, adding water to both cups and when he glances back, he makes a little shooing motion with his hand. Of course he can eat more, that's the point of it. ]

[ all thoughts of eating are momentarily lost to thought: his eyes go blank and distant, focused on something behind steve's head, his body limp and defenseless like it only ever is when he's trapped in a memory. or - he thinks it's a memory. he can never tell, still doesn't know how to trust his own scarred mind. when he speaks, it's quiet and distracted, more like thinking aloud than anything. ]

Did we -

[ no. not 'we'. he licks his lips and tries again, tries to focus back in on steve himself instead of a far off image of him. ]

- did you and Bucky watch the sky? Outside, in Brooklyn.

[ His heart aches even worse when Bucky starts talking, asking questions like that. He doesn't answer right away, fixing the two cups of tea up how he likes them, plunking one down in front of Bucky. ]

We did, yeah.

[ He refuses to talk about this Bucky like he's not - like he's someone else. ]

Used to sit on the fire escape and sometimes you'd smoke and it was real nice. Sometimes it was too hot or too cold, though, so we'd just sit at the window.

[ they're different people, unarguably, but that's not a conversation he wants to have right now. not half because he doesn't want to put this steve ( or any steve for that matter ) through dealing with their dissociative bullshit, but because this conversation is theirs. the memory is real, it happened, but it happened to someone else, to the bucky hiding somewhere else in the tower. the words, though - the conversation is his and he's sharing that with steve right now.

he won't give that back to bucky. the other him has everything he doesn't, and he will selfishly keep these quiet moments just for himself. he accepts the tea and wraps his hands around the mug, staring at how only one half will ever get warm again. ]

Can I come with you? Next time.

[ His chest aches in a way that has nothing to do with his shit health when Bucky asks that. Maybe the other Bucky doesn't think this one is safe, maybe he doesn't trust him but it's little things like this that take his heart and clench it tight. Yeah, he wants to say, in a heartbeat. Yeah, of course. He'll take whatever he can get and he gets it, it's a little desperate, but he doesn't care. ]

Stark's tower doesn't have much of a fire escape.

[ Too many modern lines, sharp angles. He purses his lips a moment, considering. ]

I don't know what buildings are still around, but I bet some of ours are. Could go looking.

[ See if anything jogs his memory. ]

[ he glances up to steve sharply, amusement already tugging at the corner of his lips. they follow his every movement across the tower like he's gonna snap and set the place on fire, but steve - little steve, scrappy punk that couldn't leave well enough alone steve - he's the real troublemaker around here. ]

We're not supposed to leave.

[ it's not said chidingly, more a simple statement of fact. he looks away, already calculating the best avenues of escape from the mental map he's made of the building. it could be done. might not be easy, but the challenge might make it fun; might be worth it just to see the mischief in steve's eyes for himself. ]

[ Oh buddy. Steve shoots him an unimpressed little look. He might not know what happened to Bucky, but he's got a few guesses, so he doesn't let loose the snarky comment about taking orders and being a coward about disobeying.

Instead, he puts both hands on his hips, stubborn down to his bones. ]

We aren't supposta be here at all, if you didn't notice. Won't be the end of the world if we go out and get some air. They can't keep us here.

[ and there it is, that burning passion that made steve rogers into bucky barnes' personal sun eighty something years ago. he grins, boyish and unrestrained; it sits awkward on his lips when he hasn't emotes in seventy years and hasn't had reason to smile like this since long before he entertained the european theater. ]

No, they can't.

[ not with his expertise and steve's stubborn will. the idea of breaking out simultaneously terrifies him ( his punishments for failure were nothing so pleasant as a slap on the wrist ) and excites him, and he almost feels overwhelmed by the sudden wash of emotion. he has to breathe in deep, bite on his tongue to keep himself from falling too far away. ]

Tomorrow. We could - [ he licks his lips, darts his eyes furtively back and forth between his tea and steve. ] - we could go tomorrow. If you wanted.

[ That's what he thought. Victory is sweet and it leaves him grinning smugly, nodding. It's a plan, then. He's not sure how to get past the building with its voice, but they can fret about that tomorrow. Hell, maybe all it takes is asking real nicely.

The building gives him just about everything else that he wants; it stands to reason that it'd give him a way out, too. ]

Tomorrow. I'll look up some of the old places we used to go.

[ There's always the fear that it's all going to be gone when they get there, eaten away by years and years, but he hopes-- hopes there's something left. ]

[ all of those things are already gone for him. steve says 'places we used to go' and all he sees are trees and snow and a train whistling away. the only disappointment he fears is what he might find in steve's eyes if this doesn't turn out to be what he wanted. he doesn't want to let him down.

not again. ]

Okay. There's a window, between six and six-thirty. The rest of the Tower won't be active yet.

[ he hasn't been planning an escape, but, well. best to be prepared. he licks his lips, glancing out of the kitchen fleetingly. ]

Do you want - we could bring the others. If you want them.

[ if he doesn't feel safe being alone with him. might actually be the smarter idea, even if the selfish part of him wants to keep this small part of steve to himself. ]

Edited (icon!!!) 2014-12-16 08:20 (UTC)

[ The tower can probably hear them, though. Steve casts the ceiling a dubious little look but doesn't mention JARVIS. Maybe he just doesn't care or he's occupied with Tony. ]

The other two people who are pretty intent on makin' sure we stay here and don't get into trouble?

[ Bucky pls. It's not a matter of feeling safe, either. He does, even with everything that's happened - maybe especially because of it. Bucky wouldn't ever hurt him. He knows that down to his bones. ]

[ the trick to outsmarting jarvis is outsmarting tony's reaction time when jarvis says something's going on. they might only be able to pull this off once - gotta make it count.

so he sucks his teeth in faint amusement. steve rogers, troublemaker extraordinaire, and he sure does spend a lot of time trying to wrangle them all together like he's the adult in the group.

he might be. they're a bunch of ragtag punks, someone's gotta pretend to be mature around here. sure as hell ain't gonna be him. ]

They don't have to know.

[ they'll just - sneak around them. it'll be a good training exercise! ]

[ Some of the tension bleeds out of him when Bucky doesn't tell him no. It's not that he'd much listen if Bucky said no - that was most of their lives together, actually, him saying no and Steve saying I'm doing it anyway. This, though - this isn't something to say no to, not when they're just getting out.

It's not like he's going to cause trouble. ]

Well, they'll probably figure it out but assuming the world doesn't end, they shouldn't get their knickers in a twist about us going out.

Don't assume too much.

[ said offhand, more into his mug of tea as he drinks it than anything else. they're probably going to cause trouble, lbr. but at least he can protect steve from anything serious. as long as he isn't triggered into a catatonic state by one thing or another.

this is a terrible idea. he's still quietly, childishly excited. ]

[ Steve snorts into his own mug. They'll probably still get upset they went out, and moreover, probably still scold Bucky over Steve. Or at least, Bucky will. Steve has a feeling this other him will just give Bucky that sad puppy look that he recognizes and is freaked out to know is his. ]

It's a plan.

[ He says it decisively, shooting Bucky a little grin. Even if this goes tits up, it'll be fun. Getting out of the tower will be a welcome break. ]

[ he returns the smile, however faint and fleeting. they have a plan. he's good with plans, once he's given an end goal, and this has to be the best of any. ( far better than the 'take care of yourself' one sam wilson gave him. the man was clearly not a co in the national guard. ) he's already formulating strategies and backup strategies and contingencies for those backups while he goes back to the tea and sandwich in earnest. ]

You should sleep.

[ he might end up putting little stevie through the ringer in their daring escape. he can take it. he's seen him wheeze his way through worse. ]

[ ooc: would you like to maybe do a time-skip type of thing to them either during/after the breakout? c: ]

[ ooc | sounds good ]

[ The time rolls around all too fast it seems; Steve's careful not to let on anything's going on, though he does ask JARVIS to please, please not tell anyone and the house carefully responds that he has no orders to keep people in, simply that they have to keep people out. Neat.

He packs a bag full of sandwich materials and scrounges for some of the money that he still has on him. It isn't much, but it'll get him by, he's fairly certain. He won't steal from the guy who owns the house, but after a few moments of counting out what change he has, the house sighs quietly, and points out that Steve has a card which is open for use via Stark's accounts and as he is Steve, technically, it's free to use for him, too.

He pockets the card after a beat of hesitation, and then meets Bucky at the specified point, bag slung over his shoulder.

They make it out rather easily, given the circumstances - much less spies and sneaking and more good timing, no one being around. Soon enough they're out on the sidewalk and Steve has to stop a moment, glancing around. ]

I've got no idea where we are.

[ he's almost disappointed. he shouldn't be, because it went off without a hitch and they're out, both of 'em still in one piece and with awhile yet before anyone comes after them.

still. it could've been more exciting. he didn't even have to use any of the spare makeshift knives he'd packed. ( steve has sandwiches, he has weapons. they're ready to take on the world! ) ]

I can navigate.

[ doesn't mean he knows where they are, exactly, but he knows the layout of the city. had to be programmed into him if he was going to chase people through the streets, right? ]

Where do you wanna go?

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