dappered | (no subject)

[ 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. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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?