Who: James Buchanan Barnes and Brock Rumlow What: Pizza and News When: after this Rating: Green
For the first time in a long time, Rumlow was actually looking forward to something. He’d looked up the place Strange had given him the keys to, and it was nice. Far nicer than any place Rumlow had ever lived. It was only for a month, but he intended to enjoy the fuck out of the place.
He also intended to ask Bucky to stay with him. After all, the place looked plenty big enough, and it was light years better than this shithole. Not that he minded shitholes--he was growing fond of this one mainly because of its lack of HYDRA-ness--but if there was a better place to stay, why not?
He’d checked around online--the computer Strange had given him was also a lot better than any he’d owned personally, though he was well used to HYDRA’s top end electronics--and he found that one of his favorite pizza joints in Manhattan was still in business, and though they didn’t deliver to this neighborhood--and who could blame them--it would be no problem for him to order online and pick it up. He arranged for the pizza to be ready just before Bucky said he would be back, figured out when he had to leave to get there on time, then went and had another shower just because he could. His clothes he’d washed yesterday were mostly dry--he’d have to buy some new ones now that he could--and he got ready to go.
He got back to the room with two large pizzas and some garlic bread just around the time Bucky had indicated he would be back.
On the way back from meeting with Loki, Bucky had swung by the Good Will store on 25th and picked up a few things to wear. He was able to get four clean t-shirts, three slightly worn pairs of jeans, two more hoodies, three 5-packs of underwear, a nice sturdy pair of high top sneakers, a scarf, a fleece-lined bomber jacket, and three pairs of gloves for fifty bucks, and he was feeling pretty pleased with his thriftiness. Between that and the glamour Loki had put over him, he was pretty sure he would be able to find a job in the next day or two. It was all stuffed into two paper shopping bags, part of the ‘everything you can fit in a bag for $25’ sale.
When he got back to the room, he unlocked the door and stepped inside, tossing the two bags on the bed before repocketing his key. “Smells amazing,” he said, the evidence of pizza already intoxicating him with hunger.
Rumlow grinned when he heard Bucky. He’d been on the couch on the laptop, and he closed it and set it aside to stand up. “Yeah, I was about to eat it all if you took much longer,” he joked, stepping forward. “Looks like you went shopping.” He was uncharacteristically cheerful. He’d also picked up a six pack of beer though he knew it would have no effect on Bucky. It would on him. He was looking forward to it.
“Yeah. Got tired of washing my skivvies in the sink,” he said. “There’s a Good Will store that has plenty of clothes cheap. I can show you if you want.” He wandered in the direction of the pizza smell, and opened one of the boxes. He inhaled deeply, and let out an appreciative moan. He slid one slice free of the pie and folded it in half to take a bite of the pointy end. “Mmmm, Jesus fucking Christ on a cracker,” he moaned around a mouthful of pizza. It had been a very long time since he’d had pizza.
Rumlow smirked. “No, go right ahead,” he joked. He was actually glad to see Bucky enjoy. He wandered over and grabbed a slice himself. “I was hoping this was as good as it used to be.” He took a bite. “Mmm. Yeah. It is.”
For a long moment, Bucky chewed in blissful silence. He took another bite and moaned again. “Wow,” he finally said, taking a breath. “Thanks for this,” he added. He glanced in the mini fridge and spotted the beer. He took one out and popped the top open. “Cheers,” he said, washing down the melted mozzarella with a generous swig.
Rumlow got his own beer, taking a drink and another sip before saying, “i thought we should celebrate.” He felt warm inside seeing Barnes find a measure of enjoyment. “Glad you like it.”
Bucky wasn’t sure he had much to celebrate, but he knew Rumlow did. It wasn’t every day you came back to life minus a bunch of scars. “So, I have some news, of my own. You wanna go first?” he asked, taking his slice and beer over to the couch to sit down.
Rumlow followed, sitting next to Bucky. “No, no. You go first. I’m sure it’s much more interesting. Who did you go see?” He felt bad for dominating the conversation. He had a moments panic that it was bad news, but then he was about to find out.
Bucky leaned back and propped one boot on the opposite knee. “Remember that alien attack on New York a few years ago? The guy who did that is this Loki guy. He’s an alien and his brother is Thor, one of the Avengers. You probably know all that already, but anyway… Doctor Strange suggested that he could make a disguise so that everyone that already knew you would see you normally and everyone who didn’t would see some other, generic face. To make it easier to find a job and not get hunted down by the cops. That kind of thing.”
Well, that was a lot to take in. “You mean you’re gonna let that Loki character cast a spell on you?” Rumlow was a little surprised at that, but he did know that people could change. “How do you know you can trust him?” He finished off his slice and focused on his beer.
Bucky took another sip of beer and shrugged his shoulders. “It’s already done. I guess I don’t really know if I can trust him, but… it seemed like it was worth a try. I asked if he’d be willing to do it for someone else if you’re interested. It didn’t seem like it was any big deal to him. Basically, I just bought him some pastries, and he was happy with that.”
Rumlow blinked, then squinted at Bucky. “You look the same to me… but then I know you. So how do you know it’s working?” Rumlow had a thought. “Wait. What if you ran into someone who’d seen you before, then? But not a friend. An enemy. Would they see the disguise?”
“I think it’s whoever you want to recognize you will. It’s magic, so… who the fuck knows how it works.” He chewed up the last of his crust and then stood to get another slice. “You want another?” he asked from the table.
“Mmm, yeah. Pepperoni, please. The meatball is too greasy. I gotta start working out again.” He patted his stomach. “So he’ll do it for me, too? That’d be useful… except we need false documentation too. Magic ain’t gonna help with that.”
Bucky grabbed a slice of each and headed back to the couch. He handed Rumlow the pepperoni slice and settled in to eat his slice of meatball pizza. “He would do it for you. And yeah. We still need to get fake IDs.” He contemplated that for a couple of minutes. “Might be able to hack the DVM.”
“Thanks. Yeah. I got no contacts any more. None I could trust anyway.” Rumlow took a big bite and chewed contentedly. “Oh! So yeah. My news isn’t quite as… magical as yours. Strange came by. Gave me a package. Also keys to a place. Super swanky.”
“He gave you a hotel room key?” he asked. He was a little surprised, but he was glad Rumlow got the same stuff everyone else did. “That’s great. You can get out of this dump,” he said, taking another bite of his pizza.
“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting that at all. He seems like a decent guy. For a sorcerer,” he added with a chuckle, as if he dealt with sorcerers on a daily basis. He hesitated. “Look. Why don’t you come with? Looks like there’s plenty of room.” He didn’t like imposing on Bucky but he also liked his company.
Bucky kind of suspected that Rumlow would invite him. It was nice to have someone close by who understood. But something was holding him back. “You know… I feel like… Stark put me here for a reason, and moving to a nicer place would be cheating, somehow. You know?”
Rumlow snorted. “Stark put you here cause he’s an asshole. And you know he would have put me here too, or worse. It’s not cheating. Why should you suffer cause he’s a jerk?”
Bucky took another bite of pizza. “Well, I killed his parents, so he’s got a right to hate me. And even if he doesn’t… being in this rat trap only makes him look bad, right? I’d rather just… get a place, an apartment. Sooner rather than later. I just need a better connection than wifi, and a printer, and I think I can get us IDs.”
“It wasn’t you that killed them,” Rumlow insisted. “And he knows that.” He sighed. “You really think you can get good ID’s? Cause they’re really hard to fake anymore.” He finished off his pizza, sighing contentedly. “That was fucking awesome.”
Bucky let the comment about Stark’s parents go unanswered. “If I can get into the DMV database, I should be able to have them mailed right to us. I think I can just upload a couple of photos of us, and enter them in. Of course, you’d have to get the fake face first.” He wasn’t sure how the photo thing was supposed to work, but all he could do was try it. He put his beer down and took out his phone to take a quick photo of himself. It looked nothing like him. “Whoa. That’s…” He held the phone out to Rumlow to take a look at his fake face.
Rumlow knew there was magic in the world. He’d seen it. It was still hard to believe. “He didn’t do you any favors,” he joked, noting that the man in the picture wasn’t ugly, really, but he was nothing compared to Bucky. But it was a face that no one would notice, which was the point, he supposed.
Bucky smirked and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well. That’s fine. I wonder where I could get a good secure network connection other than asking Stark.” He wasn’t sure Rumlow would know, and he was sure their hotel didn’t have a ‘business center’ or anything like that. “It might require some covert ops.”
Rumlow chuckled. “Well I’ve been itching to do something useful, so count me in.” He was thinking hard. “If I could get a new face too…” He wrinkled his nose at looking so average. “Then I could maybe get into an office building and hop on a network.”
“Just reach out for Loki privately on the network. I already told him I knew someone else who might need the same. He likes sweets so… maybe meet him at a donut shop or something,” he suggested.
Rumlow scowled. “Sweets? What the fuck. Okay. Whatever it takes, I guess.” The situation was less than ideal, but better than being dead. He looked at Bucky. “You sure you don’t wanna share my place?” He wanted to return the favor Bucky had extended to him, but he also hated seeing the former assassin live like this.
“I appreciate it, but… well I hope I’ll be out of here soon anyway. As soon as I get a job, I’ll find a place. A hotel isn’t ideal, even if the location is pretty great.” Bucky doubted that he’d be able to get any job that would let him afford an apartment in Manhattan. It was pretty expensive even when he was young. Truthfully, he knew very well that Stark didn’t owe him anything at all. If he wanted to act out a little to make himself feel better, who was Bucky to deny him?
Rumlow sighed. “Well, I hope you’ll at least come visit. I ain’t used to having a place of my own.” He’d gone from sharing a room with siblings to sharing a room in foster homes, to the military.
“Sure. It’s not that far away. We can go looking for a job together. Or… do the fighting thing if we want to make some quick cash,” he suggested. He couldn’t imagine not spending some time with Rumlow, considering he didn’t really know anyone else there.
“Yeah. Like you need my help with that,” Rumlow chuckled. This felt oddly like a goodbye, and he didn’t like it. Though, why would Barnes want such a reminder as him around?
Bucky finished his second slice of pizza and looked over at Rumlow. “Hey. We can just get pizza. It doesn’t have to be a chore. We’ll do stuff.”
Rumlow hadn’t had many friends in his life. Not many people who didn’t want something from him. Barnes had no reason to want to be around him, so maybe that was something. “Yeah. I hope so. I guess I better message Mr. Batshit, then.”
Bucky nodded. “Good. We’ll figure out how to get IDs once you have a new face. Now… want another beer?”