fandomtownies | Mystery Sign Theater 3000, Sunday

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Mystery Sign Theater 3000, Sunday

NOW SHOWING
NON-STOP CLASSIC CARTOONS

Another Sunday, another updated marquee on the movie theater. Yes, it had been a little while since the last one. And Bucky was nowhere to be seen - in the lobby, that was.

Because he was sitting in the back row of the darkened auditorium.

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Buy some candy from Ingrid, guess at whether you're going to recognize any cartoons.

It's seriously just ~~moddable~~ animated shorts from the 1930s and 1940s playing all day long. Stay for as long as you feel like.

And in the middle of the back row - the best seats in the house, really - was Bucky.

This week had left him feeling like he wanted to be in a darkened room, watching shadows flicker across the screen, trying to feel like he was somewhere else.

(Sometime else.)

So sue him.

"Hey, Ingrid," Jesse called, as she stepped inside the largely empty lobby. "Is your boss in?"

Ingrid gave her a cheerful wave, followed by a slightly wry look - possibly for the concept of Bucky being her boss.

(Look, she kept trying, but it didn't seem to take.)

Then she gestured towards the auditorium.

Jesse gave her a wry shrug and a grateful look. "Thanks," she said. "I appreciate all your hard work."

And to the auditorium, she went.

Hopefully he wouldn't mind someone joining him. Jesse was going to be polite and remain silent as she sank into the seat next to him, stretching her legs.

She looked up at the screen.

A Pooch the Pup cartoon was currently playing.

Bucky's attention was slowly turning towards her, though. But just out of the corner of his eye, first.

(Of course he already knew it was her.)

Jesse kind of wished she'd brought a soda, or something.

(She was also kind of hoping Ingrid had at least filtered out the really racist cartoons from this era.)

She didn't look at him, though. She was watching.

There'd definitely been some pruning that had happened before any of these shorts had hit the screen, yeah.

Bucky let her watch. He found himself unwilling to actually turn his head, just yet, instead keeping her profile in his peripheral vision. There, even when his eyes flicked up to the screen that was illuminating her face one second, leaving it in shadow again the next.

It was familiar.

(It was comforting.)

And so Jesse sat there in the dark, watching one cartoon after another. Some of them were actually pretty interesting; it wasn't a hard thing to do.

She figured he'd stop eventually. For now, this was fine.

A few cartoons flowed on by. Two or three, Bucky wasn't really counting. Then a Betty Boop one came up, and his head finally turned. But the words he'd been about to say - used to be really sweet on her, you know - died somewhere on the way up his throat.

All that ended up coming out was, "Hey." Quiet. Maybe a little soft. Probably more out of necessity, though, out of respect for the movie theater space, empty though it may have been, right?

Right.

She looked back at him with a small smile.

"Hey," Jesse said. Quiet, too. "Ingrid told me you were here."

The curve of Bucky's lips was subtle, small. Almost lost to the flicker of shadows and light. "So she's a snitch."

Like he had explicitly told her to be, if Jesse came around.

"Yes," Jesse said, with a firm nod, "But a benevolent one."

Bucky gave a small shrug, as if that remained to be seen, but didn't go so far as to make that claim out loud.

"How've you been?" he asked, instead.

Jesse groaned softly.

"Glad this week is over," she said.

"Yeah," Bucky replied, with something like a restrained sigh to his voice. "Yeah, me too."

The week had gotten kind of... complicated.

Jesse tilted her head, frowning. "You were caught in it too?"

Bucky sounded a little more tired, all of a sudden, his eyes flicking back to the screen. "Not for lack of trying to leave."

Despite what it had felt like at the time, the metal arm had not actually sustained any permanent damage when he'd tried to bust through the dome with it.

"I'm sorry," Jesse said. "That was a big clusterfuck, huh."

"Seems like," Bucky replied with a mild little nod. "I didn't really... pay much attention to the rest of the town."

"Neither did I, until the last minute," Jesse said. "...It's embarrassing, really."

She was really quick to jump to embarrassment, wasn't she?

Bucky glanced at her, then back at the screen.

"I think that was by design," he said. "The not paying attention."

"You think the crystal... thing meant for that to go down?" Jesse asked. "It's possible."

"It got in your head," Bucky said. Quiet, low. "Not that easy to get out of there when that happens."

Jesse was quiet for a moment.

"I know," she said.

Bucly nodded quietly. Slowly.

And up at the screen, but still.

Jesse's eyes drifted to his face.

"Are you okay?" she asked softly.

That felt like one of those questions that barely deserved to be asked when it came to him. Bucky snorted quietly, his eyes still on the screen.

Then shook his head.

"You uh, want to pick up some food, go sit somewhere and talk about it?"

Jesse felt out of her depth. But she wanted to do something.

She touched his not-metal arm carefully.

Bucky's head turned slowly. But not to look up at her face: to look at her hand on his arm.

He didn't deserve this. He should say no.

But for some reason, what actually came out of his mouth was, "Sure."

"Okay," Jesse said. She managed a small smile.

Bucky... did not.

His eyes flicked from her hand up to her face, and briefly looked just -- lost.

Did I say something wrong?

"Hey," Jesse said quietly. "It's okay."

Edited 2021-05-09 13:00 (UTC)

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Mystery Sign Theater 3000, Sunday

Lobby/Concessions [05/02]

NOW SHOWING: NON-STOP CARTOONS [05/02]

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OOC [MST3000 05/02]

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