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Mystery Sign Theater 3000, Sunday

There were a lot of small palm trees in the movie theater's lobby today. Bucky didn't know what for. Ingrid didn't seem to know what for.

And the marquee offered no clue, either.

(And why should it? That, they'd actually chosen to put there.)

NOW SHOWING
Love Is In The Cards

It was just one of those days, probably. Bucky wondered, vaguely, whether the palm trees were supposed to be a sign of some kind. (And just thinking that probably meant he'd already been here too long.)

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There's a lot of palm trees. And occasionally Bucky, when he wasn't brooding in the manager's office.

And Ingrid was there, ready to sell candy.

During one of Bucky's breaks from brooding, Wanda happened to be walking by and caught a glimpse of him through the window. Then she remembered their previous conversation, and had to get this straightened out.

"Wait a second, I thought you said you worked at the candy store."

Okay, technically there was candy here, but it was not the same thing as a candy store.

"Worked," Bucky repeated, because that was where the clue was. "Said it brought me here. Didn't say it was recent."

Definitely had failed to clarify on purpose, though.

He put the last of the new stock into the concessions stand.

"Hello, Wanda."

"Hi, Bucky," she said, giving him a smile. "This is actually much cooler than working at a candy store."

If Bucky was worried about that sort of thing.

Bucky absolutely did not.

"Someone handed me the keys," he said with a little shrug, then nodded towards the perky redhead bustling about behind the counter. "She does all the actual work."

Wanda gave Ingrid a smile. Bucky was like some sort of frowny siren for redheads, apparently.

"Do you get to pick the movies that you play here?" She couldn't help but notice the movie playing was something he might have seen the first run of.

Ingrid gave her a cheery little wave back.

"That's classified," Bucky drawled, glancing towards the auditorium.

So... Yes. But he liked to pretend otherwise.

That was ridiculous enough to draw a laugh out of Wanda. "I didn't realize the movie distribution business was so secretive. I was just gonna ask if you took requests."

The upward flick on one side of Bucky's mouth was small.

(He didn't hear a lot of people laugh, these days. 'Less there happened to be a crowd for a comedy.)

He shrugged. "What were you hoping for?"

Wanda thought about it for a moment. Then replied, "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."

She had a childhood crush on Dick Van Dyke, what of it?

Bucky's brows went up by just a little at the name. "Have to write that one down," he decided, as he reached into his pocket for his phone.

It was a little after his time.

"It's an ol--" Oh man, she almost said 'old movie'. That would have been rude. "It's from the 1960's. It's a musical. About a flying car."

Yeeeeeah it wasn't very good.

"I liked it as a kid," she explained. "When I was younger my family learned English by watching American TV shows. Occasionally a movie slipped in there."

"I'm not gonna judge," Bucky said, with something approaching a wry note. He didn't really have room to: look at what he played at this place on the regular. "Even that you think it's old."

It was!

And so was he. Sorta.

"Sorry, I tried to hold back. Usually I leave the old comments to other people." Tony and Natasha had been better at it anyway.

"And you say you're not gonna judge now, but you haven't seen the musical number where grown people dress up and pretend to be toys." Not to mention the weirdo who kidnapped children for a living.

Bucky considered all of that for a beat.

Or maybe he was just typing the name onto his phone, and that was the reason for the little quiet moment.

"Nah, still not gonna judge."

"Okay, well, clearly you're going to have to watch the movie and I will be watching your face for judgement."

She'd make you be social even if she had to drag you kicking and screaming, Barnes.

About 90% of Bucky's social life was already watching movies with redheads, so at least it wasn't too far out of his comfort zone.

(If you ignored how he was getting increasingly uncomfortable with a lot of things, in the past few weeks.)

He managed a little huff. "First, Ingrid's gotta see about getting it in the schedule."

"Feeling tropical?" Jesse inquired, as she stepped inside and took a good moment to look around.

Bucky sighed. "Damned if I know," he said. "They were there this morning."

"At least they look pretty cool," Jesse said. She leaned over to one little tree and said, "I really like what you've done with your leaves."

Bucky didn't even bat an eye at that. Just watched her.

Then said, "If you wanna try taking one of 'em home with you, you're welcome to."

"Maybe," Jesse admitted. "I'm thinking about it. Though it's... kind of starting to turn into a garden in there already."

"That a bad thing?" Bucky replied with something of a wry note.

He... liked that she had plants. What of it?

"... I mean, I kinda like it," Jesse said. "Plants are soothing. They don't expect anything, you know?"

Edited 2021-08-12 06:30 (UTC)

"They expect you to keep them alive."

He was pretty sure that was a thing.

He didn't have plants for a reason.

"Yeah, but that's just a glass of water every day," Jesse said. "Not... anything complicated."

Like emotional labor.

Bucky's take probably said more about him than about plants.

"Still," he said. "Means you have to be around."

"Well, I spend about as much time in my apartment as I do at the office," Jesse said, "So... that's like a 50-50 split?"

Bucky straightened up a little, and gave her a wry look. "Means you should definitely try taking one of the palm trees with you."

'Cause he sure as hell wouldn't.

Jesse snorted. "I went to the movie theater and all I got was this palm tree, huh?" she said. "Maybe I can take two and buy a roll of that tacky Hawaiian wallpaper that used to be all the rage."

Bucky gave a little huff of his own.

"You can take as many as you want," he promised.

"Thanks," Jesse said dryly. "That's a real sacrifice you're making."

Bucky shrugged a little.

"I try."

God, that almost sounded like a joke.

A trio of classy card sharps targets the socially awkward heir to brewery millions for his money, until one of them falls in love with him.

I'm not ready for it to be Monday soon.

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Mystery Sign Theater 3000, Sunday

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NOW SHOWING: Love Is In The Cards

OOC [MST3000 08/08]