The Perk, Wednesday Noon

[weirderthanthou]

You ever wake up feeling like everything around you was coming apart, and yet you were fine? Jesse wouldn't be able to tell you why, exactly, but that feeling had settled in the pit of her stomach, drenching her in unease.

Town Hall just made it worse, so by the time the morning was almost done with, she decided to head out. Here, to the Perk, with her foot tapping impatiently against the floor as she waited for her coffee to show up.

"Seriously," she muttered.

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[shapethecentury]

Bucky considered that. And then quirked a faint smile back at her.

"What about you?" he asked, because that was enough about Wakanda, and his broken brain. "Did I miss anything?"

[weirderthanthou]

"Do you ever miss anything important?" Jesse asked wryly. "The island is quiet. Somehow it doesn't end the stream of paperwork, but..."

[shapethecentury]

"I don't know," Bucky replied, lifting his cup again. "You might've bought new plants."

[weirderthanthou]

Jesse laughed. "I wouldn't do that without you around to stare at them all confused," she said. "And I... should probably not turn my apartment into a rainforest."

It was starting to get there.

[shapethecentury]

"Why not?" Bucky asked.

It was a teasing thing, but there was warmth in it.

[weirderthanthou]

"Because it'll probably get very... buggy?"

[shapethecentury]

"I think they've got solutions for that, too."

He gave her shoulder the gentlest nudge with his.

"But I guess if you don't wanna be outnumbered in your own apartment..."

[weirderthanthou]

"Oh, I'm already outnumbered," Jesse said, flashing him a wry smile. "The plants are pretty needy."

[shapethecentury]

"Yeah, but those guys stay in their pots, at least," Bucky retorted, not even a little bit seriously.

At least, except: "As far as I know, anyway."

[weirderthanthou]

"I mean, it's Fandom," Jesse laughed. She sipped her coffee. "...And the pots could start moving around."

[shapethecentury]

"Well, if they start doing that..."

He shrugged.

"Call me, I guess?"

[weirderthanthou]

"Oh, are you going to menace them with your big broody scowl?" Jesse teased.

[shapethecentury]

"And unnatural strength," Bucky deadpanned.

What?

[weirderthanthou]

"I think you could probably cow the plants with just natural strength," Jesse said wryly.

[shapethecentury]

"I can't tell the difference anymore."

Mostly joking? But not really.

He took a sip. It turned out to be the last one.

[weirderthanthou]

"What is that like, anyway?" Jesse asked, looking at him. "It's one of the few of those I don't have."

[shapethecentury]

"Being freakishly strong?" Bucky replied, with a touch of something wry. He considered his empty cup, then set it down on the table. "Nowadays it's mostly just never having to worry about not being able to lift things."

He glanced over at where his left arm wasn't.

"Sort of."

[weirderthanthou]

"I'd say I need to remember that next time I need to carry a sofa up the stairs, but..."

Jesse wiggled her fingers.

[shapethecentury]

"I'd just get in the way," Bucky surmised, wryly but not without a little smile. (At her fingers. What of it?) "It's okay. I'll... try and make myself useful some other way."

[weirderthanthou]

"I think my apartment has enough furniture, anyway," Jesse admitted. "More might get in the way of the plants."

[shapethecentury]

"What, you don't wanna go back to the island with all the furniture in the world?"

It had a name, he remembered it, it was funnier to pretend like he didn't.

[weirderthanthou]

"I actually have stuff in my apartment," Jesse pointed out. "Unlike someone I know."

[shapethecentury]

"And do you need all of it?"

[weirderthanthou]

"You don't need to need all the stuff in your home," Jesse retorted, looking at him. "It just needs to make you happy."

[shapethecentury]

Bucky gave her a look back like he didn't know what she was talking about.

Sure, he was absolutely playing it up because this wasn't their first go-round with this conversation, but...