cicatrize | Duplicity IC Inbox [ un: jbenjamin ]

Still my shit.

I'm going to need to see this cuddle contract done in writing, sir. I don't make a habit of putting blind trust in arsonists.

Don't worry, I'm more of a murderer than an arsonist, so you can trust me.

Oh, well, in that case, all I require is product inspection.

You inspecting me or the bear?

You, genius.

Name the time and the place.

Now, here.

OMW

Door's open.

[ because vanessa and jack always leave their door open for wade to waddle to and fro as he pleases. currently, he's either settled himself somewhere, or he's out committing or fighting crime. whichever he's into today.

and jack is flopped on his couch, watching TV (probably his stories okok), changed out of the suit he wore to work and into a soft t-shirt and joggers, looking half ready for bed. it is prime cuddle time, sir. ]

[ Have you ever been tackled onto a couch son? There's a first time for everything. With the majestic grace of a god damn gazelle he does exactly that. Welcome to love, it is aggressive. ]

Shi— [ holy balls, that is an armful of body builder and metal that jack was not expecting to be a recipient of so very soon. thankfully, he's already laid out on the couch, else the fall towards it might've been painful, but it doesn't stop all of bucky's buckiness from slamming into his torso anyway, as jack glances up from the TV screen just a second to late to move.

a grunt is punched from him, and he groans out, arms, nonetheless, around bucky's sides to pat him sarcastically on the back. ]

I'm gonna need you to shave off about 100 pound before you go for that again.

Edited 2018-10-22 21:33 (UTC)

[ To be fair, Bucky was very conscious about minimizing impact. There's no way that hurt, so he's going to come to the conclusion that Jack's a big ole baby. He lands sprawled just off-center of Jack, with a flesh arm around his waist and his left arm digging into the cushions. He uses it to push himself up and shake his hair out of his face.

It's a nice change-up, honestly, from the short sharp argument he had with Steve about a half an hour ago. He's pleased for a stark contrast. ]

Ah, you'll survive. Trust me, that body can take much worse and keep on kicking.

[ no, it definitely could have been much worse, and jack isn't actually hurt, he's just being a whiny baby, and the grin he wears is enough to give that away. bucky shakes his hair out and he looks like a big freaking lion, jack squishing his head back, trying to avoid getting smacked with strands of fluffy hair, with a quiet snicker leaving him. ]

Give me that, you're a mess. [ 'that' meaning his hair, and jack reaches a hand up to comb the wild mess of his hair back from his face, the other smoothing over the wide plane of bucky's back, so much freaking muscle to him jack can hardly think of it as he duplicate of his own body most days. ]

And yet, I don't feel the urge to test that for proof.

[ He's content to leave the state of his hair in Jack's capable hands, and shortly after it's carded back he allows himself to settle again, slumping down into the cushions around Jack's side, head somewhere just around his shoulder, a foot lower on the couch to offset them. When he finally settles, he shoots Jack a look that clearly states he wants to talk about something.

Actually, he wants to talk about a whole hell of a lot of somethings, but you know. What he says instead is: ]

You watching anything?

[ You wanna put your show on instead?? ]

[ and jack's content to devote the entirety of his attention to the state of bucky's hair, though it only takes a few passes of his fingers to straighten it all out and sweep it back from his face, jack's just found he's terribly fond of this simple repetitive motion. and the way bucky had melted under it before sticks in his mind, so he goes about the same thing he had then, combing fingers through his hair and massaging against his scalp.

as for the tv, it's entirely forgotten, and jack gives a half-assed shrug, trying not to upset bucky where he's laid against his shoulder. ]

Nothing interesting.

[ tell him your thoughts, boo, he's listening. ]

[ James Barnes is a prick who does not deserve to have his hair played with; that being said he's still going to accept it, he just doesn't deserve it. He closes his eyes, settles in under the touch, and exhales a long breath like he's trying to figure out the best way to break into his story.

Stories. Whatever. ]

Took your advice.

[ He decides on ultimately, because he may as well work his way to the most recent turn of events, right? ]

Made a move. On Steve, I mean.

[ Obviously. ]

[ there's plenty of things jack doesn't deserve that he ends up with anyway. if he can have people like bucky and steve carrying for him for no good reason, bucky can have his hair played with.

the long exhale is a troubling thing, usually a sign someone's letting out tension, or working themselves up to something difficult, and jack frowns, dipping forward a couple inches to drop a short kiss at bucky's hairline. don't be sad, buckets.

it's more troubling still when he brings up the advice he'd given on steve, jack's brows knit, certain he'd been right on that front. maybe not. ]

Didn't go well?

[ Thanks for that. They've got a god damn weird relationship all around, Bucky will be the first to admit that. How do you classify casually sleeping with your own genetic makeup in a not-strictly-romantic 'we're seeing other people but sometimes apparently we now spoon on the couch' way? What the hell is the term for that? Whatever it is, he appreciates it especially now, struggling through the events of the last few days, trying to wrap his god damn mind around it.

He gives an aborted little shake of his head, chin brushing Jack's shoulder, rumpling his shirt. ]

Went great at first.

[ He says wryly, cracking an eye open again to get a good look at how the news is going to settle on him. ]

We- he, uh. [ A beat, because he's looking for a classy way to put it. Maybe there isn't one. ] I called his bluff, gave him a hand, and he one-upped me.

[ it's called emotional support from 1/2 people who fuck the pain away by habit and 1/2 people who are born again virgins. yes, it's weird, and it's the only relationship jack really has that's so intimately this, for some very specific reasons, mainly the snotty, teary mess he made of bucky's shirt a while back, but it is what it is, and jack's happy to leave it without a name. just comfortable things done with bucky.

bucky, who is looking up to see jack's brows arched, pleasantly surprised with the news there. ]

One-upped you? [ it doesn't take much of a stretch to realize that means blew him, which paints a really attractive picture that jack's going to try very hard not to think about right now. bucky is telling him Important things, getting hard would be weird. ] I didn't think he had it in him.

[ steve could barely deal with looking at jack's lips post-make out, so from that to sucking bucky off is pretty impressive. it's nice to know he hadn't called it wrong, but that still leaves something missing. ]

Then where does the not-great come in?

[ Yeah, Buck didn't think he had it in him either, but apparently he had it at least in him up to the tonsils. Go god damn figure, and it's an image he'll never be able to get out of his head for as long as he lives. Blessing and a curse. One of those things you tell yourself if I can only have it once it's worth it until you realize you're on the rocks with your best friend and he hasn't spoken to you in days, and then it all sort of comes to a head but only for you because you're the one feeling things that shouldn't be there and— Jesus Christ.

His lips press into an unhappy line. ]

He got weird right after and left. Like... right after. Started avoiding me.

[ Again, for the- what, the millionth time since they've been here? Impressive considering they've been here, what, two months maybe? Generous estimate. ]

Then I apparently turned into the world's biggest asshole and said some shit I shouldn't have said a couple minutes ago, and now it's just...

[ Weird. Fucking weird. Dramatic and weird, and more than he really ever intended to sign up for. ]

[ up to the tonsils, how dare you. thankfully, jack is not telepathic. instead, he's rolling around the news of steve's initial weirdness in his head. if he didn't want bucky, he wouldn've have gone the extra step to get on his knees for him. steve's not the kind of person to give into flights of fancy and foreign urges so easily, is his stubborn abstinence throughout all of their time here so far is telling of anything. he doubt the build up of that alone would cause him to break. perhaps he's worried that's all it was?

or he's just scared shitless the same way Bucky was, but Steve's just so dense he can't tell his best friend jacking him off means he likes him. Hrm. welp, onto the more immediatel issue - ]

Oh. Well, that was stupid of you. [ to turn into the world's biggest asshole. just telling it like it is, albeit, done with a hand at his back smoothing gently up and down the curve of bucky's spine, soothing. there there, you big dumb nerd. ]

I assume that means you haven't apologized yet.

[ Yeah, maybe he's scared shitless, sure, except it seems stupid as hell to Bucky to be afraid when he transparently leapt at the offhanded offer on his announcement, when he actively pursued it later, when he was clearly goddamn into every minute of it. Barnes is taking it to mean he'd been momentarily bicurious, a virgin surrounded by guys into guys, figured he'd give it a shot, and realized shortly after putting a dick in his mouth that it wasn't for him. Ran out because he didn't know how to let Bucky down gently, maybe even pissed off Bucky took advantage of him in the first place.

Or, hell, any number of other possibilities that he can't possibly fathom because Steve won't talk to him and he dodges the subject like a fucking ninja, just like he dodged the conversation about what happened with TJ. Bucky's never been the type to dwell on things without clarifying them, and the longer this goes on the more it eats at him and the shorter his temper gets.

And then nights like tonight happen where things compound, his patience runs short, everything that's been bothering him all at once feels grating, and he says some shit he doesn't mean like he's letting it all out at once.

He sighs. ]

Not exactly. Didn't seem like something I should do in a text, but he practically teleports across the city any time I'm in range now.

[ maybe that too. maybe a million things. god, it must hurt to be bucky right now, feeling like he'd driven away his closest, lifelong friend over emotions he was ready to swallow down and ignore. or, try to. jack tugs him closer in, laying his cheek against the top of bucky's head, and holding him quietly for a moment or so. ]

During Tumenalia, I caught Steve staring at me while I was kissing someone in the lobby, before he ran off like a blushing school girl. He nearly had a panic attack when I followed him. [ and then spent a while staring at his lips and drawing him. what a weird creature Steve Rogers is. ] Between that, and TJ, I know it isn't just either one of us.

[ steve only just met the two of them, and to be that invested that quickly? no, that doesn't happen. it's the foundation that's there, the common denominator. ]

He's probably just scared. Steve doesn't strike me as someone with a terribly wide array of experience.

[ His eyes open again at the news, though he stares at nothing in particular. Some vague place to the left of Jack's TV gets a furrowed-brow and a contemplative look, like scrutinizing the wall will suddenly somehow make things clear and easy.

He chews the inside of his cheeks, and a contemplative moment passes. ]

What actually happened with TJ? He wouldn't tell me.

[ He thinks he knows, assumes he knows, kind of knows based on TJ's ask Steve commentary. Doesn't know how far it went, but something more than a little flirting happened, it had to have.

Maybe it's none of his business, but god damn if he hasn't been dying to know ever since Steve brought it up. ]

[ he can almost feel the gears in bucky's head turning, rolling through all of this and trying to make sense of it. he can definitely feel his jaw shifting as he chews at the inside of his cheek, and what influence of Rose Benjamin is still left in jack has the urge to swat at him for it. stop that, you'll give yourself sores.

thankfully, he refrains. ]

TJ won't say either.

[ and jack had prodded, because he's nosy like that. TJ's an iron box for things of this nature. admirable, but also very frustrating when you're trying to get your pry on. ]

But enough that you know something did.

[ that's the only reason jack knows - because bucky mentioned it when they talked about steve's offer. haggling TJ for it after the fact hadn't won him anything in new information. ]

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