1964-04-06 - A Better Door
Summary: Bucky, Loki, and Kai talk about home security.
Related: None
Theme Song: None
loki bucky kai 


So, there must be some vague, ghostly memory of the time when he was a stand up guy and not merely a vessel for Russian imperial policy. Because Bucky is actually doing the damn dishes. He dirtied enough of them, and he's not sure where to take the dirty laundry, so…..So there's a guy at the sink with an expanse of gleaming laminar armor visible between the sleeve of the white t-shirt he's wearing and the sensible green dishgloves he's wearing. Who knows if vibranium alloy prevents dishpan hands, but Bucky has no intentions of finding out. His hair's pulled back, and he's humming to himself softly. ….something that proves to be 'Kalinka'. Looks like the internationally feared cyborg assassin has elected himself Kai's room-mate. It's true what they say - you feed 'em once, they never leave.

*

Some people's arrival is heralded by the rattle of a key in a lock. With Kai, he just hitches the locked door and gives it a few solid thuds with his shoulder to open it. At the humming, he peeks intrepidly into the kitchen. "Jack, hello! Hey, man, look at you." He trundles in, unloading his art bag from his shoulder onto the coffee table. Then he hangs up his beret and takes off his shades. "You're the hippest, coolest cat. Thank you!"

*

Loki is with the other cool cat, though he enters less bouncy. The refined gentleman arches a brow when he spots the bedraggled homeless person in the apartment again. "Have you adopted a servant, Kai? A luxury item, to be sure." he grins crookedly.

*

Oh, he didn't like that gibe at all. Bucky's expression seals over like a pond in winter at that - from a shy almost-welcome to Kai's thanks to that prisoner's deadpan. He doesn't answer Loki, but the look he gives him is reply enough, before he turns to Kai, setting the clean plate in the drying rack. "I figured," he says to the elf, in that low rasp, "IT was the least I could do."

*

Kai darts a quick glance between Loki and Bucky, and he says to the former, "Jack's my friend. We take care of each other." He comes into the kitchen and gives 'Jack' a quick clasp on the shoulder, then heads to the fridge to get three beers. He offers one to Jack, then one to Loki. He smiles. "Just the luxury of friendship." He gives Loki a lingering glance. "He's been good to me." That whole gun in the face stuff? Water under the bridge.

*

Loki nears and is seemingly unperturbed by the coldness he gets from Bucky. "I did meet him the other night, eating your food. It is a curious…arrangement." His eyes rove over the metal arm very curiously, staring for longer than is polite, probably. It solves the mystery from the other afternoon of the metallic smell. "Friendship is a luxury indeed…that so few seem to manage." He pulls off his jacket and drapes it over the back of a chair in the kitchen.

*

Indeed, not a friendship begun under the best circumstances. But that determined good nature is enough to wear down even "Jack"'s cynicism. He doesn't flinch from the touch, and he even accepts the beer after drawing off the rubber glove from his good right hand. The fact that he's been caught with metal exposed is apparently a source of embarrassment, but he's either proud enough or lazy enough that he doesn't do anything to cover it. Instead, he takes off the other glove, sets them to drip dry into the sink. He shrugs at that comment. "Kai's a nice guy, what's there to say?" he asks.

*

Kai says, "It's our food. I share all of my food with the neighborhood, and last night, Jack shared his with me." Offered to, and that counts! He comes over to the kitchen table, his shoulder brushing lightly against Loki's. "We all take care of each other here." It's Hell's Kitchen, not exactly known for its spirit of cooperation. He smiles at his opposite counterpart so terribly sweetly. There's a sliver of plausible deniability in that smile, but only a sliver. Someone's got it bad.

*

Loki seems less openly friendly, trying to figure out this whole…feed the neighborhood arrangement. "Sharing food? Hmmm. And…what sort of food did he offer?" He looks at Bucky, "What food are you fond of?" He reaches out to pick at a magnet on the fridge. "Does this mean the whole neighborhood can walk in at any time?"

*

There's that line of puzzlement between Bucky's brows. He looks between them, hesitantly. "Uh, I'm not particular," he says, slowly. "I like a good hot dog…" And then Loki's comment has him noting idly, "Well, until he gets a better lock and a better door, pretty much, yeah." Ah, literalism.

*

"Stew," Kai says, "nice and hot, but I was full of cheese and couldn't eat another bite." There's still a sliver of that cheese block still in the fridge, still with teeth marks in it. Bucky gets a sidelong glance. The door, yes. "It's a bit tricky," he admits. "To be honest I don't even know if it unlocks. Never had to find out." He rubs the back of his neck. Okay, maybe his setup isn't the safest. To Loki, he says, "Most of the neighborhood doesn't know where I live. Only Jack here comes by."

*

The Asgardian has a skeptical air about him, and turns to sit in the kitchen chair nearest him, legs spread out, "Here, then, a better lock and a better door. I am afraid that knowing me may lead you to some trouble and I'd rather it have to struggle to get into the apartment. You can give a key to those you trust." Loki pulls out his wallet and thumbs some cash out onto the kitchen table.

*

Oh, they have something in common. Bucky really does brighten a little. "Really?" he asks Loki, tone curious. "What kind of trouble are you gonna get him into?" …..and then it sinks in. Oh. They'd come home to do something illegal….and just because Bucky doesn't give a damn who does what to whom doesn't mean the NYPD are as lackadaisical. They're years away from Stonewall, after all. "Uh," he says. "Nevermind."

*

Kai says dryly, "You two really don't have to compare notes." He sits down at the table beside Loki, and his eyes widen a bit as cash starts to come into play. "Like, wow. Oh, man. That's a lot of green. I can buy a better one of those chain-lock thingies, too. Maybe a deadbolt, if the super will put it in. Maybe I could put it in, how hard could it be, yeah?" He smiles fleetingly. How hard can living in this neighborhood be after all? Downtrodden doesn't begin to cover it. His quick glance goes to Bucky. He bites his lower lip, glances aside, and fails to look abashed. "Yeah, I think a better door would be good."

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