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Gene is out in front of the apartment with his shitty Rambler. He has a cigarette dangling from his lips, and the hood is up. He's wearing a greasy tshirt and jeans, "Goddamn it," he swears when he drops his wrench on the concrete.
And there's that oddball who seems to live with Kai and Serrure, at least part time. He's in t-shirt and jeans, too, along with those worn but carefully polished steeltoe boots, his hair tied back in a low ponytail. Of course he has to come over and examine/kibbitz. "What's wrong with it?" he asks, craning his neck.
Gene bends down for the wrench and puts it on the edge of the engine compartment. He sighs and turns to see who it is. "It's the spark plugs. One of them is shot, and I probably should replace them. I don't have the right wrench for it, though. Jack is it?" Today at least. "How you doin'? Visiting Kai?" He watches Bucky's response carefully. This guy…
Gene bends down for the wrench and puts it on the edge of the engine compartment. He sighs and turns to see who it is. "It's the spark plugs. One of them is shot, and I probably should replace them. I don't have the right wrench for it, though. Jack is it?" Today at least. "How you doin'? Visiting Kai?" He watches Bucky's response carefully. This guy…
Kai comes up the street, heading home, with Kevin on a leash in one hand and a bag of groceries on the opposite arm. "Uh oh," he says when he spies the Rambler with its hood up. To Loki, he says, "And that's why we went to Steve's house, and why I had an actual hangover today." When he spies Bucky and Gene, he calls out, "Hullo!"
"Jack, yeah," Bucky agrees, mildly. Gene's not privy to the ever-more-open secret of who's crashing at Kai's place. "Yeah, I'm all right. How about you?" He peers in, doesn't disagree with the diagnosis. IT's been a long time since he worked on an American-made car.
Gene takes the cigarette from his mouth and knocks off the ash. "I'm okay." He hears Kai in the distance and calls, "Hey, kid. You got any wrenches up in your place?" Back to Bucky, "If my hands were strong enough, I could just unscrew the damn thing myself."
"Here, lemme try," Bucky says, reaching down with that gloved left hand to do exactly that. Never without the black leather covering…..and never without long sleeves, no matter the weather.
"You know I hate it when you do not come home. Ever since…oh…hello." Loki replies back once he realizes that Gene and Bucky are out here and these are people he knows, and only one of them is aware of their…relationship. He tries to look slightly LESS incredibly possessive. At the wrench question, he knits his brows and seems like he's trying to figure out what a /wrench/ is. He is dressed…or at least seemingly dressed, in typical mortal fashion, with a snazzy suit that is unbuttoned in the front.
"I think so," Kai calls back. "I got a bunch of stuff from a mechanic for a sculpture I haven't made yet." Kevin, perking up as he spies Bucky, barks and wags his tail. He strains against the leash, trying to run up to greet his friend! But the leash is unrelenting. He is, himself, in jeans and a t-shirt that has been tie-dyed. "I know," he says to Loki. "We need to get that flat worked out so we have somewhere to go when things happen."
Gene Fuchs says, "Never mind!" He shouts to Kai. He looks into the car. "That's got it. Can you take them all out? That's a mighty strong hand you have there…the way you wear that glove, people might think you got an injury. I know you served.""
"I did," Bucky admits, without hesitation. "Korea, 10th Mountain. It's ugly underneath, is all. Still works, though." Clearly. He removes the others, leaning in carefully.
Gene nods knowingly, "Seventh Division. 31st Infantry." He can hear the mechanics as smooth as they are. He can smell the metallic smell. He knows, but he has no idea what he should do with this information. "I don't wear sandals."
Loki looks perplexed at Gene's comment about sandals. He looks to Kai, then back to Gene and Bucky when a thought occurs to him. "Is this…/your/ car? Or are you disabling someone's chariot so that you can confront them dramatically?" Cuz that's how his brain works. "And yes, I did some furniture shopping. I think You'll like it."
"Oh, good," Kai says. "The new bedrooms are so much bigger." He eyes Gene and Bucky working on the car, then he says, "I'm sure Mr. Fuchs and Jack wouldn't do that. Besides, I recognize the car. Which reminds me, Loki, can I get a camera?" He's not very good at this closet thing, asking his boyfriend for stuff out in the open. Meanwhile, Kevin comes over to Bucky and sniffs at his feet.
Bucky ruffles the dog with his other hand, and nods at Gene in sympathy. He gets it. He doesn't bother to explain to the two immortals. Not a great many magical apples of healing at Inchon. He slants a look at Kai and Loki, "No, we're not car thieves," he explains, drily.
Gene blinks at Loki's comment. "Are you high? No. This is my fucking car…and it needs new sparkplugs. I'll have to run down to the store to get them. Meanwhile, it ain't going no where. " He hears Kai mention about a camera. "Kid needs a camera," he agrees. He gathers the plugs and slips them into a little fuel filter box he had hanging around. He looks at Bucky, "Thanks, Jack."
"You always ask me if I am /high/. No. Kai might be, but not me. And of course you can have a camera. In this…rea-…city…things change far too fast to make a tapestry." Loki makes a flippant gesture, like the purchase of the expensive equipment is nothing. "And he is certainly not a kid."
"I'm not anymore, but I came don hard this morning," Kai says without a lick of shame. Dude's in a rainbow tye-dye t-shirt. Shame isn't something he really does. He clasps his hands together as Loki says he can have a camera. "Yay. This will be great." He then says, "I don't mind being called kid. It's nice. Like a nickname." The little dog licks Bucky's fingers and wags his tail, then goes over to Gene to see if this guy's good for an ear scritch.
"No problem," agrees Buck, stepping back. For all his attempts at quiet movement….there was the soft slither of those plates beneath sleeve and glove. He offers no opinion on Kai and a camera. ….and he does, almost always, smell faintly of warm metal. It is reminiscent of the war.
Gene Fuchs says, "I always ask you if you're high, because you're always saying weird shit," explains Gene as he bends down and gives the dog a scratch. He straightens and smiles, "The kid's a good photographer. The subject matter can't have been that inspiring, though." He's stubborn enough to call Kai kid no matter what anyone says. "Any of you know anything about cars?""
"I know that you cannot eat them. And perhaps I say weird things because I am a god from an ancient pantheon." Loki grins crookedly, phrasing the truth like its a humored liiiie. So, in a way, he's lying about it being a lie. Double lie! 10 points for Loki. "So, what sort of camera do you want?"
"I want one like Mr. Fuchs here has," Kai says with a nod toward Gene. "Or whatever he recommends." To Gene, he says, "Price is no issue. The dog wags his tail, deciding that Gene is a new friend. The mutt's not much to look at, but he's just so happy. Kai grins at Loki. "I promise I'll take pictures of all the good stuff before it's gone."
Buck hesitates a beat, and then says, "I know a little bit….but mostly about older models." Look, trying to be neighborly here…and paper over the Asgardian and the elf being weirdos. Despite himself, he's drifting back towards the car.
Gene Fuchs says, "Yeah, and I'm Shirley Temple," remarks Gene dryly He grins and crushes out his cigarette. "Naw, I got another problem with the brakes, but it's a big job to replace them. I could use help. Found out what it would cost if I took it to a shop." He gives the dog another scritch, "You want a better camera than mine. Get yourself a high end Kodak if you can afford it. Orone of those new Japanese ones. You know the Japanese used to make all that cheap crap, but they are getting pretty good with affordable cameras…Minolta, maybe."
Loki kiiinda recalls the names Gene is spouting about Kai's new camera choices. "Very well. We shall go shopping. I can't just give him money, you know. He spends it on poor people." Loki teases the elf with a saccharine smile and then meanders closer to Bucky. "So, Jack…did Kai give you the neeeewwwwws?"
"Poor people need it more than I do," says Kai, the guy who is, himself, jobless and without income outside of Loki's generosity. The dog rolls over so maybe his belly can get scritched, and the dirt of the street doesn't bother the anmal at all, even though it means there'll be a bath later. He's not great at figuring out cause and effect. Kai follows after Loki, a sunny, smiling presence.
Bucky snorts at Gene. "I can give it a look, pretty soon," he notes. "For what it's worth. Used to work on Jeeps in the Army, can't have advanced that much, right?" Then Loki's asking that question, and Buck arches a brow. "You're pregnant?" he asks, deadpan.
Gene leans over, and gives the dog a last scratch. Then he gives a big sigh, grabs his old spark plugs, and lowers the hood on his car. When Bucky asks that, he snorts a laugh. "Okay, gentlemen. On that note, I have to go find a parts store before they close. Take it easy, and if you want to help out, Jack, come over on Sunday, and I'll supply the beer." He gives a wave and takes off down the street.
Loki waits until Gene has departed, then says, "No, that you are moving into a new place…with us. You shall have your /own/ /room/…and your very own water and food bowls." Loki leans against Bucky's side and taps his chest with the half teasing, half serious remark. Its not too hard to tell what's real and what's not.
Kai eyes Loki, coming up around Bucky's other side, and he adds, "Right, no more sharing with Kevin." Who knows his name and looks up. Who? What? His tongue lolls out the side of his mouth. He comes over to the trio and sits on Bucky's foot. The poor soldier is surrounded.
It feels a little weird, because woven within the musculature of the Soldier's chest are the reinforcements that keep the arm from ripping itself right off - the graft affects nearly the entirety of his upper body. And Loki's finger hits one of the woven metal spans beneath the skin. "Good," he says, simply, grinning at Loki. Not in the least perturbed by having the Asgardian that close. "Kai told you about the visitor last night, I think. A penthouse is a lot more secure than this place. A lot more defensible." He teases Kevin by joggling the toe of that boot.
"Indeed. Lets put you in charge of our defenses." Loki looks at Kai for confirmation. "Are you fine with that, Beloved? I would prefer tangible defenses, I think. Magical defenses can get so messy so fast and we do have unexpected guests now and then." Loki still leans on Bucky a little, keeping him in the friend-sandwich.
Kevin looks around. What's doing that? His ears perk. Is it a squirrel? Because if it is… Kai sighs as he watches his dog being dumb even for him. "I think that'd be great," Kai says. "Bucky's the one they want to see anyway. I hope she comes back, though. Let her in, Bucky, til she blows that pink stuff in my face. Then you can do whatever."
Bucky snorts at them. And then he's trying to wriggle free of the pair of them. "I'll do my best," he says. "Being a penthouse is a good start. Where is this place? And….thanks for thinking of bringing me along. I've got safe places to go, now, and I don't wanna bring trouble on you guys. But I do think that either of you wouldn't find them much trouble at all, being what you are."
"Oh, we do get trouble, but when we get trouble…well, yes, you are our best defense, because our sort of trouble does not really have a defense." Loki lets Bucky escape him but he instead moves to slide his arm around Kai's back. "
Kai leans into the arm around him. He doesn't really fit in a closet anyway, so risking trouble in exchange to get to lean in against Loki is fine. He's beaten up his share of bigots. "I still want to keep the old fat livable in case I need to crash there or loan it out," he says. "Besides, I want a real bed for our room. I want it to be solid, and big, and able to withstand a lot of punishment." He eyes Bucky blandly and adds, for his benefit, "I'm a restless sleeper."
"C'mon, lovebirds, let's go inside before you scandalize the neighborhood," Bucky urges, but he's grinning, despite himself. He rolls his eyes at that last comment - he's got that absurdly expressive face when Winter's not flattening his affect.
Loki mmmhmmms to Kai's explanation of his…restless sleeping. "You know I would offer to sound proof your new room, Jack, but…that seems like a security risk." He grins and does indeed, head inside with the others.