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So, it's their penthouse now. Bucky was pleased to find a laundry/utility room, perfect for him to keep the housekeeping stuff in….but even more so for his own little room. He's furnished it plainly - old captain's bed frame, new mattress. A battered drafting desk for either drawing or repairing weaponry on. A bookshelf. It has a bare, spartan air to it, monkish and plain. He's not used to owning things, really, not in any significant way. But it's his…..in a way that really nothing's been before. Every time he's had a room by himself in the last years, it was a cell.
At the moment, he's lying on his bed reading. Treasure Island, of all things. Most of the books on his shelf are kids' classics, really: Huck Finn, the Knights of the Round Table, Sherlock Holmes.
Kai is, himself, pleased to find the penthouse is big enough he can wander around aimlessly and it doesn't count as pacing. He's just out of the bath, and what an exotic bath it is. In his new posh bathrobe and boxers, he makes another circuit around the house, poking at this and that. Finally, his course brings him back to Bucky's room. He raps on the door frame. "Are you really reading or just sort of reding?"
"If that's a polite way of asking me if I'm in here jerking off, I'm decent, Kai," Bucky's voice comes through the door, and then there's the sound of bare feet hitting the floor - he hasn't bought a rug, yet - and then it opening. He has deliberately not oiled any hinges. Let it be hard to sneak up on him, even here.
Despite the hint of waspishness, he's grinning at Kai when he does. He takes in the robe. "I should get myself one of those," he notes, thoughtfully. What Roman decadence - a bathrobe. Has he ever owned one?
Kai's brows lift. "I wasn't even thinking about that," Kai says. "We need a system now so I don't bother you when you're jerking off, man." He peeks his head in, damp curls dripping. He smells of fancy soaps and shampoos. He grins at Bucky and slips inside. "They're awesome. I could swim in this thing. My old one was like a postage stamp with a cinch." He looks around Bucky's room. "Wow, Spartan. Loki likes his splendor."
"No need," Bucky's voice is wry. "And yeah, I saw it. I require the use of that tub at least once a week, I think. Gotta share." He also looks around. "Loki was born Prince of Asgard. Me, I was born in a three room apartment in Brooklyn. I've never had a room of my own, Kai. I slept in the living room when I was a kid, in the barracks or the field when I was in the Army…..and when I was Winter, I was in a freezer between missions." A pause, and he allows, "….it feels strange."
"Once you get used to it," Kai says, "you should posh this place out. Live it up. We were considered rich because I had a room as a kid, and it was about the size of my closet." He stretches. "I like luxury. I got addicted to it at my gran's manor. I know it makes me a horrible Bohemian, but I'm married to a Prince, now. It's his room, his bed. I'm just staying in it." He winks. See? He's still legit.
"I'll think about it," Bucky says,but his tone is unconvinced. "I….don't know if I'd like luxury. Never tried it. Winter hates it. He's stuffed full of all that communist propaganda. And it's not like you gave up painting to work some gray nine to five job."
"Exactly," Kai says. "Don't tell Loki this, but a nontrivial amount of the money he gives me goes to feeding other people. And art supplies, I take care of myself, too. Just, you know. It's okay to have stuff if you're willing to share." He sits on the edge of the bed and bounces on the mattress a few times. "If Winter hates it, that's an even better reason to have it."
The mattress is soft. There're clean white sheets, a dark blue wool blanket. Neatly made, according to Army specs. "Good point," he says, with a thin little grin. "And why not tell Loki? Isn't it princely to give to the peasants?"
"He might cut my funds to be puckish," Kai says. "It's the kind of thing I can't leave to chance. Though I'm going to do some more work for that PI, get a little scratch on the side. Being kept is well and good, but I've always been taught have options." He nods firmly to this. Then lays back and splays on that neatly made bed. He groans, "How can you sleep on this? It's hard as a rock."
He gives Kai an amused look. "Listen, princess, after years of lab tables, foreign flophouses, and canvas cots, that suits me just fine. In fact, sometimes I have to sleep on the floor, it's too soft. But that's smart. It's not that I doubt Loki, but…."
"But he's the god of tricks," Kai says. "I love him with all the depth of my soul, but when he brings me something to eat, I check it for illusions." He smiles, then says, "How can this be too soft? It's like wood." He squirms this way and that, then slide properly onto the bed, more or less taking it over a he tries to find a comfortable position.
"You know, Kevin wonders the same thing," Amusement there, rather than annoyance. "At least, he gets up on it and he turns around and around and around and never stops until I pick him up and take him off. And then he comes back an hour or so later…."
"Kevin for once has the right idea," Kai says. He turns onto one side, then the other, then lies on his stomach, then grunts and ends up splayed on his back, gazing up at the ceiling. "If you wanted to sleep on a wooden plank we could've just moved one into the living room at the old place," he says. At least he won't have to worry about coming in to find Kai napping on his bed just to make sure he puts his stink on everything. He sits up. "Woof. You're mad."
Bucky points out, as he sits at the desk, rests his metal elbow on it, "YOu knew that, Kai." At least his voice has laughter in it. "I like it. I might get myself a featherbed, though, depending on how cold it gets this winter."
"It's New York," Kai says. "It gets freezing. I intend to be under a feather duvet, atop a feather bed. Just wrap me in goose down." He beams. "You should come see our bed. I don't know how Loki would feel about you laying in it. He's covetous." Kai sighs in infatuation. "I can't wait til he gets home. Is it sad that I'm still this ridiculously in love?"
"No," And there's a wisp of envy in it. "Not at all. Love is love. I'll come look, if you like. And no, I don't think I'll lie in it. That would feel weird, knowing what you two do there." Ah, Bucky, yet to discover…."Feather duvet sounds good, too."
Kai waggles his brows. Oh yes what goes on there indeed. He preens a little, proud of himself for what they get up to. "What, we wash the sheets." He shakes his head then and says, "I'll show you later. I'm going to see how long I can sit on this wretched thing before I get a back spasm." At least he sounds cheerful about it. "Oh oh oh, Loki and I fought a goatipede the other night in the park with Dr. Strange."
He stills from turning his chair to face the desk, peers at Kai. "You fought a what? That sounds awful."
"It was so gross," Kai says with laughter in his voice. "It was like a goat with dozens of legs. Loki is such a fine marksman I was barely needed, but I cut it up pretty well. It was disgusting." And yet, he says it with glee. "I love Central Park. Seriously though we need to do something about the monsters that come out there."
"I'd be delighted to help," he says, perking up a little. He's still got that rifle. Nothing like a little hunting to keep the old skills up.