12860/Drinking Buddies

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Drinking Buddies
Date of Scene: 22 September 2022
Location: Luke's Bar
Synopsis: Two old, old, ooooooooollllllllllldddddddd friends have a drink and reminisce while catching up.
Cast of Characters: James Barnes, Steve Rogers




James Barnes has posed:
It's a difficult thing, making time for friends. But some friends are timeless.

That's not a pun on the fact that these two men in their late-twenties-to-early-thirties and clear physical prime are actually neatly over a hundred years old each, either. Okay, maybe it is.

In any case, After meeting up outside, Bucky shoved the door open and ushered Steve inside. "Owned by Luke Cage. Guy's strong enough to make us look like... well, you, before the whole..." Bucky makes squelching noises and bzzt noises, signifying the injections and the vita-beams.

"Come on." He points to a booth, way in the back.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve is wearing a pair of jeans and boots, with a white t-shirt and a light jacket of deep blue. He has on a red baseball cap that has a "Hornets" logo, though it's a gift from a high school he visited so not a logo that most people are going to recognize. Like normal, the cap is pulled down a little low. Standard Steve Rogers trying to go unnoticed in public attire.

"Ouch!" Steve jokes at the jab from his old friend. "Yes, don't know him very well but have bumped into him once or twice," Steve confirms as he lets Bucky pick their seat. He reaches into his wallet to pull some money out, ordering a pair of beers before heading back there. First round is on him, apparently.

Once they are served up, he carries them back to the booth. "So been awhile since we've been able to catch up," he says once he's seated.

James Barnes has posed:
"It has." Bucky settles in. He doesn't wear a cap, but without his lower face mask and with a jacket and glove that cover his metallic arm, he's not _as_ recognizable as the All-American Boy Scout. Besides, people who do recognize him don't typically run up to him for an autograph like they do Steve. They go the other direction.

"Been a bit busy lately. Wanda and I went and did a lot of relief work in Europe for a while there." He shrugs. "You know how it is, lose track of time. Especially when things get weird." He takes his beer and leans back, taking a long drink. "You?"

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve takes off his jacket, lying on the booth beside him but keeping the hat on as he sits a little sideways in the booth, one leg draping across his side of the seat. "Been a bit busy as well," Steve replies after hearing about Bucky's volunteer work. "Most recently there was a dam up in Massachusetts that failed. Flooding the town below. Speaking of people a bit stronger than us, Superman eventually got there and was able to freeze the water up at the dam. Though we had to pull a lot of people out before that," Steve allows.

He takes a sip of his beer. "And I'm pretty sure Janet van Dyne is picking her moments to make me suffer," he comments of his fellow Avenger that he'd been seeing not too far in the past.

James Barnes has posed:
Bucky gives a low whistle. "Captain America and Superman in the same place at the same time," he grins at Steve. "That's a lot of red and blue all at once, man." He takes a long drink of his beer, considering the rest. "Jan's good people, if a little..." He seems to be struggling with the word. "What's the business-fashion-woman version of a Tony Stark?" He smirks. "You'll be fine. Eventually you'll talk it out. What's the worst that can happen? You haven't been allergic to Wasp stings since the serum."

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve returns a subdued, wry smile. "Intense is a good word," he says, in a tone that doesn't make it a bad thing, just an honest one. "Yes, think she just needs a bit of time. In addition to shrinking she can also grow, you know. She was trying to block the dam break until Superman got there. Wrung herself out above me before returning to normal size" Steve says, shaking his head.

The man's true blue eyes study his oldest friend for a few minutes. "You look good, Buck. Wanda seems to be a good influence on you. I mean... something had to be. I never seemed to manage to get through," Steve says, eyes shining with the kidding at the end.

James Barnes has posed:
Bucky gives a comical little wince when Steve informs him Jan wrung herself out on top of him. "That's a little passive aggressive. Unless she did it, like, you know, while looking you dead in the eyes." He takes a drink. "I think at that point it skips over to 'active' aggressive."

Steve's comment gets a shrug. "You got to me when it counted," he points out. "But yeah. Wanda's... man, she's _weird_, okay? She does all these spells, and gets this crazy look in her eyes and then she glows and it's all..." He shakes his head. "I dunno. She's intense, too. We like intense women."

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers doesn't reply about whether there was eye contact, but he breaks out in a warm chuckle as Bucky starts talking about Wanda. "Hey, I got nothing. You were always the one that had the way with the ladies as I recall. Taking me along to keep a girl's friend company," Steve says, eyes shining a bit with the teasing.

"Wanda's great though. Has really meant a lot to the Avengers having her with us," Steve says. "And not just because she is definitely the best at talking to Pietro," he adds.

The man takes a sip of his beer, glancing out the window at the afternoon traffic on the street and sidewalk. "Are you spending much time working with SHIELD still?" he asks.

James Barnes has posed:
"You don't need me for that anymore," Bucky says. "Not sure what that says about ladies who'd only give Steve Rogers the time of day when he's bulked up, but people can be superficial." Say what you want about Bucky, but he always knew the worth of Steve.

"You know I haven't really even had a chance to really get to know Pietro at all? I don't think he cares, though. He's one of those." He shrugs. "Is what it is." The question about SHIELD gets a wobbly hand.

"here and there. Peggy sends me on missions sometimes." He shrugs. "You talk to her lately?"

Steve Rogers has posed:
"I'm sure if you hurt his sister he'd probably show up and get to know you," Steve says with a slight grin. "Brothers are like that as I recall. What was the name of the brother of that girl who had the dark pigtails? You remember, the one who was looking for you after you took her to the movies?" Steve says, unable to resist bringing up a moment from the past.

"I don't see her as much as I'd like, but we do catch up now and then," he confirms. "She and Daniel are doing well. I'm glad that he's there for her," he says. Being honest, little surprise. "I haven't done as much with SHIELD lately though. But I was thinking I need to drop in on some of their training sessions and help out. Also there's a thing. Thor. A realm of the dead. You know," he says, shrugging at how that would have sounded to them when they were just kids from Brooklyn.

James Barnes has posed:
"I'm sure there wouldn't be enough left of me for him to worry about if I hurt Wanda. She can dismantle me all on her lonesome." He thinks for a moment. "_Her_ name was Francine; his name was Francis. Because their parents were super imaginative." Bucky winks, amused.

"That whole realm of the dead thing is fucking freaky, Steve. Wanda dragged me off to the Otherworld and I had to fight a _dragon_, and that wasn't even a realm of the _dead_, it was more like, fairyland..."

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers lets out a quiet sigh and then tilts the frozen mug, taking a sip of his beer. "It kind of makes the old days of fighting Nazis and the Red Skull feel... simple by comparison, doesn't it?" he asks. "Not that it ever felt that way at the time," Steve adds, giving a little shake of his head at some of the memories.

"Well, let's hope it's an easy trip. Just recovering a thing that... well. There's magic. That's how it works, you see," Steve says, giving Bucky a little grin that often accompanies these topics about things he can only grasp the basics of. If that.

"So did you bring back any souvenirs from fairyland? My friend got to fight a dragon and all I got was this lousy t-shirt, t-shirt maybe?" Steve asks.

James Barnes has posed:
"Man, I wish we were just fighting Nazis. At least they were evil in a direct way. Now a days, everything is nuanced." Bucky knows everything was nuanced back then, too, it's just he misses the person he was; the person who could ignore those nuances.

"No t-shirt, but I did win that bet, so there's that." He finishes his beer and flips the bottle in his hand. "You want another one?" He slides out of the booth.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers finishes up his beer and nods to Bucky. "Sure, I can do another," he says. The beer doesn't hit him anywhere like it did before the Vita-rays and other things that Dr. Erskine did to turn Steve into what he is today. For that matter one beer back then had him a bit tipsy.

Steve sits quietly, eyes going around the bar while Bucky is up getting the beer. "Yeah, things have definitely changed," he comments quietly. "Though could actually do with a few less Nazis these days too," he says, shaking his head slightly, thoughts on Hydra and some other happenings that SHIELD have had to deal with.