armeyets | for viuva.

[ ah, yes. her sorta sometimes boss. ]

thats the director of the cia inviting you to a black tie event
with other mercenary assassin types. if i am guessing correctly anyway
alexei told me he received a package from her but i didnt know she got a hold of you

she is the kind of thing you also lie to your therapist about

[ bucky's on the verge of record-scratching and reeling at that first question, trying to figure out how to spin a jokey response there, before that second message dings through and thankfully spares him. his expression goes more solemn, frowning down at his phone. he can feel his more tactical side starting to tick into place, examining this situation from all angles, starting to wonder. ]

huh.

are you gonna be there?

i do love a good party with free booze and free food
but i hate galas they are so pretentious and so is she

i will go if you go

and i'll go if you go.

[ why are they like this ]

[ because they are kids :\ in the bodies of a boomer and a millennial.... match made in heaven idk i don't make the rules! ]

ugh well i have to go anyway because valentina keeps me employed

but you just want to be my arm candy huh

your arm candy, and you can be my social buffer. i'm not great with people and this woman freaks me out a little

you working for the CIA now?

what do you mean
you are totally a people person :)

haha dont be silly. me? on cia payroll?
no i do stuff off the books and i dont ask questions as long as she pays in cash
what did she send you

an invite to that black tie event, plus some branded swag. a tote bag, a pen. think they've got some PR consultants working on this, something something rehabbing my image, something something the world needs heroes

"the thunderbolts initiative". sounds like something president thunderbolt ross rubberstamped before, well, y'know.

almost pancaked sam wilson

sounds to me like she is trying to court grandpa bucky
wants you to be the poster boy for this
thunderbolts initiative? the name is a bit tacky no

a bit yeah. would've sounded a tiny bit better before thunderbolt tried to, as you say, pancake sam wilson. now the associations really fuckin suck

it's not like i've got anything else going on career-wise so

yes they do. it is a joke
valentina is a bit freakish and is probably watching your every move
a little snaky with her own agenda but otherwise harmless and very very rich

nothing else at all
?

i've been checking out all the restaurants from the 40s which are still around today. working my way through the list. could maybe become a restaurant critic

ohhhhh you could be the oldest food critic alive
!!
do you have any favorite restaurants

[ she is only a little bit jealous. she wishes she had the drive to do things like this in her free time, lately. ]

nathan's down at coney island. kind of a tourist trap now, like most of the places, but the memories of grabbing a dog with steve and strolling down the boardwalk-- all of that still feels the same

you ever been?

ive seen a lot of nyc but not coney island
do you only get a hotdog at nathans
also whats your take on milkshakes

nah i'll have a hot dog anywhere. even those park street carts, my supersoldier stomach can probably put up with whatever undercooked bacteria they're serving up

i'm extremely positive on milkshakes. why?

that is both fascinating and gross
i am hungry now thanks a lot

[ colour her charmed... ]

do you have any places that serve up a good chocolate milkshake on your old timey list

i got a diner in mind. you wanna meet up for a bite? we can catch up, strategize about this meeting, make sure our planned outfits match

[ har har ]

lucky for you my day just freed up
tell me when and where

tom's restaurant in morningside heights. in a couple hours?

[ it was a weird hour, between mealtimes, but it was either wait until morning and the breakfast rush, or just go ahead and see her now. and he was an insomniac and yelena's sleep schedule was usually fucked too, based on the hours she replied to his texts, so he'd rather just get started and get walking instead of put it off and stare at his ceiling all night.

and he knows she's got a thing about kitschy americana pop culture, so he makes sure to mention — ]

it's the diner from seinfeld. but like obviously it wasn't that in 1940

[ she has some ✨opinions✨ about seinfeld, but she figures she can share them in person. instead, she fires off a very bold: ]

its a date

[ just some harmless flirting, nbd!

fast forward to two and a half-ish hours later, she is standing in front of the diner doing the most touristy thing ever and is taking a picture of the sign from the edge of the sidewalk. she may also be wearing denim on denim, but that's just because she wants to pay tribute to elaine. ]

[ Normally Bucky’s pretty punctual, since he doesn’t have much else going on, but he gets caught up in some subway delays and so he shows up last this time, coming at a brisk pace from the station. He sees the young woman’s silhouette down the street, her head tipped back, blue denim and long blonde hair. His heart instinctively catches and rises when he sees her, in a way he hasn’t felt in so very long for anyone; another time, another life, another version of him.

Maybe someday he’ll have the balls to do something about it.

In the meantime: Bucky paces up, hands buried in the pockets of his leather jacket, and bumps his shoulder companionably against Yelena’s by way of hello. ]

Hey. Nice denim. [ A beat, and, ] Is this a good time to say I’ve only ever seen a couple episodes of Seinfeld?

[ yelena is till taking a few aesthetic shots of the diner when she feels a familiar shoulder bump, tucking her phone into one of her many pockets. she has crossed paths with him enough to know that this is just the bucky way to say hi. that, or suddenly turning up at her side and greeting her with a quip.

(she can't really fault him for it; she's the same way.) ]

Hello, James. You like my jacket? I thrifted it.

[ she turns to face him with the scrunch of her nose, quickly giving him a once-over. his hair looks nice, but he looks tired. she wonders if she looks just as tired. ]

And you know, you're really not missing much. Elaine is the only funny thing about Seinfeld— Come on. [ yelena waves a nonchalant hand for him to follow her and and she's holding the door open for him because she is such a gentlewoman. ] I am starving.

And you’re not even a super-soldier, how d’you think me or your dad feel —

[ Bucky’s half-joking but he is, genuinely, hungry pretty much all the time even as he doesn’t tire. So he follows her through the door, ducking into the busy diner. It’s thrumming with activity, but they’ve managed to land at an inconvenient in-between hour where there’s still a booth available for them; the walls are covered in kitschy souvenirs and Seinfeld artifacts and signed cast pictures, but it’s a real diner with genuinely good food, not just loaded up for tourism. It’s been around for decades. ]

How’s Alexei doing?

[ he asks as they slide into the booth. They’re all technically teammates now. When Bucky looks in the mirror, New Avenger doesn’t really sit right; the title weighs awkwardly like an ill-fitting suit. In the wake of that chaotic, disastrous press conference, they’ve been reeling and trying to find their footing. It was probably about time they met up to discuss the situation; but in the immediate, Yelena’s the first Thunderbolt* he wants to talk to.

^*goddammit ]

You know, [ she sucks her teeth in the most non-patronizing way possible ] I am pretty sure they say that the way to a woman's heart is through her stomach.

[ or is that the way to a man's heart? either way, she doesn't care because her phone is coming right back out of the pocket she snuck it into. she loves nostalgic shit more than the average person — yes, she knows it's because her brain is clinging to A Very Specific Time in her childhood — so she is rather ecstatic to be sliding into one of the most iconic booths of all time. she is, without an ounce of shame or embarrassment, snapping pictures of the interior before putting her phone away. again.

(she remembers sitting on the floor of their living room, hunched over a colouring book on the coffee table while melina folded clothes into a hamper. alexei was maybe helping natasha with her homework.)

anyway, bucky brings her back by bringing up her dad. also again. is he just as obsessed with alexei as alexei is with him?? god. she blows a raspberry. ]

Are you kidding me? Alexei is having the time of his life. Almost more insufferable than usual, but— this is the happiest I have seen him since I was a kid.

[ she casually flips through the menu, her attention darting between him and some of the the sweet and savoury items. ]

How are you doing?

for viuva.

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zaps this thread w the canon realignment laser

amen to that....also closes my eyes at my typos 😌

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she talks so much omg

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