open post/overflow;; i really think i'm invaluable.

[helmut]

Comments

sexting overflow; longingrusted

[helmut]

(( continued from here ))

Precisely that. Forgive me, I know the futility of imagining alternatives to the path we are now on but I seem to want little more than to imagine the version of events where we have known each other years instead of days. A lifetime is a long time, James. Maybe too long to spend with someone who is merely a business partner.

When in prison, one has very little to entertain himself. I have spent years imagining these ends, of what I would have done had I not allowed myself to be caught. I’m not sure you would like the answer. Perhaps it’s a similar question you find yourself with. What do you do once the shield is recovered and Walker is stripped of his power? Once you have brought Karli Morgenthau to justice?

What purpose does my life still hold, having finished my work? I’m not sure there is one.

[Accidental or intercepted text]

[mysterioisthetruth]

Do I need to remind you this has to outshine anything Stark Industries could ever imagine? Even his memory needs to be buried so the name of Tony Stark fades into obscurity forever.

[jamesbbarnes]

[ scowling aplenty, bucky sat down on his temporary bed. not trusting anything or really anyone. at least texting zemo would be less frustrating than having to be in his presence. ]

How many connections do you have here? I know you know more than you're giving out. You must have another plan. A couple more. Or do you really want to go back to prison?

Hey

[sergeant_of_winter]

I'll clean it up later.

Let me know if there's anything you want tweaked here

[restoral]

[ Bucky hadn't had as direct of a hand in getting Zemo out this time, but it's hard to forget how smart Zemo is. He's the man who'd managed to smoke Bucky out after two years of flawless flying under the radar. It had taken very little to help Zemo get out the first time and it's no surprise to see that he only stays locked up until he has a reason not to be.

So, yeah, Bucky knows what he's getting himself into when he follows the cryptic note he finds on his refrigerator scrawled in Zemo's now-familiar handwriting.

He wants to believe that there's nothing sinister at play here. The two of them are on some sort of even not-grudge-fueled playing field, even if their goals aren't entirely the same, and Bucky doesn't think Zemo would go out of his way to actually hurt Bucky, even if he probably would use him.

The address is the same place they'd been staying in Latvia when they'd been chasing Karli, which means Bucky knows there's at least one secret tunnel out of the place. ]

You're going to owe me for this. I had to convince people I was going on a vacation and then lose the tail I got from that being an obvious lie.

[ That's all the hello he's ready to give for now. ]

→ insomnia; you've got the devil on your shoulder.

[armeyets]

[ when he'd first set off on this self-imposed mission to make things better, to make amends, he never thought he'd be doing it beside baron helmut zemo.

but zemo's resources are there. the knowledge and experience is there, and bucky's accustomed to making use of an efficient weapon when it's in front of him. sam had headed back stateside to tie up the last of their loose ends with the flagsmashers, and when he'd left, his brow had been crinkled in concern with a wary, are you sure, man? and bucky had only scoffed in return. i can handle some rich guy in a fur coat.

because they've still got work to do, barnes and zemo, and that work never ends: cut off one head, two more shall take its place. trying to eradicate HYDRA is like tearing out a persistent weed that just keeps biding its time and growing back to overrun the garden, and the garden is europe. they're forming a wary kind of alliance. there's a job that needs doing, and maybe bucky can't be picky about choosing his allies. that clear-cut searing black-and-white morality of the forties has been gone for a while now, after all, buried somewhere in ambiguities and shades of grey and blood on his own hands.

so their time together stretches out, as they're holed up in yet another pied-à-terre, another one of the baron's countless luxurious apartments scattered across the continent. bucky's always a restless sleeper, and this plump mattress is a far cry from a hardwood floor in a lower east side apartment. the rooms are dusty, in need of airing out and clearly haven't been used in the better part of a decade, but the unused apartment is still huge. his whole family, parents and four kids and all, could've lived here and had room to spare. it's infuriating.

he's lying on his back, staring up at the ceiling and feeling the long minutes tick away. the mattress is too soft. he can't sleep. he wonders if he should just curl up on the carpeted floor, and maybe that'll help.

but finally, bucky just heaves a frustrated sigh and swings himself out of the bed, and goes padding out towards the kitchen in defeat. they'd stocked up on supplies, so he figures he can either find some liquor or some kind of overcomplicated flowering tea which zemo insists is, quote, both good for the digestion and for restfulness, unquote. he stalks out, footsteps creaking on the unfamiliar floorboards, but then goes still once he sees a pool of light in the main room. for a fleeting second, he suddenly pictures the other man sitting in an armchair in the darkness, petting a white cat.

this is so fucking stupid.

when bucky walks further out into the room, he's rearranged his body language; still strung taut with tension, his jaw set, but he's trying to look aggressively nonchalant. (it doesn't really work.) it looks like zemo's just doing some late-night reading, but bucky doesn't realise yet exactly what. ]

Still up? No butler around to fluff your pillows for you?

tfln overflow; vypolnyat

[helmut]

( cont )

[ now there's something zemo can pounce on. something that can't be read about in biographies, that can only come from the man himself. ]

I tried many times to imagine all the aspects of life that would have become difficult for Steve Rogers to adjust to once he was pulled from the ice. Technology and medicine is nothing compared to how society has changed between 1945 and now. The same applies to you.

How were they different? Did you use different tactics with men? I can imagine the coyness to be quite appealing when used on women, less so with men.