IC Inbox - Duplicity

[lednikovyy]

Comments

[etch]

What?

[look, he hasn't been taught emojis yet. what is that?]

[lednikovyy]

it's a bunch of poops. I'm expressing myself with art.

[etch]

[well, he has no idea how to send those type of pictures back. so instead, a few minutes later, there's a photograph sent back of a sketch that looks a little like this. bucky isn't the only one who can express himself with art.]

[lednikovyy]

[ Bucky laughs so hard he might actually pull something. ]

belongs in a museum.

[etch]

Kind of like us.

[lednikovyy]

I'm a little damaged. might just going into a private collection.

[etch]

Then I guess I'll have to start a collection.

[lednikovyy]

try to sound more like a serial killer.

[etch]

I'd keep you alive, Buck. I'd just keep you locked away so no one could steal you.

[lednikovyy]

thanks for that incredibly creepy sentiment. I'll feel safe until they notice I'm not hitting my sex quota. maybe you should let me have visitors.

[etch]

I suppose we could set up a visitation schedule. An hour a week, provided they pass the screening process.

[lednikovyy]

I have great taste! you would have approved of the last one. they were your friend first and everything.

[ And while they hadn't met through Steve, they'd certainly gotten a lot closer through him. Bucky honestly trusts Steve's judgment pretty highly. ]

[etch]

You had sex with one of my friends?

[which one, bucky? which one?]

[lednikovyy]

I thought you didn't want to hear about my sex life. anyway, you don't know them yet/here/this is officially confusing.

[etch]

I don't need the details. Just a name. Is she here?

[lednikovyy]

no

[ And considering where he was before he wound up here, it's a worrying thing. ]

[etch]

Oh.

[well. that certainly didn't go to plan.]

Do we need to have a talk about the friends each of us have made here?

[in other words, do they need to have an awkward conversation to make sure they don't end up sleeping with the same people?]

[lednikovyy]

oh god I hadn't thought of that. I don't think it would bother me, but if something would hurt you, tell me and I won't do it.

[ and then he hastily sends the next part before he can delete it and change his mind. ]

if Thomas Nightingale shows up, don't sleep with him. probably let me know he's here.

[etch]

[WELL. now it's time for a nice, long delay. minutes, even, before he finally types out--]

Thomas Nightingale.

[he's not judging. he just...isn't sure what he's meant to be thinking right now.]

[lednikovyy]

[ That's fine. Bucky doesn't spend any of that time worrying about how Steve took that. Everything is fine. ]

good man. ww2 vet like us.

[etch]

I don't doubt it.

[that he's a good person. he'd like to believe bucky has at least some taste in...friends.]

If he turns up here, I want to meet him.

[lednikovyy]

you'd like him.

[ He leaves out the fact that Thomas had gotten along with both Steve and Peggy well. He also leaves out the fact that there's a little ache in his chest when he thinks about the man. ]

this isn't weird, right? I never got to tell you before. I wanted to and then I wound up here.

[etch]

[the typing dots are there and gone multiple times, responses being written and deleted as he tries to work out how to put his thoughts in to words. how to explain to bucky that--]

It's weird, but it doesn't change a thing between us. You're still you, and I'm not going to start thinking any less of you for it.

I've been talking to the other you about this stuff. It's normal in the future, and as long as the people involved are happy, it's not my place to judge.

[not that he wants to judge. while it may not have been legal back home, it wasn't unheard of either. and as far as he's concerned, bucky's happiness will always take precedence.]

So as long as you're happy, I am too.

[though that doesn't mean he won't need to go have a conversation with a punchbag before he heads home tonight]

[lednikovyy]

I'm happy as long as you're my friend.

[ It's that simple, really. Bucky cares about Thomas a lot, but Thomas isn't here and that was never going to take precedence over Steve or the fact that Steve is his family. The only person who'd really come close to that had been Peggy in the end, but she's not even here. ]

and I never hid anything from you. things just changed, I guess. I still like women. a lot.

[ Because that's important, too. Bucky wasn't sitting back in the 40s hiding some big gay crush on Steve or anyone else. It wasn't there. There was never a part of him that really thought about it back then. Even now, he's far more inclined to go for women. He's only been with the one guy. ]

[etch]

Then I guess it's just as well that's never going to change.

[because living or dead, he can't imagine a world where bucky isn't his best friend.]

Buck, you don't need to explain anything. I told you, this doesn't change anything. I'll always have your back, no matter what you do.