From Siberia to Fandom's Causeway, Sometime Friday

[weirderthanthou]

The last couple of days had been eventful.

But the moment they spotted an opening to leave, Jesse and Bucky took it. Jesse's first instinct had been to walk until they found the nearest Portalocity station, but somehow the universe - or the Oldest House - had intervened.

They walked, and the world slowly warped around them. The smell of pine trees permeated the air, hot coals and warm coffee. For a moment, it was as if the ocean itself lapped gently through the skein of the heavens around them, washing away the taste of rough and jagged Russia.

Then that, too, faded.

And suddenly there was asphalt under Jesse's feet, the school's spire towering not far from her view.

"Huh," she said quietly. "Thanks, Ahti."

[[ for him, and nfb ]]

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[shapethecentury]

Did she know how much work that sounded like just now?

Bucky followed, regardless. Sooner he was off the street, the sooner he could stop feeling exposed.

[weirderthanthou]

He'd feel better if he put in the work. She was pretty sure.

Jesse was silent for the rest of the journey, taking them up to her apartment. That door opened quickly, too, and she held it while she waited for him to step inside.

[shapethecentury]

Bucky slipped inside like a ghost - and then came to a stop almost immediately. Aside from Siberia, it had been a long time since he'd been in a place that was familiar. That held memories.

And the memories from here were as quiet and calm as they had been buried.

He didn't know what to do with it. He just felt something clenching.

[weirderthanthou]

"You should get a shower."

Jesse wasn't sure what to do about the stillness - and so she deferred to the idea of action. Literally, in another sense: she closed the door. "I'll get you a towel," she added. "And I'll grab a blanket for you once you're in there."

[shapethecentury]

"'Kay," Bucky heard himself say, swallowing the first syllable but forcing the rest out.

He'd move, in a... in a second.

[weirderthanthou]

Shit.

Jesse reached out. Carefully.

Pressed a hand against his shoulder. The one made of skin and bone.

[shapethecentury]

Well, Bucky didn't flinch, at least? Although he did sort of... waver in place a little.

Swallowing something more down.

[weirderthanthou]

"James," Jesse said. Quiet.

[shapethecentury]

Bucky considered telling her he'd never really been a 'James'. Not unless, like Steve had said, his Ma had been cross with him. Or a fake psychiatrist was questioning him, apparently.

But it sounded different from her, and so he didn't want to.

"It's fine," he tried, his gaze falling towards the floor. "It's fine."

[weirderthanthou]

"It's not," Jesse said.

She gave his arm a little tug. Willing him to face her.

[shapethecentury]

Bucky had a lot of experience doing what was expected of him, and right now he had nothing in the way of fight left in him.

He turned at her urging.

[weirderthanthou]

She hugged him.

(She couldn't hug Dylan. But she could hug him.)

[shapethecentury]

... Bucky didn't know what to do with that either.

But aside from making sure she wasn't in any danger of touching the mechanical stump of his arm (he had no idea what the exposed and cut wiring might do, and didn't want to find out) he couldn't make himself do much to respond. It was just...

It was just alien to him. Or like a foggy memory from a past that he couldn't quite understand he was somehow in again.

[weirderthanthou]

You know, he hadn't pushed her away. That was good enough.

"At least clean up a little," Jesse said quietly. "You'll thank yourself for it later."

She pulled back and looked at him.

"I might know people who can help with the arm," she said. "I'll try to reach them, okay?"

[shapethecentury]

"Okay," Bucky said. It was the full word at least, this time?

And here was more: "You said... something about a towel?"

[weirderthanthou]

"Yeah."

Jesse took his hand in hers. At this point, that seemed the only way to get him anywhere.

She pulled him towards the bathroom.

[shapethecentury]

Bucky knew what to do with that even less. But he still did much the same thing.

He just followed, his gaze flicking down their hands, and up to her hair.

Maybe all of this was a dream.

[weirderthanthou]

And into the bathroom. There, she let go.

Jesse opened the cupboard and rummaged around. Towel? Towel.

She held it up for him.

"Shower or tap, your choice," she said. "I'll check in on you in half an hour if you're still in here, okay?"

[shapethecentury]

"Not gonna die in the shower, Jesse," Bucky murmured - and hey, it was an almost complete sentence! He took the towel, too.

"But thanks."

[weirderthanthou]

"Better not," Jesse said, taking a step towards the door. "I'll make fun of you forever."

[shapethecentury]

"Least it's a short forever."

He put all of his effort into shooing her off with his remaining hand.

[weirderthanthou]

Jesse retreated gracefully, closing the bathroom door behind her.

Hopefully he'd be okay.

[shapethecentury]

'Okay' was so, so relative.

As soon as the door closed, Bucky exhaled with a shudder, slowly letting go of something. You didn't go on the run for two years and just start not packing everything away from public view as soon as your past caught up with you. The previous morning, he'd been in Bucharest unaware any of this was about to happen, that anything was coming to sweep him away like a wave crashing over him.

And now he was here. One arm lighter, but he was here, and he didn't know what that meant for anything. The best he could do was grab hold of what had kept him moving at the facility, earlier: not letting Jesse down.

And right now, that meant slowly and carefully taking off what remained of the tactical jacket, and his shirt. And finally taking a good look at the charred, jagged edges of what remained of the metal arm. It looked like the blast that had taken it off had also cauterized the ends of the wires, good. After getting rid of his remaining glove and pants and boots, he still wrapped the towel awkwardly around the stump just in case, before stepping into the shower and getting the water running.

The last thing Jesse needed was him electrocuting himself in the shower with his own shoulder cap.

[weirderthanthou]

That would be a really ignoble end to this entire disaster, yes.

Jesse, for her part, wasn't actually sure what to do now. Eventually she found herself drifting to the kitchen, where she - sigh, yes - grabbed a can of soup and dumped it into a pan.

It was all she had, okay?

[shapethecentury]

Bucky let the water wash over him. It took the blood and the grime and the sweat, and whatever stench of HYDRA was on him (not that he could ever fully rid himself of that). He didn't do much, beyond standing there, with his eyes closed. Carded his fingers through his hair, once or twice, as it matted itself to his scalp and his neck.

Of course, the one issue with closing his eyes was all the images. The fake shrink on the other side of the glass, the fight at the airport, Tony's face watching the video, the blinding white of the blast.

He could only stand it for so long before he had to open his eyes and stare at the wall, instead.

It wasn't long after that that he turned the water off, and began to towel off. Awkwardly, like he was going to be doing a lot of stuff in the near future.