i'm not a stucky retirement truther... let me explain my ✨alternative hypothesis✨
if you've ever seen that episode of a:tla where sokka has that training montage on the mountain, my idea is steve and bucky become mentor figures that can give those training arcs to novice superheroes (of any skillset or age) who are looking to learn how to either train their newly acquired power(s) or further hone their skills with more focus and intent than what they're getting in the field. steve and bucky would be doing this either within their own retreat/camp/whatever or as part of some larger avengers complex.
this way, they stay involved in the action and are easily reachable if need be without necessarily being at risk of getting exploded on a daily basis, since i think after they've been in the game long enough, their expertise and discipline is worth more than raw combat prowess, but they both get too restless to lay around baking pies and whittling all day.
they have a very clear good-cop-bad-cop dynamic going on as "easy professor" versus "hardass professor". for instance, bucky will reward the trainees' effort, catch them being good, call time on a training sesh before they hurt themselves, etc.. he also uses something like the "good noodle chart" from spongebob so everyone gets to show off their reward stickers. he has a lot of experience wrangling people away from getting themselves killed in combat, and as a seasoned stealth operative he knows the value of cutting and running, so he wants to instill all trainees with a strong ability to pick their battles wisely.
steve, meanwhile, will have these trainees collapsed in the dirt, crying, shaking, saying they really really can't do XYZ, can they please be done for today, and he's like "i know you have one more rep in you, so GET BACK UP" (and they always do; he wouldn't be pushing them if he didn't believe in them). bucky will let you take a break early; steve will say "one more and then you can take a break" five times before he'll actually let you go.
everyone shows up expecting that dynamic to be the reverse and then they immediately feel completely out of their element when they realize how it actually works here. and the ideal process for that is:
the newbie is introduced to both steve and bucky personally, and at the same time; steve is very disarmingly handsome and well spoken as usual, while bucky has a resting kubrick stare and isn't the least bit chatty.
during the introductory training/tour/whatever with bucky, he outlines his metrics by which he will give rewards for good results and fair cooperation— essentially providing a syllabus— and the newbie thinks "well, that's not so bad at all! captain america must be a cakewalk then!"
steve promptly makes the newbie run laps until they hurl.
also, i think bucky and steve would both agree that steve should have his own spot on the sticker chart because "it's only fair" as a way to model accountability to the trainees... and then steve consistently has the lowest amount of stickers out of anyone. he keeps getting stickers removed for making the trainees cry. and steve's like "bucky, you're not going to shame me into changing my methods with your sticker chart. you have your technique, i have mine; we just work in different ways"... but you can tell he gets a little upset when bucky takes away a sticker.
