Got any HCs for our little guy Steve trying to figure out his bisexuality pre-war? And maybe some regarding how it is for him to to wake up in a new world where, despite all the shit still surrounding sexuality, there seems to be an open dialogue?
Steve kind of doesnāt feel like he had to figure anything out within himself, because he just felt the same about guys and girls and figured maybe he wasnāt interested in either. Then heās goofing around with Bucky one day around the time theyāre hitting puberty, laughing at his dumb friend tripping over the rug and he just watches Bucky lying there pouting in a sunbeam and realisesĀ oh.Ā
So for a while he thinks maybe heās just into guys. Or maybe heās just into Bucky, which is cool since theyāre screwing around from the time they realise how their dicks work.Ā It feels like thatās backwards from how he should be realising this stuff, because he never tried to be into girls or anything, but it seems like it might make sense. Heās little and skinny and thatās what guys who are into guys are supposed to be like, right? Itās not like there are girls lining up to give him the time of day, anyway. Maybe heās just gay.Ā
Itās not ideal, obviously. He knows at some point Buckyās going to have to get married, have a bunch of bouncy sunshine kids just like him with some lady. Bucky insists he wonāt but of course he will, people would understand Steve being a confirmed bachelor but Bucky Barnes? Itās inevitable, but the time theyāve got together is pretty great.Ā
But then Steve meets Agent Carter and oh. Thereās that feeling again. That gut-punch oh, fuck. And then heās on tour with the USO and the girls are nice. They goof off with him and ask about his soldier boy and teach him how to eat pussy (because letās face it itās not like heās getting tips from Cosmo), and itās really easy. Itās not like pretending at all, itās not like heās forcing himself into anything. And it doesnāt feel like forced proximity either, it feels like heās genuinely interested.
So Steve is like what the fuck, because now heās pretty sure he likes guys and girls? And what the hell is Bucky going to think about that? Because Buckyās never looked at a lady for anything but appearances in his life. Steve thinks maybe the serum fixed him, straightened out the bent part of his mind just like it did his crooked spine. What if he doesnāt like guys anymore? What if he doesnāt like Bucky?
But then thereās Azzano, and Steve hauling his guy off a table and grabbing him to make sure heās alive and oh. Itās still there. And then thereās the gay bar in London, the one they sneak off to half-cut and find a guy who wants them both. And Steve definitely likes that. So maybe the serum didnāt fix him, maybe there wasnāt anything to fix? Weird.
Then he loses Bucky and the world ends.Ā
He wakes up in the future and doesnāt want to know. Heās intellectually both freaked out and happy all at once that itās legal to be gay now, that he could have a boyfriend and get married and shit, but without Bucky itās just grey. He only starts reading up about gay rights and what it means to be queer once Buckyās back in the world, when he wakes up one morning to see Bucky snoring in a sunbeam on the pillow next to him and oh.
Then he finds the fucking word. Thereās actually a name for it. Heās not just a freak of nature and nobody bothered to tell him.
āThatās what itās called?!ā
āYeah.ā Sam hands over his tablet with the Wiki article on bisexuality open for him to see. He had no idea Steve didnāt realise that was a thing, or he wouldāve caught him up sooner.Ā
āFor fuckās sake!ā Steve leans over the back of the couch to yell at Bucky in the kitchen.Ā āDāyou know thereās a thing called bisexual?!ā
āWhat the shitās that?ā Bucky yells back, wandering into the living room drying his hands with a dishtowel.Ā
āPeople like me, they like guys and girls.ā
āHuh.ā Bucky cocks his head.Ā āSāthat legal too now?ā
āTotally legal.ā Sam cuts in, thoroughly amused by the whole thing. Steve looks so pissy about it, like itās a huge inconvenience to suddenly find out thereās a name for his sexuality.Ā
āSomebody couldāve fuckinā told me.ā Steve grumbles, turning back to Wikipedia.Ā āWouldāve saved a whole lot of hassle.ā