SAM & BUCKY

@lightkeykid‘s Anniversary Gifmaking Challenge - Day 7: Time Travel

Is now a good time to share the piece I drew for @tfatwsfanzine​ last year? I think so, so here you go! Post mission food shop! 

Details under the cut, but I need y’all to know that Bucky just buys canned food Every Time they food shop, you know, just In Case 

And I just. Don't think he's gone this many years (even minus the 5) without someone saying that. In 2024 or whenever he knows it's not *actually* his own fault. He doesn’t need that spelled out for him as though he doesn't know how brainwashing works.

I don't think that's what his amends are about. It's not that easy to stop feeling awful about the Winter Soldier. You can be aware that it's not rational to feel a certain way but still feel it.

My take is: Bucky is in a position to (a) offer closure to surviving loved ones like Yuri and (b) stop Hydra-backed politicians from wielding the power they were given. He has knowledge of past events + ability to be kind to Yuri and/or mitigate future harm.

Doing what he can *right now* is an attempt to put compassion where cruelty used to be. It makes things a little better for people harmed by Hydra, and probably makes Bucky himself feel better. (& gives him some control back over situations where he previously had none?)

What Sam tells Bucky in episode 5 isn't advice for how to directly atone for the Winter Soldier, but how to kindly approach people who are already hurting and will be further hurt by what Bucky tells them. "Take your cues from what the other person needs" is good advice, because we've known since episode 1 that Bucky's been working up to telling Yuri the truth. When you go to someone and say, "hey I did your son's unsolved murder," maybe do your best to focus on their feelings and not your own

Man oh man

So reading a post response from @lovely-lady-of-fandoms​ reminded me that I had taken some screenshots of the pictures from the Paul & Darlene, especially when Gideon was mentioned. 

And looking at the pictures…well…

These pics were cropped and edited for better clarity so there’s some sharpening, some brightening and contrasting and etc going on. The shots are from both episode 1 and 5.

The first is from episode 1 and I was like, wow, that bottom picture looks like a younger Sam. And then, looking through episode 5, it clearly does look like a younger Sam in both pictures. Interestingly, one of the guys in either picture could be Gideon (or even both), but the man clearly looks a little bit older than him. 

If so, it leaves me to wonder what happened to him. Is he dead? Is he estranged? Especially since Sam introduced himself on the phone to his neighbors as “Paul’s youngest boy”. Which is strange if it’s only Sarah and Sam, coz then he could just say it’s Paul’s son or his eldest/youngest (coz I don’t know if it’s confirmed or not whether or not who out of Sam and Sarah was born first). 

Some more shots, one that could look like a little Sarah and possibly Sarah and Sam and maybe their mother? Though the picture of the three kids if you look closely the little one is wearing clothes for little girls, so it’s possible it could be a shot of Sam and Sarah with their Titi (and maybe then the girl could be a cousin?)

The above is from episode 1. I wasn’t sure if the guy in the photo was Sam or maybe a younger image of their dad or something but the image on top looks definitely more like a younger Sarah. (How cute is her smile??? And also love the fact it’s probably her resting and chilling on the bunk in the boat.)

This one from episode 5 has a better view but I’m just undecided if that’s a younger Sam or their dad. He looks closer to Sam though. Though, close up, it looks so much more like Sarah for sure at the top and she’s reading either a book or a magazine. 

I love the dedication to details here though – the images that look like Sam and Sarah (to the point where it clearly definitely looks like them whether it’s some photoshopped and then printed images) and the way they made the images look old and weathered in a natural way. It really did surprise me that right there in those images is visual proof that maybe Gideon Wilson does actually exist in the MCU. Which still begs the question I asked earlier.

“No super serum. No blonde hair or blue eyes. The only power that I have is that I believe we can do better“