panic! at the social events

Demon Dancing

Good Omens scenes as vines Part 2 (Part 1)

Chapters: 18/18 Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Marvel Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers Characters: Steve Rogers, James “Bucky” Barnes, Sharon Carter (Marvel), Natasha Romanov (Marvel) Additional Tags: Post-Movie: Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Canon Divergence - Post-Movie: Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Post-Movie: The Avengers (2012), Canon Divergence - Post-Movie: The Avengers (2012), Steve Rogers Feels, Steve Rogers and the 21st Century, Made Up Science, Bucky Barnes Doesn’t Remember Steve Rogers, A bit Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Angst, POV Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers trying to find his place in this new world, But he just wants his Bucky, Moral Dilemmas, Steve’s questionable decisions

Summary:

Steve Rogers was found in the ice. Now he’s navigating the 21st century, being back in Brooklyn, being part of the Avengers, trying to find his place in this strange new world. Then one day, in his local bodega, everything gets a whole lot stranger.

—–

“Is that everything?”

The voice hits his ears. Steve’s eyes snap up in shock. And then the world stops turning.

Bucky. Bucky is there. Bucky is there, in front of him, on the other side of the counter, looking at him. Bucky—his best friend, who fell from that train, who died right in front of him—is standing there, looking at him.

Chapter 18 

Snippet:

That’s not to say there haven’t been hard times. Things they’ve had to work through together. Like when James told him he could call him Bucky if he wanted to. Because he wanted things to be easier for Steve, because Steve still slipped up a couple of times. Only, as much as Steve loved and adored him for that, it didn’t feel right. He’d tried so hard to start to think of him as James for a long time before that, and as a way to honour the man he is now. And in some ways it helps. They’re the same person to Steve—they always will be—but Bucky is his past self, and James is who he is now. They’re both wonderful versions of the same man and Steve loves them both. But it helps to move forward, to call James by the name he chooses to use. He doesn’t slip up anymore.

But he does still make mistakes. Like the first time he was so relaxed and happy, snuggled up on the sofa with James’ hand running through his hair, and just started talking about the past without thought—“hey, remember when we…”—and then had to stop, because he’d let himself forget for just a moment that of course James didn’t remember.

But James had just shook his head as Steve frantically apologised, calmed him down and told him to keep going. To tell him about whatever memory it was that he’d thought of. That he wanted to hear about it. Steve hadn’t thought he could have loved him any more, but somehow, in that moment, he loved him so fiercely he thought his heart could give out.

He doesn’t reminisce a lot, but the fact that he can, that he knows James is okay with it, is everything. It makes him feel safe to be who he is, to be all of him. And it gives them the best of both worlds, the best they can do with their situation.

James gets to be free of the past, of the memories that could cripple him, and Steve gets to tell him about it in a safe way, to still share that part of himself, instead of having to bottle it away. It works for them.

♥♥♥

Wonder Wheel at Coney Island, where Steve told Bucky about losing his hot dogs. ♥♥♥

Poster’s note: