Chapters: 8/? Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov Characters: Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Thor (Marvel)
Additional Tags: Depression, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Steve Rogers and the 21st Century, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Teacher Bucky Barnes, Touch-Starved, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Bucky Barnes is Good With Kids, Sam Wilson is a Saint (Marvel), Civil War Doesn't Really Happen, Slow Burn, Sad Steve Rogers, Depressed Steve Rogers, POV Multiple, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Pre-Movie: The Avengers (2012), Post-Movie: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Catholic Steve Rogers, Catholic Guilt, Internalized Homophobia, POV Outsider
Summary:
It’s been 3 days, it’s been 3 months, it’s been 3 YEARS since Steve was rescued from the Arctic… so why does it still feel like he’s drowning. Steve put that plane in the water hoping it would be the end. And yet here he was, alive, in the future, alone.
Maybe he was cursed. Maybe Stark and Erskine made a deal with the devil to create him, and instead of getting that ugly red skull, he was just cursed with immortality— cursed to live on even as everyone he ever knew and ever loved grew old and died.
He wasn’t sure which was worse.
At least now Schmidt was at peace, he got to live and die like a man. Steve wished he could say the same for himself.
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Or, a long fic detailing Steve's attempt at life in the 21st century and Bucky’s journey to recovery after Hydra. Steve struggles to find happiness without Bucky, Bucky struggles to find himself without the Winter Soldier. Sam and Natasha are the best friends/therapist a super soldier could ever ask for, Tony is predictably oblivious and somehow Bucky comes out of it all way more well-adjusted than Steve.
Chapter 8: Rumlow
Snippet:
The captain was striding confidently through the chaos his vibranium shield raised to protect himself from the onslaught of bullets. They pinged harmlessly off the impenetrable metal, bouncing around the room dangerously. Rumlow could only watch in awe as the super soldier ripped through grown men like they were paper dolls.
His punches were precise and deadly, snapping the bones of his enemies without much effort.
It was almost beautiful to watch, the way he could neutralize a man with a single strike, the way he could shake off hits that would take a normal man weeks to fully recover. He would never wish it for himself, but watching the legendary serum in action never failed to impress him.
Eventually, the gunfire ceased. Rogers stood alone in his stealth suit, drenched in the blood of human traffickers, a far cry from the hero America worshiped. This wasn’t the Captain America from his high school history books. This was something else entirely.
Rumlow was abruptly reminded of another super soldier who could clear rooms with ease and often found himself covered in the blood of his enemies. A soldier whose presence struck fear into any sensible man, even those with allegiance to Hydra.
♥♥♥
