āNever Talk To Strangers āif that's alright! I know it's a little older but it's still one of my favorites!
āWhy didnāt you answer me?ā Bucky asks.
āMy texts. My calls.ā Bucky pulls himself away from Steveās chest to look up at his face. āI sent you an embarrassinā amount of āem.ā
āCouldnāt check my phone.ā
Bucky frowns. āThatās irresponsible.ā
āCan we go back to hugging?ā Steve asks.
Bucky frowns harder. āI was worried about you!ā He half shoves Steveās shoulder, trying to get the point across that heās serious and angry.
For a moment Steve looks like he may argue with him, but then all at once Steveās face just crumples. āSteve?ā Bucky asks, tentative.
Steve shakes his head, pulling Bucky back in and gripping him, frankly, uncomfortably tight. āThank you,ā he says, voice cracking.
āI didnātāā Bucky starts.
āYou cared, Buck. Youāre the only person in the world who cared if I made it out okay.ā
Bucky exhales, slow. āSo you were there? At the battle?ā
Of course I am okay with talking about my older fics! Those were my glory days LOL. I feel like I was much more on the ball back then. (Please imagine me sitting next to a window in a big chair and taking a sip of whiskey while staring out the window with a terse expression.)
But yes! Never Talk to Strangers! AKA: Steve tries and fails to tell Bucky that he loves him about 950 times in the span of one fic. Thatās one of the things that I like about the fic: thereās not actually a ton of miscommunication. Thereās a level of unsureness (especially on Buckyās end) but itās more about emotional constipation than miscommunication.
But thatās what made writing moments like the one above, where Steve actually allows himself to be very open with his feelings, really rewarding.Ā
The fic was really inspired by the deleted scene from the Avengers where Steve does his sadness errands. Like, it takes a Lot to get out of a funk like that. (Honestly, in the MCU, Iām not sure Steve ever got over that. Just got better at hiding how poorly heās doing.) So I loved the idea of Bucky bringing some of Steve out of Steve, if that makes sense, his presence serving as a guide and as reassurance, helping Steve regain some confidence and footing, introducing him to other people who he can become friends with, and showing him what itās like to be a modern person.
In retrospect, there are things about the fic Iād change (thereās some filler in the second half of the fic that I am really unhappy with, looking back), but Iām really proud of this fic! It was my longest Stucky fic until very recently, and one I poured a lot of love into.Ā