“Guess all the muscles aren’t just for show, huh?” Bucky says with a chuckle and a soft smile, leaning carefully against one of the sturdier boxes in his new room. Which is still weird to think about. His new room, in his new home - well, Steve’s home, for now. Which seems... like both the best and worst idea, but Bucky’s hoping it will help him move past the weird crazy mix of emotions swirling all around his gut whenever Steve’s around. Exposure therapy, or something.
Beyond that, though.. this is where Bucky is meant to be. Even if they’re not - the way they used to be, Bucky knows he’s meant to be right by Steve’s side, watching his six, keeping him from the excessively dangerous situations, making sure he takes the time to be himself. To be Steve. That’s.. why Bucky’s here. That this is exactly where he’s meant to be, now that he’s a little more in control of himself. “So, house rules. We gotta lay it all out the way we used to.”
are you ready to meet your new gods, BUCKY BARNES? THE WINTER SOLDIER is known for CYBERNETIC ARM, EXPERT MARKSMANSHIP, & HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT and is usually seen hanging around THE AVENGERS (CASUALLY) genetically, HE is a HUMAN from the MARVEL universe, and is ONE HUNDRED AND TWO years old.
Let’s talk about this precious bean here~
I’m going to be using mostly MCU background for Bucky just for continuity with others BUT if anything here clashes with anyone else’s backstories please let me know i’m happy to adjust! I love fitting comic canon events in so please let me know if there’s a specific event or friendship you wanted to stick with! Personality wise he will be a little MCU, a little comics
Pre-Winter Soldier:
Bucky grew up in Brooklyn with his family - three baby sisters and good parents
He was good at school, sports, and generally got along with people easily
Bucky was soon drafted into the army for the Allied Forces, and after training and gaining the rank of Sergeant, he received his orders to ship out to England with the 107th
His regiment was captured during the battle at Azzano, taken by Hydra to work in a factory in the Austrian Alps. Bucky’s fate was a little different, Zola singled him out for a set of experiments, tests to break his will and bend it to their own
It wasn’t long until Steve - now Captain America - found him and broke him out along with the 107th and ended up forming the Howling Commandos, tasked with taking out Hydra.
In 1945, the mission to capture Zola went wrong and left Bucky to his death at the bottom of a chasm where he was picked up by the Soviet Union, working behind the scenes to try and find someone to use as a weapon.
Severely injured and barely salvageable, the what was left of Hydra took Bucky and continued their experiments, removing what was left of his arm and fitting him with a new cybernetic arm to replace the one he’d lost. From here he went through a series of painful brainwashing programs and experiments, rewriting his mind to create the Winter Soldier - a living weapon who existed to serve their cause
Winter Soldier:
The Winter Soldier was tasted with many unique missions due to his knowledge. His previous life allowed him to blend in, muscle memory and language of an American serving the cause well
At a currently unknown point in time he was also utilised by the Soviets, resulting in his involvement in training the candidates for the Black Widow program
(this is a little vague as I don’t want to step on a future Natasha’s toes!)
After a mission went wrong and The Winter Soldier went rogue, disappearing for a number of days, it was decided he would be placed in Cryostasis between missions, suspended until he was needed again at which point he would be revived and re-programmed with his next mission
On December 16, 1991, one of these missions was to assassinate Howard Stark and his wife in order to retrieve the Super Soldier Serum Howard had created.
Another mission was in Odessa, to kill a scientist in Natasha Romanoff’s care. Due to his repeated mindwipes he didn’t recognise her, and shot through her to kill his target
Further into the future he was brought out of stasis to kill Hydra’s biggest target at that point - Nick Fury, and then later tasked with killing Captain America
The fight with Steve triggered something in his mind and, despite further mindwipes to maintain his Winter Soldier programming, Steve was able to break through and help Bucky remember who he was
Okay we all know the events of TWS, and CW here
So where is he now?
After being brought out of his voluntary stasis in Wakanda and his mind being cleared of any trace remains of programming, Bucky spent some time in Wakanda just.. piecing together his memories, and trying to come to terms with the man he is now
He’s not quite the same Bucky he used to be - a lot of his swagger and show is gone, replaced by a quieter, humbler, often more confused man, but as time goes on and he heals emotionally, more of his old personality peeks through
He’s a little sassy, a lot protective, and after everything he’s just trying to make sense of where he belongs in the world
Oh darlin’, darlin’
What have I done?
Well I’ve been away from you too long
And all my days have turned to darkness
And I believe my heart has turned to stone
