One thing to know about me, and this blog by extension, is that I did not like Thunderbolts one bit. I think that movie treated all of its characters terribly, especially Bucky. His actions and behavior made absolutely no sense, especially after all the character development he got in Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
I also did not care for Secret Invasion! The premise was handled so terribly that I, along with many other fans, would rather pretend that show didn't happen.
So here is the result of those two feelings: a post-Thunderbolts fix-it fic that also rewrites Secret Invasion into a proper Avengers movie. It's story about Sam investigating Bucky's sudden odd behavior, only to get wrapped up in a much bigger, world-threatening plot. Because Sam deserves to have a movie all about his own team, and characters like Shang-Chi and Shuri deserve more of the spotlight. Note that this is not a Thunderbolts team friendly fic! Do mind the tags! Here it is:
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Ok i scrolled and eventually found a tagged post complaining that sam - captain america sam wilson who is the leader of the avengers - isn't really in the trailer but like... most of them are Like That
Welp, I think it’s officially time to tag my Skrull Bucky fic as not canon compliant with Doomsday. Because as much as I wrote it to try and account for future movies while also fixing what thunderbolts did to Bucky’s character, at this point I don’t want it to anymore lol! The universe of this series is going to end up diverging quite a bit from what the Russos are giving us because nothing about that trailer makes me excited.
The group therapy facilitator is eyeballing you? Like, this man's eye contact game was insane bruh. And it felt like it got somehow more intense when he learned it was my last day.
Sir had me thinking maybe he was trynna break a few conduct rules or something, my stars.
Makes me wonder can he read minds because before it started and I thought he was just one of the attendees, I took notice. Maybe he noticed my noticing.
I am back with an idea and a keyboard to get this cracking proper. Ahem, so it goes a little something like this...
SarahBucky meet cute while she's away doing an intensive group therapy and introducing the possibillity of psychiatric medication.
It's been an impossible few years for Sarah. It felt like everything that could go wrong did go wrong.
She lost Dad due to a boating mishap that took his life and took overtime at an intense scale to find the money to repair the boat to. Without the regular hauls of fresh fish, the business nearly tanked. Jodi set out everyday on a different fishing expedition from one of their neighbors, working not for pay, but a percentage of the catch for a day's work.
Sarah, Darlene and a few of the best chefs in the area used the kitchen for prepping the bartered seafood, using as minimal electricity as possible. They'd cook the food in their own kitchens after it all was transferred back in a fridge truck driven by Carlos' grandson, Teddy. Teddy would alsos deliver the finished food to the homes that needed a little extra help in the parish, the same generosity shown when the business was fully operational.
In turn, they received many volunteers in all areas to help Wilson Family Seafood get through it all. Chefs, sou chefs, deliveries, handymen, babysitters and caretakers for Sarah who was pregnant with their second and still on her feet well into her third trimester. The great ants and uncles would shoo her as best they could so she could rest and be an example for her own mother overworking herself through her grief.
But when it was all said and done, and the boat was back in the waters, sailed by both Sam and Gideon, the restaurant filled to the brim with the grand reopening in honor of Paul, another tragedy rocked the family, the whole neighborhood really, as Jodi fell ill.
Almost 16 months straight of 16hr days, and seven day work weeks in line with taking care of Sarah and giving time to her and his boys had taken a great toll on his body, but even worse was what it all had done to his heart. He'd functioned too long on uppers to get through the days and the small rest he'd been able to take for the few weeks after the restaurant reopened did nothing to undo the damage.
Day by day, they watched him get weaker and weaker, barely able to hold his newborn son who, despite theire best efforts, was born early and was still a little underweight, though able to be taken home. But everyday he could hold onto, Jodi did, resting the baby's head against his weak beating heart. One day, the baby's cries against Jodi's chest had told them his heart beat no more, the soothing effect gone, taken by a stroke as he'd napped on the couch, arms still cradling his baby boy.
Another devastating loss left poor Sarah and the whole Wilson family empty. They'd all spent so much time trying to rerbuild what was lost with Paul's tragic death and once some semblance of their life had been restored, a large reason why was snatched away. But sadly, life wasn't yet done robbing Sarah of more loved ones and leaving in their place unimaginable grief.
In short order, Darlene was gone, too. An inoperable brain tumor that she'd learned about a week before losing Paul is what took her and none of the kids knew. There'd been a dinner set up weeks prior that was supposed to the weekend that followed Paul's death. He knew and together they planned on breaking the news to the famiy all at once, but with his loss, Darlene buttoned up, swallowed her grief and her physical pain to help bring back her love if only in name with the boat.
Her determination burned through her just like Jodi's had done to him, all the family unaware until there was nothing they could do but make them comfortable as they themselves were anything but.
The next years passed seemingly on autopilot, only broken with joy of her boys, her Cass and AJ lighting up her loss darkened world. Her childhood home was again inhabited by the siblings three, Sarah taking their parents' room, Gideon getting his old room and the boys sharing Sam's old room. Sam and Riley had taken the attid and turned it into a loft for them, sound proofing rugs doing wonders to quiet Riley's march-like gait. There was an unspoken fear that latched onto all of them that death still was not finished with them and they deigned to spend as much time together, watching for signs of illness, anxiety ever present in the home.
---
So as you read, Sarah was going the fuck through it, right? For years, she stacked losses like poker chips in a game she never wanted to gamble in, the risks too great, the losses too debilitating. But life honestly offered no choice in the matter. And honestly, I'm a little drained because this legit had me crying. I hate when I write an intro on the fly and don't get to what I meant to when I picked up this here keyboard.
lol Pray fer me, y'all, fer I have more, as usual.
It's 2026 and St**ky shippers are still coming into Sam's tags to post content about that ship. It's beyond time to give this behavior a rest. You don't need to talk about Sam or any ship with him and either of them. Please just continue to ship St**ky, and leave Sam out of it. All of those relationships are fanon. None of them are more "real" than the other. No Sam fan wants to read about how you think Sam's relationships with them, even just friendships, is "lesser" in some way. These relationships just happened at different points. We certainly don't want to read about how Steve and Bucky see Sam as a "replacement," and how limited you write Sam in your headcanons. He's a "therapist" because of a support group from years ago, but Steve isn't seen as one for running a support group. Even the so-called Sam "fans," and the so-called multishippers do this.
Also, there are some of those shippers who come into his tags to vilify Sam in one way or another. I remember those "what if Sam was secretly Hydra" posts back when he first appeared. He in no way "forced" a meeting with Steve. Steve is the one who started the relationship between them. He has not been ableist, a bully, or abusive to Buck at all. Also, Sam and Bucky have a relationship outside of Steve. Yes, he's their mutual friend, but they formed a relationship beyond that. It's weird seeing claims they are only co-workers, they have only know each other a few months, or have only being friends a few months. None of that is true.
Anyways, you aren't "oppressed" for shipping St**ky, and some of you need to take your own advice and stay in your own tags/use anti tags and censor the names/ships on Twitter. Go enjoy content for that ship, and leave Sam alone.
Let me add that Sam fans do not care how codependent you want/wish sticky to be. They weren't, contrary to what some folks believe, and that certainly wasn't the case when it came to their "modern day" interactions. We also do not care about the tired "Sam should have stayed Falcon" takes. A title change is hardly a new concept, so it's beyond time to move on from this discussion.
Another thing, why do some sticky shippers feel the need to consume fanon content for Sam's ships with Steve or Bucky? No Sam fan or anyone who likes the ships want to hear backhanded compliments on fanworks, or how you hate the ships, but you're going to read fics or watch fanvids for them. You could just not bother. All of this is fanon and supposed to be for fun.
Also, Disney/Marvel do not care about some slash ship. The narrative that they were "scared" of some fanon slash ship is ridiculous. This weird obsessive behavior over your personal fanon doesn't belong in Sam's tags.
“Years ago a friend of mine had a dream about a strange invention; a staircase you could descend deep underground, in which you heard recordings of all the things anyone had ever said about you, both good and bad. The catch was, you had to pass through all the worst things people had said before you could get to the highest compliments at the very bottom. There is no way I would ever make it more than two and a half steps down such a staircase, but I understand its terrible logic: if we want the rewards of being loved we have to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known.”
— I Know What You Think of Me, Tim Kreider for the New York Times
after YEARS of seeing this quote online and finding it to be the most deeply and resoundingly profound writing i finally found the source article and absolutely nothing could prepare me for this opening paragraph
