Another Sambucky story I would really want to write when my brain allows me to do it would be the one that really focuses on their loneliness. Because I feel like it’s something very deeply ingrained in both of these characters that’s surprisingly rarely explored in stories - especially when it comes to Sam.
I feel like Sam and Bucky have a natural talent for forming quick bonds with people. Even Bucky, despite... everything... seemed to have an easy time talking to Leah, Ayo, Sam’s family, or Sam himself after knowing them for a relatively short time. Sam, meanwhile, has an important connection with his community, became friends with Steve in an instant, and seemed to be acquainted with most Avengers after knowing them for a rather short time.
It looks like they want to and could potentially have a social life.
But at the same time... they’re so wildly independent and stubborn that they keep putting a barrier between themselves and other people. Bucky, by not responding to messages, going into hiding, or literally putting himself in a freezer. And Sam, by leaving for the military, then living far away from his family in DC, or by going on missions alone, instead of asking for help.
(Not to mention that Sam had dropped his job at the VA and life in DC without a second of regret, so I doubt he had a flourishing social life or a bunch of close friends who’d noticed that he’s gone.)
So, to sum up... Sam and Bucky both want to connect with people, however, these relations seem very surface level and short-lived - even if they’re genuine. Because they often prefer to be alone, but push it a bit too far at times. Or because they’re at a point in their life when they just can’t allow themselves to have friends, let alone a partner - Hydra, military, being a fugitive... or being dead.
And... finally. I’d love to explore how Bucky is the only person who’s truly able to break Sam’s barriers and emotional defenses (and vice versa). How no one else could get so close to them except for the other, because they crave the human contact and closeness, but nobody understood them well enough, until now, to make the relationship actually meaningful.
