I think I just realized something.
Another reason the āBucky would have to be drafted because he wouldnāt want to leave Steveā thing bothers me is because it assumes Steve has always been the most important person in Buckyās life.
I have a terrible confession to make, you guys: I kinda hate that. Iām not trying to write that. Sorry if you read it that way.
I see Bucky as Steveās most important person, but thatās because, after Sarah died, Bucky was all Steve had, and Steve says so. Erskine, Peggy, Nat, Sam, they all came along later, Bucky was the one Steve had when he had nothing.
Bucky never had nothing. Bucky had two parents. Bucky had financial stability. Bucky had his health. Bucky had three siblings. Bucky had Steve. Bucky had girls. Bucky had everything, and that extraordinary fortune put him in the position to be Steveās support when Steve needed it most. Romantic love is not the definition of existence: even presuming Stucky, Bucky need not be defined by Steve. Winter Soldier unfridges Bucky Barnes and separates him from his limited agency as Steveās sidekick, thatās why I like the damned arc in the first place. I loved that MCU made it even worse by making Bucky more recognizable as a peer when they aged him up, gave him a whole family instead of just a dead father, an infant sister and extended family who didnāt want to adopt him. For decades, though, that was the joke: nobody stays dead in comics except Uncle Ben and Bucky Barnes, that was the joke.
Project Winter Soldier destroyed everything that Bucky had, including himself. Steve is all that Bucky has NOW. Steve, in those last scenes, needs Bucky to know that he has Steve, because he knows that eventually Bucky is going to realize what was taken from him. He doesnāt need to be left alone to decide that means that he has nothing, and nothing to lose, because Bucky was once a golden boy full of love and promise, but now he is the worldās deadliest killer and a one man army, and thatās a dark, dark place to be.
Thatās how the epilogue scanned to me, thatās what I want out of Cap 3, and thatās the dark place Original Programming, my most popular solo fic, came from: Bucky giving Soldier control and the mission to burn down Hydra, then stepping back and collapsing internally, because after that mission is done, much like Hydra after Insight, he does not have any further use for himself.
Iām trying to work myself back into writing more Stucky, can you tell?
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