Filtering Down Ao3 Results From 14000 To 6 Based On A Single Tag Is Foul. Im Sorry None Of You Are As

fanfic writing culture isn’t “oh dang! I wanted to write about this prompt with this character but someone else already wrote it, so now I can’t”.

fanfic writing culture is always “two cakes is better than one. the more the merrier. there can ever be enough fics of this character with this prompt!”

What isn't there to love about the idea of MCU Bucky becoming Captain America?

It's the right thing to do, isn't it? He was the one who watched him fall. (He tried to catch him but he only caught his tags. The bitter cold tore him away in the blink of an eye, with a scream that Bucky hears when he tries to sleep.) Steve was the best of them both, and if he thought this cause was one to die for, then Bucky would finish it. He's followed him this far, hasn't he? Long enough for the bruises Zola gave him to fade, but not enough that hearing his voice in that train wouldn't make him freeze. (What if he finds him? What if he go back there, strapped down, poked and prodded and injected with God knows what -)

But besides that?

There's nothing.

He's known Steve almost his entire life. He barely remembers a time where there wasn't Steve. He once had him to himself, only he saw the goodness in him, he loved him first, but now he shared it with the world. Because of some holy serum; but the bastardized version of the same thing ran in his own veins, and Bucky knew deep down that he would never be Steve. He could try, but he could never be him to the world.

So why wouldn't he crash that plane?

He never wanted to be a weapon. But he wakes up, and it's asked of him again. Be a soldier. Be an officer. Be Captain America. His gun was an extension of himself, the shield of Steve, and he would never, ever drop either of them. (Not again. He dreamt of it, that scream still scratched into his brain no matter how much time had actually passed, seventy years or seven days.)

And then, one day, beyond his wildest dreams, he'd see him again. But this? This hollow ghost? This isn't the Steve he knows and loves. But he slips from his fingers again,

And on that helicarrier, the glass cracks beneath his feet, bullet wounds and serrated skin and black bruises, but he still has it in him - he catches him. Metal fingers that were foreign to him, but still, Steve.

Never again. Never without him.

the russos have committed so many sins but i might just forgive them if they have bucky in this wig for doomsday

chapter 5/8 now available on AO3 <3

→ marvel (mcu/comic), post-avengers 2012

→ bucky x steve, bucky x peggy

→ flawed super soldier serum, dark!steve rogers, mcu compliant with comic influences

→ gore, canon-typical violence, bucky makes friends in the 21st century

──────────────────

He eventually found himself in front of his own memorial wall. An entire wall, painted with collaged portraits of himself, even displaying a few pictures and a lit-up video, dedicated just to him. Best friends from childhood, Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers were inseparable on both schoolyard and battlefield - excelled as an athlete and in the classroom - became an officer straight out of Basic - isolation, deprivation, torture - Captain America’s best friend - Peggy Carter’s lost love - was given a version of the serum due to experimentation - kept his super soldier abilities a secret until the final battle, to take down the Red Skull once and for all - died tragically alongside his best friend as they saved New York City from Hydra’s bombs.

He stayed in front of that wall even longer to watch all the videos on loop. He and the Howlies from the reels that were recorded right after Azzano, displaying Captain America’s heroism before they went right back out to fight Hydra; an exhibition of his sharpshooting skills; a video of he and Steve, where Steve wasn't smiling but he was looking at him while he was awkwardly laughing, where he looked like himself -

“You alright, man?”

Bucky glanced to the side to find a man looking at him. His shoulders tightened when he realized he was being addressed - he was supposed to be dead, why did he come here -

“Hey - I'm sorry. You got that thousand yard stare. I counsel veterans down at the VA. I look at a face like that every day, I-I just -”

“It's okay,” he interrupted, speaking softly so his voice didn't sound like one in any recordings.

The man looked back up at the gigantic portrait looming in front of them. It was Bucky in the iconic blue coat, gun in hand as he stood in the snow. The corner of his mouth threatened to turn up, Bucky noticed the twitch, but the man pursed his lips to force it back down. “You bear a mighty resemblance. Must be related or something, right?”

thinking about the moment bucky says “let’s hear it for captain america!” and he looks so damn proud and then his face drops so damn fast, because fuck, he doesn’t get to be selfish anymore. doesn’t get to keep steve’s irrevocable goodness all to himself. and he knew this day would come, but he’s furious because it took a goddamn serum for someone to give a shit enough to look. and he wants to burn the world down, because they don’t deserve steve even if they need him, but bucky’s goddamn selfish, because he’s known. he’s known just what steve rogers could do since the moment he fell for the back of his head at 7 years old.

"I know chatgpt is bad but you just don't really have any choice" you literally do. Don't use it. Have some moral backbone.

kudos to jorge for continually making the release of the ithaca saga an immersive experience by going to ithaca itself, missing the ferry, getting caught in a storm, and having the livestream delayed. can’t wait to see everyone in ten years for the final album!

chapter 2/8 now available on AO3

→ marvel (mcu/comic), captain america: the first avenger

→ bucky x steve, bucky x peggy

→ flawed super soldier serum, dark!steve rogers, mcu compliant with comic influences

→ gore, faked relationship, canon-typical violence

──────────────────

He aimed and fired at the soldiers as he ducked behind the shelves at the side of the room, unfortunately cornered but thankful for a shield regardless. He was more than able to hold his own, and he was sure of that -

His fucking gun jammed.

“Stop him!”

He knew that voice.

The fear settled over him like a blanket. Every single worry he had for this mission, it layered in his head as Zola’s voice pinged around.

You'll fail your mission.

Zola will have you again - he'll - the new fist of Hydra -

He gasped, his breath shuddering in his lungs.

Steve will get out alive, no one else can stop him but you - ain't that a fucking tragedy -

Would he save you from Zola twice?

chapter 3/8 now available on AO3 <3

→ marvel (mcu/comic), avengers (2012)

→ bucky x steve

→ flawed super soldier serum, dark!steve rogers, mcu compliant with comic influences

→ canon-typical violence

──────────────────

Bucky’s mind swelled with panic at the implication - Peggy, Monty - people he loved were dead all at once - but he had to take it in stride. He had to. There was no purpose to dwell on it. If he thought about it all too hard, he wouldn't be able to get through it.

What happened, happened.

He'd process it later. He had to accept it.

“Captain Rogers woke up about an hour and a half ago.” Agent Barton shared. If he noticed Bucky's barely buried alarm, he didn't say. “Director Fury handled him. He broke out and ran into Times Square.”

“Sounds like him,” he said, monotone.

“He's in a conference room. Fury's asked me to bring you once you're ready, so he can speak to you both.”

That made him come to mostly full attention. “He's not detained?”

Clint's head cocked to the side. “Neither of you are detained, Sergeant.”

Bucky opened his mouth to respond, but no words came out. They didn't know? How could they not know?

"i don't comment on ao3 because i don't wanna be annoying or weird" skill issue + you greatly underestimate the power dynamic here, writing multi paragraph comments is like feeding a bunch of deeply insane and possibly starved ducks at the park and watch them go completely mad over having received a piece of bread