Steve Rogers is just your normal teenage boy. He goes to school and hangs out with his best friends. He has a dream, just as well as everyone else, though having art fanatics have bidding wars over his pieces seems pretty far away. He doesn’t really know how to go about following his dream. Not yet. He’s pretty satisfied pushing through the ends of his school career, being careless with his best friends and dreaming about one day. Until he meets Bucky.

Bucky Barnes doesn’t know the definition of “one day.” For him, it is now. He only knows one way for everything and that is hard work and perseverance to make himself better. I.E. Training, training, training, competing, training, training, training. Oh, andfinding time somewhere in there to sleep, eat, and attend school. Bucky is a gymnast. Every day for the last twelve years (give ortake a couple sick days and vacations), he has spent upwards of four hours in the gym, training. Blood, sweat, tears, and chalk are definitely in his vocabulary, while quitting is not. Giving up is not an option. To him, every day of his life is leading him to compete in the 2012 London Olympics Gymnastics. He won’t stop until he gets the gold medal.

Eighteen year old Steve Rogers wishes nothing more than to be a professional trapeze artist. He gets his chance when The Barton Circus, one of the most popular circuses in Northern America, decides to hire him. There he meets a sassy red-head, an asshole that thinks he is more important than he really is, a giant Viking with a gentle elephant and a lion tamer, who changes his life forever.

Clint takes Bucky to a trapeze class and he gets addicted. It’s part of their weekly nights out as “Brainwashing Buddies” and gives Bucky something that’s entirely his own. Takes place after the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Sam finally tells Steve about his relationship with Riley and their evening is much more emotional than either had originally bargained for.

Witnessing Rhodey’s fall leads to a sleepless night for Sam Wilson, dredging up old grief and unpleasant memories. Luckily, Steve is a good friend and well practised in dealing with ghosts in the nighttime.

Sam’s had a rough week, so Bucky gives him a Barnes-certified therapy session.

(Now with added epilogue, because fluff.)

Part 2 of Missing Pieces series

Sam never told him - because how could he? - but every time he looked into Steve Roger’s clear blue eyes, he saw two things, and neither of them were Steve.

First, he saw the endless skies of Iraq, stretching like an impossibly wide blanket over the landscape, the people, over Sam.

Second, he saw a man who had lost a part of himself somewhere along the line of war. In short, Sam saw himself.

—

Steve wasn’t the only one who lost his best friend.

It all starts because Bucky can’t be around Steve for any substantial length of time.

“Home feels…like fingertips on your skin after a mean right hand hook that leaves you dizzy. It feels warm and solid, lighter than it should be; bruised and battered but…well it feels like the pages of your favorite book when you trace the words and memorize them even though you know what’s going to happen next. It’s like someone touching your spine and making your skin itch but in a good way so you start walking around your undershirt in hopes that it’ll happen again.”

In which Steve becomes a bit jealous that he isn’t the one helping Buck recover.

The Soldier does not want to share Steve with anybody.

He doesn’t want to share Steve with the Falcon who has kind eyes and speaks gentle words and treats the Soldier like a person even though he is not a person. He doesn’t want to share Steve with the Widow who he both knows and does not know, both trusts and does not trust.

The Soldier doesn’t want to share Steve with Bucky fucking Barnes.

It’s six in the morning, and Steve is heading out on a run when he nearly trips over a bouquet of sunflowers on the front steps of his brownstone.

For a second paranoia takes over, and he kicks the flowers a little, waiting for them to explode. They don’t. They also came with a card, which he picks up. The front of the card has a tasteful picture of the Brooklyn bridge at sunset. It’s very nice and sedate, like the kind of card you would buy to give to your boss. On the inside someone has written a short message in big, shaky block letters.

I AM SORRY FOR SHOOTING YOU.

Steve sits down hard on the steps.

He’s not the Asset. He’s not the Winter Soldier. But neither is he Bucky Barnes. With the help of Steve, Sam and the Avengers, James takes the long, slow road to recovery. Nothing is as easy as either of them thought it would be.

When Bucky’s memory starts returning, Steve is advised to keep his distance in order to protect Bucky from people who might think Steve’s judgement is compromised if they knew how they used to be. Natasha picks up the slack in helping Bucky adjust, which Steve both appreciates and tortures himself over. Bucky is confused and worried, but doesn’t know how to get through to Steve. Thankfully, one can always rely on Tony Stark to put his foot in his mouth in ways that eventually turn out for the best.Or, the one where Steve hurts himself unnecessarily to protect Bucky from shadowy government types, gets super jealous of Natasha, Clint plays a deeply grumpy Cupid, and Bucky eventually puts an end to all this tomfoolery by bludgeoning all opposition with the brute force of his personality.

“You should be careful of that one,” Mr. Hendrickson says, with a nod to Bucky outside the window. “It ain’t right. Looking at you all the time as he does. The way he should be looking at girls.”Steve laughs, because damn, but what a ridiculous idea.Or, five times Steve caught Bucky looking at him, and the one time he looked first.

He’s not the Asset. He’s not the Winter Soldier. But neither is he Bucky Barnes. With the help of Steve, Sam and the Avengers, James takes the long, slow road to recovery. Nothing is as easy as either of them thought it would be.

In 1944, Bucky Barnes goes for a run with Alan Turing.In 2016, Steve Rogers finally tells him he was incredibly jealous of their flirtation.(What flirtation? says Bucky.)Set while Steve, Bucky, and Sam help Tony Stark train for an actual Iron Man.