I do not own Captain America anything.

Or a Bucky. It's probably for the best.

Pieces of a Broken Puzzle

Moms and Monkeys

Mrs. Rogers and my mom had birthdays the same month.

One year, Steve and I took them to a movie.

We bought sodas and popcorns.

They told us we should save our money and not waste it.

But they dressed up in their best Sunday dresses and hats.

And let us take them to see 'The Wizard of Oz'.

My mom worried over how Dorothy was going to keep the ruby red slippers from getting scuffed.

Steve's mom argued that the Wizard needed a good, swift brooming to stop his dishonesty.

My mom suggested a switch, seeing as how it had worked so well on me when I was seven.

They seemed to enjoy it though.

They kissed our cheeks and used their lace hankerchefs to wipe off the lipstick.

They both said it was their favorite birthday.

There was a lot of stuff Bucky Barnes had missed during his imprisonment as HYDRA's number one assassin.

Short, murderous excursions into society's roiling hodgepodge of external stimulus.

Stimulus only vaguely processed by the Winter Soldier.

The evolving sights. Sounds. Smells.

The Winter Soldier was not interested or curious of any of these things.

He was only programmed to complete the current mission.

Much of the world and oddities therein were ignored as unimportant.

When he broke through the conditioning and left Steve unconscious on the muddy banks of the Potomac, the man who didn't know himself was fully assaulted with new and unfamiliar sights and sounds.

Only slightly less than Steve awakening from a seventy year deep freeze.

The world was faster, louder.

More consumed with itself than ever before.

So many things he heard in the air around him that he didn't understand.

So many things he didn't know.

". . . WI-FI signal sucks too much to access Spotify . . ."

" And I said, 'If you don't like my kitty gifs, we can't even talk . . ."

". . . nuke that chimichanga and let's go!"

So many things that didn't make sense.

There were some comforting, familiar naunces.

"Hey, Lou, meet me for a beer?"

". . . want the new Ford . . ."

"I told her not call her flying monkeys, man . . ."

Flying monkeys.

I understood that reference.

So that means they think she's a . . . oh.

So all in all, it was a learning process.

Once the little nugget got plopped into my lap, I just had to.

For funsies.

Plus, you know, mom stuff.

And, yes, direct from 'The Avengers'. Because, connections. And reasons.

Anyway, thanks to brigid1318, brynerose, and cairistone7 for reviewing!