A/N:

Trigger warning for homophobia

That's all, enjoy!

—

Chapter 5:

Hope for Humanity:

It started small, with Bucky noticing little things here and there.

He saw a man dressed up in woman's clothing. He brushed it off since he was in a bad part of town and assumed that the man was crazy.

Next, he saw two men at the diner sitting very close to each other. He ignored that too. Maybe they were just close friends.

He was at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden again and noticed two woman walking hand in hand. One then gave the other a kiss on the cheek. So what? Bucky knew that the French gave each other kisses on the cheek to say hello, so maybe one of them was French.

Bucky tried to ignore these little instances as much as he could, but it seemed like the more he tried to ignore them, the more he noticed them.

He was on one of his morning runs when he briefly glanced into an alley to see two men kissing. He quickly walked away. Bucky knew that being queer was a secret that one kept close to their chest, so he pretended he didn't see it.

He was at the pet store to stock up on more dog food when he noticed that there were several rainbow toys out. He picked one up, not really giving it a second thought.

When he was checking out, the cashier asked him,

"Celebrating Pride Month?"

Bucky had no idea what "Pride Month" was, but just nodded his head in agreement.

Little did Bucky know, that was only the beginning.

—

It was late, later than Bucky usually stayed up. But tonight was a Bad Night. Every time he closed his eyes, flashbacks would flash before them. The people he killed, the war, Thanos. Bucky saw them all.

He decided to give up on sleep and go on a walk to clear his head. Angel was still groggy as he clipped her vest and leash on.

The brisk night air felt good on Bucky's face. He went down his usually route for his morning walks when he heard shouting from nearby. Ignoring the voices in his head to pass by it, he found himself running towards the shouting.

By the time he got there, Spiderman was finishing webbing up the criminals. Bucky stood in the shadows and watched. He still didn't know much about Spiderman's (Peter was his name, right?) powers, and Sam was still convinced that the webbing was coming out of him.

"Hey, you know that those tights make you look like a queer!" One criminal shouted.

"Yeah, gonna go home to your boyfriend Spidey?" The other said.

"Well, for starters, I'm bi, so nothing I can do about that!" Spiderman replied, shooting a web up to another building, "Have fun waiting for the cops!"

He gave a little wave as he swung away. Bucky chased him. Why the fuck would Spiderman out himself? Now the criminals knew, anyone who was nearby knew, Bucky knew. He had heard stories of Spiderman being reckless before (yeah, he watched the news. They had many things to say about Spiderman), but this was taking it to a whole new level.

Bucky's breathing increased as he chased down Spiderman. He had to save him… he had to… he had to…

Bucky finally found Spiderman stopping what looked like a mugging a few blocks down. Before he could swing away, Bucky pulled him into an adjacent alley. Spiderman shot some webbing at him, glueing his other arm to the brick wall, but Bucky didn't let go of his grip.

"Hey, Spidey, I'm just trying to help you!" Bucky said.

"Yeah, by kidnapping me?" Spiderman shot back.

"No, I'm saving you!" Bucky replied.

"From what?"

"From those criminals dumbass."

"I can handle myself, I'm a big kid. I mean, I'm not a kid, I'm a man, definitely a man…" Spidely rambled on some more before Bucky broke free from the webs. He went to say something, but the kid once again spoke up.

"Whoa, you're the dude with the metal arm! I'm so sorry Mr. Barnes, sir, I didn't recognize you, I thought you cut your hair, I am so sorry sir—"

"Hey, kid, it's fine. Don't worry about me. You need to be worrying about yourself right now," Bucky said, releasing his grip on Spidey.

"Is there a new supervillain that I need to fight? Because I told my aunt, I mean, not my aunt, I don't have an aunt. I told her that I'd be home in an hour, so, like, I don't really have time for this," Spidey replied.

"What no! No, I'm talking about what you told those other criminals!"

"What criminals?"

"The ones a few blocks down."

"You mean those guys? Oh, yeah, they were nothing, totally handled it myself."

"No!" Bucky shouted. He looked around before whispering, "No, I mean that you told them that you were queer."

"Well, of course I did! No one gets to insult my sexuality like that! Also, sir, lots of people don't like the word 'queer' so maybe don't say it."

Bucky was taken aback, "But why would you tell them that? You just painted a huge target on your back."

Spidey was silent for a bit.

"Ooooohhhhhh," he said finally, "I'm guessing no one told you yet."

"Told me what?" Bucky asked.

"Being gay is totally fine now. Being LGBTQ+ is legal now. Even same-sex marriage. I know back in the 40's this stuff wasn't ok, I just though that Captain Rodgers would have told you seeing that he came out a few years ago," Spidey said calmly.

There were several things in that sentence that Bucky's brain needed to process. Being gay was fine now? Same-sex marriage was legal? And Steve didn't tell him? And wait—

"Steve did what?" Bucky whispered, taking a few steps back. Steve wouldn't do that. Steve was straight, he wasn't sick like Bucky. The serum cured him of all of his illnesses.

"Yeah, he came out as bisexual. You didn't know?"

Bucky shook his head, "I didn't."

"I thought you would have known by now," Spidey said.

"But I though that the serum cured all of Steve's illnesses," Bucky whispered. Spiderman gasped and Bucky immediately knew that he said the wrong thing.

"Ok, sir, Mr. Barnes, being gay isn't an illness. Please don't say that," Spidey said with a serious tone.

"It's not?"

"No, Mr. Barnes, it's not."

Bucky stared at Spiderman for a minute, before deciding that he wasn't messing with him. He couldn't believe the things Spidey was saying.

"You mean I'm not sick," he found himself saying, before slapping his hand over his mouth. Why the fuck would he say that? Why would he tell Spidey that he was queer? No, that was a Bad Term now. So what was Bucky if not sick, nor queer?

Spidey looked at him in shock, "You mean you're…?"

Against his better judgment, Bucky found himself nodding. Spidey's mask shifted and Bucky could see that he was smiling.

"Well, Mr. Barnes, as a part of gen z, I will take it upon myself to educate you in the ways of the 21st century," he said.

"You would do that?" Bucky asked. What Spidey was offering was big. While he knew some things about the 21st century, like how to handle technology, but apparently there was still stuff he didn't know. He wasn't sure why Spidey was being so nice to him after he beat him up in the airport in Germany.

"Yes, sir," Spidey said, "Hand me your phone."

Bucky hesitantly handed over his phone to Spidey. He really didn't want anyone messing with his stuff, especially since he just figured out how to use it properly. Spidey made a face at the fact that he was using a flip phone. After pushing a few buttons, he handed Bucky's phone back to him.

"I put my number in your phone. My curfew ends soon, but give me a text tomorrow so we can set up a time and place for your education," Spidey said.

Bucky fiddled with the phone in his hands, double checking that Spidey had put his number in. He noticed that he put his contact as Peter Parker (Spiderman). So Peter was his name then. Bucky closed his phone.

"Sure," he said.

"Sounds like a plan then!" Peter said and swung away. Bucky smiled down at the phone in his hands.

"Take that doc. I now have three phone numbers in my phone," he thought.

He went back to his apartment and decided to sleep on the couch tonight instead of his bed. He found that when he slept on the couch, he had fewer nightmares. And since tonight was a Bad Night, he would need that comfort. After placing his weighted blanket and pillow onto the couch, he drifted off to sleep.

—

Bucky was waiting for Peter at his diner. He wasn't sure whether or not Peter would arrive as Spiderman. The more he thought about it, Spiderman often was seen around Queens, they loved their local hero. So why was he in Brooklyn last night?

The little bell above the diner's front door rang and Bucky looked up to see Peter— not Spiderman— enter. He waved Peter over.

Peter sat down and placed his bag on the floor.

"Hello, Mr. Barnes," he said, cheerfully.

"Hey kid," Bucky replied.

"So today I thought we'd go over LGBTQ+ things, since that's what brought us here," Peter said, "So, what do you want to know?"

What did Bucky want to know? He wanted to know everything.

"What does LGBTQ+ stand for?" he asked.

"Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer. The plus stands for more," Peter said rapidly. Bucky didn't know what half of those words meant.

"I thought queer was bad," he asked.

"Some people don't like it, others do, so it's a matter of preference."

"Ok, ok," Bucky paused, "So what do the other words mean?"

Peter sighed, "Well, I guess we had to start somewhere. Lesbian is when a woman loves another woman, gay is when a man loves another man, bisexual is when a person loves both, trans is— well, trans is complicated, but it's short for transgender. It's when someone who is one gender is actually the other. You know what queer means. There are other LGBTQ+ identifies too."

Bucky soaked in all the information Peter gave him, "And all that's ok now?"

Peter nodded, "Yeah, it took a while, but we got there eventually. Maybe there's hope for humanity after all."

"I'm pretty sure humanity was doomed from the start kid," Bucky said.

"Honestly Mr. Barnes, mood," Peter said. Bucky blinked.

"Mood?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah, it's just like, when you relate to something, you say 'mood," Peter answered. Bucky nodded.

"Ok, then. Mood."

Peter laughed, "Well, it's a start Mr. Barnes. We'll get you updated to the 21st century soon."

"Sure kid."

The waitress came over and handed set down the two the hot chocolates Bucky ordered. Hot chocolate was a tradition back when Bucky and Steve lived together, when one of them had a bad day and needed to vent. Mostly it was Steve who did it, he couldn't stop getting into fights at school, but Bucky knew that there was no way he could stop Steve from doing it. So he supported him in any way that he could. And so, hot chocolate became something of a tradition for them.

Peter accepted the hot chocolate after Bucky told him that he didn't need to repay him.

Bucky sat silent for a while, just taking sips of his hot chocolate while Peter rambled on about something that happened at school.

Fuck, there was so much in this kid that reminded him of Steve. He told himself that, after Angel, he wouldn't be taking in any more strays, no more getting attached to stuff. But Peter was slowly worming his way into Bucky's heart, and Bucky couldn't do much to stop him. He must have thing for saving people in alley's. First Steve, the Angel, and now Peter.

Bucky made a mental note to try and avoid anymore alleyways.

"Uh, hey, Mr. Barnes, hey," Peter said, waving his hand in front of Bucky's face.

"Sorry, kid, lost you for a second," Bucky replied.

"Oh that's ok. I asked if there was anything else you wanted to know," Peter said.

Bucky thought for a moment. There was still so much else he needed to know, he wanted to know. The history, the people, the when and why this occurred. But then his mind wandered back to the pet store and Pride Month.

"What is Pride Month?" he asked finally.

"Pride Month is when we celebrate pride all of June. Which is this month, by the way," Peter replied, "Oh, yeah, pride is just the name we give to acceptance of LGBTQ+."

"An entire month?" Bucky asked, amazed. He knew that people have taken great strides since the 40s, evident by what Peter was telling him, but an entire month to celebrate pride, acceptance of something, that in Bucky's day, was considered a sin. That, yesterday, Bucky still thought was a sin.

"Yeah! My friends and I are going to a pride parade next week in Queens!" Peter exclaimed, and then said in a quieter voice, "For the start of the parade, I'm going as Spiderman. Just so people know that Spiderman supports them, ya know?"

Bucky nodded. A whole month, and now a parade? If only Steve were still here, he would love this. Then Bucky remembered what Peter said last night. Steve had, what was it, came out? Was that how someone told another if they were gay? And Steve, according to Peter, was bisexual, meaning that he loved man and women. Could that mean…?

"So when exactly is this happening?" Bucky asked.

"Next Wednesday in Jackson Heights, Queens," Peter said.

Bucky put that date in his mental calendar, "Ok, so, what do you do at a pride parade?"

"Well, you can dress up in pride colors and you just hang out with other people in the LGBTQ+ community."

"But it's a parade. Do people march?"

"Some march, but not all. It can get pretty wild though."

Bucky nodded and finished up his hot chocolate, "Thanks kid."

"No problem Mr. Barnes!" Peter looked down at his phone, "Well, it looks like class if over. We can meet up again soon and I can teach you more about the 21st century."

"I would like that," Bucky replied.

"Great! See you then," Peter got up and slipped his backpack back onto his shoulders. He gave a little wave before leaving. Bucky waved back.

He sighed and looked down at his empty hot chocolate mug. He still had a lot to learn. But why not learn from the best?

—

It was Sunday afternoon when Bucky decided that if he wanted to execute his plan, he needed to go shopping. He went to a mall, and immediately felt unsafe. The crowds were too big, the noise was too much, he couldn't see all the entrances and didn't know who could be HYDRA and who wasn't. He barely felt the tug on Angel's leash as she lead him away from the mall outside.

Once outside, Bucky could control his breathing. He was safe, he reminded himself. HYDRA wasn't here, he was safe.

He decide that the mall was a bad idea and went to the nearest clothing store.

When he couldn't decide what he wanted to buy (there were way, way too many choices), he left there too. Mission failed.

As he was on his way home, he passed a craft store. An idea bloomed in his head. During the depression, he had learned how to sew so that he and Steve wouldn't have to buy new clothes, especially when Steve would get holes in his knees from getting pushed down all the time. His metal arm whirled under his jacket and gloves.

He had gotten a few stares because he still insisted on wearing a jacket and gloves in summer. He had been trained to ignore the heat at his time with HYDRA, and besides, he wasn't planning on being cold anytime soon. The heat reminded him that he was no longer in cryo and would never again have to go there.

He entered the craft store with barely an idea in mind, but left with his arms full of bags. He knew what he was going to do now.

—

Monday night, Bucky got to work. He didn't have a sewing machine, so everything he did had to be done by hand. Whatever, he would figure it out. His metal arm came in handy, as it barely hurt when he pricked himself on the needle a few times.

It was midnight and Bucky wasn't done yet. However, Angel was trained to make sure Bucky takes care of himself, and that includes sleep, so she forced him to go to bed. He would finished in the morning.

—

Bucky spent all of Tuesday inside, finishing up his project. When he was done, he was proud of himself. It was something that he created all by himself, no outside influence. That was something that he never thought he could ever do again.

—

Wednesday afternoon came, and Bucky was ready to go. He put on his custom clothes, leaving his metal arm out of the sleeve. He would deal with it later.

He made his way to Queens, and was expecting a few stares along the way. But no one commented. No one noticed him. Peter was right, maybe there was some hope for humanity after all.

He got to Queens and found his way to Jackson Heights. It wasn't hard, since it looked like the whole city was headed that direction. The first thing he did was look for Spiderman.

When he spotted him, Spiderman was wearing a rainbow cape and boots. Bucky waved at Spiderman, who took a moment to recognize Bucky and waved back. He finished taking a picture with another person (Bucky couldn't tell if they were a man or woman, but he supposed that it didn't matter), and brought two people over to Bucky.

Spiderman introduced his friends to Bucky. Ned was awestruck and the girl, MJ, honestly terrified Bucky, and that was saying a lot. Ned was wearing a rainbow pin and fedora (who wears a fedora anymore?) and MJ had one of the flags painted on her face as well as wearing the colors head to toe. When Bucky asked her what flag it was, she answered asexual. Bucky didn't know what that was until Peter explained it to him later.

Bucky wouldn't say anything, but he felt like he was asexual as well.

The rest of the day, Bucky spent with Spiderman (who, around 2:30, changed into Peter), Ned, and MJ. He marched in the parade, he took pictures with people who recognized him. He was terrified when people recognized him, but most of them were very kind and one even gave him their (yes their, Bucky was still getting used to that) number.

When Bucky spotted the police, he ran into an alley and Angel helped calm him down. Peter found him and explained that they were there to make sure the bad people wouldn't come. Bucky thought that being gay was fine now, but apparently some people still didn't think that. He almost had a heart attack when MJ called those people "neo-nazi's".

He stayed out until is was dark out. No one seemed to notice, however. Most people kept celebrating. Bucky wondered what time Peter, Ned, and MJ needed to go home. He remember Peter mentioning a curfew when out as Spiderman. But the teenagers didn't seem to care about that and kept dragging Bucky across the parade, showing him all of the sights and people.

No longer did Bucky have to hide who he was. No longer did he have to pretend to like those dames who he went on dates with. No longer did he have to worry about getting a blue card. Bucky could be free, other people could be free.

Bucky felt free.

A warm feeling spread from his chest down throughout his body. His face hurt from all the smiling he did, a nice change of pace from his staring. Some of the weight on Bucky's shoulders lifted.

"Happy," he thought, "Is this what happiness is?"

Bucky was mentally exhausted after it all. It was the largest social event he had in a very long time. Considering the mall was enough to scare him, he was proud of the fact that he was able to stay out so long.

Bucky's eyes teared up when it was time for Peter, Ned, and MJ to go home. He wouldn't consider them friends, per say, but it was nice to have people to talk to and didn't care about his past. Sure, Ned asked a lot of questions, but he mostly just fawned over Bucky's metal arm. If he ever was on good terms with Wakanda again, he would be sure to introduce the teens to Shuri.

He went home with a smile on his face, new knowledge, handful of phone numbers. He would probably never reach out to them, but it made him happy that some people thought he was worthy of love (deep down Bucky knew he was, but he still had days where he convinced himself that he wasn't).

Bucky may never know how to fully operate in the 21st century, but he would damn make sure that he could learn everything there was to learn about it.

—

Sam's POV:

Sam was fixing dinner when his phone rang. It was Sarah. A list of possibilities ran through his head, but none of them accounted for what actually happened.

"Hey- " Sam said before Sarah interrupted him.

"Are you watching the news?" she asked. Her tone made Sam pause and felt his stomach sink.

This was how it went in the movies. The main character would be told to look at the news. The news would be showing the bad guy doing something bad. The hero would then have to go stop them.

"No."

"You should."

Sam was half way done with putting his suit on when he put on the news. Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw.

There, in the middle of a pride parade, was goddamn Bucky Barnes hanging out with the Spider-kid. Sam did a double take at what Bucky was wearing. He was wearing his signature leather with black jeans and combat boots, but that's where the similarities stopped. His jacket was now a rainbow leather jacket, the left sleeve gone, revealing his metal arm.

Sam's jaw dropped when he saw the metal arm. He knew how Bucky felt about it.

Bucky's metal arm was painted in rainbow stripes, all the way from his shoulder to fingers. Sam hoped that Bucky used washable paint.

Sam collapsed onto the couch. Bucky looked so unlike himself that Sam honestly wondered if he was brainwashed again. His cyborg stare was replaced with a genuine smile. He held his body upright and relaxed, not tense like usual.

That was when it hit Sam.

Bucky was gay.

Sam ran a hand down his face. All that time Sam thought Bucky was flirting with his sister. All that time that the Smithsonion portrayed Bucky as a ladies man. All that time Bucky denied him and Steve being a couple. It all made sense now.

"Sam," Sarah's voice rang out.

"Yeah, I'm here," he replied.

"You watching?"

"Yeah."

"What's going through your brain right now? I can hear you thinking through the phone."

"The press is going to have a field day with this," he said. Sarah laughed.

"That's what you're thinking about, seriously?"

"Seriously," Sam lied.

"Cass, don't antagonize your brother!" Sarah called out, "I'm sorry, Sam, I have to go."

Sarah hung up the phone before Sam could even tell her good-bye.

His eyes wandered over to Bucky. He looked so happy. Sam wondered when the last time Bucky enjoyed himself like this.

That's when Bucky and Spiderman spotted the news camera. Spiderman gave it a friendly wave. Bucky threw up a middle finger. The camera quickly panned to another shot.

"Well Barnes, it looks like you're full of surprises," Sam thought before returning to his dinner. He left the news on for the rest of the night, hoping to get one more glimpse of Bucky.

—

A/N:

Hello! Like I said last chapter, I would explore Bucky learning about the 21st century. I hope to create more chapters with Peter teaching Bucky more things.

And yes, of course I had to include Peter. The relationship between Bucky, Sam, and Peter is one I'm interested in exploring, as each of them lost a friend during Endgame and each have to learn how to step up to the plate as a result.

I've been trying to work on character voices more, so each character acts and sounds like they do in the movies, not just what's convenient for the plot, or just generic stuff. Dialogue is also something I'm still working on, so bare with me on that one too.

So this chapter has a little bit of SamBucky at the end. I'm not a big supporter of that. Like, I like it and think it's cool, but I a Stucky shipper, so it's not really something I'm interested in exploring in this fic, so don't really expect more of it.

I will get eventually Bucky realizing that Steve loved him back. There's a head cannon that I have as to why Steve choose Peggy over Bucky and I don't want to spoil it here, so expect that in the future.

Ok, this author's note is getting a little long now, sorry about that.

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a fantastic day!