What if Bucky was that little bit more dramatic? What if the thought of John carrying Steve's shield was more than heart breaking to him?
He had needed to walk because it was either that or slit something's throat.
"The new Captain America."
Those words made his hands shake in an anger made from hell itself. How dare they.
Bucky didn't know how long he'd been walking for, but his ankles burned on every step and night had become day and then to yet again be swallowed in darkness.
How dare Sam.
How dare any of them assume another could possibly-
As if the medals made a difference wh-
Another daring to pretend as if he could-
Bucky's head spun. His heart had been palpitating since he'd seen the announcement; so fresh air had seemed his only salvation. But then he was heading to Government Headquarters, heading to Sam and there might be a chance he'd kill him. Kill him for spitting on Steve's every achievement and sacrifice, for handing away a part of his brother as if it was simply a rusty heirloom taking up space.
He was close enough now, past the high school stadium on his left and a few miles east there was an airport that would take him right to Sam.
And then, through the blaring in his ears, Bucky heard those words again.
"The new Captain America!" spoken through a loudspeaker and not in his head, Bucky froze.
His head turned slowly to the sound, shadows cast on his brow as he frowned. A poster that read,
"Tonight, at 7:00, witness the new Captain America come to our very own Custer's Grove High for 'Good Morning America'." was propped against a light pole.
There was no stopping the vicious thoughts in his head as Bucky crossed the road. He slipped easily through the body guards and straight into the gallery.
Girls screamed in delight and everywhere were the tri-colours of America plastered. On shirts and flags, waved in every nook and cranny. He scanned the hustle of the stadium until he spotted an empty seat and shoved through the crowd before it's owner could return. A mother clutching a star and striped baby turned, but before she could shoo him away, the other thing in Bucky's head glared at her; the part that was not fully James Bucky Barnes.
She stuttered and left.
Bucky looked below him to where a blonde woman he faintly recognized stood with a microphone. She spoke into a lanyard of cameras, a neat cluster of cards in her hands. His eyes slid further down the pitch to the dark corners. Huge, tatted men with frowns deeper than the great canyon were spaced every five meters.
Bucky stood, ready to-
Blinding lights turned on and from one end of the pitch came skipping men dressed in white and blue. Trumpets and dancing women in berets. The pitch filled and there, in the center, John pranced with the shield in his hands.
Pain lanced through his head as Bucky fought the urge to fall from the balcony right now and kill the soldier. So he did the opposite. Froze completely in place and watched John be interviewed like he was a celebrity. Suppose he was the newest star in America, one that burned everything Steve ever stood for.
"I followed Steve's career very closely and in a way he was like a brother to me."
That snapped his cold slumber. It was a being Bucky thought long gone, who swung his body over the metal banister and landed like an angry meteor on the bright pitch.
There will be more one-shots and not all of them will be about TFATWS, or canon or innocent. I have a few ideas that I have been searching the fandom for and can't find any so here are my ideas.
I will also take any requests.