After the funeral, the world moved on. Captain America became a comic book hero that little boys imitated, but it seemed that people forgot about the actual man. Bucky refused to. But Bucky also refused to live in depression and be a dead weight in his parent's house. In no way was he ready to try and live on his own, but that didn't mean he couldn't contribute to the rent. (His father telling him to get a job may or may not have also played a deciding factor in his decision.)
After a few (many) failed attempts at obtaining a decent job, Bucky lowered his definition of 'decent' and tried again. Funnily enough, he'd managed to get a position at the local comic book store. The same comic book shop that Steve used to draw for. Mr. Stan Lee, the owner of the shop didn't necessarily need help, but he made an exception for Bucky. Bucky wasn't sure if it was because of his ties to Cap, or if Mr. Lee was taking pity on him for Steve's sake, but he wasn't about to complain.
The job was simple enough; show up every morning at 8 am to open up shop, sweep the floor, dust the shelfs, take care of any overnight deliveries, and man the cash register while being as charming as possible until Mr. Lee arrived at noon. Basically, Bucky was hired so Mr. Lee had an excuse to sleep in every day.
After leaving work, Bucky would go home for lunch and do chores for his ma until she either felt sorry for him, or it was time to get Becca. Technically, Becca was old enough to walk home by herself, but it gave Bucky something to do and Becca attached herself to her brother whenever possible. Every day, Bucky was at St. Peter's School for Girls at exactly 3 pm and every day at exactly 3 pm, Becca would come bounding down the steps and run into Bucky's one armed embrace.
As the two walked home, Becca would talk about all the latest gossip and Bucky would smile and nod as if he didn't have a gaping hole in his heart. Once they got home, Becca would start her homework and Bucky would help his ma with dinner. His life wasn't perfect by any means, but at least he was trying. That was something, right?
X-X-X
Bucky was so bored. And depressed. The boredom only added to his depression and it seemed he'd grown incapable of feeling anything else. He'd lived the same day every day for three months. Maybe that was his own fault, but Bucky didn't really see much point in doing anything else. His parents tried to get him to go out with his old buddies, but most of them were either dead or forever changed by the war. Becca, bless her, had told him that a good old fashioned date would help and she'd even gone as far as trying to set him up. Bucky had only laughed and said he wasn't interested in twelve-year old's.
Honestly, the only excitement that Bucky got was reading about whether or not Howard Stark was a traitor in the newspapers. All that really did was make Bucky miss the war, which was so disgusting and selfish. What kind of sick person missed the worst war in the history of mankind? But it was also the only time in his life that things were going good.
Steve had finally been healthy and he even seemed happy. They didn't have to worry about rent, and when they were off duty, they'd had fun. That's what Bucky missed. He despised the killing and the blood and the all out, gut churning hatred the war had brought, but he missed his team. He missed his brothers, especially Steve.
But that was never going to change and moping never helped nobody. So, when his pa asked about his day, Bucky smiled and bit his cheek. When his ma asked how he was feeling, Bucky lied through his teeth. When Becca yakked away at him, Bucky nodded as if he was paying attention. Nothing was ever going to change.
Until it did.
So, yeah. I added a Stan Lee cameo.