In which I take Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie's most iconic moments and turn them into Bucky and Josiah

(Yes I know the Falcon exists in the GCU but because I aged him up I made it impossible for him and Bucky to have that magically funny chemistry that they do in the movies and Josiah naturally fits the role of fellow chaos-maker)

Amputeam: Snapshots of a Friendship

Josiah sits in the driver's seat of a car, glaring at the camera. He holds up his handicap parking pass.

amputeam To the dude who assumed I stole this and tried to kick me out of my parking spot: I hope you stub all ten of your toes tonight

~0~

Bucky stands at the bathroom sink in a shared dorm bathroom. "Enough people have left comments about this that we felt the need to make a video about it," Josiah says from behind the camera. "Yes, it is possible to wash one hand without the help of another. And yes, Bucky still calls it 'washing his hands,' plural, despite it not being quite accurate because he says it sounds crazy otherwise."

Bucky holds up a scrubber with a suction cup and sticks it to the inside of the sink. "This is a shared bathroom so I don't just leave it in the sink here because it would definitely get stolen. At home, I have one that just stays in the sink," he explains. "People with lower amputation levels often use their stump to wash their hand, but I don't have that option." He reaches up and gets a pump of soap from the dispenser. With his elbow, he knocks the faucet knob into the on position and gets a little water in his palm. The camera zooms in as he rubs the front and back of his hand against the scrubber and works soap between each finger with his thumb. Finally, he rinses off all the suds and reaches for a paper towel. The dispenser is, however, empty.

"That's what we get for filming this in a communal bathroom," Josiah says.

amputeam How to wash your hands as an upper limb amputee

battlestar_lemar There's nothing more annoying than a public bathroom with those faucets you have to push down to keep the water running. Especially when they only stay down for half a second.

~0~

Dino stands on the sidelines with a walker sporting a photograph of John Walker. Bucky and Josiah flank him, both grinning stupidly and pointing to the photo.

amputeam Finally, a John Walker that's actually useful.

johnhopperusa I will kill you for this

~0~

Bucky and Josiah stand in the hallway outside their dorm room. "I would have started to film before I opened the door if I knew what I was gonna walk into," Bucky says, shaking his head. Josiah opens the door and they walk inside. It's immediately apparent that every available surface is covered in pictures.

"Are you FUCKING kidding me?" Josiah asks. "Oh my god."

"Well, well, fuck me well," Bucky says. The camera zooms in on a collection of photos, revealing that they all depict John Walker. There are hundreds of them: on the walls, on the bed frames, on the desks, on the mirror.

"Alright, you guys have raised the bar," Josiah says. "I guess this took a lot of work. FINE."

Bucky shows even more photos. "See all the work that has gone…all the work that has gone into all of this. It's every picture this man has ever taken and more. I can't."

"All we did was stick your picture on Dino's mobility aid," Josiah says. "How did you even get in here to do this?"

amputeam Walker pulled the amputee card to make the RA let him in

johnhopperusa Using crutches = people open doors for you.

~0~

Bucky sits on his bed holding a gigantic bag of plums.

amputeam The chemo craving that never went away

~0~

Josiah runs after a ball during a game and takes a spectacular tumble. His crutches both go flying. The clip plays over and over again in slower motion each time with the song "Take My Breath Away" over it.

amputeam He is beauty. He is grace.

josiahbradley He did not know anyone on this team knew how to edit videos

~0~

"What are your plans between now and Los Angeles?" a reporter asks Bucky. She holds the microphone out to him.

"Well, clearly the regiment we had going works pretty well," he answers with a chuckle. "So I think we'll keep it up."

"What about you personally? Any goals?" She gives him the mic but takes it right back. "No pun intended," she adds.

Bucky laughs. "My goal is always no goals. To achieve that, I think I might work on reaction time and footwork."

Josiah approaches the camera on Bucky's left, looking like a man in the desert who's finally found water. "Oh my God. James Bucky Barnes. Man, you're looking good," he says. Bucky turns to him, startled by his sudden appearance, and grins broadly.

Josiah continues, "Man oh man. Let me tell you something." He turns to the camera. "You ever see a guy this handsome walking the street? He's gonna get arrested, because he's killin' all the ladies. Look at that. Pow, pow. Pow, pow, pow." He adds a little flair to the statement with finger guns.

"Hey man," Bucky says, still laughing.

"Why don't I just let you interview each other." The reporter offers him the microphone.

"Okay, great." Josiah accepts it eagerly. "Get outta here, get outta here, get outta here." He readjusts his stance so he and Bucky are centered in front of the camera. "Hey, how's it going? I'm Josiah Bradley. I'm here with the Paralympic star, the better half of Amputeam, James Bucky Barnes. Bucky, how's it going?"

"You know what, I'm alright, I'm alright. I'm actually right now taking in your deodorant a little bit. It's kinda good, kinda strong."

"I'm not a player, I just shower a lot. You know what I mean." They both crack up.

"So what are you wearing tonight?" he asks, as if this were a red carpet event. "I mean that's a little red on white and blue on white, I like that."

"Dude, we're wearing the same thing. So is literally every single American here."

"Yours has got this nifty custom bit." He runs a finger over the left shoulder.

"There are so many people calling my name out here, a loose sleeve would be a safety hazard," Bucky says with a laugh. He demonstrates whipping around as if someone had yelled for him, and his right arm swings around and smacks Josiah. "But I think yours suits you just fine even without a custom fit."

Josiah runs a hand down the front of the polyester jacket. "You know I'm not tryna brag, I'm just a guy in a tracksuit. You know, a little zenga for the ladies, you know what I mean. Zenga Zenga, you know?"

Bucky grabs Josiah's zipper, only done up halfway, and pulls it all the way to his neck.

"Thank you so much. I zipped that myself," Josiah says.

"Thirty-six tries to get mine!" Bucky exclaims.

"I know, I know."

"They can fix the sleeve, but they can't put a magnet in the zipper?"

"I know, shame on them. Let me, let's talk to you about your workout plan because, obviously, you know, you leaned out a lot. I mean your chest is, what a thirty-two right now?"

"No, no, no, no, no, just a few weeks ago, you told me, 'You're getting too bulky, kid. Lay off the protein powder or you'll barely get off the ground.'"

"Right, you bulked up and now you slimmed down again."

"I know and I said that's because I've been training like you lot, which is legs only."

"Legs only. Legs only."

"Hey, being an amputee is all the arm training you ever need."

"Not tryna brag, but the arms are the way to heaven, you know what I mean?"

"Oh absolutely I do; my arm already went to heaven."

"Whoa whoa whoa, let's not talk about that, let's not make it personal."

"You were thinking it."

Josiah laughs and nods his agreement. "Hey, thank you so much for giving us some time tonight. Bucky Barnes, everybody. A star in the making, love him or hate him, the underdog's on top."

Bucky looks to another reporter off camera who's been trying to get his attention for the past few minutes. He heads in that direction and tells Josiah on the way out, "I love you."

"Boom. look at that. Look at that." Josiah grins as the reporter he'd stolen the mic from returns to frame.

"I'm out of the job," she says. "Thanks a lot. Josiah Bradley, you did too well."

He drops the mic and catches it in his other hand. "Drop the mic," he mutters.

amputeam They dared to interview us separately. It didn't work out so well for them.

~0~

In an airport, Josiah is lying down on an otherwise empty travelator. As it moves, he is carried slowly closer to the camera. Offscreen, several teammates can be heard snickering.

amputeam The post-gold festivities tuckered him out

~0~

Bucky proudly holds up his Espy while Steve kisses him on the cheek.

amputeam He's engaged! And also won an Espy

josiahbradley Eagerly awaiting my save the date

~0~

Outside on UVA campus, a foot of snow covers the ground. Josiah takes one step off the plowed path with his crutches and immediately faceplants in the snow.

amputeam Do they make snowshoes for crutches?

~0~

Bucky and Josiah in graduation caps and gowns.

amputeam That one brain cell served us well.

~0~

A magazine sits on a table, open to a two-page Under Armour Adaptive ad. On the left side, Josiah's crutches are firmly planted on the ground and his leg swings towards a soccer ball on the ground. On the right, Bucky is mid-leap, fingers outstretched towards a soaring ball. Both of their faces show intense focus and they're decked out head-to-toe in Under Armour gear.

amputeam Our moms subscribed to this magazine just to have a copy of this ad

~0~

Bucky and Steve in their wedding tuxes. They're seated together at a round table, gazing into each other's eyes and looking unimaginably happy.

amputeam Sorry ladies, he's taken

youknowwhoiam You guys know how to throw a party

j_juniper Congrats, guys. Most fun night I've had in a long time.

~0~

Bucky lies on a pool chair in Jack Rollins' backyard. He stares off into the mid distance. "Life," he begins. "Life is a very fleeting thing, you know. It goes by so quick you have to really think about what you want. You have to figure out how you feel inside, and then how you're gonna communicate it to the rest of the world, because communication is…everything at the end of the day. It's what you say, how you feel, how you perceive something. And we gotta learn how to do that better, you know what I mean?" The camera pans the chair beside him, revealing the sole audience member for this soliloquy: Matilda the cat.

amputeam It's all fun and games until Bucky starts monologuing at the team pool party

~0~

The entire soccer team in their Team USA jackets stands in neat formation, everybody dancing with various degrees of enthusiasm and skill. The song "Came For The Low" blares from speakers. About twenty seconds into the song, the lyrics just repeat the word "low" over and over again, everybody gradually gets down until they're crouched on the floor, then rise back up to continue dancing.

amputeam That pregame hype hits different

~0~

"Were you excited to be playing in white this year? Remind you of your Howling Commando days?" a female reporter asks.

"Oh my god! Well I didn't even think about it. No, I just, you know, I was glad not to be in lime green or yellow," Bucky answers.

"I like a nice white jersey. Shows off the grass stains better."

"Yeah."

"Okay. Can you walk me through the moment Martinez intercepted that pass to Walker?"

As the reporter continues her interview, Josiah runs over and grabs Bucky by the jacket. "Take your jacket off." He pulls at the right sleeve. "She's cold, give her your jacket." He unzips it and reaches for nonexistent inside pockets.

Bucky, completely thrown off by the sudden attention, tries to bat Josiah's hands away. "Nah…he really wants to get close to me."

The reporter, equally confused, asks, "Does he want to see if you…have something?"

"No. I don't know. I don't know what he's doing. But, keep going because this is what's happening." He stops struggling to escape as Josiah wrestles with the jacket and starts play fighting, landing a few friendly punches to his chest and bicep.

"Fine. fine," Josiah relents. "Don't take your jacket off." He stops for all of two seconds before surreptitiously sliding the right sleeve downwards.

"We're in public for God's sakes! There are people! Families here! For the love of God!"

"We're in Houston. Come on."

"Pull it together."

"Sheesh."

"We're at NRG Stadium, anything goes here," the reporter says.

"Exactly!"

"Yeah."

"What's the worst that could happen?" Josiah asks.

"Everything."

"Good point, good point."

"Are you ready for the Paralympics next year?" the reporter asks.

"Hell yeah!" Josiah exclaims. "My gold medal is a little lonely. She needs a friend."

"Bucky? How about you?"

"Absolutely. Bring it on."

amputeam Victory makes Josiah a little crazy

~0~

Bucky, in a gray sweater and sunglasses, starts belting, "Hungry eyes…one look at you and I can't disguise." As he sings, he holds his arm high and rolls his hips to the music.

amputeam We won the World Cup, not American Idol

~0~

Bucky sits in an armchair in the Gravesen common room. He's wearing sweats and a soccer ball beanie. No hair pokes out from under the hat, and his eyebrows are also gone. His face has a sickly green tinge to it. He clutches a basin with one hand and with the other is flipping off whoever took the picture.

Josiah has his eyes scrunched tight, tears streaming down his face. His bare chest has a fresh port needle in it; it hasn't even been properly bandaged yet. A few scattered patches of hair still cling to his otherwise bald head.

A selfie of Bucky pulling down his lip to reveal a white, painful-looking ulcer that takes up almost half of his lower lip. There's another, slightly smaller one on the opposite side.

Josiah lies on the sofa, asleep and curled up around a barf bucket. On the table beside the sofa are a dozen pill bottles of various sizes.

Bucky sleeps in a hospital bed with oxygen tubing draped across his face. His gown has fallen forward, revealing a swatch of bandages over his stump. A tube snakes from beneath them, full of blood and other fluids.

Josiah leans on a walker, his stump heavily bandaged. A person behind him holds onto a belt around his waist as he takes a few cautious steps forward. He moves sluggishly, both from pain and fear of falling. Offscreen, a voice murmurs encouragement.

amputeam September is pediatric cancer awareness month. Both of us had Ewing's sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. Between the two of us, we've had 7 surgeries, 34 rounds of chemo, and more scans and blood tests than either of us care to count. All of the chemos we received were invented decades ago, and are not designed for use in children. We face a lifetime of monitoring and increased risk of other health problems because of how toxic these treatments are. To top it all off, the government gives only 4% of its cancer research budget to pediatric cancers such as Ewing's.

Kids deserve better. Please share this post and others you find this September. Awareness is the first step to funding and research.

~0~

"If you were a Disney princess, who would you be?" Bucky's voice asks.

Before he's even finished asking the question, Josiah is answering. "Cinderella 'cause she broke homie. She represent me, yooo." He turns to Steve seated beside him. "Let me borrow twenty dollars."

Steve starts laughing so hard his chair tips, and Josiah grabs it to pull it back.

amputeam This is why we don't usually let people invite their spouses to team game night

~0~

Bucky does five pull-ups in a row, with flawless form. He drops from the bar and yells at the camera in exhilaration.

amputeam Name one other person who can do that. I bet you can't.

battlestar_lemar I definitely can't

~0~

Bucky and Steve hold a copy of their book between them. Both look incredibly proud.

amputeam Barnes and Rogers: now available wherever books are sold.

josiahbradley Still waiting for my signed copy

johnhopperusa Still mad I'm not in it

~0~

Bucky stares confusedly into the distance, hugging an above-the-knee prosthetic leg to his chest like one would hold a baby. Beside him, Jacques is clearly in the middle of a long speech.

amputeam Now he's got two left feet

~0~

A compilation video of Steve laughing. In each clip, he leans even further back than the previous, and in most of them he ends up clutching the left side of his chest.

amputeam This is a Steve's laugh appreciation post

bucky_barnes You get a lot of practice when your husband is as funny as I am

~0~

"I understand you let Lemar Hoskins take the reins this year because you've been on leave to recover from surgery," a male reporter says.

"Yeah," Bucky confirms.

"Was that a difficult decision to make?"

"No. He's been working so hard these past few months; I knew he could do a much better job than I could."

"How has recovery been going?"

Bucky sucks in a breath through his teeth. "It hasn't been easy, but I'm making progress. It's very slow-going progress, but progress nonetheless. From what I've heard, that's typical for nerve healing."

"How are your pain levels right now?" he asks cautiously.

Bucky shakes his head. "Nobody needs to hear about that."

Josiah waltzes right up to Bucky and inserts himself into the conversation. Bucky sees him coming and lovingly smacks him on the shoulder, seemingly glad for a distraction.

Josiah reaches for the microphone and does his best impression of a newcaster. "Let me tell you something…. We're here today with James Bucky Barnes."

Bucky licks his lips. "Yeah."

"The mark of greatness, the measure of beauty amongst men."

He laughs, and drops his hand from Josiah's shoulder.

"Bucky, how do you feel?"

"Next to you? Strong."

Josiah shoves the mic directly into his face and asks, "Do you have any funny anecdotes that happened on the field during training?"

"No. None at all."

"Do you remember, during training, did you do anything that, you know, did anything–"

Bucky cuts him off. "Piss off any other teammates?"

"Do you have any teammates that hate you?"

He barely hesitates at all before claiming, "No, everybody likes me a lot."

"You think so?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. Cool. Cool. We're gonna ask everybody else, how do you feel about that?"

"Did you have any things that you remember?"

"Are you saying that I don't enjoy my time with you?"

"I don't know, I thought you were having a lot of fun."

"Bucky, what did you think of the uniforms this go-round?" Josiah asks.

"They put me in highlighter yellow! I would like to have a strong word with whoever's decision that was. Last Paralympics I got to wear dark red."

"Not gonna lie, I was jealous of that dark red kit. We had red and blue stripes going fifteen different directions, it was crazy."

"You could have petitioned to switch," the reporter suggests.

"No, I can't do stripes unless the fabric is custom-cut," Bucky says. "Otherwise they don't line up."

"He's right, he's right. They didn't look good on us, but at least they were symmetrical."

"Maybe next time they'll let you help with the design," the reporter says.

"That would be fantastic." Josiah's expression turns suddenly serious. "Team USA, if you're seeing this, let us pick the uniforms. We'll play better if we feel stylish, I promise."

amputeam Petition to ban ugly uniforms

johnhopperusa I liked the stripey ones

josiahbradley johnhopperusa of course you would

~0~

At the beach, Bucky screams excitedly at the camera, his arm thrown out to the side. Without a shirt, all of his scars are clearly visible: the two long ones on his left side and the small one below his right collarbone. His gold and purple ribbon tattoo is just visible.

amputeam Not pictured: Josiah in his Speedo

Many of these situations were modified to fit the AU, and some were entirely original, but for those that enjoy that sort of thing, I hope you picked up on the little references :)