ɴᴇᴇᴅ ᴀ ʜᴀɴᴅ?

Steve has had difficulties with being the center of attention since he toured around the world to put on skits when all he wanted to do was go fight with the other soldiers. He hates being used for promos and PR with a fiery passion. He stays away from all that as much as he can. If he meets a fan on the street he’ll stop to chat with them and take pictures but he refuses to do events, that’s not his job. He might be Captain America but Steve Rogers is first and foremost a soldier. He wants to stand up for what’s right and fight for it.

Bucky hates the attention just as much but to be fair, his press isn’t nearly as positive as Steve’s is. He doesn’t do events because no one asks him to, he doesn’t stop on the street because people usually walk out of his way instead of walking his way. He’s used to it. What he did as the Winter Soldier was all over the internet and the news but they barely ever cover him when he does something good. Reporters rarely talk about what HYDRA truly did to him, to them he’s just a bad man turned good. As if everything he did back then was of his own free will. 

It disgusts everyone.

One day Steve comes back from a run and goes straight to your room. You’re his friend and also his go-to person when he has questions about ‘’the new world’’ as he calls it.

He knocks at your door and waits for you to give him permission to come in before doing so. 

‘’I got a question.’’ He stands in front of your bed where you’re sitting, his hands on his hips.

‘’What’s up?’’ You put down your laptop on your mattress and look up at your friend.

‘’I saw these girls outside, they had all kinds of things with my face on it or my shield.’’

You nod, waiting for his question.

‘’How?’’

‘’People all over the world can make those. It’s just merch that they buy online or make themselves about the things and people they like. There’s so much Captain America merch out there, I’m surprised you’ve only noticed it today.’’

Steve frowns and sits at the foot of your bed. ‘’How much is so much?’’

You nudge him with your foot. ‘’Take your sweaty butt off my bed, go take a shower and then I’ll show you.’’ 

Steve laughs and stands up, walking back to the hallway when he stops and turns back around to look at you. ‘’Could you sell my sweat on the internet? Is that a thing?’’

You shake your head. ‘’You don’t want to know.’’

‘’How much would it sell for?’’

You chuckle. ‘’You really don’t want to know.’’

He lets out a low whistle. ‘’That much, uh?’’

After his shower Steve grabs Bucky and they head down to your room, finding you in the exact same spot you were 20 minutes ago.

‘’I’m ready!’’ 

You laugh at Steve’s enthusiasm because you have a feeling he’s going to regret it in a few minutes.

Bucky lies on his side next to you on the bed but not before kissing your cheek. ‘’What are we doing?’’ He looks at your computer screen. 

‘’Steve wants to know about fan merch. He saw some people wearing his face on their shirts and now he’s curious.’’

You spend the next 10 minutes showing Steve designs from Etsy, you show him the pretty ones and the hilarious ones. Bucky is laughing his butt off next to you but when you look up from your screen, Steve is pursing his lips and shaking his head. ‘’I don’t like it.’’

‘’Why not?’’

‘’I don’t know, it’s weird. Back in the 40s the only thing people could own with my face on it were posters or fliers, that’s it. Now they can have my face, or my butt apparently, on shirts, mugs, pants, keychains, phones and I know I’m forgetting most of it. Can we take it down?’’

‘’What? No, Steve. I get that you might not like it but these are your fans, they love you and all of this-’’ You gesture to the website. ‘’This is you inspiring them. All these people used their creativity to make all of those designs. I understand you might not like it but if you have everything taken down, it’ll break their hearts. Plus so many people depend on the money from their online stores to pay the bills.

Steve huffs. ‘’Fine.’’

‘’Do- Do I have any?’’ Bucky asks timidly, not sure of the answer he prefers.

‘’You do!’’ You type his name in the search bar and show him the first few pages.

‘’I like this website.’’ Bucky grins after seeing only positive designs about him. 

Steve mumbles under his breath, pouting. You exchange a look with Bucky and you both roll your eyes. 

After that day you and Bucky now have a new way to be a pain in Steve’s ass. You buy some merch every week and walk around the tower wearing them. There are now mugs in the kitchen with Steve’s ass on it and he hates it, but doesn’t throw them away.

‘’Someone worked hard on making these, it’d be disrespectful.’’ He explains.

Tony teases him saying that he only pretends to hate the mugs but in reality he loves them but deep down everybody knows that Steve’s telling the truth.

After a while though it starts to get boring, Steve doesn’t find it as annoying as he did in the beginning which takes the fun out of it for you and Bucky, so you stop.

You keep browsing Etsy once in a while, in case you find the design that would make Steve go crazy but instead you find something even better.

As soon as you get the shirt you put it on and go downstairs to the living room where Steve and Bucky are sitting and reading books. 

You move to stand in front of them with your hands on your hips. ‘’Shouldn’t you be taking naps at this hour, old men?’’ 

They both look up and Steve’s eyes widen when he sees your shirt. ‘’What the hell is that?’’ He points at it.

‘’What? You don’t like it?’’ You look down at your shirt.

Bucky laughs. ‘’I love it.’’

‘’Of course you would.’’ Steve rolls his eyes and Bucky stands up to look at it closely.

‘’I love that they used my new arm, too.’’ 

The shirt you found is a very simple design but very interesting nonetheless. There’s one ‘’normal’’ hand on one side and Bucky’s vibranium black and gold hand on the other and the way they are placed on the shirt makes it look like Bucky’s hands are on your boobs.

Bucky lifts his hand up for you to high five but he wraps his fingers around your hand as he stands next to you, leaning down next to your ear with his back to Steve. 

‘’If you want the real thing let me know, that can be arranged.’’ He whispers before lifting his head up and winking at you.

You watch him as he walks away and you smile. This shirt really was a great idea and maybe, just maybe, you take Bucky on his offer. Best $30 you’ve ever spent.