Chapter 1
It has been four months since Steve settled in the 1950s, for good. It still felt surreal. A simple life. He never thought he could have his old life back. The life he was supposed to live if he didn't crash the Valkyrie into the Arctic. But here he was, reading a magazine in the backyard of their suburban house, basking in the afternoon sun. Peggy was yet to come home from work.
Suddenly the doorbell rang. So Steve got up and headed towards the door. Hoping that Peggy came home earlier than expected. Instead he was greeted by a young man- perhaps in his early 20s.
Blonde hair. Striking green eyes. Eyes that very much looked like someone he-
The boy stood with a stoic expression and after a beat he spoke, "Steve Rogers." It wasn't a question. The boy knew who he was. Which was shocking because nobody in the 50s knew about his true identity except for Peggy and a few other people you could count with one hand. This was one of the vital reasons why he chose to live years after the war. Hoping that the face of war hero Captain America wouldn't be so fresh in their minds. It'll be easier to stay under the radar.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Steve demanded to know. The boy just smiled. But the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "I'm nobody. I came here to talk to you."
Steve couldn't think of what his next move should be. Who is this? How does he know my me? What does he want?Is my cover blown? Is he a threat?
"Tell me who you are first."
"I'm from another timeline. The timeline that you abandoned."
Steve was shocked, confused and fearful all at once. But he quickly regained his composure. Having faith in his super-soldier strength in case things go south, he gestured the boy to get inside. Once in, Steve shut the door behind them.
They sat face to face at the four seater dining room table. Silently. Both staring and observing the one in front of them. For some reason Steve felt like he knew this boy. Like they had some sort of connection. It didn’t make any sense but Steve couldn’t help the feeling. The boy on the other hand, was watching Steve intently. His expression still stoic but he stared down at the older blonde in front of like he was uncomfortable..Disgusted at his presence.
Steve decided to break the silence first. "Wanna tell me something about yourself? What’s your name?"
"James," he answered nonchalantly.
James. That's Bucky's real name. James Buchanan Barnes. It was indeed a common name so Steve hesitated a bit but since he was feeling this intangible connection with the boy, asked anyway, "Are you..Bucky's son? By any chance?"
The young man let out a laugh at that. His laugh. Again, it reminded him of a certain redhead.
A few moments later James' laughter faded and his amused eyes were replaced by disappointment. "No, I'm not uncle Bucky's son." Uncle Bucky? Steve raised an eyebrow.
"Listen, It's not important for you know who I am. I just have some questions and I need you to answer."
"And why should I? How do I know I can trust you?"
"I have a hunch that you have a hunch that you can trust me. You already let me in your perfect little house, didn’t you?" But Steve still didn’t look convinced. So letting out a sigh, James continued, "Fine. I'm from 2043. From the timeline you lived for a decade in before leaving back in 2023." Steve nodded, prompting him to continue.
James put his elbows on the dining table in front of him and leaned forward, "Why did you leave everyone behind? Everyone for your original timeline?"
The question caught Steve off guard. Still, he took a long breathe and started, "There was nothing left for me there. It just felt like there's a void inside my soul."
If Steve didn’t have enhanced eyesight, he would surely miss the way James' jaw clenched a little at his answer. Steve stared at his hand and continued nonetheless, "I saved the world from Chitauri invasion, homemade robots from destroying the planet, exposed a secret Nazi organization, saved Bucky, my best friend, from said organization, became a fugitive on the process, wanted by 117 countries. Fought Thanos, lived through the aftermath of the decimation for five years, fought Thanos again, defeated him for good, brought back everyone gone from the snap. So you could say I was just really tired," He finally paused and let out an audible sigh. He looked up at the young man in front of him, gauging his reaction.
It was almost like James was trying his best to keep his calm. He wasn’t looking at him. He was staring down at the table. Eyes red with tears? Anger? The young man closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "What do you mean you had nothing left? What about the people?"
"I don't expect you to understand but it's kinda hard to find someone with a shared life experience."
James snorted at that, "Oh, yeah? What about uncle Bucky? Uncle Sam? My mo- Natasha Romanoff? All the people that you lived with for more than ten years weren’t enough for you?"
Steve furrowed his brows, "Why are you making it sound like I left them? Like I gave up on them?"
"'Cause you did."
"Listen, son. I- "
"Don't!" James all but growled. "Don’t. Call me that!"
Steve slightly held up his hand, gesturing an apology, "As I said before..I've been fighting to do the right thing all my life. I've dealt with a great amount of pain and suffering. I woke up after 70 years in a world that I didn’t belong to. Yes, I did have the honour of knowing some great people. I trusted them. They were all my friends. But once we brought back the dusted and defeated Thanos once and for all, my body, my soul couldn’t take it anymore. We won, yes but in the process, we lost Tony. Nat. Then again, the pri-"
"The price of freedom is high. It always has been," James completed the sentence, almost absentmindedly. Then shook his head a little and let out a bitter laugh, "Oh God, such bullshit and hypocrisy," James rubbed his face with the palms of his hands as if trying to wipe his tears.
"Excuse me?" Steve hundred percent meant to sound offended because he was.
"I call bullshit," James dropped his hands and stared down at him. "The world may think you're a symbol of truth. Purity. Freedom. But you're just a star-spangled hypocrite."
Steve's blood almost boiled hearing the young man. How dare this boy humiliate him like that? Belittle all that he worked for? That too in is own damn house!
James continued, ""I'm with you 'till the end of the line? Whatever it takes"? Saying these are so easy, isn’t it, Captain?"
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, please. You know exactly what I mean. People who loved you, still loves you for godonlyknowswhat reasons, believed in your words, held onto it. Do you have the slightest idea what they went through after you left? How it affected them?"
Steve was suddenly feeling incredibly conflicted inside. He shook his head to clear his mind, "You don’t understand I-"
"No. You think you’ve lost a big deal. Fine. I'll pretend to sympathize you for a moment. But you're hardly the only one to lose someone. Aunt Pepper? Morgan? Morgan grew up without his father. And I know how that feels like. I know you know what that feels like. Aunt Wanda lost Vision. Though I never met him, everyone told me their story. What aunt Wanda went through. She was so broken. But you know how everyone dealt with it all? They helped each other. Cause that's what you do when you're part of a family. You never turn your backs on them no matter what. At least that's what my mother taught me. She stuck by the only family she believed she had."
James couldn’t help the stray tears that ran down his cheeks but he hastily wiped them and continued, "Everyone was hurt when you left but..but the most affected ones were uncle Bucky and.. and my mother." Steve frowned at that. "You said you’ll be with him till the end of the line. Apparently, that line was shorter than what he expected. Uncle Bucky couldn’t sleep at night. He had nightmares. Constantly. Yes, the Wakandans helped him remove the trigger words and gave him a new vibranium arm but he needed you. His bestfriend. His brother," James' voice wavered at the last words, thinking about the sufferings his uncle had to go through. "And here you are at your dream white picket fence house with a former flame of yours, who actually moved on from you and lived a full life. Even suggested you to do the same."