Ok but I think Bucky picking up Rocket was pretty automatic. Like at this point I think it’s pretty ingrained in him to protect small, sassy creatures that dive headlong into fights that may be too big for them.
For all the people IMMEDIATELY calling me out re: a Mr Rogers fic-
So I think there are three ways this could go, and they’re all interesting, so the question is which is more interesting.
One is the one I think I’ve seen before, where Steve was somehow related to Fred- a cousin or nephew or something- and when he’s out of the ice he decides to take over the family business. I feel like this is the least interesting option, because other people have already done it before, especially between Avengers and Cap2.
Another is an AU where Steve was ALWAYS Mr Rogers. Like, he never went into the ice; instead, he landed the plane safely, had that date with Peggy and ended up being a crusader for public television. Probably his Neighborhood of Make Believe has thinly-disguised Howlies and the most-used one is Bucky and every episode is really fun for kids but if you know Cap canon it will stab you in the heart.
And the THIRD AU is one where, post-Civil War or post-Thanos (assuming he lives, IT IS REAL FUN ADDING THIS DISCLAIMER ON EVERY SPECULATION POST BTW), Steve decides he needs something different in his life. He’s tired of fighting. And he’s mindlessly searching the internet one day and he sees a “Steve Rogers vs Mr Rogers” comparison and it’s meant to mock- IDK, one of them or the other, the contrast is apparent, but Steve sees it and thinks shit, I could do that. It’s a way to be a good person and have people appreciate it rather than think it’s naive. He constructs the puppets himself and films a few episodes in his apartment and uploads them to YouTube, just as a joke. Within a week he has six offers for major money, but the only one he responds to is Mr Rogers’s estate, asking if he’d be interested in bringing that legacy back to public television. The sweater is different for him, as much a uniform as the Cap one had been, but he thinks this is a role he could learn to love. Probably he still has a Neighborhood of Make-Believe character named Bucky in this one too, even though the real Bucky is currently out there in the world, sidekicking for brand-new Captain America, Sam Wilson. After every episode airs Bucky calls with an array of colorful insults over what his character is doing, what the shit Rogers, I would never make that choice, and Steve tries a butter-wouldn’t-melt “Gosh, Buck, it’s just a fictional character” and the next time he sees him Bucky punches him in the face and Steve just grins because yeah, he deserves that.
THE THIRD ONE OF COURSE
I just imagine the entire fic being angry texts from Bucky.
WHY DID BUCKYPUPPET AGREE THAT IT’S GOOD TO FORGIVE PEOPLE? THAT’S BULLSHIT. BUCKYPUPPET SHOULD PROVE HIS DOMINANCE. RESHOOT THAT SEGMENT. SAMPUPPET SHOULD APOLOGIZE FOR EVER DOUBTING HIM. xoxo bucky
(Natasha set up his phone to sign everything with that and he can’t figure out how to undo it. Both Sam and Steve could undo it, but it’s much funnier this way.)
all Bucky wanted to do was get some more tea and now this. Thanks a lot, Sam. You had to fuckin’ tell him, you ass.
Aggressively Progressive Steve Rogers is so what I’m here for.
STeve would unleash and be all “DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH WHOOPING COUGH SUCKS?! DO YOU?! DO YOU REALLY?! ARE YOU FUCKIN’ STUPID?! BUCKY, TELL THEM HOW I BROKE TWO RIBS! TELL THEM!”
Omg, new headcanon, Beleaguered Bucky Barnes being grabbed by the shoulders and practically lifted into camera view by Steve shouting about how Bucky needs to confirm some terrible illness because no one else is alive form that time to corroborate any of Steve’s claims. Bucky shyly telling the reporters that yes, Steve did indeed have that thing adn yeah it is dangerous and Steve jumping back into frame like “I told you! I TOLD YOU IT SUCKED SHUT UP JENNY MCCARTHY!”
“AND YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE?! POLIO!”
“Steve you never had fucking polio-”
“YEA BUT IT STILL SUCKED! KNOW WHAT STOPPED IT?! VACCINES!”
“Oh my God, Steve.”
“I DIDN’T EVNENKNOW WHAT THAT SHOT WOULD DO TO ME BUT I TOOK IT!”
“Steve, that’s… That’s not really a good argument.”
“I DON’T CARE FOX NEWS NEEDS TO STOP USING MY IMAGE!”
“Steve, doll, calm down.”
“I VOTED FOR OBAMA!”
I love everything about this post
And all the while Sam is just laughing his fucking ass off and Bucky is wondering if he could just go take another nap for a few years.
Okay but imagine the savvy pediatrician who shyly sends Steve a message at Avengers Tower. She loves his message. Loves it. Wants to know if she can give her vaccinated kids a sticker of the shield because she wants other parents to subtly get the message, and of course what kid doesn’t love Cap? She’s no graphic artist, but she got a picture of the shield off the Internet …
… two weeks later, a box arrives at her office. It’s an order of shield stickers, very clearly actually produced by a graphic artist. Some of them sparkle, some are metallic, and some of them say “Protecting my friends by protecting me!” for the older kids who can appreciate the idiocy of the anti-vax movement.
There’s also a hand-written note with Pepper’s personal address at Avengers Tower listed on it: Contact us when you need more. No charge. Keep fighting the good fight.
They end up going on sale after the pediatrician’s colleagues see them and want to pass them out. Steve insists that any profit they might make should go to the March of Dimes. Tony and Pepper barely talk about it before they go “do you know how little it costs to produce stickers, Steve?” and decide to donate the entire sales cost. They’re not expensive to sell, either, but it adds up.
Vaccination rate goes up. Being an anti-vaxxer stops being trendy and starts being seen as living in the dark ages.
Steve Rogers, everyone.
It got better.
Much better.
This started out great and *kept getting better*.
The post I wanna reply to is gone, but it’s possible that Steve had polio and didn’t know it! Most cases are actually not severe/paralytic and many children recover completely, but post-polio syndrome could partly account for his trouble with muscle mass and easy fatigability years later.
wupacing 