Bucky let out a sigh of relief when he got all the little app icons to jumble around the way google had said, finding the app he'd just been using and tapping the buttons in the corner. Yes, I want to delete the app.
It had been about a month since he'd been given this new life, and it was... still an adjustment. The Wakandans had been more than generous, Shuri and Ayo seeing to it directly that he had everything he needed. They organized the pardon trial, went through hoops to find him a decent lawyer, and helped him settle into the apartment the government had set up for him. Shuri, in fact, had scolded him when he tried to tell her he'd find the place on his own, saying something along the lines of him being too stubborn for his own good.
It was very reminiscent of when his family had dropped his sister Rebecca off at school in Indiana. Ayo had told him they'd already prepped the place with everything he would need to get started, Shuri had excitedly whispered about a new tactical suit she'd hidden in the back of the closet – "just in case... you can never be too prepared" – and then they were gone.
Bucky had been required to start weekly therapy sessions as part of his pardon, and begrudgingly – by court mandate – he went each Saturday morning to hear comments about finding out who he was again. It was exhausting.
It had started with the haircut. He hadn't lasted two weeks before the shoulder-length mess drove him crazy. Though that wasn't fair... it wasn't the length that bothered him, but the reflection in the mirror. His codes were broken and his life was in his own hands, but the Winter Soldier seemed to be staring back at him everywhere he looked.
The short hair was an adjustment to say the least. But he had stepped out of the barbershop feeling lighter, like a new man. And the face that looked back at him was one he hadn't seen in a long time.
That being said, it had also directly led to a plan that was most definitely one of his worst.
The last time he had truly been James Buchanan Barnes was back in the 1940s, notorious for being popular with women. So when that cocky confidence surged back up again, he had the not-so-brilliant idea to try it again. He thought that if he went back to being the ladies' man he once was, he'd find himself.
A horrible decision, that one.
Having no clue where to even start, he took to searching on google "How does dating work in the 21st century?" Which had him downloading a dating app. The one that he was getting rid of this very moment.
It had done nothing but confuse him further. He couldn't take a good picture of himself to save his life and had worse luck creating a description for his profile; in hindsight, "James. 105. Still don't know what to put here... I think I'm better in person" probably wasn't his best move.
Most of the girls thought he was trying to be funny, and were disappointed when the following conversation proved otherwise. Some girls took his profile as an invitation to talk about a number of things he wished he didn't understand. And a handful of them... well, he didn't think he could blame his poor excuse of a profile for the pictures he'd been sent, but it happened nonetheless.
The dates he had been on were filled with nothing but meaningless small talk and modern nuances he didn't understand, leaving him with less and less of the already dwindling monthly check he'd gotten as part of his pardon. It didn't take long for him to come to terms with the fact that groceries cost far more than they did in the forties, and that his three thousand dollar army retirement wasn't exactly the sum it used to be, especially when rent took up so much of it. Maybe he shouldn't have turned Murdock down when he'd suggested they fight for more...
No, he didn't need to be selfish, he would get by. It had saved him from having to deal with any more of the loud crowds of press or the looks people gave him in the courtroom, which was why Bucky had told Matt 'no' when he suggested they could get away with more than a retirement rate based on outdated economic values.
YOU ARE READING
Neighbors
Fanfiction"He didn't know how it had happened, how he'd gotten so comfortable around you, how he'd let you in. At first, everything was quiet. Bucky was adjusting to this new life, his pardon, his therapist, his amends, and everything they'd gotten him into...
