FORTUITY ☆ B.BARNES ✔️

epilogue.

BUCKY PULLED THE COVERS OVER HIS HEAD.
Today was the day, the funeral. How terrifying that word was to him. New York seemed to agree with his mood as it was pouring outside.

It had took them a while to gather everyone up for the funeral. Wanda broke down completely when she heard the news. She was almost as bad as Bucky. Everyone was devastated, of course.

It had been a month, and nothing was getting better. Bucky feared that nothing would get better, that everything would stay the same.

He finally forced himself to get up and put on the all-black tux he had been dreading to wear. Bucky tossed his disheveled hair to the side, it had grown out. He didn't realize how hurt he would get over his hair growing back. Looking at it disgusted him.

A soft knock on the door snapped him out of his thoughts. "Bucky? Are you in there?" Sam called out softly, his voice was muffled from the rain outside. Bucky almost didn't hear him.

He sighed and contemplated whether or not he should even go. Of course he should go, it's Maeve's funeral for crying out loud. But, he just couldn't do it. His eyes wandered around the room and finally landed on a slightly crumpled piece of paper. It was the eulogy he had written three days prior to the funeral.

Next to the paper, a small, red, velvet box with a diamond ring inside.

He scoffed bitterly, "Fuck." Bucky cursed. He decided it was time to go when Sam knocked a second time. He shoved the paper in his pocket and for a split second, he stared at the box. Bucky didn't know why he thought it was a good idea to bring it, but something in him made him do it.

"Are you...ready?" Sam asked, unsure of what to say. Bucky nodded with closed eyes. "Yeah. Yeah.."

-

Bucky watched the rain trickle down from the car window. His eyes were droopy, he didn't sleep at all. Come to think of it, he hadn't slept for weeks. Maybe months, but he couldn't remember.

"We're here." Bruce called out, the car pulled into the parking lot and Bucky felt himself lose all the courage he didn't even know he had. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he didn't even know how he made it out of the car and found himself sitting at the front row of the service.

Her friends from Queens had recieved the news from Sam, who had went out of his way to make sure everyone Maeve knew had heard about her passing. Everyone couldn't help but notice the dark cloud looming over Bucky Barnes that day.

The seat that Bucky sat on felt small, and quite frankly super uncomfortable.

"Hey." Wanda whispered as she rested her hand briefly on his shoulder. "How are you feeling?" 

Bucky shrugged, "I'm..numb." She nodded in response. Wanda didn't know what to say after that. The two of them sat in silence, they both understood the amount of grief they were in. Neither of them knew the other actually cared, though.

Bucky observed the people attending the funeral, to see if Dominique would make it. Sure enough, she did. Why wouldn't she? As much as Dom resented Maeve, she would much rather lament the fact that Maeve was gone than be happy about the fact that the man she was in love with was now single. It would be a terrible thing to do. So, she sat in one of the back rows, the rows where everyone knew it was a place for people that didn't know Maeve very well, but cared about her enough to attend the funeral. Among Dominique was Maria Hill, Carol Danvers, and surprisingly Nick Fury.

Bucky skimmed his eyes along the aisles. The Guardians were seated in the middle. Rocket's ears were abnormally droopy that day. Bucky didn't even know Peter Quill was there, because his head was low, he wasn't sporting his cool maroon leather jacket, he was in a boring, dull, black coat.

Scott sniffled quietly behind Bucky, he didn't like to cry. He felt like it was a shameful thing to do, but today might just be an exception.

"And now, we have Maeve's boyfriend here to say a couple of words."

Bucky's eyes shot up, he had been too busy in his own head, he already missed half of her funeral.

He looked at Sam, for comfort, for validation, for anything. All Sam could do was give him a firm smile.

'You can do it.' He mouthed.

Bucky nodded once, before slowly making his way to the podium. All eyes were on him now.

He swallowed another lump in his throat.

"Wow." Bucky breathed in, "There's a lot of you guys." The crowd gave him a pity chuckle.

"It's not surprising, Maeve was a good person inside and out. She always saw the beauty in people...I'm not good at these things-" He paused, shuddering at the cold. "So please forgive me for any grammar mistakes or whatever."

Sam chuckled a little at his best friend's awkwardness. Bucky tried to read the paper again, but he realized that it wasn't good, so he crumpled it up.

"Maeve always saw the good in everyone, especially me. I mean I was the Winter Soldier- for crying out loud. She knew, and she didn't care. The first time I met her, I thought she would be just like everyone else, judging me for what I did in the past. But she didn't. She saw right through my flaws, and turned me into a better person. I'm sure all of you have experience something like that."

There were some subtle nods in the crows.

"Maeve knew what she was doing the moment she sacrificed herself for us. She knew she was saving the world. But it doesn't make up for the fact that she's gone now." Bucky's voice had started to crack a little.

"I truly believe that my Maeve was the best person I'll ever know. She was the love of my life." Bucky continued, tears welling up in his eyes.

"I'll miss her cooking, I'm sure all you will too. Every meal she made, she made with her heart and soul, she made it with love. I have never known someone who did that until I met her."

Wanda started to sob, so did Rocket, who couldn't even bear to look at the closed casket.

"I know Maeve would have wanted a closed casket funeral. She never wanted anyone to see her at her worst. So I want to ask all of you to be strong for her, it's what Maeve would have wanted." Bucky sniffled, wiping his tears.

"I'm sorry Maeve," Bucky looked up at the sky, "I love you, I love you, I love you."

-

After the service, everyone started to leave one by one. Sooner or later, it was just Bucky by himself. He finally broke down when he saw the casket get lowered down. So did everyone else. There was not a single person that attended the service who didn't cry.

When he got back to the tower, he crawled back into bed to sleep the pain away, hopefully. But he was interrupted by a knock on the door yet again.

"What?" Bucky growled, but his face softened at the sight of Sam. He was holding Maeve's RED, which was supposed to be broken.
Behind Sam was Scott, Wanda, and Bruce.

"We have something for you."

Bucky stared at the cold RED in his hands. "What's it for?" He asked. Sam looked at Bruce, and he received a reassuring nod.

"Well...Try it out."

Bucky took the small object from Sam and observed it carefully. "I thought it was supposed to be broken, do I...try it on?" He asked, trying to press it to his chest.

"No!" Sam laughed a little, stopping his friend. "Here."

He took the RED from Bucky, and set it down on the ground. At first, it did nothing for a few seconds.

"What's this supposed to be?"

Bruce shushed him, as the RED glowed a light blue. Then the whole room was enveloped in the blue hue. Bucky's eyes widened at the sight, his mouth hanging agape.

"Hello, Buck." Maeve's soothing voice greeted. His lips curled into a smile and the new tears fell down his face. This time, they weren't tears of sadness.

They were tears of joy.

END.