Chapter Text
“Your not gonna fucking believe who I saw today.” Bucky tried to ignore how much he sounded like a teen girl from a 90’s movie. It wasn’t his fact that living in 21st century New York had turned him into a “so-called diva”. And it wasn’t his fault that telling Sam Very Vital Information came across like gossip. Never one to be any help, Sam cackled on the other end of the line.
“Was it one of the Big 3?” Bucky knew Sam would feel his eyes roll all the way in DC. He was counting on it, in fact.
“No! Fuck you, that’s still not a real thing.” Sam’s snort reminded Bucky that no matter how much he fights Sam on this it won’t change his mind. Instead he takes one of those unhelpful deep breaths and tries to refocus the conversation.
“Remember that really annoying guy Tony brought to the airport fight in Germany? The one that talked a lot, Bug Boy or something.” He definitely remembered the guy's actual “name”, there wasn’t much someone could do (ethically, Hydra,) to erase someone in a spandex suit swinging around and calling himself Spiderman. But in his new healing era Bucky had discovered he really enjoyed being petty. Even when the other party would likely never be on the receiving end.
“Arachnid-Kid”
“Yea, Web-Head or whatever. Him, the dude just swung over my head like some sort of circus act or whatever.”
“That’s his whole thing, I think.” Sam was sad, like he didn’t get what Bucky was trying to get at. Frustrated at the idea of having to use more words Bucky made sure to sigh audibly before continuing. “Well, we hadn’t really heard of him since the whole ‘everyone’s back now’ thing and I saw him swinging around so I tried to…say something.”
The other end of the phone line was so silent Bucky pulled it away to make sure Sam was still on the line. After a couple more beats Sam’s voice crackled back through.
“Sorry, I just had to confirm I was still on the phone with James Buchannan Barnes, former soldier and current U.S -”
“Alright-” Bucky waited for Sam to finish his ribbing. He was starting to wonder if Sam would ever let him get to the main point of the story. The one that he was currently chasing through the streets of Queens.
A slip of red and blue swinging around the corner told Bucky which way SpiderGuy was going. He turned abruptly on his heel to keep up.
“Alright so you see BugBoy, you go out of your way to talk to him, and?” Bucky took a breath knowing that the next part of his story would really take Sam out. He decided to get it over with.
“And he ignored me. As in yes, he recognized me and then swung the opposite way. And yes I am currently trailing him right now.” Sam’s expected laughter was replaced with aggravated spluttering.
“Wait, wait, wait. You said- . And now you're talking to him?”
“Yea, something just seemed…off.” Bucky’s finger was itching to cut Sam’s questions off. It was rude, sure, but he figured the amount of time he’d already spent on the phone would excuse his behavior. He glanced at the time to confirm the clock read close to 10 minutes. That was three times his usual phone call.
“Okay, update you later, bye.” Bucky finally gave in and hung up the phone, ignoring Sam’s cutoff warning to not hang up.
Without the phone call as a distraction, Bucky was able to go the speed of a full force New Yorker and jog, (GOD) after Spiderman.
He swung himself from building to building, effortlessly spending a little bit more time in one location to use his webs to stop a bum from snatching a purse or to pull a person out of the way of a car. He never came down, there was none of the quips or kind encouragement Bucky had heard of. Instead Spiderman kept his distance, silent and solemnly watching the city.
Bucky thought back to Germany. That had been the last time he’d really seen the guy. They hadn’t really interacted much during the Battle of Wakanda and Tony’s funeral…was more of a blur than it should have been. But he remembered Spiderman had sounded young. Young, innocent, and unused to how serious battles went based on all the socializing he’d tried to do.
None of that matched up with the quiet hero Bucky was definitely not having trouble keeping up with.
Spiderman launched himself into the air before slipping in a thin alleyway. When he didn’t reappear over the tops of the building Bucky quickened the pace.
The alleyway Spiderman had disappeared into wasn’t sketchy enough for Bucky to reconsider minding his business. Instead he strolled right on down, craning his neck to see whatever angle would give him an int to where Spiderman had gone. Realizing he probably looked dumb (and was acting very dumb, going down an alleyway after a masked man). Bucky realized he didn’t even know why he cared so much about goddamn Spiderman.
There was the un-denying feeling in his gut that was telling him to follow Spiderman. And there was the increased fizziness that flooded around his brain the more he thought about Spiderman.
Bucky really hated it when his memory got messed with.
He’ll blame his irritation on possibly being mind wiped as an excuse on how the bastard snuck up on him. It was only the annoyed sigh (he had the nerve to sound annoyed) that gave away to Spiderman’s otherwise silent entrance.
“I’m not helping you do anything political.” The guy had the nerve to say. Bucky didn’t even care when Spiderman flinched back a bit at the frown on his face. Bucky then realized he had no idea what to say. And now he’d followed this not-coworker down an alley. Who he hadn’t even really conversed with SINCE they had fought in Germany.
He really couldn’t help but think this really was a Steve type of idea.
“What? No, I was- “ The asshole had the nerve to cut him off.
“Well then. I heard you're doing things in the government now and I’m currently breaking the law. So I’m gonna dip.” Spiderman brushed himself off and bent his knees to jump while Bucky racked his brain for something to say. He chose the nuclear option.
“You worked with…Tony. I didn’t see you at the funeral.” Spiderman froze, and Bucky knew that meant he hit some kind of nail on the head. “Matter of fact the more I think about that day the less I remember.”
Spiderboy came out of whatever type of stupor he’d gone in and started looking around. Bucky inched himself closer. If this guy was getting nervous at the mention of the blanks in his memory he might’ve had something to do with it.
So now he was going to have to fight his ex-non-coworker in the small alleyway Bucky had trapped him in. Wasn’t the way Bucky had thought this would go but he could say he preferred fighting to small talk, or god forbid comforting someone.
The guy crouched down again, he’d probably decided he had a better chance trying to escape then fight. Bucky had to think fast.
“You know, I really don’t like my memory being messed with. Kinda had my fill.”
Bucky threw the first punch, a heavy one that Spiderguy avoided frustratingly easily. The same went for the following jab and uppercut and Bucky’s mind flashed back to the fight in Germany, where it’d taken his and Sam’s efforts to finally land a hit. He grit his teeth and backed up, preparing to use the distance to build enough momentum to at least get the guy on his ass. Right before he launched himself the guy said something that stopped Bucky in his tracks.
“You aren’t supposed to be able to even put that together.”
Boom. Probable cause.
Bucky threw a right hand hook that yes! Actually landed but didn’t cause much damage. Instead Bucky used the Spider’s arms scrambling for balance as a way to pin him to one of the brick walls they were between. Spiderman started up with the excuses.
“Oh come on man it wasn’t even my fault.”
“Explain.” Spiderman thunked his own head against the wall and sighed. He mumbled something under his breath and Bucky fought the urge to roll his eyes. It felt like he was dealing with a child.
In his annoyance his grip must’ve loosened, because pajama-man slipped out the restraining hold and hung from higher up the wall with just one hand, completely out of Bucky’s reach. His other hand thwipped twice and before Bucky knew it, he was webbed to the only dumpster in the goddamn alley.
“Look, I don’t know how you're remembering me. You aren’t supposed to. That's kinda…the whole point. But hey, you can go back to minding your business and I can mind my own. Kay?” He waved awkwardly and then scrambled up the wall and out of sight. Then after a minute his red and blue mask peered over the edge again.
“Remember! The webs’ll dissolve in like 4 hours but with your strength you can probably cut it down to 2.”
Bucky thought about how his last time being trapped by the webs had only been cut short with the help of Redwing. A drone that was sitting in its case in a comfortable spot in DC.
He swallowed the deep scream he wanted to let out. It was his fault for wanting to be social anyway.