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The person once known as Bucky wasn’t planning on going into the toy shop. He knew no children, and had no reason to ever enter on. However, he was trailing Steve Rogers, his old mission (his failed mission), when the blond suddenly changed course and Bucky needed to leave or else Steve would see him.
Bucky wasn’t ready for that yet. He only just reclaimed his body’s old name, and even that felt weird.
Bucky went into the nearest building, which happened to be a toy shop. It was filled with screaming kids, some pulling on their parent’s arms, some running around in excitement, one was crying. It was almost enough to make Bucky consider if running into Steve face to face would be better, but that would probably be a bigger headache.
Probably.
Doing his best to blend in and not look like a creepy man hanging around children without one himself, Bucky started browsing the shelves. About half the toys were what he would expect; soft animals, bright colors, robots...
“No, I don’t want a transformer, I want Iron Man!” Some kid yelled as their mother tried desperately to calm them down.
Bucky knows that Iron Man is part of the group that Captain America is in. Just like how he went to the museum to look into his old mission who somehow he knew , Bucky looked into the avengers. Not that they have done much after the aliens invaded New York.
Bucky felt like that should have been a shock, but watching the film of the event felt familiar in a way past missions sometimes did. It was something he made a note in his journal since a mission involving aliens might be worth remembering, even if it was with Hydra.
But the round table the kid was struggling to get to wasn’t just housing Iron Man, but the other Avengers too. The giant green one whose codename was the Hulk, the Black Widow that Bucky remember fighting at some point before he ran, some guy with a bow, a guy who looked like Steve but with long hair and a hammer who was indeed the Nordic god Thor, and then there was Captain America himself.
There were a lot of little statues of Captain America, almost as much as Iron Man. It felt like there were more since Captain America was in way more different styles than the Iron Man.
There were stuff toys that were extremely disporpotal body wise, plastic dolls that were in different poses, ones that had moveable joints so you could make your own poses, ones where the head was very large and would bobble. There were a few boxes all labeled LEGO that had different sets.
One with six figures that Bucky assumed were meant to be the Avengers though they were even more inaccurate then the soft toys. Another with the version of Steve he saw in the museum, with a motorcycle and a Hydra base you could build (not that Bucky thinks that would be appropriate for children). The last on the display was all the Howling Commandos in that incoherent mini figurine style.
Bucky stayed away from the toys of the Howling Commandos, and the ones that had Captain America and his ‘buddy Bucky’. The ones with modern Steve were better to look at.
Bucky even smiled when he picked one up that had a shield you could shoot off by moving the other arm.
“Looking for something for your kid?”
Bucky knew the worker was next to him, but he didn’t think she would ask him a question.
“No I don’t have a kid,” Bucky said before remembering he didn’t want to seem suspicious, “I have a friend who’s into this stuff.”
“Oh I get it. They don’t want to be seen buying kid stuff themselves so you’re doing it for them?” The girl had a name tag that read ‘Alice’ and Bucky nodded.
“I have a friend like that. Obsessed with Iron Man but never will buy any of the merch herself, so I get stuff with my employee discount and give it to her.”
Bucky wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say, or if he was meant to say anything, but just nodded again.
“If you are looking for new Cap merch that your friend is less likely to already own, I would suggest either the solo Cap LEGO set or the dynamic action figure.”
Feeling like this was a choice Bucky needed to make in order to blend in, Bucky repeated the last one.
“Good choice, though they are fun to mess around with. Works as a poseable figurine if your friend is any good at art.”
“He is,” Bucky said without thinking about it.
That was something mentioned in the museum, but there was only a line saying Steve went to art class for two year and an example of one of his sketches. Bucky had no idea if Steve still drew, and it made him sad to think that he would stop.
“Oh, does he do Captain America fanart?” Alice asked, and it took Bucky a little too long to realize he needed to respond.
“Sometimes,” Bucky answered, his swiss cheese brain providing the image of a monkey wearing the Captain America suit that he believed Steve drew himself.
Not sure why Steve would draw that, but it would count as fanart. Assuming it was still fanart if it was of himself.
“If you even come back, I would love to see an example of your friend’s work.”
Bucky gave another nod as he fished over cash to pay for the toy, even though he’s certain that he’ll never be back. Steve apparently has been taking out Hydra bases one by one looking for him, and Bucky has been using that distraction to make fake trails. Also there is an itch to make sure Steve isn’t dead whenever he overhears that they are taking out another base, though Bucky hasn’t needed to do more then take out a few guys when they are trying to leave.
If Widow come back Bucky will need to distance himself more, but when it’s just Steve and the bird guy it’s painfully easy.
When Bucky got back outside, Steve was long gone. Not that it took much work to track him down again. They would be staying in the hotel room until they get another lead.
When they went out for dinner, Bucky slipped in. It was in order to check their work, leave a few hints if they were going completely off the trail or Steve was making a dumb plan. A few times Bucky has thought about leave a message that he was okay for Steve. Each time Bucky didn’t know what he could say.
This time Bucky took the Captian America figure out of his bag and positioned in on the night table with a short note underneath.
“I can’t believe you eat all the wasabi.”
“You told me that’s what it was for,” Steve said, refusing to feel shame for it.
Sam just continued laughing to himself as Steve unlocked their room, and right away he could tell something was off. A quick look showed that all of their stuff was still there, Natasha was sitting in a chair waiting for them (or anyone else for that matter), and if any bugs were planted it won’t matter since they will be leaving tomorrow...
“Was that there when we left?” Sam asked, pointing to Steve’s bed.
Or, not his bed. Sam was pointing to the nightstand where an action figure of himself was standing, both hands flipping him off.
Steve almost knocked over the table in the small living room on his way to the table, ignoring Sam’s call as he’s eyes narrowed into the figure. It looked like a normal toy, and Steve found what he was looking for underneath it.
Better than the comics
Steve flipped over the note, but it was just those four words.
“Dude, are you crying?”
“No,” Steve said as he showed the note.
Sam looked like he was crazy, but how was he meant to explain that during the war Bucky wouldn’t stop ribbing him about the comics they were made about Captain America. That Bucky found the whole thing hilarious and Steve starting asking for them just to keep Bucky smiling.
“It’s Bucky,” Steve ended up saying, since the handwriting was just as bad as it was in 1932.
“So he broke in to leave you a doll of yourself, and a note.”
“He’s okay.”
“He’s...yeah okay. Considering what we know, this is probably one of the better outcomes.”
The fact that Bucky was in the city, was in their room at some point today, made Steve was to run out to the streets, calling his name. But Steve knew there was no way he was going to find Bucky if Bucky didn’t want to be found. Instead, Steve took the note pad that Bucky must have used, and wrote his own letter.
“You want to stick around and look for him?” Sam asked when he was finished.
“I think I just have to wait for Bucky to come to me,” Steve admitted, even though the last thing he wanted to do was wait.
“I think that’s a smart idea. Not sure I feel comfortable with having the guy looking through my stuff, but I guess I’ll deal.”
“Nat already does that.”
“What? When did she go through our stuff?”
“What do you think happened to your box of gum last week?” Steve told him as he set up the letter on the action figure.
It was still there when they woke up, much to Sam’s relief, but when they got in the car and check into the next place, the figurine was back with a new note.