The next morning at six thirty, Steve received a text from Natasha.
"Hey, Bucky! Wake up!" He whispered excitedly in Bucky's ear. Bucky was not awake enough to form words, just managing to get out a disgruntled "Mmmvfgh!" at being woken up so early. Steve shook Bucky's good shoulder until Bucky opened his eyes.
"What is it?" Bucky mumbled sleepily before yawning. His long hair was flung about his head every which way, and Steve thought it was cute. He smiled.
"You know how we did that video thing, like, two-ish weeks ago?" Steve asked, practically bouncing up and down.
"Yeah. What about it?" Bucky asked, wondering what Steve was so excited about.
"Well, let's just say it gained some traction." Steve said, till bouncing in his excitement.
"...And...?" Bucky asked.
"Well, that's just the thing isn't it? Since it just suddenly got really popular online, there's just a bunch of stuff now. Like, Tony wants to do a follow-up video, and like interview other lgbt people who don't actually know you. And people all over social media, are, like, posting their support for us and anyone else who's been through anything similar.There's essentially a mini movement about hate crimes now. Some different news agencies in the area want to interview us, too. Bucky, you have no idea how many people are speaking out support for you." So that's why Steve was excited.
"Alright. So what do we have to do?" Bucky asked, sitting up. His hair stayed sprawled in exactly the same way it had been while he was lying down.
"We're gonna meet at Tony's for lunch and get down to work. Right now, though, let's make pancakes." Steve said, smiling and walking out into the kitchen. By the time Bucky finally came out of the bathroom, his hair put into a tiny man bun and a tank top on his chest, Steve had already poured the first batch of pancakes onto the griddle.
"Don't hit the ceiling." Bucky warned jokingly as he opened a high cabinet to get a coffee mug. He was referring to a time when Bucky and Steve were very little, and Bucky had just learned how to make pancakes, and was really excited about showing Steve how to flip them. Steve had wound up flipping one onto the ceiling. Bucky had teased him about it for years after that. Steve rolled his eyes at Bucky, then casually flipped all the pancakes with no issue whatsoever.
Bucky poured himself a cup of coffee, using both arms for the first time in weeks. Steve noticed and smiled, but said nothing, flopping all of the pancakes onto a plate.
"Here, these six are for you." Steve said, nodding toward the plate full of golden brown pancakes as he started pouring batter for six more. Bucky held his coffee mug with his metal hand and picked up the plate with his flesh one. His metal hand worked just as well. As he sat down at the small table, he pulled out his phone and turned it on. He tried to use his thumb print, and realized, for the eightieth time, that he could not use his left thumb on his phone. Sighing, he used his right hand to type in his passcode.
What Steve said was true: the two of them were all over the internet, and a lot of people were showing support. There were two hashtags circulating around: #endhatecrimes and #standwithstucky
"The hell is Stuck?" Bucky asked quietly, mostly to himself.
"Oh, yeah, the internet has created a ship name for us. They smashed together our names and that's our relationship name." Steve said, sitting down across from Bucky with his own plate of pancakes.
"Yeah, but isn't that mostly done for fictional characters?" Bucky asked, putting his phone down on the table and looking up at Steve.
"Well, mostly, yeah, but there are actually quite a few for real people, and apparently now we're one of them." Steve said, his face stuffed full of pancakes. Despite everyone thinking he was such a gentleman, he really wasn't.
"Dude, check this out: celebrities are doing it too. Like- Oh, dude! Chris Evans posted about it. And he's, like, so cool!" Bucky said, back on his phone again.
"Yeah, and beautiful. He is movie star quality." Steve said contemplatively.
"Well, he is a movie star, Steve. And actually, you look kind've like him now that you're not a scrawny little kid anymore." Bucky said, and Steve knew it to be a compliment.
"Maybe I should grow a beard, like he has. I could go around pretending to be him." Steve said, making Bucky laugh at the idea of his boyfriend becoming a Chris Evans impersonator. He had to admit, though: Steve did look just like Chris Evans. But he shouldn't grow a beard. That would be confusing. Bucky shook his head, still laughing.
"No, I like you clean-shaven. Makes you look sophisticated." Bucky said, barely understandable through his over-full pancake mouth. The picture of sophistication. Steve chuckled, his eyes twinkling in that way that Bucky liked. Bucky went back to scrolling through social media on his phone. Rainbow flags were essentially everywhere associated with those two hashtags. He and Steve had become a sensation. He just liked that awareness was spreading to stop hate crimes. It was really a beautiful thing.
* * *
"You guys!" Natasha screamed as she opened the door for them. Steve just didn't tend to need the key he was given. "C'mon, c'mon! We have so much to do." She was grinning from ear to ear, quite excited. She grabbed them both by the wrist (Bucky by his right wrist) and dragged them, smiling, into the living room, where Tony had already set up lights, cameras, a green screen, everything he'd need to do more filming. There were a few people in the room that Steve had never seen before, but one man he did recognize.
"Excuse me," Steve addressed the man, "You were the one driving the truck, right? Who called nine one one?" The man nodded. "I just wanted to thank you for calling nine one one when you did. It probably saved our lives." Steve extended his hand and the man shook it.
"I couldn't see myself just driving away after what happened. I think anyone would have called in a heartbeat, I just so happened to be there." The guy said.
"Well, thank you anyway, sir. What's your name, by the way?" Steve asked.
"I'm Tom." The guy said, smiling before Tony came over and started yabbing in the guy's ear. Oh, Tony.
"Alright, everyone!" Natasha called, clapping her hands once to silence the chatter in the room. "We're gonna first put Steve and Bucky over here and roll the cameras, and anyone who wants to interview them can at that time ask them a few questions. Then anyone else who is going to be interviewed will then sit in front of the cameras and be interviewed. Pretty straightforward, so, let's get to it." She could really be commanding when she wanted to. She kind've pushed Bucky and Steve into the lights and cameras. They blinked as they sat, then seemed to gather themselves.
"Ready?" Tony asked them. Steve gave him a thumbs up. Then people (reporters, Steve assumed) began to ask them questions. It was basically like a press conference in Tony's living room. Tony was used to it in a way that made Steve feel like he did this often. With Tony's lifestyle though, he probably did.
"What was going through your minds when you saw the men approaching you?" Smeone asked.
"I just suddenly felt a need to protect Bucky, and I like, stood in front of him. All that was going through my mind was that I wanted to protect him." Steve said, wrapping his arm around Bucky's shoulders.
"What about you?" The reporter asked Bucky.
"I don't remember any of it." He said, "I remember being in the park with Steve, and then I remember waking up in the hospital."
"What about your arm? I see since the first video that was posted you've gotten a pretty nice prosthetic. Where did you get that? How does it feel?" Bucky was asked.
"This arm was custom made by Tony Stark. I don't know. I really love it, especially compared to the first prosthetic I got, but I just really miss feeling things in my arm. I can move it and do normal things just as well as I could with a flesh arm, but I can't feel anything. I miss that." Bucky said, holding his metal arm up and moving it around so people could see it.
"What about that red star on it? There a story behind it?" The reporter continued.
"Um, yeah, there is, actually. Steve painted it on yesterday morning for me. Red is my favorite color, and we just kind've wanted to do something to make my arm mine, you know? Something kind've simple and nice. I think he did a pretty good job." Bucky said, making Steve blush. He was kind've embarrassed that the cameras caught him blushing, but mostly just happy that Bucky liked what he'd done.
"So, if you could say anything to the people who attacked you, and anyone who shares their viewpoint or thinks what they did is right, what would you say?" A new reporter asked them.
"Well, that's really hard to answer, actually." Steve began, "Because I really don't like bullies. I don't care who the are or where they're from, I have a bad history with bullies and I don't like them. Nobody should think it's alright to gang up on people, two to one, for any reason. But still, I believe that if I don't have anything nice to say that I shouldn't say anything at all. So I'm on the fence as to whether I should speak my mind or not. I'd probably just ask them why they did it, why they think it's alright to hurt someone as sweet and wonderful as Bucky. Because I just don't get that." Steve said, looking at Bucky.
"Well, I also have a bit of a history with bullies. Mostly mine was dealing with Steve's bullies during childhood, though since he wasn't always this physically well off. So, I know what I'd say to the men who attacked us, it would be the same thing I told to all of the bullies who picked on Steve in elementary, middle and high school. I'd tell them to go pick on somebody their own size, instead of picking on people they could easily overpower. It's not an okay thing to do, ever, to anybody." Bucky said. He looked straight at the camera while saying this.
"Okay, and what would you say to anyone else who's been attacked or bullied because of their gender or sexuality?" The same reporter asked.
"I would just make sure they know that, despite everything, there are a lot of people who believe in them, that the world is getting better every day. You are valid, and it is going to get better. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not even in a few years, but I swear to you: it will get better someday. Never stop believing in that." Steve rattled off this answer immediately, leaving Bucky kind've just staring at him.
"Yeah, what he said." Bucky stated blandly. "I don't think anyone could've said it better, so, I'm just gonna go along with that." The reporters kept asking the two questions. There were about ten of them, and it seemed that they had enough questions to go on forever. Eventually Tony took pity on Steve and Bucky and told everyone that they were done being interviewed, so they stood up and walked over to sit on the couch as other people got interviewed.