Fic Recs Wanted/Needed (A Rant!)

[epiphanyx7]

Regarding Bucky Barnes/The Winter Sldier

I'm a sucker for Avengers stories, because I love superheroes and I love friendships. And, while I hadn't really read a lot of Winter Soldier fic before the release of Captain America: the Winter Soldier (henceforth referred to as CAtWS), there are a lot of stories available now that deal with Bucky Barnes both pre- and post- TWS. And, uh, I hate a lot of them. I mean, just--- SO MANY stories, I hate them with fiery, burning passion. And it's not that they're poorly written or poorly characterized, it's not that they're unrealistic or anything. The main problem I have with post-CAtWS fic is this:

They're awful to Bucky.

I know he's a fictional character, but in-universe, he's a person. And the fandom as a whole seems to not understand how ableist and demeaning they are towards Bucky's character, whether writing "recovery" stories or simply skipping to the place where they try to "fix" him.

I don't know what most people are thinking when they write Bucky, but, as a person with clinical depression and PTSD as well as general anxiety disorder (disorders?) I know that the way mental illness is treated in fandom is condescending, patronizing, and infantilizing, and it's pretty insulting in general. The other thing (speaking as an able-bodied person with only limited experience working with physically disabled persons) is that they (we) generally ignore Bucky's physical disability, and have no problem using it to the advantage of others and/or violating his bodily autonomy at will.

And these things are not okay. I don't care that Bucky is mentally ill: you do not share personal details of another person's mental illness or emotional distress with others. You do not talk about him as if he is not there. You do NOT get to decide what treatment a person is/should be getting without their input. You absolutely do NOT fail to mention that they have a right to refuse treatment. I don't care that you don't see Bucky as "disabled" because his prosthetic works just like an organic limb. You do not take someone's prosthetic away (not even "for their own good" which is a bullshit excuse), you do not perform scans or surgeries on them without their consent, you do not make the decisions about someone else's body for them.

To be perfectly honest, 90% of the post-CAtWS fic about Bucky is written from Steve's (or another Avenger's) persepective, and often being written by a neurotypical author with (limited, if any) understanding of mental illness. And that really comes through in the writing, whether intentional or not, because I know what it's like to have depression or anxiety and PTSD and I know what it's like to not be able to get out of bed, to struggle with hypervigilance, to do all the things that fandom thinks that Bucky needs to be "cured" from. And I hate reading yet another summary of yet another story where Bucky is "broken" and the others get to "fix" him. I hate reading yet another story about a bunch of neurotypicals sitting around, discussing the best way to make the character I love the most stop being like me.

I hate it so much, and so I'm putting together a rec list of stories that aren't like that.

(And yes, I want you to rec things to me if they qualify.)

Qualifications:

1. Bucky's POV (or, The Winter Soldier's POV, depending on how he wishes to identify)
   • alternating POV is also acceptable
2. Bucky must have agency-- as in, he must make decisions for himself.
3. No violation of Bucky's Bodily Autonomy.
   
   • That means the good guys don't take his arm or attempt to disable his arm without his explicit permission
   • That means the good guys don't render him unconscious without his permission
   • That means the good guys don't attempt to scan, learn about, or work on his arm without his permission
   • That means the good guys don't strip him, take his weapons/possessions, or do anything to him when he is unconscious (except for first aid if necessary)
   • This means Bucky should not be imprisoned or restrained in any way, unless he is a danger to others. (I don't care if he's a danger to himself, after 70 years of torture, you don't get to tell him what to do with his own body even if he IS self-harming)
   • That means no sex or sexual contact unless/until he is able to consent
   • That means if any of the above happens, it needs to be written in a way that makes it clear that this is Not Good.
     
4. Any non-Steve-Rogers Avengers need to develop a friendship with Bucky before they're privy to any personal information about him. (If the author has written an established history between the Winter Soldier and Black Widow, I'm willing to allow Natasha to be an exception as well.) This is because if I were Bucky, I would feel awful and humiliated/violated if I found out my friend was casually chatting about my emotional breakdowns to a bunch of strangers. Even with mutual friends, that would be deeply uncomfortable. Unless Bucky has given his permission, that's a violation of his privacy.
5. Preferably, nobody uses ableist slurs. (With regards to anybody's mental illness/disability or physical disability)

If those criteria are met, I want that story. If not-- and yes, I understand that even good characters are meant to be human, and thus capable o error-- I want it to be clear that they have made a mistake. If the good guys fuck up, I need them to KNOW they've fucked up.

Alternate Criteria (Preferred):

1. Bucky Rescues Himself. 
   • That doesn't mean he can't have help, it just means he makes the decisions about his recovery. He does not get or need to be 'rescued' like a damsel in distress, he either chooses to go to others and ask for help, or he gets the help he needs without being told to.
   • This means forming relationships and a support network, learning basic life skills that were denied to him while he was the winter soldier, and making choices for himself.
   • It does not mean therapy or the absence of mental illness.

So once I realized nobody else had put together a list of stories like that, I figured it may as well be me. I'm hardly writing fic any more, so I might as well rec some to you guys. That'll happen soon probably.