You stood alone on the large platform within the Avengers Compound, red and white suit covering your body and surrounding you in nanotech. The team stood around Bruce as he fiddled with a few switches on a couple of panels just a few feet away, faces a mixture of hope and nerves.

This was the only shot left, after Scott had blew the first of the two test rounds that would ensure Stark’s time machine worked. Banner gave you the pep talk, Nebula adjusted the tech of your suit just right, and you were ready to go back in time.

There was hesitancy to be that person currently in your position, but you stepped up. The snap left you with nothing. Bucky… He was gone. If there was any chance to get him back, you’d take it, no cost was too high. You wanted to do it for him, and for everyone else that was lost.

Banner’s countdown felt longer than it was, and the platform finally opened up beneath your feet, pulses of light like a wormhole in space that sucked you in and pulled you through leaps and bounds of realms.

A bright tunnel propelled you through the air and soon your body slumped into a warm patch of grass. You groaned softly as you pushed yourself to sit on your knees, taking in the sight before you. You were in a backyard, a warm summer’s day heat beating down on you as you caught your breath.

You’d planned on going only a few years back, just before the snap. But this… this wasn’t just a few years. It was a few decades. Something had seemed to go wrong with your suit’s calibration, and now you were in what looked to be the 40s. The rusted bicycle propped up against the back of the house brought back a few memories of Bucky’s stories from his young days. That was his bike.

A figure approached from the back door, adjusting his shirt collar before freezing mid-step at the sight of you.

“Jesus- Woah! What- Who are you? How’d you-“ He could only stutter out, staring at you with wide blue eyes.

You could recognise those eyes immediately, and that natural upturn at the corners of his lips. Bucky. But… He was young, he looked brighter, his shoulders were loose and he didn’t look ready to scope out the nearest exit or look for anything as a weapon - that was the Bucky you knew, the Bucky you lost to the snap. Seeing him so much more upbeat and happy just a few feet away was nothing short of a shock.

Your stunned silence had Bucky softly clearing his throat as he slowly approached, and he crouched down.

“Hey, uh… Do dames like you tend to drop into random fellas’ yards like this?” He asked, chuckling a little nervously as he eyed the full-body suit you had on. It obviously wasn’t from this time period, but neither were you. It seemed like some sort of competition at who could be more surprised to see the other.