Chapter Text
it was cass and aj that sparked the conversation, coming to sam while he lazed on the porch steps after an afternoon of difficult training. they asked if bucky was around and when they received confirmation that he wasn’t, they revealed a folded-up piece of paper that had been tucked away, scratched to hell with lines and scribbles of all sorts.
“we decided on a name!” aj exclaimed, pointing at combinations of letters too jumbled for a worn-out sam to attempt to decipher.
“name for what, exactly?” sam asked.
cass sighed, snatched the paper from his brother, and sat next to sam. “for cousin bucky,” he said, exasperated.
at that, sam perked up. “‘cousin’?”
“no!” aj swiped the list from cass’ hands. “you said we would call him ‘grandpa buck.’ you said—”
“i know what i said,” cass retorted, “and i lied. ‘grandpa buck’ is stupid.”
“it’s not stupid! you’re stupid.”
“okay, okay. now, hold on boys,” sam stood up and used himself as a barrier between his heated nephews, “what’s all this name nonsense?”
“the other day when cousin bucky,” cass took extra care to stress the two words to the clear annoyance of his brother, “picked us up after school, mr. lewis, that old man who sits at the front desk, was mean to him ‘cause he said he’s not family.”
sam crossed his arms against his chest and frowned. “buck never told me about that.”
“we thought maybe using a different name would help,” aj said, “and people wouldn’t ask questions.”
sam nodded and hummed, mulling it all over as he asked aj for the paper. he scanned the list of proposed nicknames, all just variations of bucky’s name with a title attached to the front: grandpa buck, uncle james, cousin bucky. he imagined what bucky’s reaction would be for each one and he couldn’t stop the massive grin that overtook his face.
“how about i propose a compromise?” he finally said, motioning for the two of them to sit on either side of him on the steps. “and we can vote on it.”
aj and cass looked at each other, shrugged, and nodded.
“what do you think about…‘uncle bucky’?”
both boys lit up.