The man on the bridge

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Fanfiction
Title: The man on the bridge
Author(s): boopboop
Date(s): 2014
Length: 107,556 words
Genre: Slash
Fandom: MCU, Captain America Movieverse
External Links: AO3

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The man on the bridge is a MCU, Steve/Bucky story by boopboop. As of June 2022, it has over 375,000 hits, 14,000 kudos, 4500 bookmarks, and 2800 comments. The story is part of the The Man on the Bridge series.

Summary

Steve Rogers turning up at Tony's door in the middle of the night might be a bit out of character, but it's not completely out of the realm of possibility. Stranger things have happened.

Steve Rogers turning up at Tony's door with an amnesiac assassin - who may or may not have some of Tony's personally designed hardware attached where his arm should be - well that's just far too interesting to turn away, even if Tony is trying to avoid all things S.H.I.E.L.D these days.

Reactions and Reviews

I just finished “the man on the bridge” (which I knew would be fucking heartbreaking but I, the moron that I am, read it anyways,) and now every time I see anything Captain America/Steve x Bucky/Avengers related on my dashboard my eyes start watering the wounds are too fresh goodbye tumblr I need time to heal.[1]

I just wanna promote this one story I’ve fallen in love with on ao3. it’s beautifully written and on point with all the characters’ mannerisms, it makes me wanna cry sometimes.... the relationship between Steve and Bucky will have you tearing up, and the story isn’t even focused solely on them. it’s fantastic. please go read it.[2]

Hi okay so I don’t read a ton of fanfic but I’m gonna promo this one because I’m in a severe amount of pain

read this fic. I swear to god read this fic. If I had millions of dollars and the author’s consent I’d be paying off marvel studios to make this shit into a film. It is honest to god the BEST Tony Stark characterization I’ve ever seen in a fanfic and Bucky and Steve are absolutely perfect and it goddamn kills me. The story is intense and will keep you on the edge of your seat and even being over 100k words you still want more. It took me like a week to read because I had to keep stopping to regroup my emotions.

Basically read this fic jesus christ stop what you’re doing right now and read this fanfiction if you care at all about Steve and Bucky and avengers stuff because it’s ripped my soul out of my body and others need to suffer as I have suffered[3]

I am very glad I stumbled over “the man on the bridge” and absorbed the fanfic.

Problem with most hurt/comfort fanfics is that they mostly center around the hurt while comfort and caretaking play a minor role, if even existent (just think about 50 shades of grey e.g.). The author of this fanfic never harmonised or played down the cruelty that was done to the victim. The reactions of the victims friends were so human. So hurt, pained and furios and caring for each other. It touched me really deep as a reader and I found myself even crying a few times because the characters acted so human and understandable you could feel with them.

I am always glad when I find a fanfiction dealing so good with tragic events, also because I have a soft spot for characters who have been through a lot.[4]

All of the Avengers, including Sam, get a lovely amount of screentime (it makes me sad when fics only feature about 3 of them) and at points very important individual roles, which gives the story a balanced feel.

Something I really liked was how the story keeps moving forward. The writer really took advantage of the 107k words, and every word feels like it has a purpose in furthering the plot....

This story is told from Tony’s point of view, and brilliantly written in that way. The way we see the story unfurl from his eyes feels realistic in a way that normally only a first-person narrative can achieve. We see, hear and read the things he does, but when he’s not present to hear the beginning of a conversation, we also get plunged right in along with him.[5]

There are several complex issues in this fic and they’re all dealt with exceptionally. It’s certainly not the kind of fic where the brain washing just magically fixes itself.[5]

Totally captivatig and engrossing read. Very well written. Top notch characterisation - especially Tony.

Although I must admit that, in the beginning, I was a quite bit perplexed by the POV this fanfic is told from - namely Tony. Not at all because of it being Stark per se - hell, give me a funny, snarky, pratt-ish POV any day (or even better: every day) of the year... But seeing as this is Steve/Bucky slash I was wondering how exactly a setup like that would work. And, amazingly, it did. Given my rating, quite obviously extremely well at that.

This is, however, not your usual fanfic slash. And it's not a romance per se, not really, but kinda. The slash never really happens - there's a tender, blossoming love between Steve and Bucky to be witnessed by Tony, sure. But never anything explicit (it doesn't even happen off-page because of the way the story evolves & because of the plot in general. I'll refrain from spoiler-ing you at this point, though.)

At any rate, please don't let the unusual POV stop you from reading this fantastic fanfic! Trust me, it's totally worth every second of your time: so much suspense and lot's of Avengers-y action that it's almost like watching another The Avengers movie.[6]

I've read and re-read this fic from pretty much the time it was published and my love for it only grows with each re-read.

The characters are all written on point. No one is side-lined or made to appear as unimportant or are simply there just because it's expected that they are, but they don't end up doing anything. Everyone has a role to play and has time in the spotlight. The relationships (pre-existing or new) that are formed and developed over the course of this fic is beautiful and heartfelt. You can feel as you read just how much these people care for one another, even when they are trying to hide it behind walls and/or snark.

The writing is delightful and witty. The dialogue flows naturally and the amount of sass and snark that is cramped into this fic is hilarious and unforced. The description of events, locations and battles are amazingly detailed without being overly wordy and complex.[6]

One of the first, and still one of the best imo, post-CA:TWS fic out there. Be warned though, it's hella long.[7]

One of the best fics I came across about the event taking place after Captain America: Winter Soldier. While there is Steve/Bucky paring, fic explores relationships between all Avengers. Bucky’s trauma is not fetishized and author does justice to the fact how messed up he would be after many years of constant experiments, tortures and memory wipes - no magical love cure, no easy solutions.[8]

Negative Reviews

[Anon 1]

I had high hopes for it, because I am starving for long, plotty, post TWS fic, but my God. Everyone is OOC and unlikeable, even Tony. Especially Tony, since the fic is told from his point of view.

[Anon 2]

I loved the first few chapters, but I think you're right about the characters. They drift OOC by about 10 chapters in and stay that way. Nearly every single character has to think/panic about their various traumas for a billion pages. Tony continually notices tiny moments between Bucky and Steve and is like "omg they are my otp." I love that there IS plot in it, but it seems sidelined to all the emotional trauma&comforting thereof.[9]

Inspired Fanworks

References

  1. ^ "Dec 18, 2014 Tumblr post". Archived from the original on 2022-06-25.
  2. ^ "Apirl 23, 2014 Tumblr post". Archived from the original on 2022-06-25.
  3. ^ "June 18, 2014 Tumblr post". Archived from the original on 2022-06-25.
  4. ^ "June 29, 2014 Tumblr post". Archived from the original on 2022-06-25.
  5. ^ a b "June 25, 2014 Tumblr post". Archived from the original on 2022-06-25.
  6. ^ a b Goodreads review
  7. ^ "Steve/Bucky Fic Recs!". Archived from the original on 2021-08-30.
  8. ^ "June 24, 2014 Tumblr post". Archived from the original on 2022-06-25.
  9. ^ Anon comments on fail_fandomanon, May 12, 2014
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