Title: The Open Road
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: General
Length: 252 words
Content notes:
Author notes: Based on the scene at the end of The Avengers that has Steve riding away on his bike
Summary: Steve hits the road.


Steve Rogers hit the open road on his motorcycle after the battle for New York. He took some cash, a few items of clothing and a volume of Walt Whitman’s poetry. He grudgingly took a burner phone that Fury gave him in case the world tried to end again. Those things were all he needed.

The first place he traveled to was Brooklyn, to the cemetery where Bucky’s memorial stone was, beside his parents and one of his sisters. He was sure that Peggy was responsible for seeing this done. She was fond of Bucky, after they got to know one another.

He pulled the volume of poetry out and opened it to a marked passage. He sat beside Bucky’s stone and read out loud:
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune—I myself am good fortune;
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Strong and content, I travel the open road.


He placed a hand on the cold granite, tracing Bucky’s name with his finger. This trip, this odyssey, was for Bucky, for all the things they never got to do and all the places they never got to see.

He sat there for several minutes, telling Bucky about his life now, about his new friends, about the Avengers. He ran his hand over the name, James Buchanan ‘Bucky’ Barnes, one last tine and rose to his feet.

He left without looking back, heading out to the open road. Perhaps he’d find Steve Rogers again out there somewhere.