*1990s Hollywood/Actor!Bucky AU**
LOS ANGELES - 1997 - Bucky Barnes is an out of work actor who is bartending to pay the bills. With money tight, bills piling up, and his royalty checks running out, he's about ready to give up and bartend for the re...
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A/N: Okay, folks! Here's the prologue! I hope you enjoy. Chapter one will drop once Oleander is finished, and we can continue this story, but for now, please enjoy!
CW: Mentions of dubious consent, body shaming, shitty agents. Also, apologies to Julia Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland. I didn't mean it, y'all. I'm sorry. But I'm not sorry to Oliver Stone. He's kind of a dick.
LOS ANGELES || 1997
Bucky walks into the bar early for the afternoon shift. It's 2:30pm. He's not supposed to start until 3:00. He's early to everything, even parties. He's the guy who shows up at 7:30 when the party starts at 8:00 and winds up helping to set up. He's always been like that. His dad was in the military, and when he started acting as a child, he was late once and the director told him: "Son, I'm going to give you some advice. Nobody pays you to take your coat off." In the industry, time is money, and Bucky doesn't like to waste it.
The afternoon shift is relatively easy - it's mostly just bar prep and cleaning up before the club opens at 7:00pm. He's coming back later tonight to bartend, but he could use the extra money. He walks into the staff room and puts his backpack down on the table, digging into it and pulling out a book. He puts his feet up on the table and begins to read. It's a book that one of his acting coaches recommended - before he stopped being able to afford his acting coach.
He called his agency today to see if any more residual checks had come in. He wants to pay for more classes, but they're expensive, and living in LA isn't exactly a cakewalk. Right now, he lives with Steve and Sam in a large apartment. They get a pretty good deal on rent, but Bucky definitely pays the least.
Sam and Steve co-own SHIELD, one of the hottest nightclubs in Los Angeles. They hired Bucky because he needed a job. His prospects were running desperately low.
A long time ago, Bucky Barnes was one of the biggest child stars on television. He was a series regular, which isn't an easy gig to land, especially as a kid with no connections to the industry - but the casting agent loved his curiosity and his attitude. Bucky quickly became a star. It was a Family Ties-esque show called Homecoming. Bucky's parents had no idea that it would take off, but it did, and suddenly, he was the most popular kid on television. At 7 years old. It was a lot of pressure for him. He had to hire PR coaches to teach him how to do interviews and navigate the industry with no experience. He learned fast, he made a hell of a lot of mistakes along the way, but he made it through.
The problem with child actors is, when you get older and less cute and marketable, the industry throws you out. The second he turned 17, he found himself out of work and scrambling for cash. His parents had used his Homecoming money to pay for school, acting classes, headshots, and things around the house. Bucky was the major breadwinner. His dad was out of work, and the Barnes's had two kids to take care of. It only made sense that they used their son's income to support the family. He didn't have a bad life - hell, it was better than most of his friends, but he sure wishes his parents had left him something to survive on.
