assetandmission:

Interesting to note: Bucky had all his memories back, but he started a new life without contacting Steve. Fandom seems upset about this, but I think it makes perfect sense; it fits with the ending of CATWS, when Bucky visits the Captain America exhibit. 

Because, like he said, Bucky doesn’t want to fight anymore. He doesn’t want to be a soldier or be involved in this superhero mess. And as Civil War showed us, that’s Steve’s entire life. As long as Steve remains Captain America he will always be fighting these battles. It never ends.

We know that Steve’s been struggling with this for his entire plotline, but Bucky doesn’t know that; he only sees the Smithsonian exhibit. He thinks Steve wants to be this legendary superhero, but Bucky is just done with that story. Being a superhero (or serum-enhanced, rather) has only ever lead to trauma and torture for Bucky. He followed Steve in CATFA and worked with Captain America despite his reservations… and it killed him. Then fighting Captain America in CATWS almost killed him again. So Bucky couldn’t align himself with Steve – in fact, he was terrified when he saw Steve dressed like Cap, waiting for him. Like he said, it always ends in a fight, and Bucky didn’t want history to repeat itself. He knew that if he stayed with Steve, he would be caught up in Captain America as long as Steve was – he would fight alongside Cap as long as he was able. But Bucky just wanted to be free, for once, so he chose a life without Captain America, without Steve. It wasn’t really working, but he was trying to get away.

So Bucky didn’t contact Steve, mostly ran from him and these superhero fights… until Steve put down the shield. Then they walked away from it all, side by side. No shield, no metal arm, just Bucky and Steve supporting each other, closing that chapter of their lives together. It’s exactly what they both wanted, but couldn’t do alone.