oh oh!! maybe before deciding to be put under, bucky asks to find someone he'd trust to put on retainer for him, before he's basically rendered unconscious for a miscellaneous amount of time.

tbh this would make sense because bucky literally has no identity allowed within the states, being a fugitive of the state, and so there would be several matters where he would have no representation without illegally being within the country and subjecting himself to arrest simply for showing up. having legal representation obfuscates his means of contact and his physical presence in a way that would give him freedom to be represented while not being immediately subjugated to arrest.

so he could do some research and end up finding matt from the work he's done. i was checking the timeline and civil war happens after matt's "death" but before he recovers in s3 soooo we could fudge the timeline a little to make it be after he recovers and maybe have some double angst going on? 👀 matt wouldn't even need to find someone to box with bc bucky would probably find him, even being hidden away as he is, and bucky loves boxing okay 😌 (and bucky probably made the educated guess that he's daredevil to find him)

i'll work on a starter for tony's open post c: