#and the end of this story Nick talks about how he knows how much Steve cares about Sharon

[daydreamerdrew]

Tales of Suspense (1959) #92

[xhoneygirlxx]

Watermelon Sugar

Eddie Munson x Fem Reader

summary: Eddie shows you the eight wonder of the world. his mouth.

warnings: reader and eddie are 18+, established relationship, fluff, Eddie being a munch. nicknames/pet names used (baby, honey, sweetheart, etc.) MINORS DNI 18+ smut: fem oral receiving, blowjobs mentioned, talks of past sexual experiences, praise/body worship, swearing. *Skin Color/Ethnicity not mentioned! not proofread, spelling errors and horrible writing.

if I miss anything plz lmk!

a/n: hello my loves! thank you all for the kind words and reactions on my last couple of posts! as you all know smut is not my forte but I felt the need to write this. am I projecting??? maybe but we’re gonna pretend that i'm not :)

The low hum of Steve Nicks’ voice plays through Eddie’s room, the soundtrack of your makeout session with your boyfriend. Orange glow from the late afternoon sun comes through the window, an angelic glow casting around the frizz of the mentalhead’s hair.

It started as an innocent day, hanging out together in a comfortable silence in his room. Him doodling in his notebook and you flipping through one of his old comic books. Somewhere along the way a featherlight touch turned into shared giggles, sitting in his lap turned into a chaste kiss, and it ended up with him in between your parted knees, kissing like his life depended on it.

A curtain of curls block out the skylight, tender lips on yours like melted honey, and big hands roaming down the expanse of your body. When Eddie moves away from your mouth, he takes the oxygen from your lungs with him and you whimper at the loss.

"Gonna let me have a taste of you, pretty girl?" Big doe eyes shine down to you, way too eager and excited. Your stomach twists into knots, the training you put yourself through in case of this moment, has all been for nothing. What do you say to the man that hovers over you with so much love in his eyes?

"How about I suck you off instead, hmm?" You try to come off as sensual but instead you sound scared.

It's an offer that you've made so many times over the short course of your relationship with Eddie. This was your first real relationship besides the eight grade love affair you had with Simon Willard. That only lasted a week.

You weren't anywhere near a virgin, that so called sacred part of yourself is now in the possession of a random boy you met on vacation before your senior year. Hookups weren't uncommon to you but what was uncommon to you was the affection you received during the sex.

People you've hooked up with never really cared to get you nice and ready the way Eddie does, prepping you with two or more fingers, working you open so that it doesn't hurt going in. Guys didn't care if you got off or not, they were just looking for a hole to fill and someone who wouldn't get clingy.

You had guy friends, including Eddie before you started dating, and you heard the horror stories they had of going down on a girl. It was never in mean spirit, although the discussion should've stayed in the bedroom, but it still scared you shitless. How one girl didn't properly take care of herself, causing the smell to be rancid. This girl didn't wipe the right way, leaving scraps of toilet paper down there. And the one that really settled itself into your brain, was how good or bad a girl tasted.

Of course you, and all of your guy friends, knew that girls didn't taste like ice cream, or strawberries, or candy. It was made up, another bullshit beauty standard for woman to worry about.

You had paid attention to the way guys would ask you if you wanted it done. The way they would sigh and roll their eyes like it was the biggest task of their lives. You would end up telling them that you're more of a giver than receiver, and that you just weren't interested in that whole thing. When they would release a breath of relief you would fill with shame, almost like you were the one who requested it to be done and had been turned down. The embarrassment of rejection you didn't even ask for.

So when you and Eddie first had sex as boyfriend and girlfriend, you made it your mission to never let that horrid question come from his mouth. You always made sure to offer him head first, and if it looked like he was about to ask, you'd simply tell him you couldn't wait anymore.

Now here you are, under him, ready and willing to take him in your mouth, and he's gotten the question out before you could beat him to the punch.

"Ya know I will never say no to that, sweetheart. But-"

Uh oh. That's the word that comes before a life or death sentence. It's hanging heavy over you, the once comfortable silence is now killing you. Squeezing all of the air out of your body, limbs going numb with the loss of circulation, all the while your ears ring like an explosion has gone off.

"I want to return the favor." It's so sincere when he says it and it makes you want to cry. A boyish smile taking over his mouth, deep dimples appearing on the fat of his cheeks.

You must look like you've seen a ghost because the pretty smile that was written on his face is now taken over by worry.

"I mean, I don't have to. It's just- I feel like," Eddie's a panicked mess, backing his face further away from your own. The small bubble of love that the two of you created has now been popped with your own doubts and fears.

"I don't want to make you uncomfortable, I just thought I could make you feel good s'all." The confident man that you know all too well is now reduced to a fumbling and anxious person. His fingers work at the chunky silver ring on his finger, twisting and twisting and twisting it around.

"You just always, I don't know. It just always seems like you never ask for head and I just wanted to offer it to you, I guess."

The whiskey eyes that never left your gaze won't even look at you anymore. Focusing on that damn ring that goes faster and faster the longer you wait to respond. You want to run and hide. Dig a deep hole and never come out. Your lovely boyfriend who's done nothing but treat you like the queen of the goddamn universe, now thinks he's made you uncomfortable.

Embarrassment rushes through your veins, throat closing with the grip of shame making it harder to breathe. Tears prick your eyes, hot and heavy, ready to fall at the drop of a dime. You feel so guilty for not just telling him the truth, for not saying all the concerns that you had. Even before you started dating Eddie always confided in you, telling you the deepest secrets that kept him up at night and you couldn't even tell him this one thing.

"I'm embarrassed." It comes out in a sniffle, lip wobbling beneath the teeth that hold it down, trying to make it go away.

"I'm just embarrassed I won't be good. That I'll be another conversation for you and the boys to drink to. Will I taste good? Do I smell weird? Does it look pretty? All of these questions circle my brain and I'm so fucking scared that you won't like me anymore." It comes out like word vomit, so fast and uneven in tone that you're not sure if it even made sense.

You don't have time to think it over anyway, Eddie's too quick putting his hands on your cheeks, gently making you look up at him. The same kind eyes that you always see meet yours. Thumbs gentle swipe the fat tears off of your face, his cold hands extinguish the flames of your skin.

"Honey, I promise you I would never, ever do some dumb shit like that. What the guys and I talk about is irrelevant, half the time they don't even know what they're talking about. I felt the same way when you wanted to suck me off the first time, every single question you ask yourself is what I ask myself." Eddie's eyes are searching yours, looking and waiting to see the dread leave your head.

"Like I said before, I would never want you to be uncomfortable but if you're okay with it, I'd really," He places a gentle kiss on your forehead, "really," he continues to place more delicate kisses around your face, "really love to make you feel so fucking good."

When he's done, he looks back down to you with a dopey smile, he's low and hazy drunk off of you. A smile tugs on your own lips, so warm and fuzzy off of him. You know he means it and you feel sad that you even questioned him. Childish laughter rings out between the two of you when he pinches your sides, tickling out the stiffness in your body.

When the laughter dies down, he asks you again by cocking his eyebrow up in question. Nodding your head, you give him a confident yes, something you didn't feel the first time he asked.

Moving down your body, trails of kisses are left on your skin, mapping out his journey to your center. When he reaches the hem of your pants, he looks up to you once more waiting for a reply. Encouraging him to go further, his chilled fingers douses the warmth radiating off of you.

Leaving you only in your polka dot designed panties, Eddie teases you by running his fingers up and down your thighs.

"I gotta say bub, I love the pink dots. Top notch fashion if I don't say so myself." Eddie jokes and it makes you giggle. Swatting lightly at him, he returns the laughter.

"I'm not lying, I swear! If only you know what you do to me." As much of a joker Eddie is, he was never one to joke about your beauty. He found everything you did, said, and wore so fucking breathtaking and flawless, he'd probably get hard from the sight of you in a Tin Man costume.

"If you, at any time, want me to stop just tell me. I won't get mad, just let me know, okay?" Eyebrows scrunched with seriousness, Eddie makes sure to be loud and clear with his instructions.

"I promise, Eds." You say and he takes that as the green light.

Eddie's index finger teases your cloth slit, running up and down so slowly it feels like torture. When you lift your hips looking for more friction he snorts lightly.

"Patience, my love." His fingers continue to dance over your panties, running back to the top of the band and pulling them down in a swift motion.

When the cool air hits your wet seat, you whimper slightly at the feeling. Eddie has seen your pussy multiple times, but when he spreads it with his fingers, you can't help but feel shy, closing your legs around his arm.

"Don't go shy on me, baby. I just wanna see the prettiest picture I've ever seen." His eyes are still trained on the glistening of your sex, glimmering like bright pools of water.

It feels like an hour of no movement from Eddie before he goes to change his position between your legs. Shuffling back on his knees, he picks your thighs up to place on his shoulders as he lays on his stomach.

Still having doubts, you lean up on your elbows, watching your boyfriend to see what his reaction is. To your surprise, he looks like a kid in a candy store, awe and wonder swimming around in the big brown pools of his eyes.

When an obscene sniff rings through the air, you can't help but cringe a little. Waiting for him to look repulsed, you're again astonished when all your met with is a feral look.

Very tentatively, he runs his flat tongue from your hole to the top of your clit. Moaning deeply, he moves his gave up to you. A smirk breaks out on his features, so devilishly and mischievously.

"Oh baby, you have no fucking clue how good you taste." There is no questioning in his cadence. It's smug and cocky and it makes you shiver with need.

Repeating his motions from before, you mewl at the feeling, lifting your hips again. The chuckle that comes from Eddie vibrates off of you, make you move you squirm. Reaching his strong hands around your thighs, he holds you in place with his firm grip.

When the wet muscle breaches your needy hole, you fall back onto the bed moaning out in pleasure. He works your open with it, flicking it in and out efficiently.

Pulling out of you, he moves up to your bundle of nerves. Starting slowly, he circles around once or twice, before working it in figure eights.

You melt into the bed like a popsicle on a hot summers day. There's not a single thought in your head other than the feeling of his mouth. You're a livewire come to life, so sensitive and lost in the haze of pleasure.

You think this is the precipice of ecstasy but then one of his thick fingers enter you and his mouth sucks hard on your pulsing clit.

It feels like fireworks on the fourth of July, bright and explosive, big loud bangs ringing out into the night sky. It's like the feeling of going down the big drop on a rollercoaster, tingling deep in your belly and a rush of adrenaline pumping through your veins. It's like winning first place, heartwarming and shocking all at the same time.

You feel all these things at the same time, every single one of them caused by the actions of your boyfriends mouth. It's overwhelming and so fucking delicious but you can't say anything than cry out in bliss.

Letting go of your clit with a pop, Eddie's head pokes up at you like an excited puppy. "S'it feel good baby?" You want to answer, you really do but the way he sneaks a second finger into you and crooks them at the perfect angle makes you lose all motor skills.

"Awe, honey" he coos mockingly, "Is it that good?"

"S'good Eds, so good." You're a blubbering, crying mess. So hooked on the feeling of him, hooking on the feeling of how he made you feel.

He doesn't say anything else, too busy pushing his face back between your legs. His motions go faster, fingers hitting that sweet spot inside of you that he only managed to find, his mouth switching between motions, driving you closer to the edge as he does.

The string in your belly is pulling tighter and tighter, barley hanging together by a thread. You're a thrashing, sweaty mess on his bed, gripping the pillow underneath your head that your knuckles will probably be stuck in that position. You don't care, not when he's moving his head back and forth, slurping up your wetness like a handmade milkshake.

It's filthy, down right dirty the way it sounds. The noises that carry out into his room echo so loud the neighbors could probably hear. The squelch of your wetness being pounded into by his hand, the way he's drinking you up like a dehydrated plant, the moans that escape out of your parted lips.

"Eddie, please. FUCK, please." You're blathering at him, not even sure at what you're asking for.

Separating himself from you again, he continues working his fingers deep into you.

"You wanna cum, pretty girl? S'that it? Wanna cum all over my fingers?" You moan louder in response, clenching around him harder as you do.

"Go ahead, be a good good and cum for me. Come on, honey. Cum for me." That's all you need to hear before you're hurtling off the edge of your release.

You release with a silent cry, all the air being punched right out of you. Your body feels weightless, like you were thrown up into the clouds and not being able to come down.

Your whole body shakes, tears streaming down your face, all while your hole pulses and quivers around Eddie's fingers. A gush of wetness coats his fingers, a big puddle under your ass, leaving another stain on his bed seats.

He watches in awe as you hit your peak, how your back arches off of the bed and how you look so fucking perfect like this. The shy girl that never got experience this kind joy, now swims in the ocean of euphoria of the climax. He feels so lucky to witness this, to be the first and last person to ever see you this vulnerable.

Eddie wishes he could paint this moment, make a portrait of the way your kiss bitten lips form the perfect O, make the brushstrokes of your hair and some of it sticks to your sweaty face. You're so beautiful and he doesn't know how blessed to be yours.

When you float back down to earth, to the springy mattress of Eddie's, you take a moment to catch your breath. When he removes his fingers from you, you weakly hiss from movement and he offers a quiet sorry.

Moving back up to his knees, he hovers over you and smiles brightly down at you. Smiling weakly back at you, he uses the hand that's not supporting his weight to place it on your jaw. His thumb brushes back and forth and you melt right into it.

"How was that?" Pink tints his cheeks, grinning ear to ear.

You chuckle weakly, shaking your head in disbelief.

"I think I went to outer space for a second there."

A booming laugh leaves his chest and it makes you smile even harder. Your heart feels so full and so happy. You're so in love with him and it makes you delirious. You want to see him like this for the rest of your life, big smiles and even big laughter, so pretty and delicate only for you.

"Well I'm glad you enjoyed yourself there, space cadet." Leaning down to press his lips to yours, your soak in the feeling of it. When he moves away you pout at him, and he bops you on the nose with his finger.

"I was thinkin' I could return the favor, big boy." You whisper seductively.

"Oh baby, that sounds wonderful but-," He makes eye contact with you, "I need to be in you like yesterday because that, right there was the hottest thing I've ever witness."

"I happen to be a romantic. So I shall wait until my fair maiden is okay to resume our activities." Closing his eyes with pride, he places a hand on his heart.

Hiding your face with your hands, you bust out laughing at his little antics and when you peek between his fingers you see his teeth flashing back at you. Removing your hands from your face, you tuck a loose tendril behind his ear.

"You're a dork, but that sounds good to me."

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Thank you all for reading! I loves you all and hope you enjoyed!!!

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[forensicated]

What are some of your favourite episodes of the bill?

Oooh crikey, so many! Thank you for the question! These are in no particular order. Also apologies for the formatting, I'm on my phone trying to reply and remember which numbered episode is which and have to go check some of them to ensure they're right as I've bounced everywhere around timelines the last couple of years doing the recaps and they blurred.

* All Change, the millennium new years eve when cid became uniform for the night.

* Respect 1 and 2, the end episodes. I don't like the way some of the character storylines were wound up but those two episodes were an amazing tribute.

* The Chief Super's Party, June and Roy flirting at the bar, Brownlow deeply unimpressed by the company that Roy kept. Roy getting one over on the super without Brownlow even realising which allowed him to support Ted. Ted's drunk driving crash ending up with him sleeping on a boat overnight and solving a robbery to save his job whilst hungover.

* The Target Trilogy, June and Steve get shot at. It's thought that it's Steve being targeted but they soon realise how wrong they are. Poor Jo 😕

* An Honour To Serve, Gina's last episodes. Smithy's kiss on the cheek and how much he respects her 💔❤️ "Goodnight Ma'am" (RIP Roberta ❤️)

* Lullaby with Smithy going from reading Tim a bedtime story in a cell with absolutely no feeling in his voice through to him singing 5 little speckled frogs to try keep him calm and not worry him when they were kidnapped.

* Integrity, Nicks first episodes. The contrast of him and Smithy paired together is awesome. Especially when they unite.

* Gunrunner, Smithy and guns...

* Witness and the episodes featuring Carly in the run up. Smithy really became the paternal figure that he didn't want to initially and cared about her, Leanne and Brooke. (& laughing at Nate when he runs the wrong way after sending him to chase after her whilst he stands and has a nice little chat.)

* Righteous Kill 1 and 2, Max protecting the wife and son of a man he shot in S019.

* Brittaniamania, Mickey undercover as a football hooligan and Debbie pretending to be his girlfriend with Dave and Paul his workmates though Paul being shit at plastering almost got them caught.

* Episode 154, the aftermath of Mickeys rape. The acting is incredible.

* Tinderbox, Brownlow, Conway and Meadows in an outward bounds team building course against Manion and his cocky cheating team.

* Conviction - particularly the riot training episode where Smithy and Callum end up having a physical fight to end their frustration over what happened with Devlin. The last episode of that is a bit frustrating though as I don't think Smithy could give his guilt over that quickly to accept a promotion when it was eating him alive. It made out he and Stevie had continued a thing from Gunrunner too that they hadn't. (the promotion thing bugged me so much I made a fic about it)

* First Impressions 1 and 2, purely for WUK (or "WUS!") and nick and uniform hiding in Diane's cupboard to watch Ben on cctv.

* Blurred Around The Edges, Smithy's army friend makes an appearance and turns his world upside down. (another I did a fic about!)

* Soft Talking, Smithy delivers a baby in the middle of a street and has to try and find the mother when she disappears and get her away from the abusive boyfriend and dad.

* When the snow lay roundabout, Danny the elf knowing what Matt secretly wished, Reg being the only copper out because of the snow (he'd only gone to get a Christmas tree) Rod trying to scam uniform, a cheeky kid outing him and helping polly and Gary trim the tree and the barbershop quartet!

* PC Smith, Needing to show himself in a good light, Smithy volunteers with Nick to look after a gay couple who are receiving homophobic threats. Everyone is surprised, not least Smithy himself.

*Episode 372, Cop The Lot "Simon Cowell eat your heart out!"

* Cowboy Country, Max ends up using his mother's priest to try track a Polish criminal down

*Game Plan, Max goes undercover with the Monks family.

* Tolerance, Smithy's C019 training and interview.

* Episode 69 and 70, cop idol and Cass being taken hostage and murdered by the serial killer 💔

* 117 and 118 Smithy's first 2 Sgt episodes including singing at the gay club.

* Good Cop Bad Cop , callum's first. Smithy leaps on him twice and Dan is NOT impressed when Callum acts all dodgy and tries to shut him out.

* 131 Smithy goes undercover in prison to try locate some expensive cars and Ken's son.

* 138 and 139 Smithy and Gina go out for a drink and end up in a drinking game. Smithy cheats! "You're a cab!" The next morning Gina had a little prang and all hell breaks loose.

* 162 the first live episode

* 205 206 Nicks last episodes before going into witness protection. I hate that they didn't make more of his and Sgt!smithy's past but at least they acknowledge it in this episode. It's just a shame that a lot of newer viewers would have been confused as hell at what was going on with their goodbye.

* 214 215 the start of Gina and Jonathan properly.

* Appropriate Force, Callum comes face to face with his ex and her criminal husband. Smithy has to literally pull him away from beating the husband into a pulp for attacking his wife.

* 237 Jim and June get married. For the cast dressed up, Smithy teasing Gina about settling down and shoving her forward to catch the bouquet and the beautiful Gina and Jonathan moments. Though sadly they do end up breaking up.

Killer On The Run, Ryan Jones blames Smithy for him killing his wife. (Smithy had let slip that Ryan was infatuated with a prostitute the episode before) and tries to take revenge, holding both Smithy and Pauline, Smithy's mother at gunpoint at various times

* 272 273 Gina taken hostage by Irene Radford and the story of their history and how alike they were falls out.

* 286 Dan's first appearance at the driving school with Amber and Leela. Amber's attempts to get in with the instructor once she finds out she's a lesbian is hilarious.

* 288 289 Andrea is found out and the station explodes in a fireball thanks to Colin Fairfax. Smithy and Ken's final scene is heartbreaking 💔

*298 Dan transfers and puts himself in danger rescuing a woman who is treated as a slave by those she works for as well as being raped by the father. Rosa is terrified but Dan tries to help, made harder by the fact she's deaf and doesn't speak English.

* 302 303 Mickey returns with MIT colleagues and arrests Neil. It's a heartbreaking look at what the rape had done to Mickey or "Michael" as he insists he is now and then something further breaks his heart....

* 327 Gina is found having collapsed at home by Smithy and Jonathan. Gina and Jonathan have a heart to heart and she almost tells him she wants to reunite... Right as he tells her he has a girlfriend. She forces herself to let him go for good 💔💔

* 349 second live episode and the end of Prosser.

* 360 and 361 Dan finally discovers who it is that has been blackmailing him about his affair and a lot is revealed about his history in these 2.

* 402 403 Smithy returns to work after the Larson debarkle to find Gina graffiting his welcome back posters and his first case involving his ex cellmate

* The Fat Lady Sings, Dave is approached by an opera singer who tells him she's being stalked. He ignores her and soon regrets it. Duncan arrives and arouses suspicions when the others realise he lives in a fancy penthouse apartment and has connections in the operatic world.

* Whose Side Are You On?, Dashers arranges a football match against a group of teens and lets Viv play in goal. (Vivs only experience being netball) so he doesn't have to let Bob Cryer play.

* Square Peg Round Hole, John Boulton is stuck with a needle during an arrest and worries he might have HIV but being John he won't stay at home.

*Wannabe, A young girl makes her attraction to Rod very obvious and he uses it to get her druggy parents.

* Team Play, Jack forces Duncan to take part in a compulsory training course with him. Duncan wants to skip it and work a sexual assault case with Liz. Poor Tom keeps being chucked off the case everyrime Duncan can slip out or take calls before he's dragged back in again to unwillingly participate in the exercise 😂

Badlands, the episode with Daves assault and those leading up to it (and after) with Boultons obsession with the Lovers and trying to nail Mick. The one where George loses it and goes for John when he goads him is perfect. Just a shame it leads the the Dave, Jenny, George, Polly mess.

* Trial Run, Rod calls in sick to Moonlight as a bodyguard. He thinks he's getting a female model but ends up with his hands full with two rich kids, one of which is a little shit.

* 427 Dan at the go kart center

* 481 It's Smithy's birthday, but noone will leave him alone.

* In The Know, Leon finds himself under suspicion when he's spotted being roughed up by a target of CID

* That's Love For You & Rescue Me, Leon struggles with a case where the parents of a baby he has bonded with are suspected of abusing her.

* The Truth Will Out, Smithy asks callum to apologise to a bloke who is accusing him of pushing him. He helps out unofficially when a young kid goes missing and panics when he thinks Smithy had gotten stuck during an underwater rescue. Their final scene is amazing.

* Hide and Seek, Leon finds a little girl hiding in a fireplace and they bond a she looks after her whilst they try to find her mother. They have tea parties and pretend to be invisible and all sorts ❤️ and then Tilly breaks his heart when she says "I thought you were my friend." he later risks his job doing something naughty that is seen by Rachel...

* Solace and The Calling. Dominic is incredible in these episodes, it's a real masterclass of how he can show every bit of what Leon is feeling with the slightest change of expression.

* Tombstone, Callum tries to deal with the death of his estranged father and the knowledge that he was a rapist.

Twanky, Sun Hill put on a panto and catch a criminal attempting to off an officer during it, hopefully without the audience realising.

Sorry, went a little overboard there! Interested to hear about yours (and everyone else's!), Anon!? Could have gone on all night naming eps.

[holylulusworld]

Not a queen (9)

Summary: You are no one. What if fate makes you queen?

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Maid!Reader x Nick (Fowler) Barnes

Warnings: dystopian world, modern royal au, shy reader, arranged marriage, implied smut, fluff, cuddling, a little time jump (2 months), pregnant reader, overprotective Nick

A/N: We are reaching the end of this arc.

This series takes place in the Two kings universe, at the same time. I recommend reading this story first to understand this universe better.

You can find all arcs here: Of Kings and Queens Arcs

<&lt; Part 8.5

Not a queen (Arc 2) masterlist

“Father, are you sure?” Bucky shakes his head. He can’t believe his father wants him to take over the throne so soon. “Why now?”

“Our revolution needs fresh blood, not men stuck in the past. We need the second and first sons to work together,” the king shushes his son. “I know you two will make me proud. I always knew you are special, Bucky, Nick.”

“Has this something to do with King Joseph’s death?” Nick questions. “Father, you are strong and undefeatable.”

The king chuckles at his son’s words. He pats Nick’s shoulder and gives him a soft smile. “Son, you, and your brother will take over the kingdom. It’s my decision. You have a queen and are excepting the next generation.”

“Father,” Bucky tries again. “Why so sudden? We never talked about this before.”

The king sighs deeply. “I got preparations to make, son. While you and Nick take over the throne, I can work in the background with Howard and the others. The new generation must fulfill their fate, and we, the elder generation must fulfill ours.”

“What are you up to? What are you and Howard Stark hiding? Tony took over the throne, Steve too,” Nick huffs. “It feels like you are working in the shadows while leaving us in the dark.”

“Son, you gotta trust me in this,” the king clears his throat. “Soon you will understand. If you want to change the world, you got to find allies in places you never expected to find them. It’s hard work to earn their trust. Our bond is still vulnerable.”

“Bond? Allies?” Bucky groans. “Father, stop talking in riddles. Nick and I deserve that much. What are you talking about? Why did we never hear of this before?”

“The time almost has come, Bucky. Please don’t ask me to give you answers. I can’t give them to you. Not now.”

“What do you think about this? I don’t get it, Bucky. Months ago, father didn’t say a word about giving up the throne.”

“Nick,” Bucky’s features soften at his brother’s worried expression. “Months ago, we didn’t know our wife will expect a child. But she does, and making her queen keeps her safe.”

“I-“ Nick licks his lips. “You think so?”

“A queen has a higher status than a former maid. Father knows that too. I think he tries to keep our wife and child safe. We got to have a little faith in him brother.”

“Y/N, mouse,” the moment he steps inside the room he pounces on you. He looks you all over, checking on you as if he’s afraid something happened to you while you were waiting in your shared chamber. “How are you? Do you need anything?”

“I’m good,” you softly say as he runs his hand over your barely swollen belly. “How about you tell me what your father wanted to talk about.”

“He wants us to become king,” Nick replies. “You will be a queen soon, mouse. Can you imagine, you and I will rule this kingdom?”

Bucky clears his throat. He quirks a brow as you hide your face in Nick’s chest. 

“Oh, yeah. Bucky will share the throne with me,” you snicker at Nick’s words. He loves to tease his brother. “I bet the little bean inside her belly is mine too.”

“Brother,” Bucky grits his teeth. “We talked about this! No more fighting over her womb. If the baby is yours, I’ll put another one inside of her.” 

You giggle when Nick shoves you behind him. “I didn’t agree with you on this. Y/N needs to take care of this little bundle of joy first. You’ll get your chance later…much later.”

“Uh-no fighting. We talked about this too,” you point out. “We will wait for the doctor to tell us if the baby is healthy, and about their gender. I don’t want to know who the father is. I know in my heart that both of you are their father.”

“Doll,” Bucky sniffs. “Of course, we are both the father. You’re right.”

“Mouse, I’m the father…and Bucky too,” Nick wrinkles his nose. He’s not convinced but doesn’t want to make you mad at him again. Lately, you scolded him more than once. Especially when he cursed around your belly.

“So, how about we spend the evening talking about lighter things? I found this book I want to read. Or one of you can read it to me…I mean us.”

“It’s my turn!” Bucky insists. “You will get comfortable on the bed, and I’ll read the book to you, and my annoying brother.”

“Howard, we need results. Our enemies will strike soon. We need to strike first,” the king sighs deeply. “Stark, what are you cooking up with your son?”

“We are close, my friend. Give me a little more time. I’ll make sure we win this war before the first blood gets shed. My son knows how to bring back something we last a long time ago.”

“Howard … time is running out on us. I only hope you know what you’re doing. We are all counting on you and your son.”

“We won’t disappoint. I promise…”

Howard likes to keep people in the dark about the things going on in his laboratory and kingdom. 

“She smiles and turns away from the man who used to be her hero…and then, she walks away,” Bucky reads the last line of the book. He silently closes it. “She’s asleep, Nick.”

“Just a minute,” Nick mumbles. He presses his ear to your belly, hoping to feel the baby kick. “I know they will kick me.”

Bucky doesn’t have the heart to tell his brother it’s too early in your pregnancy. “I bet they will kick you soon.” He smiles while hoping he can watch their children grow. 

>> Part 10

Tags in reblog.

[thezombieprostitute]

Assign a love language to one (or more!) of your favorite babes! 💞

words of affirmation, quality time, physical touch, acts of service, and receiving gifts.

Hmmm. I could just go with my favorites. Or I could go with my character list! *counts almost 30 characters* Or I could go with the characters who have enough stories they get their own lists!

Words of Affirmation:

Bucky Barnes - He gets treated like a wild animal for most of his life, told to always behave, never hears anything good said to him. The first time you compliment him, tell him he's doing good, maybe even a "nice work!" you've changed his life.

Lee Bodecker - The man is used to hearing a lot of ugly things said about them. It hurts more when a lot of them are true. But a sincere kind word from you? It warms his heart to no end.

Lloyd Hansen - The man has all the money, all the time, all the drones doing his work. But I do think he could be very praise driven. He knows he's the best of the best, of course. But when someone else says it, it's a confirmation that he craves.

Quality Time:

God the Bounty Hunter - His work keeps him busy. He's practically on call all day every day, so he understands the value of time. When you offer to take a day off from work to spend it with him, he melts.

Nick Fowler - Similar to God, his work keeps him busy. He's had too many late nights at the office to count. Worst of all, he always has to deal with people who aren't you. So when you tell him you've got a weekend away scheduled, for just the two of you, he thanks his lucky stars.

Physical Touch:

Andy Barber - Quick side-note, how the hell do I have so many Andrew stories that he gets his own masterlist?! Anyways, the man is very into physical touch for reassurance. He hugs as much as he can, likely starved for physical affection. He sometimes feels his ire building up, but then it's dissipated by your hand placed on his.

Hal Carter - Go figure the man who loves taking off his shirt is big into physical touch. 😂 Seriously, though, he's a sucker for hugs, cuddles, even just holding hands will brighten his day.

Acts of Service:

Ari Levinson; Curtis Everett; Jonathan Pine; Mace; Steve Rogers;

In a sense, all of these men do so much for others that having someone do something for them would likely mean the world. None of them are particularly big on possessions so gifts are out. Kind words without the actions to back them up are meaningless to them. They also tend to have problems sitting still so quality time probably isn't high on their list (especially Ari).

Receiving Gifts:

Jake Jensen - I've said this before and will stand by my idea that, to Jake, giving him gifts means you actually listen to him when he's rambling. It means you know and support his interests. It means you don't judge him for collecting action figures. It means you don't find him annoying for "talking too much" or look down on him for his geek/dork/nerd ways.

[bloodymarymorstan]

Ok so I just watched the latest episode of What If where Captain Carter (Peggy if she was Captain America) fights the Hydra Stomper (Steve if he was the Winter Soldier) because I KNEW they were once again gonna do the thing where they give all of Steve and Bucky's interactions to Peggy and Steve and say that this time they are romantic even though they definitely weren't when it was 2 very straight bros (lol) so. Let's get into it (spoilers for s2e5 of What If, obviously):

When Peggy finds out Steve is alive she goes to Nick Fury and he tells her there have been rumors of this for decades; Peggy's angry he and Natasha didn't tell her - this is interesting because in TWS Peggy was part of the organization that was hiding rumors about Bucky from Steve. Peggy is objecting to something she was part of in the actual MCU

Natasha says "the Steve Rogers that you loved died in 1953" - a similar sentiment to what people were saying to Steve about Bucky but more overtly romantic. They throw the word "love" around in the episode quite a few times, like they need to make it extra clear

Bucky (who's old and working for SHIELD) finds out Steve is alive and his reaction is pretty tame, like he's surprised and I guess happy but he doesn't really seem to care that much which is just ridiculous (especially bc in this timeline Steve and Bucky kept working together for several years after the war) - Bucky is also stated to have had a wife and kids and has clearly moved on from Steve in the way Peggy did in the original movies

The Hydra Stomper (Steve) is going to kill Bucky, Bucky stands in front of him to talk him down. He doesn't want to kill Steve which is obviously good and in character. The thing he says to try to get Steve to snap out of it is "let's get a drink" which cracked me up because is that the no homo version of "end of the line" for these writers?? Anyway, Steve does lower his gun but then he raises it again (we don't see if he would have actually killed Bucky because Peggy intervenes at this point)

There's a romantic scene where Peggy and Steve bond over their shared traumas which... shared life experience, anyone? (What If I threw myself off a cliff?) - it does turn out that Steve is secretly still brainwashed at this point and is trying to lure Peggy in so idk how seriously I should take this scene

In terms of dialogue, the final fight scene between Peggy and Steve is very similar to the one with Steve and Bucky in TWS. Eventually, Peggy drops her shield and tells Steve that she doesn't want to fight him, and is going to let him kill her. The line she says that gets him to stop is "I want to be with you. Even if this is the end. I want you." She also says "I can't lose you again." This is basically EXACTLY what "I'm with you til the end of the line means", but a bit less ambiguous (and also less poetic, the original line is obviously much better)

Steve doesn't kill Peggy, he flies off (but he also doesn't save her life like Bucky does for Steve in TWS so. Inferior)

At the end, Peggy is planning to go find Steve, even though nobody thinks she'll be able to save him (again, basically the exact same as TWS)

My concluding thoughts:

It's hard to say what Marvel's exact goal is with the phenomenon of giving so many of Steve and Bucky's interactions to Steve and Peggy in EU content, but it's definitely gotten pretty ridiculous and out of hand. There is an instinct to accuse them of homophobia and wanting to rewrite Steve and Bucky's story to make it straight/less significant, but I also wonder if the bigger factor is that the writers know that Steve and Peggy's canon ending makes no sense considering how underdeveloped their relationship was, and they want to trick viewers into thinking they had a better written romance by giving them more meaningful moments in What If (and also Rogers The Musical but that's for another post). That being said, if the best way to write a better romance you can think of is to use the exact same plotline the supposedly straight protagonist had with his male best friend (but that people have been interpreting as a romance for years and years) then maybe you should be reflecting on why that is. Ultimately though it's just lazy writing (have some originality!) and will never erase the fact that the real movies were gay as hell. I'll definitely be taking this as further proof that TWS was a romance all along.

[doyouknowwhoyouare13]

Nyx watches Captain America: The First Avenger

Imma be honest…

I actually hate this movie.

Ok hate is a strong word

But to me it's actually so boring

Sorry to all the Cap fans

Like I enjoy the characters

And I understand it's to like set up the story

But omg.

So. Fucking. Boring.

At least to me

Feel free to attack me

Fake fan and all that idk

Anyways

I remember the first time I watched this

It's been a while since the last time though

IS THAT FILCH??

HOLD ON

OMG IT IS

HOLY SHIT

I NEVER NOTICED THAT

Norse myths are so cool

Bro should be blinded

BRO IS SO TINY 💀

Why is he so adamant

Like I know that is his thing

BUT BRO

Why are you talking during a movie 😐

BUCKY!!!!!!

HELP ONLY THE GOOD STUFF

Poor guy

TONY'S DAD!!!

Should I watch Agent Carter

I haven't yet idk

OMG STEVE

"How can I? You're taking all the stupid with you"

my god I love them sm

I love the Dr

I hate that he dies so early

oh...the other Dr

gross

I hate men

WOOHOO!!!

So smart

90 POUNDS??? TELL ME HE'S KIDDING

THAT'S LESS THAN ME

THE DR IS SO FUNNY ISTG

the red paints

should've known from the start

She's so pretty

HELP I LOVE THEM

He's such a virgin I'm sorry

Is that rude

Nah I mean I'm one too

Whatever it's fine

THAT WAS PENICILLIN 💀

CAN'T EVEN SEE HIS FACE IN THE WINDOW 😭

BRO HE'S ACTUALLY SO FINE MY GOD

Me too, Peggy

Crazy vertical fr

THAT KID IS ADORABLE

Why does he have an American accent

omg the song!!!!

WAIT IS THAT BLOND THE ONE THAT BRUCE WAS TALKING ABOUT AT THE END OF THE FIRST EPISODE OF SHE-HULK

NOOO HE'S NOT A VIRGIN ANYMORE

You guys this is a joke btw

Good for him!!!

GO STEVE!!!!

man he's crazy

HELP HE FLEW WHEN THE SHEILD HIT HIM

He's actually insane

In a good way

HELP GIRLS MUCH CUTER 💀

Bro is clicking every single button

that has to be trouble

BUCKY!!

HELP THEY'RE SO FUNNY

mmmmm success????

I don't knowwwww

INSANE.

HOW COULD HE DO THAT WITHOUT KNOWING

SLAYYYYY

SO FINE

BUCKY IS SO FUNNY

HE'S SO AWKWARD HELP

uh oh

FONDUEING

BRO GOT A PICTURE

Y'ALL AIN'T EVEN TOGETHER

uh oh not the mountain

do you know what that means....

Buck please no

NOOOOOOOOOOOO

BUCK PLEASE

NOOOOOO PLEASE

AHHHH BUCKYYYYY

I know he's not dead but :/

So much pain he has to go through :/

Sure is a cult god damn

NEW BEST FRIEND

GO CAP!!!!!

bros bike is crazy

THE BASIC SCREAM SOUND

Y'KNOW THE ONE?????

bro what was I thinking

this is not boring

I REVOKE MY STATEMENTS

I love this movie

Character development!!!!!!!!

BRO CHRIS EVANS IS ACTUALLY SO FINE I LOVE HIM

THE SMALLEST THINGS HE DOES

RUN STEVE RUN

I'M NOT KISSING YOU 💀

I LOVE HIM HE'S SO FUNNY

Fuck the army bro should be in the air force

He takes "I can do this all day" very very seriously

Karma

Bye bye tesseract

omg this is so sad

NOOO THE RAIN CHECK

OMGGGGGGG

CRYING

PASSING OUT

BRO I'M GONNA

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

RUNNNNNNNN

all because he was at a baseball game

NICK FURY!!!!!

NOT THE DANCEEEEEEEEEE 😭😭😭😭

end credit scene now

BACK WHEN THEY TOLD YOU WHEN THEY'RE ACTUALLY RETURNING AND NOT JUST "____ will return"

punch me like that/j/j/j/j/j/j/j/j/j/j

HE. IS. SO. FINE.

bro this is just a trailer I love it 😭

god 2012

that's insane

actually insane my lord

ANYWAYS YEAH I LIKE THIS A LOT MORE THAN I THOUGHT 💀

Captain Marvel next!!

[charcubed]

You know what, I'm starting to come around on the idea that Marvel's inconsistent writing with Bucky & Steve is on purpose and a fake out.

Because that interview with the Rogers musical writer is so randomly timed and dropped strangely self aware info about Bucky, and it feels like a little wink wink nudge nudge "we are playing into the in-universe revisionist history aspect"

That and Secret Invasion's finale showing Gi'ah has both Bucky AND Steve's DNA... that felt random because not only do Steve & Buck have the exact same powers but Skrulls are already superstrengthed... Unless they consider Bucky's gun shootin' skills to be significant, it feels like it would've just been Steve's powers as a "look a reference" moment, but it went out of its way to mention both of them 👀

I'm fine with being a little delulu, but even if this wasn't planned during phase 3, it's starting to feel like there's some people at Marvel who are aware of how the characters were treated and how absurd it is... I'm fully joining the "it's nonsensical on purpose" train.

It'd actually be really smart if it is, playing with the concept of their identities and history easily being warped and lied about for propaganda purposes, that's been happening since CATFA, I'm a believer. Marvel's people wouldn't be hammering on this aspect of the characters so much so much if they truly wanted it to be the "end" for them.

Oh my God, Anon... Holy shit lmao. I hit up Google because of your ask, wondering what interview you were talking about, and I just found it. Thank you so much for the heads up! Going bonkers over it, naturally.

I'm not sure I'd personally say I feel like it's strangely timed or a wink/nudge to anything... Most likely MCU Direct just saw the absolute carnage in their notifications every time they brought up the musical and decided to get that man on the phone. Which I fucking love tbh! Wish I had that power, personally!

Putting the quotes below:

"There was a much longer version of this show, and there is a much longer version of this show. Hopefully, you know, if anybody would ever let us do it, the longer version of this show had Bucky as a much bigger player in this. That's the other really big person in Cap's life from the get-go. I could absolutely see a Bucky and Cap song in there somewhere. But we just literally didn't have the time." "We know there are tons of fans who are upset because Peggy said a line that Bucky said. Obviously, we all knew that. It wasn't a mistake. We all knew; we all knew. We all made the choice that for this 35-minute show we wanted to get the line in, and the way to get it in was to land on the Peggy storyline." "Absolutely there could be a great Broadway version of this show in which Bucky has a really big part and will say the lines he needs to say. So it's interesting to think how that could work." "We didn't get very far with that because we sort of timed things out and how many songs we had. We knew we wanted the love song, the 'I want' song, the Nick Fury song, and we had the other two songs. And, we're like 'Jeez, we're almost out of time. We're already at 32 minutes.'" "We knew it was basically a Cap and Peggy love story from start to finish. Once we came up with that, we're like 'we can do that show and make it great in 30 minutes'."

"We all knew" is INNNNSANE lmao. Wild shit.

Something very poetic about the musical about the man out of time not having enough "time" to include the main relationship in his life... Much to think about... Anyway. Really fascinating stuff here lmao. Intentional or not (who is to say!), life and art sure do continue to imitate each other here, huh?

As for Secret Invasion, what little I know about that show is that it was lowkey kind of a clusterfuck by the end and considering how bad the finale sounded I'm disinclined to read too far into all the powers listed that they dumped on Gi'ah. But! The fact that the heroes' DNA was collected is interesting insofar that it means Steve (in particular) can be or could have been impersonated by Skrulls at any point 👀 My money (and hopes, kind of?) remain on HYDRA though, if they go for it. Still makes the most sense I think.

But yeah, the last thing you said is exactly why I think it'd be such a smart move! Clearly Marvel is now playing in the realm of trying to retcon old shit (like Rhodey 🙄) if they think they can or should to further future storylines, so in my humble opinion it would be very easy for them to play in the spaces they've deliberately left open in regards to how fucked up Steve's "ending" was. Steve's final scenes were and still are theeee biggest topic and even ~debate~ in pop culture in regards to Endgame, and if they didn't do something with that I think they'd be idiots at this point. IT'S ALL RIGHT THERE.

[sulietsexual]

I saw you rebloging content about Daisy Jones and the Six, I was curious what were your overall feelings/thoughts on the show? I really enjoyed it personally, I’m a fan of the book but I was able to have a lot of fun despite some things obviously being pretty different

Oh man, I have so many feeling about this series, not all of them good, but I'll start with the positives.

I have a major '70s fetish, have since I was a kid, and so I automatically enjoy media set in that time. While I didn't think the series leaned into the decade as much as it could, I did like the obviously '70s musician influences on the costuming (particularly with Daisy's Steve Nicks looks and Cami's Bianca Jagger-inspired wardrobe). I also loved all the '70s music used and the way the series captured the spirit of music and live shows of that decade.

I really liked the original songs as well, particularly The River, Honeycomb and Let You Down Easy. I loved that all the actors actually sung and played their instruments for real and jesus does Riley Keough have some pipes on her! Those Presley genes are strong!

I also really liked most of the characterisation. Even though so many of the characters were so messy and at times highly unlikable, they were also charismatic, well-written and portrayed in such a way that you really empathised with them and understood their motivations. Daisy is a particularly strong character and I think Riley was perfect casting. I also find Sam Caflin to be quite charming, so Billy became a much more endearing character because of him, despite the fact that he is such an ass.

A favourite character of mine is Simone, and I've heard that she's much more fleshed out in the series than she is in the book. I absolutely love her character arc, her exploration and eventual comfort with her sexuality (her relationship with Bernie is honestly the best relationship in the series) and her dynamic with Daisy. I absolutely love the way she calls Daisy on her crap and the way she is also so supportive of her.

Also Teddy Price is awesome and his relationships with Daisy, Billy and the band are amazing.

The series has a good pace and I think every episode is written well and moves well. I like how we see Daisy's journey paralleled with The Six's until the two finally converge. Also, the way the series opens is amazing, I loved the whole tease of why did the band fall apart?

With all this being said, I have one big fat issue with the series (from which stems many smaller issues) and that is the ending, which gave me horrible echoes of the How I Met Your Mother finale. The minute Older Billy said to his daughter "And when your mother got sick" my stomach just dropped because I knew where we were headed, and yes, the series went there, and had a dying Camila tell Billy to essentially be with Daisy. And I know this is somewhat true to the book, but it just drove me crazy.

I don't know how different it is in the books, but the entire series was built around this "soul mate" connection between Daisy and Billy; I mean, even before they meet they are linked together by music, events and the trajectory of their lives. We see their similarities long before we even see their connection, and once we do see them meet onscreen, it's obvious that the series is about them. Everything revolves around their dynamic and the way it affects the music and the band, both positively and negatively. Everyone interviewed talks about how the two of them are electric together and both Older Billy and Older Daisy talk about one another in terms of being The Other Half.

Which, for me, makes Camila's story that much more tragic.

I don't doubt that Billy loved Camila and their initial courtship and relationship is very sweet. But, for me, once Billy cheated on her on the first tour, there was really no going back. I understand narratively why Camila stayed with Billy initially; this was the '70s, she was pregnant with his child and didn't have the options women have today. She also loved him and, like I said, I do believe that he also loved her. She saw him get sober and work on himself (to a certain extent, at least) and their initial reconciliation was sweet and they do have many sweet moments after.

But once she realised the depth to which he and Daisy had fallen for one another, once she confronted both of them about it, once she had confirmed that Billy loved Daisy - I don't understand why she would ever take Billy back. How could she ever go back to someone knowing that she was second choice, that the only reason he stayed with her was because she represented stability whereas Daisy was nothing but chaos?

And I know that the series was maybe trying to show that Billy was making the "right" choice with Camila, that he was choosing the stable and happy path, as being with Daisy at that moment in time really would have been disastrous for them both. But, again, this doesn't work for me, because it really comes across as Billy settling. The entire series kept telling me that he and Daisy were soulmates, that they were two halves of one whole, which makes his love for Camila seem second-best.

And I don't think that this was actually the intent of the series, nor the book. I'm guessing this was supposed to be a tale of how even though we connect with someone, it doesn't mean that we're supposed to be with them, which is fine, and I think that works for the Daisy and Billy storyline, but I just don't agree with him getting back together with Camila. She deserved better.

In fact, both she and Daisy deserved much better from Billy, as he really treated both women like crap at various times. So the ending of the series, where Billy gets to play Happy Families with Camila until she dies and then gets to reunite with his "soul mate" essentially lets Billy have both women and this ends up feeling very uncomfortable.

I would have preferred for both women to leave Billy, permanently, and for Billy's redemption to be through his daughter; in fact, I liked that they somewhat worked this angle in, when Billy says that he never missed a soccer game or dance recital. But I think the series would have been better had Camila divorced Billy and gone on to have a good life of her own, maybe even marrying someone else. Then, when she's older and maybe feeling nostalgic or reflective as she's dying, she tells her daughter that her father has become a good man and deserves to be happy, and that maybe he should call Daisy.

Also, just as a last annoyance, I really didn't like the reveal that it was Billy and Camila's daughter who was interviewing the band, as that made everything so weird, like, why are these people telling this young women who they knew as a child and watched grow up all these intimate details of their lives, not to mention, all of them are basically telling her "Oh, your Dad's soulmate is actually Daisy, not your mother." Again, I don't think this was the intent and I would like to read the book to see if this maybe comes across differently. But it bugged me.

So, to sum up, I did very much enjoy the series but the ending does bring it down for me, and I think some of the intent got muddled, possibly due to moving from page to screen.

[twunny20fission]

Books of 2023

Here are the books I read in 2023, with some thoughts on each

"Westside Lights" by WM Akers. A very good book, and a bittersweet ending to a trilogy I loved.

"Mighty Nein Origins: Fjord Stone" by Burke, Wyatt, Critical Role. A somewhat hollow, but fine entry in the series. Non-fans would get nothing from it, I imagine.

"Mighty Nein Origins: Nott the Brave" by Maggs, Critical Role. One of the best, if not the best, in the series. Pretty and well-constructed.

"The Light Fantastic" by Terry Pratchett. Loving all the Discworld books. This had strengths and weaknesses...not disappointing, but didn't blow me away compared to what I now know is ahead.

"Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins, Vol 3" by Mercer, Houser. Honestly, I don't really remember what happened in this book. The show and the books and the other show all seems to politely ignore each other. It can be maddening.

"Sandman Book 4" by Neil Gaiman. This one seemed to wander until it didn't. A satisfying entry in the story. Not the highest highs of Sandman, but still exemplary.

"The Adventure Zone: 11th Hour" by Clint, Justin, Travis, and Griffin McElroy and Carey Pietsch. Not my favorite arc, and adapting it must have been a beast. It was mostly successful. Art is always outstanding, the writing was...I'll say C+/B-?

"Cruel Shoes" by Steve Martin. I love Steve Martin's writing. His plays, novellas, and his book "Born Standing Up" are among the best things I've ever read. "Pure Drivel" is another thing I've read, somewhere middling. But Cruel Shoes (published when Steve Martin was a world famous comedian and entertainer, and therefore probably didn't have A. much free time and B. many people telling him 'no') - to put it mildly - sucks.

"Wild and Crazy Guys: How the Comedy Mavericks of the '80s Changed Hollywood Forever" by Nick de Semlyen. I wanted it to go deeper on certain things. But in retrospect, I think it did a great job at what it set out to do. Solid book, and a great thing to check out for those interested in Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Eddie Murphy, Bill Murray... and to a disappointing degree, John Candy and Rick Moranis.

"Ghost Light Dark Ghost" by R K Johnson. My dad wrote a book! Actually, this is the second one he's had published. It has...issues with the editing. He's one of the smartest people I've ever met, and has written and communicated thousands of pieces over the course of the last 40+ years...but he needed an editor. Some of the typos or fragments are just jarring. Still, I'm very proud. And it's a great story with outstanding characters.

"The Night Marchers & Other Oceanian Stories" by McDonald, et al. I kickstarted a thing that tells folk tales as anthologies of graphic tales. They are middling at best. This was one of the better collections.

"Vision: The Complete Collection" by King, Walta, Bellaire. I'd wanted to read this for a while, and I was not disappointed. Vision (of the Avengers) creates a wife, son, daughter (and eventually dog.) Things go haywire. Things get dark. Things get thought-provoking. Very cool, and I liked it a lot.

"Straight Lady: The Life & Times of Margaret Dumont, the 'Fifth Marx Brother'" by Chris Enss & Howard Kazanjian. I really wanted this to be better. Once it got into her career, the overwhelming weight of the Marx Brothers broke the momentum of talking about anything else. It spent more ink on the movies they made without her than it did on the movies she made without them. There are other books about them. I love them. This book was supposed to be about HER.

"Tamamo the Fox Maiden and Other Asian Stories" by Various authors and artists. This was in the same series as the other "cautionary fables" books. It was fine. Pretty good, but rarely great.

"Equal Rites" by Terry Pratchett. It took a while to get going. There were a lot of things happening, but no stakes or real conflict until about 2/3 of the way through the book. Then everything was rushed. Still smart and funny, but it could have been better.

"Danger and Other Unknown Risks" by Ryan North and Erica Henderson. I will praise both these creators to the moon & back. This book was creative, fun, smart, weird, and exciting.

"The Secret Lives of Color" by Kassia St. Clair. A cool book of featurettes on color: pigments, ideas, histories, etc. Extremely cool. One of those books I think I'll enjoy going back to. It's whimsical, yet grounded in facts.

"The Book of General Ignorance" by John Lloyd. A book to accompany "QI." There is a strong possibility that some of these things have since been disproven (book published in 2006.) But it was fun.

"Mighty Nein Origins: Mollymauk Tealeaf" by Jody Houser, Taliesin Jaffe, and more. This is the best in the 'Mighty Nein' series BY FAR.

"This is How You Lose the Time War" by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone. It is considered standard practice to spoil as little of this book as possible when discussing it. This was a lovely, exciting, engaging, and beautiful book. No more to say right now.

"Nixie of the Mill-Pond & Other European Stories" by McDonald & Ashwin. This is the curse of the completist: even when you are no longer enjoying yourself, but press on. The sunk cost fallacy had be with this series. I kickstarted one, added-on the others, and by godorwhatever, I was going TO READ THEM. The writers didn't have to DO anything! The stories existed. Just tell them well. And almost every time, they BLEW IT.

"Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century" by Dana Stevens. Well-researched, well-written, and fun. Not a perfect book, but worthwhile.

"Stardust" by Neil Gaiman. Fun, smart, and a quick read. Don't think I'll ever need to revisit.

"The Woman in the Woods and Other North American Stories" by Various Creators. I had to finish. This one was probably the best? I would recommend none of them.

"Usagi Yojimbo Book 5: Lone Goat and Kid" by Stan Sakai. At one point early in the year I thought "I'm going to re-read some good-uns this year. Maybe over the summer." It didn't happen. Maybe next year. This is the only thing I read this year that I'd read previously. Usagi Yojimbo is extraordinary. This is not the best in the series, but it's still better than almost everything else out there.

"Mort" by Terry Pratchett. Not my favorite, but still great.

"Parasocial" by Alex de Campi & Erica Henderson. According to my self-reported ratings-at-the-time system, this was the highest-rated book of the year. I think that holds up to rating-now scrutiny. It is relentless, beautiful, important, and unlike anything else out there.

"Captain Carter: Woman Out of Time" by Mckelvie, Cresta, Milla, Arciniega. It was good. Could have been better. This is a comic that I think wanted to be a movie. I'd pay to see it.

"Illustrated Al" by "Weird" Al Yankovic, et al. I wanted it to be good. The fact is, most of the songs don't work as comics. It's fan art. Some of it is okay, most of it is mediocre, and one of them was truly great.

"Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty, Vol. 1" by Kelly, Carnero, Lanzing, Erofeeva. It was clunky but entertaining.

"Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty, Vol 2" by Kelly, Carnero, Lanzing, Erofeeva. Better than the first volume. Engaging, even. But didn't truly grab me.

"The City We Became" by NK Jemison. I don't know that it was a "masterpiece." Maybe the concept + hype set my expectations too high. It has a lot of great factors, but elements of it didn't slide into place perfectly. I'll check out the next one when I can, so it didn't fail.

"The Yiddish Policeman's Union" by Michael Chabon. This was a book a lot of people were talking about ~15 years ago. I never really knew what it was about. Briefly, it's a detective story (I'll say more in the hard-boiled tradition than the noir) in an alternate world where displaced Jewish people settled in Alaska during and after WWII. But the story itself is in the 2000-2010s. The majority of this book is describing people and places. The story itself doesn't take long, but it feels like it does. It has a pulp-detective feel that I enjoyed. The slang was a hurdle. But once I got used to it, I was able to feel very plugged in. The last 100 pages or so felt problematic (no spoilers) and a little rushed. It suffered from that phenomenon I see a lot: it's like the author only has so many pieces of paper left and begins racing to make sure they get things wrapped up before they have to go buy another ream. That's the best way I can explain it.

Moon Knight: the Complete Collection (2011) by Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev. Very cool story, with elements of Moon Knight (and Echo) I was not aware of. There were some weird layout choices and trip-up dialogue moments that made it more confusing than it needed to be. But it was fun, smart, emotional, and cool.

Metrics!

Total books: 34

Total (non-graphic novel) pages: 4374

Total pages: 8105

Highest-rated: Parasocial

Lowest-rated: Cruel Shoes

Very Glad I Read It Award: This is How You Lose the Time War

Honorable Mention: The Secret Lives of Color

Glad It's Over Award: (four-way tie) Nixie of the Mill Pond, Night Marchers, Tamamo the Fox Maiden, Woman in the Woods

Disappointment of the Year: Cruel Shoes

[2btheanswertothequestion]

"...and she was nice, but every girl I've gone out with lately has been nice. I need more than that, you know?" Steve says as he sets the timer. Putting it next to the stove, he searches the kitchen for something else to do for the next 20 minutes. He settles on unpacking the half empty bag of groceries that's sat on the kitchen island.

Eddie, leaning on the island and munching on a cereal bar he nicked from the bag (how long has it been there, anyway? It better not have any perishables, or Eddie will be chewing Steve out for wasting food), does in fact not know. No need for him to confess to it, though – Steve will elaborate. He always does when it comes to failed dates.

"Like sure," Steve continues, "we had things to talk about this time, but I'm not sure we would again. Everything's pretty much already been said."

He shuts the pantry, groceries put away (and no perishables – good boy). Next he goes for the two clean plates and half dozen cutleries in the dish rack. They could join the kiddies in the living room until the 20 minutes have ticked ticked ticked away, but Eddie's pretty sure both of them want to stay away for as long as possible. When they left, Dustin and Mike had already started arguing about which movie to pick; the discussion has only gotten more heated in their absence. By the sound of it, even Robin has joined in.

As if cue, a high-pitched screech reaches their ears. Sighing, Steve yanks the towel off its hook so quickly it makes a whiplike snap. He makes no attempt to check what's going on out there. Neither does Eddie. He knows what real trouble sounds like with those kids, and they're not there (yet). He'd rather remain, even if it means listening to Steve 'Serial Romeo' Harrington whinge about the hardships of being desired by half of Hawkins female population. After all, there are cereal bars out here.

"And there was no spark," Steve says, waving a fork in Eddie's direction before slamming it into a drawer. "And the kiss. Not the worst I've had, but still pretty bad."

"Huh," Eddie says. "What made it so bad?"

Because, if you ask him, simply the prospect of being kissed sounds like a win. Does it have to be perfect on top of it? Yeah, if the other person was important, then it would matter more. But on a zero-stakes first date? A kiss at the end would be a consolation. 'Sorry, it won't work, but here – have a smooch for the trouble'.

However, Steve makes it sound like a disappointment, like a disaster. Clearly, he knows something Eddie doesn't (unsurprising in this context). So when he comes to a halt with a thoughtful expression, Eddie leans in, surrendering all of his attention.

"Well," Steve says. "There was just, uh, nothing to it? Like, we both wanted for there to be something, but neither would put in the effort."

"That still doesn't sound so bad. Lackluster, maybe, but not bad."

"Yeah, well." Steve snorts. "Sometimes, lackluster is worse."

Eddie's skepticism must show, because Steve chuckles.

"C'mon, man. A bad kiss can end up a story. But nothing is... that's just nothing."

"It's still a kiss."

Steve shakes his head, a teasing smile that's prettier than it has any right to be. "You've either not had enough mediocre kisses or enough bad ones to compare them."

"More like none at all," Eddie says under his breath.

It's not meant to be heard. It's a whisper drowning in a ridiculously huge kitchen, shouting teenagers a mere hallway down to help cover it up.

But Steve's smile falls off; his brows shoot into his hairline. Shit.

"What do you..."

"Nothing." Eddie glides off his chair. "Let's go make sure they're not tearing apart your majestic movie collection, hm?"

"Eddie, no, wait-" In an eyeblink, Steve's cutting off his escape route. Damn his jock speed. "You're telling me you've never been...?"

Eddie presses his lips together. Shrugs with his entire body. Says nothing.

The smile creeps back onto Steve's face.

"Dude, don't laugh at me!"

Groaning, Eddie pivots and thumps his head on the island. A large hand pats between his shoulder blades, gentle and apologetic.

"Sorry! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to... I just never would've guessed!"

Eddie turns his head a smidgen to glare up at Steve, who, to his credit, looks genuinely remorseful in response to Eddie's dramatics. Even so, 'never would've guessed'? Is he trying to be funny?!

"Are you trying to be funny?"

"No! I seriously didn't think... I mean, why wouldn't you have had your first kiss?"

Ouch. Eddie know Steve doesn't mean it as in 'you're too old to be a kissless virgin'. He means it as in 'you're my friend and a good guy, ergo a catch, ergo you should be dodging babes left and right'.

But that sadly doesn't change the fact that Eddie is way too fucking old to be a kissless virgin.

He knows why he is, though. He knows it's not his fault, at least not entirely. And based on Steve's pained expression, he does too.

"It'll get better," he says, continuing to stroke Eddie's back, calloused fingertips scratching at the nape of his neck where his hair has slipped down and left the skin exposed. The contact sends a shiver running along his spine. "You'll escape this shit hole, and all the judgemental dicks that live here. Then it'll be easier."

"Maybe so. But," Eddie huffs, pushing off the island, "that's a meager comfort. I'm already 20 fucking years old. I don't want to wait any longer. I want to experience all the shit everyone else already has now."

"Everyone hasn't-"

"Steve, the 15-year-olds currently in this house have seen more action than I have."

"All right, okay, I hear you. We'll solve it for you."

"How."

"Well," Steve's tongue darts out to wet his lips, "if you just want to get it over with, then... I could kiss you?"

Eddie's jaw detaches from the rest of his face and hits the ground as such velocity a dust cloud would rise, if the floor wasn't so fucking pristine. Did he just say...

"Did you just say...?"

Steve shrugs. "Why not?"

"Weren't you only moments ago complaining about bad kisses? And now you want another one that, surely, will be even worse?"

"That's different. We're friends."

And perhaps it's Eddie who's the weird one. Perhaps it's he who doesn't understand, since, hello! Kissless virgin! Dreadfully Inexperienced! Has no clue what he's doing!

So, digging the heels of his hands into his eyes before dragging the palms down his face, he says, "Okay! Let's do it. Teach me, oh master. Show me the way."

Steve rolls his eyes, fond, and cups Eddie's cheek. Eddie's breath hitches in his throat.

They're doing it now? No preamble? They must be, because Steve is leaning in, eyes sliding shut. Eddie's do, as well, after one last, blurry yet breathtaking, closeup of Steve's face.

"First thing you gotta do," Steve says, breath hot on Eddie's lips, "is get a good angle. Don't just smash your faces together."

"Okay," Eddie whispers, eyes still closed. Steve's thumb is caressing his cheekbone in a move that shouldn't be as soothing as it is.

"Don't forget to breathe," Steve continues, and shit, did he? Eddie sucks in a breath to be safe; Steve chuckles. "And don't rush. Take your time to explore. Be cool."

"Jesus H Christ, Steve," Eddie hisses. "If you don't kiss me now, I'll-"

Steve kisses him.

It's... okay.

Nothing life changing, to be honest. Sure, it's nice – soft and warm and kind of fuzzy in his chest – but not as spectacular as he's been led to believe.

Then Steve parts his lips. His tongue, wet and hot, licks along the seam of Eddie's mouth; he opens it with a gasp. Steve slips his tongue into Eddie's mouth, and wow, yeah, that's good. Then he drags his tongue over Eddie's, and that's really good. The hand on Eddie's cheek slides to his neck, tipping his head back with a sweet tug on his hair, allowing Steve to reach even farther, and that's really fucking good.

Eddie falls into it.

Literally – he slumps against Steve's frame, grasping his shoulders, Steve's arm an anchor around Eddie's waist.

Eddie's pulse is hammering in his throat. Steve's chest is solid where it's pressed against Eddie's. He's doing this thing where he coaxed Eddie's tongue into his mouth and now he's sucking on it, and it makes something curl in Eddie's groin and down to his toes, and-

The timer goes off.

They break away with a gasp, but they don't let go of each other. Steve's eyes are hazy, his mouth slick and slightly bruised. Eddie is warm from the tips of his ears to his clavicles and his innards can't stop moving: heart bouncing, gut somersaulting, lungs rattling with emptiness at the sight of Steve so close.

The timer stops ringing. In the living room, the kids are still noisy. In the kitchen, blood rushes in Eddie's ears.

Holy shit.

Steve smiles.

"So," he says. "That's lesson one."

NEEDS MORE STEVE TEACHING EDDIE HOW TO KISS OK BYE

[jackmcgeefromthenationalregister]

Marvel doesn't have a plan. Like the Star Wars sequel trilogy, they make it up as they go along. There are numerous instances of backtracking, retconning, and general inconsteinces. Such as

Tony Stark is going to join the Avengers omg

Just kidding he said no to Nick Fury

But wait Nick Fury is here again maybe he will be an Avenger

Actually Nick Fury rejects him as an Avenger

Actually wait no now Nick Fury wants him to be an Avenger

Wow Bruce Banner was tortured over the beast inside him he cannot contain and learned he can use the Hulk for good and get some sense of control, ridding of his angst. He will now forget this and draw this same conclusion at the end of every movie he is in.

Tony said he wants to help Thunderbolt Ross take down the Hulk

Nevermind Tony is a Hulk superfan he was just tricking Ross in this retcon short we have here

Omg Thor destroyed his only way of going to Earth

Just kidding he's back on Earth for some reason that meant nothing

Ooh Thanos was teased he's coming soon

Oh wait no he's not doing anything yet actually

Wow S.H.I.E.L.D got taken down things will never be the same

Actually they basically still exist in every sense of the word. Nick Fury seems to basically operate the same organization the same way. Crazy

Tony has explicitly retired by blowing up his suits and overcoming his anxiety, doesn't seem like he's gonna still be Iron Man

Actually no Tony is indeed still Iron Man. And he didn't conquer his anxiety it's actually so bad now that he made a genocidal robot

Oh shit Thanos is really coming this time

No actually he still is not doing anything wait a few more years

Oh boy I bet Tony Stark making Ultron will be a big deal and cause a lot of division within the team leading into Civil War.. but not really

Wow Tony and Steve are really super mad at each other. Except we tie things up with a nice little bow where Steve sends him a letter. the movie has to end with upbeat music and Tony doing something quirky

Wow the Accords broke up the Avengers. Superheroes won't be able to operate the same way anymore. Except for in Spider-Man: Homecoming where Peter is allowed to do exactly that, and the Avengers are seemingly still a thing that everyone mostly mentions as if they are still intact, where Happy Hogan himself talks about making equipment for Captain America and Thor, who should not be anywhere around the Avengers at this point.

Holy fuck Thor lost his eye and wears an eyepatch now and he lost his hammer

Actually Thor gets his eye back and gets another hammer. Also his arc is that he doesn't want to be a ruler. Except his arc is that he does want to be a ruler. Except it's not. Except it is.

Oooh and Loki has taken over Asgard. What a cliffhanger! It has little to no affect on anything.

Oooh shit guys Nick Fury is gonna call Captain Marvel this is gonna be a big deal in Endgame except actually it won't be at all its all virtually useless really

Ok we are going to kill off Thanos now. But not really. (And the same will apply to numerous characters)

Steve Rogers is learning he can't stay stuck in the past and has to move on with his life. Unless....

Time travel can't change the past, it just makes a new timeline. Unless the story needs to use the former rules. Then it's ok. Also branched timeliness are super dangerous but also not really it's fine

Wow half of the human population died and then came back five years later. The world will never be the same. Except it's actually shown to be functioning exactly the same outside of a few offhand mentions of crazazy stuff here and there

Spider-Man learned he doesn't need Iron Man tech and can be his own hero. And then he learns it again. And again.

Oh my goodness Peter Parker has been outed as Spider-Man and framed as a murderer. How will this effect him?

Not much. He can't get into college :/ anyway forget the set up for this movie we established we are doing multiverse now

Also these movies were his slow origin. That's why the ending of the third movie completely rescinds the entire trilogy and renders everything that happened meaningless.

Scorpion telling Vulture he heard that he knows who Spider-Man is and wants to kill him was simply for a good chuckle

Aunt May also always helped homeless people this was always a trait in the previous two movies

Wow Venom got transported to the MCU. Looks like he is gonna fight Tom Holland. Just kidding he is immediately leaving

Uh oh John Walker is making a shield. This is gonna be bad or something. Actually it means nothing we focused on this for literally no reason

Banner has completed his arc (off-screen, and terribly) by merging himself with the Hulk into one being. And then later he's back to his human form anyway

Thor is leaving with the Guardians of the Galaxy wow! And then leaves them within the first 5 minutes of his next appearance!

And according to leakers who have been reliable, MoM will be re-doing Wanda's arc from WandaVision and/or making her a villain, rendering the message of the show absolutely pointless.

[sparkleofpizza]

Mr. Perfectly Fine - Steve Rogers x reader

Requested: no

Summary: "Hello, Mr. perfectly fine, how's your heart after breaking mine?" - Taylor Swift (Mr. Perfectly Fine)

Warnings: angst, cursing

Word count: 3.8k

It took you a while to realize there was something wrong. Maybe you realized it sooner, but your brain decided to ignore the signs and try not to give into your anxiety, which was a first, but you were always a bit irrational when it came to Steve Rogers.

You both met a few years ago, you were friends with Dr. Banner before he became Hulk, when you were just a freshmen med student in school and he was working on his PhD. When the Avengers started getting more serious and people moved to the compound Bruce asked you to become their personal doctor and his lab assistant, they needed someone of trust and Bruce couldn’t think of anyone better than you to work alongside him and his friends.

You fell into routine pretty quickly. Nick Fury did a background check on you and already knew everything there was to know, trusting the information onto Natasha who quickly told the rest of her coworkers. And soon they were all pretty friendly towards you, making you feel welcomed and liked you belonged there.

When Bruce first offered you the job you were reluctant to accept. Although all you wanted to do was say yes, your anxiety got the best of you. What did you have to contribute to a group of superheroes? There was a God amongst them! You are just a doctor who luckily caught Bruce’s eyes and was nice enough to make him take a liking to you and consider you a friend, even after everything that happened to him.

Fortunately you ended up saying yes and there hasn’t been a day you regretted making that choice. Everything was so exciting, working with Bruce and Dr. Cho was great. Helping out at the lab abs listening to Tony Stark's ideas? Amazing! Listening to Thor ramble about his outworld experiences? One of the best stories you’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to. Traveling around the world to accompany missions and always being ready to patch any of them up? Of course!

And although you liked all of them equally and quickly found yourself considering them your friends, there was one person in particular who you liked the most and that was Steve. There was just something about him that made you want to spend the rest of eternity listening to him talk.

It didn’t take long for people to realize that you had a crush on him. It also didn’t take long for you to realize he also had a crush on you, if the pink dust of his cheeks that one time you hugged him for having got you out of the way, and saving you from broken bones in the process, when Ultron decided to make his first appearance.

Soon the both of you found yourselves in a steady relationship. You couldn’t be happier and couldn’t possibly love anyone more than you loved him.

So when Steve started pulling away a couple of weeks ago, you thought nothing of it. Maybe it was just stress. They were still trying to take down all of Hydra’s bases, but the number only seemed to increase. You knew Hydra made Steve stressed, it also made Bucky stressed and that only added to your boyfriend’s stress.

"I love you so much." Steve whispered on your ear

He had just arrived from his latest mission, you knew he liked to come straight to your apartment every time he spent too much time away from you. He'd go to the compound, debrief if it couldn't wait, take a shower and then go to you. So you thought nothing of it when you emerged from the shower and found him lying on your bed in nothing but a pair of sweatpants.

"You're back!" you exclaimed, plopping yourself on top of him

That night he held you extra closer. His arms around your waist and your back to his chest. You knew the mission must have gone wrong if he was extra clingy, but said nothing about it, you knew that when he was ready to talk he would tell you everything. After he showered you with his love and affection he deserved a good night's sleep.

But that conversation you were expecting to have never came, instead it seemed as if Steve was drifting away from you.

"Are you ok?" Bruce asked you one evening you were helping him out at the labs

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"You just seem a bit distracted."

You knew that staying silent would only make him worry further, but also telling the truth felt very silly. The Avengers had a whole lot more important things to worry about than you being worried that Steve was drifting away.

"I just didn't sleep very well last night and now I have a migraine."

That wasn't exactly a lie. You had stayed up until late, tossing and turning in bed trying to understand what you could've possibly done wrong for Steve to have distanced himself from you.

"Oh, maybe you should take some..."

Bruce's words were cut off by a knock at the door. You turned around, meeting Sharon Carter's face, she was holding something in hand and had a small smile directed at you both.

"Hey, I just came by to drop this for analysis." She said, entering the room and giving the small plastic bag to Bruce's awaiting hands

"Hi Sharon." You gave her a thigh lipped smile "I didn't know you were in town."

"Yeah, I arrived a couple of weeks ago, working on a new case, still don't know when I'm leaving."

Suddenly things started to make more sense, but it couldn't be true, could it?

Suddenly you weren't as upset as you were before, you were angry. You felt like you could punch something real hard and it still wouldn't be enough to make your anger subside.

Everywhere you went you saw them. And the worst part? Steve didn't even tell you that Sharon was going to be here. You didn't want to play jealous girlfriend time, but you honestly thought you'd at least deserve a little heads up if your boyfriend's ex was going to be around him for who knows how long.

You caught them whispering in the kitchen, you watched them practice together, you watched them go on small missions together, watched them debrief together and even go out for coffee once. But he didn't seem to have time for you, at all. You couldn't even remember the last time he spent the night at your place, or when you last kissed for more then five seconds.

The last straw came when you walked into the lounge room and all of your friends stopped talking once they saw you. So it was true, everyone knew and no one cared for you enough to just tell you the truth.

You gave them a short nod of your head and continued your way to the kitchen to grab some coffee. By now you weren't sure if you wanted to laugh, cry, or scream. Maybe all three of them at the same time.

"Hey sweetheart." Steve greeted you once you entered the kitchen

"Hi." you replied, grabbing a mug and pouring some coffee, not daring to look at him, you weren't sure how you'd react

"You good?"

"Mhm, just fine."

He frowned at your short response, you could see it from the corner of your eyes, still you made no movement to turn towards him.

"You don't seem fine." He said, walking behind you and placing a gentle kiss on your temple "You want to talk about it?"

You do, but you're not about to call him out at your work. Even if you supposedly have a friendship with the rest of the Avengers and Steve is your boyfriend, you still have to be professional, because that is how you're going to have to act once this is all over. You don't have the luxury of breaking up with him and then never having to see him ever again.

"Maybe later."

Steve grabbed ahold of your chin, turning your head around to look at him. He was still frowning.

"You'd tell me if there was something wrong, right?" There was a small undertone of anxiety on his voice

So that was it, he was afraid you caught up onto him.

"I suppose." you said in a small tone "We'll talk later, maybe you can stop by at my place if you're not busy."

At that he smiled, and for a small fraction of time you felt as if everything was going to be alright. Then it was gone.

"Of course I will. Tonight is friday, did you forget we always have dinner together and watch movies?"

"Right." you sighted

When you went home later that night all you could think about was how your relationship is going to be over by the end of the night. It didn't matter that you loved Steve so much, you would not be second to best to him, you will not allow him to toy you around while he is with Sharon too. It's either her or you, and apparently he already made his choice.

You were sitting on the couch when he opened and closed the door of your apartment behind. He was holding a bag of food from your favorite restaurant, trying to get on your good side now is not going to work.

"Hey sweetheart." He smiled, pressing a kiss to your temple and placing the bag on top of the coffee table "I picked up that sushi you like so much."

"Thank you." You smiled

You took a moment to look at him. His blonde hair pushed back, that thigh button down shirt he loves to wear that makes his biceps look huge, his sparking blue eyes that used to look at you with so much love and adoration, and that soft smile that used to be reserved to you. You took this moment to actually look at him like a hopeless lovesick person for the last time.

"So should we e..."

"We need to talk." You cut him off

Steve nodded, taking a sit beside you on the couch, grabbing your hands and squeezing it.

"What's going on, sweetheart?"

He looked preoccupied. You wanted to scoff, as if he actually cared about what was going on.

"Why?" you asked, voice so small that if he wasn't a super soldier and you didn't know he has a great hearing you'd be afraid he wouldn't have been able to listen to you

He frowned "Why what?"

You took a deep breath, it was now or never.

"Why did you do it? Am I… Am I not enough for you?"

Steve was silent for a moment, lips forming a thin line.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Please, talk to me. What is going on?"

Now you were angry. How dare he act like he is a clueless fool?

"Why did you cheat on me?" you yelled, ripping your hands away from him "Do you think I'm dumb? That I wouldn't realize that you're cheating on me with Sharon? Really, your ex-girlfriend of all people? The same person you swore you were never actually in love with and totally over her when you asked me out for the first time?"

He called his name softly, but you didn't give a chance to finish whatever sentence he was about to start. Now that you started yelling at him you weren't sure if you will be able to stop until you get everything off your chest.

"You distanced yourself from me, you don't touch me like you used to, and you stopped spending time with me because you're always spending time with her! You think I don't see you two always out together and whispering between each other?! And-And the team! Oh, you think I haven't realized that most of the time that they're reunited together at the lounge whenever I walk in they drop the conversation? That's because I am the conversation! They're talking about how stupid I must be to be with you while you're cheating on me with Sharon!"

By this point you were off the couch and pacing around the living room. Steve was still sitting on the couch, staring at you with a blank face.

You wiped some tears off your face.

"I thought I'd at least deserve to be broken up with instead of cheating on." You said in a lower tone now, shoulders dropping "I thought I at least meant enough for you to break up with me before getting together with her. I should've known better. You will always want a Carter."

He said your name again, standing up and trying to reach you, but you held out your hands to keep him away.

"Let me..." He cleared his throat "Let me explain, please."

You shook your head, a bitter smile on your face.

"There's literally nothing you could say right now that will change what you did, Steve." You sobbed, pushing some hair away from your face to keep your hands occupied "You should go. I'll get whatever you have here and leave at the compound."

"Please." He pleaded, taking another step towards you as you took one back "Please, just listen to me."

"No. I think you already broke my heart enough."

You two stared at each other in silence. Your heart was beating so fast you were sure he could listen, and also listen to its cracking.

This is the last time you two will stand together in your place. A place where you used to sit together, cuddled on the couch and talk about the future, like we had a clue. Talking about marriage, and how many kids you'd have together, where'd you live to raise your little happy family. Now you feel like throwing up just thinking about it.

After what felt like an eternity Steve finally nodded. He raised a hand as if was going to touch you, but decided against it, dropping it back to his side.

You turned your head away, partly because you didn't want him to watch you cry over him anymore and partly because you couldn't bear to watch walk out the door.

When you finally heard the clicking sound indicating that he was gone, actually gone, you broke down sobbing and collapsing on the floor.

Steve was so perfect from the moment you met. He was a gentleman, always making sure you were ok and always checking on you whenever you had to travel with them to ensure their health. That's what made you fall in love with you, the little things he did to you, always making sure you weren't alone, or that you were eating properly, or that no enemy would ever know you were there.

He was literally the man you have been waiting for all your life. Sweet. Caring. Loving. Perfect. And he promised you to always be by your side. All the promised that you made together, did it mean nothing to him?

Why did you do so wrong?

But that's when you realized that if he couldn't have Peggy Carter he would have her relative Sharon, it was the second best thing. You weren't even ever an option to him. You were just keeping him distracted until he could have a Carter in his arms again.

One of the worst parts of all of this was how Steve seemed normal after what happened on Friday. It's like he didn't go thought a breakup of his four year relationship, which made you guess that you really didn't mean anything to him at all. 

Over the course of the weekend you went trough a lot of crying phases. You kept asking yourself why you weren't enough for him, if maybe he fell out of love with you and didn't know how to break up with you so he was nice enough to keep dating you while dating someone else - that was quickly discarded after a phone call to your sister who said and you quote "I can't believe that after that fucking asshole cheated on you for god knows how long and didn't even have the guts to tell you himself, you are still trying to find an excuse for his behavior."

That seemed to put a lot of perspective into your feelings because the next thing you know you were burning a picture of the two of you together that you had in a frame in your living room. After seeing the picture gone it made you cry harder because you were going to miss looking at the picture, it was taken on your one year anniversary, you two had a picnic on top of a very tall building that had an amazing view of New York, courtesy of Tony, and Steve told you he loved you for the first time. It is, was, one of the best memories you have with how, now it is clouded by the doubt of if he really meant what he said. 

Then, after burning the picture, having a mental break down because of it, you decided you should eat your feelings. You ordered your favorite food from a small dinner around your block and hoped that would make you feel a bit better while you tried to distract yourself by watching Modern Family, it didn't work very much. 

Sunday. On Sunday you spent most day on bed, you replied a few texts from your sister asking how you were doing, but you didn't really feel like talking at the moment. So you stayed in bed, AirPods on and Taylor Swift playing on repeat. 

And unfortunately Monday came around. You weren't ready to face him at work and you haven't even separated his stuff like you said you would, that would make him think that you still wanted him around. You couldn't bring yourself to get rid of his sweatshirts, or his toothbrush or all of the other stuff he had at your place. That would only mean it was really over. 

You didn't see him on the first three days and you were thankful for it. You still cried yourself to sleep every night, whining he was there to hold you in his arms and kiss your tears away, and this thoughts only made everything more painful because how fucked up can it be that you want the person that hurt you to comfort you? 

But not seeing him didn't mean that you didn't hear people talking about him, and you knew it was only a matter of time before someone brought it up. 

"Today is Barton's day of cooking and I know you love his carbonara. Are you having lunch with us today?" Bruce asked you while putting his coat away and getting ready to leave for lunch 

"Uh, no, I'm not." You replied back, not daring to look him in the eye because you know he is giving you his worried glance, he's been doing it all week 

"You haven't been around much lately. Did something happen?"

On top of having broken up with Steve, you realized that most people on the team probably knew about him and Sharon and that made you angry. You thought they were your friends as all, but you guess you were wrong. So you not only didn't want to see him, you also didn't want to see them. So for the past week you have been bringing your own coffee from home so you don't have to go the kitchen get some, and also you've been going out for lunch like everyone else that works here does. 

Bruce called your name, gently touching your arm to get you to look at him. 

"Is everything ok?" He questioned, voice low and soft "You know you can talk to me. We are friends besides colleagues."

You took a deep breath. 

"Steve and I broke up."

He widened his eyes. 

"What? H-how, what happened?"

He genuinely seemed shocked and confused by your news which somehow only twisted the knife deeper in your heart. So Steve didn't even tell his friends what happened. God, how stupid could you be? 

"He was cheating on me with Sharon." Was all you said, but after a few moments you added "Did you know?"

"Of course not!" He exclaimed "If I did I would have already told you. I can't believe he would do something like that!"

"Yeah, me neither. Jokes on me, I guess."

Before the conversation could get any deeper you grabbed your coat, purse and left. Bruce was nice enough to realize that this was your way of saying you didn't want to talk about it anymore and didn't go after you. 

But of course luck wasn't on your side and the moment you entered the elevator you saw him. 

Steve was dressed like he normally did, a button down, black dress pants, and his hair was styled that way you liked, it made you want to comb your hands trough it while you placed kisses on his beautiful face. 

You didn't dare to look at him, keeping to your side of the elevator, but you could feel his eyes on you. 

"You're going out for lunch?" He asked after clearing his throat to gather your attention 

"Yes."

He hummed "You're going alone?"

That you look at him, like really look at him. And he looked normal. Like nothing out of the ordinary was happening. He kept his hands on his pockets, his eyes were as blue as ever, there was no redness or puffiness around his face indicating he had been crying and he even had the audacity to smile that you. 

"I don't see how that's any of your business." 

You both didn't say anything else until the elevator doors opened on the first floor. You walked out together, but instead of immediately linking hands and arguing about what you wanted to eat for lunch, you both started going separate ways. 

Before you could get too far he called out your name. You turned around, staring at him and then shifting your line of sight to the car he was standing in front of, you could clearly make out Sharon's blonde hair from where you stood. 

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I really am."

But you knew he didn't meant it because he got into the car with her and leaned over the console. You turned around before you could see anything else. You weren't willing to torture yourself further, there is only so much your heart can take. 

So instead you decided to walk away, with tears rolling down your face, you walked away from Steve Rogers and cursed him for being so perfectly fine without you.

[trashywormeateroffics]

The right universe.

Summary: After Y/N's life turns upside down, she's full of grief. Somehow, one day, she manages to travel to the MCU, where she meets her favorite characters, including a certain god who seems willing to establish a friendship with her. Suddenly she's enwrapped in this new world, where everything she loved in a screen is now reality. How will she react? Will she be able to deal with the ghosts that haunt her? Or will she let them consume her? Will she be open to accept the love she is offered? Read to find out!

Read this on AO3! 

Category: F/M.

Relationships: Loki/reader.

Characters: Wanda Maximoff, Pietro Maximoff, Sam Wilson (Marvel), James "Bucky" Barnes, Vision (Marvel), Tony Stark, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Stephen Strange, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Bruce Banner, Thor (Marvel), Clint Barton, Steve Rogers, Peter Parker, other minor appearances of other characters but these are the main ones, Pepper Potts, Loki (Marvel).

Additional tags: Loki/reader - Freeform, Avenger Loki (Marvel), Loki & Tony Stark Friendship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Fluffyfest, Slow Burn, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Pining a lot because we love to suffer, Domestic Avengers, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark is a parental figure, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Everyone is a good bro, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, y/n, After Infinity War but no one died and the purple bitch was defeated, Missions, Y/N is a universe traveller, Grief, Therapy, Protective Loki (Marvel), Loki in love.

MASTERLIST OF THE STORY

Chapter 23: invisible string. 

“Careful darling.” He said as Y/N got up slowly from the bed. It had been five weeks since she got shot, and she was in a slow but definite recovery. “Here, I will carry you.”

“To the bathroom?” She said, chuckling. He just looked at her, serious. “Loki,” she sighed, “I need to be able to do basic things on my own at least, like the doctor said. I'm fine, I promise.” He didn't look convinced. “Bestie...” It had started as a joke, but soon she found out how flustered it made him every time she called him that.

“Fine, but I will stay here if you need anything.”

“Okay,” she said, kissing him on the cheek and making her way to her bathroom.

Days passed, and Y/N's birthday was getting closer and closer.

“Y/N darling,” he told her one day.

“Yeah?”

“I was meaning to ask you... Your birthday is just around the corner…”

“Yes, and?” She asked, frowning. Loki knew it was a sensitive subject, her family had died close to the date and it was just a reminder of another year without them. She still did not talk about them that much, just a comment here and there. He was not offended, he understood how hard it could be, he was just worried about the one he- the one he cared so much about.

“I was wondering if perhaps you wanted a celebration, I know midgardians tend to do that on the occasion.” She sighed, and smiled sadly at him.

“I don't think so, Lokes…”

“It is alright, I just wanted to make sure.” She nodded and they continued doing their own thing on the couch in silence. A few minutes passed and Loki felt some movement on the other end of it. Suddenly Y/N was crawling to him and settling on his chest, nuzzling her head there. He knew that it was difficult for her and he wished he could feel her pain instead of her, but all he could do was hold her, close and tightly to him.

                                              -----------------------------

“What are you doing?” He said, pulling out her earphone. She looked up at him.

“Listening to music,”

“Oh,” she noticed that he was a bit anxious so she smiled at him softly.

“Do you want to listen with me?” He looked down at her.

“You do not mind?”

“No! Come here Lokes!” She told him, patting the spot next to her in the bed and he laid down.

Staring up at the ceiling, he frowned.

“What is this?”

“Taylor Swift…” She raised her eyebrows. “Don't you dare criticize her.” He laughed.

“I'm not going to, it is not terrible. Not like that music Stark plays all the time at least.” This time she laughed and bumped their shoulders together.

“He's an old man, let him be.” He rolled his eyes.

“Whatev-”

“Oh!” She said, suddenly. He looked at her confused. “This is my favorite song. Ever.” She told him as invisible string started to play. But before it continued, she paused it. “I need to tell you something.”

“O...kay.” He said, narrowing his eyes.

“This song reminds me of you.” He raised his eyebrows.

“Oh... what is it about?”

“Listen to it and you'll know.” She said with her heart in her mouth. She laid back down and pressed play on the song, grabbing Loki's hand and interlacing their fingers together. Both their hearts were beating rapidly against their chests. The first lyric was sung:

Green was the color of the grass

Where I used to read at Centennial Park

I used to think I would meet somebody there

He looked at her side profile as she had her eyes closed, pretending to listen to the song, but honestly, just avoiding his gaze.

Teal was the color of your shirt

When you were sixteen at the yogurt shop

You used to work at to make a little money

He squeezed her hand tighter, signalling for her to look at him. She did.

Time, curious time

Gave me no compasses, gave me no signs

Were there clues I didn't see?

She smiled softly and squeezed his hand.

And isn't it just so pretty to think

All along there was some

Invisible string

Tying you to me?

He lifted himself with his elbow and she did too, not once breaking eye contact.

  Bad was the blood of the song in the cab

On your first trip to LA

You ate at my favorite spot for dinner

Bold was the waitress on our three-year trip

Getting lunch down by the Lakes

She said I looked like an American singer

She grabbed a strand of his hair and twirled it around her finger, he, in return, grabbed that hand and kissed her first knuckle.

Time, mystical time

Cutting me open, then healing me fine

Were there clues I didn't see?

Second knuckle.

And isn't it just so pretty to think

All along there was some

Third knuckle.

Invisible string

Fourth knuckle.  

Tying you to me?

Her palm.

As the bridge of the song began, he came closer to her, cupping her cheek with his hand.

A string that pulled me

Out of all the wrong arms, right into that dive bar

Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire

Chains around my demons

Wool to brave the seasons

“Loki,” she breathed. “We shouldn't do this if its not-”

“Real?” He cut her off and Y/N nodded curtly. “And you think it isn't?

“Is it?” She responded.

“Of course it is,” he said and she nodded again.

He got closer and closer and she did too.

One single thread of gold

Tied me to you

And their lips touched, barely. Suddenly, they both desperately reached for the other, entangling themselves and losing their respective earphones in the process; now all that could be heard were their labored breaths and all that could be felt were their lips on the other and Y/N's body on top of his, their chests touching.

“Darling I-”

“Loki,” she cut him off. “I love you.” He breathed in, sharply. “You don't have to say anything, but I want you to know.” He nodded and quickly put his hand behind her neck and pulled her down to kiss her. It said it all, she knew. He felt it too.

~taglist~ @mischief2sarawr @midnights-ramblings @mealoncholy-hill 

[chemnections]

this is what i’m referring to when i say new characters are added for the final season, i’m not saying they are canon in the comics because the show has gone past the source material and gerard might take another route for the comics. but again his approval has been asked for the ending of the series. he does have a hand in it. he is consulted with. and this has been shown in interviews with steve blackman who has talked about someone of the questions he has asked gerard about the story in order to make the show. steve is still trying to stay true to the comics and capture gerard’s vision. but of course he has added his own creative vision, like with the dance numbers as an example.

i get the impression steve blackman knows that the amount of storylines in the umbrella academy are too much to really fit the screen time they do have - as in the article calling out his shitty behaviour he was specifically quoted complaining about page’s transition and how page requested that viktor transitions in the show and this was another plot line added which blackman was frustrated by. at least partly because they don’t have a lot of time to do the storylines they already had well.

part of my pessimism that the umbrella ending won’t be satisfying is that we already have season three and so many of the questions from season one aren’t answered, or just end never to be spoken of again. i also felt like that when reading the comics. that’s my critique of gerard’s writing, but again just my personal opinion. however i will say this is a great advantage when writing concept albums because having a vague open ended ending to that story really makes you want to re listen.

g r r martin is a good comparison of what burn out can do to a person. from the interviews i have watched of martin, he also just doesn’t know how to end a story which is both a strength and a weakness because it allows him to write complex realistic characters in their fictional context, but because he’s writing their lives basically in an organic real time manner, letting the characters make their own decisions as he’s writing, he can’t cut the story short as the characters clearly live on after the credits roll, and his story’s conflict is one that may never actually get solved.

gerard works well when he has something to prove to the world. but the umbrella academy found its success early, prestigious awards and netflix and all. everything is said and done, all that’s left is to finish it off. art projects find their doom when they are put on a ‘i’ll finish it one day’ list. and when i said i would assume there would be pressure to complete it before the netflix series, i think it would be reasonable that blackman would want material to base the show off of instead of flying blind and basically making a fanfiction of how he personally thinks gerard would end the series. and dark horse comics would love to make money publishing it sooner rather than later, because then they can make sequels instead of occasional oneshots based on an incomplete series. the addition umbrella academy series may exist to help keep dark horse happy because the final comic hasn’t been written. i’m surprised there isn’t a contract in place for a timeline.

but keep in mind when i’m saying all this, i would love to see the series complete. and definitely did not mean to hijack your post - it’s just a topic i have a lot of thoughts on and couldn’t resist

Umbrella Academy news:

Only 6 episodes long, Gerard has approved of their ending but it’s not what we will get when the comics end officially. I still think it’s hilarious that now he and George R. R. Martin have in common not being able to finish publishing your work before your tv show adaptation.

For reference, the Netflix adaptation came out in 2019, the same year the last published series came out, volume 3: Hotel Oblivion.

It did take him ten year between volume 2 (Dallas - 2009) and Hotel Oblivion so we still have 4 years to go.

Source

[mysticalrambling]

Hey there😄😄I hope you're doing fine....I love your fanfictionss just too much and *adorable addition* is just my top favorite atory of yours😍😍😍. Yesterday you said i could make a request too so i was wondering if you can take in a request??😅😅 which is a Steve Rogers x reader request, which I had in mind for a long long time...I have made this request to some authors before but some of them never responded or just weren't interested in writing it so you can too decline but hear me out please😅😅... Ok so here goes nothing....

**Steve and reader being in an arranged marriage and steve is very rude towards the reader and would blame her, that due to their marriage he is not with peggy and how she irritates him, but still the reader did sweet things for him, made him food, tried to make him happy and tried to make their marriage work...but one day when she has enough of all the hurt, she stop doing stuff for steve and starts ignoring him..and also steve sees that peggy didn't love him but only his status as Captain America and was happy with someone else..then he realises his mistake and felt bad for treating his wife poorly...he tries to make up things with her but she now ignores him...His team members berate him for ignoring his wife and he gets jealous seeing someone else making a move on her.....and now he has to work his ass off to win back his wife...And can you end it with a happy ending and can it be long also? please🥺🥺

Arrange Marriage (S.R)

A/N: Thank you so much lovely and I loved the plot line. I loved writing about it and I made a few additions to the story. Hope you like it and I am open to more requests.

Steve Rogers Fanfiction (Fanfiction Master List)

Summary: Steve and you are married because the government wants Captain America to be a family ma. Steve is not happy with the arrangement and thinks he is in love with Peggy. You try to make your marriage work but he insults you every chance he gets. However, everything works out eventually.

Warnings: Angst but eventual fluff.

._._._._.

"I prepared some dinner for you," You spoke out when you saw your husband rushing towards his room. That's right, his room. Even though you were married for about a month now, you have never been in the same room for more than ten minutes.

"I am not hungry." He was quick to dismiss you and went straight to his room. You just looked at the muddy footsteps that were the only evidence that Steve was here. He was on one of his missions with your dad, Nick Fury. Your step dad, actually, because he rescued you from one of hydra base camps when you were eight years old. Those times were something that you have repressed in your mind and you would never think about them.

A few tears escaped your eyes when you kept all of the untouched food in the fridge which you spent hours preparing. You understood that you were not your husband's first choice but you both had an obligation to try to make it work. But lately, it was like you were all alone in this relationship and you felt so worthless.

Wiping the tears away, you made your way to the master bedroom because you had enough. If years of therapy have taught you anything, it is that no one had the right to make you feel that way. "Come in!" His pissed off voice filtered through the door and you took a shaky breath before entering.

"Hi. I just wanted to say that I prepared all of your favorite food and you didn't even look at it." You spoke timidly.

"I told you I was not hungry." He said from the changing closet and came out in his sweats. Looking tired was something not new for Captain America now a days and everyone at work was also starting to notice the change. "Why are we pretending to be like a normal, married couple?"

"Why can't we be one? I am trying here." He looked anywhere but at you because he knew that he would see those damp eyes. That was enough to make him feel guilty and he wanted to prevent that.

"You know why. I am in love with Peggy." The most hurtful thing that your life partner can say to you and Steve just did without taking your feelings into account.

"Then you could have said something before we got married." Panic was slowly setting in because you realised that you were stuck in a marriage that is never going to work out.

"The whole government was pushing me towards this marriage and Peggy was still not ready for that kind of commitment. I was stuck with you." Steve knew that the statement hurt you the moment the words escaped his lips. This was a revelation that rocked your world. And not in a great way, might you add. "You could have rejected the proposal."

"Do you think it was that simple for me? Dad has done so much for me and this was the one thing that he asked off me so I did not refuse. I thought that you agreed to this marriage and we could work it out in the future." Those dreams were being crushed right now and you knew that this marriage was doomed. It was like a hit to your gut and you felt caged in this room with your husband.

"Well, we can not." Leaving the room, you went straight to bed and cried yourself to sleep because there was nothing else you could add to that conversation.

After sometime, Steve came out of his room and made his way towards the kitchen. Opening the fridge, he took out the food to heat it up and realised that you made all of his favorite food. He was never going to admit it but he loved your cooking. Every night he comes in to the kitchen to eat all the food that you prepared for him. However, he realised that you didn't eat any of the food so you probably went to bed hungry. The guilt was eating him up and he felt helpless because he wanted to think that he didn't care about you. But sometimes, you don't even realise when a person is warming their way into your heart.

"Do you want to watch a movie?" Steve was home today and you were going out of your mind with boredom so you thought of asking him for some company.

"I am not in the mood." He was quick to dismiss the idea and turned around in the hallway while still scrolling through his phone.

"I just thought-"

"You thought nothing. Why are you so clingy? I told you I do not want to work on this relationship. You are the reason that I can not be with the love of my life. Please just leave me alone.” He rudely interrupted you because he was not in the mood to interact with anyone. Seeing a picture of Peggy on instagram, he became aware of the fact that he could not be with her because he is a married man now.

Peggy Carter had been the first person that he saw when he woke up from the ice after 40 years. She helped him to become Captain America and she was the most important person in his eyes. Those few months were really difficult for Steve but she helped him get through them. Peggy quickly became his girlfriend and when the councilmen wanted him to get married, he was quick to propose. But she told him that she was not ready to take that step and she backed off. He was still pining over her and it was not fair to blame you for everything but he needed to do that to make himself feel better.

“I am sorry.”

“(Y/N)-” You left before he could say anything else. There is only so much a person can tolerate.

Over the course of a few days, Steve noticed that you were indeed leaving him alone. You were not there to welcome him home when he got back from his missions and give him a massage even after he told you not to. You did not cook from him anymore and he really missed it. He loved the fact that you always made his favorites and you never even had to ask him. You haven’t talked to him since the night he yelled at you. Guilt was an emotion that he often felt whenever he saw you.

“So there is a charity event that we both are invited too. It’s black tie optional.” He leaned against the door as he watched you doing laundry.

“Okay, I will be ready.” These were the only five words that you have said to him in the past two weeks and they were not enough. He has missed you and your conversations. The house was too quiet now a days and he didn’t like it one bit. But he was too stubborn to be the one to break the wall.

“You have to wear a dress. Many people will be watching you because you are Captain America’s wife so please do not go with your sense of style.” He wanted to slap himself in the face when he saw you freeze. Why couldn’t he just have said something nice to her? Steve didn’t know how to talk to you without messing it up.

“Okay.” Sighing, he left the room and sulked in his bedroom for the remaining day.

You were never going to say it out loud, but you were really hurt by what he said today and that day. None of it was your fault and you have been thinking about ending this marriage. However, the thing was that you made a commitment and you were never the one to back out from things. You quickly finished doing the laundry and went to take a shower.

“Are you ready?” Steve fixed his bow tie before you opened the room and he was left speechless. You in a red dress with a slit running through the side was a side of you that he had never seen. So bold and outgoing.

“Yes. Just let me quickly apply my lipstick.” Watching you apply a red lipstick left him in a trance. His wife was truly something unique but he just ignored it. Shaking himself out of it, he thought about Peggy and how he loves her. You both left afterwards and the car ride was quiet with the exception of a few stolen glances.

‘We have to go hand in hand and smile for the red carpet.”

“Okay.”

You were always a little scared to walk in to these kinds of events and so you tightly clutched on to your husband’s arm. Steve knew that you were a little bit of an introvert so he squeezed your hand in response.

“I am going to go meet some councilmen.”

“I’ll be by the bar.” Making your way towards the makeshift bar, you ordered a martini and just sat there mixing your drink. On the other hand, Steve made polite talk with the councilmen and then excused himself to the washroom. He heard someone mention his name on his way to the washroom and that piqued his interest.

“Come on, I was never in love with Steve. He was my assignment from the S.H.I.E.L.D and that was it. I had to help Captain America adjust to this life.  I love you, Oliver and that is a fact.” Steve quickly left before he could hear anything else.

Honestly, he couldn’t believe that all those months spent with Peggy were just a lie and he was ruining his marriage because of her. He thought that it would hurt a lot but it was kind of a relief. He was now realising that he was never in love with her. It was kind of an obligation for him because he thought that he somehow owed it to Penny. But he didn’t and now he can finally give his marriage a fair try and not feel guilty about it.

“So what is a beautiful girl like you doing at a bar all alone?” Turning around, you saw Bucky with a smile adorning his face.

“Hi. It’s been such a long time since I last saw you.” You hugged your friend because he was one of the people that you were close to. You actually missed him in these past few months and were glad to see him right now. Getting in to a conversation was way easier than you thought.

“Hey Buck. What are you doing?” Your husband was quick to place his hands on the small of your back and you silently choked on his intimate gesture.

“I am fine, Stevie. Just catching up with (Y/N).”

“Oh okay. Would you mind if I take my wife to the dance floor?”

“No worries.” Silently taking you to the middle of the room, you both got to dancing and your breath hitched when he was so close to you right now. His cologne had taken over all your senses and you were drunk on him. God, it was pathetic but you could not help yourself.

“I want to try to work on our marriage.” You didn’t know if you were hearing things right now so you muttered a silent, “Come again.” He silently chuckled and repeated the sentence again. Looking at him, you stopped dancing and left the room.

“Why did you leave?” He found you at the balcony just staring at the stars with your hands wrapped around yourself. “It’s freezing.”

“Why? Why would you say something like that?” You whispered silently.

“I mean it. I want to try.”

“Don’t you love Peggy?”

“I have realised that I didn’t love her. It was like an obligation to me and I like you.”

“I can’t do this. You insulted me every chance you got and you made me think so low of myself.”

“I know and I am so sorry for that. I will spend my life apologising to you for it. Please, give me a chance.” There were some tears in your eyes and everything was becoming blurry.

“I can’t do that. I will always be your second choice.”

“No, you are not. Trust me, I have had feelings for you but I have been trying to repress them from the very start.” He tried to touch you but you took a step back.

“If we try this relationship thing out, will you promise me that you will tell me when you want to get out. We can get divorced right then and there.”

“I don’t want to be divorced and I will spend my life making it up to you.” He was quick to kiss you and it was way better than your wedding ceremony kiss. “I like you, (Y/N).”

“I like you too, Steve.” You went in to kiss him again and were glad that this marriage was going to work.

Hope you guys enjoyed it!!

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A/N: I love Captain America and I was happy to write a fanfiction about him. If you guys have any more request, I will be happy to write about them and message me if you want to be added to the tag list.

Tag list: @kalopsia-flaneur, @justile 

Like, comment and reblog.

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