#n pat was saying how haters press his buttons but he keeps going up

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the little chuckle brian does when pat goofs a joke

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Popular | Chapter 5

Pairing: Bucky Barnes X Avenger!Reader

Prompt: Tony has made a bet to see who could end up with the most fans, out of the Avengers, by the end of the month. Bucky takes it just to piss Sam off and Reader really wants to prove that she isn’t the least popular. Bucky and Reader team up to be a fake couple in order to beat the other Avengers, agreeing to split the prize at the end. Will it all work out?

A/N: I really don’t know why I picked Clint, but I swear I don’t have him. He’s just very…fitting for the following scenarios. Enjoy that Serious Bucky™ gif.

Warnings: It’s fluffy until it’s suddenly not. Clint gets the short end of the stick.

Series Masterlist

Clint’s Bad Day

Trouble brewing in Avengers Tower? Our undercover team caught never before seen exclusive shots from the photoshoot the team had just a week back. What the cameras didn’t show was the drama that was happening between superstar couple Bucky Barnes and Y/N L/N behind the scenes! Our photographers first caught Bucky making eyes at another girl on set. Experts and theorists both agree that this could mean signs of an affair.

 Either way, this did not sit well with his girlfriend. Y/N was quick to see that her boyfriend was not paying her the fullest of attention. Jealous much? Not soon after, the two quickly started arguing. As seen in the photos, arguing began not long after the end of Bucky’s shoot. He seems to be going on the defense but quickly takes the offense after Y/N pushed a few wrong buttons. It looks like these two are just a few stops away from Splitsville…

“That’s enough. I don’t want to hear any more.” You slouch down into the sofa and cover your face with your hands. How could this happen?

“I’m so sorry, Y/N. Those stupid gossip columnists don’t know what they’re talking about.” Wanda carefully patted your back.

Everyone had gathered once more for the score reveal. It was almost halfway through the competition, and you were already losing what you had gained. This time around, you were at the number four spot before, but now it had fallen. Bucky wasn’t faring much better. It was actually kind of hard to tell which one of you was on top. Your two scores kept alternating between the seventh and eighth spot

When everyone looked to Tony, the man only shrugged. “You two are being tweeted about so much, I think the machine is having a hard time keeping up and seeing which ones are actually positive. Bottom line is, you both have a lot of supporters and a lot of haters.”

“I can’t believe they did this without our permission!” Bucky slammed his fist down on the table. Everyone jumped a bit when the wood looked like it was about to give. Your heart sank at his realization of what he could have done. “I-I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s not your fault, Buck. Those reporters are taking all of this way out of context. There wasn’t any audio, video, or even eye-witnesses!” You point out.

“Who even let this anonymous camera guy onto set anyway?” Nat glared at Tony. “You said you knew everyone there.”

Tony held a finger up. “I said I knew the people from the company. I am not responsible for these two lovebirds getting caught at a bad time.” Tony scooped up the article and briefly scanned it. “This sure is a pickle..”

“Yeah, we got that part already,” Steve snapped. He sighed and went back to consoling you and Bucky. “It’s not your fault, guys. We’ll just..hold a conference or whatever to clear it all up.”

Nat grimaced. “Not a good call. Addressing this kind of gossip only makes it worse. You need to be clear, short, but not act totally heartless.”

“So you except for the last part,” Clint snorted. Nat threw a glare his way, along with a copy of the magazine. “Hey, I was just joking!”

You looked over the article again. It was the same four to five pictures on every single website, blog, and paper. Bucky being flirty with the camera woman, and then you looking upset. You exhaled and tried to think of ways to salvage what was left of the relationship. You didn’t even realize you were squeezing Bucky’s hand whilst reading until he gave a squeeze back.

“Hm?” You lifted your head up, momentarily distracted from the incriminating paragraphs.

Bucky gave you a weak smile. “I may be strong, but I think I’d prefer if you didn’t break my last real hand.” You looked down and saw that you gripped his hand to the point where it was turning a bit red.

“Oh dear, I’m so sorry Bucky. It’s just-” You let go and sigh deeply. “I’m sorry. I just don’t understand how a few out of context pictures could blow up into such a big scandal. A phony one too. The one day where the Kardashians decided to stop being for once.”

It was draining, hearing badmouthing and lies from almost every outlet imaginable. You were all over TV, newspapers, the internet, even trending number two on Twitter. You were only beat out because a rumor spread that Guy Fieri had died from flavor poisoning (#flavordrowned). You and the other Avengers spent the last hour talking about the romance rumors. You and Bucky have even made a little nest on the couch to cope- complete with comfort blankets, ice cream, and Steve.

“I just want this to go away,” you mumbled into Bucky’s shoulder. You frustratedly threw a magazine, aiming it at nowhere. Unfortunately for Clint, he got hit again.

“Guys, I was just joking!” He rubbed his head. “Why were you two arguing in the first place?”

Uh oh. You and Bucky froze up, looking at each other with frightened eyes. The team was staring intently now. Why was it that you were always being cornered at the exact same place? The universe clearly was not in favor of you getting your new penthouse sweet penthouse.

“Yeah, why were you arguing in this picture? It’s probably not what the papers say it is, but Y/N does really look upset in this one,” Nat observed.

Tony rested his head in his hands, eagerly leaning forward to hear the story. Even Steve stopped to look you both in the eye. “Well?”

“I-it is really stupid,” you mutter.

Bucky nodded in agreement. “Not something we’re proud of.” That part was the truth. At this rate, neither one of you were too happy about the false relationship. If you were caught now, you might as well be stuck living in your overcrowded room forever. You looked at Bucky, who was equally nerve-wracked. Suddenly, the blankets over you felt way too hot.

“Come on. It can’t be that bad,” Wanda encouraged. Actually yeah, it can. You took a deep breath. Maybe if you just kept denying stuff, they’ll stop pressing on. Bucky seemed to be a better liar than you were.

“It was because we couldn’t agree on where to go out, okay?” Bucky finally admitted. “We were both craving something different and didn’t feel in the mood to compromise. That was it. It was stupid, we didn’t end up going out anyway, and we made up three seconds after the last photograph.”

Hah. You bet everyone felt stupid after asking that question. “Seriously? Over where to eat lunch?” Clint held in a laugh.

“I was on my period, okay?” You snapped. That shut the guys up pretty quickly. Nat raised her eyebrow, but didn’t press on any further. You quickly felt your cheeks heating up and buried your face under more blankets. “This. Sucks.”

You couldn’t see, but you did feel someone (namely Bucky) lift you up in their arms. You weren’t sure if it was because you really needed a hug or if it was just really really nice in general to be lifted like a paper bag by Bucky, but you sure did feel a whole lot better. Especially since you were apparently leaving the room.

“I think Y/N and I better go upstairs. We don’t want someone,” He sounded like he just gave the death eyes, “upsetting us further.”

Your best guess was Clint. Your suspicions were proved correct as a yelp of pain escaped his mouth. “Ow! Come on, I wasn’t being serious! Do you remember a time when I wasn’t the punching bag? Because I sure don’t! Why do we buy so many magazine copies anyway? They’re all online!”

The rest of his complaints were drowned out as the elevator whisked you away to a quieter- and hopefully less violent- place. You let out the fortieth sigh of today and settled for pressing yourself closer to Bucky. Even though it was probably a hundred and five degrees outside, snuggling up in blankets with air conditioning on full blast was the most comforting activity you could name.

You peeked out from where you were hiding to see that Bucky had opted to go to your floor instead of his. You were quite thankful since it meant you didn’t have to leave the pile of blankets currently surrounding your entire body.

“You look like a caterpillar that just refuses to come out,” Bucky commented.

“Why bother when I can stay in here forever. No bad press and no other Avengers. Besides, traveling via super-soldier express is very luxurious,” you state. It was safe here, unlike out there where a flying magazine could hit Clint in the head at any given moment.

“I just can’t believe what’s going on. You were right about the whole flirting thing. I-I’m so sorry. Now I’ve cost us both the win,” Bucky lamented. He gently placed you down on your bed. He laid next to you, arms folded behind his head. There was a crease that ran deep along his forehead, and the smile that you were starting to get used to was nowhere to be seen. You had definitely both seen better days.

“No, it was me. I’m the one who got all up in your face and upset.” You muster up the energy to roll over and onto Bucky so that both of you were covered by the blanket burrito.

“Are you trying to crush me so that you can steal the win?” Bucky’s playful nature started to peek out. You smirked to yourself.

“I still need you to win, remember? I’m trying to be nice and cover you. Do you want the blankets or not?” He shrugs and rearranges them to fit both of you.

“Now I won’t have to tell everyone you drowned via blanket tsunami.” Curse him and his stupidly charming jokes. You were ready to propose a night of hiding and watching old movies when a series of long vibrations started to shake the bedside table. “What is that?”

You look up and grab at your phone. You tug it underneath the layers and watch as your normally quiet screen is lit up with hundreds of Twitter notifications. “Uh oh.”

“What?” Bucky dipped his head in. “What are they doing?”

“Y/N is such a clingy shrew. Bucky is the classic example of unreliable men. Bucky should just dump her and move on, preferably with me. Don’t let anybody steal your man, go Y/N.” You continued to read out tweet after tweet. Sometimes, it was funny. Other times, it was downright uncomfortable. You received threats, degrading name-calling, and even jealous fans. Bucky seemed to be getting just as much hate.

“This is so stupid. I can’t believe they’re talking about us like that.” Bucky frowned, taking your phone from you. “They’re calling me a two-timer now?”

“Ugh. All because you were flirting prematurely,” you said. Apparently, this comment was quite alarming to your dearest fake lover.

“Excuse me?” He sat up, looking very stoic. “I was what?”

“What?” You frowned. “Am I wrong?” He even admitted it early. You didn’t get what his issue was.

“So now you’re blaming me for this?” He gasped. “I thought we agreed it was nobody’s fault.”

“I’m not saying it was. But I do recall that you were the one who started to get all up and friendly with Miss Gorgeous Photographer,” you accused.

“Jealousy is not a good look on you,” Bucky uttered. Your mouth hung wide open in shock. Frankly, you were a little offended. Maybe you were being overdramatic, but he did not just accuse you of being jealous.

You shrugged off the blankets, deciding to face him without the added padding. “Say that again?” It was more of a challenge than a question.

“Just admit that you were jealous. I didn’t go all bug-eyed when you were giggling like idiots with Sam,” Bucky asserted.

“Real mature bringing Sam into this. Remind me again how long your preschool feud has been going on? I don’t have to be jealous of anything. How dare you call me jealous when you were the one who had such a disregard for our agreement! I warned you to keep your eyes away from other women-”

“-which was exactly what gave the photographer enough dirty gossip and ruin our reputations,” he finished angrily. He got up, quite proud of himself for such a flimsy argument. In a rush of pent up rage, you gave him a shove. It probably felt like nothing to a man of that stature, but Bucky somehow stumbled back a bit anyway.

“Real mature,” he spat.

“Yeah? Like telling Sam to wear a giant ‘Loser’ shirt is so mature,” you sneered.

“Why do you keep bringing that guy up? Are you in love with him or something?” Bucky growled.

You felt really warm now, and not because of the blankets. It wasn’t a nice, fluffy warm. It was the hot chili pepper enraged kind. “I’m sick of you and your downright stupid attitude. If anything, you’re the one who has him on your mind twenty-four-seven.”

“You sound like a teenager!” Bucky roared.

“And you act like one!” You shouted back. All this yelling made your heart accelerate really fast. You heaved heavy breaths, trying to calm yourself down. Unrealized tears threatened to spill at any moment. You gaze didn’t waver from Bucky’s. He looked back at you with the same level of furious frustration.

It seemed like you two had nothing left to say to each other. Without another word, not even a sparing glance back at you, he left. The door slammed loudly, but you didn’t bother to check if he actually broke the hinges or not. As you listened to the elevator whir away to another floor, you finally laid back down. How did everything spiral to be so out of control? This was supposed to be fun, not another headache for you to be worrying about. How did Bucky become so mean? When did you become so nasty? All these thoughts began to make your head spin.

You pulled the blankets up higher. It didn’t feel so cozy without another body wrapped around you. It was warm but empty. You closed your eyes, knowing that tomorrow there would most likely be tear stains on your blanket.

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