#s: s: stevebucky

[barnesdolls]

Bucky Barnes and the Rapid Onset of Premature Aging

Bucky Barnes was nineteen years old, but he was convinced he would have a full head of white hair before he hit twenty-five.

And it was entirely Steve Rogers’ fault.

Steve, who weighed about as much as a wet paper bag.

Steve, who had the lung capacity of a Victorian orphan.

Steve, who was actively trying to die every single day of his life.

Bucky had one job. One.

Keep Steve alive.

And it was a full-time goddamn job.

—

INCIDENT #1: THE ALLEYWAY MASSACRE (OF Bucky’s Sanity)

Bucky was minding his business, walking down the street, when he heard it.

That dreaded voice.

“I can do this all day!”

Bucky froze. Closed his eyes. Took a deep, deep breath.

Then turned the corner to see exactly what he feared:

Steve. In an alley. Fighting a guy twice his size.

Bucky dragged a hand down his face. “Jesus Christ, Steve.”

Steve turned, panting. “Hey, Buck.”

Bucky crossed his arms. “Again?”

The guy Steve was fighting—who looked mildly annoyed rather than actually threatened—grunted. “Is this your friend?”

“No,” Bucky said flatly.

“Yes,” Steve said at the same time.

Bucky groaned. “Alright, buddy, I got this one. Scram.”

The guy shrugged and left, clearly realizing he had better things to do than fight the human equivalent of a dandelion in a windstorm.

Steve huffed. “I had that under control.”

“Yeah?” Bucky shot back. “You were on the ground, pal.”

Steve scowled. “I almost won.”

Bucky pointed at Steve’s face. “You have no cartilage left in that nose, Steve.”

Steve wiped some blood off his lip. “It builds character.”

“You don’t need more character, you need a doctor.”

Steve just grinned. “But I got spirit.”

Bucky threw his hands up. “I need a drink.”

—

INCIDENT #2: THE MILITARY APPLICATION THAT GAVE BUCKY AN ANEURYSM

Bucky was relaxing. For once.

And then Steve walked in, looking suspiciously smug.

Bucky squinted. “Why do you look like that?”

Steve held up a piece of paper. “I enlisted.”

Bucky dropped his fork. “You what.”

Steve grinned. “I enlisted.”

Bucky stared at him. “You did not.”

“I did.”

Bucky snatched the paper from him. Scanned it. Rubbed his temples.

“Steve,” he started, struggling to stay calm, “you have asthma.”

“Yeah.”

“And rickets.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And a laundry list of other things that make you physically incapable of joining the army.”

Steve shrugged. “They haven’t said no yet.”

Bucky groaned. “Steve. Buddy. Pal. They are going to say no.”

“You never know.”

“I do know.”

Steve just smiled. “I got spirit, Buck.”

Bucky screamed internally.

—

INCIDENT #3: THE FINAL STRAW

Bucky had accepted many things in life.

That Steve was determined to fight guys who looked like professional boxers.

That Steve would absolutely keep trying to enlist even though he was, medically speaking, held together by sheer stubbornness and spite.

That Bucky was never going to get a single moment of peace.

But what he didn’t expect—what he refused to accept—was walking into Steve’s apartment at six in the goddamn morning and seeing his best friend standing on top of a rickety-ass chair, trying to hang a punching bag from the ceiling.

Bucky froze.

Steve turned. “Oh, hey Buck—”

And the chair wobbled.

Bucky lunged. “NO—”

But it was too late.

The chair gave out.

Steve plummeted like a sack of potatoes.

Bucky barely caught him before he hit the floor.

For a long moment, there was silence.

Then Bucky slowly set Steve down, stood up, and took a deep, calming breath.

Steve, flat on his back, blinked up at him. “That could’ve gone better.”

Bucky clenched his fists. “I swear to God, Steve—”

“You know, if I was in the army, I’d probably have training for stuff like—”

Bucky screamed into his hands.

Steve patted his knee. “There, there, grandpa.”

And Bucky, fully grayed by age nineteen, muttered:

“I need so many drinks.”

—

INCIDENT #4: THE DOUBLE DATE FROM HELL

Bucky had made a critical mistake.

That mistake was thinking that maybe—just maybe—Steve could handle a normal night out without starting some kind of incident.

He was so wrong.

Because now, here they were, sitting at a booth in a diner, on what was supposed to be a double date.

Bucky had set it all up: two nice girls, a cozy booth, food on the way—a perfect setup.

And then Steve, bless his little disaster heart, decided to start an argument.

With a waiter.

About government corruption.

“I’m just saying,” Steve was in the middle of passionately debating, “if people don’t push back, nothing changes.”

The poor waiter, who just wanted to refill their drinks, blinked. “Uh—”

Steve turned to Bucky’s date. “You get it, right?”

Bucky physically cringed.

His date, looking deeply uncomfortable, cleared her throat. “I, uh, don’t really keep up with—”

Steve pointed at her. “And that’s the problem!”

Bucky threw his head back in agony.

The other girl—Steve’s date, who looked like she was seconds away from crawling out the window—let out an awkward laugh. “Um. So. Who’s up for dessert?”

Bucky, desperate to salvage this date, quickly raised his hand. “Me! I love dessert! Let’s talk about dessert!”

Steve, meanwhile, leaned forward. “You ever think about how—”

“NO.” Bucky slammed a hand over Steve’s mouth. “WE DON’T THINK ABOUT ANYTHING.”

The waiter, fully done, just set down their food and walked away.

Steve peeled Bucky’s hand off his face. “You’re being dramatic.”

Bucky turned to his date, hoping to fix whatever just happened, only to find that both girls were already standing up.

“We’re gonna go,” one of them said.

Bucky’s heart shattered. “No, wait, I—”

“Nice meeting you,” the other added.

Then, like ghosts, they vanished out the door.

Bucky slowly turned back to Steve.

Who was casually eating a fry.

“You ruined everything,” Bucky muttered.

Steve shrugged. “Eh. They weren’t the one, anyway.”

Bucky stared at him. “You have to stop talking.”

Steve popped another fry into his mouth. “I got spirit, Buck.”

Bucky groaned into his hands.

—

INCIDENT #5: THE FINAL TRANSFORMATION

Bucky was tired.

That was nothing new.

Steve had been running him into the ground for years.

So when Steve finally vanished—off to some government experiment or something—Bucky had never felt such peace.

For one day.

And then Steve came back.

And Bucky… lost his entire goddamn mind.

Because the Steve that left? Five-foot-nothing, could be knocked over by a strong breeze, constantly wheezing like an asthmatic chihuahua.

The Steve that returned?

A walking Greek statue.

Bucky had been chilling, just hanging out at the base, when suddenly—

“Hey, Buck.”

And there he was.

Steve.

But not Steve.

Because this man was tall.

This man had biceps.

This man had shoulders that could break a doorframe.

Bucky blinked. “The hell is this?”

Steve shifted, a little awkward. “Uh… they, uh, did the procedure. Worked pretty well.”

Bucky squinted. “You’re taller than me.”

Steve rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah.”

Bucky walked up to him. Poked him. “Where’s the wheezing?”

Steve sighed. “Gone.”

Bucky narrowed his eyes. “Where���s the asthma?”

“Also gone.”

Bucky grabbed his arm and shook it aggressively. “What the hell are you made of now?”

Steve sighed again. “Mostly muscle.”

Bucky stepped back, took a deep breath, and ran a hand down his face.

Then he looked back up at Steve and muttered:

“I swear to God, if you’re taller than me in every single one of our photos now, I will commit a crime.”

Steve grinned. “You sound jealous.”

Bucky pointed at him. “Listen here, you absolute brick house—”

And then a bunch of military officers walked in, and Bucky had to pretend he wasn’t in the middle of having a crisis.

But deep down, deep, deep down, he knew:

Steve was never going to let this go.

Because one thing Steve always had, was spirit.

[riricitaa]

we'll always have London ...

[fandomfluffandfuck]

Playboy Bunny Boyfriends

Bucky's not willing to mess up ✨️his hair✨️ even if it's part of the outfit and put on bunny ears

[catdiarie]

☥  ˖ִ ࣪ 🦇 ache.　⠀s. rogers & b. barnes . . .

( ♱ ) … They need money; Steve tries to work. He gets sick from the cold. (pre-war stevebucky)

777 。。masterlist

Steve’s hands tremble, chapped and cold beneath his fingerless gloves, as he folds another newspaper. The little stand ran out within a few hours—butter and egg men or prissed women hurrying towards the markets, all of them none too fond of his slow hands and shaky fingers.

The sharp cold stings. Steve’s chest rattles like a jar of coins with every breath he takes. He tucks his hands beneath his thighs on the rickety stool he sits on, watching people breeze past the stand in suits and thick wool coats. A group of boys pass by on their bikes, hooting and hollering with cheeks blazing red and the bitter wind whipping through their hair.

It’s not yet noon, and Steve already feels halfway to death.

—

It takes Steve upward of three tries to slide his key into the lock. The door creaks and screams as it opens, Steve leaning heavily on the handle as he shuffles his feet over the threshold.

It’s late, sometime around five. The apartment smells good, thick and cloying, something along the lines of what Steve thinks is tomato soup. Bucky emerges from the kitchen, shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows and arms crossed over his chest. He raises an unimpressed eyebrow as Steve closes the door.

“‘I’m not going to work today,’” Bucky muses. “That’s what you said this morning. ‘Don’t feel well.’ Then I get home and your punk ass is nowhere to be found.”

Steve hugs his coat to his chilled body a little tighter. The apartment is warm enough, but Steve only feels the outside’s lingering cold. “Changed my mind. Felt a little better, figured it wouldn’t hurt. We need the money.”

Bucky doesn’t say anything for a while. Steve shifts under the weighted observation, shoulders tight and hunched.

“Come here,” Bucky sighs. He holds his arms open and Steve stumbles his way into the embrace, shivering as Bucky’s arms surround him.

“I got fired,” Steve admits in a mumble against Bucky’s shoulder. He can feel the shake of anger underneath his hands—at himself, for being unable to keep a job, unable to remain healthy enough to consistently get out of the apartment, at his employers, for firing him for reasons that lie beyond his control.

This time, his boss had tried to be kind about it, saying that they needed someone with quick hands and dependability for this job. He understood that Steve had a fierce streak—everyone within a few blocks of Steve’s childhood home had heard of Sarah’s boy, coming home again with a broken nose—but that as determined and stubborn as he could be, Steve just isn’t the best man for the job.

“I know.” He always knows. Bucky kisses the top of his head and squeezes him once more before letting go. “Come on. Got dinner on the stove. One of your favorites—tomato soup and grilled cheese.”

Later, after being warmed inside by the hot food, Steve’s taken his spot—on his back on the couch with his head in Bucky’s lap—while one of Bucky’s hands cards through his hair. Steve lets out a long, slow breath and closes his eyes before he speaks.

“I’m sorry about the job,” Steve admits quietly.

“It’s fine,” Bucky says, even though they both know it isn’t. Steve has lost three jobs in as many months because the cold has decimated his lungs. They need the money—it’s hard keeping themselves and their apartment afloat, especially with all the medicines Steve requires. And Steve knows it’s stressful for Bucky, who often takes an extra job or two in addition to his work down at the docks.

Steve rolls onto his side and presses his face into Bucky’s stomach. Sometimes, even Bucky isn’t enough—tells Steve a handful of things he doesn’t want to know, continues to insist that Steve stay here in the apartment with him, says that he never mind when Steve gets sick, not even when he has to stay home from work and gets his job threatened because he’s been gone taking care of Steve for so long. But on other days, days like today, Bucky feels like the one good thing that Steve gets to have.

Even if it’s only in their tiny apartment where they have to be quiet lest the neighbors hear and report. Even if it’s only in the dim light before dawn when Bucky pulls Steve close enough to kiss before he leaves for work. Even if it’s never outside, never in public, never to be seen or known by another. Even if Bucky has to be a secret, it’s worth it. He’s a secret Steve keeps close to his heart and is glad to hold tightly.

Bucky tips Steve head back a little until his hand can press against his forehead. Steve sighs softly at the relief, Steve runs cold and Bucky hot, but right now Bucky’s skin feels like ice.

“You’re coming down with a fever, if you haven’t already got one,” Bucky murmurs. Steve just groans and buries his face back into Bucky’s soft stomach. More than anything, Steve hates that he gets sick. Hates that he needs to be cared for, that he can’t function like a normal person, that he’s small and thin.

Bucky goes “Up, up, up,” while patting Steve’s side, encouraging him to sit up. He does, albeit reluctantly and scowling, and Bucky only laughs and says, “Wipe that look off your face. It’ll get stuck.”

Bucky makes him drink an entire glass of water and change into his sick clothes—a cloth shirt, jacket, and pants that were cheap and easy to clean—before he allows them to lay back down. Steve settles easily back into his spot, trying to ignore the fever-tremble of his body as he curls into Bucky.

Maybe he shouldn’t have gone to work today. But it’ll be worth it, Steve thinks, when he gets to see Bucky’s face light up at the realization that they’ll have enough money for an indulgent treat like ingredients for cake or a bit of chocolate when they next go shopping.

[heterosexualomegaverse]

Personal top favorite fics on ao3 of all time

- living's just a waste of death by author tothendoftheline

Best Political Animals fanfic out there. I consider it the canon ending. I think all my longest comments ever I posted on ao3 were on this fic. It's a mostly canon compliant detailed exploration of what TJ's life would actually be like. How his (childhood) trauma effected him. His time as a white house kid, his sexuality, his addictions. It starts pre-canon and goes on long after canon has ended. TJ starts working on himself, his relationships with his family change, he gets new friends (kinda). Idk if I'm selling it well but I love it so much.

- Known Associates by author Thingswithwings

Fic that made me ship Steve and Rhodey lol. Though Steve calls him Jim. Was rereading it yesterday and damn its so good. an (I think) realistic depiction of queer life in the 1930's and 1940's then the movie plot happens and Steve is in 2012 and now has to figure out what/ who he is in this century. Also got a plot about kinda being experimented on and turned into super soldiers.

- The Barnes Files by author PaintedDoe

Bucky Barnes' therapy sessions in transcript format. (can you tell I love character studies)

- Flawed Perfection by author Squiggles13

Also part of a series but I haven't read the other parts yet. This one also mostly starts as Bucky going to therapy but then the tfatws plot happens but changed to be way better.

- Teach Me by author stucktogether

Steve/Bucky college au. Steve things he's straight but can't seem to keep his eyes off of Bucky. It's isn't until they've fooled around a half dozen times or so that he things he may just be bisexual. This Bucky's also got some deep lore.

- Treading water by author sparkagrace

SteveBucky olympic swimmers au where they were childhood friends that got separated at 12 but reunited at the olympics, except Bucky's presence brings back a lot of feelings that Steve can't deal with. This one gets real angsty. It has a sequel that is even more angsty.

- (A series) 'Til the End of the Line by author ohstars

SteveBucky with marvel canon except what if they were gay. Until endgame where shit is changed a lot cuz you know the time-travel staying in the past obviously doesn't happen. It does go on after that. They finally come out to the team (cuz they were closeted to whole time with Sam being the only one who knows) They have kids together, get married and then there is some time travel shenanigans and a lot of stuff until they both die of old age.

- The Island Man by author Amber_Skye

What if Steve Rogers was never found in the ice and got rescued by shield, but instead got out himself, but still only in 2012? And no one believes he is actually Steve Rogers Captain America? He ends up homeless doubting his own mind. Maybe he really isn't Steve Rogers? Maybe he really is crazy

anyway idk why I wrote this. I just wanted to list some of my faves. didn't really put a lot of thought into this, it's late and I'm tired.

[submissivegayfrenchboy2]

17 / 01 / 2025

🇺🇸🇬🇧 English / Anglais 🇬🇧🇺🇸

My SteveBycky fanarts

You may have noticed that in the past few days I've rebloged (and commented) a lot of SteveBucky fanarts and fanfictions. It inspired me these two drawings that I've made quickly, with pencils.

Here are drawings that I made in homage to Steven Rogers and James Buchanan Barnes.

The first one I made is a drawing where we see the Winter Soldier in a gigantic pond and Steven is very small. We can imagine that the Winter Soldier is normal size and Steve Rogers is abnormally tiny, or that Bucky Barnes is huge while Steve is normal size even though he is small. Or maybe Steve is tiny and Bucky is giant, which explains the size difference. I drew Steve with a light blue shirt and big pants, brown shoes and standing on a large wooden crate to try to wait for his huge lover. James Barnes is dressed in his outfit seen in the Disney+ series FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER. So he has his new mechanical arm, but I left him with his long hair that we saw until AVENGERS ENDGAME.

I was mostly inspired by the amazing arts by my friends @antoniomatosxd2 @joepringle

This allows a contrast with the other drawing, which I did afterwards, where I imagined Steven Rogers and James Barnes during the Second World War. Steve is dressed in a light blue shirt, again, but with a collar more reminiscent of 1940s fashion, a sweater and tie in the color of the American flag, and his hair styled in the front. His gray pants are more flared at the bottom, as men's pants were cut in the 1940s. Likewise, his brown shoes reveal his white shoes. Next to him is his best friend and lover James Barnes, dashing in his American soldier's uniform. They look at each other lovingly. 🥰 I designed this drawing where the size difference is more realistic and consistent with what we see in the movie CAPTAIN AMERICA. FIRST AVENGER.

I've talked here about my love for the height difference in the Stucky ship :

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

🇨🇵 Français / French 🇨🇵

Mes fanarts Stucky

Vous avez sûrement remarqué que j'ai reblogué et commenté de nombreux dessins et histoires sur Steve Rogers et Bucky Barnes. Ça m'a donné envie d'en publier aussi. Je les ai fait rapidement avec des crayons de couleur et des feutres.

Voici des dessins que j'ai réalisé en hommage à Steven Rogers et James Buchanan Barnes.

Le premier que j'ai fait est un dessin où l'on voit le Soldat de Lhiver étang gigantesque et Steven est tout petit. On peut imaginer que le Soldat de l'hiver est d'une taille normale et que Steve Rogers est anormalement minuscule, ou bien que Bucky Barnes est immense alors que Steve a une taille normale même s'il est petit. Ou alors, Steve est minuscule et Bucky est géant, ce qui explique la différence de taille.

J'ai dessiné Steve avec une chemise bleu clair et un pantalon gros, des chaussures marrons et monté sur une grande caisse en bois pour tenter d'attendre son amoureux immense. James Barnes est vêtu de sa tenue qu'on voit dans la série Disney+ FAUCON ET LE SOLDAT DE L'HIVER. Il a donc son nouveau bras mécanique, mais je lui ai laissé sa longue chevelure qu'on a vu jusqu'à AVENGERS ENDGAME.

Cela permet un contraste avec l'autre dessin, que j'ai fait après, où j'ai imaginé Steven Rogers et James Barnes durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale.

Steve est vêtu d'une chemise bleu clair, là encore, mais avec un col plus proche de la mode des années 1940, un pull et une cravate au couleur du drapeau américain, et les cheveux coiffés sur le devant. Son pantalon gris est plus évasé en bas, comme les pantalons masculins étaient coupés dans les années 1940. De même ses chaussures marrons laissent voir ses chaussures blanches. À côté de lui se trouve son meilleur ami et amoureux James Barnes, fringant dans son uniforme de soldat américain. Ils se regardent l'un l'autre amoureusement. 🥰 J'ai conçu ce dessin où la différence de taille est plus réaliste et conforme à ce que l'on voit dans le film CAPTAIN AMERICA. FIRST AVENGER.

@stevechoosesbucky @steverogersnotebook @stevebuckythyla @steveandbvcky @stevebuckybliss @stevebucky-art @stevebuckythor @stevebuckybrainrot @stuckyfanart @stuckybangs @stuckys-baby @stuckyedtogether @stuckybingo @stuckylibrary @stuckylibrary-blog @buckybarnesstan3 @stuckyasks-blog @stuckyanddandelions @stuckyaesthetic @steverogersdaily @steverogersxreader @steverogersx @buckystevelove @bucky-bucky-bucky-bucky @bucky-barnes-diaries @bucky-bucky-boo @bucky-bucky-bucky @captainamericass @preserumsteve @preserum-feral @preserumstevesuggestions @winterslove1917 @chrisevansbuddy @prewarstucky @buckybarnes @buckybarnesdaily @buckybarnesstar @buckybarnesgifs

[bromcommie]

it's never over (hey, orpheus) stevebucky | M | WIP

Chapter 2 (presque vu) just posted for this fic! I still have no idea how you format these!!

Chapters: 2/? Tags: Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Then and Now, Music References Out the Wazoo, The Great All-American Revenge Roadtrip, Many many dream sequences, Unreliable Narrator, Identity Issues, World War II, Cold War Drama, Red Room Horrors, Bucky Barnes Remembers, Steve Rogers Needs So Much Therapy, Cap Quartet, Jewish Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers the Lapsed Catholic, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn

Excerpt:

Two days, six hours, fifteen minutes. “Stop that.” “’m not doing anything,” Steve sniffs. Through the fog of painkillers strong enough to kill a horse, his sinuses twinge at him in outraged protest. "I'm bedridden." “Just because you're high as a kite doesn't mean you're not doing anything. I can see you trying to case the room." The soothing music crooning from Sam’s banged up phone on the side table is far too at odds with Natasha’s unimpressed expression. "This is a hospital. You’re a national icon. Have some decorum.” “Got plenty decorum. ’s wasting time I have a problem with.” Two days, six hours, sixteen minutes.

Read on AO3

[carebeardean]

get to know your moots

tagged by: @tumblerislovetumblerislife tagging: @wordsinhaled @idliketobeatree @dont-offend-the-bees but no pressure!🥰

What's the origin of your username? I like Care Bears and Dean Winchester <33 perhaps it’ll be another cute thing-Charles next ! :3

OTP(s) + ship name: wangxian (the untamed), serirei (mob psycho), deancas (supernatural 😔🤡) tamaharu & tamakyo (Ouran high school host club), Stevebucky (captain America), Steddie (stranger things) ALSO kanej (six of crows), & wenzhou (word of honor) HI ALEX OMG?? <3

I also adore platonic soulmates like Niko & Edwin, Steve & Robin

Favourite colour: pastel pink! no wait like, mango yellow. or a pretty inky blue no wait—

EVERYTIME WE TOUCH BY CASCADA !!! <333 my favorite song as a baby apparently lol

Hobbies: drawing, painting, baking & cooking, making massive organized playlists and Pinterest boards, and collecting vintage beanie babies! I’m learning how to edit and paint pottery as well !

Something you collect: cool stickers, gay fanart, pink sweaters, cute animal tchotchkes

Favourite food: butter chicken or ooh soup dumplings.. or garlic bread.. or deep dish pizza or

Favourite animal: cats! & giraffes bc their tongues are cute

What's your best character trait?: I’m always down to try new things with friends, & I like adventures!

What's your worst character trait?: avoiding conflict 😵‍💫 & getting Very mad when I lose board games I’ve never played lmao

If you could travel in time, who would you like to meet?: Mary Oliver I think, she seems like such a lovely person. I’d love to have tea with her & talk about poetry. That or I’m breaking into Netflix HQ & killing before they canceled the show. I’m the principal now

[ao3-stucky]

Is the feed broken?

yes, there's smth wrong with ao3's rss feed service: https://archiveofourown.org/tags/110293/feed.atom (this is the feed for stevebucky specifically, but you can look up the rss feed for any tag and they're all like this), which is what this feed uses to update. it won't be back up until ao3 fixes this, i think.

[greenbergsays]

most likely to like stevebucky, alex or henry?

I don’t know if that’s a fair question considering I discovered Alex & Henry like a month and a half ago and I’ve known Steve & Bucky since 2015 XD

I don’t think I’ll write A/H fanfic, does that count as liking S/B more?

[thegeminisage]

as someone who wasn't around in 2014....can you tell me what it was like? (stucky) can you give me a taste of the gardens of babylon etc

what was it like...this is such a fun question i want you to know i gave serious thought to my answer and also discussed it at length with my 2014 friend last night and i know already it's gonna be so long. sorry that i answered your ask at fuck o clock in the morning i am scheduling it to go up later and also at the time you sent the ask in to make sure you see it

ok so like. i mean, you're on the fandom website, right, so i assume youve been in fandoms. idk if youve ever been in a really, REALLY big fandom, at the same time that said fandom was also producing content (even if the source material was not). think d*stiel post nov 5, or undert*le circa late 2015/early 2016, or z*lda after totk came out, or h*rry p*tter as the seventh book was being released. (i'm censoring to avoid a false positive of anybody's blacklist except in the case of the last one, which i am censoring out of <3 disrespect.) like there's something REALLY luxurious about being in ANY large and active fandom and it's mostly the power of crowdsourcing. st*r tr*k 2009's tarsus iv headcanons. the storm trooper lore re: the f*rce awakens before the second two movies came out. everyone just kind of agreeing that dean w*nchester was a teenage hooker. you know?

like, that's "just fanon," sure, but part of the beauty of it is that no one person makes up fanon, we all gather in the biggest writing group in the world and collectively go insane and bat ideas back and forth. there are a hundred THOUSAND fics about bucky barnes on ao3 and that's just the people who were writing, not even counting artists and gifmakers and meta-writers and people who just reblog stuff. i can't possibly begin to put an accurate number to how many people are in any given fandom at any given time, but imagine (on the low end, i'm sure) there are THOUSANDS, perhaps tens of thousands, of people going nuts about stevebucky at all times. tens of THOUSANDS people doing "yes and" with each other on the internet 24 hours a day seven days a week. it's just like being in any fandom, you log on to your dash and see what the mewchies posted while you were gone, but in a fandom so huge and so active you were getting bombarded with idea after idea after idea every single second, so if you don't like one you're spoiled for choice in what you engage with next. it didn't even matter that cap3 was two years away or that it sucked when it finally got here because we collectively wrote cap3 a million times over. like, genuinely, it was a mass creative exercise. it's the biggest writing group in the world. for better or worse, we were shaping our own version of that universe, without any input from or regard to the people who actually created the characters and movie, in a way that compelled most strongly to our own tastes and demographic.

what made this particular movie/fandom special though was a few things. firstly i still genuinely believe it was ahead of its time...marvel shit pre disney was allowed to be political in ways it is ABSOLUTELY not now. like, cap2 could say "the government is secretly full of nazis and they all need to burn" in 2014 two years before the 2016 election and 7 years before jan 6. like you just couldn't say that now. "war bad" is an oldie but goodie, but "our entire government is corrupt and needs to be torn into flaming pieces and cast into the potomac" is um. pretty radical. so is, by the way, "men as victims" and "men having emotions" etcetc. like, not in fandom, fandom all but invented that shit, but as far as dumb superhero movies go. i can't tell you the number of metas i read AND WROTE discussing steve rogers and masculinity and how all that was portrayed, intentionally or not, in that fucking film. i had entire separate universes built up in my head for steve who was born a cis girl and steve who decided later in life that "nonbinary" or "trans woman" was a better fit and then steve who was born as a cis boy and remained a man his whole life but felt weird and different ways about being queer which clashed with the weird and different ways BARNES felt about being queer. i'm not saying the film (or the fandom! good lord) was perfect, it was a product of its time, but it was also WAY ahead of its time too. it was weird to expect the next film to come out and actually, like, be good. it wasnt, but we fully believed it would be and that wasn't delusional behavior because the last one had been. i would never have that kind of faith in a marvel project now because they've been bought by disney.

oh yeah and that's the other thing too like. speaking of queer people. gay marriage wasn't legal in the US on a federal level until 2015, and you couldn't just flip on your TV and see them whenever you wanted. ten years doesn't seem like that long ago in the grand scheme of things but like, we lived on glee and cw/mtv queerbait (disclaimer that i personally only participated in cw queerbait) and that was it. we had crumbs. and like when people write gay characters theyre Just Gay, but if you decide to be crazy stupid in a slash fandom you can decide these layered characters are gay and that's even better rep than um whatever was going on in other pieces of media. these guys are both so lonely and out of step with time and lack other people with "shared life experiences" (girl what the hell was that) and their connection w each other keeps them afloat in a world that doesn't want them so like of COURSE it seems like it's supposed to be romantic. and like, i could and did make myself and my tumblr buds crrrazy (and got made crazy by them) thinking about:

how steve's size when small and again when big interacted w his gender identity and his sexuality and how that sexuality manifested. barnes's identity As A Man hinging on his ability to go to war for his country bc Thats What Men Did but now he's no longer fit because theres worms in his brain. loss of bodily autonomy which usually happens to women and natasha being later in that journey than steve and bucky are and so close to being at peace with it but not there yet. stigmatization of seeking treatment for mental health issues lessened by the presence of sam who could have been a Macho Tough Guy but actually gives off strong Talk About Our Feelings And Be Soft vibes. don't even get me started on the relationship (predatory) between steve and rumlow and how it parallels the one between barnes and pierce (and if any of you motherfuckers BREATHE a word of that h*dra tr*sh p*rty shit in my direction i will END you) and the stigma that comes from being preyed on when vulnerable As Men. steve's depression and ptsd and him getting triggered by, yes, the fucking ALS ice bucket challenge. the collective belief that he was conscious when he was frozen even though nobody said that so that he and barnes could have that in common too. the headcanon about barnes having roma heritage - shoutout to not easily conquered my beloved, and the 14k smut coda i wrote for it✌ speaking of smut, i would be remiss also not to mention there was a STRONG element of collective lust involved. i'm immune to 99% of it bc im ace but the winter soldier was uh. VERY graceful. you know? i didn't write 14k of porn because i was uncompelled. we were on one. we went fucking crazy. fandom in general but especially big fandoms have a kind of nonstop endless well of creative energy born from obsession that is the absolute envy of people like my mortal enemy grrm. we NEVER quit.

also, HISTORY (and other vaguely educational subjects). we were all so desperate to know how steve and bucky would have lived in the years we couldn't see them it sparked a sitewide interest in 1940s american history. there was a thing about bananas tasting different now because of a plague. m&ms being invented as wartime candy. stuff about how shoebox apartments looked and how rations worked. 1940s recipes and radio shows. the 1940s queer movement and how it interacted with ballroom dancing and private drag get-togethers. how amputations work and how prosthetic limbs work in real life so we could extrapolate it to fantasy. how to hand-draw that fucking arm in photoshop. why soldiers are trained to say their serial numbers when captured. what ww2 was like. what dog tags are for. what did they get in the ration packs. what brand of cigarettes did they smoke. what brand (and i am being so serious, i STILL own a tube) of LIPSTICK did peggy carter use. caloric intake of someone with a 4x speed metabolism and how much famine peanut butter he'd need to eat daily to keep from starving to death. oppression of irish immigrants and their children/grandchildren back in the 1940s. the difference between conservatives and fascists, back when there was a difference. what activities generally took place on these mysterious but ever-present new york city docks. just exactly HOW many terrible movies and tv shows has sebastian stan been in ranked by his resemblance to james buchanan barnes in each one. (i personally went through his entire imdb list at the time and then made a venn diagram.) electroswing! teachers and professors would have killed for their classes to have the kind of enthusiasm a bunch of mentally ill teenagers and 20-somethings on tunglr dot edu were showing about this one very specific set of subjects. this film also sparked my love of fight scenes. if you've read this fic or this fic and liked the Big Fight Scenes in them, you can thank cap2 for leading me down that path.

and then yes there was also discourse. my personal most hated thing was the above mentioned h*dra tr*sh p*rty (DO NOT GOOGLE THAT, i will just tell you it's nazi rape porn🤢 and i hope everyone involved is having a bad day today) and also the fact that SOME FUCKING PEOPLE can't understand "don't be shitheads about a fanfic where the author can see you doing it." but then ofc people were also sexist about nat and racist about sam and minimalizing those guys (and every other character besides tony really but sometimes him too) for the two white male leads was a whole thing. and on the funnier side of things you had (justifiably, i suppose) bitter st*ny fans who HATED what those two got in avengers and got real mad when stucky started outpacing them on ao3. and people complaining about the characters being too uwu soft. and then other people arguing whether or not barnes counted as disabled when he was missing a Whole arm. and THEN discourse about was it ethical to remove the arm and build him a new one ESPECIALLY without his consent (if people don't know they're being ableist in their fanfics hypothetically is it still ok to kill them with hammers?) and why was tony doing it if that guy killed his parents and is it ok that we keep making tony not that mad about his dead parents is it not enough that barnes stole his limelight as the guy who gets shipped with steve but what if all three of them fucked but can you really fuck the guy who offed your folks but ACTUALLY isn't it cringe to like tony anyway since RDJ and gwenyth paltrow are bad people and who says chris evans are sebastian stan are such good people etcetcetc. and let us not even get started on the plausibility of the avengers tower fanon after age of ultron came out and it turns out nobody became friends and they all still hated and mistrusted each other. and whether or not the avengers could be considered found family if the other characters were constantly getting shafted into being barnes's little support animals. and then ofc every once in awhile one of the actors of people involved creatively would say something ranging from mildly controversial to absolutely horrible on the internet and we'd all fight about THAT for awhile like a dog with a bone. i mean. typical infighting of any fandom tbh.

but i was very happy. it was all the most enormous thought experiment and creative endeavor (and semi-educational adventure??) that we all participated in daily for like two-ish years without stopping ever. i loved doing it. AND, when you click with a piece of media like that, you also click with other people who clicked with that same piece of media, so in addition to the sheer level of dopamine going into my brain at all times i also formed decade-long friendships that will certainly last the entirety of my lifetime, and when we're in our 90s in nursing homes i will be able to say, "we are friends because i wrote 14k of smut for your fanfic" or "we are friends because i couldn't get enough of your gifsets" or whatever because you know, we quite literally went to stucky together.

[vole-mon-amour]

3x07, part 1.

*evil laughter* he needs more bruises. way more.

what, you mad and stressed? good.

But forcing yourself on Becca was somehow alright because she was human? Get fucked. Raped, probably.

<3

lmao. Frenchie :')

the fact that he thinks that a man can only miss another man if they lovers. okay, then. stevebucky lovers.

scared, asshole? :D

dude.... once again, imagine this being your day job.

Annie's got him by the throat.

Honestly. That asshole teacher M.M.'s daughter that Homelander is good is SO bad.

:( I still don't ship them, though. It's one of those het ships for me. Wholesome friendship I'd be happy about.

!!! They are.

Annie is so good at improvising.

"I see how small you are."

Ah. Just like the fandom says, they're in their divorce era.

[bisexualshauna]

7, 16&17, 38 for gifmaker asks!

7. Your favourite graphic and or gif by someone else

there's no way i can pick just one, so here's a non-exhaustive list!!

buddie invisible string gifset by @jakeperalta

buddie all of the girls you loved before gifset by @usergif

byers brothers gifset by @kaliprasad

byler tropes set & fav byler season set by @padme-amidala

reputation tour gifset by @breakbleheavens

stevebucky gifset by @barnesdjarin

9-1-1 firefam gifset by @strandtk

mike wheeler queercoding gifset by @emblazons

bi buck gifset & buddie forever winter gifset by @eddiediaaz

santana lopez gifset by @gleesource

jake peralta and rosa diaz gifset by @jakeyp

eddie and christopher gifset by @captain-hen

(in conclusion, 911 gifmakers are the most talented people on earth 🙏🏼)

16-17: Texture(s) you like or dislike

admittedly i don't work with a lot of textures so i don't have any that i dislike but i love the ripped paper overlay that i see in a lot of sets!!

38. Are you working on anything right now? If yes, show us a work in progress!

i am actually working on a 911 set right now!! here's a gif from it :)

gifmaker asks

[prattery]

20 Questions for Fic Writers!

Thank you for the tag @queerofthedagger <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

22

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

242,705, which is absolute madness. didn't even realise i have that much to say abt merlin and arthur lol

3. What fandoms do you write for?

BBC Merlin xx

4. Top 5 fics by kudos?

stone cold: the one where merlin was turned into stone. bit heavy i have to admit, no idea what i was on when i wrote it

through storm and hellfire: the one where merlin was kidnapped to force Destiny™'s hand , things went to shit, and arthur went through a Difficult Journey of Discovery (or: the wringer) where he learnt that his dad was not, in fact, a good guy....among other things

flickering embers: the one where arthur lost merlin to the veil between the worlds only for merlin to be spat back out, lose his memory, and become a druid leader

winning the battle: the one where old religion claims everything that makes merlin merlin as a price for the immense magic he used to win arthur's battle

quiet light: the one where merlin stayed mad after agravaine convinced arthur that gaius was a traitor

my takeaway from this is that people enjoy it when i make arthur suffer

5. Do you respond to comments?

i do try but i am genuinely horrible at it. it's so so nice to receive them and i read every single one but i kind of don't know how to respond to them sometimes. one day we will get there

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

i did intend for the long way round ANd a line that goes all the way to have angsty endings but oops guess my hand slipped.

the number of times i intended a fic to have an angsty ending only for me to faff with it later... unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on where you stand on this) my mind would not let me rest until I added a happier ending

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

the three trials. it ended well for everybody. and not to toot my own horn or anything but i'm quite happy with it. i think i have a tendency to rush endings generally speaking, but i quite enjoyed writing the ending to this one.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

not yet and tbh i'd prefer to keep it this way thank you xx

9. Do you write smut?

i do like thinking about writing it but i just can't bring myself to actually type it out before i give myself the ick. maybe one day

10. Do you write crossovers?

no

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

no

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

no

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

i think the fact that im still in here 10 (?) years after the show ended on says something about merthur lol. once and future ship init

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

the sword and his shield. i still really like the concept i have for it and i still have the ideas for it rattling around in my head, but i just feel like it flopped. i write for myself and clear my head of plotlines and random bits of dialogue rather than external validation, but it just feels a bit like mumbling into the void

16. What are your writing strengths?

banter and describing emotions that are not my own <3

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

worldbuilding. coming up with the concept is fine, i can do that, but i find the keeping track on them challenging

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?

i mean if somebody else wants to do it, go for it, fair play, but personally i will not. only because i can't be 100% sure that i wouldn't get things wrong

19. First fandom you wrote for?

fairly sure i wrote HP (drarry), just never published it. don't remember what it was about, either.

the first one i published on ao3 was marvel (stevebucky). i have not touched it since my return to fandom and tbh im not going to

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

i feel like i should say storm and hellfire because it is my child, it is the longest thing i've ever written, and i feel like it is the only thing i write that resembles an Actual Story (idk how else to put it). i surprised myself by actually finishing it. think it took about two years and i was a bit bereft after the last chapter was posted.

that being said, the fic i enjoy rereading the most (i.e. without cringing) is probably a line that goes all the way. it ticks all my own boxes and caters to all my interests lmao what can i say

not tagging anybody in particular but if you'd like to do this, feel free to say i tagged you xo

[meidui]

more stucky blogs hehe

@lavenderbuckyy the cutest <3 my personal favourite fic of hers is Captain America Appreciation Day

@16woodsequ for your fill of pre-war AND present platonic stucky and meticulously researched steve headcanons!

@ace-bucket makes such lovely art!!!!!!!!!!!!

S, I need some Sebastian/ Stucky/ Evanstan Blog recommendations because most of the ones I'm following have been inactive for a while, and I don't know who to follow.

Your 🍑

Oof, yeah, I feel that lately! Evanstan had a nice bump recently with the Hollywood Walk of Fame moment, but it's pretty much been inactive other than that. I've been trying to find more blogs myself, lol. Blogs that aren't gossip blogs because that's just not my style, and there's a whole side of the Chris Evans fandom that I do not want to see right now 💀

@musette22 is an evergreen follow, for sure!

@mrs-stans is great for Seb updates

@archivecevans is a semi-recent follow for me, and it has paid in dividends with all this Chris content lately, lol

@meidui isn't stucky forward (in fact, Cassie posts a whole lot about stony with a good mix of steggy in there, too, so I get if that isn't your thing since you're asking for stucky and usually for people those ships clash) but everything is about Steve Rogers so I enjoy the content she makes and takes she has, lol.

@turtle-steverogers again, an evergreen. The Steve headcanons from Mikey are impeccable.

@whiteglovemanor / @bvckyysarm is out here writing and doing the lords work

@yourbuckies is THEE gif maker for stucky right now, lol, with soul crushing Thursday posts.

@elkleggs comes through with a lot of good art! So do @pinup-pigeon @writeyourdarlings @kiu-k @moontashpena @petite-madame @capibuck they all make such, such good art!!

@jbb32557038t41t420 is a current Bucky cosplayer, too!

And if I'm missing anyone, my deepest apologies. Feel free to add onto this, too, whether I tagged you or not. I need more evanstan/stucky people, too!

[somanywords]

Tagged by @tessabennet eons ago--thank you, friend! <3

Name: Cass

Pronouns: she/her

Star sign: Aries

Number of siblings & fun facts about them (if you have any): 3 little sisters! Fun fact: we sing four part harmony because I am a cruel and unforgiving tyrant ;)

Number of pets & their names: Sister #3 and #4 have a guinea pig each, who go by the names of Crouton and Matzah Ball 🐹

Fandoms:

Captain America

Six of Crows

The Raven Cycle

Newsies

Percy Jackson

Red White and Royal Blue

Good Omens

Favourite colour: yellow 💛

Favourite song: I could never pick just one! But here's one of them:

Favourite author (of anything readable - books, fanfics, zines, webtoons, whatever): Hmm. I like Maggie Stiefvater's style, Leigh Bardugo, Erin Morgenstern...I'm bad at picking, have you noticed yet?

Hobbies: writing, reading, drawing, taking care of plants, consuming all kinds of media (see above), singing, dancing, performing in musicals

Favourite fic type: slow burn, friends to lovers

Favourite holiday: Maybe Chanukah? Cozy and low key, pretty candles and yummy food. :D

Do you have any partner(s)? (romantic, qpp, anything): Partners in CRIME (friends)

Fun facts about you / anything extra you wanna share: I am going to go help my sister make pho for lunch and I literally cannot wait it's going to be soooooo good. Also I started working on a stevebucky fic today after weeks of hibernation, so that's nice?

No pressure tags for @turtle-steverogers @smfstump @booksandabeer @wllipt @emmedoesntdomath @blurglesmurfklaine @evergreen-lyricist @its-tortle @dharmasharks and anyone else who'd like to join <3