#the amount of times i want to relieve sam wilson's worrying face every time i see is a LOT | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

certifiedskywalker · 4 years ago

Text

Dating Sam Wilson Would Include...

Here’s some love for our Captain Falcon? Just Falcon? Captain Bird? Sam. Here’s some love for our Sam.

You wanted revenge.

When Steve invited you to jog with him, he said that he would keep pace with you.

He was a man of his word, but he didn’t even break a sweat while you were gasping for breath with your burning lungs.

You wanted revenge, and to see Steve sweat.

That was all!

Your return to the National Mall’s park of monuments for a practice jog was your training for that revenge.

It had nothing to do with the handsome, fellow jogger you and Steve had seen before.

When he happened to be there again, you thought you might as say hello to him.

Steve jogged at the crack of dawn each day and this mystery jogger seemed to have the same habit.

Odds were you would see the man again and if you were with Steve, you would want to be able to explain why you were so easily left behind in his dust.

He was easier to catch up with than Steve, though you were breathless by the time he glanced over his shoulder at you.

It took all you had not to stumble over your own feet when his dark eyes met your gaze.

All thoughts and want of revenge were forgotten: it was only you and….him….what was his name?

You needed to know but, talking to him? How could you!? You were already out of breath and he...he was looking at you like...

“You alright?”

His voice, laden with concern, brought you out of your reverie.

Heat rushed up to your face and, for the first time, you were happy that you were flushed from running.

“Uh, yeah,” you said through little pants of exertion, “sorry...I…”

You were loosing steam, physically and mentally.

You were embarrassed he had caught you staring, a stranger!

Talk about weird and creepy.

But the man gave you a half smile, a hint of hope that you didn’t royally mess up your chances.

He stopped jogging and, relieved to find an excuse to stop, you followed suit.

“You sure you’re alright?”

“Y-yeah,” you wheezed, “you’re just, you’re fast.”

“Tryin’ to race me then?”

You glanced up at him and nodded, “a race, sure.”

Your heart beat like a jack hammer; though you weren’t sure if it was because of the running or if you were nervous.

All you did know was that you were light headed and there was a good looking guy standing before you, worried about you despite the weirdness.

When you finally were able to fill your lungs with a decent amount of oxygen, you straightened your posture and met the mystery jogger’s gaze.

“I...do you want to get coffee sometime, or something?”

Had you really just asked that? Right now?

You were about to throw your arm over your face to hide your shame.

Just as you tried to think of other places you and Steve could jog, the man laughed.

It was a heart sound that warmed your chest, and his smile?

You had never seen anything quite like it: wide and pure.

As you shyly met his gaze, you realized it reached his eyes.

“How about water, like right now?”

“Now?”

“Yeah, now.”

The rest was history, simple as that.

He met Steve and Sam became a fixture in your life; and you in his.

Dates became missions and, before long, you shared a room at the Avengers compound.

You and Sam meshed on some silent level, beyond your shared understanding.

He could tell when you were off and you could read him so easily.

“Hey, you okay?”

“Rough day.”

“How about a flight to clear your head,” you suggested, handing him his goggles.

“As long as you’re coming with.”

He holds on to you so tightly as he flies through the city.

The trust you put in those metal wings to keep you both aloft was otherworldly

But never once did you doubt Sam.

He would never let you down.

Only lovingly embarrass you in front of friends and family.

When Sam retells the story of how you met to his sister Sarah, years later, he jokes about how he had never seen anyone looked more shocked in his life.

“I’ve been through war and Avengers training, so when I tell you I’ve seen people look like they’re about to shi-”

“Hey! The boys!”

At that same table, you hid your face and shook your head.

“I was scared I was going to creep you out.”

“Oh, you did,” Sam said with that wide, unabashed smile on his face. “But you were charming about it.”

He tells the story of how you met when you meet his family.

He doesn’t tell them about Hydra, about Bucky, or even the danger your jobs put you both in.

Sarah seemed to know it, and Sam’s nephews were too young to understand.

You get to see a side of Sam that he didn’t show the rest of the team.

“It’s funny.”

“What is?” He asked, drying the dishes you had just finished washing.

“They call you ‘Uncle Sam’, like the propaganda cartoon.”

“Cause we work with Captain America?”

“Yeah,” you said, nudging his shoulder with yours. “It’s funny.”

“It’s not, but it’s fun to see you try to be.”

With a gasp, you tossed a handful of soap suds at him.

White bubbles clung to his shirt and, after he collected himself, Sam looked at you with a playful fight in his eyes.

“Oh, it is so on.”

You both end up covered in suds and cleaning Sarah’s kitchen.

Whenever you and Sam aren’t in New York (for Avengers business) or in D.C. (for state business), you’re at his childhood home in Louisiana.

Sarah and her boys become your little family as you and Sam grow closer.

It’s strange, you’re not sure when you realized you were in love with him

Though, one night sticks out in your mind.

It was just you and Sam, sitting on the dock, basking in the orange light of the sunset.

“Thanks for coming down here with me. I know our missing person search is important, but I had to-“

“No, I get it,” you rested a hand on his muscled upper arm. “Family first.”

It’s then, when the silence falls over you both, that you realize Sam's staring at you

And you’re staring at him.

You’re desperate to break the sudden tension so you blurt out your first thought.

It seems that Sam did the same as you both say:

“You’re my family.”

Sam smiles, a soft smile, not the wide grin you loved; though, you loved this expression too.

Without a word, Sam leans in and presses his lips to yours.

He tastes like beer and the brownies Sarah made for dessert.

His hand cups your cheek and your fingers wrap around his wrist, holding his palm to your skin.

The kiss is gentle, though everything Sam did with you was gentle, as if he didn’t want to risk breaking the thing you had built together.

Not that he could break it.

Nothing could, not really.

When Sam pulled his lips from yours, a smile spread along your face.

“Plus, I get to see your baby pictures which gives me all the blackmail I could ever want.”

“You’re kidding me, right?”

“Only a little.”

He kissed you again, harder this time.

“I love you,” Sam mumbled against your lips.

“I love you too.”

Banter is a big part of your relationship.

Sam is always one for teasing and cracking jokes to keep people at arm's length.

But with you, while he still teases, he’s more careful

He’s not afraid to just stay quiet, savor the fleeting moments between missions with you.

During those ‘between times’, you and Sam stay in.

Work, missions, what have you, takes you both across the globe

So, when there’s peace, you both hunker down in the Avenger’s compound or visit his family.

Sam is an early riser due to his past in the military and is always awake before you.

He’s a sucker for breakfast food?

He’s always making it as you climb out of bed.

“You hungry?”

“Is that-”

“Pancakes.”

When you help him cook, Sam likes to put music on in the background.

You swear he does it on purpose because, when he inevitably starts to dance, he pulls you along with him.

Depending on the music, Sam will hold you close, sway with you in his arms, or shimmies around the kitchen until you become a giggling mess.

“Join me! You know you want to!”

“The food is going to burn!”

“Sure is! Now dance with me, baby!”

How could you not when he gave you that smile of his?

When things started to grow more heated, after Ultron, after Sokovia, your kitchen dance parties became rare.

You stayed with Sam, sided with Steve and you both paid the price for it.

It was only a few days before Steve came to save you all from the Raft but it was pure torture.

You were in the cell across from Sam, watching him pace the floor and tense up with anger.

The moment you were freed, you ran to him.

Being on the run with Sam added a new layer to your relationship.

It didn’t come without its challenges as being a wanted criminal was easy on no one.

There were nights where you and Sam would sleep with your backs to each other.

It was the stress of running that crippled you both on those nights, made everything, every worry and doubt, difficult to talk about.

But it was also running that brought you together, that kept you together too.

You and Sam would run to the rescue of some poor souls

And promptly run back to each other.

When Steve wasn’t around to keep you both in check, you and Sam would explore whatever country you found yourselves in.

Trying all sorts of different foods with him.

“What is that?”

“Delicious, so, does it really matter?”

Late night flights under the stars and holding each other close in the quinjet.

Then...Thanos…

And, despite all his carefulness and his holding you close, Sam was gone

For five years, you had no one to run with or to

You stayed with Natasha in the Avenger’s compound and tried to help Sarah with the house and her boys.

Whenever you went to Louisiana, you came back in tears.

“You don’t have to go back, you know,” Sarah said one time. “You’re always welcome here, Y/N. You’re family.”

It took all you had left of your strength to not break down in her living room, to not cry clinging to an old photograph of Sam in a baseball uniform.

“That’s why I need to go back,” you whimpered, “so we can try to get him back to us. His family.”

It’s a misty-eyed flight home.

Flying is not the same without Sam; the sky is emptier.

It felt like the thing, the love you had built together was about to break when Scott rolled up to the door of the Avenger’s compound with his ‘time heist’ in hand.

It gave you hope and, eventually, it gave you Sam back too.

“It’s been five years right? You haven’t aged a day.”

His joke brings you to happy tears before you fall into his arms, caked with grime from the battle.

“I got you, I got you.”

After Tony and Steve’s strange send off, you and Sam took a stay-cation.

Most of the time, you two stayed in bed, unwilling to let the other go in case something tried to snap reality in half again.

“I don’t know what he wants me to do with it,” he says, eyeing the bagged up shield propped up against your bedroom wall.

“You know,” you replied, lifting your head from his chest to look into his eyes. “He wants you to keep fighting. Be ‘Uncle Sam’.”

“It’s still not funny.”

You shake your head at him before leaning down to kiss him.

You’re careful, just as he was all those years ago on the dock.

When you pull away, you explain, “it’s not meant to be.”

Sam smiles at you, that same wide, pure smile that won you over the day you first met.

No matter what happens next, you know that, as long as you can see that smile, you’ll make it to fight another day.

292 notes · View notes

thirstyforcharacters · 4 years ago

Text

Tequila (Bucky Barnes x Reader)

Summary: Every person has a soulmate. When your soulmate experiences pain, so do you, and any bruises, scars, or other markings that they get appear on your skin. Or, the story of how aliens attacking Las Vegas was the best thing to ever happen to you.

Notes: Hello! I already did a very similar soulmate AU for Sam Wilson (which you can read here), but I love soulmate AU’s so much that I decided to do one for Bucky, too! Hopefully, I made them different enough that they don’t seem too repetitive. Did I write this while I was supposed to be watching a documentary on Bach for music history? Maybe. But I think this was a much better use of my time. Hope you enjoy! (no y/n, no pronouns)

Warnings: canon typical violence, alien invasion, blood (not too much tho), car crash

WC: 1.9 k

For all of your life, you couldn’t feel your left arm.

When you started to crawl, your parents noticed you only used your right arm to pull yourself forward while your left would hang limply at your side. Your parents brought you to the doctor, deeply concerned, but when she examined your arm, she found nothing wrong. No x-rays showed broken or deformed bones, and no MRI’s showed any problems in the brain. By all medical standards, you should be able to move your left arm. You just couldn’t. Everyone hoped that it would go away, but to their chagrin, it remained unmoving throughout your childhood. You obviously knew your arm was there since you could clearly see it, but you couldn’t feel the nerve endings inside it. When you poked your arm with your other finger, you felt absolutely nothing. And weirdly enough, your family said it was always cold to the touch, no matter how warm the rest of your body was.

You had a feeling that it had something to do with your soulmate, and when you reached adulthood (specifically around 24), you were almost positive that was the reason. You often woke up with random injuries that you knew you didn’t give yourself. Gunshot wounds, deep slashes, broken bones, and large bruises were commonly branded on your skin. You were positive that if your soulmate was getting shot at every other night, then they almost definitely had some sort of damage done to their arm that affected your own. But if they had had this condition since you were born, how old were they? That was always a question that kind of weirded you out. You didn’t particularly want to be “meant to be” with some wrinkly, old person! Especially if they were somehow getting themselves into this much trouble. And now that you thought about it, none of these injuries were on your (or their) left arm. How could that be if they’ve literally been hurt everywhere else on their body?

When you weren’t in and out of the hospital with randomly serious injuries, you were quite busy cooking up a storm in Turkey, Tacos, and Tequila, your restaurant in Las Vegas. You and your best friend, Nicolás, had opened it three years ago; you were the head chef and he ran the business side of things. The two of you had talked about opening a restaurant together since you were teenagers, so both of you had moved to Vegas together after college/culinary school. Together, you found that you were an unstoppable team, and within a year of opening, you were one of the most popular restaurants throughout all of Vegas! Most times, because you were so busy, your soulmate problem stayed in the back of your mind. But every once in a while, a bruise would appear on your eye or a large cut down the length of your leg, and you would be reminded again.

Nic, as you called him, already found his soulmate. Oliver had moved in with you a year ago, and joined you side by side in the kitchen. You became almost as close with him as you had with Nic. They were adorable together, and never made you feel like the third wheel. There were some times, though, where you found yourself a little bit jealous that they had found each other so quickly, and that neither of them had ever suddenly started bleeding all over a nearly complete order of mango fish tacos.

Whenever you got a little down about it, Nic would always clap you on the shoulder and say, “You’ll find them someday. And when you do, break their nose. They deserve it for the hell they’re accidentally putting you through.”

It never failed to make you laugh. You had half a mind to do just that when you met the love of your life. You just didn’t know when that would be.

On yet another hot and dry Nevada night, you were closing up at the restaurant (or morning, you supposed, since it was nearly 1 am). Nic, Oliver, and your other employees had gone home already, so it was only you that remained. You turned off the lights and locked the door. You pushed your way through the drunken crowds and tourists on the street and made your way to your car. As you were opening the door, you could hear gasps of shock coming from the crowd of people roaming the streets. You looked up and saw an eerie flash of green across the sky, and a strange-looking, portal appeared in the sky! Shrieks of fear permeated the air as grotesque, reptilian creatures began spilling from the portal.

Frantically, you flung yourself into your car and turned over the engine, hoping to escape the clutches of these aliens. Though your apartment was in the opposite direction of the portal, as per usual, there was a decent amount of traffic, so you weren’t sure how good your chances were. But you figured you’d at least be safer in your car than exposed outside of it.

You were able to pull into traffic and weave through it fairly well, making good use of the side streets that only the locals knew about. But the creatures were overtaking the city faster than you could drive. You knew you didn’t have long before they caught up with you.

Just when that thought popped into your head, a blinding flash of light appeared in your rearview mirror. A loud bang, almost like a cannon, sounded, and through your mirror, you saw a truck hurtling toward you at breakneck speed! You attempted to swerve out of the way, but the truck crashed into your car, shoving it against a street light! The driver’s side of your car crumpled against the lamppost, and the glass in your window shattered at the contact. You attempted to cover your face with your hands, but a piece of glass still managed to make a pretty deep cut above your left eye, as well as a few pieces of shrapnel sinking into your legs. The whiplash from the contact damaged your neck as well; pain spread throughout your neck and back. All you could do was sob in agony. You had never felt this much pain in your life.

Your hand was trembling as you unbuckled your seatbelt, but you found yourself unable to leave your car! The driver’s side door was crushed, the truck was smushed against your passenger door, and there was no way you would be able to climb out of the backseat, nor lift yourself out of the broken window with the injuries you sustained. You were trapped. You waited for a little bit, until some of the chaos surrounding you died down; even in your damaged state, you knew that no one would be able to hear you even if you screamed for help as loudly as you could.

You strained your ears, and were able to hear gunfire, commands being shouted, and the hissing of these reptilian creatures. Eventually, instead of the noise of a battle, you could hear voices trying to dig people out of the rubble. Somehow, they sounded familiar, but you couldn’t place how. Well, if they were rescuing people, you figured they were your only chance.

“Help,” you screamed, “I’m trapped in my car! Please help me!”

You heard footsteps sprinting in your direction and a voice call, “Don’t worry, we’ll get you out of there!”

You watched in amazement as the truck on your passenger’s side was surrounded by a glowing, red presence, and moved out of the way! It had to be the Avengers! Who else would be able to do something that crazy? You were brought out of your thoughts by your car being dragged away from the pole, making you jump. A face popped up in your shattered window. He was gorgeous; bright, blue eyes, short, chestnut hair, and a warm smile. He took hold of the broken door and wrenched it from its fastenings.

“Hi. My name is Bucky Barnes. This is Wanda Maximoff,” the man said, gesturing back to a woman wearing scarlet, “we’re going to get you out of here, okay?”

“Okay,” you replied, relieved, “thank you so much!”

He smiled again, “Oh, it’s no problem. You should probably stay there until the EMT’s get here. Moving might make your injuries even worse.”

You nodded slightly in reply, but the pull in your neck made you groan in pain.

He winced, “Try not to move that, either. You may not be bleeding there, but I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

“Okay.”

“Here, let me help you with that. I can at least stop the bleeding,” he offered, gesturing to your forehead and leg.

“Oh, thank you!” you answered.

He nodded and reached for some bandages he had in his jacket with his metal arm. His left arm. Suddenly, you noticed things you didn’t notice before. He also had a large cut above his left eye, in the same spot as your injury. It wasn’t bleeding, though, perhaps because of his enhancements. You noticed him moving his neck in a circular motion, seemingly to stretch it out. He had holes in his pants and small puncture wounds on his legs, in the same spots where glass was sticking out of you. Again, though, they were already healing. Could that be why you had never felt your arm before? Because your soulmate’s was metal? It would make complete sense.

“Are you okay?”

You didn’t even realize you had zoned out until Bucky addressed you. He was gently cleaning the wound on your forehead.

“Yes,” you whispered, fixated on the wound on his forehead.

His eyebrow raised, “Are you sure? You seem a little out of it.”

“I-I’m fine. I just noticed something kind of strange. I think the cut on your forehead matches mine.”

He touched his forehead, “Oh, yeah, I forgot about that with the adrenaline and everything. Only got it maybe 20 minutes ago.”

“That’s when my car crashed. And you’re having neck pain, like me,” you murmured, “and your arm is metal. I’ve never been able to feel my arm.”

His eyes widened, “Really? You think we’re meant to be?”

“Maybe,” you replied.

He nodded, “It seems likely. What’s your name?”

You gave him your name and he smiled again.

“I’ve been waiting for this for a century.”

You giggled softly, “I guess that explains why I’ve been experiencing this since I was born. I was afraid you’d be gross and wrinkly.”

He chuckled, “Well, hopefully you don’t think I’m either of those things.”

“Definitely not.”

The EMT’s arrived then. Bucky stepped aside and the medics removed you from your car.

As you were being loaded into the ambulance, Bucky approached you.

“How can I get in contact with you after this?”

“Just come by Turkey, Tacos, and Tequila. It’s my restaurant, I’m almost always there,” you told him.

“Okay. I’ll drop by sometime soon, when you’re better of course.”

“Looking forward to it.”

“Me too.”

As he was walking away, you couldn’t stop the grin forming on your lips. Sure, what had happened to you today was terrible. But you knew you would heal, and now, you had also finally met your soulmate. No wonder why you were randomly injured all of the time! If today was any indicator of what the rest of your relationship would look like, though, you’d probably need all of that tequila you were selling for yourself.

#bucky barnes #winter soldier #marvel #mcu #Bucky barnes x reader #winter soldier x reader #Bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes fanfiction #Bucky barnes fic #winter soldier fluff #winter soldier fanfiction #winter soldier fic #x reader #x reader fanfiction #x reader fic #x reader fluff #soulmate au

223 notes · View notes

sparklingaquarius · 3 years ago

Note

Can you do one maybe after your breakup with Bucky? Like seeing him for the first time?

Worry

Relationship: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Type: One Shot

A/N: oh this was so much fun to write, thanks for being my first request! turned out to be a bit longer than i had initially entailed, but longer fics the better, right? i am so sorry it took so long to get to you, i take a bit longer to write to make sure it is the best i can do! i hope you enjoy dear nonnie :)

REQUESTS: OPEN

****************************************************************

5 years ago today you had gotten engaged. You were engaged to the man you thought was the love of your life, then the unexplainable happened, you were gone from existence for 5 years. You couldn’t explain what happened, as you didn’t know it was 5 years, it felt more like 5 minutes. But, when you came back, to your house, your life, you realized the extent of what had happened. The man who had proposed to you 5 years ago, wanted to start a life with you, had done that with someone else. The man who told you he loved you continuously every day was now telling it to another woman in your apartment. You were devastated, upset enough to forget all the things you figured were no longer left in the apartment and run away to a new city and start a new life.

Then you met Bucky.

When you met Bucky, you could feel yourself rejuvenate, come back to life. You were discovering what love was like all over again, he was helping you heal after what happened, and you were helping him heal from his own troubles. You two were right for each other, as your friends and his had both told you. You finally felt like things were falling into place for you, and you had hoped things were falling into place for Bucky all the same. You felt like this was meant to be, that maybe losing those 5 years was the best thing to ever happen to you instead of the worst.

Then you found out.

You had found out that San Wilson needed Bucky’s help in catching a group and that would require Buck to leave and travel immediately. You knew this day would be coming, and you knew you couldn’t and wouldn’t stop him. You were selfish sure, hell you had every reason to be selfish, but you weren’t that selfish. But you also knew that you weren’t able to handle not hearing from him days on end. You were too much of a worry wart, and especially with missions as big and dangerous that Bucky will end up taking on, you couldn’t do that to yourself, or to him. So, before he had to leave to meet Sam, you knew what you had to do and end it with him. You knew how it would hurt both of you, but you also knew Bucky would know you would be worrying constantly, especially if he didn’t get in contact, so it made the process a bit easier for the both of you this way.

That was 2 months ago.

It’s been 2 months since the breakup, 2 months since you heard from Bucky. You knew it was better this way, but that didn’t help the ache you felt in the pit of your stomach every time you looked at the box of his things you had packed up sitting in the corner of your bedroom. You knew you should’ve just dumped it, but you wanted to give them back to him, whenever you could see him. He wasn’t back yet from his mission with Sam, you thought, so the box of his washed and folded clothes he left at your place, the cologne he bought and would wear specifically for you, and a little stuffed teddy bear named Mr. Waddles you won him at a fair that he kept at your place because it looked way cuter on your bed than his, all remained in the corner on a chair in your room.

You would wake up every morning and face the box, seeing Mr. Waddles’s head stick out of it, and you sighed. All the memories would flow back, and the ache you tried to push down and keep out of mind came back full force, and you desperately just tried to forget him for the day. But you knew you just couldn’t. You knew that no matter how hard you tried to forget Bucky, that you just couldn’t. All the memories played in your mind like a film, and all the love and warmness he made you feel returned to you when you would see them in your mind. Even though you had broken up, you were still in love with him, and you still worried about him. Wherever he was, that was something you couldn’t deny, something you wouldn’t deny. But you had to move on, and today, like every day, you had to live your life Bucky free, and march on living. Today was Saturday, which means it was time to go grocery shopping, an activity you loathed but one that Bucky loved and always made fun for you. You smiled softly to yourself and got up and got dressed, remembering how he would always challenge you and say “last one to the car has to push the shopping cart” to motivate you to get out of bed. You remembered this as you currently got out of bed to get ready to go do your shopping. The quicker you accomplished it, the quicker you could get home and relax.

************************************************************************

As you were pulling your credit card out of your purse at the grocery store, you looked up and saw a very familiar face walk through the doors, entering. You gave the cashier your card and you walked over fast to the person and you held your breath.

“Sam?” you asked a bit breathlessly, shocked to see him back home. And if you saw Sam back home, then you knew Bucky was back home as well.

Sam turned around as he heard his name, and more importantly, your voice, and he smiled softly at you. Although Bucky would never admit it, Sam was one of his best friends besides Steve, so Sam was around a lot for your relationship, and you considered him a friend and big brother you never had. “Well hello there little rocket, how the hell are you?” Sam asked you laughing as he opened his arms to give you a hug, and you chuckled hugging him gently. Sam had nicknamed you Little Rocket when you told him that in high school you were on your school’s track team and you were in fact very fast, giving him your time in your races.

As you broke the hug you cleared your throat and smiled softly looking back at him. “I’m doing as good as I can, I mean I’m grocery shopping so I’m as miserable as ever.” You joked and laughed softly, and Sam as well laughed.

“Yeah Buck did always say you hate grocery shopping.” He said, casually mentioning his name and you just nodded, not wanting to out right ask Sam about Bucky.

You and Sam walked back to your cart to put your bags in your cart so you could finish checking out, and you organized your cart as you watched Sam jump into helping you accomplish the task quicker. “So I see you’re back home, I assume the mission went well considering you were only gone for 2 months?” you asked him, trying to break the silence between you two.

Sam put the last bag in your cart and he nodded, immediately pushing it out as he followed you to your car. “Yeah, I mean it went as well as it could. We got the end result we desired, not the tactics we wanted to take. But I don’t have any broken bones and if I can escape spraining my wrist or ankle again I’ll consider it a win.” He smirked and you shook your head laughing.

“Yeah that would be such a tragedy if Captain America had a sprained wrist. How ever will he hold his shield up? A crime to this country.” You joked, popping your trunk to put bags in it.

“Damn you saw that? I was hoping to stop by with my shield, you know like a trick or treater.” Sam told you and you rolled your eyes shaking your head.

“I watch the news dummy. I’m so proud of you, but you knew that. But the suit looks good on you, nice and tight.” You winked and smirked, not finding the comment odd because that’s how your and Sam’s relationship was. Always funny comments without any meaning.

Sam smirked and finished putting the bags in and he looked at you, leaning against the car a bit, “So you were looking at me instead of Bucky in those clips? Or are you trying to butter me up into asking about him? I know you’re curious. He’s back home, adjusting. He wouldn’t admit it, but I know he was thinking about you just as much as you were him. And don’t even try to deny it lady, you were thinking about him.” Sam told you bluntly, and a part of you was relieved he got to the point.

You sighed and crossed your arms nodding, looking down at the pavement. “I can never lie to you Samuel, but I was going to ask if he’s home. I wanted to drop a box of his stuff off, you know stuff that was left at my place.” You admit, semi truthfully.

Sam listens to you and nods, clicking his tongue. “You sure that’s all you want to do in seeing him?” he asks raising an eyebrow and you take a deep breath and simply shrug your shoulders. “In my honest advice, take the stuff but you two need to talk. Whether it be about what happened between you two or just to catch up, you need to talk. For his sake and for yours. He talked about you briefly, but enough while we were gone. He needs closure, reasoning. Hell maybe you two can even make up and make it work. If not, then it’ll bring the closure you two need. You two had something special. Don’t let it go down in flames.” He tells you and pushes the cart back and he points to you smirking “You better make up! I miss weekly taco nights, you give it the right amount of spice.” He smirks and winks and walks into the store, leaving you with the short but deep thoughts.

Once you got home and unpacked your food, you went into your room and looked at Bucky’s box of things in the corner, tempting you. You took a deep breath and let a sigh out, knowing Sam was right. Besides, you were desperate to see Bucky, even just a glimpse of his face. You took a look over yourself in the mirror, making sure you looked presentable, and well good. You were going to drop a box of stuff off to your ex-boyfriend and you wanted to look good. You chuckled at yourself and grabbed the box and drove over to his apartment, not sure what you would be met with when you got there.

You still had the key to Bucky’s apartment building on your key ring. You felt like letting that go would be officially letting him go. This time you were thankful as you let yourself into the building and made your way up to the third floor to Bucky’s apartment. You took a deep breath as the elevator ascended and as it stopped and let you out, you walked nervously and slowly to his apartment. As you stood face to face with his shut door, you gently reached out and knocked on his door, not to loud to scare him, but loud enough to make sure he knew someone was there.

After about a minute of him not coming to the door, you knocked again, wondering if he was even home. After still no answer, you were about ready to turn around and leave when suddenly the door was open slowly, and there in grey sweats and a shirt to match, stood the most beautiful man you’ve ever laid your eyes on, that man being Bucky Barnes.

He stood in front of you, looking at you a bit in awe and disbelief. He swallowed gently as he took you in and he opened the door a bit more. “I looked through the peep hole, wondering who was knocking on my door. I was a bit shocked that it was you.” He told you, his tone soft and you looked down in the box nodding.

“If I’m being honest, I’m a bit shocked you even answered the door. I didn’t think you would want to even see me.” You told him, licking your lips nervously. “I’m also shocked you kept your hair short, if I recall you said it once made you feel like an old man?” You ask him, trying to get the banter going again.

Bucky laughed softly shaking his head as he led you inside the apartment you’ve been in over hundreds of times. “That’s just silly, not wanting to see you. And how could I destroy this magical hair cut? I had the best hair dresser in town.” He tells you, smirking softly as he keeps his eyes detailed to your every move.

You walk in and set the box down on the table, some color returning to your cheeks and you groan a bit shaking your head, turning to face him. “I wouldn’t say I was a hair dresser now, a fast learner from YouTube tutorials.” You tell him narrowing your eyes, matching his smirk, the tension loosening a bit.

Bucky laughed and walked over to where you were, looking inside the box. Bucky didn’t care what was inside the box, he just wanted to be near you. Feel the energy you gave off again, one of the many things he missed. He picked up Mr. Waddles and he looked at him, trying his best not to look at you, despite him feeling your eyes on him. “I can tell this is a box of my stuff, but I am shocked to see Mr. Waddles in here. He looked way cuter on your bed than mine.” He tells you and you roll your eyes letting a laugh out.

“True but he is your bear. I won him for you. So that makes him yours, no takesies backsies.” You tell him smirking and look down at the floor, examining your shoes. “Besides if I cuddled with him anymore he wouldn’t smell like you so he needed to be with his rightful owner.” You admit looking up at Bucky finally, holding your breath as you saw his face stay soft.

Bucky kept his expression neutral and nodded simply as he looked through the box a bit and as he was looking away, you studied him. Studied his features. You loved looking at him, studying him. Whether it was when he was asleep or wasn’t paying attention, you loved taking him in. Which is exactly what you were doing now, and in your doing so, you noticed him wince a bit as he held a tshirt up. You raised an eyebrow and walked closer to him, standing next to him. “Bucky, why did you wince when you held the shirt up?” you ask curiously and defensively now, and you could hear him sighing.

“It’s nothing here doll, you know how some missions are. I get hit, I recover. Nothing to worry about.” He tells you, blowing it off, using the nickname he reserved for when he didn’t want you to worry about him.

You sighed and shook your head, putting his arm down to his side. “I think you’ve forgotten I also know when you’re lying. This is more than a hit Buck. Are you hurt? Did you get hurt?” You ask seriously, now worrying about him as you gently put his human arm out to examine it for any injuries. You rolled your eyes at his protests and noticed when you rolled up his sleeve he had a giant purple bruise on his arm with the entire area red in color. You figured he had gotten hurt but not to the point where there was clearly some kind of internal injury. You set the box down and led him to his couch, and you went to his hall closet to grab a kit you put together for him in case he ever got hurt.

You sat down next to him and looked at him seriously but with soft eyes. “Alright Buck, put your arm out.” You tell him seriously, and as he looks at you, the light from his eyes catching yours, a light indicating he was feeling something resembling happiness, he held out his vibranium arm, in an effort to tease you, smirking wide as he did. You shook your head biting your lip, rolling your eyes laughing grabbing the correct arm, as you began to bandage it and put it into a sling. “Oh very funny sailor.” You told him as you gently put his hand on your shoulder so you could have full coverage to it.

Bucky raised an eyebrow as he looked at where his hand was, the exposed skin of your shoulder that was warm to the touch, he could feel the below his fingers. He tried not to move his fingers to run them gently over it, so to distract himself he looked at you, focused so intently on making sure he was okay. He noticed a loose piece of hair was clouding your vision, so he used his free arm to move it out of your face. You held your breath as he did so, trying not to let it on that you were affected by a simple touch. Bucky smirked as he watched you, biting the inside of his cheek. “Now you and I both know I wasn’t a sailor, unless you know something about myself that I don’t?” he asked, completely messing with you now.

You smirked, biting your bottom lip gently and you laughed, finally looking at him. “You seem to forget I know all about you Barnes, my greatest advantage.” You tell him with a wink, and set the cloth you were using down. Bucky just kept his focus on you, realizing how badly he missed you during those 2 months, realizing how badly he hated breaking up, not having you, and how badly he needed you. He once again used his free hand to use two fingers to put them gently under your chin to turn your head to face him, so you’re both looking at each other.

“It was always you’re greatest advantage, knowing all about me. And in knowing all about me, you’ll know how badly I’ve missed you.” He lets out, his tone soft but serious, and you let your eyes wander up to his face, getting lose in his eyes.

You tried looking down, but your instincts were taking over in not letting you, as you felt the pull to him that you’ve always felt, and if you looked away you knew it would be gone, and you didn’t want it. You simply nodded and let a breath out through your nose. “Bucky…it was for the better…I mean—” you start and Bucky shakes his head and just leans in to give you a soft kiss to get you to stop talking. Before he left he didn’t get to kiss you goodbye, so he was considering this a makeup one.

After he backed his face up, he looked at you and reached up to cup your face, using his thumbs to pet your cheek. “It wasn’t for the better, can you honestly say you didn’t miss me? Miss that? You know all about me, and guess what? I know all about you. And I know you missed me, you didn’t want to break up. I read it on your face that night.” He tells you, his face serious and you continue to bite the inside of your cheek as he continues. “Can you honestly tell me that you didn’t think about me every night while I was gone? Didn’t think about the memories we had together? Because I did, every single night. And all I’ve wanted since I came back was to see you, to absorb you in any way I can, forget that night happened. Because I could tell that you broke up with me because you didn’t want me worrying about you.” He explains and you close your eyes listening.

“I didn’t want you worrying about me worrying about you. I thought breaking us up would lessen my worries. But it only made me worry about you more.” You admit softly, opening your eyes looking in his and he moved his thumbs to your lips, petting them softly.

“Well my sweet girl, that made two of us worry.” He says and he smiles. “No matter what, I will always worry about you. Whether we are together or apart, no matter where we are in the world. You will always be the number one thought on my mind, whether you like it or not.” He tells you smiling wide and genuinely now and you laugh softly looking down.

“Yeah Buck, you’re always my number one thought too. I just…when I broke up with you that night, I thought it was for the better. That we both would be better off. With you leaving more now, you helping Sam or whoever needs it, I just didn’t want you worrying about checking in, and I thought that if I didn’t need you to check in, I would be okay. That I wouldn’t worry about you. But, Jesus Christ, I wasn’t expecting ANYTHING from you and I still was worrying about you.” You admit, trying not to cry telling him this.

Bucky was listening and he adjusted so he could pull you into a hug, rocking you gently as he carefully wrapped his arms around you, and you did the same, soaking in the warmth radiating off him. “I just thought we’d be better off.” You whisper and he shakes his head, kissing the side of yours.

“Baby doll I am NEVER better off without you. You are the one who taught me to love again, you got me through a shit ton of stuff. You helped me every day, every night. Even if you didn’t do all of that, I still love you and can never be better off without you.” Bucky tells you gently but passionately and you let a breath out and bury your face in his shoulder nodding.

“I still love you too.” You mumbled into him, knowing it to be true, refusing to fight it or hide it. You knew it the night you broke up with him, you knew it the months he was gone, and you knew it now as you were cradled in his arms. “I’ll always worry about you when you go off on these missions. I can’t not.” You explain and Bucky rubbed your back gently, running his fingers up and down your spine.

“I know, I wouldn’t ask you not too. I’d rather you worry with me than without me.” He whispers into your ear and you just nod, kissing his shoulder.

“I hate to be without you, and I hated possibly hurting you, I’m so sorry.” You said and he chuckled, resting his chin on top of yours.

“Nah doll you didn’t hurt me. Because I knew that’s not what you really wanted. If it was then that’s a different story. You can never hurt me, I promise.” He told you, rocking you gently as you stayed pressed against him on the couch, the unsaid words of love and affirmation making their ways out with the physical actions. You were right where you needed to be, where you both needed to be. All the worry, the talks of him travelling can be discussed later. But for now, you needed to be with each other, soaking in the moments and love you both missed.

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes one shot #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes x female reader #bucky barnes x y/n #marvel fanfic #marvel fanfiction #marvel x reader #marvel one shot #bucky barns imagine #bucky barnes #mcu x reader #mcu fanfiction

101 notes · View notes

hale-13 · 4 years ago

Text

Caved In

By Hale13

For the Summer of Whump Day 10 - Trapped

Despite Peter’s obvious enthusiasm to join missions, Tony tends to keep him away as much as possible. But this is just a simple raid of a defunct. There’s no trouble the kid can get into here right?

Words: 2534, Chapters: 1/1 (Complete), Language: English

Fandom: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)

Rating: Gen

Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark

Characters: Peter Parker, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanov

TW: Medical Procedures, Claustrophobia

Read on AO3 or below the line break.

Tony coughs himself awake, the mask of the Iron Man suit cracked nearly down the middle and crumbling at the edges, gaping holes allowing for dust and debris to trickle in. His cough is dry and unpleasant but causes only a small twinge of discomfort in his chest and, beyond the minimal aches and pains that come from the regular wear and tear of trying to be a superhero in his late forties, he feels pretty solid.

“FRI?” He croaks, coughing dryly again on the end and trying to clear his throat. “You up honey?”

His comm that connects him to the rest of his team and his AI is worryingly silent for a three count before FRIDAY’s pleasant Irish lilt says “Here Boss,” with only a small amount of static. Score.

“Thank God,” he breathes out. “Status report.”

“It appears someone activated the self-destruct sequence,” she offers helpfully, a broken layout of the HYDRA base they were raiding popping up on his HUD, only partially visible due to the fractured mask but it gives Tony plenty of info.

“How’s the rest of the team?” Tony asks, still lying on his back and making no effort to move yet. He feels okay considering the situation but he doesn’t want to waste energy until he has to. “Why is my comm muted?”

“The collapse damaged the transmitter,” FRIDAY explains. “I have sent in a distress signal and pinged your location,” Tony lets out a relieved sigh that gets caught in his throat when his AI reports, “All Avengers accounted for except for Spider-Man.”

“Vitals FRI,” Tony says, a little frantic and struggling to sit up now around the dizziness that surely means a concussion. “Where’s the kid?”

“The suit is approximately thirty feet to your left,” FRIDAY tells him, marking it on the blueprint still in the corner of his HUD with a blinking blue dot. “Karen is offline so I’m unable to get vitals,” she tells him regretfully as he groans and rolls onto his hands and knees. The floor starts to rotate under him and he has to take a few deep breaths to control his nausea before he feels like he can crawl through the mess of concrete around him in the direction of Peter.

With FRIDAY’s help, Tony is easily able to navigate through the rough patches on his way to Peter and, though his comm is broken, she is able to relay rescue info from Nat. So far they don’t have much idea on how long its going to take and Tony can already feel his heart beating too fast in worry.

“The kid’s fine,” he tells himself firmly. “He’s okay.”

When he comes across Peter about a minute later he is, decidedly, not okay. His right leg up to mid-thigh is trapped under a large slab of concrete and he’s unmoving except for the stuttering of his chest and the wet sounds of his breathing. Tony’s heart beats ever faster when he notices how wet the suit is around Peter’s trapped thigh and the oddly shaped protrusion that surely indicates a compound fracture.

“Fuck,” he curses, settling next to Peter’s head on his knees and carefully removing the torn mask from his face. Peter is pale under the spandex, a bruise high on his cheekbone and his nose crooked and bleeding – clearly broken again – but he’s breathing and seems otherwise alright. “Up and at’em Petey,” Tony says, patting Peter’s unmanaged cheek softly with two fingers until his eyes scrunch up and crack open.

“Hey man,” Peter slurs, a lopsided dopey grin pulling up the corners of his mouth and his pupils obviously uneven as he looks up at Tony. “Come here often?”

“Oh yeah,” Tony tells him with an eye roll. “Love hanging out in decrepit buildings, you know me.”

Peter snots out a laugh and then winces, a hand coming up to probe at his nose. “Ouchies,” he mumbles, sounding a little nasally. Tony bats his hand away from his face.

“You’re not wrong,” he agrees, pressing a hand to Peter’s chest to keep him from sitting up. “Let’s just take it easy for a bit until the rest of the team busts us out okay kiddo?”

Peter frowns at him, his eyebrows pulling together in an expression that would be adorably confused if Tony wasn’t internally freaking out a little over their situation. Peter looks woozy and out of it from his concussion but the kid has always been pretty perceptive and Tony doesn’t say anything as he does an obvious full body check, gasping in pain almost immediately. “Mr. Stark?”

“You’re alright,” Tony reassures, trying to defuse the situation before it even becomes a situation. “Nothing we can’t fix. You’re just a little… confined until Nat can figure out how to get us out.”

Peter looks unconvinced and he has a tinge of panic on his face – leftover claustrophobia from getting trapped under a warehouse Tony knows – but he gulps and takes a few deep breaths to relax himself. “How long?”

“Whatcha got for me FRI? Any ETA on our imminent rescue?” Tony asks, one hand rubbing through Peter’s sweaty, messy curls and the other tapping on the side of his mask over the comm impatiently. He tries to hold in his grimace when she reports back that it may be a couple of hours for Peter’s sake and, instead, smiles down at him, only half his mouth visible through the cracked mask. He opens his mouth to lie through his teeth but Peter rolls his eyes before Tony has the chance.

“You know I have enhanced hearing right?” He questions pointedly, taking the wind out of Tony’s sails before he can even talk.

“Yeah alright,” the man agrees with a shrug. “It’s going to be a bit before they get here.”

Peter squirms a little uncomfortably, letting out a hiss when he jostles his leg, eyes crossing and sweat breaking out across his forehead at the pain and Tony feels his chest clench in sympathy. “Can you uh…” Peter starts, gulping and squeezing his eyes shut for a moment, tears of pain popping up in the corners but stubbornly not falling. “Can you distract me?”

“Did I ever tell you about that time in college when Rhodey and I got blitzed on cheap vodka and flooded the laundry room with foam before our engineering final?” Peter lets out a little hysterical laugh and shakes his head ‘no’. “Well settle in because it’s a doozy. So it all started around ten in the morning in the fountain at the student center…”

Tony had plenty of stories about his and Rhodey’s misadventures through undergrad but he was really running out of semi-appropriate tales he could spin by the time the clock in the corner of his HUD had passed three hours. Peter, stubborn and ever the trooper, had stayed awake and cooperated every time had harassed him to keep the kid coherent. The shifting of concrete was definitely getting closer now.

Peter, however, had continued to steadily decline since Tony had found him. The wound in his thigh where the bone had punctured the skin but, miraculously, not the suit had continued to bleed steadily to the point that Tony had cut a hole in the tightly woven carbon and spandex fibers around Peter’s leg so that he could staunch the bleeding with specially made nano-particles. This had, unfortunately, clearly been a bandaid on a bullet wound situation.

Peter had steadily paled until his face was greyed around the edges and clammy. His hands were shaking and, since he wasn’t able to thermoregulate well and shiver, could only be from shock. The situation was quickly becoming dire and Tony knew he wasn’t doing such a stellar job of hiding his reservations anymore.

“Get me an update FRI,” he ground out, one hand moving methodically through Peter’s flat curls, overworked by how much Tony had been basically petting him for the past few hours. The kid’s brown eyes, half-lidded, flickered up to look at him and some quiet conversation passed between the two of them before Peter broke eye contact with a weary blink.

“Rescue is imminent Boss,” the AI reported. “Maybe fifteen minutes.”

“Here that Pete?” Tony asked, trying for bright but falling short. “Fifteen minutes. We can do that right?”

“Sure,” Peter mumbled, his own voice hoarse from coughing up dust and a little blood sneaking its way onto his lips when he wet them. His teeth were stained red and Tony could feel his heart stutter at the sight. He hated nothing more than being useless and that’s all he was right now. “Fifteen minutes. No problem.”

“Tell them to hurry it up,” Tony hissed into his comm before hitting the emergency release on his suit and peeling it off. Peter’s eyes were hazy and confused, a frown pulling his pale lips down as he watched.

“You can’t,” he said, fingers twitching in the direction of the defunct suit. “Need to be protected.”

“I’m fine kiddo,” Tony promised, moving them around until Peter’s head rested in Tony’s lap instead of on the ground. “We’re almost out; nothing’s going to happen.” Peter’s eyes narrowed but he clearly didn’t have the energy to argue further, letting his lids flutter shut and stay closed. Tony shook him none too gently to rouse him, heart aching at Peter’s low whine of pain and betrayal. “Stay awake for me Webs. Just a little longer.”

“I’m really tired,” Peter muttered, eyes blinking rapidly as he tried to keep them open. “Just a little nap. Please?”

“No can do,” Tony said, feeling on the verge or tears, running his thumb carefully over the bruises under Peter’s eye and up to his temple to gently massage it. “No sleeping until Bruce gives permission. He’s a stickler about these things.”

Peter hummed, his mouth pulling down at the corners. “Sorry Mr. Stark,” he whispered, his eyes closing and his speech starting to slur. “I don’t think I can.”

And then, terrifyingly, he went completely boneless in Tony’s lap.

“No!” Tony nearly screamed, shaking Peter as carefully as he could. “You need to wake up right now Peter I’m serious!” But Peter’s head just lolled to the side, his face and jaw slack and his skin, somehow, even paler than before. “FRI get them here now! I don’t care what it takes, Peter needs out!”

“Tony!” A voice echoed through the cavern not even a second later and Tony felt tears of relief prickling his eyes.

“Here!” He called back, sniffing hard. “About time you got down here!”

Moments later the dusty forms of Steve and Sam pushed their way into the small space that Tony and Peter had been occupying, dragging a stretcher and a bag of medical equipment behind them.

“Shit,” Steve breathed, taking them both in before hustling over to lift the concrete off of Peter’s leg.

“Stop!” Sam said, trying to body block him in the cramped space and having little success but Cap stopped nonetheless. “He could have compartment syndrome. You move that before I place a tourniquet and you could kill him!” Steve turned white and moved back, holding his hands up in surrender. “Tony you need to take the suit and get out.”

“Like hell!” He protested, bearing his teeth and gripping Peter’s shoulders possessively only to have his hands batted away so Sam could get Peter’s pulse.

“You’re in the way,” Sam explained firmly as he pulled the medical bag over and began to wrap the tourniquet tightly around Peter’s upper thigh making the kid gasp in his sleep but not wake up. “You can trust me with him,” Sam promised, making brief eye contact before getting back to his work. “I promise that I’ll take care of him for you but you have to let me help him and I can’t do that when you’re in the way.”

Tony let out a choking sound that he would never admit was a sob and covered his mouth. “That’s my kid Wilson,” he said, voice firm. “I’m trusting you with him.” Sam nodded solemnly and Steve just watched them both with a wounded expression. Tony ignored all this and bent down to press a feather-light kiss to Peter’s hair line before squeezing his eyes shut and doing the hardest thing he’s ever had to do – leave Peter alone.

“Tony,” Bruce said, relieved, when Tony emerged from the hole that the team had dug up. The man was shirtless and in his Hulk shorts, hands shaky and tired but looking alert and ready to do what he could to help them. “Where’s Peter?”

“Cap and Sam are getting him,” Tony said, feeling a little shaky and shell-shocked himself, not noticing he was swaying until Natasha ducked under his right arm to help steady him. “He um. His leg got trapped under dome of the rubble. It’s broken and he’s lost a lot of blood.” Tony explained, allowing Nat to guide him to sit on some of the surrounding debris.

“It’s okay,” Bruce soothed, bending down and grabbing Tony’s wrist to take his pulse with a frown before prodding at a couple of the tender spots on his head that made Tony wince. “We can fix it. I have blood on the jet and we’re only an hour out from the nearest SHIELD base with a full medical staff. He’s going to be fine.”

Tony nodded compulsively and submitted himself to Bruce’s exam, watching the hole intently until Cap emerged, carrying half of the stretcher with Sam following closely behind supporting the other half.

Things became a bit of a blur from there for Tony. Nat held him back from getting in the way of Bruce and Sam treating Peter and assisted him onto the jet and into a seat near the head of the gurney they had moved the kid to. Peter was still passed out, his hair and face covered in dust but he was getting a little color back in his face once Sam started the blood transfusion.

“What’s the verdict?” Steve asked, leaning against the wall and only his finger twitching showing how worried he was, taking the words right out of Tony’s mouth.

“He has a good prognosis,” Bruce reported, looking at the X-ray FRIDAY had taken and sent to his tablet. “He’ll need surgery to reset the bone but you know how quick he heals. I suspect he’ll be begging to get back in the saddle by the end of the week tops,” a collective exhale of relief passed through the team and Tony dropped his head into his hands.

“Thank you,” he said, voice thick with emotion, stumbling over to stand at the head of the bed and run soft fingers down the side of Peter’s peaceful face. This was enough excitement for a while, Tony decided, he and the kid would need to sit out the next few missions and take an actual break. Pepper had been looking at a cabin on a lake as a possible summer home and Tony couldn’t think of a better way to recuperate than sitting on the ample porch in the warm weather with his family.

#summerofwhump #summerofwhump10 #Prompt: Trapped #irondad #spiderman #Summer of Whump

13 notes · View notes

jaskiers-sweetkiss · 5 years ago

Text

Bombshell [B. Barnes] - 2

Pairing: British SHIELD Agent!Reader x Bucky Barnes

Warnings: swearing, (legal) alcohol consumption, explosions, memory loss, mentions of past trauma, mentions of death

Work Count: 5.8K

See end for Author’s Notes.

Masterlist Previous Part

___

"Agent Y/L/N, what's your status?" the concerned voice crackled over the coms. "Y/L/N check in."

You huffed, rolling your eyes as you took out a guard.

"Jesus Rogers, we split up less than two minutes ago. I'm fine."

"I'm sorry for being concerned," Steve muttered sarcastically under his breath, the coms barely picked it up and you bit back a laugh, trying to remain stealthy.

You peaked your head around the corner, peering into the large room before you to ensure that it was empty. Once you were sure it was clear, you made your way around what appeared to be a storage room, checking for any objects of importance or secret passageways. As you cleared each wall, you made sure to slap a small disk to each one.

"Y/N, we're at the quinjet, what's your status?" Natasha came over the coms.

"Just finishing up down here Nat," you replied lightly, making your way back to the stairs, slapping a few more disks in the hallway for good measure. "Who's 'we'?"

"Steve and me."

You sighed, equal parts worried and relieved. "Wilson, what's your position?"

"Couple Nazis on the roof, I've got it covered," Sam responded with a grunt.

"Take them out quickly, please," you ordered, holding your position on the stairs. "I'm activating the bombs and we'll only have a couple of minutes to get out of here."

"Yes ma'am," Sam answered, and you almost thought you could hear him mock salute you, "Will you have enough time?"

"What do you take me for?" You gasped, offended, "an amateur?"

Sam barked out a laugh and you couldn't help but smile in response.

"Nazis down." He announced over the coms. "Commence explosions."

"With pleasure," you smirked, pressing the button on the activator. "T-minus five minutes to detonation." You announced, running up the stairs. "Nat?"

"We're in position." The redhead affirmed over coms and you ran harder, making sure to press the button on each floor to activate the bombs you had placed on your way to the basement.

You had about two minutes to spare by the time you reached the roof, pushing yourself harder as you sprinted up the quinjet ramp.

"Go!" You barked out, Nat immediately pulling the jet off the roof and into the sky, the ramp not even closed.

"I... am going... to kill... Stark." You panted, doubled over as you tried to catch your breath. You could hear the explosions in the distance as the building beneath you was destroyed. "Honestly... would it kill him... to make longer-ranged bombs?"

"Well, to be fair, we've never had an explosives expert on the team before." Steve defended only to be met with a glare.

"That's no excuse." You glowered. "They had better bombs in World War Two and you know it!"

You had seen some of them yourself in Tripp's suitcase of Howling Commandos gadgets that he got from his grandfather. They may have been bigger and a pain in the ass to set, but at least they gave an adequate amount of time to get to safety.

As if he could hear your thoughts, Steve echoed the same sentiment,

"These ones are a helluva lot easier to set." He argued, tossing one of the round explosives in one hand.

"Rogers, you idiot." You snapped, snatching the bomb out of the air before he could catch it again. "This is a bomb, not a toy!"

Steve had the gall to smile while you scolded him. "Jesus, that is not something I should have to say to someone who is nearly one-hundred-years-old."

"Relax, Y/N, it's not like it's gonna explode." The super-soldier placed a hand on your shoulder and you scowled up at him.

"It very well could!" You knew that he was right, the explosive was stable and could only be activated with the remote, however, now the argument was about principle. "Who's the explosives expert here, hm?"

"How did a history major become an expert in blowing things up?" Sam asked curiously, breaking up your petty argument.

"Well, I've been exploding things since I was a little girl," you began, making a show of putting the bomb back into its designated case before plopping down into one of the many seats lining the interior of the quinjet. "My dad was a science teacher and we used to do all kinds of experiments together. Coke and Mentos, baking soda volcanos, film canister rockets- the works."

You sighed happily, though Sam and Steve didn't miss the sad look in your eyes that was always present when you talked about your family.

"I sort of naturally drifted towards real explosives after SHIELD recruited me." You shrugged and Sam nodded understandably, but Steve was staring at you as if you had just told him the moon was orange.

"What happens when you mix Coke and Mentos?" He asked warily and yours and Sam's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Y-you don't know?" Sam spluttered out through his shock.

Steve shook his head slowly, looking even more alarmed by your response to his question.

"Oh, Stevie, we are going to have so much fun when we get back." You grinned already choosing which of Tony's labs you would be hijacking.

___

"So what did you do for fun when you were a kid?" You asked as you sat on the floor of one of the many Stark labs at the Tower.

A soda-covered tarp sat abandoned nearby and you and Steve were surrounded by nearly-empty two-liters of Coke. After touching back down in New York, you immediately ran out to buy the soda and mints necessary for the classic experiment. You had a hypothesis that Steve might want to repeat the explosion more than once, a hypothesis that the man readily proved correct. Now you sat facing each other, steadily drinking your way through the flat soda left in the bottom of the plastic bottles because you had insisted it was "tradition."

"Well, my ma and I were pretty poor, even before the Depression hit." Steve began, taking a swig of the nearest two-liter and grimacing slightly at the taste of slightly-minty flat Coke. "We couldn't afford to go out much, so we made do with what we had at home. I remember I spent about a week drawing playing cards when our deck fell apart. I used to draw a lot back then."

You recognized the look of mixed nostalgia and grief in Steve's eyes as he spoke about the past; it was a look you were intimately familiar with yourself.

"When Bucky and I moved in together after my ma passed he'd let me sketch him while he cooked or baked in the kitchen." Steve smiled, a faraway look in his eyes as he recounted the past.

"You never helped out?" You asked, teasing lacing your voice.

"Nah," Steve laughed. "I was hopeless in the kitchen, still kinda am. After I nearly burnt down the kitchen twice Buck stopped letting me anywhere near the stove."

You smiled, thoroughly enjoying Steve's storytelling. He seemed at ease in that moment, completely relaxed and open, something rare for Captain America. The wheels began to turn in your own head when he brought up his childhood best friend, now a fugitive with spotty memories of his own past.

"What were his favorite things to make?" You asked and Steve grinned, though it was so natural you weren’t even sure he realized he was doing it.

"I was too sick to work back then, and with only one source of income we were still pretty disadvantaged, but on special occasions, Bucky would make this baked apple pudding that was divine."

"Divine, huh?" You giggled, tucking that information away. "I wish I could've tried it."

"I actually might still have the recipe." Steve perked up at the thought and you stared at him, puzzled.

"How do you still have a recipe from the thirties?"

"When I went into the ice the SSR boxed up everything in my apartment for 'records.' When I woke up SHIELD gave them all back to me." The blond downed the last of the flat soda and jumped to his feet, practically buzzing in excitement. "C'mon let's go look for it!"

"Slow down there, cowboy." You held out a cautionary hand before gesturing at the lab. "We have to clean all this up first so Stark doesn't kill us."

Steve groaned but relented and you spent the next fifteen minutes making sure Tony would never know they had exploded soda in his "state-of-the-art, high-tech labs."

___

"Sergeant Barnes, it's Agent Y/L/N. I'm coming in." You announced into the speaker, the door beside it unlocking with a click as the technology recognized your voice.

The cabin was dark when you entered but before you could reach out to flip the light switch next to the door you were pinned to the wall, grocery bags falling to the floor.

You couldn't help the gasp that escaped your lips though you made sure to control your breathing the way you were trained to. You knew what to do in this situation but needed to remain calm to do it. The arm pressing across the top of your chest made it difficult to breathe steadily, but you were able to manage after a minute of focusing on remaining still and slowing your heart rate.

"Sergeant Barnes." You managed to get out, your voice a bit raspy albeit steady.

The man growled at the name and said something in Russian that you couldn't understand.

"Your name is James Buchanan Barnes." You began again. "You were a Sergeant of the one-hundred-and-seventh division in World War Two. On a mission to intercept an enemy transport, you were injured and captured by Hydra. Hydra experimented on you and brainwashed you."

You could feel the muscles in the arm relax, though the man wasn't close to removing it just yet, so you continued.

"I am Agent Y/N Y/L/N. Three months ago we met in Washington D.C. and I brought you to this safe house. Every week since then I have come here to check in on you and bring you groceries."

This wasn't the first time you had been met with the Winter Soldier when you arrived at the safehouse and you had had to quickly learn how to bring Sergeant Barnes back. You had found the Soldier responded best to facts, and so you would lay out the facts that led Barnes to that moment in the most even and calm voice you could, allowing the Soldier to stand down and Barnes to come through.

"You are not the Winter Soldier, Sergeant Barnes." You reminded him evenly, and after a moment you felt the man relax entirely and stager quickly away from you.

"Agent Y/L/N, I'm so sorry." He gasped, voice ragged as he quickly worked to pick up the groceries that had fallen out of their bags when you had dropped them.

"It's quite alright, Sergeant Barnes. I know that wasn't you."

It was easy to say because you believed it, though you hadn't always. When you had initially brought Barnes to the abandoned SHIELD safehouse it had been to monitor him to see how much of him overlapped with his assassin alter ego. After about a month of observation, you had found that there was no overlap between the two, other than the fact that Barnes held the Soldier's memories. Hydra had tried to erase everything that made James Buchanan Barnes the man he was when creating their super-powered assassin.

"What's all this?" Barnes asked quietly, starring perplexed at the groceries, particularly the bag full of baking supplies.

"I thought you and I might bake something together," you said, trying not to give away your entire plan.

You had hoped to jog the man's memories a bit however you wanted to avoid accidentally planting false memories.

"I... I think I would like that?" The man said, though it came out more like a question as he still wasn't really sure what he did and didn't like anymore.

You smiled reassuringly. "Well then, lets hop to it!"

You worked quickly to put away the rest of the groceries before you laid out the ingredients for your bake on the counter.

"First and foremost those apples are going to need to be peeled and chopped," You said, nodding towards the apples as you held out a knife to the man beside you.

The two of you stood just like that for a moment, you with your arm holding out the knife and Barnes not taking it from you before you finally looked over at the man.

"What's the matter, Sergeant Barnes?" You asked, your accent clipped with concern.

"I can't be trusted." He said softly, and you almost missed it.

"Really now, Barnes, would I be trying to give you a knife if I thought you would hurt me?" You tried to reason, hoping you were doing enough to quell his anxieties. "I trust you, Sergeant Barnes, even if you don't trust yourself."

"James." He spoke so quietly that you weren’t sure if he had even spoken at all.

"What was that?"

"James," He repeated, more confidently this time. "You can call me James."

He wasn't sure why he had said it. From what he could remember, he hated the name James, everybody had called him Bucky. You were confused by it as well. You had never once heard Steve refer to him as James, always Buck or Bucky. Regardless, a first-name basis was a step in the right direction and you would take it.

"Alright then, James," you smiled at the man, "Those apples aren't going to cut themselves."

"Yes ma'am!" He joked as he finally took the knife from your hand, seeming to surprise himself as much as he surprised you and you smiled even wider.

You worked in mostly silence, the kitchen filled only with the sounds of your labor and James giving instructions- you had given him the recipe right away, hoping it would spark some memories. He didn't tell you if it had, but he moved through the kitchen with an ease and comfort you had yet to see from the man. You thought maybe he didn't realize; that he was having a subconscious reaction to being back in the kitchen, baking something that had at one point held such significance to him.

"Alright, Stevie, desserts in the oven, whaddya want for dinner?" James asked, his back to you as he rifled through the fridge. As soon as the words left his mouth he paused, slumping inwards on himself.

"James?" You asked softly, cautiously stepping towards the man.

"I- I remembered something." He said brokenly, and you decided it was safe to place a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Would you like to talk about it?"

"Steve- I- we used to live together, I think," James spoke, gripping the fridge door tightly in an attempt to support himself. "I- I used to bake this for him, I- where did you get this recipe?"

His voice had turned somewhat hostile with the last question but you stood your ground, not stepping back from the man in front of you.

"Steve gave it to me," you said softly, hoping he could hear the honesty in your voice, "He told me how you used to make it for him."

"Is he- does he know I'm here?" James asked as he turned around to face you, eyes and voice filled with panic.

"No, and I won't tell him until you tell me you're ready."

"Thank you, Agent Y/L/N."

"It's Y/N." You smiled kindly, "Now, what should we have for dinner?"

___

"This mean anything to you?" You asked, eyebrow raised inquisitively as you set the old paper down in front of Skye.

"Where did you get this?" The agent gasped, breezing past the fact that no one was supposed to know what she had been working on.

It wasn't an uncommon occurrence for you, nearly everyone at SHIELD seemed to think you knew more than you did.

"The Avengers brought me along on a Hydra raid. Found that in the basement of the warehouse, thought it looked familiar." You pointed to the worn parchment laid out on the table.

It was covered in an interlocking series of lines and circles that you didn't understand but you had seen Skye working on something similar in the past months.

"Does anyone know you have this?"

"Nope." You answered, a sly grin on your face. "Nabbed it before I left and then blew up the entire building, so Hydra won't know it’s missing either."

"What do you know about it?" Skye asked, seeming to have realized that this was supposed to be between her and Coulson.

"Nothing, other than that Coulson's had you working on it in secret for a few months now," you answered honestly. "You have to be a little quicker when closing down the holoscreen." You added when you noticed Skye's confusion.

"Noted," Skye responded dryly. "Well, thank you for the old parchment but I can't tell you anything else."

"I didn't expect you to," you smiled before asking, "How about something you can talk about? Like what happened with Browning?"

"Hunter's still pissed we've been shadowing them," Skye smirked and you laughed, not even slightly surprised. The mercenary was more a fan of his paychecks than of SHIELD's protocols. "But an enhanced took out Browning before we could get to him. We're pretty sure he's with Hydra which means they're after the 0-8-4 too."

"Big surprise there," you sighed, the world may think Hydra is gone but you knew the truth: they were just biding their time in the shadows once again.

"So when do we go out to collect it before they can?" You asked curiously, having been off base when the first mission had occurred and Coulson wasn't exactly accepting visitors to his office.

"As soon as we figure out where the government is keeping it." Skye sighed and you groaned. The US Government, or more specifically General Talbot, had been making SHIELD's operations even more difficult lately.

"Is he in the lab?" You asked, changing the subject.

"He's barely left, he's working on the samples we collected from the enhanced right now."

You frowned but nodded in thanks to the agent before making your way towards the lab.

Fitz hadn't been doing much better, he was still struggling to come up with words and his hands were still shaky. Additionally, he seemed to be talking to himself, or rather, a version of Simmons he had conjured up for himself. In your downtime on the base, you found herself just sitting in the lab, an option for Fitz to talk to if he wanted but you always brought a book or something to occupy yourself if not. Today you were sitting on the floor, leaning against a lab station while reading Rob Chernow's biography Alexander Hamilton.

"Uhh, Y-Y/N," Fitz began to panic, waving his hand wildly to get your attention.

"What is it?" You asked worriedly, quickly getting to your feet to stand next to the scientist.

"Y-you see that too, right?"

You did see. The metal samples Fitz had been analyzing had begun to ooze with a red liquid.

"Is that... blood?" You asked, face contorted in disgust and slight fascination.

Before Fitz could answer, the two of you watched as the pieces of metal turned into what appeared to be human flesh.

"What the hell?" You muttered under your breath while Fitz relaxed beside you.

"This is good, I mean- weird, but I can-" Fitz stuttered out tensing up once again and shaking his hand as he tried to come up with the words, looking over his shoulder as if looking to someone else for the answer.

"Figure out who's blood it is?" You supplied and Fitz nodded.

"Shouldn't be too hard." He affirmed quietly under his breath as if he needed to convince himself.

"Well you've got my help regardless," You smiled and Fitz nodded lightly before doling out instructions.

It wasn't the first time you had served as Fitz's hands in the lab and you fully intended to offer your services as long as he still needed them. Working together it took you about an hour to analyze the sample and search the various world DNA databases for a match, eventually finding one in SHIELD's own database.

"Carl Creel?" Fitz read the name out loud as you both peered at the monitor.

"We crossed him off the Index?" You asked skeptically, it wasn't uncommon for SHIELD to take out potentially dangerous enhanced individuals in the past, but clearly they hadn't done a very good job with Creel.

You pondered how SHIELD could've been so careless when Fitz pointed to the supervising agent listed on the report.

"Of course it was Garrett," you sighed. "We should get this to Coulson."

___

"Why am I here Maria?" You asked harshly, arms crossed as you stared at the woman. "I could've been helping Coulson."

"I get that you want to help, Y/N, but you still work here and you have to keep up appearances," Maria said firmly, ignoring her friend's scowl. "If you really want to help SHIELD, you'll keep your cover intact."

You rolled your eyes but you knew Maria was right. If you spent too much time away from the Tower the Avengers would get suspicious and they couldn't know that Coulson or SHIELD were still alive.

"Plus, you know you can't get involved with Talbot."

You rolled her eyes again.

"Why does it matter Mar? He clearly saw us both when we crossed his team at Providence. Why does it matter if he sees me with SHIELD again?"

"Y/N, you and I both know why it matters, you're just being stubborn. As far as the world is concerned, SHIELD is a terrorist group and if you're associated with them-"

"It'll bring a lot of bad PR to the Avengers and I'll have to step down from both organizations to protect them." You finished for her, sighing frustratedly. "I know, Maria, I just hate it."

"Go blow off some steam, hang out with the team, whatever you need to do," Maria instructed in the motherly tone she had used when she was your SO. "There's a classified mission on the books to explain your absence."

As if summoned, Sam walked into the conference room moments after Maria had finished speaking.

"Hey! Y/N is back!" He exclaimed, a grin on his face. "Where ya been?"

"That, my friend, is classified," you answered with a sly smirk before turning to Maria in order to keep up appearances, "Am I finished with my debrief, Agent Hill?"

"You're free to go, Agent Y/L/N," Maria confirmed before turning to Sam, "Next time, knock before you burst into occupied meeting rooms, Mr. Wilson."

"You could just lock the door," Sam shot back but retracted it when he was met with Maria's no-nonsense glare. "Yes ma'am, I'll knock next time."

You did your best to hold back your laughter at the interaction until you and Sam had left the room. You immediately erupted into giggles and Sam groaned.

"I don't know why you guys even bother with all that 'Agent Hill' 'Agent Y/L/N' crap." He said, trying to turn the tables on you as you boarded the elevator. "We all know you're friends, it's so unnecessary."

"It's about professionalism, Sam," you answered, smirking. "I know you don't get it because the Avengers lack any sense of professionalism whatsoever but-"

"Hey! I take great offense to that!" A voice yelped from behind you and you turned to see that Tony was on the elevator as well.

"Oh please, Stark, you're the worst perpetrator of unprofessionalism." You pointed out and Sam snorted.

"I'm not the one who exploded coke all over one of the labs with Rogers last week," Tony shot back and you flushed.

"That was on our off time and we cleaned it up!" You protested, "How'd you even find out about that?"

"You think I don't have surveillance in my labs?"

"Wait you guys did the Coke and Mentos without me?" Sam whined right as the elevator doors opened on the gym floor.

"Oh, look at that, this is my floor," you said, rushing off the elevator to escape your friend's inevitable wrath for leaving him out of the childish experiment.

"No way, Y/L/N, you're not getting off that easy," Sam followed you and you broke into a run.

You sprinted down the hallway towards the gym doors, Sam hot on your heels.

"Steve! Nat! Help!" You squealed as you burst through the double doors, darting behind Steve's tall frame as he stood in front of a punching bag.

"Get back here, Y/L/N!" Sam yelled as he ran through the doors, still swinging from your entrance.

"What's this about, Sam?" Steve asked in mock seriousness as the man stalked towards them.

"Oh good Rogers, you're here too," Sam said and Steve had the mind to look alarmed right before Sam landed a hit on the super soldier's arm.

"Sam! What the hell was that for?"

"You guys blew up pop without me!"

"I didn't know you were supposed to do it with us!" Steve protested and the pair went silent for a moment.

Then you found herself struggling in Steve's arms as he turned on you.

"Steve! Let me go!" You gasped.

"Tell Sam you're sorry," Steve instructed, and you bit back a laugh, schooling your face into one of determination.

"Never!" You yelled, using your years of training to maneuver out of Steve's grip and using his weight to your advantage to flip him to the ground, his back landing hitting the mat below them with a thud.

Natasha let out a whoop from the other side of the gym where she had been silently observing. "That's my girl!"

You shot the redhead a grin as you took up a defensive stance. "Try me, Wilson." you dared.

Sam looked between the British agent and the blond supersoldier who was still lying between the mat before standing down.

"Nah," he shook his head, "Just invite me next time."

You snorted but agreed.

"Hey Y/N, wanna spar?" Nat called from the other side of the gym where she was already wrapping her fists.

"Sure," you answered with a laugh, "I love getting my ass kicked by former Soviet operatives."

Sam, Steve, and Nat all laughed and you flipped them off mockingly as you walked to the locker room to change out of your work clothes.

___

"I got here as soon as I could," you said sadly as you knelt next to Skye.

You were in Hartley's room and Skye was packing up the agent's belongings.

"How's everyone holding up?"

"I think we're all compartmentalizing," Skye sighed, folding up a piece of clothing and placing it in the suitcase. "Coulson won't mourn until we find out if Hunter snitched, and Mack and Tripp are putting all their efforts into reverse-engineering the quinjet's cloaking."

You had to remind yourself to take a deep breath to stop yourself from going off about the cloaking. You were less than thrilled with how Coulson, and truly the rest of the team, had been handling Fitz since the accident, and now they had gone ahead and found a cloaking solution even though Fitz had been working on one for months. You knew the organization desperately needed it, but you thought Coulson could've at least brought Fitz on to what they were doing instead of keeping him in the dark. But now wasn't time to get into that debate, now was the time to mourn Hartley and Idaho.

You helped Skye pack up the rest of Hartley's belongings until you were joined by Hunter, who had apparently decided not to betray SHIELD. You gave the two of them space, heading to the lab instead. Your presence there had started as a way to comfort Fitz, but at some point, the grey tiles and sterile surfaces had become something of a comfort to yourself. You had planned to just sit in a corner and stew in your emotions, maybe text Nat or Steve or Sam, but when you approached Mack was there talking to Fitz. You stood in the doorway, not wanting to enter the room and interrupt whatever they were doing. It was rare for other team members to seek out Fitz in the lab, everyone was too afraid of what they'd find.

You watched as Fitz handed Mack a file, the taller agent looking them over.

"I didn't solve this today." Fitz blurted but instead of wincing or pointedly looking anywhere but at the man, Mack looked up from the files to look the scientist in the eyes.

"You think you can?"

You cursed yourself as you let an excited gasp escape you. It immediately drew the two men's attention and the atmosphere of the lab changed.

"Y/N," Mack acknowledged and Fitz looked down shyly.

"I was just coming here for some peace, but I'd love to help," you explained your eavesdropping sheepishly.

"I think we could use the extra hands." Mack smiled and you grinned, stepping into the lab.

"What're we looking at?" You asked, stepping forward to look at the file that was now placed on one of the many lab tables.

It wasn't long before you had a cluster of lab techs gathered around the three of you as Fitz doled out instructions.

"It's about the.. the resonant," Fitz explained, though it was clear that none of the techs quite knew what he meant by the way their eyes flitted between you and Mack for help.

Fitz noticed the looks and you frowned as he clutched the wires he had been holding closer to his chest. "I didn't solve this today."

"So, what is this?" Mack asked, holding up another object that you didn't recognize. "Is this some sort of sonic device? Like the cloaking?"

You watched as the two men grew increasingly frustrated with each other.

"No, I- ugh, I didn't-" Fitz fumbled, his tone becoming more helpless as he continued to be misunderstood.

"Sorry, forget the cloaking." Mack waved it off and you glared at the techs as they exchanged wary looks. "No one blames you for that, let's just focus on Creel."

You yelped slightly as Fitz threw the papers off the lab table they'd been working at and Mack yelled for him to calm down.

"Get. out." You growled at the techs as they exchanged another look when Fitz turned his back to the group. They scampered off and Fitz turned back around to face them.

Okay." He said, taking a deep breath.

"Take it easy," Mack told the man and you frowned as you saw Fitz become visibly upset again.

'Look, I didn't solve this today!" He exclaimed and Mack matched his frustrations.

"Yeah, I know! You've said that already!" He yelled back.

"No!" Fitz exclaimed, "I didn't solve this today."

Mack looked like he was about to blow his top but you finally made the connection.

"You mean you've solved this before?" You asked him eagerly, eyes alight with the realization.

Fitz nodded excitedly, his posture relaxing slightly now that he had gotten his point across.

"Wait, you mean this is an old design?" Mack asked

"Yes! Yes!" Fitz said and you reached for a tablet, pulling up the designs from the past year.

"Okay, we're with you, Turbo," Mack said as they gathered around the tablet.

You began to flip through the designs, a few of which you recognized from various SHIELD reports until Fitz stopped you at one called the Overkill Device.

"Let's tell the team." You grinned at Fitz who looked quite proud of himself as he looked over the schematics.

___

"Did you get the 0-8-4?" You asked eagerly as the team filed off the quinjet.

You had been bitter that you weren’t brought in on the mission, especially since it had nothing to do with Talbot or any other government official but you knew you had accomplished something big back on base so you were willing to let it go.

"No," Hunter shook his head, "But we got Creel."

He jerked his thumb behind him a few agents escorted Creel off the Bus. Hunter wore a shit-eating grin and even dared to throw some taunts at the man as he passed them. You knew this was important to him, after what the man did to Hartley and Idaho.

"So Fitz's device worked?" You were thrilled, he needed a win, and this was a big one.

"Worked like a charm!" Hunter answered, taking a break from yelling insults at Creel's back.

"Woah, what the hell happened to Skye, Tripp, and May?" You demanded as the three slowly made their way off the plane with help from Coulson, each of them glaring daggers at Hunter as they passed by. "And Coulson was in the field?"

"A lot happened, I'll fill you in over a beer," Hunter said, making his way into the base and you followed.

You were mostly quiet as they made your way to the kitchen, Hunter grabbing you two bottles from the fridge.

"So what did you do to piss off May, Tripp, and Skye and to get Coulson into the field?" You asked as they sat on the barstools that lined the kitchen island.

"Might've iced them all to get a shot at Creel," Hunter shrugged nonchalantly and you gaped.

"You what?"

"Then Coulson took Creel down with Fitz's device and offered me a job at SHIELD." Hunter continued, speaking like this was just another day at the office for him.

"Hunter, that doesn't make any sense. You shot three of our agents!"

"With ICERS!" Hunter protested, "I wouldn't have killed them!"

You merely raised an eyebrow as if to say "wouldn't you have?"

"Y'know what? I take great offense to that, Y/L/N." Hunter said, using the hand holding his beer to gesture at your face. "I think I'd quite like to drink alone now."

"You're such an ass, Hunter." You laughed, standing up from your stool.

"Funny, that's what my ex-wife told me before we split up." He joked and you rolled your eyes.

"Well, I suppose I'll be seeing you around, Agent Lance Hunter," you smirked at Hunter's grimace and grabbed two more beers from the fridge, carrying them back to the Hanger.

As you expected, the Bus ramp was down and Mack and Fitz were stood inside.

"You look like you could use some refreshments." You joked as you walked up the incline to stand with the two men, handing each one a bottle.

"What's this for?" Mack asked, an easy smile on his face as he accepted the drink.

"To celebrate, of course," you answered, "Without Fitz, we never could've captured Creel, and if Coulson's plans to hand him over to Talbot works we might finally have the military off our asses."

"I'll drink to that," Mack said and you saw Fitz smile, the three of you clinking your bottles together.

___

a/n: Lot’s of jumps in this one. I think I’ve kinda decided that’s how most chapters are going to be- I’ve got a lot of ground to cover between here and endgame and I don’t want this story to drag on too much. Since the story is in Season 2 of Agents of SHIELD right now I think the Avengers parts are going to be a little lighter to balance out the heavier SHIELD moments (Though I did manage to get in an Avengers action scene). That’ll shift once we reach MCU territory. Also, first full Bucky encounter! Let me know what you think!

38 notes · View notes

areiton · 4 years ago

Text

a different self - stony

Written for @lightsonparkave

Read on AO3

~*~

Have you ever had that feeling--that you’d like to go to a whole different place and become a whole different self?

Haruki Murakami - The Wind-up Bird Chronicles

There is this--

Four broken fingers. A shattered sternum and three broken ribs. A collapsed lung and a crescent shaped scar, bisecting his chest.

There is this--

An empty bed and an empty compound and an empty prison under the storm tossed ocean.

There is this--

There is nothing.

~*~

“I don’t want to do this anymore,” he says, and Rhodey watches him, eyes big and worried, and he remembers a lifetime ago, saying those words and a sharp blade, and Rhodey’s gasping panic.

He remembers whispering them and a pile of white powder and overhead lights and bedside prayers.

He remembers Pepper murmuring them, and the choking grief and shattering loneliness.

He remembers Steve--

“I don’t want to do this anymore,” he begs and Rhodey catches his hands, the one with only a hairline fracture in the wrist and says, softly, “Ok.”

~*~

They piece him back together. Helen and her Cradle, Rhodey and his stubbornness, Pepper and her vial of Extremis.

They piece him back together, but they don’t know, he doesn’t know, what exactly it will mean.

Not until he’s lying there, awash in pain and burning from the inside and all he can see when he closes his eyes is blue eyes and a golden smile and a shield slamming down.

He screams.

He screams because he’s tired and because he hurts and because every breath is a reminder of something he wants, desperately, to forget.

He screams and they piece him back together and he wants to forget.

Extremis listens.

***

You dream sometimes.

Of that last moment--when Bucky was panting in pain, and Tony was sprawled under you, and your shield was tight in your hands, and coming down.

You dream sometimes that the repulsor had actually fired, and the blow never lands.

You dream that you throw the shield aside and beg him to listen and he does.

You dream that you don’t check your blow, that it comes down on his throat.

You wake from your dreams and they’re nightmares, and so is the life you’re living.

***

It takes months to come home. Longer than you expected--T’challa says it is politics and the legal matters to sort through, and that these things take time.

You wait, because it grates, but then you made your choice, and you can’t expect more than what you are given, not when you threw away everything that Tony tried to give you.

You wait, and when the time comes, Bucky leans into your shoulder and says, “You’re gonna fix this.”

You hope he’s right.

***

Rhodey is waiting, next to a slight young man with hard eyes and a blind man with a half smile.

Vision is there, a step or two away.

Tony--Tony isn’t.

Tony hasn’t been in the news and he hasn’t been in the suit, and he isn’t here, and the fear that’s been building since he slammed that shield down boils up and over.

“Where--” you stumble a little, and Bucky steadies you. Holds you up. “Where is he?”

Rhodey watches you and there’s something like pity in his eyes.

***

Rhodey tells you later.

After everyone is settled in and the boy--Peter, Stark’s boy, you remember him from that horrible fight in Germany--is tucked away in the lab, and your hands aren’t shaking.

After the new order of things has been explained and your team has had their say and you quietly agree, because you led the Avengers once, and it ended bloody and horrible and you don’t want that, not anymore.

After--after--he says, “I didn’t want to tell you.”

He says, “This is only because I promised him.”

He says, “Don’t you dare ruin this for him.”

After--

He tells you.

~*~

There is this--

A three-bedroom house. A car with a ruined motor. A coffee pot and a dog that he calls DUM-E.

There is this--

A town that watches him and lets him fix their broken washing machines and lawn mowers, that bring him old cars.

There is this--

Long nights that are full of deep sleep and lazy mornings taking apart radios and a name, on the tip of his tongue, when he stares at the sunlight bright sky.

~*~

There is, this, too--

Something is missing.

He doesn’t think he minds.

~*~

There’s a boy, small for his age and he’s snarky and unimpressed but he listens when Tony talks, listens to the mindless chatter and helps him in his garage, and he shows Tony the best places for coffee in town.

He sits with Tony when his chest aches and he rubs at the scar there, not sure why it feels wrong, like something is missing.

“You’re going to be ok, old man,” he says, softly, when Tony trembles and doesn’t know why. “I promise you’ll be ok.”

Tony doesn’t know why--but he believes him.

~*~

He is happy, here, in a dirty workshop filled with broken cars and unassembled motors, with grease under his nails and coffee thick in the air and golden sunshine pouring through thin windows.

There are tshirts in his dresser and slippers he shuffles through the house in, and long empty days filled with tinkering and fixing and walking DUM-E.

He misses, sometimes, something he cannot name--the rush of wind in his face and a soaring freedom.

***

You follow him into a cafe, and Rhodey orders a cup of coffee, a burger and onion rings and when you don’t do the same, he sighs and orders for you.

“Remember what I said,” he tells you and you open your mouth, but the bell jingles and--

Your breath catches.

He’s beautiful.

He’s standing there, laughing at the boy at his side, and he’s beautiful, tucked away in Rosehill, Tennessee.

Tony’s gaze swings over the room, over you, there and gone, before recognition fills his eyes, and he drags his friend across the room.

“Colonel Rhodes,” he says, brightly, and your heart stops.

***

Rhodey explains it, when you’re both tucked into your hotel room and he’s a little bit drunk and there are tears in his eyes and you hate him for letting Tony do this.

“It was Extremis. We needed it, to put him back together--and he was tired,” Rhodey says, slowly. “He didn’t want this anymore.”

A tiny noise slips free of you and Rhodey looks at you, plaintive.

“We--it wasn’t on purpose. I don’t think he woulda done it, on purpose. But he’s tired, Cap. He’s been tired for a long time--he’s been tired since he came outta that cave, I think.”

You understand that. You’ve been tired for so long, you can’t remember a time you weren’t.

***

“I want to see him,” you say and Rhodey nods.

***

Tony is alone in the shop, working on a lawn mower, and he flicks a look at you, bright and beautiful and there is nothing like recognition in those familiar eyes. “Can I help you?”

“There’s a bike,” you say, desperately, “A friend gave it to me--but she needs some work.”

Interest brightens his eyes. “Ohhh, darling, tell me more.”

***

You call Bucky, and he sighs, this quiet little noise that doesn’t seem as irritated or as sad as you expect. “You’re stayin, huh, punk.”

It’s not a question.

“I don’t wanna do this anymore,” you say, and Rhodey, at your side, makes a hurt noise.

“I know,” Bucky murmurs.

“Sam--the shield--”

“I’ll give it to him. But you gotta come visit, kay? You ain’t just leavin’ me here with Sam fuckin’ Wilson.”

You laugh, and it’s wet and relieved and there’s a looseness in your chest, and it doesn’t hurt, when you breathe. “You’re fuckin’ Wilson.”

Bucky laughs, low and throaty and you smile when you hang up.

“You sure about this?” Rhodey asks, and you smile, the sun bright on your skin and the sound of Tony cursing cheerfully in his garage ringing in your ears. “He doesn’t know who you are,” Rhodey reminds you, like you can forget.

***

There is this--

Tony smiles at you in a room filled with metal and his creation, and his smile is familiar and fond.

There is this--

He nudges you toward a couch and tells you to entertain DUM-E and moves around you like you’ve always been there, a muscle memory that sings to you.

There is this--

When you hand him coffee and he’s distracted and knee-deep in projects, he mumbles, “Thanks, Cap.”

And your heart stops.

***

“Are you sure?” Rhodey asks, gentle, and worried, and you think about it.

About this place that Tony shouldn’t know, and the boy who saved him, once, saving him again.

About the name, careless and warm and his, slipping off Tony’s tongue.

About the nightmares and the fighting, and the regrets.

You aren’t tired, here.

You don’t carry a weapon and you aren’t a leader and the only thing remarkable about you, is the way Tony grins at you and the amount of pie you eat at the diner.

You became someone else, once. For your country.

He did, too. For the world.

You want to become someone else again. You want to become someone else, for him. For yourself.

Rhodey is watching you, that question hanging in the air.

“Yeah,” you say, and you are.

#arei writes fic #lightsonparkave #stony #stony fic #superhusbands #cacw

17 notes · View notes

imagine-avenger-imagines · 5 years ago

Text

Lifelong (I)

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x (Fem) Reader

Summary: Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes lead a manhunt for someone who could help.

Word Count: 2.1k

Warnings: violence, language

AN: Here’s the start of part 1 for this series. Enjoy!

Florence, September 2023

From the outside, one would say Sam Wilson stood tall in front of the secluded building facing him. The sharp suit made him exude confidence, but on the inside he felt anything but.

“Buck?” The comm that sat silently in his ear didn’t make him feel any better, and he rubbed his sweaty palms on his long slacks. This was one of the biggest operations Fury had put him on since he took up the mantle of Captain America. He had been put through many nerve wracking situations, and he didn’t think this would be any different. His accelerated heart rate said differently.

Him and Bucky had been following a group that was heavily involved with criminal activities and that S.H.I.E.L.D. followed since the mid eighties. They fled from sight after Steve took down Hydra, not to be seen until now. There was a crackle in his comm before hearing a familiar voice.

“Yeah, I’m in place. Took me a bit longer than I planned to get up here.” Sam breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the assassin’s voice. Unfortunately, his relief didn’t last long because of the gang of hollywood style mobsters arriving in a blacked out Mercedes.

“I have eyes on Matteo. 4 guards on all sides.”

Sam could’ve taken them out right then, but the immense crowd of people probably wouldn't appreciate that.

“Remember, in and out. Then we’re through.” He could practically see Bucky nodding behind a sniper scope.

In that moment, Sam watched as his target walked through the giant marble doors and into the lobby of the beautiful hotel. The gala was being held mainly for the purpose of thanking some charity for their reputable donation. Behind closed doors, Sam knew what the actual purpose was.

The main players within a huge chain of sex trafficking were meeting tonight to discuss some trades that were to be made.

“I’m heading in.”

Bucky sat in front of a small apartment window with his sniper pointed in the direction of the Gala. His dark locks of hair had been pulled behind his head into a small bun. His cerulean eyes stayed glued on his scope, watching as his partner walk quickly through the body guards at the doorway. Once his tall figure was gone, Bucky laid back, resting his metal arm against the top of the weapon.

Fury almost hadn’t let him come on this mission. Steve was the only one who grounded him before, and now that he isn’t as easily accessible, Fury was wary of him. A ticking time bomb. Bucky wanted to believe otherwise, but he knew there was always the possibility.

Those ten words held the detonation code to his bomb.

He had seen numerous people about it. Scientists, therapists, professionals. People who were supposed to know what they were talking about.

Bucky’s attention came back to the situation in front of him.

That’s when Sam’s irritated voice came from the other side of the comm.

“Buck? They’re gone. Right from under me.”

Of course they fucking did. If Fury thought he was incompetent before, he’s gonna laugh at this joke of a situation.

He slammed his vibranium hand against the cool metal of the gun, watching it crack with the amount of force he put in. He watched Sam safely leave from the Gala before packing up.

They headed back to headquarters both with a mixture of worry and irritation.

“I don’t know what happened. One second they were there and then they just vanished,” Bucky listened to Sam ramble on and on as they walked down the long hallway. The conference room they’d been summoned to was approaching, and so was his anxiety.

He didn’t feel like he deserved to be here. He looked ahead at Sam watching as he walked stiffly towards the room. He’d served for this country.

So had he. Look where it got him. Eighty years later and he still looked the way he did then.

Before he knew it, they were both seated at a large conference table. Fury wasn’t here yet, but Bucky could feel his presence.

Not two seconds later, in walked Fury with a new assistant. She was tall with ginger hair, she stood just like any of his other minions.

“So, may I know why two of my best people couldn’t take down one of the easiest targets? A rookie took them down the first time.” Bucky just sat with his eyes glued to a small vase in the middle of the table.

A rookie.

“And that was in the 80’s. Please tell me you got something?”

Silence was his only answer.

“Well, since you can’t even bring some people in, how about I send you on a little manhunt. You think you could do that?” Fury’s voice was mocking. Bucky felt his anger flare, but he knew better than to do anything.

“Yes sir.”

Fury sat, rubbing his temples in some poor attempt to relieve the pressure that was building. There was only one person who knew enough about these people to actually get some information.

He hadn't seen her in years. He knows she’s still alive.

“Look, I know a person. She worked on this case for a while before everything went south. I’ll get in touch with her and I’ll let you know. Baker, get me everything on case number 782736.” With that, he stood and flew from the room. Bucky and Sam sat staring, sinking deeper into their own thoughts.

Sam stood, Bucky looking in his direction.

“C’mon. Let’s get a drink. I have a feeling it’ll be our only night off for a while.”

The two of them took off in an issued car, heading in the direction of the bustling city.

It was the only time off they had for a very long time.

The next day, the ginger assistant found Bucky in the gym running around the track. She stood in the middle of the track, her stance wide and a smirk on her face.

“Barnes?” His eyes watched her wearily and once he approached her, all he replied with was a grunt.

“Man of few words I see. Here’s the file Fury requested. He said he wants you and the Captain out by tomorrow.” Bucky could feel his muscles starting to cool off, so he nodded his head and prepared to start running again.

“Got it.” When he started, a small hand grasped his metal arm. The action took him by surprise. No one was brave enough to look at him, let alone touch him. It borderline irritated him.

He roughly pulled his arm away, and gave her an up and down glance.

“The name is Kim.”

A piece of his dark hair fell into his face, and he quickly pushed it back behind his ear. Bucky was sure his eyes were flared with irritation, but she didn’t seem to budge.

He said nothing else, instead choosing to continue running.

Him and Sam took off the next day in a jet. Apparently the agent was in New Orleans.

Bucky had never been. Well at least from what he remembers.

Fury gave them a vague description before they left and that's all they had to go off of. The encounter with Fury’s assistant kept replaying the back of his mind. Something felt off about it. He knew how to read body language and her’s screamed “set up”. The two of them walked through a doorless frame into a small, swanky bar. Some form of alternative music played from above them and the place itself seemed a bit busy. Sam led the two of them deeper into the bar, and sat at the bar to their left.

Bucky’s searching eyes caught onto a figure standing in front of a dart board, sinking dart after dart. Her shoulders were stiff, but her arm threw each dart loosely and with precision.

Bucky nudged Sam with his elbow after he was done talking to the bartender. Sam followed Bucky’s eyes and nodded.

That was her. The description matched exactly what Fury told them. There was a pit in the bottom of his stomach. Something telling him this whole thing was off.

Sam stood and walked in her direction, Bucky following him quickly.

You knew the exact moment the two of them walked through the door. The first screamed “Fury” with his walk and wandering eyes. He was the one you believed to have taken over for Rogers and man, did he look the part.

Nothing Fury said could have prepared you for what you saw next.

It was him. You turned quickly before either of them noticed. Those eyes had haunted you for many years. The same eyes that killed people you loved were now glued to your back.

You hadn’t felt this nervous in many years. The nerves made you want to run, something that you were normally against.

“Y/N Y/L/N?” Your ears hadn’t heard them approach, but when you turned, the breath was knocked from your lungs. You tried to hide your emotions and you were hopefully succeeding so far.

You couldn’t help but stare at him, you’d lived too long to care.

“Yeah, Fury’s men I’m guessing?” Your voice was strong, thankfully. It would take some getting used to, but for now, you’d have to look at the man you hunted for years.

“That’d be us. Sam, Bucky. He said you’d have some information.” The nod of your head made Bucky sigh in relief. He watched as your calculated eyes threw your final dart and landed a bullseye. With a motion of your fingers, you walked over to an empty booth.

“Fury said you're dealing with the Matteo’s?” Once those words left your mouth, you noticed three men sit down at the bar and begin laughing together.

Fuck.

They had been followed, and by the exact people in question.

“Yeah, almost had them a couple days ago. Slipped out right from under us.” Bucky was the one to talk this time. His voice was so much different than you had expected. It was soft, but with a sharpness to it.

“No you didn’t.” The words caught Sam off guard almost causing Bucky to chuckle.

“What?” Your eyes caught Bucky’s cerulean ones and it caused you to flinch away immediately. They flew to the men sitting at the bar, the ringleader watching your every move. You knew this wasn’t going to be pretty.

“No, you didn’t almost have them. Otherwise, three of them wouldn’t be sitting twenty feet away from us,” Bucky’s eyes flew open and hesitated before taking a glance back there.

Son of a bitch.

“So boys, you want to continue this party here or outside?” The two of them both watched your face, stunned. You continued in a whisper. “There’s an alleyway right next to us. Follow me.”

Moving your body from the booth, you stand and walk towards the back of the bar and towards the restrooms.

They followed from a distance and watched as you pulled a set of keys from your pocket. The large iron door at the end of the hallway gave way once you unlocked it.

Bucky watched your lithe frame move quickly and suddenly something came to his mind.

He’s seen that walk before.

The thought knocked the breath out of him almost as hard as the punch that landed on his kidney. He turned quickly, seeing the large man behind him. Almost just as quickly, a bullet landed in between his eyes. Bucky’s eyes whipped to where it came from, seeing your right arm holding out a smoking gun. A silencer was screwed on the end and the look in your eyes watched the door where any of the other men could’ve come through.

“Let’s go.”

Bucky’s eyes wandered to yours and then Sam’s, realizing this trip just took a dark turn.

You led them to the alley and noticed your black Audi sitting by itself.

“Who has better aim?” Bucky and Sam looked back and forth before you interrupted them.

“You, back seat.” You motioned to Bucky and he nodded. You knew he was a great shot based off of the almost fatal scar on your chest.

The three of you piled into the car and you’d just gotten the ignition started when you started hearing the familiar sound of gunshots pounding into your windshield.

“Fuck.” The other two men from the bar were standing in front of the alley, pistols pointed in your direction.

“Pull down the left side of my back seat. Pick something and get started on them while I get us out.” You spoke to Bucky through the rearview mirror. He nodded obediently and got to it. You couldn’t force yourself to say his name.

Bucky pulled out the backseat, suddenly a whole showcase of weapons was presented to him. He quickly grabbed a M-15 and opened the door.

With two quick shots, both of the targets were taken out and you felt nauseous.

You never thought you’d be killing enemies with the monster who took your best friend's lives.

#bucky #barnes #reader #Bucky Barnes x reader #marvel #Sebastian stan #Bucky barnes #winter soldier #endgame #avengers #falcon #captain america #Bucky Barnes fanfic #Sebastian stan fanfic #series

8 notes · View notes

elenafisher · 6 years ago

Text

chelsea watches (read: is agonized by) “avengers: endgame”

i just got home from endgame and i have a lot to say about it!

OVERALL:

i... liked it? i think? i can’t tell.

there’s probably going to be a lot of complaining in this post, yet i didn’t actually hate the movie. but there was a lot to digest, so i’m sure my feelings will change over the next couple of weeks.

this movie was edited weird and i think it gave me whiplash.

the tone was dramatic and desperate, then lighthearted and fun, and then back to dramatic and desperate before i could so much as blink. it was very jarring!

it also made me cry.

robert downey jr. has always been very earnest in his portrayal of tony stark, but he gave all he had in this one. i was on the edge of tears watching him the whole time, really. there’s definitely a sense of finality to his performance.

those last 20 minutes had me weeping a bit. when they put the arc reactor on the bundle of flowers... oh, my heart. :’(

THE GOOD:

(most of) our characters are back!

but was there ever any doubt? the stakes were made to feel high, but they never really were. you always came away with the feeling that they were all gonna make it.

no word on vision, though! pretty confused about that one. i know he was killed after the snap occurred, so i don’t think they actually can bring him back, but i always thought that he would, since they have this to film still.

it was very well made. i hope they keep bringing back the people who work on the sets, the cinematography, and the lighting, because it was all so well done.

we need to raise one for alan silvestri and his amazing soundtrack.

oh, did anyone else notice the emphasis on DAUGHTERS?

tony’s daughter morgan

scott’s daughter cassie

clint’s daughter lila

thanos’s "daughters”, nebula and gamora

to me, it felt like they were setting up these girls for potentially taking up their father’s mantles, which would actually be cool as fuck.

morgan stark is absolutely the cutest little bean i’ve ever seen in my life.

I LOVE YOU 3000!

her scenes with tony were so sweet.

that cheeseburger parallel... oh man.

really, every scene that every person shared with tony was really good. you can just feel that everybody was giving everything they had because they knew they only had so much time left to play these characters together, and they wanted to get these final performances right.

tom holland, you heartbreaker. the audience in my theater went absolutely nuts when he finally returned. but when he was crying as he was talking to tony for the last time, oh man.

“i lost the kid.” please...

THE BAD:

i still don’t really get what they’re doing with thor.

i don’t share this opinion much because this is tumblr and everyone loves this movie, but i didn’t like ragnarok, and i don’t like what’s become of thor or bruce. i wasn’t really checking on these two before, but now they’re just the comedy reliefs of the MCU.

chris hemsworth is funny, of course, and thor is a badass, of course, but they were just trying so hard with him.

it kind of feels like they’re just pulling him apart, like one group still wants him to be the noble leader of asgard and the other just wants him to be the court jester. so, rather than decide, they just mushed their ideas together.

captain marvel: i knew she wasn’t going to be in the movie much, because she would’ve done everything in, like, 30 minutes, but they really, really underutilized her. seriously, she was only in this one, at most, for five minutes.

but, in those five minutes, she got a new haircut and kicked all kinds of ass, which are both wins.

THE UGLY:

STEVE ROGERS, SIR, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

i can’t believe they hit the undo button on cap’s story.

rather than have him grow and develop in his new role in the future he never wanted or expected to receive, they just had him go back in time to marry the one that got away.

but don’t get me wrong y’all; steve and peggy hurt me so good. i live for their angst. but they weren’t supposed to get together like this!

it’s gross because peggy moved on. she was able to pick up the pieces and create something wonderful for herself by having a fulfilling career and a happy marriage with another man.

steve should’ve accepted her choice. if he loves her so much, he should’ve accepted that he lost her and, since she moved on without him, he has to move on without her.

i can almost get the poetic cinema that they were going for: after tony loses his chance at having a family and living his life, steve is woken up and realizes how much he’s been missing out on, so he decides to go out there and discover what he’s been running away from all this time.

but, rather than do those things, or literally anything else, steve goes back in time to... marry peggy.

like, he could’ve traveled the world with sam and bucky, or gone solo for a while, or even hit up sharon again.

sharon carter, what a waste. they really couldn’t commit to the idea of her and steve together, could they?

but as soon as they confirmed sharon to be peggy’s niece, there was just no way a romance could blossom. it’s kind of hilarious how in a cinematic universe where raccoons talk, characters time travel, and AIs can be 3D printed, kissing the niece of your former flame is still considered to be the weirdest thing about it.

seriously: i find it all so vulgar and manipulative.

the one good thing that came out of this was sam wilson, the only worthy captain america, receiving the shield.

i’ve read that some people are upset that sam got the shield instead of bucky. like, did y’all watch the last movie? let bucky have his plums and his goats. he’s done fighting other people’s wars.

THE EVEN UGLIER:

i got problems, y’all, and those problems have two names: natasha romanoff and clint barton.

i ship these two because everything in the avengers (2012) led me to believe that these super cool assassins who were fighting each other were actually in love with each other and it was them against the world (which doesn’t sound familiar at all, i know).

the characters had history and scarlett johansson and jeremy renner had chemistry. i saw it and i know all y’all saw it.

so, y’all can imagine how goddamn appalled i was when i first read that natasha and clint were not only not lovers, but that clint actually had a secret family, with a secret wife, on a secret farm, and that we were going to be told this with absolutely no build-up whatsoever.

but y’all could tell that the russos were as tired as i was when it came to accepting those facts!

they decided to throw caution to the wind and show some more intimacy between natasha and clint, which was delicious. finally, some good fucking food.

i mean, the necklace? she was wearing her necklace again!

to me, it seemed like natasha had fallen in love with him all those years ago, but he was either already married or had turned her down (or both?), and she was never able to act on her feelings for him. i think that clint was also in love... and perhaps knew that he could never be with her, because of their lifestyles and her past, and chose laura instead. or something agonizing and unfulfilling like that.

(i really hope her upcoming movie expands on this.)

and i do think that she loved him. like, romantically. she couldn’t stop touching him the whole movie (HER HANDS ON HIS FACE!!! she’s so worried for him i’m crying) and was shaking, she was so relieved, upon being reunited with him.

it is some consolation that no matter what, you are never able to deny that natasha and clint love each other: even when they’re not romantic partners, they are definitely platonic life partners. their mutual devotion to one another, in almost every universe in the comics and in these movies, is incredibly strong and moving.

so, rather than endure clint’s death, natasha chose to sacrifice herself so that he could get the stone and, ultimately, be reunited with his family. and, on paper, it sounds okay... except, it really isn’t.

y’all wanna know why it’s not okay?

it’s not okay because natasha was an original avenger, and we were never given the chance to spend time with her, or become emotionally invested in her journey, or to care about her reasons for making the ultimate sacrifice.

like, i cared about natasha, but i felt that i would’ve cared so much more (and that the audience could’ve, as well) had we’d been able to have a front row seat to her “atonement” arc.

because, as an audience, we sort of started in medias res: while she was not initially forthcoming with who she was or what she was doing, natasha came to be seen as a reliable and capable ally by the avengers, her second appearance onscreen. we are given no real reason to distrust her because she’s so desperate to find redemption, which she’s made apparent in almost every movie, and it’s hard to hate somebody working so strongly for another chance.

i mean, this journey would’ve been made so much more badass by us experiencing it firsthand, rather than relying on the hearsay from the directors, writers, and actors. we should’ve gotta a miniseries starring natasha romanoff as the black widow, so we could finally see what she did to become so disgusted with herself and so feared by everyone else.

this is (partially) why so many people adore bucky. we’ve seen him as the best friend, the fellow comrade, before he was forced to become a mindless killing machine. we’ve seen him kill and cause absolute mayhem. but now we’re watching bucky grow out from that and become something more (and, hopefully, something better).

basically, natasha romanoff should’ve received that same treatment. we needed to explore all of her facets, not just some of them.

tl;dr: we should’ve had more time with natasha.

it’s also not okay because natasha’s sacrifice, one that was both irreversible and absolutely pivotal to the fate of the final battle, was not given nearly the same amount of respect that tony received after his demise.

while we all owe a lot to robert downey jr. for his choice to portray, and continue portraying, tony stark / iron man, he is not the most important avenger.

it’s also worth noting that he did not have to be the one to snap his fingers. i mean, anyone could’ve been given what tony was wearing and then wielded the gauntlet. but, like natasha, he made a choice to sacrifice his life for the greater good.

yet, only tony was given an elaborate funeral. no matter how you slice it, it’s enormously disrespectful to a veteran team member. for this ultimate sacrifice to be made by the only woman on the original crew is doubly insulting.

AND ALL OF THIS IS MADE WORSE BY THE FACT that natasha’s death mirrors gamora’s. they’re identical, right down to the music that plays and how the camera focuses on their bloody bodies.

the russos were probably trying to invoke poetic cinema again here, but the scene comes across as somewhat lazy and insincere. like, they can’t even kill her right!

as terrible as this scene is, i want to give scarlett and jeremy a round of applause for it. you really got the sense that these characters were more than ready to die for each other, and that’s only because scarlett and jeremy were able to sell the emotional intimacy of the scene so well.

all of it is too little, too late, however.

allow me to conclude this rambling nonsense by stating that i also think they condensed her character arc too much. like, i know this branches off of what i was just talking about a dozen bullet points ago, but even if natasha were to receive this ending, i feel that she received it too soon, y’know?

there should’ve been more scenes in the previous films dedicated to her, and her feelings, and how she relates to any given situation, because another problem that drags this scene down is the lack of any information about natasha.

like, even when assembled with the other avengers, she feels remote.

perhaps that’s intentional, given that the character’s a spy and has been enigmatic about every other area of her life for so many years. but i think she’s been written to be too enigmatic.

#endgame spoilers #chelsea.txt #this is so long lmao kudos to anyone that reads it #and yeah i probably have more thoughts swimming around in my head #but i've been trying to write this post for three hours now and i can't think of anything else to write lol #i need to watch the movie again

6 notes · View notes

surrounded-by-superheroes · 7 years ago

Text

Queen Chapter Seventeen

Click HERE for Chapter Sixteen!

Summary; A shape-shifting girl with a bad past is recruited by Nick Fury into the Avengers. It’s there that she finally starts learning to let people in again and she’s especially intrigued by a blond haired and blue eyed Captain America. Will she learn to let him in? Will her past actually stay in the past?

A/N; It was about time for some nice fluff. :)

Warnings; Language.

Words; 4,686

Chapter Seventeen

Surprise!

I’m woken up by the loud noise of the jet door opening. I jump awake, but am instantly calmed by a gentle squeeze from Steve. I sigh and put two fingers on the bridge of my nose. I look up immediately when I hear Grant.

“Hey, Victory?” He addresses me, sort of. I gaze up at his shining, young face and a smile comes easily. I don’t correct him.

“Hey, Grant. How’s the arm?” I ask, swallowing my guilt. He shrugs.

“It’s healed already. The doc made a splint, and after a little while it had healed!” He nods like it’s the coolest. My smile falters slightly in concern, but I shake it off.

“That’s great, Grant.” I tell him and feel Steve let go of my hand to run his down my back. My smile becomes more genuine knowing he’s there for me.

“Hey, bud. You ready to see your room?” Tony comes up behind Grant and lays a hand on his shoulder. I stare at him, surprised. Grant nods and they head out of the jet side by side.

“I’ve been replaced. Wow.” I say, standing. Steve chuckles beside me and shrugs.

“I just hope they stay out of trouble for a little while.” He whispers and I grin. Slim chance of that ever happening. After glancing around and finding everyone already gone, Steve and I exit the jet. As soon as we hit the platform I look to my right and see my parents on a lower platform, being escorted inside. Apparently, I stiffen because once again Steve runs his hand up and down the small of my back to relax me. “It’ll be okay, Ria. They can’t hurt you or Grant or anyone else.” He assures me.

“That isn’t what I’m afraid of.” I say simply and feel his eyes on me, but he doesn’t push. I feel like he already knows what I’m thinking. I turn away towards the doors and find Nick already there. His black coat flaps in the wind and I resist rolling my eyes. It’s become a bit redundant. Steve’s hand rests on my waist and this time, he doesn’t pull away when we’re in front of Nick.

“Are you ready?” He asks me when we reach him. After taking a deep breath, I nod. We follow Nick inside and go straight to the elevator. All the way down is the cage I was kept in, and where my parents are now. The room is almost cavernous. My footsteps echo a little when I go in and I almost laugh at how ironic this is. I’m now on the outside, looking in. I take a breath and near the cage. My parents are sitting in the middle of the far wall, leaning against the glass. I’m a few feet away when I realize they can’t see out. “Ready?” Nick asks again, his hand hovering over the switch that opens the cage. I look at Steve with nerves churning in my stomach and nod. I walk to the entrance and Fury hits the button. I slip inside as soon as the door opens and feel my heart start pumping faster at the sight of them so close, and within this room. I’m relieved when the mirrors disappear and just glass takes their place. I look out at Steve at the control board and give him a shaky smile. He nods at me, confident.

“Victoria?” My mother says as she stands, my father helping her. “What are you doing here?” She asks, looking shakier than I’ve ever seen her look. I glance at my father and find his face stern, like always, but his arm around my mother is shaking slightly. I stare at them for a minute, maybe even two, and really wonder, what am I doing here? I step forward a little and they both cower. Instead of making me feel powerful, I just feel sad. I get no pleasure from subjugation. I stay where I am and take a breath to prepare myself.

“I’m here to show you who I’ve become.” I tell them calmly, not a hint of anger in my voice. “Now, let’s start. Who is Nick Fury? He’s the annoying guy that took me out for breakfast once and who was the first to believe in me. Who is Vision? He’s the man I have personally shaken hands with and eaten dinner with. Who is Wanda Maximoff? She’s the young woman who stood up for my brother and who has the best accent I’ve ever heard. Who is James Rhodes? He’s the guy who looks after my knucklehead of a best friend and who is just as sassy. Who is Sam Wilson? He’s the guy who admired my wings and talks about birds all the time. Who is Clint Barton? He’s the guy that teases me and makes Nat smile. Who is Natasha Romanoff? She’s the girl who has become my sister and who braided my hair. Who is Tony Stark? He’s the guy I’ve fallen asleep on at least twice and who made me this suit. Who is Steve Rogers?” I ask and look out at his smiling face. I point at him and look back at my parents. “He’s the man I love and who loves me.” I lower my hand and smile. “Now, finally…who am I?” I ask them, rhetorically. I look at their faces individually. My mom’s is concerned, maybe even a little frightened. My father’s is stern, calm, and worried. I sigh and shake my head at the two of them. I’ve seen their faces outside every cage, above every table I’ve been laid out on, in every nightmare. Now they’re in front of me, harmless and afraid. I can’t even be angry at them anymore, but even better, I’m not afraid of them anymore. “I’m the person that you could never break.” I finish and turn towards the door. It opens and I walk out, right into Steve’s arms.

“Sweetheart, I couldn’t be prouder of you.” He whispers into my hair as the door shuts behind me. I clutch onto Steve, emotionally exhausted.

“Thanks. Let’s go upstairs with everyone else. I have to see how Grant’s doing.” I tell him. He lets go of me with a sigh and grabs my hand, walking towards the doors. We stop next to Nick and I nod at him, laying a hand on his shoulder. “Thank you.” He nods back at me, then Steve and I keep walking. While in the elevator I almost fall asleep. Steve’s body is warm next to me and the sounds the elevator makes are surprisingly soothing. When it stops I don’t even open my eyes, I just let Steve lead me. I open my eyes when it’s taking longer than usual to reach my room and am surprised to find us in front of the kitchen doors.

“Steve, wha-”

“SURPRISE!” Everyone yells as soon as Steve opens the doors and instantly, I’m wide awake.

“Holy sh-” I start.

“Ah, ah, ah. A child is present.” Tony rushes through the door and steals me from Steve. He puts an arm around my shoulders and gestures to Grant, smiling like the kid he is. I glance back at Steve as Tony drags me into the living room/kitchen and narrow my eyes at him. He shrugs and follows behind us, grinning. Natasha hands me a glass filled with gold and bubbles and gives me a wink. I take it from her as Tony sits me down on the couch, grabbing his own glass. I sniff the stuff in the glass as Steve sits close beside me.

“Champagne?” I ask, knowing the answer is yes.

“We thought you deserved something fancier than Tony’s scotch for a night.” Wanda answers, sitting on the floor in front of the T.V. Vision stands dutifully beside her. I’m surprised he has a glass of champagne in his hands as well. I take a sip of the drink and scrunch up my nose a bit at the taste. I hear Sam chuckle as he sits in the left love chair. Grant sits to the left of Tony, no drink in his hands I’m thankful to see. Nat and Clint are in the same chair to the right of Steve each with their own drink in their hands.

“Is that already too much for you to handle?” Rhodes asks, standing beside Wanda. I make a disdainful face and shake my head, my eyes flicking to Grant’s.

“It’s a little…weak.” I respond, not wanting to be a bad influence to the kid. He’s looking pretty tired anyways. I don’t think he’ll last much longer. Tony grins and massages my shoulder.

“That’s my girl.” He says quietly. I smile at him, happy I’ve not been completely replaced by Grant. Speaking of, his eyes have gotten heavy and his head keeps lolling to the side.

“Hey, Grant.” His eyes open a little, but not by much. I giggle a little at the sight. “You want me to take you to your room?” I ask him gently.

“I got it, Victory.” He stands, a bit wobbly from sleepiness, but makes it to the door.

“Stay here, enjoy this. I’ve got the kid.” Clint suddenly stands and says to me. He jogs out the door and I relax back into my seat.

“YES! DRINKING GAMES!” Tony shouts and everyone laughs.

“One bit of advice, don’t start drinking like this man. Your liver will shrivel up and drop out of you.” Rhodes points at Tony and takes the seat that was Grant’s. Tony rolls his eyes. Seemingly out of nowhere, he puts drink after drink on the little coffee table. As he does, I lean back and turn my head towards Steve’s ear. He leans over slightly to hear me better.

“What on earth have you gotten me into, Steve?” I ask him, concerned by the sheer amount of alcohol. He chuckles.

“Eh, well it’s good for someone your age to experience everything. In this case,” His eyes scan the table with amused concern. “that apparently means getting very drunk.” I cover my mouth to hide my wide smile.

“We’re almost the same age, Steve! Besides, you’re playing this game too. And although you may not get drunk, you will drink and not drink based on what people say. It’s just as revealing.” Steve’s smirk drops as I straighten up in my seat.

“Alright, everyone has five vodka shots in front of them. Except Wanda, sorry kid you have water. We’re playing never have I ever because we are, apparently, sixteen-year-old girls.” Tony says and Nat stares daggers at him. I’m guessing this game was her idea. “If you’ve done whatever someone says, you drink. Those are the rules. Birthday girl, you start.” Tony addresses me and I press my lips together to think of something. Just before I start, Clint slips back in the room and gives me a thumbs up. I nod at him in thanks.

“Uh, never have I ever kissed a girl.” I choose an easy one. I don’t have to look at the guys because I know that they’ve all done it, but my eyebrows go up in surprise when Nat takes a shot. She looks at me and smirks at my face.

“I’m a spy. I’ve gone places under every cover imaginable.” She shrugs.

“Bathing suit model?” Tony asks. I slap his shoulder as Nat nods.

“Well, obviously.” She replies and I laugh.

“Okay, Tony? You’re next.” I tell him. He doesn’t even think about it.

“Never have I ever turned into another animal.” He says, staring right at me. I roll my eyes at him.

“Cheap shot, Tony.” I tell him before downing a shot. Now everyone is even, except Wanda and Vision. They still have all their glasses. We all look to Rhodes next, wondering what he’s going to say.

“Alright, alright. Never have I ever…damn…never have I ever slept with a man!” Rhodes says triumphantly and looks around the room.

“Now…when you say slept with…you mean what exactly?” I ask, making some people look at me in surprise.

“Well, either one.” Rhodes specifies. I sigh and grab a shot as Tony winks at me. Wanda and Nat also take shots, but the real shocker is when Steve takes one. His face is red, but, ever the honest one, he takes the shot anyway.

“Rogers?” Tony asks, incredulous. Steve turns redder and shakes his head as he puts down his glass.

“Come on, he said both. It was platonic.” Steve explains. I shoulder him and giggle quietly to myself.

“Cute.” I tease and he smiles nervously. “Old roommate?” I ask, knowing who that means. He nods, looking relieved that I understand.

“I’m learning all sorts of things I never knew I wanted to know tonight.” Tony says, smirking. Steve sighs, knowing that this will never go away.

“Sam?” Steve tries to move the conversation along.

“Right, my turn. Never have I ever…been a super soldier.” Sam says and stares right at Steve.

“Really?” Steve says, but dutifully takes a shot, the red fading from his cheeks. Nat does too. Then, we all look at Vision.

“Never have I ever been on this earth for more than two years.” Vision states. Wanda smirks, impressed, and everyone takes a shot. Vision is kicking ass. It’s Wanda’s turn next.

“Never have I ever lived in America for more than two years.” She says in her wondrous accent, then smiles as Steve loses the game. He sighs and leans back on the leather couch, smiling at everyone because although he lost, he isn’t drunk. Little shit.

“Your turn, Nat.” Clint elbows Natasha and I giggle. Nat takes about a minute to think of something good. Besides, I think Natasha has done just about everything at this point. I can almost see the lightbulb above her head when she does finally think of something. She looks straight at me and smiles wickedly. I fidget, just knowing she’s about to say something to kill me.

“Never have I ever asked to join someone else in the shower.” She says, then looks at Steve. I slap a hand over my mouth to stop myself from laughing and look at Steve. His cheeks are now a lovely, light pink.

“Hold on, I’m calling bull on that one.” Tony says. Nat looks at him and shakes her head.

“It’s true. I’ve never asked. Never said it’s never happened.” Natasha points out. Everyone makes a small sound of understanding and those who have done it, take shots. Tony, Clint, and Rhodes take a shot. I look at Steve with a wide grin as he picks up a bottle and takes a swig. I laugh, unable to hold it in anymore when everyone gasps. I throw my head back and shut my eyes, giving in.

“Damn, Steve. I’m impressed.” Sam teases and earns a glare from Steve.

“I’m not a monk, everyone. Thanks.” Steve says, owning it as I laugh. I settle down a little, wiping tears away from my eyes.

“I really want to know who you asked.” Clint says, leaning forward. Everyone else leans forward too and I feel Nat’s eyes on me. I look around the circle, then slowly raise my hand halfway. Everyone laughs and Steve snakes a hand around my waist to tug me a little closer to him. Tony rescinds his arm from my shoulders, but stays close to make me happy. Steve turns his head towards me and kisses my hair.

“First of all, you told Natasha didn’t you?” He asks. I giggle.

“It wasn’t on purpose.” I reply quietly, but my voice is drowned out by everyone else talking and laughing. He nods slightly.

“I thought so. Hm. My offer still stands, though.” Steve offers. I shut my eyes and shake my head a little. Such a little shit. I turn and look into his eyes for a minute, conveying everything I can’t with my mouth right now. At least until Clint interrupts us.

“All right, all right, enough eye sex you two.” We both blush slightly and look at him. It’s his turn anyway. “Never have I ever…been shot by a lover.” He says slowly and looks at Nat smugly. She glares at him and takes a shot.

“One time, Clint. Once.” She says, her voice hard. However, her eyes have softened and are playful.

“That’s all it takes.” He replies and she punches his leg. He makes a pained face, but chuckles anyway. I glance at all the glasses left on the table and see that most everyone has taken four shots. Vision is winning with no shots in his belt, while Steve has already lost, hilariously. We all look at Steve, knowing he could probably peg all of us. Steve thinks for a few seconds.

“Never have I ever danced in a club for money.” He says and leans back to look around the room to see who has with a small smirk on his face. He cheeks are only a little bit pink. I bet I can change that.

“You mean like a stripper?” I ask him. As I suspected, he turns red. I laugh and pick up a glass, cheering to Tony, Natasha, and Clint.

“Wait, Ria?” Steve asks me, surprised and if I might say so, slightly impressed. I nod.

“I was on the streets with no money! Dancing on a pole and being sexy is easy.” I shrug. “What I want to know about is how Tony got into it.” I turn towards him. He shrugs and waves his hands around.

“Look, I don’t remember it at all. The only reason I do know about it is because I saw a video.” He explains, sighing. I lean towards him slightly, holding back my grin.

“Is this video on the internet?” I ask in my most innocent voice. His eyes narrow at me, not responding. Rhodes leans forward around Tony and grins.

“Yep. I uploaded it myself.” Rhodes says happily. Tony turns to him, sighing.

“Would it kill you to be on my side?” He asks and Rhodes laughs.

“FRIDAY!” I hop up and shout.

“No, no, no, no. There is really no need for this.” Tony pleads, standing too. He’s wobbly on his feet though, so I dodge his arms easily.

“Why not? Steve already lost the game and everyone had a go.” I point out and he has no rebuttal.

“Yes, ma’am?” Friday responds politely. I continue dancing away from Tony’s bumbling self as I talk to Friday.

“Yeah, could you show us this video of Tony pole dancing?” I ask nicely.

“NO!” Tony shouts, but the T.V. has already been turned on and the video has begun to play.

“Sorry, sir. If you didn’t want it to be seen you shouldn’t have drunken so much that night.” Friday quips.

“See, even your computer says you were a dumbass.” Rhodes points out and everyone giggles but Tony. He stares at Rhodes with a hand on his hip, eyes yelling betrayal. Rhodes shrugs. I run back over to the couch and jump over it to land back in my spot next to Steve. All of us watch the television with rapt attention. Then, Tony comes onto the screen. All of us hoot and holler, Steve even whistles. He’s obviously drunk, he wobbles like a spinning top about to fall. There looks like there’s quite a crowd around the small stage he’s on, but all the people are blurry and out of focus. Tony’s the only one the camera is focused on as he stumbles towards a silver pole. Tony sits down, defeated, beside of me. I wrap an arm around his shoulders and squeeze lightly. He finally reaches the pole in the middle and turns around, arms held out. We all cheer at the same time the crowd in the video does and both Tonys crack a smile. Finally, he turns around and puts his hands on the pole. He walks around it, keeping himself standing while unbuttoning his white long-sleeved shirt. Tony whips it off and throws it into a crowd of hands. All of us cheer and clap and laugh, making a ruckus. Surprisingly, he then jumps on the pole and spins around once before landing on his ass. Tony stands up from the couch and waves his hands.

“I think I’ve humiliated myself enough for tonight. Uh, Friday can you shut it down?” Tony asks as we all make sounds of disappointment. Video Tony stands and takes his belt off, then throws that to the crowd as well. When he starts working on his pants we all start shouting at Friday to shut it off. The T.V. turns black and all of us breathe a sigh of relief. Tony plops back on the couch, eyes shut. “Some things just aren’t meant to be seen.” He says to himself and I laugh.

“I think you owned that stage, man.” Clint teases and Tony opens his eyes just to glare at him.

“You know, I think it’s only fair that everyone else show’s what they’re made of too.” Sam speaks up, shocking us all. Tony points at him.

“That, is why you are a genius. Friday, lower the pole!” Tony asks and a pole suddenly descends from the ceiling in the far corner of the room.

“Now, Tony why do you even have that?” Steve asks, his face much less surprised than mine. Tony looks at him with a duh face.

“What don’t I have, Cap?” Tony asks rhetorically and Steve shakes his head.

“So, Sam, since you thought this was a good idea, why don’t you start us off?” I suggest. He grins and shakes his head.

“I think only the people who took a shot should do it.” Sam hints, meaning I should start. I sigh and stand. I head to the pole, surrounded by hoots and whistles. I laugh, unable to keep a straight face. I get to the pole and wrap a hand around the cold metal. I turn towards them all and hold myself out from the pole in a perfect horizontal line, but when I spin down I don’t put my feet on the floor. I wrap my legs around the pole and let the rest of me hang down, earning cheers from the group. I send a wink Steve’s way before undoing my hair and shaking it loose. The cheers grow and I laugh before righting myself and walking back over to the couch. I lean over and give him a quick kiss. He returns it and surprises me by prolonging it a little longer than is polite for company. We separate and he gives me a mischievous grin I’ve never seen on him. And it’s unbelievably sexy.

“Get a room, lovebirds.” Nat teases. That breaks the staring between Steve and me. I look at Nat and smirk. Steve turns towards me, grins and winks, then heads over to the pole. I feel like my mouth is on the floor and I’m sure everyone else’s is too. My eyes are focused on Steve still in his spangled outfit. He reaches the pole and shakes his head, then turns around and looks at all of us, but his eyes land on me and stay there. He puts on hand in the middle of the pole, then the other about a foot above it. Slowly, he lifts himself up from the floor until he’s completely horizontal. Just like I did.

“I can’t believe I’m actually seeing this right now.” Tony whispers behind me. Stealthily, I see Natasha pull out a cellphone. My eyes are too caught up in Steve to realize what she’s doing. He spins around, using his top hand as an anchor, then puts his feet back on the floor. His finishing touch is to undo the top of his uniform, showing a bit of his bare chest. I whistle the loudest, but everyone cheers for him. He raises his hands in surrender and comes back to sit down next to me.

“Okay, okay. I think I’ve been scarred enough. I’m going to bed.” Wanda laughs and stands. We all moan at her, but it doesn’t stop her.

“I’ll walk you to your room.” Vision says politely and Wanda smiles.

“I’m impressed how well you’re holding your alcohol, kiddo.” Tony says, gently hitting my arm. I shrug and snuggle back beside Steve, his arm instantly wrapping around my waist like we’ve been doing this for years. I put my feet in Tony’s lap and take another shot for the hell of it.

“I won’t lie, I’m a little buzzed, but it’s not like these are the first drinks I’ve ever had.” I point out and everyone nods, except Steve.

“Ria?” He says in an amused, but slightly disapproving tone. I don’t turn around to look at him. I just put my hand on his that’s resting on my waist.

“Come on, Steve. I was eighteen when I was first on the streets. No adult supervision. One of the first places I hit was the clubs.” I explain. He grunts slightly, still disapproving. I put a hand on his knee and squeeze slightly. “If it makes you feel any better, I think I preferred your version better.” I tell him honestly.

“Really?” He asks in surprise, but I can hear the smile in his voice. I nod, smiling at Tony as he watches the two of us. He has a soft, pleased smile on his face. I can tell he’s just happy to see us happy. Sam’s smile mirrors his. I wink at him, knowing I’ve been spared a well-intentioned speech from Steve. “Maybe we’ll go back sometime.” Steve replies. I twist my head and kiss his shoulder, unable to reach his lips at the moment.

“I would love that.” I tell him and hear Clint groan at the romance. “Clint, are you allergic to sweet things?” I tease. He pops up from behind Natasha to reply.

“I like cookies.” He says and I laugh, shaking my head at him.

“Alright, big boy. Time you get to bed.” Nat says and drags a limp Clint out of the chair. His arm wraps around her shoulders and she wraps a hand around his waist and grabs his hand to hold him steady.

“Hey, I need Christmas lists everybody. On the corkboard by the end of October please.” Tony reminds them as they walk out of the room. Clint waves a hand at Tony, telling him he heard him.

“What do you say to another round?” Sam asks, his energy seemingly never ending. I shake my head.

“Actually, I think I’m going to follow everyone else’s lead and hit the hay.” I hop up and only sway a little. Steve stands too and steadies me, as always.

“Alright, spoilsport. Just be ready to go out tomorrow at noon. I have another surprise for you.” Tony says. I nod, yawning.

“I’ll walk you to your room.” Steve says. I take his hand in mine, unaware that he had to announce that.

“What do you say, metal man? Do you have another round in you?” Sam asks Tony and grins. Tony takes a bottle and holds it up to Sam. I frown a little. Rhodes takes the bottle from him and pours one glass and hands the glass to him. My smile returns to me and I nod at Rhodey in thanks. I lean over and kiss Tony’s cheek before whispering to him.

“Hey. You get some sleep, okay?” I tell him. I look at Rhodes and Sam sternly as well. “You too.”

“I promise-”

“I swear-”

“Yeah, yeah-”

They all speak at the same time and I laugh a little. I nod and walk out with Steve at my side.

“Hey,” Tony says, calling my attention back to him. “Grant’s in the room between ours.” He grins, knowing I’ll be pleased. I smile at him and nod at him in thanks. Steve and I then continue and walk down the hallway.

Chapter Eighteen found HERE.

4 notes · View notes

w00wzerz · 4 years ago

Text

This one is pretty short so I figured why not share it 😉

Enjoy!

Tags : Mature 18+ , Smut, Romance, Short

On one summer night, Bucky conducts a plan to relieve Sarah’s stress from work.

A heavy sigh squeezed through the crack of Sarah’s pursed lips, her brows furrowing as she swiped her hands across her face, battling the beads of sweat that poured freely - drenching the rim of her bright yellow sundress. She stood tall staring at the six large crates of crawfish that laid stacked atop one another before her - jotting down on her clipboard the specific order in which they each arrived. The mid July heat was no joke, by noon the sun was already beaming intensely onto the dock, not even a bulked cooler of ice could combat the amount of humidity. As the owner of her family’s seafood business, Sarah remained at the top of her game, stepping in and ultimately filling in Sam’s role when the world called for his help as Captain America.

Her husband Bucky usually stayed behind from their missions to help out as much as he could, but overtime, she began to notice that even he was growing a bit frustrated by the immense pressure of her absence. Due to the vast influx of supply and demand for the Wilson’s Seafood - Louisiana Creole cuisines, Sarah could barely find time for herself or her family and it was evidently taking a major toll on her.

Peering through her kitchen window, Sarah stared off into the night, her eyes narrowing to tight tunnels as they vaguely searched the sky to determine the stars.

It had been an entire week since Aj and Cass had left to stay over at their Uncle Sam and Sharon’s place. Sarah enjoyed the taste of serenity to say the least, but a piece of her also missed the sound of her rowdy boys play fighting in the backyard - their excitement filled screams touring the stillness of the end of day, as they mounted their way atop their step father’s metal arm.

Bucky watched the scene discreetly, with his back leaning against the kitchen entrance. A thousand thoughts teemed his mind of how he could revive that big beautiful smile of his wife, where her cheeks heightened like the gaiety of an upside down rainbow.

Bucky’s eager blue eyes widened in elation when the idea finally hit him like a brick. Quietly retreating from his steps, he made his way back to their bedroom to collect one of Sarah’s favorite hand stitched blankets that was gifted to the newlyweds by her boys Aj and Cass. A few months back, the boys were given the instructions to be as creative as possible with their decorations in their afterschool art program, to which they did not hold back.

The light pink, oversized blanket was bedazzled with ironed on stitches of Jake from Adventure time, floating bubbles and multiple Toy Story characters. Now had they decided to give it over to Sam, it would’ve become the most sentimental addition to his junk pile, but to Sarah and Bucky - those kids were Picasso and Da Vinci with an iron on.

Bucky traced his steps back over to the kitchen and pulled open the freezer. With Sarah’s gaze still fixed onto the window, he reached for the large tub of funfetti ice cream, making sure to grab 2 spoons from the drawer on his way out to the back yard.

Bucky scaled his head back, scanning his eyes over the scattered moondust in the sky. A contented smile slowly inching his lips, he stretched out the blanket in the middle of the grassy yard, centering his phone and the ice cream container on either end for anchor weight. Turning his body to face the kitchen window, he ushered Sarah to step out and join him, to which she obliged.

The lazy, cool breeze of the summer night pulled him into a trance similar to a daydream as he rested his body onto the ground. He laid flatly onto the blanket staring up at the scattered, bejeweled petals above him. A slight tingle coursed through his body when he felt the soft company of another, who gently glided her hands over his shoulder and took a seat beside him.

They both sat in silence, the night consumed by the chime of crickets and occasional vehicles passing by.

Bucky sat up swiftly, softly motioning to wrap his arm around Sarah and pulling her in for a tight embrace. She rested her head hesitantly on his chest - a slight whimper slipping her lips as tears began to roll down her cheek. Those bright brown eyes of hers, now glistened the reflection of the diamond dusts in the atmosphere, evoking a number of conflicting emotions within Bucky.

“I’m here, Sarah,” was all he could muster up the courage to say while he swayed their bodies back and forth in unison.

She nodded her head silently in response, swiping away at the tears on her face, “I’m sorry,” she said, a low smile slowly creeping up the edges of her lips.

Bucky arched a confused brow “And what for?”

“Well,” her brows furrowed when she huffed out a disgruntled sigh, “I know I’ve been pretty distant lately, but all the work with the business and the kids I - “

Before she could finish her sentence, Bucky had already trapped her lips in a light, graceful kiss. His fingertips coiled through her loose twists as his tongue outlined the shape of her mouth, playing about intricate teases with her tongue. He planted one last soft peck on the corner of her lips before pulling away reluctantly.

“You don’t ever have to apologize to me about feeling overwhelmed,” His charmingly timid blue eyes scorched her brown gates when he continued “I am your husband, we are in this together - you know that.” He said with his voice diving in reassurance.

“Yes,” she nodded, slowly caressing her thumb over his cheek, his crystals now flushed in worry. “I guess I just decided to take on a bit too much on my own, baby. I love you,” her words singing like the sweetest melody.

“You are something else though,” she chuckled, shaking her head in disbelief. “Ain’t no way, all of this,” she gestured towards the blanket and ice cream, “because you thought you could read my mind?” Arching a brow, she turned to face her husband as he ran his hand through the short strands on the back of his head.

Laughing quite sheepishly, he shrugged in response “well yeah, I think I can.”

“Oh really?”

Bucky was not one to pass up a challenge so he doubled down “try me.”

Sarah grinned at his sudden growth in anticipation, folding her legs in a crisscross position, she tapped her index finger on her chin like a highschooler struggling to decipher the answer to the worlds hardest question.

“What am I thinking now?”

Bucky scanned her expression, his eyes locking on the sly movements of her lips, watching as she nervously gnawed at the insides of her cheeks. He easily picked up on the slight tremor of her thighs that moved rhythmically with the continuous shifting of her feet.

After a minute of gathering all of the clues that he could, his mouth widened in an O shape as his eyes expanded to match the length.

“Oh.” He said before quickly pulling Sarah in for another kiss. She smiled beneath his mouth, that wide beautiful grin where her eyes crinkled and cheeks raised - the one that she knew drove him insane.

“Make love to me Bucky,” She muttered, her voice hazy as her chest heaved, panting to catch her breath from the intensity of their kiss. “I want you right here, beneath the stars.”

Bucky groaned in agreement, attacking her lips once more. His hands roamed the outskirts of her body, landing onto the hard knobs of her breasts. Sarah arched her chest as he worked them through her dress, a soft moan breaking free from her lips.

A devious smirk formed on the edge of Bucky’s lips upon the realization that Sarah was braless. He tussled with the shoulder strap of her yellow sundress, lacing his fingers through the thin strand, he tugged slightly, - gilding it off of her shoulders in an instant and allowing it to fall onto the blanket. Sarah snuggled into his grip, resting her back onto his metal arm and assisting him by slipping out of her underwear fully.

Bucky’s eyes narrowed intensely while he studied Sarah’s body. Similar to a delicate piece of art, he wanted to be as gentle as possible with her. He wanted her to feel every inch of the orgasm that he was going bestow upon her that night.

He reclined her body, laying her flat onto the blanket and stripping out of his white t- shirt and jeans. Sarah’s breath grew rugged in anticipation upon the sight of her husband's bare chest.

Bucky gazed at her thick brown thighs as they spread open invitingly revealing to him her bright pink nub. Sarah reached forward, using her index finger to slightly graze her spot, smirking at Bucky’s earnest reaction.

He used his metal arm to reach for her legs, pulling her in closer to him. This caused a loud chuckle from Sarah as he bent over into her wet folds. Elevating her hips with both of his hands, his tongue briskly ran over her heat in a circular motion, flickering as fast as a blinking light. In order to receive a reaction, Bucky made loud playful slurping sounds, causing a wave of heat to wash over Sarah’s face.

“Idiot,” she grinned whilst bucking her hips against his mouth, “I want you in, now,” she demanded.

The pleasure from his mouth no longer providing her fulfillment, Bucky quickly slipped from his jeans revealing his package. Sarah wiggled her hips beneath him, her yearning for him slowly consuming her train of thought.

Nodding in submission, he traced his hard spot over her nub, gliding ever so gently, teasing her. Sarah whimpered beneath his touch, she was a few seconds away from shoving him in her damn self.

“Just put it in!” She screamed when Bucky slammed in his shaft, flooding her walls with his large penis. His body motioned forward as he planted tiny kisses on her neck, thrusting frivolously - until the calm, stillness of the summer night was now consumed by the loud, wintry moans of the Winter Soldier and his wife.

Sarah dug her fingertips into the sleek crevice of Bucky’s back, clawing as she reached the brink of her peak. Her legs wrapped across his torso, trapping him in place as her body juddered in ecstasy.

A loud groan scratched Bucky’s throat when his body quivered - a jolt swarming his body as he released his load right after, rushing a stream into Sarah who arched her back excitedly in response.

“You can now cross that off my bucket list,” Sarah smiled, submerging into Bucky’s arms, glaring up at the dazzling bright sparks in the sky.

—————————��——————————————

A week later.

Bucky awoke to Sarah's loud squeals trailing from the bathroom. He stretched quickly out of bed, running to meet his wife, who was sprawled out on the floor by the bathtub - a pregnancy test in her hand. He stood startled at the door, his eyes widening in expectation.

“You don’t mean...” The words escaped with a slight waver.

Sarah nodded in agreement, a tear streak gliding across her cheek “we’re going to have a baby!” She screamed in excitement, when he rushed to sit beside her and pull her in for a hug. His blue eyes glistened, leaking uncontrollable tears as he planted soft kisses all over Sarah’s cheeks.

“Gosh, I love you.”

—————————————————————————-

This fic can also be found on AO3 here ❤️

11 notes · View notes