#they always find jobs in pairs. they joined the army as a team. they double date with eachother !

[c-nan]

laverne and shirley always together always and forever, they’ll always choose each other and that’s enforced again and again in the show <3

[freigeistundanderes]

Bucky Barnes Valentine exchange Story

Hey, now we can finally say, which author was out secret Santa. I got @fandomsandxfiles-writes​ and she wanted to have a 40`s Bucky - enemies to lovers story. So I hope I somehow hit the challenged and you like it :) I say sorry in advance, since this is my second English written story ever.  Have fun while reading it!  Pairings: 40´s Bucky x Reader 

Word count: 26.368

World War II dominated daily life. Many young men already went there to fight at the front lines, and the other few were still at home, waiting for the order to go. School isn't what it was before. Many boys didn't even finish school and went directly to the base training as soldiers. And soon, the classrooms were empty and only filled with girls. You can imagine how sad the Prom looked like, a room just filled with old teachers and girls with slow music in the background and nobody to dance with. Steve went with you to the Prom just because he failed every medical and physical exam to join the Army.

Bucky was still around, somehow, but he spent most of his time with the base training, and when he wasn't training with the Army, he did for himself. He wanted to be a good soldier, and he tried to protect his country. Basically, a good character trait if it wasn't so stupid at the same time. When he got better in his training, they will send him away sooner and sooner. You didn't care as much, but Steve did. Even tho they both have been friends for a long, long time, they were boys at the end of the day. That means, when one got better in material things, the other got minor complexes. And to help Steve get his wish granted, you started to fill out the Army's application form for him. It was the 4th time you two tried, and of course, he didn't get accepted. The thing was, even when the application form was perfect, it was still Steve. Little, lanky, wimpy Steve, and nobody would take him. You promised to help him, but to be honest? There wasn't a big chance that he would be accepted in the Army, and honestly, you didn't want him to go there. He would be dead in seconds since he could not hold a rifle long enough to actually shoot someone.

Today Steve tried to get into the Army again. You filled out the application and waited outside of the building. You got yourself a bench near the entrance, so when Steve walked outside, he could see you. While you waited for Steve to return with a rejection, you pulled out a letter yourself. You got him a week ago. You tell yourself you didn't have time to open it, but the truth is, you were too scared to open it. One of these official letters from the Army was with the lovely white envelope and the American flag. Your Family name in big black letters on the front and an official stamp over the upper right corner. You carried this thing with you for a week, and it looked like that—bends, wrinkles, and folds all over it. Actually, you know what was in that thing. You know exactly what the letters on the paper inside the envelope. It would probably start like My sincere condolences to tell you… It would sound like he was a good fighter, a good soldier in the middle part. He saved many lives throughout his days in service… and the end would be finished with an excellent old: I am sorry about your loss. Usually, you got a letter from her Father, every week, when he was away in War. For one week, however, you got nothing. Instead of an informal letter from her father, you got this official thing from the Army. You didn't have to be a genius to put together the facts. Your father was dead, fallen in service to protect this country against Nazi's. That was what this letter was about. So no, she didn't have to open the letter to know what was inside of it. Your father died, and now she was alone in this world. She didn't have a mother anymore or siblings.

"An official letter from the Army? Why you got that?" Steve was back and looked over your head down to the letter you held in your hands. "My father," you fold the letter and put it in your pocket again before you looked at Steve. He understands your glace and shook his head and showed you the rejection paper. "You know, when they catch you, you will be in trouble?" "I know, but I think they just don't care" he also put the paperback in his pocket and looked around for a few seconds to took a deep breath. "So what are you planning to do?" you asked him, but he just shrugged his shoulders. "For today? I will meet you later with Bucky. He invited me for another double date" "He will never give up, right?" "Probably not, no. He don’t want me to feel excluded" "Excluded from what? Girls?" "Joie de vivre, I guess" "Does he noticed that he doesn't make it better with the double dates?" "I don't think so" Steve smiled and shook his head. "He isn't the smartest" "I know," you smiled too and stood up from the bench. You looked around a while. Trying to figure out what you want to do next when you saw a poster. It said it would be some kind of new-age science exhibition. "What are you gonna do? For the rest of the day?" "I am going there" you nodded your head in the direction of the poster. "Sounds….. interesting" Steve wasn't thrilled about it. He wasn't too much into technology. "Will you tell me one day what was in that letter?" he started another attempt to talk about the thing you had in your pocket. "It's from the Army, and it's about my Father. I didn't open it now" you shrugged your shoulders and took a step back. "Anyway. See you soon, pal" "Yes. See you soon!"

So you were about to go home, and if you liked it or not, you had to read that letter and see what will happen next. Without your Father, you didn't have an income and you didn't decide what you wanted to do just now. Your Father wanted you to start a Study at a University and creating a great career as a professor somewhere and that the War would be over just then. Was it what you wanted? You weren't certain. Sure, being a Professor at some university would guarantee you significant money and a peaceful future. But to be honest, that wasn't you. Yes, you liked reading but being locked up in an office for the rest of your days wasn't quite your style. And finding a well-paid job as a woman was hard and nearly impossible. Maybe you should try to join the Army too? Just because your Father seemed to be so happy in the Army and you somehow had the feeling that it would be exactly right for you. But on the other hand, you couldn't leave Steve behind. He would never be accepted in the Army. It was bad enough for him that Bucky was taken, but if you apply for it and git accepted too, that would mentally destroy him. He felt useless most of his life, even tho he wasn't. Anyway…. You should start thinking about your future in more detail, now your Father died.

When you arrived home, you noticed that the front door of your house was open. You never leave that door open, so someone must have entered your house. Slowly you pushed the door further open, so you could sneak into the front door hallway. You couldn't hear any noises and the lights were out too. If intruders had entered your house, you would have seen chaos along the way or at least some lights on, but nothing. Slowly, light-footed like a cat, you go further into your house. It was a small house, with just one level, so it was pretty lucid. You nearly reached the end of the front door hallway when you heard a few heavy steps behind you and a deep voice talking to you. "You would be dead by now. If I was a burglar," the voice was Smokey, dark, and had that sarcastic tone in it. Very similar to your father's one, and as you turned around, you saw the big man. He was a little bit heavier build, owned to his age, and probably too many steaks with beer. "Uncle Chester," you rolled your eyes and crossed your arms over your chest. Visits like this were usual for him. He liked being the mysterious part of the family, or something like that. "What do you want here" "Express my condolences to you. Because of your father" "He was your brother" "You can be sure, I know that. But…. Our relationship wasn't the best in the end. I wanted to check in if you are okay?" "Do I look like a whiny, crying little girl to you?" "No. That's why I am worried about you. Shouldn't you…. Cry?" "He was a Captain. He knows how he would die, and I knew it too. We have War, many people will die" "You are soooo mature, little girl" "Don't call me that" "So…. What are you planning to do next? Without your fathers' money, you need a job! Something in mind?" "no. Not yet" "good! I have a job for you!" he stepped towards you and pulled out a letter from the inside, pocked his official army jackets, and handed it to you. "What kind of job? Nurse? Rubble woman?" "Don't be silly" he pulled his eyebrows together and step aside, and looked at the pictures on the walls. "President Roosevelt himself started a military unit called SSR – Strategic Scientific Reverse. The aim of that is to create a super-soldier army to win the War without losses anymore. That force contains the best minds in the free world-" "I can read," you interrupted his monologue for a second to fly over most of the lines in the letter.

What you couldn't see was that your Uncle slightly smiled. You were precisely like your Father and always a big mouth but down to earth somehow. But – not to mention – you were like your Uncle too. Ever a good slogan on your lips with a sarcastic undertone. When Uncle Chester was more often at home during your early childhood, you had great fun together. He and your Father were a dream team when it came down to raising you since your mother died at birth. That was the primary reason why your summarized the best and worst characteristics of your Father and your Uncle in one person BUT the beautiful physic you had from your mother. She was pretty like an angel, with that soft and lovely scented hair, the open and heartwarming smile, and these beautiful, engaging eyes.

When you were finished with reading, you needed to repeat a few sentences again. It sounded highly impossible and stupid for you, but on the other hand, you wanted to see the outcome. "Why you need me? I am not one of the best minds. I am average" "You are average, when it comes to science, yes. But you are instinctive, a good natural fighter, and have a great sense of strategy. At least, those were the words your Father used to describe you to be the last time I saw him. He was so proud of you, that you are not a whiny little woman, like everybody else. You are strong, and I need Strong soldiers. So…. What you say? Are you in?" – "Yes!" you didn't think about it. It was a clear answer to you. It was not because of what your Father told your Uncle; it was about that little inner voice, telling you, you should go. Like uncle Chester said, you had good instincts, and you used them right now. "You do not want to rethink? Final answer?" "I do not rethink usually. I got my choices right the first time" he knit his eyebrows again and laughed a little bit. "You say that now. Sooner or later, there will be a moment when you have to rethink" – "When do we start?" "Hold your horses! I will contact you, but tonight I want you to meet your head scientists" "Why?" "Because we are looking for a suitable man for the Army, and you know this part of Brooklyn the best" "And how do I find this scientist?" "German looking, small guy, with glasses, head, and a beard. You will find him. Look at it, like it would be your first mission" he grinned at you and was about to leave the house.

In the evening, you were dressed up and ready to go. You dressed a bit more fancy but not too much. It was a plain, dark blue dress in knee-length. Paired with simple black shoes and a small black bag for your porte-monnaie. Nothing spectacular but chic.

It took you around 10 minutes to run into Steve and the annoying attachment when you arrived there. Steve looked bored as hell, too, so he looked around and find you immediately. He waved in your direction, and behind him, the personified idiot – James Buchanan Barnes, friends call him Bucky, but you stayed with James. "Hey, Steve" "Hey!" he smiled at you and stepped aside to introduce the other people. "Cassy and Odette, and you already know Bucky" "Hallo, James" "It's Bucky. Please" "You said, your friends call you Bucky. I am not your friend, so it is appropriate to call you by your Birthname: James" "You are refreshingly nice as usual, Claw" "Don't call me that" – "Make me" he grinned cocky looked her directly in the eyes. His glace got replied with pure and clean aversion with a sour, sarcastic undertone. Claw was the Nickname you got from Steve and Bucky, based on your caustic and harsh kind, sometimes "You really want that?" "Don't get me wrong, little Princess. I believe you when you say you can defend yourself, but I think you need a little more for me than just a good positioned punch" "Bucky!" Steve wanted to prevent his best friend from protentional long term effects of that claim. "James – oh James – you should never underestimate a well-positioned punch" now, she grinned back and looked down for a second to make him understand what she meant. It took him a few seconds until he pulled his eyebrows together and took a step back. "You wouldn't!!" "Wanna bet?" "HEY!" Steve went between the two brawlers. "Never mind. We should go" "Woah, wait-" now it was Bucky who intervene and looked confused at Steve. "You invited her?" "No. We run just into each other" "Well, I would say, 3 Girls, is one girl too much, Buddy" "I guess it will be okay for the rest of the evening. You take these two Ladies, and I take her" "But – Steve-" "We are good with that!" one of the two girls finished the conversation, and then the situation was completed. Steve didn't want this in the first place because he knew the girls Bucky brought are just interested in him. Why not, by the way? He was tall, good looking, and charming - the perfect match for most of the girls. And he had this slightly sinister boy aura around him, even when he was a good guy through and through. At least that was what Steve claims every time you two talked.

The expo was enjoyable, overall, but actually, nothing of that really seeks your attention. Many people around here and you were about to find the German one. The funny thing is, though, that most Germans looked like Americans, so it was nearly impossible to find the right man. When you looked around, a recruitment center catches your eye, and you thought about what your Uncle told you. This German Scientist was about to find new Soldiers for the project. So for him being in that center would make the most sense. "Hey Steve," you put a hand on his shoulder to catch his attention. "I have to go. Get something done" "already?" "You seem to be in delightful company, here" "Funny. Really funny" "Okay, bye, my friend" you see him off before you went to the recruitment center.

When you entered the center, it was full of people. It was different from the other centers you went to before with Steve. In this one, you had a nice, colorful and colossal propaganda part right before the testing area, and it was filled with people. A little bit lost, you looked around and tried to find a man, fitting on the description your Uncle gave you. So many people with a beard and glasses, which one would be the German? You looked around for a few more minutes when a smaller man approached you. "Good evening, Miss. Did you get lost?" he had to be in the age between 40 and 60, had a grayish beard and small round glasses. The way he speaks English suggested to you that this isn't his mother tongue. "No, actually I am looking for someone" "So? Maybe I can help? Who do you looking for?" "An educated man – a scientist! A little bit older with a beard and glasses and German heritage" he smiled slightly and nodded slowly. "That would be me. My name is Dr. Abraham Erskine" he reached out his hand to you, and you did the same. "You must be the niece of Colonel Philips?" "Indeed, yes. He sends me here to find you" "And he told me you would come. Let's go over there and have a little talk?" "I would like that, yes" the Doc led you away from the people into a calmer area of the center.

We entered the testing area for protentional soldiers. The Doctor looked behind one of the curtains to check if someone in there. After that, he thrust aside the whole thing to open it for you to enter.

“So you are Colonel Philips, niece? If I got that right?” “Indeed. His brother was my father” “Was?” “He died a week ago in Service” “I am sorry,” he apologized and looked a bit sad and uncomfortable to step into that huge blunder. “Thanks, but we are not here to talk about my dead father, right?” “Surely. Forgive me; I am a little bit old fashioned. Would you mind having a little talk with me first? I like to know the people I will work with” “Fine,” you shrugged your shoulders and looked for a sitting possibility. You decided to take a lounger and pointed at the chair in front of it, so the Doctor could sit too. “Ask whatever you want” “Whatever I want?” “If I do not want to answer, I will not answer. Feel free to ask anything” You wanted to get it over with. You simply didn’t saw the point of meeting the head scientist of the project since your uncle invites you because of your military talent, not your scientific knowledge. Last but not least, your uncle thought that a little change of air would be good for you. He knew you loved your father, and you are too tough to admit it. There will be a moment when you start to crumble, and the pain will rush over you, and he wanted to have you nearby when it happens. Nobody should be alone while mourning. “Why you entered the SSR?” “My uncle asked. I said yes. Here I am” “No other specific reason?” “No, why? Do I need one? This reason is as good as any other reason people have to serve in War. I think the reason doesn’t matter” “Why? Why does the reason doesn’t matter?” “There is never a good reason to start a war and sacrifice many young lives’. You should protect what you believe in, but it doesn’t have to be in a fight; that should be the last option. That is my opinion, but what do I know? I am just a little girl” he smiled slightly and shook his head softly. “Besides the fact who your uncle is, I can see you are not just a little girl” “How would you know?” “I can see it, your eyes” “My eyes…? I am not into that pathetic stuff” he laughed a bit and nodded. “I can tell you are feisty” “Only on Mondays,” “Today is Monday” “See,” he smiled again. “I like you. I like you a lot. You are refreshingly different, and I like young Ladies who can fight for their ideals” “How do you know I can fight?” “Your uncle told me a few things about you. You a good fighter and have good natural instincts” “Maybe” “Don’t be too modest –“ he stopped short to make a little break before he started talking again. “We already have someone similar to you. She is a Brittan Agent and feisty as well. I guess you two will get along just fine. Her Name is Agent Peggy Carter” “It will be a pleasure to meet her” “I can’t wait to see you two working together, but-“ he harrumphed a little bit and put on a serious face again. “I am here to look for new cadets; unfortunately, most of the young boys are already away. You can suggest someone?” “I don’t know many boys around here” “But you know some!?” “Depending on what are you looking for? The brainless muscle monkeys are already recruited” “’Brainless muscle monkeys’… actually, I am not looking for one of these! Your uncle does, but I want someone with a specific characteristic” “Specific Characteristics-“you were interrupted by a nurse who wanted to talk to the Doctor. She entered the room and reached him a file. You didn’t say everything in the file, but you recognized the photo in it. It was Steve’s. He wanted to try again to enter the Army, and it looks like he got caught with his multiple tries. “I am sorry, I have to do something-“he closed the file and stood up. “He has character” “This one?” he opened the file to read the Name again. “Steven Grant Rogers?” “I don’t know what you are looking for, but he has it. Give him a chance to prove it to you, and he will not disappoint you” the Doc looked at you with a stare glace until he nodded slowly. “would you vouch for him?” “Vouch for him?” “Would you trust him with that enough to confide him your life?” “Yes,” you answered strongly, and there was no doubt in your voice. “So, when a strong and independent girl like you would trust him, I should give him that try to prove me,” then he left the little room. Seemed like that you and Steve would enter the same Unit. One reason more to be expectantly about the next few weeks and the little change.

“I am honest, I am death” Steve came up to you and sat next to a dirty box. His equipment was just hanging down from his weak little body. He was in training for about half of a month, and you were sure there was not only one single small part, which didn’t hurt. After he got recruited into the SSR – like you – he immediately started his training to get a better physical change. But besides sore muscles, there wasn’t much of a difference. For your part, you trained with that Agent the Doctor mentioned. Peggy was good in shape and had a piece of excellent knowledge about self-defense and fighting styles. It was a great addition to your own style of fighting. You two trained a lot for the past few weeks and got quick on an equal level of physical strength. Since you were a new recruit – like Steve – you got simple tasks. Peggy trained the other Soldiers while you and your uncle were studying strategic files and everything possible about an organization called Hydra. You also got inaugurated in what the SSR was doing exactly. The Doctor was creating a Serum, and it was going down o deciding which new soldier should get it first. Your task was also to document every soldier’s progress to make it easier to choose. But honestly? You had a few talks with the Doctor itself, and he was pretty impressed with Steve, so you voted for him, and indeed, he was the one. But still, he had to get in a little bit better shape to have a greater chance of surviving the experiment.

Steve was breathing heavily, his head wholly laid back into his neck, as he sat down on the Box. He was initially coming up to you to get some encouraging words from you. And when he didn’t get these, a sarcastic commentary would do it too. He was happy to have a familiar and friendly face around when he joined the Army. He was really great full for you, not at least, because you were closer with Agent Carter and Steve had a thing for her. She was impressive! Intense and intimidating, and she was so confident. She didn’t need to be saved, and that what he appreciated the most on her. She was simply able to take of herself.

After he didn’t get any words from you, he opened one eye and looked up at you. You were standing here, head down and staring down at a letter you hold in your hands. You had a thing with staring down at letters. “Hey! What’s up?” “I god a letter from James” “Bucky? You got a letter from Bucky? Why?” “I don’t know” “An official one or a personal one?” “Personal” she turned the front side of the letter towards Steve, so he could see the bad handwriting. It was a personal letter, addressed at Claw. “he still calls you Claw?” “Guess so…. Why is he writing me a letter?” She looked more confused than ever since he knew her. “I don’t know! What did you do?” “Nothing…. I guess” Steve stood up from the Box and also started to look down on the closed envelope. “You don’t want to open it?” “Should I?” “Otherwise you will never find out what is in there-“ “ROGERS!” from far away, his drill sergeant was calling for him. Exhausted, he gave a loud groan and started running towards the other members of his Unit.

You just stood there and looked down on the envelope for a few moments, when you shook your head, turned around the letter and opened it. It was childish, not to open it and as you knows James, it will be a stupid prank or something like that. You should get over it and return to your tasks after that. Against your expectations, it wasn’t silly pranks or an inappropriate picture of something. It was an actual letter, handwritten in the worst handwriting you ever saw. The first line said: Hallo Claw, and after that, there were many other lines, and even the backside of the paper was written. On the piece, itself were little dirt stains. After a fast-flying over the lines without actually reading them, you turned around the form and saw the last line: See you soon, Bucky. This was more than just strange. It was entirely out of imagination! You sat down on the Box and started to read the letter, from beginning to end, every single word of it, slowly.

It took you a while to read through the whole letter. The handwriting was awful, and you had to guess every fifth word, and you tried to analyze it. To find the mistake in the word choices to uncover this letter as a prank, still. That James paid someone to wrote you a note to evoke the false belief in you, that he might not just hate you. You had plenty of reasons to be suspicious about it. You didn’t realize how long you sat there reading when a heavy breathing Steve returned to the spot where he left you. “I see you opened it ---- what did ---- he ---- wrote?” he pressed out the words between his intense breathing, trying not to collapse in front of you because of exhaustion. “Basically, he said, that he liked our conversation and that he hoped we had that earlier. We had more in common than I would know now, and that he didn’t know how much he would miss female intellectual interaction. And that he started to get more sarcastic and sharp-tongued because of me – Honestly? I didn’t see the meaning behind the letter” you wanted to hand it over to Steve, who just blocked that try. “He wrote the Letter to YOU. It’s yours now” “He probably didn’t write it anyway. One of his Unit buddy’s wrote it for him to confuse me. I strongly believe that!” “You think so? I know that handwriting; it’s Bucky’s!” “Then he tries to tease me from the front line? Great! Not even during the War, I am safe from him” you rolled your eyes, fold the letter back and put it into the envelope, and stood up. “We have things to do, Steve! Tomorrow is your big day” “I know. That why the Sergeant didn’t let me run the extra mile” “He seems to be nice” “Nice? Ever meet him?” “A couple of times” “I am giving up! I just want to take a shower!”

The next couple of weeks didn’t feel like a success in military history. It was more like monkey business. After Steve’s transformation, you thought he would be trained to be a severe soldier. Still, instead, he was turned into a breathing action figure. He had to do press tours, movies and sing stupid jingles. And from looking at the disappointment on Steve’s face, you know he felt the same. You decided to stay with Steve and distance yourself from the duties of the SSR for a while. You didn’t want to let him alone with all these mindless people, such as today. He was told to say some encouraging words to the soldiers at the front. They put up a stage for him, where he could stand on and talk. And they forced him to wear that bad, bright-colored stupid suit. And then he was standing there. Reading the pre-written words to the soldiers, which didn’t even want to listen. He was a super soldier and supposed to fight for his country, but instead, he was a trained monkey in a circus.

Not what he imaged and not what the soldiers wanted to see or hear. It was a disaster; it couldn’t get any worse. And if this wasn’t enough, Steve listened to the news that Hydra had captured the 107th, therefore also Bucky. He tried to convince your uncle to start a rescuing mission, but there was no chance he would allow that. Hydra had a reputation for capturing soldiers and using them for experiments. So if these guys aren’t dead yet, they might be soon. But would that stop Steve? It was about saving Bucky, and he would do it, without any doubt, and he wouldn’t think twice about it. So he and Peggy tried to convince Stark to help them. So it was up to you to take your uncle busy until these trees are gone on the mission.

“Where is Rogers?!!!” Your uncle slam opens the door into your room with a shattering noise. He wasn’t happy – actually, he was pretty angry. He knew something like that would happen, but he hoped that these three idiots would be more intelligent than trying to attack a Hydra base on their own. You got a little frightened and crumbled the paper in your hand a little bit. “I know that you know the answer, and I want you to tell me. NOW!” he entered your room and build himself up in front of your sitting person. You were resting on your bet and had all the letters from James in front of you. You somehow felt rereading them, since there was a possibility these were the last written word of him. In case of his death, you wanted to send them to his sister. “Strolling?” “Strolling? Are you taking me for a fool? I know he is not strolling! What are those?” he flies over the lines of a few letters and couldn’t see an author of these.

After all, you are still his niece, and after your father died, he is somehow – your chaperone now. “Nothing” you wanted to put them together to stuff them somewhere out of sight when he was faster and grabbed one of these. He read through the lines and raised one eyebrow. “Sergeant Barnes wrote you these? That fledgling? Never knew you would be interested in that kind of man” “It’s not like that” “it is not? These letters are pathetic and greasy love letters” “They are not” you shook your head and stood up from your bed. “These are just letters from a man who was bored at the front” “Bored at the front?” your uncle laughed at this. “You are not bored at the front because you are pretty busy not to die. He wasn’t bored, he took the little glimpse of free time he had to write you. That’s not nothing” “You interpreted it false. James Buchanan Barnes is a prankster, a childish little boy, and a womanizer. He would never write this with a serious background” you shrugged your shoulders. “He just wants me because I don’t want him. I actually couldn’t stand him” “Mhm,” he nodded and knit his eyebrows. “So why are you keeping these then? Quite a lot of letters and effort for a man who is just joking around” “You don’t know him” “Well if he is friends with Rogers, he can’t be too bad of a man” “He is an idiot” “All man are idiots! That’s in our genetic code” “Ahhhh that would explain a lot” “Stop that!” He pointed with his index finger at you with that stern look on his face. “Back to the essential! I know that you know where Rogers is. Tell me! Now!” “I don’t know” you shrugged your shoulders, and your uncle looked even angrier at you. He wanted to say something when he heard something from the outside, so you two decided to go outside.

As you went outside the door, you could see how a bigger group of soldiers is coming towards you. All ahead was Steve, and on his left side, you could recognize Bucky. Guess you didn’t need to send the letters to his sister after all.

“You know this idiot?” your uncle standing next to you when you were looking at Steve, bringing home the soldiers from the Hydra base. You were so proud of your little friend from Brooklyn. “Idiots. I know them both” “Both?” “The on his left side? That’s Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes. The reason why he started this whole thing” “Barnes, huh? I assume he is his friend?” “Best Friend” you corrected your uncle and smiled slightly. Of course, Steve would do something stupid as running into a Hydra base just to save Bucky and man he didn’t know. It is Steve! He is doing these things, and that’s why he is Captain America.

When they entered the camp, Steve was about to talk to Peggy, and it was lovely. You noticed the little growing thing between them, and it was beautiful. Peggy wasn’t like all the girls Bucky had in mind for Steve. She was just right for him because they meet on the same level. She never looked down on him because of his small physical size. She respected his character and values in every shape he was in. And that’s why she deserved Steve. She liked him as a little boy, and she can have him as the soldier he is now. You were good with it, and they both liked each other. They just didn’t confess just now. While Steve talked to Peggy and a short cheers on Captain America, Bucky was stepping out of the line and walking towards you. What will happen now? What will he say or what will he do? Somehow, you had a strange feeling in your stomach. It felt like itching and tugging, as someone with a stomach bug would feel, shortly before they vomit. “Hey” he put on that crooked smile you already knew, Nothing surprising. Somehow, the little girl in you imaged his first words to be more pontifically or…. something like that. Good to know that some things will never change. “As I can see, you are not dead. Now I have to write an apology letter to your sister. We already informed her of your passing” “You are looking good too, Claw” “I was serious” “I know. Did you get my letters?” “Well…. Yeah…. What was the deeper purpose of these?” “Deeper purpose?” “Yes! Why would you write me letters? We didn’t like each other” “Sure about that?” “Well I assumed based on our shared past, James” “James? We are still at James?” “Isn’t that your name?” “Uhm…. Yea, it is” he looked down for a second before he raised his glace again and seemed a bit subdued. You knit your eyebrows in confusion. Did you say something wrong? What you said was the definite truth! You didn’t get the meaning of the letters, besides the fact that they were actually lovely and you two – indeed – didn’t like each other enough to receive these letters. Then you started to look down on his ripped and dirty clothes until you saw a big bloodstain near his stomach. “You-“ you reached out your hand for the stain, to feel if it still was wet. Surprisingly, the loose looking clothes are pretty narrow, so you could feel his muscles under it. “a doctor. You need a doctor! Medical…. Treatment!” “Some of the guys are worse than me” “Now” “Hey, Claw. I am fine. Don’t worry. Wait…. You wouldn’t worry anyway, right?” “That – That’s not fair! You should go and see a doctor” “I will” he stepped back and run past you. Why was he angry this time?

When the doctor was about to finish his treatment with Bucky when you slowly stepped into the room. He was sitting on a lounger without his top but about to put it back on. You could get a view of his upper body and how perfectly smooth it looked. Not a single scratch, not a scar, or anything else. The doc put his stuff together and left the room directly. Seemed like James was the last patient on his list for the day, and then there was silence. Big and uncomfortable silence. He was mad at you, but for what? For you being confused about friendly letters, which he had no reason for? It's not like that you two ever had a long and pleasant conversation before, so he had no right to be that angry with you! "I am confused" you took the word and looked strong at him. He listened to you, shook his head, and pulled on his shirt in one quick and smooth movement. "Why do I got these letters from you? We weren't that close before, so I have every right to be confused, and you never explained it! In none of these letters!" "You read them? All of them?" "Well…. Of course, I did!" "And you still call me James?" "Okay!" you raised your hands and blow entirely off. "Why is it so important to you how I call you? WHY?!" "it just is" "Okay, fine, I call you Bucky. Happy now?" "A bit" "Tell me why!" "Just means I am closer" "closer? Closer to what?" "Don't mind, Claw," he winks at you, and indeed his mood got better, and he isn't mad anymore? Jesus, this MAN is driving her CRAZY!

"Don't call me Claw" he smirked and stood up from the lounger, then he came close to you, very close. He stood directly in front of you, so close, you could feel his body heat on your own body. He lowered his head down to your ear and whispered something in it: "you will always be Claw. See you tonight" "Tonight?" "There is a pub down the street. Come for a drink" "You invite me for a drink?" "I do" "Is it poisoned?" you asked him, what make him laugh. "Not yet" "But later?" "You have to try" "What an enormous stupid idea to go for a drink which is protentional poisoned! You think I am stupid?" "No. Actually, I think you are quite intelligent. I can't force you to come for the drink, but I would love to see you. Please come" more than just confused, you got left behind buy Bucky. What was that? Honestly, what was that? What the hell was that?! James Buchanan Barnes, you ---- Jerk!

"If you want to hear my opinion. A boy will always be a boy. If he was like that before the War, he would not change much" Peggy turned a few times sideways before the mirror and smooth her red dress down. She put it on because she will go to the Pub where Steve and the other from the 107th are. She wanted to see Steve and want to have a little talk with him. You, on the other hand, didn't put anything fancy. Actually, you had your nightwear already. You didn't plan to go to the pub, even though Bucky would be happy about it. This situation was too confusing for you, and you decided to get more distance to the problem. You wanted to look at it more detailed and with a clear view. Bucky behaved strangely, and everything started with these letters, so you asked Peggy about it. You told her the whole History with Past and present, and she said that he probably is just playing around. Nobody goes from enemies to lovers in that short period, without spending time. It was only not possible. The first letter was friendly, but there weren't any signs that he would send her one. Letting the situation cooldown would be the best for her and that precisely what you will do. Let the case cool down! "You look good, Agent. He will love it" "who?" "You know who I meant" "Possible," you smiled, and Peggy smiled too until she went out of the door.

Meanwhile….

"You look nervous. Why are you nervous?" "I am not" Bucky grabbed his drink and took a sip, but when he heard the door opening, he immediately put down his glass, leaned back, and looked at the door. "Of course you are not nervous" Steve smiled and sat next to his friend at the bar. "It's not nervousness, Steve" "Then tell me what else it is?" he poked his friend, who didn't answer. He just shook his head with a decent smile and grabbed his glass again. He knows this kind of behavior from Bucky. It's about a girl, he is waiting for a certain girl to come in, and the clue was, Steve already knows which Girl Bucky had in mind. What stumbles him was the reason why he chooses her. Before the War, when they were in school together, he never showed special interest in her. It was quite the opposite; he was absolutely not interested in her. He avoided the contact and chat with her after that little accident with the dress. And she? Well, he made her feelings about Bucky more than clear: she hated him from the bottom of her soul. So maybe it was just a typical boy who wants what they can't have in a situation. That would at least the most logical answer to that whole surreal scenario. "Did she read them? The letters I send her?" "She did. Although she was skeptical. Until the 6th or 8th letter, she thought, a friend would write them for you, and you just send them to her to make fun of her" "did she really thought that? That it was a bad joke?" "Well, Bucky-" Steve laughed a bit and shook his head. "You can't deny that these letters came out of the blue! Before that, you never had a good talk without me preventing you two from killing each other. So getting these nice written letters was indeed a surprise, and she had a good reason to be suspicious" "Looking from that perspective…. What did I though? That was a stupid idea" Bucky pinch together his face until he took his drink and finished it in one sip. "Buck… what did you expect from her?" he thought about it for a second when he shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing" "But Bucky-" "Hey Steve, let's not talk about it anymore, okay? It was something stupid, and we put the veil of forgetting over it, okay? It never happened" "But it did happen, Bucky, and now you confused her. So what is the overall plan?" "There is no plan, man. It was just-" he hesitates a second and looked down into his empty glass. Yeah, what was it, Bucky? Was it just boredom why you wrote the letters? Was it desperation? Homesickness? Desire? And unsolved puzzle? The Only woman who doesn't thirst over him? The only one he couldn't conquer? Was it even a little spark of love? He didn't know; it was just a right and good feeling writing these letters to her. He was at the front; things are different there. A fallen friend from his Unit wrote letters to a girl he didn't even like, just because he wanted to. These were nice letters too. He didn't care if she read them or burn them; he just wanted to write someone, something nice. In addition to that, it has to be mentioned that this guy joined the army because he didn't have family left. So writing that girl was the only option he had, and he liked it. Bucky hadn't the same situation. He could write to his sister or Steve. It was not like he had nobody to write to, but writing to her just felt right. "Just nothing serious" he shrugged his shoulders and put on a solid smile. "Sure…" at that moment, it got silent in the room, and everyone's head was turning towards the door. So did Bucky and Steve looked in the same direction. It was Peggy in a stunning red dress, which fit her body perfectly. She was coming directly up to Steve and Bucky, but she just saw Steve. "Captain," "Agent Carter," "Stark has complied some equipment for you. You should come and try it" she looked over to Bucky for a second, who smiled nicely at her, but she just stared him down with that steel brown eyes. He got a little bit scared, but he liked the woman who can keep up with him. In the background, she heard how Steve's man are starting to sing again. "I see your top squad is preparing for duty?" – "You don't like music?" Bucky asked her question, but her eyes and attention were just on Steve, and he was invisible to her. "I do, actually. I might even – when this is all over – go dancing" – "Then what are we waiting for?" he tried another approach at the beautiful Britain agent, but she still ignores him completely. "For the right partner," she smiled slightly. "Tomorrow, 800 captains" then she turned away from the boys and walked out of the pub. "Yes, ma'am! I will be there" "I am invisible" Bucky shrugged his shoulders and looked at Steve with a satisfied smile, that his friend got the beautiful lady this time. "I-I am turning into you! This is a horrible dream" "Don't take it so hard-" Steve pad his shoulder and smiled too. "Maybe she's got a friend! Oh right, Claw is her friend!" "Haha – what?" "You heard it, Claw and Agent Carter are good friends since they met a couple of months ago. They trained together and work well as a team" "You mean that your hard-boiled, sexy, badass British nearly girlfriend is friends with Claw?" "Yeah," Steve nodded his head, not aware of what that meant for the boys. That was a disaster, like – ENORMOUS disaster! "Steve! Agent Carter and Claw are friends? Like… friends?" "Yes? Did something hit your head?" "This is bad! You can't have your best friend and your girl be best friends! They will form an alliance and have all the power to destroy us?" "us? Why us? You have problems with Claw, not me. And I survived this constellation the past few months pretty good, so I am not worried – oh wait! You are worried about your ass" "I am" Bucky nodded his head a few times fast. "Because your pretty but deadly Agent for sure has some tricks upon her sleeve and Claw? Oh, we both know she is full of surprises. I am dead. Officially" "You overdramatize it, Bucky. They are cool" "Yeah, with you, mister perfect blond hair" "Okay, you know what-"Steve raised his hand and ordered a few more drinks. "Let's have a good night! Cheers, my friend!"

While Steve and Peggy were with Stark to test out some new weapons for Steve, you took the chance to use the training room for yourself. It was an excellent opportunity for you to think about everything that happened the past two days. You spend your night rereading the letters to find a hint to solve this situation, but there wasn't. These were just lovely written letters from Bucky to you. Nothing more about it. Just words. Just nice words!

You punched the punching bag a few times pretty hard so that the chain with which it was attached to the ceiling rattles a few times loudly. So when it was just a nice word, written down on a dirty piece of paper, make your thought circle and skip all the time. It was a thug and war game in your head between, admitting that there could be a deeper meaning behind it and just brushing it off and don't think about it anymore. As much you want the one, the other was alarming. And there was this little voice in the back of your brain, saying that you initially hated Bucky. But why is something in you wanted to deny that you hate Bucky and want it to be something? Well, he was indeed a handsome man, and for sure, he could be nice. She has letters to prove that there was something good about him, but why did she initially hate him? It was clearly not just because he vomited on her dress one evening. No, she wasn't superficial like that.

While you lambasted the dummy in the training room, you didn't recognize how someone was entering It. He lends against one of the exercise equipment's, with arms crossed, that little smirk on his lips and looking at you. You noticed him in the corner of your eye and stopped your training. You were sweaty, and you were out of breath, but you liked it like that. A hard training session helped you to clear your mind. "Steve told me, you have a tough punch, but I had no clue" "Because you underestimated me all the time" "Ohhh did I? What a horrible mistake of mine" "Right" you nodded your head and went over to the place where you had your stuff, a little town, a water bottle and a jacked for leaving. You took the city and wiped the sweat away from your face. "You weren't in the pub Yesterday…. I've waited for you" "I-I had…. Stuff to do. Some documents to check and things to think about" "Mhm" he slowly nodded his head and repel from the what he lend on and walked towards you. "Were you successful? With the documents?" "Uhm-"your thoughts went clear for the blink of a second. Did you ever mention how unbelievably clear and beautiful his eyes were? This kind of blue was so light, like a nice clear blue sky. "No," your voice returned, and you shook your head. "There was nothing helpful in these documents" you knitted your eyebrows and took a step back. He was coming unusually near again. What was wrong with him? "Bucky…. What you want from me?" "What I want? From you?" "Yes. I have no problems with admitting that I am confused by your behavior" "You are confused by me?" she smiled a little bit brighter and honest. "That's-"you rolled your eyes. "That's not what I meant! You just behaving oddly! Tell me what's up, now!" "You don't like that?" "Liking what?!" "Liking it when I come near to you? Writing these letters to you? When I devour you with my eyes?" he wanted to get all seductive but no chance. That sounded too stupid for her taste. "Bucky, you know we are not in one of these movies from the theater? Devouring me with your eyes is not the kind of phrase which makes me melt for you" you blink at him and turn away from him. "Indeed… I think a woman who fell for that have very little self-respect" "Claw, come 'one! You can't tell me you didn't like this kind of cheesy! Everybody likes that!" "Ohhh, now I get it" she turned back to him and smiled herself. "I am just a target on your list, and you get frustrated because I am not thirsting over you! Like most of the girls back home? So predictable. And I thought there would be more behind it. Guess it is just the game of an unmatured little schoolboy" you waved it off and wanted to grab your thinks to leave. You were almost out of the door when Bucky asked to hold you back. "Want to hear a funny story?" you give a huge sigh and roll your eyes, but you turned around one more time and crossed the arms in front of your chest. "Sure" maybe he will give up after this story. You didn't want to be the center of a stupid game. If you wanted to have the attention of a man, you wanted it to be real. And when it comes down to Bucky and you, there was just real aversion. "Yesterday – when I waited for you in the pub – I talked with Steve. He told me you were confused about the letters. Maybe I shouldn't have written them in the first place since they came out of the blue" he knit his eyebrows for a short second, and for a moment, he looked lost, but then he regained his confidence and smirked at you again. "I never hated you, Claw. Never" "If that is true… why all these arguments, the comments, and that eye-rolling? That's doesn't make sense!" he wanted to come a little bit closer and smiled slightly. "You don't know about boys, right?" – you wanted to answer when you heard the door and a view voices. "Anyway," he cleared his throat and did a few steps back and folded the arms behind his back.

You glanced up and saw some guys from his Unit standing there, ready to use the training room. Then you looked back at Bucky, who tried to avoid any eye contact with you. That was the reason why you couldn't stand Bucky. He might be a good guy, but he changed his behavior, depending on who was around. Before these guys were here, he tried to be friendly and even tried flirting but now? He put so much space between you two as possible. "James," you said his name softly but with a disappointing undertone. You weren't disappointed that his flirting was just for his fun. You were disappointed because Steve felt so proud about Bucky being his friend. He would be so devastated when he finds out how Bucky behave. "Sergeant," you elongated your shoulders and nodded the head slightly to leave the room. At least you got your answer now, how to value these letters. You shouldn't value them at all, there is the product of a man who is just playing around, and you didn't have time for that. At the end of the day, it was War, and missions had to be planned.

The next few days, you brought as much space between yourself and Bucky as possible. You couldn't stand inconsistency, and Bucky was full of that. Anyway, it wasn't your problem anymore, since you discredited him for your greater good. He would take too much attention from you and your work, and right now, you needed all of your attention. The first mission of the Howling commando will be today. Tony, Peggy, your uncle, and yourself took days for the planning and researching. Since it would be a Hydra Base you are attacking, accurate planning was a necessity. That included calculating all the skills of the Commando itself. Peggy and your Uncle took the central part, planning the attack itself, with time management and others. Your domain was analyzing the abilities of Soldiers, that included Bucky, much to your chagrin. But luckily for you, most of Bucky's skills were written down in his military file, and you doubt that he learned new things. So it was an easy thing to calculate their skills into the plan. Even though many great minds worked on this plan, it was a weak one. You didn't know enough about the Hydra facilities, so you guys planned with some sort of puffer zone for mistakes. That's not the best Precondition for doing such a dangerous mission, but it will go well with a super Soldier like Steve. At least you hoped it for Steve. Lucky for you guys, there was a Hydra base basically around the corner from your Headquarters. So if something would go wrong, there are definitely safe options for retreat or reinforcement.

It was about 3 hours in the mission. You and Peggy were sitting the underground base at the big round table, with all the Plans for Today's mission. You had a walkie-talkie with you in case the guys needed help or further instructions. While Peggy was a little bit stressed and nervous, you were definitely calmer. You knew that Steve would be hard to kill since his wounds will heal faster and his overall senses are better. "How can you be so calm?!" Peggy grabbed the walkie-talkie aggressively and starred it down. Then she stood up and walked around like a chirpy cat. "It's Steve! He is your friend!" she tried to convince you into being worried too. "Steve is a super Soldier; he will manage to return" "And the others?" "They are with Steve" you smirked slightly and got in a more comfortable sitting position. You put your feet up on the seating surface of another chair, leaned back in your seat, and put your hand behind your head. "So much can go wrong! We should have planned it better! More details, and we should have trained more for it" she shook her head and turn over the mobile radio in her hands. "A-And the other one? Sergeant Barnes? I saw you talking a lot a while ago" "You really want to talk about it, right now?" she stopped walking for a second seemed to rethink her choice of Smalltalk. "Yes, why not" she shrugged her shoulders and set down a few seats away, and throw the Walkie-Talkie on the table. "This is what women do, right? Talking and doing nothing" after that, you have to laugh. Yes, that's what women are supposed to do at this age. "Agent Carter, we both know that women like us are supposed to do more than that," and Peggy had to smirk too. "The guys are fine, probably. Maybe already on their way back home. So do not worry too much about Steve" "I- I am not-!" she wanted to disagree, but you just raised your hand and shook your head. "I might not be a delicate woman, but I am no stupid. I can see, and I can interpret. Just an idiot would miss the chemistry between you and Steve" "Chemistry? That sounds like a pathetic movie" she rolled her eyes and sighed. "Even strong women are allowed to have a crush on a very handsome, nice, gentleman soldier with flawless blond hair and a demigod build body," you winked at her. You might be able to see a little glint of red around her nose. "I can relate, don't worry. Who wouldn't be interested in a 1,83 cm tall man build of pure muscles, right?" "I am not that superficial!" "I know!" you nod your head shortly and smiled warmly. "You like Steve because of Steve. Because of his values, principles, and character. Not because of his physical experience. I just want to say, it is okay to have a crush on him. Even though we are strong women, we are allowed to have feelings for someone else" "Is that so? What about you? You and Sergeant Barnes? Hm? You tell me I am allowed to fall in love with someone else but look at you! All cool and cold about the Soldier" "Me and Barnes? James Buchanan Barnes? The Womanizer from Brooklyn? No thanks," you shook your head and thought about Bucky for a second and shook your head again. "No! Never possible" "Sure" "I mean, he is too ---- too Bucky" "too Bucky?" "Yeah, you know, too smooth, charming with that crooked but somehow alluring smile and – you know – the optical appealing physic" "So…. You think he looks good?" "No, that's not what I meant" "That's what you said" "I just…. Analyzed it on a neutral basis!" "If you feel better about yourself if you say it like that," Peggy shrugged her shoulders and turned her back on you. What you said was nonsense. Looking for all those little things about a person, it not just analyzing them. It's giving them this special kind of attention, where you try to find as many little things as possible. "Steve told me about you and Bucky and your rough relationship" "What?! Why did he-" "For research purposes," Peggy interrupted you and turned around to look at you with a little smirk on her lips. "That there is a special kind of tension between you two is obvious. I needed to know if it is helpful or hindering for future missions. If there are problems in the Team, I should know, and he mentioned the thing between you two. I always thought that men are the underexposed gender, but in this case, it's you who is not getting it" "Getting it? Getting what?" "Sergeant Barnes" "Bucky? There is not much about him to get. He is a man; he likes boobs, hips, and most importantly, a lack of brain" "Sure about that?" "You are already the second person who is asking me that. Yes, I am sure! I do not change my mind on things; I am usually getting things right the first time, and James Buchanan Barnes? He is egocentric, idiotic, self-assertive, and the general opinion that a woman will immediately fall in love with his pretty face. So, what is there that I do not get about him?" "You actually have no clue, don't you?" you give a huge groan of annoyance and stood up from your chair. "Call me when they returned from the mission and how it went. I am sure Colonel Philips has something to do for me which is more sense full than…. Waiting," you turned your back to Peggy and wanted to walk out of the room when she mentioned something towards you, which throw out of the line a bit. "he likes you; that's why he behaved like this. I can't say if it's love but measured by the amount of time he has a crush on you, I would suggest it's something like love. Well, you can never be sure with men, but I am pretty sure he likes you" – "That's-" you turned around for a second and shook your head. "He is a little schoolboy who likes to play pranks and joking around. He was never serious about anything or anyone besides the friendship with Steve. It's just…. Bucky" "One of the many things I learned from my brother is that boys show affection by being extraordinarily annoying and mean towards girls. They think it would make them cooler and gives them the Bad Boy Charm. Obviously, it didn't work in that case, but I am sure sergeant Barnes has a little thing for you" Instead of answering her, you just left the room. The guys will be fine and probably back soon. Originally you wanted to ask your uncle for something to do, but now, you just wanted to have a strong and big drink. So you headed to your room, make a quick change of clothes, and left the basis for the pub nearby.

You sat there. A few hours – at least you thought it would be a few hours – but in reality, it must have been an hour or so. Not more than one and a half. Time was rushing in your current state of awareness because your brain was working. Your thoughts were rolling over each other because you tried to find the mistake in that scenario. You and Bucky? You have never been friends before, and now he had a crush on you? Apparently, to Peggy, he had a desire for a long time, but that wouldn't make sense. He was always with other girls, was flitting around, never seemed too happy about your presence. He just had a few nice words for you when you two meet, and mostly they were meant ironically. And then – out of the blue – there were these letters, and now you are completely confused. The people around you, telling you he has feelings for you but does he? Or is he just a good actor? You would assume the second, but Steve would have told you otherwise. So what is it with Bucky? He behaved strangely when he was around you and even more strange when others were around too. He was inconsistent, but why? This man was acting without any kind of logical concept behind it, and it drives you crazy, and then you came back to your old tuck and war game in your head. You wanted it to be accurate, but you know it couldn't be possible. Stuck between reality and a pipe dream (when you can call it like that). But instead of asking why he was acting like that, you should ask a better question: how did you felt about that? All of that? You couldn't stand Bucky because of his lucid character but was that all? Was that the whole reason why you didn't like him all these years?

"Hey, pretty Lady," someone put a drink next to you on the counter. It was a familiar voice you could recognize easily by now. "How you know I was here?" "I didn't. We successfully finished the mission, so we wanted to go for a drink. It just happened to be this pub with you in it" "James-" "Oh no. I thought we would be over the James thing" "I never liked you, and I showed you that I didn't like you. I even told you that I don't! So why –"you moved your head sideways to looked in his face. "So why do you like me? Why the only girl who showed that she is not interested?" he moved his head forth and back and had a slight smile on his lips. "I- I could say because you were the only one not interested, but that would be just half of the story?" "Then, what's the whole story?" "Well… It was somehow a love at the first sight situation, with the difference that you didn't like me" "You vomited on my dress" "Yeah – haha – not my best first impression, right?" "No. Actually not" "The point is-" he wanted to get a little nearer towards you when the front door of the pub was slammed open. You could hear loudly bawling man, and when Bucky leaned back and raised his hand for a greeting wave, you know it was the rest of the Howling Commando. And you immediately had that hunch that Bucky would go on distance now, and your conversation would be over. "Alright. You should go" "No, why? I am here talking to you" "Ohhh, you want to stay with me? All informal?" "Claw-" "James," he shudders his head and grins a little bit. "It wasn't your authority I had concerns about. Your uncle is the Colonel and Boss of this group. I didn't want to fall in disgrace" "A pretty lame excuse, don't you think?" "It isn't an excuse" "Sound like one" "Why-" he knit his eyebrows and shake his head slowly. "Why are you so distrustful of me? What I did to you?" "You ---! Do not act like I am the odd one here" "Odd one? What you mean?" "You have a crush on me?" you decided to jump into the cold water and just asked the question, which burned on your tongue. Also, Bucky seemed to be overwhelmed by that and looked at you like a deer in headlights. You were a little impatient, so after you didn't get an answer, you just rolled your eyes and stood up from your seat. "Boys will be boys…" you whispered, annoyed and thrust past Bucky and head for the Exit of the pub, with fast steps. Behind your back, you could hear how Bucky pushed back his chair too and head after you. "Claw, wait!" he wanted to grab your forearm, but you were faster and went out of the door. If you believe he would give up – haha – good joke. You took a deep breath from the cold evening air when you felt pressure around your wrist. As fast as you've always been, you withdraw your hand from Bucky's, turned around, and wanted to punch him in the face. But you underestimated him and his reflexes. He already saw that coming and dodge his head to the side and grinned. "You know most girls just start whimpering if they didn't get an answer" "I am not like most girls" you were incredibly angry at yourself for wasting so much time with him. You were angry about him for being him! So you went for the next attack and wanted to use a horizontal elbow strike, which was also blocked by him. This time, he holds your elbow tight with his hands he blocked it with. "Yes, that's right. You are not. You are like a feral cat. Always grumpy and always willing to fight" "Right!" you rushed to remove your arm from his hold, took a half step back, and went for a lead head kick, but you got it a little bit lower, so you would just hit his rips. He wasn't prepared for that, so you hit him with full power. He groaned in pain and hold his side; he could already feel how a big hematoma will grow there. This time, he really did make her angry. He heard from Steve that she was a good fighter, but he never knew how good she actually was. She was fast, strong, and had total control over the positioning of her kicks and punches. A real powerhouse of a woman. Of course, he went for the feisty one! "Ouch – that was a good one, Claw" he pulled in air sharply and put again a smile one. "But if you would have waited for 10 seconds more, you would have to get your answer" "I don't need one anymore" you loosed up your attack and defense fight position and pulled straightened your clothes, and wanted to leave when Bucky grabbed your arm, again and again, you punched him. This time, you got his nose. "Jesus – Claw!" he pulled his head back and hold his nose, but you didn't saw blood coming out from it, so it was fine. Maybe it will get a little swollen but not more. "Stop punching me!" "Stop touching me!" "No!" "Okay, then do not complain about punches!" "Why do you have to punch me?!" "I don't know – reflexes?" "Get it under control!" "Stop touching me!" "No!" "Why?!" "Because I don't want to!" "Okay then-" "Even if you use me as a punching sack," "Don't complain then!" "Just stop it for a second" "Why?" "Because I want to tell you that I indeed have a crush on you!" "Why?" "What you mean with why? It's just like this!" "Why?" "Claw!" you looked at him perplexed. When you heard it, and it was clear that he had a crush on you, you were more confused than before. That never happened before. Never ever did a boy admit something on you – except when they said they didn't like you. That was something new, and now it was Bucky too. The only one you could never imagine in that situation. "Claw?" he ripped you out of your thoughts and wanted to take a step nearer to you. Of course, he was careful and afraid that you would punch him again. "Permission to come near?" he asked jokingly, and you nodded slowly. "tell me why" "Why? Claw, I do not have an answer for that" he shrugged his shoulders. "It just is what it is. One day, I started to look at you closer, notice little things you did, and then it just happened" "You stalked me?!" "No! NO! That's not what – Jesus! You are so intelligent and yet so stupid" he seemed to get angry too, or more frustrated. "I send you these letters in the hope you would change your mind about me. There is something private and intimate, so you could know me on a different level. With people around us, it was hard for me to get to know you" "Okay, but-"you knit your eyebrows in confusion. "Why all the flirts with numerous girls? In front of me? Didn't make sense" "Well-" he smirked. "I thought I could make you jealous, but it clearly didn't work" "No, it didn't! The opposite happened; I liked you less" "Wow – ouch – yes, it was a stupid idea but-" "No! You are just joking around!" you made a few steps away from him to leave, but he heads after you again, and he grabbed your wrist again and pulled you towards him, this time. At that moment, you wanted to make a noise of protest, but it was too late. He pressed his lips on yours but not in an aggressive way. It was somehow a gentle and shy kiss, more like a softly putting his lips on yours despite the situation. You were surprised by the act itself but also by the good feeling it gave you. A few seconds, you tried to melt into that new, arousing feeling until your brain started to work again and pulled you faced back and slapped Bucky hardly in the face. "Claw-"but before he could finish the sentence, you grabbed his face and kissed him again. You wanted to make sure this feeling was not just a one-time glimpse, and it wasn't. After a few seconds, you ended the kiss and were shocked about the result, and when the last minute panic was growing in you, you slapped him again. "Sorry," you directly apologized what didn't make the situation better. You kicked him, punched him, and slapped him multiple times. Seemed like he would be over you right now. "I hope it's not getting a habit to hurt me, whenever I am near to you….?" "You plan to do this more often?" "I –" he wanted to say something and just shook his head. You were incredible and so naturally honest. "I want to kiss you again – now – please do not punch me" "I try" "Promise!" "I try, but I can't promise!" "Claw!" "Wait-"you took one step back again. "I still don't get it. You behaved like a jerk all these years because you liked me?" "Yes" "That's so stupid!" "I am a boy, Claw. We do stupid things" "But that even too stupid for you," he groaned, annoyed and shook his head, when he stemmed his arms in his hips. "Just shut up for a second and let me kiss you. Okay?" "But-" she wanted to disagree, but he went to her with a few quick steps to kiss her again. It was still soft but more confident and intense. And there was it again, that little, intense and new feeling which started to grow in your stomach. It tingled a little but was warm – so hot – and it grows fast until that warmth was everywhere in your body. He stated a little sweet, with a bitter undertone, from his drink. His lips were so soft, but his hands on your cheeks felt a little bit sore but not disturbing at all. He smelled a little bit like smoke, sweat, and dirt from the mission he came from. When he ended the kiss, he slightly smirked. "You didn't punch me. We are making progress, darling" "Don't call me that" bumped him against his chest, so he had to make a half step back with a bright smile. You rolled your eyes and turned away from him. "Fuck you!" – "Would you?" "You know, I used to dream about ending your life" you had that little devilish smile on your face, which just get countered by his self-proud smile. "Now you want to spend it with me? I would call that progress" "Na, I still think about ending it if you continue doing what you are doing" "And what am I doing?" "You are driving me crazy. Stop that" "No chance," he shook his head and put his arm around your shoulders. "What are you doing?" – "touching you?" "Stop that" "No way!" "Barnes!" "I love it when you are yelling my Name" "You ---- IDIOT!" "Your idiot. We want to be specific here" "I kill you, I promise!" "Don't make promises you can't keep" "Who said I can't keep it?" "Because you do not hate me" "Grrrrr – you are still an idiot!" "Loooooove is in the aaaaaaair," he stats to sing when it was finally enough for you. You freed yourself from him and ran a few steps forward, but he came after you. Guess you didn't get rid of him any time soon.

The next mission for the howling Commando was in progress. Together with the soldiers, Peggy, Uncle Chester, and you were developing a better plan. They told you that there was some trouble with equipment and gave you information about how this facility was built. Based on the new information's you were designing a new plan of attack. This progress took a while, and it took much time. So you personally had just a little time left and spend this free hour with sleep and rest. Since Bucky didn't have all these tasks, he was finished with his things early on days. Actually, he just had the usual training schedule on his daily routine. Maybe a weapon test, when Stark was finished with something new, but that's it.

"Great! Put it down on a report, so we can give it for further investigations" your uncle closed the meeting for the day and left the notes on the big round table. Today it was your turn to put the stuff you talked about into a pretty file. It would be the last thing on your to-do list for the day. After everybody left the room, you heard how the door opened again. You looked over the big table on the opposite of the room. You saw Bucky standing there, having a quick view over the notes on the table. "paperwork?" utilizing his voice, you could tell that he hoped you would say no, but he knew it was a lost hope. "Yes," you groaned in exhaustion and looked again over all the papers. It was a hard week for you, and you didn't have a lot of sleep. So many things that need to be done, and this was the last drip for you. Since the War began and you were in active service, something like weekend got a foreign word. "Maybe I can help you?" "Just when your fingers can tip on a writing machine as fast as you can shoot" "Uhm…. No" "Then you can't help me" "Buuuut-" he smiled and walked around the table towards you. "I can do other things?" he went behind you and stroke your hair to the side to start kissing your neck softly. "James-"you giggled a bit. "We can't – not here!" "did I mentioned that I love it when you call me James with that flutter voice of yours?" "Sergeant Barnes!" you wanted to talk sense in him, but there was no chance that he would end his activity back there. "I love it even more when you call me Sergeant Barnes," he whispered into your ear with a hot breath, so your whole neck was covered in goosebumps. After a few moments, he started to caress your neck with the tip of his fingers. As he would crawl you. "You are really tensed" then he started to massage your neck, which elicited you a few relaxing groans. It felt so good when he's strong, and big hands knead your hurting muscles in your neck, and you closed your eyes for a few seconds to really lean into his movements. It's been a while since you two had time for each other. After that – more than just awkward – evening, you hadn't had many moments to talk about what happened. You two just agreed – in silence – that you would just roll with it and see where it ends. You are still suspect about him a little bit. On a scale from 1 – 10, you trusted him with a good 6 or 7. So there was a long way to something like a liaison. Bucky was incredibly talented when I came down to being seductive and charming. Nothing you didn't know before, but you had to be careful. After you just let go of most of your thoughts, falling for him completely was a sweet forbidden fruit. He couldn't control any of his desires, drives, or carvings, so you had to be twice a careful. The art was to not get addicted to him and taste too much of that sweet, sweet flavor and have just enough taste on the tip of your tongue to make life delicious as candy. If you tasted too much, you would get into an ecstasy, to less, and you two would get bored. It was a balancing act, or a play with fire because Bucky was like a forest fire. "Hey Claw," his voice brought you back to reality, and you tried to turn your head towards him. "hm?" "Do you want to go out with me tonight? Dancing? Having a drink? Maybe a little moonlight walk?" "A date? You want to go on a date with me?" "I want to take you out, not date. Dating is for people who are not a couple – we are" "Are we?" you asked back. For you, it wasn't a real couple feeling what you two had and did. It was more like a workplace romance, but it didn't felt like something serious, strong, and made for more. "You – You didn't think we are, something?" "Bucky-" you turned around to him and leaned against the table. "What do we know about each other? Most of the time I have known you, I didn't like you" "Thanks for the friendly reminder" "I just want to point out that you can't jump from enemies to lover just by the blink of a moment" he seemed to thought about it and nodded his head. "Good. We have a date tonight. Put on something nice, and I will pick you up. Sound good?" "Indeed" "Great! But-" he put a hand on your cheek and gave you a little kiss on your cheekbones. "I will not give up the kisses, even if it is indecently" he winked at you and wanted to leave the room. At the moment he left, you wanted him back. He smelled so incredible good, and his body warmth was so intense when he was near to you. "Sergeant Barnes!" and as you would pull him back on the string, he turned around to you in one fluid movement, beat the heels together, and stretched his head forward as he would expect any commands from you. "Yes, Ma'am?" To be honest? You liked him in his soldier mode. So serious and receptive to your orders, even though you didn't have a higher military rank than he did. "Please remind your Unit to submit their mission reports in time. I do not want to run after that" "Yes, Ma'am," he winked at you before he left the room. After you were sure he left, you took a deep breath. You needed to get your work done, and after that, you could think about the date tonight. If you manage to be able to go there. You have to admit, you never went on a date before. You never were interested in this kind of activity, AND nobody ever asked you.

It took you forever to put everything on paper and file it away. It was a long evening in the office and your eyes already hurt from the desk lamp's bad lighting. It was somehow a filthy yellowish light, and it started to flicker after a few hours. You realized how late it was when you heard the door behind you. You looked tiredly over your shoulder and saw Bucky in his dress uniform. "You forgot it?" "No. I just had too much work to do" "You need help?" "No, I finished it, like 1 minute ago" you leaned back in your seat and closed your eyes. "So you don't want to go out anymore?" "To be honest? I would prefer to just stay here and have a casual evening" "Okay," he nodded and grabbed a chair from nearby to sit next to her. Before he sat down, he unbuttons his uniform jacket and hangs it over the backrest of his chair. He also got rid of his tie and opened the first two buttons of his shirt, pulled it out of the trouser, and took off his head to loosen his hair too. He looked like a wild night out, with too many drinks and wild affairs. Perfect fit to your optical illusion right now. You were tired, your uniform slipped here and there a little bit, and you already took off your shoes and tie. "Already better! So – I am sure somebody has a bottle of scotch in their desk drawers" "Yes-"you pointed at the biggest desk at the top of the room. "My uncle has some, in the lowest one" "Your uncle? Sure nobody else?" "Just go and grab the damn scotch!" "Yes, Ma'am!" he stood up and walked fast over there. Didn't took him long to get the bottle and came back. "Glasses?" he looked around to look for Something they can use as glass. "Damn it" you overreached the bottle and opened it, and took a sip out of it. You weren't in a pub, fancy ballroom, dinner with parents, or in the company! You could drink right out of the bottle, at least this one time. "Okay," he took the bottle back and took a sip. "You are not ladylike, aren't you?" "Definitely not!" "That's good. I am not a fan of the Gentleman stuff either" "You would look terrible in cylinder and wreck" "You think so?" "Pretty sure, yes" "Thank God I do not have to wear one. The military uniform is already killing me. Do you know how much time it took me to get into all of these layers? An unreasonable daman!" he took another sip. "Be happy you do not have to wear these tight skirts – Jesus, what would I give for a pair of comfortable shoes and pants!" you took the bottle back and also took a big sip. "I mean-" he raised an eyebrow, put on a mischievous smile, and tilted his head a bit. "You could just take all off" "No!" you took another sip. "I am not one for your easy girls, where you just smile, and the clothes fall off" "That's what you think of me? A sex-driven guy?" "I didn't say that! I just said that it took you more effort to take off my clothes" "I didn't doubt that" he took back the bottle and took a big big sip out of it. "What you planned for the evening? Besides dancing and walking?" "Talking. Mostly talking. I already talked with Steve, and there are so many things we do not know about each other. So maybe tonight is a good start?" "Sure. Ask whatever you want to know" "How did you meet Steve?" "Oh good – I guess it was somewhere in the primary school. His father and my father were friends from active Service. So we meet somehow one day. We linked over a book and got into a chat, and – yeah – now we are here. How did you meet, by the way? That Is way more interesting?!" "he got into a fight. Couldn't finish it. So I did. Our bonding moment" "Guys," you rolled your eyes, smiled, and reached out for the bottle to take another sip. "And your father is fine with you being here? And serving for your country? I bet he must be proud that his little wildcat is doing Something in the military as he did?" "Uhm…. He… I hope he is proud, but I don't know" "You don't know? Didn't have that strong bound?" "Oh no, we have – had – we were really close" "Had?" "He died a few months ago inactive Service. Before Steve and I joined the SSR, I got a letter that he passed away. But it's not a big deal, I knew he would die in this way and so did he" "You dad died, that's a big deal" "It was predictable, so it didn't hit as hart" "But --- how can you not be sad?" "Like I said, it was predictable. It's not like that I didn't love my father, but I knew he would die inactive Service, so it was kind of prepared for that" you shrugged your shoulders took another sip out of the bottle. "Is that why you like to follow logic ways?" "Hm?" "I noticed, you are fine with things as long they are logical. As soon as it's not logical, you are confused" "maybe. Maybe not. I never thought about it. Logic is simple and relatable in contrast to people" "That can't be true! You have to have a person you can rely on! What about…. Your uncle!" "Hm… he was there when my mother died when I was younger, but he left someday, without a word" "Then you father!" "The US Army was always more important than me. He would prioritize them over me all the time" you shrugged your shoulders and took another sip from the bottle – a big one this time. "Who else is on your life, then?" "Steve was with you most of the time. I am not resentful because of that. Friendships between the same Sex are always stronger, so it was fine" "You do not have siblings?" "No" "Aunts? Uncles?" "No" "Grandparents?" "Dead. Listen, Bucky-" you shrugged your head. "I am fine. I've been good on my own, so I just will continue doing that; worked out good" "But-" he knit his eyebrows. "You are not alone" "Yes, I know I have my uncle with me all the time, now. And Steve, Peggy – You! But what will happen after the war ends? Everyone will go their own ways then" "You think?" "Colonel Philips will stay in the Army, Peggy and Steve will start something together – at least I hope so and I-" "We could be together too, you know?" "You think that will work? Honestly?" "You don't?" "James-" "Here we go" "Please listen. You are not as bad as I thought, you are a really nice guy. A little bit chaotic but through and through loveable, charismatic, aesthetic, good looking, and you can be a gentleman. Many women lie at your feet, and I believe you would find a good looking one to be your future wife one day. So why me? I do not have a wife's potential. So why me? I really do not get it, not at all!" he listened, nodded his head, and took a sip of the scotch. "You think you are not loveable?" "That's not what I asked. Why me? I was never nice to you. Never" "Good question! Great question! I-I don't know-" "Bucky-" "let me finish! I do not know the correct answer. But….. in the 10th grade – it was a pretty hot summer day, so the school ended earlier – as soon as you left the school, you sat down on this old bench in front of the school. You wore a summer dress in decent light blue with a darker color gradient. Your hair was up in a messy bun, and a few strands hang out. So you sat there, with a black book in your hands with golden letters on it, and we're just reading. It seemed like you were completely sunken into these pages until Steve walked over to you and talked to you. You looked up and had the most beautiful smile on your ever I ever saw. Bright and full of joy! And immediately, I felt warm and happy. This was the only time I ever saw it on you, and somehow-" he interrupted his sentence and smiled warmly and in total nostalgia. "Somehow, I wanted to be the reason for that smile. Claw --- do you believe in love at first sight? I know it sounded pathetic, but at that moment – in that little moment – I started to had a crush on you. So I talked to Steve, and he wanted to introduce me to you, at that summer ball, when I vomited on your dress. Good first impression, right? After that, I noticed you couldn't stand me, but I didn't want to give up because no matter how many times a girl smiled at me, I never had that feeling again, and that's why I cannot let you go! Not without a serious try! Can you --- can you understand that Claw? Even though you do not believe in that?" you listened to every word that he said, and even if you do not understand the reasoning, you somehow understand his emotional situation. "That why you wrote the letters?" "mhm, yes! At the front – when people try to kill you, you find yourself in the position to write a bucket list, and you know what? Giving It a try with you was the first thing that came to my mind. So I started to write you these letters. Worst case scenario? I got to shoot, and it was just a stupid idea" he did a shoulder shrug and grabbed the bottle to take a sip – the last one. "When I think about it now, it was just a stupid idea. Instead of accepting these sad feelings and admitting them," he stood up from his seat and grabbed his jacket, swung it over one shoulder, and grabbed his heat. "I start to get tipsy. Didn't drink that much in a while; I guess I will go to bed now," he explained. "Normally, I would try to sneak a good night kiss or would try to seduce you – well… I guess not tonight. You didn't seem to have decided yet if you want to give it a try yourself. I might be a jerk compared to you, but I am not that stupid" he pinched together his eyes because the dizziness started to grow. "So it's up to you now. Tell me if you like me enough to try or don't" he shrugged his shoulders and head towards the exit. "Oh and –" he turned around for another time. "Have a good night, Agent Claw" "That's not –"you smiled and shook your head. "Good night, Sergeant Barnes – Bucky" you nodded and saw him go. Good question, by the way: do you want to give it a try or not? Maybe it's not the right time to think about that, right now. You were tipsy, tired and it was late in the night. You should go to sleep yourself and rethink your choices for a second in the morning.

The next day was a calm one. This short before a new mission, it was usually hushed on the foothold. The soldiers prepared themselves for the next big thing, and the strategic department hadn't any work left. The plans were made and given to the soldiers, so it was up to them to do as they told. Peggy was fuzzy as usual and studied the method for tomorrow's mission over and over again, in case there was a leak, but there wasn't. So your uncle and yourself were pretty relaxed and were just sitting around.

So you got yourself a quiet place in the conference room, where you gabbed a swivel chair and rotate a little bit while you stare at the ceiling. You wanted to make another full turn when someone stopped your chair. You didn't even notice someone came in. "Hey Claw" "Steve! Stressed out because of tomorrow?" "Not really. Can I have a seat?" "Sure," he placed himself in front of you on another chair. "I guess we have to talk," he started and looked you drop dead serious in the eyes. "Do we?" "About Bucky? I guess we have to. Honestly, I never thought I needed to give a girl a Bucky Speech, but I guess there is a first time for everything" "A Bucky Speech? Seriously, Steve?" "Don't worry, he got the Claw Speech already" "There is a Speech about me? What did you tell him?" he gave you that glace, that he would not tell you this and you didn't care too much. "When I imagined this moment, I always thought I would actually write down all the points I am about to talk about. Thinks like: he is a good man, chaotic but honest, he will care for you and be a good husband and so on and on…. But I guess I do not have to tell you that. You either already know that or don't care, so I can save it for later-" he started to knead his hands as he would be nervous or tensed, Something like that. "Actually, I have to take a different approach. We – we both – know each other for many years, so I can claim that I know you! I know the character you made up to keep the world and their problems away from you. I know the character you turn on when you meet someone you don't like AND – most importantly – I know your real self. And I know that you never let anybody near you, especially not people you weren't so sure about. All the more, it surprised me that you and Bucky started to getting a – a thing. But Claw… Bucky is not like you, you know? He has his edges and mistakes, but he is – open. He is open, honest, truthful, brave, strong, and… delicate. He would never show or tell you, but he very sensitive sometimes, and you? You keep delicate and sensitive as far away as possible. You do that because you are afraid of getting hurt, and you do it successfully. It took me a few years to figure that out, and I think Bucky didn't realize it by now. I am afraid he will find out too late when he got already been hurt by you. Listen, we – you and I – will stay friends – good friends, I hope. But… if you do not take Bucky seriously, tell him now and not, when he already fall for you. Because somehow-" he laughed a little bit. "Somehow, he really is in love with you. I guess the saying that opposite attracted was never as true as right now. You get what I want to say?" you listened to every single word, and he had some points. You thought about it yourself a few times by now. And from a simple logical viewpoint, it was more consistent to turn Bucky down. But somehow, you couldn't. You had him, and you knew that, and now you didn't want to let him go. He was yours now. "I understand your concerns" you nodded slowly and smiled. "But I do not share your concerns" Steve knit his eyebrows and looked confused at you. You just shrugged the shoulders slowly and smiled. "D-Does that mean that you--?" "Well…" "Really, Claw? Bucky? You and Bucky?" "There is no Me and Bucky yet. But maybe? I don't know" "For real? I would never ever bet on that" "It's strange for me too. Such a new and unusual feeling, but Bucky isn't as bad as I used to think about him" "So that means you – you are actually trying?" "I try… trying…? Is that correct? I don't know, Steve! The first time I do Something completely illogical in my life, I didn't feel too bad. Guess it's right, but I don't know. I somehow cannot go fully in, if you understand what I am saying. I overthink a lot right now. So I hope Bucky has a little patience left for me to wait a few more days until I have decided finally" you shook your head and smiled. You liked that picture with you and Bucky more and more in your head, even if it was a strange one. Guess strange was your new thing – your new preference. "okay then… actually…. I don't know what to say anymore!" he stood up, a little bit perplexed still and wanted to leave the room. "Good luck for tomorrow. The mission," you said before he left.

The next day was pretty busy on the base. Since it was the second mission, everything was more detailed and had more context. He changed from the last mission where noted, and a detailed site plan was rolled on the big round table. Every member of the howling commando, which was involved in the current mission, had a Walkie-Talkie to stay in contact with the base. For time management reasons, every member got their own person of strategic support. Of course, it happened that you got Bucky this time since he was the Sniper of the group and needed to have everything on hand. Everything went after the plan they developed until Bucky talked via funk with you. "Hey Claw" "Hm?" "We got a problem" "Problem? Which kind of Problem?" "A big one" "What happened?" "There is a bomb. And it is definitely activated. Some of the scientists turned this thing on when we entered the building" Your uncle heard it and came up to you and grabbed the radio. "Sergeant Barnes, here Colonel Philips. Does the bomb have a time display?" a few moments, nothing happened when Bucky reported back. "It does. It was hidden" "What does the time say?" "two minutes and less" "Is there any opportunity that you guys could just run?" "Negative, Sir. This facility is like a labyrinth. We needed minutes to enter the central point" your uncle shook his head and put the radio down. "This is not good," he whispered before he turned around and screamed into the room. "Is there a bomb specialist here? Anywhere near?" but he didn't get an answer. "Remind me to put a bomb specialist on the shopping list" he turned towards you and retook the radio. "Sergeant Barnes. We do not have technical support here. I would recommend running as fast as you guys can and looking for a safe spot to survive the explosion somehow," and he waited for an answer. "But Sir, we could try to defuse the bomb" "Negative! We do not have a specialist here, and you guys do not know it either" "But the explosion could kill many innocent soldiers, which are captivated here as experiments!" your uncle pinched his eyes together and shook his head. This was a sorrowful and bitter moment because there was no help for these soldiers. He needed to make sure his own people get out there safely. "I repeat! Get your asses out there!" "But Colonel-"this was when you had enough and grabbed the radio yourself. "James Buchanan Barnes! Do what you were told and get yourself and your teammates a safe spot to survive the explosion somehow!" then it was silent for just a few moments, but it felt like hours. "I am sorry. I will try to defuse the bomb!" "Bucky no-" and then the signal got lost, and the Walkie-Talkie went down. "Bucky?" you pressed the button to reconnect your radio with his, but no chance there was a connection build. "James?" you tried again, but there was just a monotony rush instead of his voice. "Sergeant Barnes! James! Bucky!" but there was no connection build. "Someone else?!" your uncle called into the room, but all the others shook their head. Even Peggy had lost her connection to Steve. "all Radios are down, Sir!" "Great. Really great! Get me a technical link to our Team somehow! Wha-What about Stark? He is waiting for our Team to bring them home with a plane! Can we get him on the Phone somehow?" "We are trying!" someone in the base was running around to try out different telephone links and radio frequencies. Then you felt a hand on your shoulder, and when you looked up, it was your uncle. He didn't say anything; he just looked in your eyes, as he wanted to say, that there are not dead and you would have enough time to shoot Bucky your own. Then he went off to try to find a connection to Stark.

It took about 10 minutes to reach out to Stark, who told them that they are safe on board his plane. All of them, the Howling commando and the saved soldiers. Apparently, Bucky just ripped out every cable possible at once, and that somehow worked. Well, seemed to be his Lucky day, at least for now. You had slightly different planes with the hero of the day. And congratulating him wasn't part of that.

You went outside as soon as you heard how a plane was landing. When you stepped outside, you already saw the group of man, walking away from the aircraft towards you and the base behind you. In the middle were Steve and Bucky, while Steve tapped Buck's shoulder as a sign of congratulation. He smiled and laughed, looked around, and everybody was more than happy to be home safely instead of you. You were standing there, in the middle of the base entrance with crossed arms and starring the guys down, which they didn't notice yet. So you started walking towards them until they see your presence. Bucky was the first one, smiled brightly over his whole face, and raised a hand for a welcoming wave towards you. You didn't reply to that and just walked up to him. "Hey Claw!" when he was nearer, he ran the last few meters and stopped in front of you. "I-I am sorry, the radio just went down, and we couldn't keep contact anymore" as proof, he holds up the wholly destroyed Walkie-Talkie. "Mhm," you nodded slightly and didn't even look at the Walkie-Talkie; instead, you gave him a death stare, which kind of scared him. And before he could react, you already gave him a horizontal elbow strike on his cheekbone, making him stagger a few steps back. He releases a painful groan and holds his cheekbone.

Immediately a severe headache started to grow, but you didn't care much. "Sergeant Barnes," you growled, smoothed your clothing, turned around, and walked away. This time, he deserved it! He put himself in a dangerous situation, made it look like his chaotic ass got blown up in the air, and now he pretended to like, nothing happened? Praise the Lord, she was angry. Not just angry, she was about to raise the hell and let it collapse above his head. He was done with living; he just didn't know it by now. Maybe he should ask Cap for his bulletproof shield because he will need it next time he meets her.

Of course, your uncle got the news of what happened and had to disciplinary you. He had a 'no fighting in the team' police, and he was strict. You hit Bucky in front of everybody in the Unit. In consideration of his higher military rank, it was a violation of his authority. Which couldn't be tolerated within the military and especially not in the Unit of your uncle. Since he understands that Sergeant Barnes somehow deserved it, you just had to protocol the incident in your own file by yourself. Writing down things like this was horrible. You had to be honest; it needed to be factual and detailed. That forced you to rethink your actions and made sure that it would never happen again. Under different circumstances, you would get a disciplinary procedure and get kicked out of the military; dishonorable discharge would be called. Your uncle sends you to the secretary's rooms, to get your report done and he wanted it in the evening. So you sat there, with a pen in your hand and paper in front of you on the desk and just starred it down. You know it was stupid what you did, but he deserved it so much! This idiot! This stupid, stupid idiot! A knocking on the door ripped you out of your thoughts. You looked up and saw Bucky standing there. His cheek was swollen and already turned a little bit blue. He looked like a lost puppy or even better – he looked like a puppy who knows he did Something wrong and tried to apologize with big eyes and a cute face. "Claw…?" his voice was flat, and he had that questioning tone in it. "May I-" he couldn't even finish the sentence, as fast as you grabbed the stapler and throw it at him. At least he was fast enough to dodge, but the stapler crashed into the hallway wall and broke into pieces. He looked at the shattered thing and turned his head just in time to see that you already throw the hole puncher at him. "You Idiot!" you shouted at him, stood up from your seat, and grabbed all possible things to throw after him. He managed to dodge every time and didn't get hit. "You are an incompetent and complete idiot! I hate you – God knows I HATE you!" you grabbed a cup standing on the desk and tried to go for the head, but you missed somehow. "I wish you would have blown up!" next thing was a notebook, and you were incredible unerring when it came down to hit him. Lucky him, he was fast. "I really was thinking about letting you in my little world, where it is just me and myself, working together but YOU-!" you even got the writing machine to throw at him. "manage to make me angry all the time! Every time I thought, you changed for the better, you came around the corner with the next stupid action, and it's done!" now you went for the desk lamp. "And then you are coming up to me, with that puppy eyes, and think everything is good again? Nooooo NOT this time!" you throw the lamp at him. After that, have you run out of items. You breathed heavily, and the anger was written all over your face. Bucky somehow covered his head with his arms and looked down at all the broken things to his feet. This was a whole new stage of angry for you. "I am honestly this short away from shooting you right here right now! How does it even crossed your mind that you could defuse a bomb build by Hydra with technology we do not fully understand?! HOW? Tell me how?! You could have died, Bucky!" "St-Steve was there too. Why do you not try to murder him?" "Because he is super-soldier, but you are not! You are as normal as I am, and our life is faster over than his!" you needed to take a few deep breaths when you saw the gears turning in his mind. And then, a bright and warm smile came on across his face. "You---- want me? Seriously? For real?" "Wanting you? I want that you start to delate those stupid ideas in your mind!" "But you want me? Want me as yours?" "What are you? A cup you can borrow?" "Claw!" he rushed over to you and smiled at you like a little schoolboy. Even when you tried to kill him in the past minutes, he is still all yours - like a puppy. He looped his arms around your waist and presses his forehead against your temple. You were still a little grumpy and didn't want to look in his face, so you turned your head slightly away from his, towards the door of the room. All these broken things, when your uncle sees that, he would be as angry as you were when you did that. "But please try to kill me not as often, yes?" "You don't decide that!" you growled. Then you heard immediate steps in the hallway, and shortly after, you saw Steve with his shield standing there and looking down at the stuff on the ground. "What the hell-"you fast grabbed Bucky's short handgun and shoot a few times at Steve. Of course, he raised his shield as protection, so he didn't get hurt. Peggy told you she did this one time with him, so you were sure he managed to shield himself from the bullets. Bucky had let go of you and retracted his head when you gave him back his gun. "You are an idiot too!" you growled at Steve when you decided to leave the room and the two boys behind. Boys will be boys and will do stupid things all the time.

"You are so bad at this-" she laughed because he tickled her while she wanted to move one of her chess figures. "Checkmate, my friend" "Mhm," he just murmur a little bit and continued the work he was doing. It was a nice and quiet morning after another mission. When he arrived after two whole days back at the base, the first thing he did was hijacking you and detaining you in his room. Since he was a Sergeant, he had his own four-wall, which came in handy right now. So after 2 days and a tough mission, he wanted to relax with you and maybe do Something more fun, and you had no complaints about it. The result was, you two sleep way too long in the morning, but obviously, nobody seemed to care. Looked like nobody needed one of you at the moment. And instead of just lying lazily in the bed, you suggest playing a round of chess. Bucky had a total lack of talent; besides, he was busy caress your back a little bit. So he wasn't able to fully concentrate on the game, and he didn't even try. He wanted the game to be over, so your full concentration would be on him again. "You smell different when you are awake, you know that?" "What?" you knitted your eyebrows and rolled over on your back to look in his face. He was still a little bit drowsy with wild and fuzzy hair but with that satisfied glow all over his face. "I had no idea; you were into that," he smirked blissfully. "I would love to do that again," and a little mica of hope came up in his eyes. "James!" "Well… maybe not you are right. My back and neck are full of scratches. It would be hard to explain that" he smirked and layer his head next to yours, and but his body over yours. He was tired, and it was no surprise. He came back from a hard mission, and then you kept him awake all night. You felt how his body got heavier and heavier; he was again about to fall asleep. "Bucky, "you put your hand on the backside of his head and started to caress his hair and head, and immediately, you heard a pleasing little purr from him. "Yesterday, Stark finished your new uniform. Remember that? You should go and try it on to see if it fits," but he didn't give you a reaction. He probably just played dead. "Don't pretend like you're asleep. Should I find a way to wake you up- " "No!" promptly, he raised his head and body from yours and sit up. He pinched his eyes for a second and rub over his face a few times before he crawled towards the end of the bed and sat down on the edge of the bed. He put his elbows on his knees and let his head hanging. "Please don't get me wrong. I would love to have another round with you, honestly. But-" he looked over his shoulder and saw you laying in the white sheets on the bed. You rolled over to lie on your side. Your body well-formed, elegant with nice curves, smooth and soft skin, your head propped on your hand, and your hair falling down in great curls, which had a little shine from the morning sun. You grabbed a little piece of fabric to cover your au naturel body a little bit. Enough to make him resist his inner drives but not enough to stop tempting him. He got a little taste last night. How it was to be desired by you and how sensuous you are. It was incredible and stand in such a contrast to how you behave during the day. Honestly, he didn't think you could be that passionate and how you cloud his senses. And then you smile, that delicate but devilish little smile, almost cocky as you would know you could get him back in bed anytime. You just needed to slip the sheet from your body. "Stop that, please. I beg you" he shook his head and looked away. He never expected to be on this side of the story, being the one who got captured and turned into jelly when the significant other had that specific look on their face. Normally it was always him to seduce the woman, but this time around, he got seduced. "But Sergeant…" this tone in your voice gave him chills and prickles in the stomach. He heard how you moved on the bed, and a second later, you entangle your arms around his neck and shoulders, your bare upper body pressed against his naked back. "But it's not appropriate for a Sergeant to beg," you whispered into his ear, with your lips slightly graze his ears and your hot breath hunting down his neck and jawline, so he got goosebumps. Oh, sweet, sweet temptation. "Maybe I can offer myself to you in the evening?" "You are not a barter object" you gave him a little kiss on the cheek and let him go. "Do not forget to visit Stark!" you let yourself fall – back first – down in the bed again. Because of that, the chess game fell down on the floor. Guess you had to clean it up before you leave his room. After finally managed to get up and being dressed properly, you had to go back to work. Since it's the first day after a mission, you had plenty of time to go back to the headquarters office to do the paperwork. Luckily for you, Steve was fast with his mission reports, so you could at least start with Something, but the other Soldiers will take their time with writing down everything. Because of that, the training room was free today, so it was your chance to get a little exercise without the guys and maybe a meeting with Peggy and your uncle to analyze the newest target facility for the next mission. But actually, she just wanted to stay in bed for the whole day. She felt relaxed and light as it has not been for a long time. Was a great – wonderful – feeling, but after all, there is a war going on, and there is no time for relaxing. "What's your plan for the day?" you looked over to Bucky, who was already half-dressed and just needed to put on a shirt. "Work" the daylight was falling through the window directly on his body. Looked like liquid silk because his skin color was very light and unscathed. "Work?" "Paperwork" "Should I come and save you from the bad paperwork?" "I know you would love to, but this paperwork is essential for your next mission" "Claw," he moaned, annoyed. "I am not even 12 hours back, and you are already talking about the next one?" "Destroying the facilities is the top priority! We need to get it done as fast as possible" "I know, but-" "Bucky. As sooner we are done with this, as sooner the war might be over" "Uhm by the way…. Do you have any plans when it's all done? After the War?" "No. Not really" you knit your eyebrows. "I guess I will start studying Something? Maybe anything like that. What about you?" he shrugged his shoulders and put on a shirt. "You know, the usual: Job, House, Wife, and children. Nothing spectacular, just Something I can call my own" "That… actually sounds nice" "Oh and a dog" "Hmpf… I would like a cat" "We can have both" he winked at you and left the room before you could think about his words more. "WE?!" but before you could have a real protest, he was already out of the door.

You were already a few months into it, destroying Hydra and the liaison you had with Bucky, and it was perfect. Sadly the Hydra mission proceeded sluggishly since their head scientist, Dr. Armin Zola, was still free. When they destroyed one facility, he was building a new one somewhere else on the planet. So your uncle came up with a new priority: capturing Zola. Easier said as done since the SSR never knew where he actually was. You also lost track of Red Skull, so it was a big mess on that side. But the good thing was that every time you find and shut down a Hydra base, you learned new things about their technology, and Stark went straight to the technology heaven. Every time the Howling Commando brought back new weapons to analyze and create new ones, Stark was heavily busy.

Speaking of the Howling Commando – they went to their next mission in Germany this time. This one was long and took over a week but 'luckily' for you, Bucky did not go with them. The reason for that was, he got hurt, so Steve decided to let him at the base, so he could cure completely. So he was staying at the bottom, much to your delight, and even better was the fact that it was up to you to make sure he cured well. Your uncle gave you that task, not knowing what you two would actually do, since the whole Bucky and Claw thing were still a secret and nobody noticed by now. It is hard to believe, looking at the fact that you two were heavily marked by each other all over your bodies and went missing at the same time. Seemed like that everybody was entirely concentrated on the overall mission, so nobody had attention left to notice what was going on with you two.

"Ouch, Claw!" "You are such a baby, Bucky" you rolled your eyes and let off from his shoulder and massages his lower back, which relaxed him immediately. The wound, because of which he was left here, was a woof through his shoulder. He got it while he had a hand to hand fight with one of the guards on the last mission. Earlier this morning, he complained about back pain and had the idea that you could give him a massage, and of course, he would return the favor, so you agreed. "I need to cure! You should be gentle with me" "Ladies and Gentleman, the Sergeant" "You know, what you are doing, is called: disrespecting a higher-ranked person, right?" "You know what it called, what you are doing is? Taking advantage of a higher position of power," and as an answer, he just growled. "Baby…" you whispered again and stopped the massage. Your hands were tired, and besides the fact, you had an appointment. "What? Why you stopped?" "My deepest apologies, but-"you reached out for his bed desk and grabbed his pocket watch. "I have plans" "Plans? What plans?" "I will meet Stark in his laboratory" "Why?" "Because he has a new weapon for me. My old gun didn't work anymore, and he offered me to build a new one with new technology" "You know he is flirting with you, right? Since Peggy and Steve devouring each other with their eyes, he had caught an eye on you" "I know," you didn't sound concerned or even surprised. More like you didn't care too much. "You know?" "Wasn't hard to recognize. I really have to go-"you stood up from the bad and grabbed your clothing and put your stuff on under the vigilant eyes of Bucky. "I think I can convince you to stay…" "I am sure you can" you smirked and button your blouse. "The fun doesn't have to end, you know. We could stay in bed the whole day if you want to" "Bucky…. There is still much to do. War is not over yet" "God, I wish it would be over soon" "When we capture Zola and Red Skull, it will be over, for sure. Then we can stay in bed all day long" "I hope this day will come soon. You know what I was thinking about?" propped up his upper body and slide to the side of the bed to sit on the edge. He reached out to our hands, grabbed them gently, and pulled you closer to him. "No?" you put your hands down on his should and starts to play with his hair. "After the War is finished, I take you out for dancing. We will have a real date and another and another and another, But – here is the clue – after every date, I take you home" "That's the clue? This is good education, Bucky!" "No, no, you miss the point. I take you home, and I am going home with you. I mean, I am taking you to our home" "Our home?" you knit your eyebrows a little, be skeptical about his idea. "Wouldn't you like that? A small house in the city? O-Or a flat! Maybe a flat would be enough for a start, we still need room to grow. You can have your cat!" "Bucky-" "I know, I know, it's much to think about! I am telling you this is because my sister got her second child and will move out of our parents' flat. She and her husband will move into a house so the flat would be available. It's a big one, with plenty enough space for a second person" you wanted to say Something and opened your mouth, but no word came out. It was safe to say that you were a little overwhelmed with that suggestion. "You do not have to answer now. She will sublet the flat until I come back home. When the times come, you can come with me if you want to" "Bucky--- don't you think this is going way too fast?" "No – well – I mean, it's an option. Just a possibility you can keep in mind if you want to. When my sister and her family are gone, it will be quiet in the flat. I assume you will have the same at your home since your father is gone" "You are right, but-" "Hey," he smiled softly. "You do not have to decide now. Just think about it, okay?" you smiled back and slowly nodded. "Now you should go. Stark is for sure already waiting for you" "Right! See you later" you gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and then you left the room.

You went down to Starks laboratory to look for your new weapon. It was a big basement, just for him, since his inventions had the unpleasant habit of exploding from time to time. So your uncle gave him the basement, which was initially build to be an atomic bunker. You opened the big, heavy metal door and wanted to call after Stark when he popped up in front of you out of the blue. "I expected you hours ago!" he raised one eyebrow and looked suspicious at you. "I had…. Something to do" "Something, hun? Guess you didn't get much sleep, based on the circles under your eyes, Darling" "What do you hint at?" "You know what I mean – anyway! Your weapon, this way, my love" he points at a table at the end of the room where you should go over.

"So what can it do?" you saw a little weapon, ideal for having in it with you in a purse or at the belt. The thing was with women and Weapons that they have to be smaller, as usual, to sneak them with you all the time. "Basically working like a normal handgun but with significantly more shots, and I built it lighter than normal. It is basically a normal gun, but I took out the extra weight. Is that what you wanted?" you took the weapon and turned it over and over a few times to see it from all perspectives. Indeed it was incredibly light and handy. "exactly what I wanted" "I am glad I could make you happy. So…. How is Sergeant Barnes?" "Why?" "I don't know-" he shrugged his shoulder and had that all-knowing- look on his face paired with a smirk. "Howard, I have a loaded weapon in my hand. Do you think this is the right moment for unappropriated questions?" you gave him a strong glace with no room for false interpretations. He opened his mouth to say Something, when the light went down and the earsplitting sound of siren halls through the building. "What in God's name-"Stark covered his ears with his hands, but you know the sound of that siren – the signal for everybody in the building that enemies managed to enter the base. "Guess I have to try her out now!" you grabbed the second magazine and put it in your belt. "Hey, Stark! You can use a gun?" "Sure I can!" "Good. Grab one, we have to fight" you unlock your gun and head for the exit of the bunker. A quick look left and right to make sure the enemies are not on the hallway, and then you went straight for the way in the upper floors. Your steps were as quiet as possible, but luckily the heavy sound of the siren was covering most of your own noises you made.

On the other hand, it was also covering possible noises of the others. If this attack was a coincidence, it was a pretty good one for the others. All the Soldiers were out for missions, and the base was just protected by a few ones. Bad for them that you were one of these soldiers. Since you joined the SSR, your uncle and Peggy teach you how to use many handguns and how your combat fight style got better. Long story short: you are as good as any other soldier in this base!

Together with Stark, you reached the elevator and the stairs for the upper floors. Just in time, because the siren shut down and the light went on again. Favorably for you, no attacker was in sight. "Stark," you whispered his name and looked up the stairs. "Yes?" "You take the elevator; I do the stairs. If you see traitors – shoot!" "But-" "Shoot! Go" you shoo him in the direction of the elevator and yourself took the stairs.

Slowly and with the greatest caution you had, you went up the stairs. All your senses tensioned like a bow, ready to shoot. Step by step, you got higher and higher, but you heard nothing; even when the elevator reached the next floor before you, you couldn't hear Stark shooting or saying Something. Maybe the traitors think the basis would be completely empty or Something like that. Stark was already waiting for you when you went on the next floor and looking in the opposite direction. "I can't see anybody!" "Me neither. And I can't hear anything" "Maybe they went for the main office? At least that would be the room I would be looking for if I would break into a military basis. That the place with the most information!" he suggested, and it made absolute sense. "Okay. I am going for the office, and you go and check if anybody is going for your laboratory" "What? We just came from there" "I know, but this would be the second spot I would check out—the Armory. If Hydra is behind that attack, they probably want their technology back" "Well…. Yeah, that makes sense. Be careful!" "Same to you, Stark. See you later" he just nodded his head and took the stairs down again. Since the base was low on Soldiers and battle-tested others, you had to cover the most critical spots. Even when it meant that you have to split up into one-man teams. That was not a good idea at all, because now you didn't have anybody left to cover your back. Anyway – you somehow had a mission to fulfill.

On your way to the main office, you didn't saw any traitors or similar. Slowly you got the feeling that this was just a practice round, and nobody knew about it. The alarm had to be activated manually by one of your colleagues in the monitoring room to warn everybody. Why on earth you had the feeling that your uncle was sitting in front of the camera to see how the base would be protected without the soldiers in it? Like, he wanted to make sure it's safe here when the howling commando wasn't around. It would make sense, in your mind, because that was a pretty strange coincidence that you got attacked while nobody was here. Just people from inside this building knew about the mission and when they got executed. Either way, there was no room for mistakes. You didn't want to look like an idiot in front of your uncle when it was training. And you didn't want to die when it was a real attack.

Soon you reached the main office and went to it, to check if somebody was there. As you went in, you saw that a person – entirely in black – was looking through the papers on the table. The documents laying out there were mission reports about former and future missions you had in mind, and this traitor over there was looking at them. Shit happens; this was a real attack. "Hands up!" you targeted your gun on the person, and it turned around fast, and the face was not covered. It was a younger man, stocky build, with two guns at his belt. He looked a little surprised but didn't seem too worried about you, as soon as he realized that you were just a woman. "Same to you-" behind yourself, you heard another male voice and the clicking sound of a gun, which got unlocked. See, that's the problem when you do stuff like this alone without someone covering your back. "Come 'on, pretty Lady. Drop the gun!" you had no choice but to raise your hands with the gun in your hand. The man in front of you started smiling in a dirty way. "She is indeed pretty" "Shut up," you growled at them. There was no way you could shoot the one without the other shooting at you. You needed a miracle, and you already know how to get one. Bucky was in the building, and he couldn't be that far away, so you needed to gain a little bit of time for him – or anybody else – to get here. "What are you looking for? Need a little help?" "Thanks, but we do not need a secretary" "I am not a secretary, Asshole" you press your jaws onto each other. Maybe you should have deleted that 'asshole,' but he deserved it. "She is a feisty one," the man behind you laughed. "Maybe we can keep her for further things" "She is pretty, but not so pretty. When I am done here, you can shoot her" the man In front of you was going through the papers with the peace in the world. You wanted to say something snappy, as you heard gunshots behind you, and you looked over your shoulder. The man who was pointing the gun at you went down, and Bucky came around the corner. Out of instinct, you targeted your gun at the man in front of you, but it was a little bit too late. The man in front of you pulled out his guns and was shooting at you, and Bucky and you two shoot back. You got him directly, and he got down too, but there was something extraordinary. You had this huge pain in your abdomen, and you felt how it got wetter and wetter around your belly. Unbelievable, that fucking idiot got you. A quick look down and you saw that your originally white blouse was dyed red. "Claw!" somehow, Bucky appeared in front of you. Your awareness was clearly affected. There was just so much pain in your body. It hurt so much like you would burn from the inside, and with every beat of your heart, the pain got worse and worse. It was like, you couldn't even see or hear anymore because your brain was so busy with the pain in your abdomen. You couldn't feel your legs anymore, as they would be numb or something like that, and your eyelids got heavier and heavier. It was so exhausting to stand, be awake or breathe – just ---- so exhausting. You could feel how your body just collapsed and was about to fell down. You could hear someone screaming, calling your name over and over again, but it was like, as he would speak with cotton in his mouth. Or as you hat cotton in your ears. You couldn't understand words anymore, neither did you hear anything. It went slowly down, as your body would just shut down, and you started to freeze. It was so cold around here and so dark and silent, but the good thing was, the pain began to fade away. It got better and better, as more unconscious it got and your heart didn't pump as much anymore. Just a little bit, as it would go on a pilot flame. Funny feeling to feel how the body slowly relaxed and got lighter. A….. really…. Funny….. feeling.

Meanwhile…

The noises in the hospital were torturing his mind like someone would strike him with a baseball bat over and over again. Why was it so loud here? All the people talking, children crying, nurses running, and doctors rattle with medicine bottles. All the movements in the corner of his eyes, making him aggressive and nervous. Every time a door was opened, he looked up, just to see it wasn't a nurse or doctor with an operation smock. Besides all the noises, he still could hear the gunshots in his head, as they would remind him that he failed this time. No, no, it wasn't too late for her! He brought her here, carrying her all the way down the street in this hospital. He put pressure on the wound all the time and making a tourniquet, and she was still breathing when she got here. The doctors immediately took care of her and brought her into the surgery room. He did everything right, everything he learned to do if someone got shot in a sensitive area and she was strong! So strong! She would fight for her life, right? She would. He gave her plenty of reasons to fight, so she will get better. She will! She had to! His legs seesaw up and down nervously, he tugged his hair, was rubbing his face, looking around all the time, breathing heavily, and looked like a mess. The sweat ran down his face and back; he must have looked like a homeless from the street. His shirt all dirty and covered with blood, as so his hands, and there was a little bit on his neck too. Carrying her to the hospital wasn't the best idea for his wounded shoulder, so he had great pain in that, but he was ignoring it. He told Stark to inform the Colonel and Peggy that he would be here at the hospital. So he waited. Waited, waited, and waited for hours. The next time when he heard a door and raised his head, he saw the Colonel, Peggy, and Steve (?) coming through the door. As soon as the little group spotted him, she stood up and salute, like the soldier he was, because of the Colonel. "Sir" "You look horrible; what happened, Sergeant?" "T-traitors entered the building and tried to steal important information. There was an exchange of fire and Claw – I mean Agent ---- she got to shoot" "Great, and why didn't you cover her? Hm?" "Colonel!" Peggy intervened before he could go after Bucky, who just stood still and listened to his harsh tone. "Oh, to hell with you! Where do I find someone you can give me information's about my niece!" he was rushing by Bucky and towards a little group of nurses. "Bucky" Steve took a step closer and put a hand on his shoulder. "I-I shot one of them and didn't saw the other…." His voice was shaky, and he blinked a few times to keep away the tears. "I-I …. ""Bucky," Steve grabbed his shoulder and pulled him closer into a brotherly hug. He knows how he must felt. When he lost his mother – Sarah – he felt devastated and lost. Everything went dark, and his inward was filled with grieve and darkness. It seems like there was no way out and that this kind of suffering would never end. Like an endless horrible nightmare. "I tried to…. I was so fast" "I know. I know" Steve shook his head. "Don't do this to yourself, Buck. She is not dead, not yet, right?" "No" Bucky freed himself from the hug and ran stressed through his hair. "When – When I got her here, she was breathing, and they said she still has a heartbeat. I told them I would wait here, but they didn't come out of the surgery room since then. If she were dead, they would have told me, right? Right?!" "Yes," Peggy nodded her head calmly. She didn't know if that was true, but Bucky was on the edge of a mental breakdown. Steve looked over the shoulder and looked thankful to Peggy. "We will stay here and wait. We wait until we got news about her condition" he padded his shoulder and offered Bucky to sit down again. Peggy and Steve sat next to him, one at each side. He was so nervous and tensed – Steve never saw him like this. "I-I-"Bucky started to say something and shook his head. He needed to talk about something; he couldn't stand the silence with all the noises around him hammer down on his head all the time. So he needed to distract his brain from going crazy. "We had a talk in the morning before she went down to Starks Bunker for her weapon ---- Rebecca will move from our parent's flat, so I ask her if she would like to move in instead. You should have seen her, looked at me shocked like a deer in headlights" he smiled tiredly. "Did I ask too soon?" he turned his head towards Peggy. "Well… depending on how far you are in your accord?" "I-I don't know, actually. I never knew what was going on inside her head. She was always very devious with her thoughts and behaviors. Did you know-" he smiled when he was thinking back. "That when I first kissed her, she slapped me in the face? Two times! And, bruised my nose and rips" "That's sound like Claw" Steve needed to smile too, he could image that lively, how she did that. She was fiery and sultry when she wanted it, even if she tried her best to be cold and distanced. When you knew her better and longer, you could see how her real- self come through. She was like a fire; you could easily get burned if you get her on the wrong foot, but – if you did it right – was full of warmth and beauty. "God, I really felt for her. Even when he tried to kill me multiple times" "Did she?" Peggy asked, and both guys needed to laugh a little bit. "She did. She throws every possible office equipment after me – hehe – she is really something special. Very special… rare! I got a rare gem," and fast, his glance went from happily reminiscing to an unfortunate reality. "No – don't even think about it," Steve could see, which ugly thought came across his mind and wanted to hinder him from overthinking about it. Bucky wanted to say something when the Colonel came back and stood in front of the tree. Altogether, they stood up and looked, waiting for news. He took a deep breath and started explaining. "She will get better soon. Nothing permanent or serious, just an enormous loss of blood, which will be recovered in a few days. She was Lucky" he took another deep breath and looked straight at Bucky and wanted to say something, but closed his mouth and thought about it again. "All tree if you look horrible, especially you, Barnes! Nevertheless, someone needs to stay here overnight if the intruders' allies will come back to finish it. I will go back to the base and check what they were trying to steal, and the Sergeant will stay here with my niece" then he just turned around and was about to leave the hospital and leave behind surprised people. "Well…" after a few moments, Peggy broke the silence and turned towards Bucky. "You should go then, and we both will see if we can help the Colonel. Steve? Let's got" "Alright," he nodded and looked smiling at Bucky. "See, everything turned out fine. She will be okay soon, so go to see her," and then, Steve and Peggy left the hospital too.

When you awoke, you were in the hospital. You could quickly tell, by the scent of antiseptics, the sad white and sterile walls, and not least of the noises the room makes. The monotonic beep of the mechanicals next to her and the Nurses calling for doctors and medicaments on the floor. You could not remember much, your memories were pretty blurry, but you knew that someone shoots at you and got you. You needed to blink a few times because the room was pretty light. You felt pressure and soft stroking movements at your hand and underarm, so you tried to move your head a little bit to see who it was. As soon as you saw the short brown hair, you knew it was Bucky.

"Hey," your voice was thin, flat, and scratchy, and as soon as Bucky heard it, he raised his head. Man – this guy looks tired and pale like a poltergeist. "I don't have a mirror ---- but ---- I think I look better than you" "Well-" he smiled exhausted, "I aged 10 years since I am in this hospital" "You did?" you tried to smile too, but you were tired yourself. "I am a shadow of myself – the doc's said that you will be good in a few days. You just lost a lot of blood, but no organ was badly harmed" "Blessing in disguise, I guess?" "Yes, something like that" Bucky took a deep, deep breath, and it looked as if the weight of the world would fall off his shoulders. Then – slowly – their last conversation came across her mind. Nearly dying made a lot of things easier and faster to decide. "Hey Buck," you squeezed his hand back. "Hm?" "After the War… help me to sell the house of my father, I guess I will not need it anymore" he knit his eyebrows and needed a few moments, until he realized what she was saying, a big bright smile on his lips. "I will," he needed. He would clasp her under different circumstances, but maybe this is not the right moment for doing so.

Your wound healed perfectly, and you were soon able to work a little bit out. Certainly, Bucky begs you not to overdo it, but you know where your limits were. You could do the paperwork and file on the capturing Plan for Zola. You got new information's regarding him and his whereabouts. Still, it was Tricky to get him there because he would be in the Austrian Alps. As far as you know, there was just one transportation device, which would pass through the alps and that was a train. If you don't know, jumping on a train at full speed was indeed a tricky thing but the best way you could do it. The time slot was tiny, so just a few people could do that and were actually able to do that. Sadly, Bucky and Steve were pretty at the top of this list because they have both extraordinary physical skills. To be honest? You didn't want Bucky to go there, you had a bad feeling about it, and you could always trust your feeling.

This mission was different because it was more dangerous than usual. You had a long and detailed meeting with the guys about it and how they should do it. It was really a matter of small details because if they miss just one thing, that could mean they will die. And after the meeting, nobody was in a good mood. Everybody was somehow severe and lost in their thoughts. The fact that nobody felt right about this one was a massive elephant in the room. Seriously, everybody thought it was a stupid idea. Even your uncle asked the guys if they want to let that opportunity pass. It was a mission, but no mission was it worth do die – at least when it comes down to your opinion. There would be another chance to capture Zola, so it was legitimate to let this one pass. But you know what? This Unit was filled with stupid apes! Of course, they wanted to do it. Just this one time – this ONE TIME – you wished Bucky would be less brave and just stay in the base, but of course, he couldn't let Steve go alone. Well, you wanted Steve to stay too! These were your Boys, your little family; you couldn't lose them! Accordingly to that, you and Bucky were pretty speechless during the night. You wanted to say something like you always do. Poke him, annoy him, tease him, or something else, but you didn't feel in the mood for it. Same for him. Usually, he would say something funny to raise your spirits, but even now, he couldn't say something, so you two just laid there in silence and stared into the darkroom.

It must have been a couple hours, but you finally find your voice, to say at least something. "Don't do anything stupid, okay?" your voice was soft, a little bit shaky, and he could he hear a few cracks in it. "Promised," but you could say that based on his voice, he couldn't. He just said it to calm you, but it didn't work.

"Sergeant Barnes, fall of the train! Bucky is… is gone!"

A few years later…

Over a year later, after the war was won, you found Peggy standing in front of Steve's grave. You didn't saw her for a few years, but you heard she works in a police station – or something like that. You, for yourself, didn't do much. You still worked in the Army with your uncle, but you went here every once in a while. To visit Bucky and Steve and today, Peggy, keep your company.

"Hey" – "H-Hey" Peggy whipped the tears away and shook her head a few times. She was standing in front of the grave of Steve Rogers, alias Captain America. It was a massive light stone with golden letters. Many people left flowers behind, stuffed animals, cards, and different things. They still do this when the anniversary of Steve's death was coming near. They knew the war was won because of what he and the Howling commando did, so they wanted to tribute the fallen Hero. Next to Steve's grave was Bucky's. The stone was a little bit smaller but as beautiful as Steve's was. You and Peggy agreed that these two idiots needed to be buried next to each other, even though you had no corpse to bury. "H-How are you?" she asked you, but you just shook your head. It's been a while since the war, but you still weren't right. "Devastated. Still but I am working on it. You?" "Working on it," she answered and took a deep breath. And then you two were just standing there and staring at these stones in silence. Bucky and Steve shared a special bond, and you can tell it was a strong one. And now? You and Peggy shared a similar bind, created by the pain of the same loss. "I hate my work" Peggy started to say something. "Full of man how didn't take me seriously, and I have to operate in the shadows. I don't mind the shadows, but I don't think I am doing something meaningful! I own Steve to try to protect the world he saved with his life! Or, don't I?" she asked you. Well, you couldn't answer that, not for her or for yourself. But the way she said it sounds like a plan. Like she already had something in mind to do something against that. "What you mean?" "I-I-" she stopped and took another deep breath before she explained her vision to you. She wanted to create an organization to protect the whole world. An institution filled with skilled people from anywhere possible, who come together to save humankind from any kind of danger. She said that Stark liked that idea and was already in, but she needed more people to make it work. Howard would take care of the equipment, but she required Agents and Spy. And she would prefer people she already worked with from war, so she meant you. "and how is that called? This Group? The Fanatic's?" you joked about, but Peggy just shook her head. She didn't have a name either, but it needed to be something catchy. "But would you join and help me?" "Yes," you didn't think long about it. What else should you do? And you liked Peggy and enjoyed working with her. "But we need a good name" "You don't say" she rolled with her eyes and seemed to think about it. "Maybe something like –"Peggy wanted to say something but broke up with her sentence. Apparently, she hadn't a good idea. She wanted something to remember Steve and honor him, but she didn't found a good acronym. You thought about it too, for a while until something catches your eye. Over Steve's name in the gravestone, there was a little symbol. To simplify it, it was his Shield he chooses as his weapon. Funny enough that he wanted to have a tool of protection as his weapon. It was his symbol, his signature to have this Shield with him, and that when it comes to your mind. "S.H.I.E.L.D – Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics" "A long name," she commented. "But it's fitting" "Well…. Yeah. Shield" "With a memorial wall in the main base" "Memorial wall?" "For all the fallen soldiers. To honor them," you said, and Peggy nodded as she looked down on the two Stones next to each other. "Agent Barnes and Agent Rogers will be the first names on it. Because I know they would have joined Shield" "They would," you nodded and smiled, while you softly remember Bucky's and Steve's smile.

[idumpyourgrass]

Always Waiting- Chapter Nine

Always Waiting- Steve Harrington x Henderson!Reader

(I do not own gif!)

Always Waiting masterlist

Summary: Billy pops in to say hello, the kids Steve and Y/n head to the tunnels, and Y/n and Steve talk.

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Henderson!Reader

A/N: Well… some of y’all bout to be real mad at me for this part, but don’t worry!! There’s plenty of time to fix it, right? Wow this chapter is wild. I hope you all enjoy it, and as always lmk if you want to be added to the taglist!

Warning: Language, fighting, I think that’s it, oh and typos

Word Count: 3.1k

You couldn’t help but feel all warm inside watching Eleven and mike reunite. It almost made you goddamn cry. When did you become such a softie?

“I never gave up on you, I called you for…”

“353 days, I heard,” Eleven finishes Mike’s sentence. Mike pulls away from her, “Why didn’t you tell me? Let me know you were ok?”

“Because I wouldn’t let her,” Hopper steps up to Eleven, pulling her in for a hug, “Where have you been?”

“You’ve been hiding her,” Mike says, getting closer to Hopper, “you’ve been hiding her this whole time!” His voice getting more and more frantic.

“Hey,” Hopper grabs onto Mike’s arm, “Let’s talk, alone.” Hopper takes Mike back to one of the bedrooms. Eleven gives Lucas and Dustin a hug, Eleven points to Dustin’s teeth, “you have teeth,” she says. You giggle, which brings El’s attention to you. She approaches you, “Y/n,” She says.

“It’s good to have you back El,” you say pulling her into a hug. Sure, you didn’t know her that well, but you knew how much she meant to the boys. Max goes to introduce herself to Eleven but Eleven refuses and goes to talk to Joyce.

*   *    *

You all gather around the table, discussing what the plan was and how the plan was going to work. Jonathan and Joyce were going to take Will to Hopper’s cabin and try to get the “virus” out of Will while Hopper and Eleven were going to go to Hawkins lab to close the gate. You, Steve, and Nancy, were in charge of the kids. Woohoo.

You, Nancy and Steve all stood outside, looking through a pile of garbage for heaters. You were digging around, not really paying much attention to Steve, until he spoke to Nancy.

“You should go with him,” Steve says, him being Jonathan.

“What? No I can’t leave Mike.” Steve hands Nancy a heater, “I may be a shitty boyfriend, but I’m a pretty damn good babysitter.”

“Steve-“

“It’s ok Nance,” oh god, this sucked. You didn’t want to see Steve be sad, it would only make you feel bad for him and at this point, you were trying to avoid feeling for him at all. You decide to leave the two of them to talk and you go stand by the kids on the porch. Steve shortly joins you all, Nancy hops into Jonathan’s car and they all drive away. Once the cars are out of sight, the kids turn and head inside. You go to follow them but are stopped by Steve. You turn to face him but avoid eye contact.

“Y/n, what’s going on?” Steve asks, “Why are you acting so weird?”

You don’t know why, but at that moment you thought you were going to break down crying. Tears fill up in your eyes, threatening to spill over.

“Now is not a good time Harrington,” You respond coldly, you make your way inside the house leaving Steve standing outside, confused as ever. As soon as you walk in, you are greeted by the sight of Dustin trying to shove the dead demodog into the refrigerator.

“Jesus Christ Dustin, what the fuck are you doing?” You hiss. Making your way over to help him.

“This is a scientific discovery we can’t just bury it like some common mammal,” Dustin snaps back. You just roll your eyes. Mike is pacing around the living room, you can tell he’s worried about Eleven.

“Hey, Mike, she’ll be fine ok? She’s with Hopper, he won’t let anything happen to her,” you console, trying to get him to relax. He stops pacing. “You don’t know that! That lab was swarming with hundreds of demodogs,” Mike starts pacing again. Steve comes in the room, a dish towel thrown over his shoulder.

“Listen, dude, coach calls a play in the game, bottom line is you execute it,” Steve says.

“Oh my god,” you mumble.

“This isn’t some stupid basketball game and we aren’t even playing we’re on the bench,” Mike argues.

“Yeah, my point is, right, yeah, we’re on the bench so there’s nothing we can do,” Steve says. The wheels start turning in your head. “That’s not entirely true,” you raise an eyebrow, “I mean the demodogs, they have a hive mind. When they left the bus, they were called away,” You look up at the group, seeing if anyone is following, no one seemed to be. You continue, “If we get their attention, maybe we can draw them away from the lab,” Now everyone seemed to be understanding. “Clear a path to the gate!” Mike adds in. “Yeah and then we all die!” Steve yells.

“That’s one point of view,” Dustin says.

“That’s the only point of view,” Steve mumbles.

Mike starts looking at the map spread around the house, you follow him. “Here,” he says pointing to an area on the map, “ this is the hub,”

“You’ve got all the tunnels feeding here,” you say helping Mike figure this out.

“Maybe if we set this on fire,”

“Yeah, that’s a no!” Steve argues.

“The mind flayer would call away his army and they would come here,” Mike keeps going, ignoring Steve’s comments.

“We’d circle back to the exit and by the time they realize we’re gone, El would be at the gate!” You exclaim.

“Guys! No that is not happening! No, no, no,” Steve interjects.

“But-“

“No buts, I promised I'd keep you shitheads safe, and that's exactly what I plan on. We're staying here, on the bench and we're waiting for the starting team to do their job. Does everybody understand?” Steve starts pointing his towel at each of you.

“Steve come on!” You plead.

“I said does everybody understand me? I need a yes,” Steve demands. Since when did you become one of the kids he babysits? Before any of you can respond, the sound of an engine revving catches everyone’s attention. Max races to the window.

“It’s my brother. He can’t know I’m here. He’ll kill me,” she turns towards Lucas, “He’ll kill us,” You start making your way to the door, figuring you can get rid of him. You open the door a crack but Steve shuts it, “What do you think you’re doing?” He asks, “I’m getting rid of Billy,” You respond, trying to open the door again. Steve’s hand holding it closed. “You really think I’d let you go out there after what he did to you? I’m going out there. You stay here.” He pushes you back and he goes outside. You stand on your tiptoes and peek out of the window on the door. You watch as Billy points his cigarette towards the front window. You snap your head towards the front window. All the kids were peeking over the couch and looking out the window. “Well shit,” you say. You look back out the window just in time to see Billy punch Steve to the ground and kick him. Fuck.

You try to lock the door, but the door is slammed open, hitting you in the head in the process. You let out a small yelp and immediately you press a hand against your head, trying to stop the pain.

“Well, well, well, Y/n Henderson. This is a surprise,” Billy smirks.

“What do you want Billy?” You spat. He turns and points towards Lucas.

“Leave Lucas alone,” you tell him. He cackles, running towards Lucas and slamming him into the wall.

“Stay the hell away from my sister,” Billy yells, while holding Lucas up by his jacket. “Do you understand me?”

“Billy, get off of him!”

“Leave him alone!”

“Stop it!”

“Get off of me!” Lucas knees Billy, causing him to double over. “You are so dead Sinclair,” Billy snarls.

“No, you are!” Steve runs up to Billy punching him right in the nose. This does not phase Billy at all. Billy starts laughing, causing a chill to run down your spine. “Looks like you’ve got some fire in you after all! I’ve been waiting to meet this King Steve everyone’s been talking about!” Steve gives Billy another punch. Billy staggers back, hitting the kitchen counter. You watch as he clumsily reaches for a plate, “Steve watch out!” You and the kids yell. Billy takes the plate, smashing it over Steve’s head. Steve stumbles, Billy taking this opportunity to get in some punches on Steve. Steve takes the punches, still standing, Billy gets in one good one causing Steve to fall to the ground.

You clench your fists as you get ready to punch Billy. You raise your right arm, but Billy is quicker than you. He catches your fist midair. You knew you were in trouble now. Before you can think, Billy swings his right arm and punches you across the face and then takes his other fist and gets a good hard swing to the left side of your face, knocking you to the ground. Your ears ringing.

“Y/n!”

“Billy! Stop it!”

Billy kicked you in the ribs, and then gave you one more hard punch to the face. Your vision started to blur, and you could taste blood in your mouth and could feel blood trickling down from your nose. You whimper, unable to move. Through your blurred vision you see Billy fall to the ground and Max threatening him with the nailed bat.

“Y/n? Y/n can you hear me?” Dustin rushes over to you. You slowly try to sit up but groan in pain and lay back down. “No, no, no, don’t try to get up, just hold on ok? Is Steve ok?” Dustin asks. “I’m fi- Holy shit Y/n!” You hear, what you assume is Steve’s voice. Your eyes start to grow heavy.

*    *    *

Before you even open your eyes, the pain comes rushing back.

“Fuck!” You whisper yell.

“Y/n’s waking up!” You open your eyes, or at least try to. You try to adjust to the setting you’re in.

“Ok and you’re going to keep driving straight for half a mile,” You come to the conclusion you are in a car. You look up and see Steve, sitting next to him is Dustin and Mike. You look down and see that you are laying across all three of them, your head resting in Steve’s lap. You reach up to touch your face, to try and find out what damage had been done.

“No, no, no, don’t touch it,” Steve says, gently taking your hand and placing it back down.

“Y/n I thought you were a goner, he really got you good,” Dustin blurts out. When you realize your head is still in Steve’s lap, you quickly sit up, maybe a little too fast. You bump your head on the top of the car. “Jesus fucking Christ,” You say pressing your hand against your head, which only caused more pain. “Woah, Y/n, take it easy,” Steve says.

“I’m fine, I swear,” Your eyes grow wide when you look over to Steve. “Steve?” You ask.

“hm?”

“If you are sitting, right here, next to me, in the backseat, of a car, then who the FUCK is driving this car?!” You panic.

“Listen, I am totally against it, but they wouldn’t let me drive!”

“You got hit in the head by a plate and took like 5 punches, you are not in a good place to be driving,” Dustin says.

“But Max is?!” Steve yelled.

“She’s driven before!” Lucas pipes up.

“Yeah, in a parking lot,” Mike adds.

“Oh god, Max, please stop the car.” You say.

“A parking lot counts!” Lucas argues with Mike.

“Everyone shut up! I’m trying to concentrate!” Max yells to everyone.

“Left! Turn left!” Lucas shouts. Max harshly turns the car then slams on the breaks. Steve quickly puts his arm out in front of you to stop you from flying forward.

“Thanks,” you mumble to him.

The group gets out of the car, you take the most time to get out. Once you are out you struggle to find your footing, stumbling right into Steve. Steve places his hands on your shoulders to stabilize you. “Are you sure you’re okay?” Steve asks, concern in his voice. He scans your eyes. “I swear, I’m fine, I pinky promise,” You hold your pinky out to him, he takes his pinky and latches it onto yours. Dustin hands you some goggles and a mask to put on. Once everyone has all their gear on, you all head down to the tunnels.

Steve led the group and you stayed in the back, stumbling along the way. To say you were in pain was an understatement. Were you going to let anyone know that? No way. Once you reach the hub, you all spread out, drenching the whole area with gasoline.

“Ok, as soon as I throw the lighter down, we need to run,” Steve says. Yikes, running? Did everyone forget you just got punched then blacked out maybe 15 minutes ago? Steve throws his lighter down and the whole place lights up.

“Go, go, go!” Steve waits for all the kids to run past.

“Y/n come on!”

“Steve you really think I can run right now? I can barely fucking stand up,” You snap. Before you even realize what’s happening, Steve picks you up and takes off running, nearly running into all the kids who have stopped. A demodog stands in the way of the tunnel. Steve carefully and slowly sets you down as you both watch Dustin step forward.

“Dustin!”

“Dustin get back!”

“No Dustin!”

Dustin shushes all of you. “Dart?” He takes another step forward. Dart opens its mouth and snarls at Dustin. You quickly reach for Steve’s hand, gripping it for dear life, your heart is racing a million miles per second. Dustin slowly reaches in his backpack and pulls out a three musketeers candy bar. He places it down in front of Dart. Dart bends over and starts eating it. Dustin motions with his hand for you all to go. You all make it back to the rope. Steve lifts Max up first, then Lucas, Mike and Dustin. Steve was about to boost you up when you both saw the demodogs started running around the corner.

“Get behind me, Y/n,” Steve tells you as he gets your nail bat ready. You stand behind him, waiting for both of you to be taken down by demodogs, but it never happened. Instead all of the demodogs run around you. Steve turns around, wrapping an arm around you to keep you from getting swept away by the dogs. Mike’s eyes went wide when he realized where they all were going.

“Eleven.”

*    *     *

The gate was closed, and everything was back to normal. The Snowball dance was coming up and you promised Hopper you would help Eleven get ready. Hopper dropped Eleven off at your house and you started getting her ready, putting on some purple eye shadow and fixing her hair.

“You know, Max doesn’t like Mike,” you say.

“What?” El responds.

“Well not like, she doesn’t like him, that’s not what I meant. What I meant was that she doesn’t want to date him. She just wants to be friends with him.” You say, trying to get her to stop hating on Max.

“Just friends?” Eleven asks, trying to clarify.

“Yes, just friends. I think, her and Lucas are dating,” Eleven started giggling and pretty soon you were giggling too. The sound of the doorbell ringing pulled you two out of your laughing fit. You went to go open the door only to see Steve. You haven’t seen Steve since the night the gate got closed.

“Oh Y/n! Um hi.”

“Hi Steve, let me go get Dustin,” You say, wanting to avoid all awkward interactions as best as you could. Dustin comes running to the door, all dressed and ready to go.

“Oh! Hey, would you guys mind taking El?” You ask.

“Um, yeah sure, but uh, can you come too? I think we need to talk,” Steve insists. You hesitate but agree.

Once you drop Dustin and El off at the dance, Steve pulls into the parking lot, parks his car, and shuts it off.

“What happened to us, Y/n?” Steve asks.

“Funny, I should be the one asking you that.” Steve gives you a puzzled look. “Oh come on Steve. You are the reason we aren’t friends anymore and you know it. The first time was when we got to high school and you became “King Steve,” I wasn’t cool enough for you and your stupid title, so you chose to ignore me completely, not even a smile in the hallway. And then we became friends again, you know, after you and Nancy broke up, and then Nancy and you got back together, so you stopped hanging out with me again. Oh and then you guys broke up so then you started “pretending” to care about me again.” You spat.

“Pretending? What are you talking about?” Steve asks.

“Steve this whole friendship we have, if you even want to call it that, is only a friendship when it’s convenient for you. And it sucks, it really does, because you know why Steve?” You could feel your eyes filling with tears. “Because, fuck Steve, I really like you. And every time you decide you don’t want me anymore, every god damn time, it breaks my heart and there’s nothing I can do about it, and then you decide you want to be friends again and I just let it happen because for some fucking reason I always think, this time will be different, this time he’ll stick around and you never do, Steve!” Tears were streaming down your face, uncontrollably. Steve stayed silent. “I’m tired of putting in effort and getting nothing in return. A relationship, whether it be friends or boyfriend and girlfriend or husband and wife, require effort from both people to make it work. Maybe we should just stop trying to build a relationship off of a broken foundation.” You take a pause, hesitating to say what you’re about to say, “I’ve thought about it a lot, and I think, it would just be better for the both of us, if we just tried to stay out of each other’s lives.” You couldn’t believe what you were saying. Your lip was quivering. Steve didn’t say anything. He just started the car and drove you home. The car ride was long and silent, except for an occasional sniffle from you.

Once you get home, Steve tells you he’ll pick Dustin and Eleven up and take them home, neither one of you exchanged a goodnight or a goodbye as you got out of the car. As soon as you get to your room, you collapse on your bed letting out uncontrollable sobs.

You just lost your best friend, for good, and now you don’t think you’ll ever get him back.

Taglist: @loulouloueh​ @nighttwingg​ @hauntedduckdefendor​ @l0ve-0f-my-life​ @labrujaprincess​ @welcomethefears​ @metuel18​ @polynesianmayo​ @readinthegarden12​ @alafolieee​ @yoheyyosup​ @loco-latte​ @daddystevee​

[sustraiii]

TEAM ZRCN ARC 2 - EPILOGUE

The epilogue is here! As arc 2 ends, the true enemy reveals itself.

LUNICK

A small crowd had gathered outside of the electronics shop, watching with rapt attention as the reporter went through the news reports. Those who lived in this area of Mantle didn’t tend to watch the news - or rather, didn’t have the time to do so most days. However, the new report seemed of particular interest today, due to the subject of the report.

Lunick kept to the back of the crowd, reading the subtitles closely. There was some noise being emitted from the television, but even with his heightened hearing, it was difficult to make out exactly what was being said so it was easier to stick to the subtitles.

A picture flashed up on the screen beside the reporter, and she continued to speak. “Mr Hargrave was once a decorated member of the Atlesian Army, but was discharged after eleven years following a string of allegations regarding misconduct.” The picture changed to what appeared to a building of sorts. Lunick could spot Farron in the photograph, stood in front of the building shaking hands with an unknown man. “Mr Hargarve was linked to several thefts throughout Atlas and Mistral, as well as some instances of reported bribery. The most high profile case he was linked to after his discharge, was the explosion at his family's mine in Shizukana which killed forty-seven people. Mr Hargrave denied all allegations of any wrong-doing.” Once again, the picture changed; this time showing police sectioning off what Lunick recognised as Verdant Storage. “Police were unable to find any solid evidence up until recently when a raid on Verdant Storage revealed links to several stolen goods in Mantle and Atlas. Mr Hargarave was eventually brought down through the efforts of a local Atlas Academy team, alongside Haven alumni and former Vytal champion, Helia Vines.”

The picture changed again, this team to reveal several images of faces he knew well. The reported explained that Farron had been taken into custody, and one of his associates had been killed in as of yet unknown circumstances. Judging by her lack of portrait, Lunick had to assume that could have only been Candy. The other pictures showed a blurry Wisteria and a very clear shot of Verde. The reported explained that the police were interested in finding out more information on the two unknown individuals and that if anyone had any information they were to contact them immediately.

Lunick had a smug look on his face when the report ended after that, with no mention of his involvement. Which was good, he had worked hard to ensure very little, if anything could trace back to him. Farron Hargrave would take the fall and Lunick could go back to his hacking.

He had never double-crossed Farron, despite his low opinion of the man. Farron, had, after all, prevented Lunick from being arrested for hacking into somewhere he shouldn’t. He hadn’t been thrilled to work for him, but it kept him out of jail.

As he walked home, he couldn’t help the smug look that formed on his face. If anyone looked at him, they would surely wonder what he had to be smug about. He knew Solana surely would when he got home. His sister had wound up temporarily staying with him after Wisteria had raided her offices. She was frightened she had been targeted for her Faunus traits, as opposed to the prototype in they had taken, and thus had become scared of another attack and had pleaded to stay with him. He had accepted out of the obligation of being her elder brother, but soon came to regret, when she reminded him of how insufferable of a roommate she could be. 

Stepping into his apartment, Lunick was almost instantly aware something wasn’t quite right. The hallway light was on, but none of the others were, and it was oddly quiet considering Solana should have been home by now. He shrugged his coat off and moved to enter his open plan living room and kitchen. When he drew nearer, he could see a silhouette in the armchair by the window.

“Wow, waiting for me in the dark?” Lunick teased. “You’re how old exactly?”

The faint laughter died when he flicked the light switch and saw who was sat in the chair. It was not Solana, but rather a woman he had never seen before. She appeared older than he was, with short snow-white hair in a pixie cut, and the most striking bright red eyes he had ever seen. She wore a red leather coat with black trim and the sleeves pushed back to her elbows, under which she wore an off-white shirt, and a red-grey waist cincher. Her trousers were dark red, almost black in colour, and she wore knee-high black boots with red soles. She also had a bracelet made of red gemstones on her left wrist.

“Lunick, isn’t it?” She asked, tilting her head to one side as she spoke. There was something in her tone that suggested she already knew exactly who he was. “Take a seat.”  She gestured towards the seat opposite her.

Lunick hesitated only briefly, but that was enough for the amiable smile she wore, to shift into a nasty scowl. Her head turned to the left, glancing towards the door that would lead to what was his bedroom. “Bianca!” She called.

There was a small click, as the door opened, and another snowy-haired woman stepped out, dragging his sister out with her. She looked almost identical to the woman in the chair, though her skin was far paler, her hair was longer and was swept over her right shoulder. Her outfit was also very neutral in colour, consisting of white and greys, with a small splash of red on her belt and the earrings she wore. Seeing his sister in such a compromising position he was quick to seat himself opposite the snowy-haired woman.

She grinned when he sat down, an expression which quickly made him feel uneasy. “Oh good, I knew that would appeal to you,” She said with something of a mocking tone. “Bianca said you had something of a soft spot when it came to your sister, despite numerous comments online that would suggest otherwise.”

“Bianca?”

“No-one to concern yourself with,” The woman told him, giving a wink to the woman who had stepped out moments earlier. Her gaze then shifted to somewhere behind him, and she clicked her feelings. “Cala, come and do your thing.”

There was a shuffling behind him, but nothing happened, which seemed to anger the other woman, who slammed a fist on the arm of the chair. “Calantha!”

He heard a quiet squeak from behind him before a pair of hands clamped down on his shoulder. Again, nothing immediately happened, but he was suddenly aware of his golden aura surging around him, as well as a reddish aura surging around the hands of the woman behind him. He inclined his head back slightly to get a look back at her. She was younger than the other two, with wavy celadon coloured hair, but same bright red eyes.

“Ugh, pathetic,” The woman in the chair sneered, which seemed to set off a faint tremble of nerves from Cala. “She had one job, and she can barely do that right.”

“I told you not to bring her,” Bianca said, glancing at the still-unnamed woman. “She has no business in this, Belleza.”

Belleza’s eyes narrowed. “She’s one of us, dear sister. This is her business as well, whether she likes it or not.” Belleza then turned to look back at Lunick, offering another one of her uneasy smiles. “Besides her nullification will help ensure Mr Otieno doesn’t use his gift of the gab on us.” She proceeded to draw out her own gun and pointed it at him. “I think it's time we talked.”

“Who are you people?” Lunick blurted out, golden eyes staring down the barrel of the gun.

“My, my, my! Very forward all of a sudden, aren't we?” Belleza laughed. She propped one arm on the arm of the chair and rested her chin in her hand. “Well I think it’s only fair we owe you an explanation of sorts, being our unwitting middleman. I’m Belleza Rossi and these are my sisters, Bianca and Calantha - or Cala for short.” 

“Middleman?” Lunick blinked in surprise. “How can that be, I don’t even know you!”

“Oh, but you do, Lunick. Perhaps not face-to-face, but we’ve met before I can assure you. Who do you think talked you into convincing Farron to let Wisteria join your ranks?” Belleza answered.

No, that couldn’t be. It was Wisteria he talked to. “But I spoke to Wisteria!” He protested, shaking his head as best he could. “It was Wisteria!”

“Who you spoke to was Bianca over there, masquerading as Wisteria. You unknowingly planted our spy among your own ranks,” Belleza informed, delighting in the confusion and anger this drew from Lunick. Belleza leaned forward in her chair. “Did you seriously think Wisteria did all that? She’s fucking useless at technology! Could barely use a computer before she came to us, and even now her skills are...subpar at best. Our dead granny could probably do a better job than Wisteria and she’s been dead for fifteen fucking years!”

“So how do I fit into this, besides having unknowingly helped you?” Lunick asked. 

“To put it frankly, we need your help again,” Belleza told him, feigning an exasperated sigh. “Our tech guy, Ulysses, had the brilliant idea of falling out of an airship, so now we’re down a man.” She turned to Bianca and shook her head. “I still can’t believe how much of a dumb ass he was to get himself killed. Honestly, you think you know somebody.”

Lunick sneered, spitting at Belleza. “You’ve got another thing coming if you think I’m working for you.”

“It wasn’t a request,” Belleza said with a flat tone. “You will help us.”

“Or what?”

She smiled. “Glad you asked.”

And then she turned her gun away from him, making random shots around the room. She shattered photo frames, shot up his sofa and cabinets, blasted a statue he had owned since he was a boy. She even shot above Bianca and Solana, scattering plaster from the roof down on them. 

“You know, if you don’t want to work us, there’s always plan two,” Belleza teased, as she turned back to him, cocking her head towards Solana. 

“No!” Lunick yelled in response, moving so fast that Cala lost her grip on him. The sudden release made the room seem to spin for a moment, and he was aware of a dull ache in his body. What had she done to him? Why did his aura seem so muted? “I’ll help you. Whatever you need, just don’t hurt my sister.”

Belleza smiled. “Good, you made the choice much easier for me.” And then she turned her gun away from him, and fired at Solana, hitting her in the chest and killing her instantly. Cala squealed behind him, and Lunick couldn’t help the guttural cry of anguish that escaped him. He lunged forward to attack Belleza, intending on tackling her out of the chair, but she quicker than he thought, and hit him across the jaw with the butt of her gun, knocking him out cold.

“Ugh,” She groaned, rising to her feet slowly. She was careful to step around his unconscious body before she brushed herself off.

To the side of her, Bianca finally let go of Solana’s limp body. Staring at it in horror, before she glared at Belleza. “Why did you do that for? We could have taken both of them!”

“We only lost Ulysses, so we don’t need a mechanic,” Belleza replied, glancing at Solana with a look of disgust. Her attention then turned to their younger sister, who was cowering in the doorway making quiet sobs. “Cala quit your dithering,” She hissed. But when Cala continued to cry, she stomped her foot down for more attention. “Calantha!”

Their younger sister looked up, the same fearful expression in her eyes as she usually had around Belleza. “If you’re going to stand there crying, go outside and do so. You know I hate the sound of your whimpering.”

Cala sniffled. “I-I-I’ll keep watch!” She offered, before hurrying out of the door.

“Yes, you do that, little lamb,” Belleza jeered as their sister fled.

“You shouldn’t be so harsh on her,” Bianca warned, as she came to stand beside Belleza. “She is our sister, after all.”

“Regrettably,” Belleza countered, rolling her eyes. She crossed her arms, and glanced around the room, before looking towards Bianca. “Instead of reprimanding me like our mother would, how about you be useful for once and clean this mess up?”

“I am use-”

“Oh, and don’t forget to bring him with you when you’re done,” Belleza said, pointing towards Lunick. “We didn’t come all this way for nothing.”

The eldest Rossi daughter made her way towards the door. She opened it and was about to walk out when she paused and looked back at her sister, offering a small wink. “Don’t take too long, Bianca. There is still much we need to do.” 

[venusrosepetal]

Our Girl (Welcome to Hell)

Summary: (Modern!AU) Army medic, Private L/N, gets deployed on her first tour of Afghanistan. Struggling to fit in with her new comrades and adapt to the world of war, Pte L/N finds herself befriending a local, and pushing the boundaries of army regulations.

Pairing: Reader x Bucky Barnes - Reader x OC

Warnings: war, angst, blood, gore, death, PTSD, terrorism, stereotypes, sexual indications, swearing, cockney, slow-burn, a little offensive maybe? (throughout series)

Key: Pte - Private. Cpl - Corporal. Sgt - Sergeant. Skrimmed - Tassels. PT - Physical Training. TAB - Run in full kit with weight and weapons. Doris - Woman/Girl

Word Count: 2,467

A/N: I hope this is good and easy to read. Please also remember this is my first time writing. Tags are at the bottom and I’m sorry there isn’t too much of Sgt Barnes in this, but he’ll be around more and more as time goes on! & Isn’t Wanda awesome!! Sorry if you find the soldiers nicknames weird, they are the actual names from the TV show.

Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. 4:30am

The journey to Afghanistan was drab.

Soldiers lined the cold aircraft walls; kit cluttered around their feet. Most were now either asleep or conversing with their comrades. Faces wrinkled in pure joy, despite the knowledge of what’s waiting on the other side.

Sleep seemed to evade you as your eyes wandered over the many faces littered within the shuttle. Not everyone here will make it home. Your chest tightened at the thought of losing a peer, especially one in your section. The five guys whose lives you’re responsible for saving.

Fingers, Mansfield, Dangleberries, Baz-vegas and Smurf. Your brothers in green. 

To your left, Captain Rogers absently fiddled with his radio. His perfectly styled blonde hair no longer hidden under his navy beret. Was this guy immune to hat hair?

You let your focus wander down from his hair, taking in his strong jaw, crystal blue eyes, and inhuman physique. Seriously, did they all look like this in America? “Right. We’re thirty minutes outside Bastion, put on all protective clothing including helmets.” The Captain ordered. Forcing yourself out of your trance, you began to attach your armor. A bullet-proof vest covered your torso while pads protected your knees and elbows. Hard-knuckled gloves shielded your hands as you strap your skrimmed-helmet under your chin and swung your duffel bag onto your back. Nervous butterflies spew in your stomach when the plane begins to drop.  Your fingers gripped tightly onto metal ridges of the bench as your eyes squeeze closed; trying desperately to free yourself from this new-found anxiety. 

Until now you had been undoubtedly excited to get to Afghan. Excited to do your job and help the Afghan people dismantle the Taliban and regain their home.

However, at this moment, you’re terrified.

Sand bags and shipping containers made up the four-mile walls surrounding Camp Bastion, with the inside absolutely brimming with flat-pack tin buildings, tents, vehicles and large weaponry. 

Marching with your section, you made your way over to a large, green tent. Perfectly lined up US soldiers stood straight just outside.

“Section halt! Right turn!” Captain Rogers commanded. You stomp your right foot closely to your left with your back straight. Sharply turning right and stomping again, your sections stood to attention alongside the US soldiers.

“Under five’s, Welcome to Afghanistan. This ugly bunch here,”  He signaled towards the US soldiers. “like to call themselves The Avengers. ” You snorted at the name. 

Modest much? 

The Captain ignored your little disruption and began introducing his team. There was Sam - a gorgeous, dark-skinned, well-built man,  with a  gap tooth and killer smirk. Clint – A slim, dirty blonde with a face that said ‘I seriously couldn’t give a fuck’ and Tony – A cocksure engineer with ridiculously trimmed facial hair.

Within minutes, tears were streaming freely down your face. Sam was attempting to impersonate your South-Eastern accent causing you to double over laughing. You covered your face with both hands and attempt to hide the ugly-laugh-face you pulled when something really set you off.

Your laughter started to slow as you straightened up, only to notice the whole platoon was now braced and facing towards the front. Copying your comrades, you quickly stood-to-attention, facing forward.

Next to the Captain stood an equally beefy brunette. His dark hair was definitely longer than army regulation usually allowed; falling just below his ears. A few strands fell around his face as he ran his finger through the tousled locks. Dark stubble surrounded his pink lips and a long, straight nose stood proudly between two captivating blue eyes, that just so happened to be scowling at you through the bodies of your peers. 

You were definitely sporting some serious heart eyes right now. How come the US got all the male models and the UK got a smurf and a knock-off Prince Harry?  

Standing up straighter, you mumble a quick apology to the sour-faced brunette and averted your gaze to Captain Rogers.

“ This is Sergeant Barnes.” The Captain motioned Mr blue-eyes. “He will be leading you through your two-day simulation here in Bastion, as well as joining you on your first mission. Barnes here is on his fourth tour of Afghanistan, there’s no one I trust more than him.” He placed a firm hand on the Sergeants shoulder, smiling fondly in the process.

The sight of the smiling sergeant was enough to make you go weak in the knees. The way his eyes almost completely closed and his nose scrunched up above his wide toothy smile.

If you weren’t drooling before, you definitely are now.

After leaving the boys their tent to get situated, you found yourself wandering the sandy base trying to find the female quarters. Sergeant Barnes had made it abundantly clear you would not be bunking alongside your male associates. Instead, sending you out alone with a side-eye and a snide remark along the lines of ’ did you even pass geography in school?‘ 

Now both the Captain and the Sergeant seem to dislike you. All you did was giggle a little bit and try to lighten the heavy mood. Maybe these guys were just all work and no play, if so, you sure as hell weren’t going to get along. You were well known in training for being disobedient and a joker.

Footsteps were gaining behind you causing you to snap your head in their direction. Your dust-filled eyes found those of the only prick who could make your mood fifty percent better or one-hundred percent worse: Smurf.

“Barnes sent me to help you find your way. He thought our little Doris would get lost on her own.” He shook his head towards the floor, walking along side you. “Why’d he send you? Sam said this is his second tour, surely he’d know exactly where they are.” you quipped. “Because he loves me, everyone loves me. I’m the life and soul pal.” “Oh fuck off Smurf.I don’t know if I can put up with six months of your bullshit..”

“Are you really that pissed off that Barnes likes me?”

”Well. maybe I don’t want that rude prick to like me!” You defended. “ You know what Y/N, find your own way. Sergeant Barnes is a better person than you’ll ever be.” With that he stormed off in the direction he’d come from, once again leaving you to find your own way. “Are you looking for the female quarters?” Voiced the petite brunette just a few steps ahead. You nodded at her question causing her to reach over and take one of your bags. “ I’ll show you. Don’t worry about Smurf,” she assured as she led you into another large tent. “Dump your kit, the bed next to mine is free. I’m Wanda.” she outstretched her hand after dropping your bag on the empty bed. You shook her small hand briefly stating your name and a thank you. “You know Smurf.” You asked as you put your kit under the bed. “Not really, but I knew his twin brother, he was killed in Area Fifteen.” 

“You’re joking?”

“Barnes was his Sergeant too, that's why Smurf won’t hear a bad word about him.” 

“I just called him a rude prick.” You sighed, pinching the bridge of your nose.

 “Geraint was shot in the neck on patrol. Sergeant Barnes crawled about two hundred meters on his stomach to retrieve his body. He wasn’t leaving him as a trophy for the Taliban.” She smiled sympathetically. “He’d do the same for you.” She continued.

You widen your eyes as the words spill from Wanda’s mouth. Not for a second did you expect that to be the reason behind Smurfs sudden outburst.

”Let’s hope he doesn’t have too.” You mumbled. “He’s just come across so snotty and rude like I’m not good enough for his platoon.” 

“It’s ok. He can come across that way sometimes, but he’s a good guy and an even better soldier.” She smiled reassuringly. “Why don’t we get dinner later, they have a pizza hut here?” “That would be great, thanks, Wanda. Can I ask you one question?” She smiled and nodded to you, urging you to continue. “ Does it always feel like you’re walking through treacle here?” At this Wanda let out a full belly laugh, throwing her head back nodding in the process.

“You did what!?” Wanda gasped, Staring at you with wide eyes and an open mouth.

“I gave a recruit a lap dance in basic.” You laughed, taking a bite of your greasy pizza, while she stared at you in bewilderment.

“Where? Why? H-how?” Holding your hands up in surrender, she paused with her questions and picked up her slice again; raising her eyebrows for you to explain.

“Well first off, it was a dare. We were going home for a long weekend the next day so we had a couple of games. I had let slip a few weeks before that I had taken a six-week lap dancing class, as part of a bridal party, so they just picked a guy and I gave him a lap-dance. It was either that or streak round the quarters.” you huffed a laugh as you recited the vivid memory. Basic training truly was the best time of your life.

Brushing your fingers over your trouser legs, you interlock your fingers and use them to rest your chin as you continued.

“ We went into the storage locker where they kept the rations and I gave him a lap dance. It was mortifying really. I couldn’t look him in the eye again.” Wanda was staring as if you had grown two heads. 

She opened her mouth to speak when a loud alarm rang through the air. To you, it sounded like a nuke warning, but one look at Wanda and you knew that wasn’t the case.

She scrambled off the bench, quickly tossing the pizza in the bin a few feet away. Another woman ran up to her, rambling something you couldn’t make out.

“ Six injured, they’re bringing them in now. All medical personal report to the hospital.” She shouts to you as she begins to run backward.

“Me!?”

“ You’re medical aren’t you?” you run towards the hospital, rounding onto the main dirt road within the camp.  Your legs are burning as you run up behind the ambulance. Wanda jumps on the nearest stretcher, ready to wheel it into the hospital.

Your panicking eyes ghost over the quivering body that occupied the stretcher.  A man, no older than twenty-five. The skin around his eyes was clean from tears when the rest of his body was covered in soot, dirt, and blood.

“Y/N! GET ON THE STRETCHER!” Wanda’s voice snapped through your trance, and look at her. You force your shaking hands to grasp the end of the stretcher and push it forward through the hospital doors.

Looking back over the crying male, you finally notice his injuries. Legs completely blown below the knees. Blood was oozing from around the shattered bones as bits of flesh hung on to the red wound by threads.

He’s not going to make it.

Pulling up to the bed, a team of surgeons moves in, sticking the soldier full of needles and IVs, preparing for theater. You take a step back as the room begins to spin. Adrenaline was pumping through you by the bucket load as more soldiers with similar injuries begin coming into the room.

You’re still stumbling backward as you hit the shoulder of another medic.

“Pull yourself together medic.”

“Private L/N?”

“Private L/N!”

You knotted your running shoes and straightened out your shorts and t-shirt. Sergeant Barnes had requested yesterday that your section do a PT session this morning to help your bodies acclimatize to the warmer conditions. By this morning he meant four-thirty am, and by PT he meant a tab which became apparent when you stepped outside the tent to find all nine men dressed in their full uniform.

“I suppose I should be glad you’re not wearing your stilettos,” Barnes mocked as the guys wolf-whistled. “It’s full kit L/N.”

“Yes, boss.” You replied as you ducked back into the tent to get changed.

Thirty minutes into the tab and you were breathing out of your arse. The images from the hospital kept you from sleep last night, every time you shut your eyes all you saw was blood, bones, and flesh. So not only did it feel as though you were inhaling golden syrup with every breath, you were a majorly sleep deprived.

You ran in the back. Sergeant Barnes ran ahead of the section, leading the way around his makeshift course. He doesn’t even look like he’s broken a sweat, let alone about to keel over like you.

“Is everyone acclimatizing to the conditions?” He yelled. His voice completely gasp free. A chorus of ‘yes’ or 'boss’ was answered back, all coming out slightly breathy. “Alright, sprint the last fifty meters. GO!” They all took off running. Totally distancing themselves from you.

“Smurf! Drop to the floor!” following commands, Smurf hurriedly fell to the sand, laying flat on his back. Everyone stopped by him.

“ Medic! Man down! Left arm blown off above the elbow! What are you going to do?” The boss shouted at you, walking to you as you try to jog to Smurf without passing out. Slowing down, even more, you suppress the urge to vomit as you slowly squat before the 'injured’ soldier. Panting furiously, your shaking fingers fumbled with the tourniquet.

“ Come on medic! You gonna let him bleed out while you gasp for air like a puffer fish?!” You give the Sgt the angriest look you could muster while still gasping for air. Your fingers would not separate the Velcro tourniquet no matter how hard you tried.

“L/N! Come! On! This isn’t Call of Duty. If someone stands on an IUD, there’s a life to save!” Smurf was staring at you with a pitiful look, while the others looked terrified at the fact the person in charge of saving them, can’t open a bloody tourniquet.

“Smurf get up! Get yourselves showered!” Smurf jumped up and the section took off running again. You slowly stand, jogging after them with Barnes at your side. You were right. He hadn’t broken a sweat.

“He could’ve died just then L/N.” He was speaking quieter now, but you could still her the enmity in his tone. “Now please don’t tell me we’ve got the only medic who can’t stand the sight of blood.”

You didn’t answer. You just gave him a look that said 'please can you fuck yourself’ and carried on running. Barnes stayed running beside you for a few seconds more before sighing and running off to the showers.

What a fucking asshole.

TAGS: @jacks-on-crack @sebstanwassup @kozmicrock @just-call-me-mrs-captain @beccaanne814-blog @charlesgrey1875 @kimistry27 @marvelrevival @viollettes @letmebecomeataboo @phvckingphandoms @langinator @emolordisme @magsimovna @fairchild21 @shelvesandwhelves @viollettes

[themusingsofacurlyhairednerd]

Sirens; Part 1 

 Summary: Octavia Blake is a rookie hotshot straight out of the police academy; fiery as hell and just as stubborn, she's ready to take on the city. Lincoln is a seasoned EMT, used to butting heads to make sure his patients get to the hospital while they're still breathing; except he's never butted heads with anyone as hot headed as Octavia and as fate would have it, the damned rookie keeps answering all the same emergency response calls. They're probably going to get each other fired... if they don't fall for each other first.

 (A slow-burn, modern linctavia AU requested by @brooklina)

“How’d the first day go, Officer Blake?”

Octavia shrugged out of her jacket as she shot her older brother an irritated look. “It was shit.” She strutted over to where Bellamy sat on the couch, arm slung over his long-time girlfriend Clarke Griffin, and snatched the beer he was holding out of his hand.

“Did something happen?” Bellamy asked as she downed the entire bottle and lobbed it into the nearest trash can.

“You mean aside from the drunk lady who flashed her tits at me and tried to bitch slap my FTO? Then no, nothing happened.”

“So what’s the problem again?” Clarke asks, leaning around Bellamy slightly.

“Nothing happening is the problem! I joined the police force to help people! Not clean vomit out of the back of a squad car.” She plopped down on the arm of the couch next to her brother.

“It’s your first day, O,” Bellamy reassured. “Besides, it could be worse. Miller’s K9 was so nervous he crapped all over the car and Miller had to spend the entire day with his head out the window.”

“I knew there was a reason I loved Bruiser,” Octavia replied.

“What about your field training officer? She’s cool right? All the EMTs that come through the hospital love her.”

“Indra? She’s amazing! And terrifying. Some of the guys said she once knocked out a meth dealer with one punch.”

“I saw that,” Bellamy replied, “it was beautiful.” Bellamy joined the Army right out of high school, and joined the Arkadia SWAT team shortly after his return. On a few rare occasions, he’d had the pleasure of working alongside Arkadia PD’s finest officer. 

“Is that the same meth dealer that said she wanted to have your babies while you were handcuffing her?” Clarke asked.

“Yikes!” Octavia shuddered.

“No, that was a different dealer,” Bellamy replied.

“Well, on that note, I’m gonna go find somewhere I can peacefully scream into an abyss,” Octavia said as she jumped off the couch.

“Tomorrow will be better, O, you’ll see,” Bellamy assured.

Octavia hoped so.

Despite all the chemicals and a power wash, the squad car still, somehow, managed to smell vaguely of vomit and b.o. Octavia cracked the windows and fiddled with the radio to try to distract herself, while Indra sat stoically beside her.

“That smell’s gonna go away, right?”

Indra shrugged, “You get used to it.”

Octavia suppressed a groan as she fiddled with the radio again. The only action they’d seen was a homeless man surfing in a stolen shopping cart down a busy intersection... and freaking John Murphy stole the call from them! 

“Does anything ever happen in this town?” She muttered to herself.

As if on que, the radio crackled with static before a chipper voice called out, “Units we have a 210 in progress on Polis Avenue.”

Octavia clicked the receiver so fast she thought it was going to break, while Indra whipped the car down a back alley to get to the scene in time. 

“This is David27. 10-4,” Octavia barked into the receiver as Indra drove over a curb to get into the parking lot of a popular liquor store. An armed robbery was much more her speed then drunken old ladies.

A moment later another voice came over the radio, “This is Zebra32. Going 23.”

“Ah come on! Does it have to be Murphy as backup?” Octavia groaned to herself.

“This isn’t the time for a turf war, Octavia,” Indra reprimanded as Murphy’s squad car pulled up on the other side of the parking lot. 

“This is David27. Going 23.”

Just as they were about to step out of the car, the front window of the liquor store erupted into tiny shards of glass. 

“998! Shots fired!” Murphy barked into his radio.

As he was speaking, a figure in a dark sweatshirt bolted from the side door of the liquor store

“Adam24. Suspect is fleeing on foot. David27 and I are in pursuit.” Indra sprinted after him, with Octavia on her heels, while Murphy went to double check the liquor store.

“Zebra32. Code 40. Civilian has been shot. Repeat, Code 40,” Murphy’s voice crackled over the radio as Indra and Octavia continued to pursue the suspect down the street.

“Freeze!” Indra ordered.

Little good it did. The suspect ducked into the nearest alley and began knocking over trash cans to slow them down. 

Octavia leaped over one, skirted another, and shooting past Indra, managed to snag the hood of the suspect’s jacket and yank him backwards. The suspect toppled over backwards, and Octavia, thrown off balance by the sudden change of direction, nearly fell on top of him.

“Freeze!” Indra ordered again, reaching where the two of them fell.

The suspect had rolled onto his side, legs tucked into his chest as he coughed and sputtered. “YOU BITCH! You tried to strangle me!”

Octavia, on her knees now, rolled him over onto his back. “You shouldn’t have run.”

“Octavia,” Indra warned.

Octavia gave him a quick pat down, finding a gun stashed in the back pocket of his jeans, and then slapped a pair of handcuffs on his wrists. “Hope cheap booze was worth jail time,” she snickered as she hauled him to his feet.

“I want a lawyer,” the man replied.

Octavia rolled her eyes, “Yeah and I want-”

“Octavia,” Indra warned again.

Octavia gritted her teeth and quickly read him his Miranda Rights as they walked him back towards the squad car. Parked between Murphy’s and their squad car, was an ambulance, it’s red and blue lights flashing. 

A couple of EMTs were wheeling the injured store manager out on a stretcher as Octavia and Indra approached with the perp. 

“Indra,” one of the paramedics acknowledged as the others raised the stretcher into the back of the ambulance. “You alright?” 

Indra stuck out her hand, shaking the younger man’s eagerly. “Good to see you, Lincoln. We’re fine. How’s the civilian?”

“Fine?!” The perp shouted incredulously. “This bitch tried to choke me to death! I almost died in an alley!”

“Is he hurt?” Lincoln took a quick look at the man, taking in the new rip in his jeans and the dirt around his clothes. A bit of a bruise was starting to form on his jaw from where his face had hit the floor but he was otherwise in tact.

Octavia glowered, “He’s fine! He’s being a baby.”

“I should check him out, anyway,” Lincoln insisted, glancing quickly back at the ambulance, where one of the other paramedics was jumping out of the back to grab a medical bag off the ground. “Wait a sec! We may have one more!”

“Please,” the perp’s voice lowered pleadingly as he saw a chance to escape jail time a little longer. “I.. I can’t breathe so well. I’ve got asthma.”

“No you don’t!” Octavia hissed.

“Do you know this man, personally?” Lincoln countered, folding his arms across his chest. He’d dealt with his share of hot headed police officers, and he wasn’t about to take lip from a rookie straight out of the Academy. 

“Well no...”

Lincoln scoffed as he turned to Indra, “Your partner must be new. This is procedure, Indra, you know that.” 

Indra sighed, “He’s right, Octavia.”

“But-!”

“I don’t know about you,” Lincoln said, turning back to Octavia, “but it’s my job to make sure people are safe. You can come yourself to watch him, but I’m taking him to a hospital.”

“Oh! I’m seeing stars!” The perp wailed.

“I’ll take him,” Indra responded.

“Indra!”

“That’s enough, Octavia. Lincoln’s right. We have to let them check him out.”

Octavia glared at Lincoln, who motioned them towards the still waiting ambulance.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!”

“Screaming into the abyss kinda early today, huh?” Bellamy leaned against the door frame, sweatpants low on his hips as he downed half a water bottle in one gulp. 

Octavia rolled onto her back, leaving the mountain of pillows she’d been screaming into behind for the time being as she sat up. “It’s bullshit, Bellamy! Since when do we coddle perps?”

“It’s for your own safety, O,” Bellamy reassured as he came to sit on the edge of her bed. “A lot of good cops lost their badges for not letting their suspects get proper treatment. And with crackpot defense attorneys like Echo working for the city, you gotta cover your ass.”

“You should have seen how that EMT looked at me, Bell,” Octavia grumbled, “like I was the bad guy!”

“Lincoln?” 

“How’d you know?”

“He’s a Victim’s Advocate, and he’s pretty intense about it,” Bellamy explained. “He once made Monroe cry, and she was a Marine.”

Octavia grimaced.

“Don’t let him get to you, O. You did a good job, and the guy’s still going to jail, just a little slower. Count it as a victory.”

She could hardly call it a victory when it had ended with the ambulance’s sirens blaring down the street, taking her perp with it. It wasn’t supposed to be this way! She was supposed to catch the bad guys and lock them up, not have them taken away by some over-concerned EMT.

Bellamy reached out and gave her shoulder a squeeze. “You gotta learn to live with policies, O, even if ya don’t like ‘em.”

She groaned as she threw herself back into her mountain of pillows. “Is it always gonna be like this?”

Bellamy stood, a grin on his face, “Depends on what calls you take.”

[burgermiester]

Fire Emblem Echoes: Another Hero King (Shadows of Valentia) Impressions

***No Story or Character Spoilers***

I dont speak or read a word of Japanese so I couldnt give my thoughts on the characters or story even if I wanted to.  In addition to missing out on the story and character development I also only scratched the surface of the skill(tech) system as well as the sidequest system.  All of that is enough to make me not want to call this a review; I need to play it in English and do the postgame content to have a complete opinion on the game, but as it stands I still have a lot of thoughts about the game after one complete playthrough. So...here are those thoughts:

Presentation:  I dont think I can praise the presentation highly enough.  Its always been the case with Fire Emblems on the same console that they look slightly better than the one before it, and thats no exception here.  The music, color palate, animations, menus, character and weapon designs are all among the best in the entire franchise.  Even though I couldnt understand the words, it was incredible to play a Fire Emblem game with full voice acting.  It really elevates the experience and I’m very pleased we have finally gotten to that point.  No idea if the localization will have good voice acting to make it work, but what we have heard so far has been great and generally speaking I think the 3DS games have done a good job in the area of localizations so I am not too concerned.  If I have one gripe about the presentation its in the fully animated CG cutscenes.  They still look very nice but the animation is a step down from what we saw in Awakening and Fates.

Gameplay other than combat: Fire Emblem Echoes, like Gaiden, is as different from any other Fire Emblem game as it could possibly be while still having that Fire Emblem feel.  There are a lot of things that work together to make the game feel so unique.  In addition to the world map that was in the original Gaiden and brought back in Sacred Stones and Awakening we also have towns and dungeons.  Now, towns and dungeons were a thing in Gaiden but they were the definition of minimal.  Towns consisted of one or two buildings where you talked to everyone and they either joined the party or warned you of a tough enemy coming up, and once in a while there was a chest as well.  Now towns are 4 or 5 screens with many more npcs to talk to and more items to find, as well as a blacksmith (who in Echoes is a cool buff lady instead of the normal gruff guy in most FE games!) in most of the towns.  It must be said that in the original game you could walk freely around the towns and now they are split up into screens and function more like a visual novel.  Some people are upset by this change, but I personally dont really care either way.  Being able to walk around would be slightly more immersive and the visual novel style is slightly more efficient and makes it easier to not miss any items, and I think both those things are valuable. 

Dungeons, on the other hand, are just a straight upgrade.  In Gaiden you walked down a hall and did a fight, sometimes thats repeated x2 or 3 times.  It got a little more complicated near the end in Celicas route and then again at the end of the game, but not much more complicated.  Now they are actually dungeons with secret passages and breakable objects and treasure and enemies that you can ambush or can ambush you.  All the dungeons have a really great atmosphere and feel unique from one another.  I admittedly dont play a lot of dungeon crawler type games, so I dont have a huge frame of reference here, but to me it felt like it was on the simpler side of dungeon crawlers, but not too simple that it wasnt enjoyable.  Aside from the lost woods which is a maze with a lot of signs that I couldnt read, I liked all of the dungeons in the game, and I expect that I wont have any problems with the lost woods once I can understand them better.  The fights themselves are simple and much easier than what you face in the main battles, so its overall just a fun atmospheric break from the main game where you win some easy fights, collect items, and maybe grab a promotion if anyone is ready. 

Oh, I almost forgot, fatigue is a mechanic in dungeons.  But just barely.  At no point was fatigue ever more than the most extremely minor inconvenience.  I really cant understand why they put it in the game.  It usually only even sets in if you stick around in a dungeon longer than normal to grind, so I assume its meant to penalize grinding, but that doesnt make a ton of sense because 1) dungeons are there for you to grind and 2) its not even a big punishment because its so easy to get around via just leaving the dungeon or using one of the ample foodstuffs to cure it.  So basically, its a bad mechanic that was poorly thought out and executed, but it barely matters so its easy to ignore and forget about.

I dont know what it is about finding weapons in a dungeon or picking it up from a castle you gained access to after a hard battle on the map, but it really makes them feel incredibly precious to me.  That feeling is made even stronger by multiple design elements: first, like Gaiden and Fates before it, weapons are unbreakable, so you can keep using them as long as you want and get more attached. Second, as your characters use the weapons they unlock techniques that they can use if they have those weapons equipped.  Last, forging has been added to the game and it uses a tiered system where you keep upgrading until you reach max level and then can upgrade it to an even better weapon entirely, letting you stay with your weapons throughout the game.  And unlike Fates which added a bunch of drawbacks to the S rank weapons to offset their power and infinite durability, the legendary weapons in Echoes are just great. I think its an amazing system.  I didnt fully understand the rings or shields, though I did use them as well, I got more out of having weapons equipped in general, but rings all have big descriptions as to their effects so I will have more to say when the game releases in English. 

I also didnt get a ton out of the skill system.  Since most skills dont double, I dont think youll be using them much on your mercenaries, pegs, or fast cavaliers, meaning typically worse off units like knights and archers might benefit from it.  I mainly used two skills in my playthrough: A very strong double attack from Alm’s personal weapon and a super accurate attack with Atlas using an iron bow which in conjunction with his massive attack stat meant big chip damage.  Ill have more to say about this later, but I am tentatively pretty excited about this system.

Battles in Echoes: The actual combat in Echoes is significantly different than any other FE game.  Three major things really work together to make that true: Theres no Weapon Triangle, Growths are pretty low across the board, and when you promote you are brought up to the class baseline in stats.  These things in conjunction with each other make it so that classes have a far stronger identity than ever before.  Every class is well suited to fighting certain other classes, and you really dont want to send one of your units up against an enemy type that is good against them.  This means that juggernauting is mostly out of the game as you really need to fight with your whole army to be able to deal with all enemy types.  And thats right, I said the whole army.  There are no deployment limits other than in dungeon battles.  This is a pretty big deal and really makes the gameplay different than other Fire Emblems.  The only other main game with no deployment limits is Genealogy of the Holy War, however in that game I almost always found myself either not fielding a few of the units or fielding them and then they never made it to the fighting because of low movement.  In Echoes, I always wanted to use everyone and they almost all were useful in some small way.  This hugely changes the feel of the game for me.  I know a lot of people were concerned about there being no pair-up and how that would diminish the feeling of bonds between units, but this game gave me a stronger feeling of togetherness between my army than any other FE game prior has done and it wasnt even in a language I understood! It was just the game mechanics working to tell that story.  I always had to keep my army in a tight bunch, both to try and keep them all within their three tile support range and to be close by to attack the enemies who attacked their friends. It feels really great to fight with my whole team, even my armor knights, for the first time. 

Compared to Gaiden: I am already a big fan of Gaiden so inevitably I couldnt help but to compare it with the original while I played.  Some of these things might not even be noticeable for anyone who didnt play Gaiden but they mattered to me and I want to point them out in any case.  First the biggest thing to Gaiden fans: all the buffing and nerfing.  Generally, I didnt really notice a lot of the buffs.  Clair and Mae were both a lot better units than previously but otherwise I couldnt tell you off the top of my head who else was improved and how.  Nerfs were a lot more noticeable: Falcoknights and Dread Fighters, while still amazing, are much less impressive than they used to be.  I suppose it makes sense but I cant help but feel disappointed.  Gaiden/Echoes pushes rpg elements and is generally a game that seems to encourage grinding, letting the player have overpowered things at endgame seems like it compliments those design decisions.  Similarly, they nerfed mummies in a major way.  Before they appeared in big groups near the end of both routes for the player to easily grind up the entire party in a very short amount of time if they wanted to do so.  Now they appear randomly, run away from you, and when/if you do get to kill them they barely give any exp unless you are extremely underleveled.  Its a game where grinding could actually be fun but they dont include any way to level up past level 12 or so without it taking a miserably long time.  On the opposite end of things, I really approve of the nerf to warp.  Before you could warp any unit to anywhere on the map and it really lent itself to letting Alm’s half become an Alm solo.  With it now having a much shorter range, its more encouraging to use your entire army and not just Alm, and I think thats a good thing. 

My One Big Fear:  This goes hand in hand with my big complaint from last section, but I think this game might just have the scummiest dlc practice of any Nintendo game.  The original Gaiden gave players easy access to endgame grinding to level up all their units to max very quickly and easily if they so desired.  Echoes changed it so that those enemies now give an insignificant amount of exp and they are selling a new way to grind easily as DLC.  That really sucks.  Theres nothing else to say than cutting something out of a remake and selling it separately is a really really shitty thing to do.  I hope enough people become aware of what they did and protest.  DLC practices have gotten progressively worse since Awakening but this is the worst of the bunch, and I really hope this trend doesnt keep going into the Switch FE era.  I also am very worried about the money in this game.  I did not have nearly enough money to do all the forging that I wanted to do and I am aware that a gold farming dlc is planned.  This would be just as shitty of a practice as with exp if the money situation is as bad as it immediately seems because giving everyone forged weapons would make the game more fun, and that fun is blocked by a paywall.  That being said, I will give them the benefit of the doubt for now because I didnt do many sidequests, and its possible that theres a lot of money to be earned there or elsewhere and I didnt know it.  If in-game gold is actually as rare as it seems and buying a dlc to getit more easily is heavily encouraged then I will be very disappointed.

In conclusion: Theres some seriously troubling aspects of monetization that actually hamper enjoyment of the game, and fatigue and food seem to largely be a waste of time, but that aside Echoes is a fantastic game and a real treat to Gaiden fans and Fire Emblem fans and video game fans in general.  Its all around an enormously fun experience that I know will get even better once I get to play it in English. 

[humanscandrivestick]

E.Q.--When Allegro Comes Marching Home

Fleace’s career as a Metal gets off to a good start.

~~~

Metal 187 had been working defection cases for a few years before they were officially sent overseas to Germany to put down a rebellion.  The plane engines hadn't even had time to go cold before Allegro, now codenamed Fleace, led his 5 man team into Vilseck, Germany, and flattened 3 consecutive Metal dance-easies in what may have been considered record time.  The last had been mildly tricky, since the DJs had holed up in the restored Rose Barracks, a former US Army base nearby.  Mildly since the barracks themselves had proved to be a substancial fortification until Double and Jeeves suggested explosives to blow a hole in part of it. He liked this Jeeves, someone he happened to find when busting an easy early in his career.  Double recognized the talent and while processing him after picking the easy up, cut a deal: play for the Corps or prison for 35 to life.   Jeeves' mother, as he put it succinctly, didn't raise a fool.  He took the deal, and quickly showed a ruthless, savage side Fleace took to immediately.  Maybe it was the fact he was now a government sanctioned murderer, but of anyone that Double and Fleace had ever observed in the Metal division, Jeeves adored the job. He picked up Double whom was contemplating retiring active duty to mentor in the second run of Rothbarts.  Already well into his 50s, which was positively ancient for a Metal, and prehistoric for a drummer, Fleace reasoned he was a man who knew what he was doing.  Instead of becoming a mentor to the young man when he joined, Double soon found that he was more like a second in command, as the junior Metal made all the decisions, reckless as they were initially but always successful.   Those first several years, he'd tell Fleace, "You're going to get me killed." "If that were true, you'd be dead by now.  You're Immortal, old boy," he'd reply smugly. The rhythm guitarist and bassist came as a pair, given ridiculous codenames by their original team, and didn't bother changing them.  The bassist spoke little, but was impeccable in his job and play style.  Nothing extravagant, took his leads from his teammates, but that's why Fleace liked him.  Always did what he was told without protest.  The rhythm guitarist was a little more active and receptive.  More of a partier, definitely a drinker, but had an alcohol tolerance that was nearly superhuman.  Fleace liked that too.  Made him chatty. They were flush from excitement after their German tour (except the usually austere bassist, and the now rapidly aging Double), and entered their office.  Wine and beer was broken out.  When Fleace woke the next morning, he wasn't sure what they had or how much, but damn was it worth it.  Jeeves and Google were already gone, and though he declined to partake, his partner had cleaned the office.  He went to change and came back to settle in at the computer before Double came back in for the morning. The bassist returned with a pot of coffee but Fleace shook his head and yawned. "Shit.  Where the fuck does your partner put it all?" he asked. "Dunno," the taciturn bassist replied. He rolled his eyes and glanced up as the guitarist in question entered again. "Hung over, boss?" he asked with a smirk. "The hell you put that all, I swear to Lem." He retorted with a mirrored smirk. "Dude, I'm always drinking, I prolly got Jack Daniels instead of blood." "Fucker." "I heard something from Double." "What's that?" "You ever been to Kenya?" Fleace gave him a look of amused confusion.  "No." "I heard maybe that's the next tour." "What for?" "MC's got problems with a resistance movement.  Like this is civil war big problems." Fleace raised an eyebrow and leaned back in his chair.  "Hmm.  Someone musta been pretty impressed with Vilseck.  How do you know all this crap?" "You wouldn't believe me if I said."  The rhythm guitarist dropped into his chair and started on his half full bottle of whiskey. "Try me.  I'm hungover and jetlagged as fuck.  I'll believe anything." "Well around 3 when the rest'a you pussies passed out, I went to the mess hall to see if i couldn't weasel another 6 pack.  And there's this old dude drinking by hisself in the kitchen.  Like he's got a bottle of fucking rose and like 3 glasses.  Like he's partying with himself and the spooks for something.  So I ask him if he wants company." "Right.  So some rando wants to have a guy who stumbles over himself and smells like a distillery drink with him." "Hey, I may stink like a moonshine factory, but I'm coherent enough shitfaced, asshat."  He grinned.  This was true.  Somehow no matter how much he drank, he was able to walk a straight line and talk pretty clearly. "So he said yes?  Maybe this guy is creepier than you." "Yeah maybe, but I got my axe still and what the hell, he's got booze.  And we get to talking and tell him what Metal I'm in and stuff.  He seemed impressed with Vilseck and shit.  So he asked who the team lead was and I said it was you.  He seemed to know who you are but he used a different name....uhhhh, whatsit. " "Allegro," Fleace replied, growing slightly irritated with the story detours. "Yeah, that's it.  Dude, Fleace's so much better by the by.  And he says that 187's been doing so well that he knows that there's a huge tour coming up that they need a crack team to pick up.  He says Kenya's where its at." "And how did he know about that?" "Well, he's got an armband, and he's some high rank Classico I think.  So maybe he knew." "Did he have a number?" "Nah, his armband didn't have a number.  But he said his name was Leitmotiv." Fleace and his bassist blinked at him.  That he remembered that was pretty impressive. "Leitmotiv?  Never heard of him."  Fleace shrugged and tossed back a bottle of water on his desk.  "But if he's some Classico without a number and a name like that, maybe he just might know something."  He made a mental note to check in with Sonatina.  "Anyhow, I say fuckit to work.  Take the day off and shove out.  I gotta headache to sleep back off."  Both of his teammates shrugged and left the office, leaving him to think about the information.  Google had the tendency to find a lot of gossip, but his tips and leads were often pretty good.  Its what made their easy busting so easy. There was a knock at the door.  He sighed.  "We're closed.  Come back tomorrow." A voice, smooth like beaten cream, with lilting tones of sweetened levity, came from the other side.  "Ah, forgive me, Allegro.  Perhaps we could have a chat on a different day...?" Curiosity compelled him to get up out of his chair and open the door.  A middle aged man was standing there. His hazel eyes were, in this dim morning light, nearly yellow like citrine gemstones.  He had striking black hair, coiffed neatly and with a sheen that caught the artificial lighting.  He was wearing a long overcoat with silk accents and collar, over an impeccably pressed black suit.  His left arm had a deep emerald green armband has Classico in cursive embroidery, but it lacked a number. He raised a curious eyebrow.  "And who do I have the honor of meeting...?" "Leitmotiv....I spoke with one of your...associates earlier this morning....  Ah...I mean, last night."  He had an easy smile, but one with a slight pull like a magnet.  It made Fleace faintly wary.  Still...curiosity and possibility compelled him to give him a smirk back. "Please...come in."

[risingsouls]

Recruited: Chapter 7

[Emotional shit! *jazz hands*. I almost cut this off early but then I had a THOUGHT. So enjoy :3]

Nabooru

This mission didn’t follow the typical aggressive vein of work assigned to her and the Saiyans. A few years in now, she had accompanied her new cohorts on a fair amount of jobs that involved putting down this rebellion or that by killing the insurrectionists, no questions asked. They battled entire armies with ruthless abandon, killed smaller groups working behind the scenes to usurp governments loyal to the empire. Dispatched a radical or ten and destroyed and purged entire planets when the rebellions ran too deep. All without much more instruction than “put a stop to it,” which, for them, meant through violence.

Nabooru leaned her hip against her pod as she reviewed the instructions on her scouter again. Though well acquainted with the task at hand after a week long trip, she still felt like she had misread. Due to the rebellious faction turning the greater portion of the planet's army against the monarchy who remained loyal to the empire, their team had been sent to Planet Trimbon to meet with the leader of the rebels and come to a peaceful solution that would place the army back under the control of the monarchy and, therefore, on the empire's side. Supposedly, this army was valuable enough to try and coax away from this charismatic leader and back to the fold rather than to simply murder.

Even more strange than to order a trio of blood-thirsty Saiyans and a more combat-oriented Gerudo to deal in matters of diplomacy was the order from Frieza himself that Nabooru meet with the leader alone. Vegeta, Nappa, and Raditz would find a position and ready themselves for an attack should the meeting take a turn for the worse. 

She tried to tamp it down, to maintain her focus on the task at hand, but paranoia settled into her subconscious during her time on the force, a growing shadow that mangled reason and picked at her confidence at the worst possible times. This mission felt like a trap, too out of place and out of character, and, as she observed her comrades, she thought she witnessed the same consideration in their own disgruntled expressions. Vegeta looked outright pissed. Though she imagined it was because someone other than him was in control of the success and failure of the mission.

"Did you set your scouter properly?" he growled. "Keep the line open. We'll be able to hear if you screw it up and react accordingly."

"Yeah, no offense, Nabs, but you sure you're cut out for this?" Nappa folded his arms over his broad chest. The use of any nickname for her used to irk her and she let them know in snappish fashion, but the more time she spent with the Saiyans--the fights, the missions, the reminiscing and shit talking over a drink or several (this one mostly with Nappa and Raditz, though Vegeta joined on occasion)--the more comfortable she grew with their camaraderie. She still kept them at arm's length, tried to keep her care for them skin deep and as fellow soldiers. But as time wore on, she found herself shifting closer and closer to craving a proper friendship with them. Even the prickly Saiyan prince.

"I'm not," she snorted. "Never have been. My temper and mouth had a tendency to get me in trouble and derail talks back home before too long. I never really got why our king kept dragging me along. It wouldn't surprise me if it was some sort of strategy of his. Or maybe it was simply for the entertainment value. I always found it fun to make those sexist nobles uncomfortable just by speaking at all, honestly."

Raditz shook out his mane, flattened by sitting on it for the long trip. "Think they would notice if we skipped the diplomacy, then?" He fit his scouter to the side of his head. "I'm sure we could tell them we were attacked upon landing and our hands were tied. If Frieza's going for a less forceful impression on dealing with insurgents, I don't see why he sent us here when he has all sorts of people who only deal in diplomacy to take care of this. Especially when she just admitted she would probably mess up."

"For once, I agree with him." Vegeta's obsidian eyes shot to Nabooru. "We stick to orders no matter how unnecessary. I just hope you have a better plan than running your mouth and saying something idiotic."

"No guarantees." She flashed him a grin but, when his peeved expression morphed to a full glare, she added, "This won't be hard and Frieza knows it. Back home, my people and I didn't have the power or leverage to back up our demands. We had to play their games and fit into their molds to make any leeway. That's not the case here. They likely think it is, though. The problem will be not letting my own impatience get the better of me, really."

Vegeta scrutinized her for several moments longer, the tapping of the end of his tail against his waist catching her attention. Thoughtful rather than forceful with anger. Finally, he clicked his tongue. "See to it that it doesn't," he ordered. He turned on his heel to face the other two. "At least we know you have a strategy rather than going in blind like a fool. Hurry up and get going. The sooner we get this over with, the better."

Nabooru nodded and double checked her scouter, placing it on the proper settings. "As you wish."

She shot Nappa and Raditz a wink before taking off, following the tracker toward the capital city. An unneeded aid; the twisted, alabaster spires of the palace rose over the horizon, piercing the chartreuse sky like spears. Extravagant and gaudy, it reminded her of Hyrule Castle. It resided at the center point of the sprawling city, the hub of the planet's governing body and home of likely hapless rulers if Frieza liked them enough to have the royal family and everyone else who lived there evacuated as soon as the force soldiers stationed on the planet caught wind of the insurrection. She doubted it was a courtesy extended lightly. Only to those who proved most useful and sucked up the best, she imagined.

Slowing her flight, she gazed down at the city, noting pock marks of destruction here and there, buildings still aflame and a steady flow of survivors rushing for any exit they could find. The wall surrounding the castle had been breached and destroyed in multiple locations. More a show of strength over actual need since the rebellious soldiers could likely fly. 

Nabooru landed at the base of the palace steps and ascended, approaching a pair of guards poised at the entrance. One wore what appeared to be a uniform of sort while the other dressed in more ragtag combat gear. Long, pointed ears jutted out from the sides of their angular faces and their irises took up most of the space of their eyes that lacked pupils, one colored silver and the other a deep plum. They turned to face her upon her approach, expressions wrinkling in distaste.

"Thought we ran you lot off with the cowardly royal family," the soldier grunted, folding his arms and widening his stance. "State your business or get lost, loyalist dog."

The familiarity of his reaction made her snort. "I have a meeting with your leader arranged by Lord Frieza himself. What was his name? I can't seem to remember it. I'm kept awfully busy conquering planets and I try to only remember the most important bits of information."

The pair exchanged looks of doubt and aggravation. "You're the envoy that tyrant sent to see the great Floyt?" the rebel asked, plum eyes narrowed in disbelief. 

"I am. So which one of you would like to escort me to him?"

The soldier took up his post once more before the rebel could argue, causing him to growl. "Fine. Follow me."

He turned on his heel and Nabooru followed him inside. The extravagant entrance hall had been destroyed. Graffiti lined the walls. Expensive art and décor lay in shatters or was missing from pedestals or hooks on the wall. Looters and vandals alike darted this way and that, laughing as they swiped up whatever was left that they could get their hands on for profit or destroy for the joy of it. 

From what she understood, she would rather back them. An oppressed people taking back what was theirs. Overturning an abusive monarchy. If only her life hung in the balance and not her entire race’s; she would purposely sabotage her mission and instead aid this army and the next in freeing themselves from tyrants like Frieza. The king of Hyrule. All the others thriving off the pain of others.

But she wasn't confident she could get away with it without arousing suspicion. And even if she did as far as the meeting went, fighting the retaliation was another story. Raditz alone could take on the strongest members of this army. She would have little excuse for failing in that department.

The guard escorted her into a throne room in a similar state of disarray and commotion as the rest of the palace. The throne sat upon a raised platform, its gild and glamor marred by paint and the remnants of the old banners strewn over it. The man seated on it was tall and lanky, his legs draped over one of its arms and his body resting against the other. He wore similar attire as her rebel escort.

"Leader Floyt, I present the diplomat sent by you know who." He bowed low.

Nabooru rested a hand on her hip, amusement dancing in her gold eyes. Floyt ordered him to rise with a wave of his hand and straightened in his stolen seat, chest puffed out. It was no secret he reveled in his newfound power and status, and his followers were more than happy to oblige. She wondered how deep the fanaticism ran, if this would be savior surrounded himself with yes men and desperate fools or if he had truly created a movement here.

"I hardly expected someone so lovely when the soldiers stationed here were so disgusting." He stood and straightened his top. "You are dismissed, Clarin. No one else in or out unless told otherwise."

Clarin bowed and turned back the way they came. Nabooru watched him until the gargantuan doors closed with a bang behind him, then returned her attention to her host. Floyt descended from the dais and halted in front of her. He stood a few inches shorter than her, and his long ears were bedecked with earrings from lobe to tip. He had softer features than his cohorts, but the cleverness in his smirk and the cunning in his tangerine eyes couldn't be dismissed. Her patience was already being tested as his gaze roved over every inch of her, making her want to pluck his eyes from his skull.

"Are you sure you're not looking for a new employer? I'm certain I could find several positions for you amongst my ranks."

"I'm not. But I'll keep you in mind when my contract is up." His delight faltered for the ghost of a second. Her memories of Ganondorf and how he dealt in matters of diplomacy both within their tribe and outside of it served her well. Pleasant enough but firm. Just like a fight, play to her strengths and their weaknesses. "We have business to discuss. Surely my beauty hasn't made you forget that I'm here for Lord Frieza?"

Floyt clicked his tongue and nodded toward the door behind the throne. "All work and no play, I see. Come along then. We can use the war room. Would you like any refreshments? I can have whatever you like brought up from the kitchens."

Nabooru fell in step with the leader and waited as he opened the door, slipping past him and into the room with a shake of her head. "This won't take long enough to finish anything, let alone enjoy it."

She didn't miss the flash of disappointment--annoyance, even--before allowing her attention to observe the chamber she now found herself in. Large and circular with a high, domed ceiling, compared to the rest of the castle she had seen, the war room remained mostly untouched by the rebels in their revelry. The maps lining the walls remained pristine, the long table at the head of the room along with the various seating throughout remained intact and currently unoccupied. She half wondered if the current occupier had yet to use it.

Floyt closed the door behind them and strode passed her with the easy confidence of a child who won their first spar. He crossed to the room to the round table at the head of the chamber, taking a seat in the elegant chair obviously meant for the king. Nabooru joined him at the table, remaining on her feet opposite him. 

"Your boss has a deal to offer me, yes?"

"Deal is a strong word, but I have been asked to attempt something like one." Nabooru flipped her ponytail over her shoulder. "What is it you really want, Floyt? Power? Money? Fame?"

"Freedom," he answered. The light caught the jewels twinkling on his fingers as he banged his fist on the table. Tattoos or an intricate birthmark started at the top of his hand and snaked under his sleeve. She noticed the same markings peeking out from beneath his collar. "From this abusive monarchy. From the clutches of the Cold Empire. I'm looking to change this planet for the better. Give Trimbonians the life they deserve after centuries of serving this pitiful excuse of a monarch and his good for nothing family. Surely even you can understand the tantalizing draw of freedom."

She could. And his words. His desires. They were all very familiar to her. His speech struck a chord, but this mission was not her own. She wasn't really calling any shots here. A puppet, a mouthpiece, nothing more.

"I see. I can only offer a compromise." The Gerudo folded her arms, and cocked her head to the right. "Frieza is really only interested in maintaining the army on this planet, keeping it loyal to him for whatever he needs them for. The royal family is...disposable in some ways. However, this planet will need a leader, someone to maintain matters and the army. Swear loyalty and servitude to Frieza and the Cold Empire and you can have your revolution. At least from the royal family. It's the best I can do. Refuse and I can't guarantee your survival." The same offer given to her people, essentially. If he agreed like the Gerudo had, would she be ordered to pluck him or some other soldier from the fold to join the galactic army like she had been? To destroy lives in order to maintain those on the planet they left behind?

"Is that a threat?" he spat, sandy brows lowered and lip curled upward in a snarl. Despite it, he kept a dangerous demeanor about him, but collected enough. He closed his eyes for a moment, two. "His soldiers were no match for us. We have the numbers to manage on our own. Your threats are meaningless. We will fight if we have to and take no prisoners."

"It's only a threat if you let it be one. I'll level with you: this is going to sound like a boast, but I'm several times stronger than the soldiers you've dealt with here. I can take your army on single handedly. As can each of the Saiyans I have with me." She pinned him with a resolute stare, gold eyes glinting in the light of the chandelier overhead. "Refuse to stand down and agree to these terms, you and anyone else who stands against us will be killed. This is your one chance to make your difference and save your soldiers."

The rebel leader remained silent, still as a statue seated in the usurped monarch's seat. Save for his face. They flitted between her and the table, her and his fist. The corners of his lips dipped lower and his eyebrows joined them. Nabooru recognized that pained expression. The stubborn pride warring with reason and responsibility to others outside of oneself. She had seen it on her face in the mirror, Ganondorf's countless more. Her heart felt heavy as it did in those conversations with Ganondorf. On those rare occasions when the heat of their arguments fizzled down to the deep, dark hurt of helplessness. In their private meeting to decide if taking Frieza's offer to them was the answer, the right move. To this day, she wasn't so sure.

Finally: "I refuse." He swallowed and met her gaze, hand dropping from the top of the table. "I'm taking back what is ours. Continuing to serve the tyranny of the Cold Empire is just as bad as if not worse than bowing down to that worthless king again."

Nabooru offered a solemn nod. "Very well. I'll relay this message to my betters and be on my way. But I'm sure we'll--"

Nappa's voice in her ear cut her short. "Your friend there ordered the army to attack." She narrowed her eyes at Floyt, who leaned back in his chair with a victorious grin and propped his feet up on the table. "You've got company on the way. We cut off some, but a lot of 'em got into the palace before we could stop 'em."

Sure enough, the revelry beyond the doors of the war room turned to cries for blood and carnage and select unkind insults slung her way. "I suppose for once the king's paranoia pays off. Never thought I'd get to sound any alarms so soon," Floyt purred, foot tapping the air. A boom resounded from the next room, the doors slamming open to admit a flow of rebels and soldiers alike. "Looks like I'll get to see if your boast was just talk after all."

Nabooru opened her mouth to respond, but closed it again as the gruff voice of the Saiyan prince growled in her ear, "Kill the leader and anyone else who stands in your way. We did our part and the fools spurned the mercy handed to them. We're done here."

She swallowed a sigh. “No, unfortunately, you won’t get to see anything else. But I will at least make it quick for you.” For me she should have added as she raised her hand. To spare her the agony of killing him face to face, a man who, perhaps, would have started a brand new age free of tyranny for the people of Trimbon. 

The universe would never know now.

She watched his expression shift from dumbfounded to furious. Floyt jumped from his seat and she just saw the flash of white ki build in his hands as he jumped on the table. It and its source were swallowed in the wave of orange energy she fired from her own palm, reducing them to nothing along with the chairs, table, and documents resting upon it. The wall behind him exploded in a cloud of dust and debris, scraps of those intricate maps floating to the carpeted floor in the aftermath.

Nabooru took the moment of silence outside of the war room door to collect herself. Sink back into soldier mode, where those who would fall by her hand no longer had lives or friends or families. They were simply the enemy. Kill or be killed. It was all for her people who she swore to protect at all costs.

As a result, her battle through the palace was little more than a blur. She didn’t see faces or hear the cries of pain as bones crunched beneath her fists and feet, or her blasts obliterated and sliced through them. She barely felt the pain of the lucky blows that landed on her person, shaken off in favor of swift retaliation.

Only when she stepped outside, the cooler breeze sobering her for a long enough moment to take stock of her surroundings, did sense return. She found her cohorts fighting the remaining soldiers, apparently deciding to have a little fun rather than simply blasting them all in a few quick attacks. Only Vegeta seemed to notice her after striking his opponent with a punishing kick and sending him flying into the palace wall. He nodded toward the others, a signal for her to help with the clean up. She wasted no time and joined the fray, the veil of duty once more obscuring the hypocrisy of her actions.

The last of the rebellion fell and Nabooru regrouped with the other three, Nappa and Raditz, at least, in good spirits.

“Damn, those guys actually made me break a sweat,” Nappa announced, grinning. “If they were just a little stronger, they might have actually caused us a real problem.”

Raditz flicked blood from his hands. “We probably wouldn’t have had to fight if the idiot just took the offer. Really threw away a rare moment of mercy from Frieza.”

“It doesn’t matter now. Let’s get going.” Vegeta’s boots hovered over the blood soaked ground, and the other two followed suit. 

Nabooru glanced over her shoulder, at the damaged palace. The white walls and twisting spires. Her frown deepened and she flew straight upward and halted suddenly. The other three followed, and she ignored their baffled expressions and questions. A sphere of ki crackled in her hand and she hurled it down toward the opulent edifice. It exploded on impact, the blast blooming outward and engulfing the palace and grounds in fiery destruction. A smoking crater was all that was left at the center of the capital city.

She didn’t wait for the others’ protests or praises. She didn’t care to talk or explain anything, from this back to her conversation with Floyt. For once, the solitude of her pod and the long trip back to base or the next planet sounded comforting.

[justforustravel-blog]

Turkey’s inspiring travel blogs – Part 2 - #AmericaAndEurope, #Asia, #Chinese, #Enduro, #India, #NiceTraveling, #Singapore, #SouthAmerica, #Travel, #TravelBlog, #TravelBlogs, #TravelNotes, #Travelers, #TravellerGuides, #Turkey, #Usa

New Post has been published on http://justforustravel.com/2017/10/10/turkeys-inspiring-travel-blogs-part-2/

Turkey’s inspiring travel blogs – Part 2

in the month of April “India’s a travel blog inspiring The 50” the story I had published. Then you need to comment, I need a message on the blog page as the incoming I took the suggestion of dozens. All the beautiful, content-filled, intimate, a unique language, beautiful people blogs. In this paper, Turkey’s The second part of the travel bond’publishes ini. Again in alphabetical order.

  Enduro 2

constantly as it travels around the running engine with Tolga and Erkin writing, photographing. Right now they’re making a documentary; The name of the army of Texas. The most intimate journey in the world-is wrong to say that the documentary film would it be? I don’t think so. This documentary from the trailer to the duo’s Vimeo account you can follow.

Honor Travelogues

and life, and his companion, a couple of Ayfer going after their dreams, and honor. Since 2001, in the USA at every opportunity they can live near or far trips to the route they do. Human does not envy. Travel more North&South America’s either. At the same time carried to their blogs about their trips motor. Your favorite pair of this year.

3. Ilsu Walker’s Notes

born in 1974, Istanbul. Held managerial positions in the field of Marketing for international brands for 16 years as of 2013 Full-time history of idleness. , 1993’te ride, 1994’s diving te, 1998’s started taking pictures. 2006’since this blog’s u it says. Appetite read with the kind of writings. Oceania’s have gone up that I suggest you follow the crazy woman.

4. TR Backpacker

Pasha a backpacker. Backpack travel writings. The writings, you may encounter a very interesting picture. Also available for backpackers that could be considered very valuable suggestions on this blog also.

5. Expect us

travel notes, event news, deals, venue reviews, user photos and the site is filled with interactive a site as possible. Who calls the team out into the world, she won’t leave you alone during your trip.

6. Beyond the Dreams

Batuhan a backpacker. Although still very young, traveled extensively, and wrote as you navigate through. In the block “a few words from different points,” wrote, look at each place he visited long and wonderful descriptive about its content.

7. Vacant

a young mertcan from Izmir, travel enthusiast. Curiosity roam on the blog so very sweetly explained: ““my roving curiosity he took my mother at a young age I can say that the days of the gold goes to. At that time the other, with the children from their mother, each time we pulled out to explore the different neighborhoods. Each day was a separate adventure. At that time, the end of each adventure, of course, pies and cupcakes with my reasons for making it big you don’t need to over think about. However, the most important thing that motivates me for a real ride into the wild in 2009 I watched the movie. I was influenced by my sister’s suggestion, I watched some of the movies I have to admit. Or let’s just say that after this film I came to my senses a bit.”

8. City Shot

a complete shot in the city a great resource with the author 11. Just visiting, watching, love, listening, reading, and they wear the things they write about. Site also has interviews with some of the famous names are also available. Go to a sex site and hours that will be spent, so stay tuned.

9. I’m traveling with kids

Is a travel enthusiast full behi. Learned that this passion must not give up when you get married and have children, family life, adapted to travel, must be. From blogs to keep families with children.

10. So that little guy

his passion for travel first Paris Osman’s when e tasted, then no one has not prevented the trip. Full news and blog coverage about the auto industry and a car enthusiast. Practical suggestions about travel, about experiences of the beautiful places to visit block become a bandwagon. So in hindsight, Osman. 11. Designer on the road

Call a designer at the same time, kadir has University’s advertising side teaches. The website and blog on travel-oriented content and wonderful video. With her passion for travel to share with you a paragraph, I would recommend you to visit this site: “a lot on the way I had in mind to find and explore. New jobs, new friends, new relationships, New Women, new lessons, new flavors and new teachings and a new paragraph… never beklemedig and freedom as possible. I guess this gave me the biggest surprise was the road. For some reason, I didn’t think I’d be a different person at the end of 3 years. Ultimately this three-year process, I’ve learned it’s not how long we live, it was what happened, in other words, has not the qualities of the quantity. The day before I was 30 years old, 60-year-old, I have lived more than most people, and I saw, and I think I am having the pleasure of it.”

12. Stop Traverse

our writer to write for a very significant reason. Tomorrow many details that can tell your grandchildren about your life wants to keep me. Paris himself was curious about the details of his father’s memories, but unfortunately was not destined to learn. Full active for 4 years although it is not a very large archive of the blog, it is useful.

13. Travel the world

A family blog, for this reason, as much as possible sincere. The travels of the brothers who will not dream of traveling the world on this blog you will find suggestions of. The blog is also full of detail amazes me that in 7 different languages that one labor respect + rep I’m saying

14. Roads Fatih

out of the backpack and put Fatih in 2013. After completing the tour of Turkey, travel of the fire, of course, quicklime. Together with him you have a bike and traveling. Extreme sports you may be interested in having the blog tab and take a look.

15. We will visit

we’ll travel planners travel guide your own vacation. A site which is founded by 4 friends, especially for those who intend to travel to the Americas is a good resource. I say don’t pass information when the site came to the bedside.

16. Roving Mom

the adventures of travel and passion flavor is a great resource where you will find children and a single mother. Apetizing site alone, I’ll make my warning already.

17. Place roving

on the count of travel, in front of your eyes museums, beaches, it’s history, but also restaurants, cafes, come in assorted flavors if this blog is for you. Introducing delicacies in the places visited and places he sees, the design is a very nice trip-food block.

18. Gezenti mother’s diary

the twins ‘ mother, white collar, blogger, subsequently gourmet, gezenti, nature lover, 36 countries, 127 for a trip of city sightseeing crazy. Such full of energy, full of life and mother very glad to see me

19. Traveler Double

get married and go on a honeymoon where everything started in 2008 with questions. Honeymoon in the Far East’s go, here was love. Since then, the Far East, Europe, and Turkey’s fling they’re having. I thought this site would help us also overcome travel writing kdecided to set up. Sight and touch

20. Traveller Guides

oriented Traveller Guides Turkey travel-culture site. World Heritage, at the cemetery, like the works of the masters more culture-oriented, the source is not available for you if you want to make trips to Turkey.

21. Flashes traveler

Soner of travelers traveler himself describes him as his brother. On a trip a couple of times he started running away from home at a very small age and in later periods irrevocably by a passion for travel, turned into a lifestyle that does not describe the recipe. Their journey, especially on foot since 1987 and he is doing professional remote roads.

22. Explorer is the name of the planet

Tamer Mirage and since 2009, “likes to share the outdoors saying,” roam, their passions, their trip, share their experience and their memories. Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Adriatic, follow a pair of hovering in different corners of the world such as Tanzania, you’ll find yourself planning.

23. The navigator’s Compass

the navigator’s Compass, a team that loves to travel for travelers of Turkey’s new social travel platform. The seeds of passion roam the founders many years ago butterfly Valley’of the Australians at the world while listening to journey was thrown. As a member of the site can join in and share your adventures.

24. For the sake of the trip

Hülya was born in 83. Resigned after 8 years working for a corporate company and the road gave. I have never regretted it, not that would be why:) love from Paris, you can find plenty of blog writing about Paris.

25. Trip Journal

The trip more Jurnal focusing on Turkey, his face turned slightly to the West, have you took a look at what a travel blog. Book reviews there’s a section within the block at the same time. The selected language of the blog and also exquisite, as is the Claim, very original. A different interpretation of the trip, necessarily visit.

26. A party trip

Onur Toraman was born in 82. For the first time abroad for language education, %c4 supporting: the UK’s always wanted to be discovered that now when you go to eat on the road. Since then trying to spend every holiday abroad. UK specialist, a full 10 times visited. Apart from this, Turkey, Asia, America and Europe you can find many articles about on the blog.

27. The trip was a flood of

a flood of followers and serious yet it has been a year trip with a travel blog. Travel in addition to eating, drinking, clothing, special section in Singapore, it covers various topics, such as Chinese lessons for the Turks. Very useful blog shortly.

28. Places to be visited

Aykut Dusova’s places to be visited, founded by vacation destinations, historic sites, recreation areas, historical places such as broaches a different subject contents. Transportation, accommodation, such as Visa, also showing the source of the site that answer your questions.

29. Trip-Comment

according to the continent allocated to the content that is collected under different tabs. A wide variety of information about many regions of the world that you can find a powerful resource.

30. So nice traveling

collecting the writings of those who love to travel travel traveling so nice’. Constructors gafter their trip they were writing these articles in the first place they said we can keep it safe, virtual environment, computer crashes, because all of it will be gone. Founded the site with such a naive thought. It says more family members, and now is home to dozens of articles, and waiting for your posts.

31. Travel is your passion

yet it was founded at the beginning of this year, and fresh to visit a blog of Passion. Although there are suggestions a very large archive is not very inspiring. Especially Belgrade’s a go here are those who want to let go.

32. In for a ride

The trip journals and books, cultural tours, national parks, historic and tourist sites and many of the dishes that contains useful information under the headings yoresel for a ride, focusing on a site that’s full of Turkey.

33. I’m traveling

Kenan likes to keep a journal since I was a little girl. Their travel began keeping diaries but I have noticed that is not very functional, and for this reason I opened this blog. Focusing on more Turkey wrote.

34. The ride no end

seyhan, Turkey’ Through plenty of 3byi, wrote and shared it constantly as it travels. Love is to be found in different geographies, this post is reflected in the characteristics of. Blog’s so natural, you can see in the photos flour weighted.

35. Go and see

I’d like to meet you a madman: Esra Ersal. Thanks to his father who is an officer, assignment assignment from traveled to traveled the country. It was enough then, and China’s looking at the e came. A little weird, tell me, tell me about it, I can’t write I read, you said friends. Now go and See’s what it says. Esra summer, we’re told as we read

36. Gökhan discovery-in the world I

Jennifer tells us the story in the neck, share articles, equipment introduces. Traveling by consuming less how much I chew, the solutions found in the story he tells us. Go ahead, Jennifer, we pursuit.

37. I saw, I know you’ve heard

what you saw, what you heard, what you know a blog about separately. As possible sincere. He says himself: “a “this blog is born and raised in Istanbul, shared, bought, made, traveled dust, he’s “brainy” 80′ s kid is the notebook.”

if that sounds familiar, here you go

38. Silver Compass

blog than a book, a guide is in the nature of the site, which the nuclear family, talha, and ela Hande’s what they do travel the world of adventure is a fruit with great pleasure. Travel blog you can find information about the cuisine outside world. Family blog, my favourites!

39. Go ahead

cruise trips from the hotels on site with the writings of a wide range of subjects of technology, city living, at least not until the name is triggered.

40. We are two travelers

Married, happy, in love, roving, entertaining, non-stop going on the road block you are faced with a couple of Don’t’s. Video content on blogs prior to travel advice, travel news, and suggestions about the various points of the world.

41. Place a trucker

the truck from Ankara blog. Gourmet and travel pages, Forum, truck-content and videos filled with.

42. Traverse yourself

with intense interactive forums and Article comments has been successful in the sense that site. I read your blog posts Yourself or if you think this is happening to me here, Hindsight’e.

43. Where we should go

you want to make holiday. Where should we go’s coming e If you decide you want to go with who you are, or what way, or what, or what purpose you’re going for, this information is sufficient and in accordance with the resolutions you’ve made this you can view the travel suggestions. Different combinations in between and can be done in

44. Ozan Yildirim

Lightning, the Bard’s life’s a little weird. I’m not going to place here, and who go to this section of the block. This blog gives the poet the lover of Archaeology on the love seat. Personality is evident in the writings of humor. Follow!

45. Where Is He Now?

a chemical engineer from Istanbul Yeliz. In 2006, Turkey’s began to wander, eat, and have to cope with anyone since then her passion for travel:) Spain with the Erasmus program’s lived for a while. Plenty of work now continues to share the outdoors experience.

46. Unplanned Traveler

Best Köse 23-year-old traveler. Interrail-she decided to write this blog because of a lack of related resources. The blog is still very young, 7 months old. On this blog you can find the answer to any question you may have about Interrail.

47. Postcards from the globe

a person who likes to push herself at almost every point of your life has been Anil. A trip in this sense, he taught me so much for her. Always emerged as an escape to travel so who had taken refuge area. Blog’flour in December 2012 – June 2014 between its 18-month World Tour notes (Asia, North, Central and South America) is located. 29 even though the country has not yet completed the writing below you will find detailed information about visited during this trip.

48. Sequ’s travel

Serkan a European conqueror. Detailed descriptions related to places to visit given by (from the history of the region up to the point you will get tired of the block makes it very useful. Too many places to be wandering around yet, although it has full travel, told to the fullest. Pursuit continues to tell.

49. Travel or

your blog name famous traveler evliya Çelebi ‘Travel O Messenger!‘ she was getting from prayer. Travel or’s also East Asia, South East Asia and detailed articles about the Middle East at the same time, you will find interesting information about the culture of the country.

50. The magic rolling pin

The Magic rolling pin that has existed since 2009 a blog. The flight fare travel from abroad to the writings of rotating on an axis and dining menu, as well as reviews and blogs on about the city are available. If you love to cook and travel, Derya’s blog you ought to follow.

51. City Notes

notes city’s owner, mystery, at the same time Geziko’s one of the authors content. The block “first-person explorations of the city’s Boutique” is defined as it is. He does not mind to be made in the cities thanks to the mystery of the activities that we are learning. We’re in pursuit of him, you guys stay tuned

52. Travel in taste

that kind of tastes like restaurant and hotel travel guide. Decide how you want to taste cuisine which open and block. Before you decide your choice of hotel or where you’ll go and stop by here. Vedat Milor by chance on one of my trips to meet with Gürhan is so lucky. We begrudgingly follow.

53. Urban Confessions

of course, Urban Confessions. First in the list because I forgot that amazed the most from the blogs. I have a huge appetite consumed with hazal writings of the club’s many walkers, many travel content sharing with us about life outside. No more words, pursuit

54. It’s not far

very nice design, appealing to underwater enthusiasts, too far of a distance is not much content yet, not sure though read a blog that reminds us that it’s not far. Everything started with a dream, we wish it to continue. (Notice especially the writings of Cape Town)

55. By the way notes

by the way notes, current news, advice, and a blog with guest writers is slowly growing. Seval hasn’t had much time since this blog turned. I think it would be more beautiful with more content in the future. Especially Mardin remarkable post.

56. The tracks on the road

Photography, travel, nature, sports & culture-is composed of essays on art activities in the way that Follows. Turkey’s region with historical-cultural texts if you are looking for, and you are in the right place if you want to be away from boredom and mediocrity, this blog is for you.