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free-for-all-fics · 2 years ago

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Helmut Zemo as a fashion designer/Suitkovia AU fic ideas and prompts! Some featuring Bucky. Idk why I love this AU so much but inspiration hit. Pls tag me if you use or get inspired by any of these! I’d love to read it! 💜

1. He’s sort of a mix between Miranda Priestly from Devil Wears Prada and Cruella De Vil from 101 Dalmatians (minus the make puppies into a coat thing). Zemo is either a widower or divorced with a son, Carl. Reader is the fresh new intern/second assistant who at first seems very naive, like a walking fashion faux pas and a total disaster. Everyone expects her to be fired soon, but Zemo keeps her on and as she transforms into a better version of herself and becomes his favorite intern/second assistant, she slowly breaks through that cold and cynical exterior of his and they fall in love.

2. Zemo’s upcoming designs were leaked then premiered by a rival designer of his through fault of reader’s relative. (“You had one job and you failed. Details of your incompetence do not interest me.”) This leak cost Zemo millions, so under threat of incarceration/a crippling lawsuit reader’s family can’t afford, reader’s first task is to come up with new designs within 30 days or some crazy deadline to make up for the ones that were leaked. She becomes an indentured employee and has to work for Zemo, and a fraction of what she would’ve earned for her work is deducted from her paychecks, in order to pay off the debt her family incurred from the design theft. But then uh oh what if they catch feelings? After all, it’d take months or years to pay off that debt.

3. Reader has an identical twin sister who works as the latest cover model for Zemo. Your sister respects him as her employer, but she can’t stand him as a person, believing him too narcissistic or too megalomaniacal. Something unexpected happens in your sister’s life that makes her ask (more like beg) you to switch places as Zemo’s cover model and pretend to be her just for a few weeks. Nobody will even notice and Zemo especially won’t since he’s so busy and traveling all the time, she assured you. But modeling is much harder than you thought it would be. You’re camera shy and awkward, and things get more tense when Zemo changes his schedule and ends up getting more involved during the shoots and run throughs, directing the photographers and acting as head stylist.

He just thinks your “behavior shift” is a new technique your sister’s using to give off the shy, coy flirtatious look and he loves it. He wants more of it. The longer you pretend to be your sister, the more you and Zemo bond and break down his walls as he opens up to you. You develop a friendship which may turn romantic. When it comes time for you and your sister to switch back before her trip abroad for Fashion Week, the situation becomes complicated as Zemo is left wondering why he’s suddenly getting the cold shoulder and strictly professional treatment as if nothing’s happened. Why won’t you let him hold your hand or kiss you? He thinks he’s in love with your sister, but it’s you. It’s always been you. And the woman in front of him now is not you. And he isn’t aware of what you and your sister had done.

4. You're a tailor, working with only the richest and most famous of clients. You're in the middle of measuring your latest client when you accidentally press your fingers along his shoulder in the wrong spot while using the measuring tape and his left arm falls off.

(Possible AU where Zemo is a world renowned high-end fashion designer and you’re his adult daughter who falls in love with hot shot A-list actor Bucky when he comes into the office/shop for a suit. The more he comes in for repairs or adjustments, you start to think he’s purposely damaging his clothes as an excuse to see you. Your father doesn’t want you to date him for any number of reasons but you go against his wishes and it’s a secret love affair. OR a love triangle/Poly story between Zemo, Bucky, and you, where you work for Zemo but both of these highly famous and wealthy men want you.)

5. Your parents left you a tailoring business when they passed. You discover your parents were the creators of the most iconic superhero costumes in the world. Super heroes exist. All your childhood heroes are alive and fighting crime. You are not a hero nor do you have powers. Except your ability to tailor and repair damaged hero uniforms. A frequent customer enters your shop for repairs and you've had enough. The hero's costume was terrible. The townspeople think so, their dog thinks so, their sidekick is embarrassed to be seen with them, the villain stops his attack to comment on their fashion sense, and even the news reporter says their costume is bad.

6. Fantasy/hitman AU: You have recently inherited an old and well made wardrobe, along with a personal tailor from a family will. This wardrobe always has the clothes it turns out you’d most need on any given day; A dress or suit for an impromptu business opportunity, etc. Today, however, a bulletproof vest hangs within. And this tailor comes with skills that are said to be incomparable to anyone else's. “Just because I'm a hitman doesn't mean I can't be a good tailor.”

7. Zemo, A fashion designer, hires Bucky, a con man, to help sell his new collection at an upcoming fashion show. "Do you want to milk your guests for all the money they have or do you want to leave a good memory?" Bucky asks.

"Can I do both?"

The con man laughs, "Absolutely, here is what you do….” Reader is either a model, designer, or intern who gets roped in. Possible poly relationship or chaotic partners in crime trio.

8. Ghost AU: Being an aspiring fashion historian, you actively seek vintage clothing. You somehow managed to coax out a corset from a collector, however, as soon as you wear it, things start to go haywire, as the corset has a life of its own. Of course, it is harbouring a vengeful spirit! So When you first saw the ghost appear behind you in the mirror, you ran screaming. The second time, you were afraid, but you realised he didn't want to hurt you. Now you're both friends, and he often gives you helpful fashion advice. A horror movie where the only horror is the fashion choices.

9. Spy/Crime AU: You work for a cute little boutique as a seamstress. You are highly skilled, best known for your high-quality evening/formal wear and handbags. You typically cater to affluent businessmen and the like. Recently, an atypical customer stopped into your shop with a strange request and a LOT of money. How can you refuse? You're closing up the shop for the night when you see five men walk in through the front door and lock it behind them. You’re very surprised when one of the men go to an inconspicuous framed picture hanging on the wall. It’s just a picture of flowers or something generic, what’s so special— oh. He turns it counter-clockwise, revealing a secret passageway behind a one-way mirror.

After he performs the typical eye and hand scan, you’re ordered to follow. Turns out this “cute little boutique” has been a front for special operatives for many years. In their secret meeting place, they give you your new alias and the run down of your first assignment. You've been tasked with a special project: 12 poison-laced sweaters to go with a poison-laced dress. Later, You receive a knock at the door and an important looking man in a black tailored suit hands you a sealed envelope with your name on it. You open it to find a check written to your name for $65 million with the note, "Let's do this" in the memo.

10. Reader is the new PR intern/publicist for an anti-hero seamstress who specializes in making costumes for supervillains. What reader didn’t know is that the interview was actually a ruse to find the perfect doppelgänger. Reader is selected as the body double to get the seamstress out of an arranged marriage with her rival fashion designer and supervillain, Helmut Zemo. When you do finally meet him, you can’t help but think this guy's so boring. Too subtle. But your instincts as a journalist tell you something else is going on with him.

11. Bucky is the personal assistant and bodyguard of the reader, a famous fashion designer. The media knows that you have this intense long-standing rivalry against another fashion designer, Helmut Zemo. It means Bucky has done his job well since he’s secretly paid to hide the 'rivals’' secret dates and relationship from the public by perpetuating this false narrative of a never-ending animosity between you two.

12. Spy/Crime/Political Espinoage AU: You’re the Secret Service's Secret Seamstress. It’s your responsibility to protect the President from any possible wardrobe malfunction (ripped trousers, food stains, sweat marks, etc.) while in the public eye. You must take precautions before and during any large event. You unwittingly cross paths with Helmut Zemo, codename V. He’s a special kind of tailor, a man who not just fits clothes but also weapons for assassins and wet workers. He’s now getting ready to tailor the men who are about to start a revolution, the assassination of the world leaders. Other key players among this revolution are James “Bucky” Barnes, codename Winter and Sam Wilson, codename Falcon. And since you were in the wrong place at the wrong time and are now a witness, the only way these men keep you alive is if you become involved in the conspiracy and join their team. Perhaps they’ll fake your death and give you a new identity to go along with their newest round of aliases. You could be a sparrow, a secret agent trained in the act of seduction.

13. You work for Helmut Zemo and are the only person to not filter yourself around him. You’re not starstruck or intimidated by him in the slightest. He keeps you on because your brutal honesty is refreshing when he’s surrounded by fake smiles and major suck ups. The constant fawning and groveling gets old. You whip him back into shape whenever he’s being difficult. “Remind me again why I should feel bad for you? You got a supermodel wife that practically worships the ground you stand on, you have enough money to buy the whole country of New Zealand, and you live in the most expensive house on the planet! C’mon, man. You’re famous, handsome, and rich. So chop, chop, fix your hair and let’s get going.” God, he loves you. He hasn’t admitted it to you yet, but he’s been thinking of divorcing his trophy wife and marrying you instead. He might start an extramarital affair with you if he gets too impatient. It’s not like his wife is faithful to him anyway, their farce of a marriage is wide open.

14. Mean Girls inspired AU: You’re an aspiring fashion designer just like your famous and influential father, Helmut Zemo. But under his orders you’ve just been transferred from homeschooling to a prestigious private school for rich kids - with the most drab and boring wardrobe choices ever made. After your bodyguard, Bucky, drops you off at school, You fall in with a group of ‘mean girls’ on your first day. You, a self-proclaimed fashion guru, are dropped into a new world and challenge all your new peers’ questionable fashion choices - from hair to clothing, form and function. From there, you start to get into all kinds of teenage trouble: skipping school, partying, underage drinking, etc. Until one day you and your new girlfriends decide to ignore/stretch the limits of the school’s arbitrary dress code by redesigning the uniform and showing it off at school. Even if your transgressions land you detention or suspension and gets you in heaps of trouble with your dad, Bucky will back you up at least…You hope.

15. Sort of Pretty Woman inspired Sugar Daddy AU: You finally see him, the head of the fashion police: Helmut Zemo. And he’s caught you red handed in the middle of the street. “Did you steal my old clothes from the dumpster?"

"Sorry if I can't walk into a boutique and ask the clerk 'Excuse me, do you happen to have this $4,500 designer luxury Louis Vutton dress in the next size up?’ or throw away a $3,000 Prada suit and briefcase like it’s nothing.”

“I could call the police on you— Wait. Turn around. Let me get a good look at you.” Great, you’ve just met the guy and he’s already ordering you around and inspecting you like a prize cow at auction. “Here’s my offer: If you can pretend to be my girlfriend for the week and attend a few events with me, I’ll let this go and buy you whatever you want. You can talk with my stylist. He might be able to give you something to wear so that I don’t need to burn my eyes out every time I look at you. Do we have a deal? It doesn’t hurt anyone to give just an ounce of effort, you know.” Ok so he’s kind of a classist asshole, but you’ll take it since he’s offered you $3,000 and a new wardrobe to start. How hard can it be to act like arm candy?

16. Zemo is interested in curves and designs clothes for plus sized women. His models have to be size 12 or up. Bucky, his first assistant, has recently scouted you, a little miss nobody from down the street for the new cover model job. Zemo goes through first and second assistants quickly, but Bucky has managed to stay on the longest, so Zemo trusts his judgment. His last 9 assistants were all disappointments, to say the least. But he ultimately has the final say. You’ve just been brought in to meet him face to face for the first time. He looks at you over the rim of his glasses.

“Who’s this? The new option for the cover campaign. I told you I wanted a new look. One that says beautiful but also intellectual. Have you finally brought me a muse that can think as well as they look?”

“This isn’t about being the skinniest model or the prettiest model. This is an intellectual shoot. I want it to be different. I don’t want-“ He lets out a short exasperated sigh. “Let’s just say if I wanted another pretty face, I would’ve chosen from the next, what, twenty models that are standing outside of my office hoping to get a job. You know that many would kill to be in your position?”

17. Twilight Zone After Hours/Evening Primrose inspired AU: Reader is Helmut Zemo’s daughter and has lived in a shopping mall with him and the rest of her “family” who all consist of living mannequins. Or inanimate mannequins by day, living humans by night. Night at the Museum logic.

Reader discovers a man on the run, Bucky Barnes, has broken in and taken refuge from the world by hiding out in a department store. The leader of the group is Helmut Zemo, Reader’s adoptive father. Zemo permits Bucky to stay after Reader takes responsibility for him, advocating that he’ll be useful and she’ll keep him in line. Zemo spares Bucky’s life but warns him against doing anything foolish. Wherever Bucky goes, someone will always be watching. even if it’s not Zemo and even if it’s daylight. Over time, Bucky becomes smitten with Reader during their nightly visits.

Reader has lived in the mall since she got lost and separated from her ‘other mother’ as a child. Her memory is foggy but she believes she was once human, resurrected by Zemo in a new body through the same Pygmalion-esque means as he and all the other living mannequins. She has since been taken in as Zemo’s daughter after he lost his previous family, created in what he describes as the ‘perfect image of the daughter he and his lost wife never had.’

Reader is unhappy and wants to leave for good, but is afraid of the ‘Dark Men’, people who live in a nearby mortuary and work for her father. They’re hardly ever seen, but their overarching presence is still felt. Like an omniscient shadow that looks over them. Should someone try to return to the outside world and risk revealing the group's existence, the Dark Men take them away and another mannequin appears in their place. Reader tries to tell Bucky about her life when she was human, before her transformation, but realizes that most of her memories from before have been replaced with fabricated childhood memories as Zemo’s daughter. Her past self is practically gone. Bucky comes up with a plan while playing cards with Zemo and other mannequins, and Reader finally decides to leave with him. Bucky is initially reluctant to leave his now-comfortable life, but then understands that he loves Reader more than most things and they plan to elope. If there’s a way to turn mannequins human for the night, surely there’s a way to turn the mannequins human permanently! But then Zemo and the others hear their plans, and they call the Dark Men, as Reader and Bucky try to escape.

18. Spy AU: Something major has been going on in the underground crime world, and you’re asked to intern under Agent Zemo and go undercover to find out what it is. You're a tailor, spy master and survivalist who has both designed and worn state of the art disguises/outfits that allow you to conceal microphones, cameras, weapons, and anything else you may need according to the mission. Zemo is your boss and senior agent/director by night, and his cover as a fashion designer by day works well. He provides you with only the latest and best in his fashion lines, both for everyday and espionage. The latest tasks of which is impersonating a celebrity/socialite and designing a dress to be worn by a female spy at the World Summit as a bugging device so they can get very important intel.

The trouble is, the intended agent can’t perform the job for whatever reason. And you’re the only other woman with a close enough resemblance. So it looks like it has to be you, or else the whole operation is a bust. The closer you seem to get to uncovering the truth, the weirder things get. Zemo begins acting very strangely, when he starts receiving threats from anonymous persons - Magazine cut out notes urging him to work faster, untraceable phone calls with modulated voices, dead flowers, etc. You and he begin to piece the mystery together, but will either of you live long enough to see it through?

19. Journalist AU: You’re a journalist who’s been tasked by your chief editor to get an interview with Helmut Zemo, the country’s hottest fashion designer on the market. Every time you think you have a good story, a competitor gets to it first, so your workplace has been on your ass about getting this exclusive interview. Too bad Zemo is a very elusive and private man who doesn’t do many interviews, autograph sessions, or anything like that. He keeps to himself, outright refusing and slipping away from any news outlets no matter how hard they try to corner him. Your boss pitches a new idea: Zemo has never met you, so he has no idea what you look like. If you can go undercover, gain his trust, and find out everything you can about his personal and business life, then you’ll be promoted. A man like him must have secrets. You’re very attractive and intelligent, so if anyone can do this, it’s you.

When you do meet him for the first time, it’s not at a big fancy runway event or a rich person’s house party, but rather a coffee shop, a dog park, or somewhere else that’s common. He’s disguised in basic casual clothes and eyeglasses. In this outfit, he’s the little gray man. He looks so forgettable that nobody even recognizes him. Huh. Guess the drab “Clark Kent” disguise actually works. You get to talking and he doesn’t tell you who he is, even though you already know. He only says that he works “In retail” when you ask what he does for a living. You don’t tell him where you work or what you do either. Only that you’re at a “desk job”. But then uh oh when you and Zemo catch feelings for each other and what started off as pretend becomes real. Uh oh when Zemo feels hurt and betrayed after he finds out the truth about why you got close to him and that your “fateful meeting” was actually all a set up for your exposé piece.

20. You're a thug-for-hire guarding a warehouse for your boss, Helmut Zemo. And good thing, too: a mild-mannered journalist just tried to break in, but you knocked them out before they could cause any trouble. You decide to search their pockets for loose change--and have just found their superhero uniform and ID. (Journalist could be Bucky or whoever you want)

21. Zemo’s business empire is completely centered around his cold and ruthless persona. You’re a journalist who took up a job at a local tabloid for a quick source of cash between jobs. You’ve caught him secretly doing something nice, and on top of that, he was being nice to children. The story is due to come out tomorrow, and will ruin Zemo financially if it does. He must stop you.

#zemo x reader #zemo x female reader #helmut zemo imagine #helmut zemo x reader #Suitkovia AU #bucky barnes x female reader #bucky x female reader #Bucky x reader #bucky imagine #random fic ideas #fic ideas #pls tag me if you write this #i’d love to read it #fashion designer Zemo AU #some of these i got from reddit so i can’t take all the credit

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hereticpriest · 9 months ago

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The Bath

MDNI

Rating: Explicit

Relationship: Baron Helmut Zemo x reader

Warnings: Cockwarming, mentions of previous violence between the two before their relationship began (he's a villain, they're ex-SHIELD guys c'mon), reference to a break-in.

Note: Liebling = darling, liebchen = sweetheart, bärchen = cute bear.

There are no rose petals in your bath.

Early on, your love had tried his best to be romantic, creating a path with rose petals to a large claw-foot tub that was absolutely teeming with them. The water was lightly fragranced, and while it had been the perfect temperature, you were covered in petals afterwards, including in some places that petals truly did not belong. You hadn't complained - you'd never put your sweet Baron down for trying to do something romantic for you - but he had somehow known how much you disliked them.

No, today, your bath is fizzy and bubbly from bath bombs. The shimmery swirl of the water doesn't bother you in the same way as the petals, and steam gently drifts from the surface to show it's the perfect temperature. You sigh blissfully, letting your lover take your robe from you and press kisses along your shoulders while you kick your slippers off into the corner out of the way. Zemo hangs up your robe for you, then takes your hand to help you into the clawfoot tub, a smile overtaking his face as you sink into the water with a happy moan.

"Good?"

"Perfect." You correct him, "Or, near enough."

"I love you dearly, liebchen, but I do not enjoy boiling quite like you do." He retorts, bending to kiss your forehead, then leaning against the counter in his adorable little silk robe. You pout at him, and he pouts right back, mocking you playfully. Eventually, as the water cools to a normal, livable temperature, he approaches to nudge you forwards and slip in behind you. You're both clean - freshly showered, but needing some intimacy and relaxation after a long, long day. Once he's settled, he lifts you carefully, holding you steady above him as he runs the head of his cock through your folds, then pulls you down into his lap, impaling you upon him. You curl into Zemo's arms, leaning against his chest and letting your eyes close, satiated in your fullness. It's been a while since you've been able to do this. He's been gone for nearly two weeks on a mission he's been very hush-hush about, but he returned to you unharmed, and that's all you can ask for. The hours of running around town with him after picking him up at the airstrip at the crack of dawn because you couldn't help but want to be there with Oeznik when he landed had certainly taken it's toll on you.

"Will you read to me tonight?" You ask him, and he squeezes you closer, tracing his fingertip over one pert nipple, then cupping your breast in his hand.

"Have I ever said no?"

You smile.

"Shortly after we first met. It was very rude of you, bärchen."

Zemo rolls his eyes at you, but his smile is fond as he presses it to your temple.

"You were very rude, liebling. You punched me in the throat." He reminds you, and you grin to yourself, pressing your bottom back into his hips.

"You broke into my house - how was I to know you were with my friends? Anyways, you've long forgiven me. I hardly think you were even mad, my love, you were rock hard when you pinned me to the wall. In my own home. That you had just broken into." Your voice is playful, and Zemo groans against your shoulder, knowing he has lost. It had been rather rude of him.

"Little did I know that the little ex-SHIELD agent would bend over my counter for me the moment we were alone in Riga. Besides, Sam told me that they called you." His stubble rubs against your neck, and you sigh, letting him rock you ever so gently as you take comfort in his arms.

"Excuses, excuses."

#helmut zemo x reader #baron zemo x reader #baron helmut zemo #female reader

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caplanbuckybarnes · 3 months ago

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Dancing in the Dark (Helmut Zemo)

Summary: you're tired of the responsibilities of the royal family. Tonight, you just want a night to yourself.

WC: 900ish

Warnings: None, fluff, maybe a smidge of self cdoubt?

Read on AO3!

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The ballroom glittered under a sea of chandeliers, the air thick with the scent of roses and the sound of laughter and music from the band playing in the corner of the room, out of the way of the main floor. You moved through the throng of elegantly dressed guests, a soft smile on your lips as you greeted some of them. Tonight was the annual royal gala, an occasion that filled the palace with nobles and dignitaries from across the realm. Waiters and maids filtered through the floor, in between dancing couples and people enjoying the food served.

You were supposed to be enjoying yourself, but your mind wandered, even as you smiled through conversations and greetings. Beneath the layers of silk and satin, you felt a sense of confinement, a weight of expectation. As the daughter of the king, you were expected to make a perfect match tonight. But you could hardly keep the forced smile on your face.

Across the room, you spotted him. Helmut Zemo—charming, enigmatic, with an air of confidence that drew you in like a moth to a flame. He wore a tailored suit that accentuated his sharp features and exuded a magnetic presence that was hard to ignore. But you knew him to be a lowly nobleman.

With a determined breath, you weaved your way through the crowd until you stood before him. His dark eyes sparkled with mischief as he offered you a knowing smile.

"Princess," he greeted, a teasing lilt in his voice.

You rolled your eyes playfully. "There’s no way you know I could be the princess from a first glance."

He stepped closer, his gaze unwavering. “Oh, but I do. I’m just surprised that your father allows you to roam so freely among us common folk.”

A playful smirk danced on your lips. “You think I’m just another noblewoman, don’t you?”

“I know you’re more than that,” he replied, his voice low. “You’re not just a title; you’re full of life, a spirit that can’t be contained.”

Your heart raced. No one had ever seen beyond the crown. “And you? You’re just a man with a past, a shadow among the light. You're not exactly a charmer, Helmut.”

Zemo chuckled softly, his expression shifting to one of sincerity. “Perhaps I am. But tonight, I’m simply a man captivated by a woman who defies expectations.”

In that moment, the music faded into the background. The world around you disappeared, leaving just the two of you in a bubble of understanding. You felt an irresistible urge to break free from the confines of your title, to embrace the connection you felt with him.

“Would you care to dance?” you asked, your voice barely above a whisper.

He took your hand, leading you to the dance floor. As the music swelled, you moved together, lost in the rhythm. Zemo’s hand rested at the small of your back, grounding you as your heart soared.

“Tell me,” he said, leaning closer, “what is it like to wear a crown? To be a symbol of power and responsibility? To have the townsfolk adore you, watch over your every move?”

You hesitated, the weight of your answer heavy in the air. “It’s isolating. Everyone sees the princess, not the person underneath. They see me as a spoiled brat because of what I was born into. I long for freedom, for the chance to be… just me.”

He paused, studying your face. “Then why not take it? Defy the expectations. Be who you truly are, not who they want you to be.. Why not take the chance to run away?”

His words resonated deep within you. You had spent so long being what was expected, but with Zemo, you felt the pull of possibility, even if only for a moment. The music slowed, and the moment hung between you like a secret waiting to be shared.

“I could never abandon my responsibilities,” you finally replied, though uncertainty tinged your voice.

Zemo leaned in closer, his breath warm against your ear, sending a chill down your spine. “Responsibilities can be shared. You don’t have to carry the weight alone.”

With a sudden spark of courage, you pulled back slightly to meet his gaze. “And what would you know of responsibility, Helmut?”

A shadow flickered across his face, but he quickly masked it with a charming smile. “Perhaps more than you think. I’ve learned that sometimes, letting go is the greatest act of courage.”

In that moment, you saw a glimpse of his own burden—a life lived in shadows, shaped by loss and ambition. You realized that beneath the facade of the charming man was a man who understood the complexities of life in a way that few others did.

As the music faded and the dance came to an end, you took a step back, breathless. “Maybe there’s a part of me that wants to let go, even if just for tonight. I don't want to worry about hiding away from responsibilities, or which parliament I have to meet with... Tonight, I just want to be me.”

His gaze softened, and he brushed a thumb across your knuckles. “Then let’s make this evening unforgettable.”

You felt a thrill of excitement mixed with fear. Could you truly embrace the freedom Zemo offered, even if just for a night? With a nod, you took his hand, ready to step into the unknown.

#helmut zemo fluff #helmut zemo x reader #baron zemo x reader #helmut zemo x you #helmut zemo x y/n #marvel fanfics #marvel fanfiction #marvel fandom #marvel cinematic universe #marvel #mcu #marvel movies #zemo #fatws #baron zemo #helmut zemo smut #helmut zemo x female reader

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buckysdollsworld · 7 months ago

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The Adventures of Bucky Barnes and Y/n Stark | Madrippoor | Bucky's Doll

GIF’s not mine

Content warnings: 18+, MDNI, alcohol use, oral sex, dom/sub dynamic

My first post let me know your thoughts!!

You were at a club in Madrippoor, on a mission with Sam, Bucky, and Zemo. You all were going to meet with Selby.

“Remember, stay in character,” Zemo says quietly as we walk to where Selby is.

“Baron welcome welcome, I wasn’t expecting you here tonight and you’ve brought friends I see.” Selby grins staring you down with a predatory demeanor.

“Ah, apologies I did not introduce you yet. Selby this is our friend y/n.” Zemo began, you don’t make eye contact but, give a polite smile.

“A quiet one I see. I like that come here, my dear.” Selby commanded, you simply walked over but glanced at the others before approaching her.

You knew you had to do as told but were quite hesitant, unsure what would come next. Selby grabbed your wrist pulling you to sit next to her. "Now Baron, what is it you came here for?" She looked towards Zemo while still having a grip on you

"Well my dear, I have come with an offer. You see we need some information on the super soldier serum..." Zemo was cut off

"And let me guess, you need my help?"

"Precisely" Zemo gives a smug smile.

Selby gives a mischievous grin before saying "Well, what is it you have to offer?"

"Glad you asked. As for what I have to offer well, I can give you our little friend here. She's quite good company." he smirks, and your gaze goes to him quickly in slight fear, this was never a part of the plan.

Bucky steps forward like he is about to say something but stays quiet, clenching his jaw clearly holding back. Selby grins at the thought of owning you

"Alright, Baron. Will she do anything I ask or will we have to break her in?"

"No need she is quite the obedient one, isn't that right y/n?" Zemo looks at you with a smug smile you shyly nod.

"Aw come on, use your word my pet" Zemo gestures for you to speak

"Yes sir" you reply in a soft-spoken voice.

"Before you hand her off I'd like a demonstration just so I know I'm not being lied to," Selby says not quite convinced of my submissiveness

"Of course, come here my pet" Zemo commanded you went over to him immediately but you glanced at Bucky knowing he hated every moment of someone touching what's his.

Zemo looks to you "Kneel" he demands you get down to your knees staring down he takes his hand and gently but firmly grabs your chin tilting your head up to meet his gaze. From there Zemo runs his thumb across your bottom lip

"Let's show what that pretty little mouth can do" With that he brings his other hand to his waistband beginning to undo his pants.

Bucky was barely holding it together he had his hand in a fist his jaw clenched. Zemo smirks while pulling his rock-hard cock out it was on full display he tugged at your bottom lip before releasing his grip on you. You look up at him before sticking your tongue out your mouth dropping open he brings his cock closer putting his hands at the back of your head and forcing you forward. Your mouth wraps around Zemos shaft as he thrusts into your mouth gagging you with his length. He grabs all of your hair turning it into a makeshift ponytail and pushing you down further on his shaft Selby has an evil grin on her face watching intently sipping her cocktail.

"Such a good girl" he groans drool starting to run down your face your mind somewhat melting away as you taste the saltiness of precum.

Zemo's head tilts back slightly he groans feeling so much pleasure as your head bobs on his cock finally he comes releasing his load into your mouth "Swallow" he demands his voice low and ragged you meet his eyes and swallow

"Good girl" he pulls his cock from your mouth and wipes the mix of his seed and your saliva from your chin. Zemo puts his cock back into his pants adjusting himself Selby smirked with amusement. It was obvious she was intrigued by you and your submissive nature she also loved getting a rise out of Bucky who was clearly angered by the whole ordeal.

"I must say Baron she is quite the obedient one. We have a deal" Selby grins walking over "Perfect. She's all yours" Zemo backs away from you.

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fandomnerd9602 · 9 months ago

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Visits

Fem!Baron Zemo x Male Reader

For @wildcardjgambit

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. You had gotten your daughter out of the blast zone that was the Battle of Sokovia. And yet with all the loss, it wasn’t enough for your wife Baroness Helga Zemo. Her heart had turned cold, cold enough to commit atrocities in the name of your home country. She wasn’t always this way.

She was your light, a loving wife and mother. And now you hardly recognize the woman that stands before you behind several inches of bulletproof glass, bound in a straight jacket.

“Why?” is all you can ask.

“I did it for our home, the people we lost.” she answers back, tears streaming down her face. “Where’s my baby?”

“S-she couldn’t make it” you lied. The truth was that when little Marie saw her mother’s image up on the news screen with the words terrorist written across it. It broke her little heart, “that’s not my mommy” she cried.

You didn’t have much else to say to Helga, you just slipped her the papers you were dreading to deliver. You hoped it would never come to this but it wasn’t much left for a marriage nor was it the best life for your daughter.

Helga sighed and signed them. “I don’t regret what i did” she whispered as she slid them through the opening to you. “they took everything from us”

“And I tried to rebuild it for you. I don’t blame the Avengers. I just wish you had thought of Marie and I.”

And with that, you turned and left. The microphone allowing you to communicate with Zemo was shut off. And a good thing too, because if it was still on, you would’ve heard her cries of anguish.

The helicopter left the Raft, with you aboard. It dropped you off not far from the border of Sokovia. You found yourself feeling empty but you were ready to rebuild.

You found yourself at a nearby coffee shop, just trying to plan out yours and Marie’s next step. Your thoughts ran rampant when suddenly someone spoke up.

“Excuse me” a young Sokovian woman asked you, “is this seat taken? Everywhere else is full”

“Sure” you gave her a gentle smile, “I’m just planning things out”

“I know the feeling” the redhead smiled back

“Sorry I’m (Y/N)” you offered your hand. She took ahold of your hand and shook it gently.

“Wanda. Wanda Maximoff”

You felt something jump within you when your hand shook hers. You’re not sure if it was the spark of something or maybe rather just finding solace with a fellow survivor. Maybe that’s all it had to be.

Fan Cast: Marion Cotillard as Baroness Helga Zemo

#marvel #marvel imagine #marvel fluff #mcu #mcu imagine #mcu fandom #captain america civil war #baron zemo #baron zemo x reader #marion cotillard #rule 63 #genderswap #gender swap #genderbend #genderbent #female baron zemo #wanda maximoff #Sokovia

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addict-rat · 11 months ago

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Night Ties

Summary: You were a very famous hunter monsters, one day you decide to go after a famous vampier, but he was very aware of that and he change all your life.

Paring: Helmut Zemo Vampire x F!Reader Human

Words count: 3595 words

Warnings: +18 explicit, mention of blood, poor written smut, p in v, spanks, unprotected sex, bitting, ropes, bondage, desk sex, a little CNC, bondage. fingering, dominant/submissive.

Author’s note: Holas, I was writting this long ago, but I kinda forget when I get obsses with Ch.ai and all that, but here it is, I might be writting more of Zemo in the future. Please feel free to write me for any mistake I made or any suggestion.

You had begun to make a name for yourself within the small towns that were frightened by all those over-natural beings. It was many of those people that lived dominated by supernatural beings, whether they were werewolves, witches, vampires, etc. However, among the people they were more feared and dominated by vampires and werewolves.

It was for that reason that you began to gain popularity, you were known as part of the good cause dedicated to killing or hunting such beings. Not only were you doing that, but they were very few, not many survived them, and for that very reason it was that very few wanted to take their lives to kill a few of them. The few people who did so had a reason to simply want to get rid of them.

You did it for revenge, your mother had been killed by one of them, all the people you lived in had been attacked by werewolves, but it was not them who killed your mother, you had managed to flee before they saw them. Deep in the woods when they thought the werewolves could no longer find them, they stayed for a moment near a river to grab strength and find safety, yet their mother heard noises in the distance, afraid that something might happen to you, I took her to a small cave near the river, told her to rest there and come out until there was sunlight. With the ingenuity of a child, he was obvious and did what I ask, when the light came out he called his mother without any answer from her, came out of the small cave, I looked for her by the gunmen until he found her pale and lifeless body.

She wasn’t looking to find the killers who killed her mother, because she knew she’d never find him, she knew it wasn’t human, what killed her, she knew it was what killed her, but again she wasn’t looking for her killer to never happen to anyone else. He was aware that he could not kill each of them, but with his perseverance and courage he could perhaps make more people unite and decide to end the dominance of these beings.

You had come to a small town where it was dominated by vampires, especially a special one. You knew how to deal with vampires, you’d learned from your group, they’d taught you their weaknesses especially. You could say that you were a little popular not only among humans but also within these "monsters", they had divided to hunt these vampires, it was expected that the majority lived in mansions or even castles, were arrogant and presumed most of them, but they were also intelligent, manipulative and persuasive.

You had decided to go ahead, you already had experience you did not believe that something could go wrong, so you had made a plan to get into that castle, which was simple, it was not like vampires had bodyguards or anything. They didn’t watch the whole castle, so you looked for a room that nobody had set foot in many years ago.

That’s how you ended up like this now, kneeling, your hands tied on a short chain that was stuck on the floor. You heard a few steps and saw a man dressed elegantly, his hair well-groomed. —What a foolish, hunter— he sneered, his voice echoing throughout the chamber. —I’m surprised you made it this far. You must be very brave or very dumb— You only stare at him as if you look could kill him. —Don't look at me like that, darling. Who are you to judge me? You are the one trespassing on my home. I could kill you right now for your insolence, if I so desired. But I feel... merciful— He say getting closer to him, in your position you have to look up to him, feeling like so insignificant in that position. —I don't know if you are brave or foolish, or just a bit of both— He was now very close to you, you feel his hand touching your cheek —You intrigue me.—

That took you for surprised other vampires they have just taken all your blood of your body and leave you completely drain. —How can I intrigue you? — Your voice sounds almost sarcastic, but there was confusion there. —Oh, little one, you’re so much more than “just a human”— He leans down and run a finger along your face, gently stroking your chin and jawline. —You have hunted my kind… Even I don’t really care about those ones, is really fascinating to see someone like you murdered that kind of vampires— He takes your chin tilting up so you can his eyes, his crimson red eyes, you could not deny that I cause you to send a chill in your spine. —But that doesn’t take the fact you’re very foolish to come to my home and try to kill me… You’re here not just by coincidence, I bring you here you alone… Ever since I found out about your existence, which wasn’t a year ago, I’ve been watching every step you take, every decision you make, piqued my curiosity, my dear… Of course I had to bring you here with me.—You feel his fingers caressing your chin as he doesn’t let you go, the two of them staring. —M-my friends… They know I’ll come here, they’ll get worried and they’ll come here to help me— Your voice trying sound convinced that they will come to rescue you. —Yes, they certainly would come here and try to rescue you… But let me ask you a question... Do you know how many hunters have entered my domain? How many have existed?… Like I told you, you’re here because I want you to be here alone, I know where your friends are, and I know who are with them, I can make your friends get killed right now, but I will not do that yet…—He says in a threatening voice —B-but there are a lot of people that know me… Th-they will get worried… And they know I’m here— You say with a desperation tone —Hmmm... I'm sure there are many that know you, yes. But what will they do about it, hmm? Come to my domain? The place where hunters never return from? I admire your courage, my love, but I do not think your "friends" are going to come rescue you... And talking about your friends, I know you love them because you see a family in them.— Your eyes get worried and surprised —What if we make a deal… You have two options, you can stay here and we both wait for your friends and I killed them one by one, slowly and painfully in front of you… Or you can save them by submitting to me and save them, but you have to behave or there will be punishments for you for your bad behavior… You’ll have to write a letter to your friends saying that you retired from vampire hunting, that you found love and now you’ll dedicate yourself to staying with him and pleasing him in all his spades… Now take your decision, but we don’t have all day, darling so you better hurry up— You couldn’t believe that not only he have trapped you, now you have to submit to him to save your friends, he’s using them to get you, and he’s achieved it. You don’t have any option. You regret coming alone and not waiting for others to accompany you.

He kneels before you, his head moves to your neck as you can feel his breath, he lift a trail of kiss on the side of your neck —Frist I want a little bite, I want to taste your sweet blood— his teeth and fangs brush in your neck, you can feel the sharp of his fangs on your neck, then you feel how his fangs they break through your skin, you bite your lip trying to not make any noise, you didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of the sound of your pain. He sucks your blood for a few minutes, you start looking dark circles as you feel more weak until you close your eyes and you remain unconscious.

When you wake up, you were laying on the ground, your hands remain tied, you tried to sit down but your body was so weak, you didn´t know how long you were there locked. You don’t have any other option, so you have to access his deal. He comes back after some time. —Did you take your decision?— He looks down at you, looking deep at your eyes, you only could nod —I’ll submit to you— Your eyes look down as you say that, he smiles at your choice, he kneels and take your chin looking at your eyes. —Good girl. I will untie you, I know you’re weak so you can’t attack me, even if you try you only have your hands to try it, darling.— He takes the handcuffs in your wrists, you don’t even try to do anything, he lifts you up in his shoulder, your tired eyes didn’t even look the way he is taking you, until you feel the soft mattress of the bed, after a few minutes you fall asleep.

You couldn’t believe after years of hunting and killing vampires you end up cleaning the castle of a vampire. You were walking in a corridor and open one of the rooms, you look around and see there were black curtains on the wall, that’s when you notice it wasn’t a wall is a window, you open the curtain and you realize it wasn’t evening yet, you calculated around 4 or 5 pm, that means the sun was still up. You haven’t noticed the time until right now, and after Zemo wasn’t around, you could escape you have a few hours before the sun sets.

You didn’t take too much to find a door that leads to the yard, and for your luck it wasn’t locked. You open the door and go out, you see your surroundings and walk through the yard, it didn’t take you long to arrive in the forest that surrounded the castle, you walk with joy to the forest, without noticing there were two deep eyes looking you walk in the forest.

One of Zemo’s butler have notified about your “escape”. —My Lord, the lady has run away to the forest alone, I think she’s trying to escape, but I don’t think she might go too far after the sun sets… I know the forest is very tricky for someone doesn’t know it— Of course Zemo knows the forest like the palm of his hand.

Zemo looks up at the butler with a sharp look. —Very good, I'll take care of it.— He says, as he stands up from his desk. —Thank you for the information.— Once the butler leaves, Zemo smiles slightly to himself. —Run away, have you, my love? So eager for danger, eh?— He thinks for himself looking at the window of his room.

When the sun went down, Zemo went out to look for you soon enough to find you, you were lost and your solution was to climb a tree to the top and see from above, which clearly did not work and only served to stay trapped in one of the branches, you couldn’t get off and you probably stayed there for a few minutes until I found you —Do you know what a stubborn and foolish creature you truly are, my love? — He gets close to you, but he did nothing to help you. —Can you help me please, sir? — You didn’t have any other option but plead for his help. His cold, dark eyes look down at you. —Why should I help you? You were so eager to leave. To run away. To defy me. And yet now, when you are caught, you beg me for help?— You weren’t in a position to act up and try to get the worst out of him —Don't worry dear, I already have an idea of what to do with you…– You watch him walk away, he didn't come back after some minutes, you were scared and cold, you couldn't see anything in the darkness of the night.—

Of course, he leave you in the damn tree for a few hours and then one of his servants brings you back to your room. You wake up in your bed, one of the servants enters after some minutes to your room, he was very nice to you, he serves you food and make sure you weren’t hurt last night. Until he mention that Zemo wanted to see you in his room after you have eaten, your face goes pale you know the reason why he wanted to see you.

You finish your food and get dressed before to go to Zemo’s room, with a soft knock at the door you make your presence noticeable to him, you heard him talk in the inside of the room, you open the door and Zemo look up to you to meet your gaze. –Do you want to see me, sir? – You asked when you enter into the room –Yes come here, darling– You obey and stand closer to him, he stands up from his chair behind the desk –So, darling… You have a bad behaviour last night, and you know the consequences of your bad behaviour– He moves behind you while he talks, you softly nod when he finishes, feeling his hands on your hips caressing slowly you feel your cheeks getting hot, you couldn't help but bite your lip when you feel his lips brushing your neck, leaving light kisses, You bite your lip as he moves closer to that sensitive spot on your neck, his kisses getting more longer as he was close to that sensitive spot, you almost moan when you know he was about to kiss you there but instead he pats your hips lightly and pull away slightly. –This is a punishment, my dear. I know you're enjoying this and maybe you get a little more if you behave after your punishment… Now bend over the desk. – He says in a commanding tone, you didn't hesitate and do it, one of his hands move to tease your legs, his fingers brushing your thighs lifting slowly the hem of your dress, your face now red for the situation, he saw the way you press your thighs together, his fingers move to pull down your panties slowly until the small fabric falls on the floor.

—Such a pretty thing… See how obedient you can be— You bite your lip when his hand starts to caress your ass cheek, in the unexpected moment he slaps your ass a little to hard to make you moan, Zemo smirk when he gets a reaction from you. You heard one of the drawers open, you couldn’t see what is going on, you just wait impatiently. Then you feel his hands covered in the gloves of leather caressing your thighs –Oh darling we gonna have so much fun– he leans closer to you in a soft whisper, his hot breath against your ear, as you feel his grown erection inside your ass —I want you to count this one, I want you to count 20 and then I’ll stop, but if you don't say it loudly and right I’m gonna start again. — He pulls away and his hand caresses your ass cheek with the glove leather then again he slaps your ass, the leather makes your soft skin sting —O-one… — a soft moan come out of your mouth.

The slaps get even harder when the number gets higher, making you more difficult to count right —I didn't hear you right, sweetheart he has to start again… — You were for the 17 slap after start over 3 times, his slaps get harder every time you make him repeat.

After several times, you finally reach to 20, you couldn’t believe how much your ass sting and hurt, you didn't have to look to see how red it was, as you couldn't believe how wet your inner thighs and folds were, you don't want to admit how turn it on you have get when he spanks you. Zemo look at you with satisfaction, he leans closer to you, a soft moan leaves your lips when you feel the rough fabric of leather caressing your inner thighs —Such a good girl… Already so wet for me, that was supposed to be a punishment not for you to enjoy— He chuckled softly, his hands moving to your wet folds, a soft moan leaves your lips as you feel his finger teasing your folds to your clit making slow circles, making you squirm under him, with a warning he push two of his fingers deep inside of you the leather glove makes his finger more thick, he moves his hands in a slow pace, he was enjoying the way you squirm under him, your little whimpers and moans. —You're so responsive— he murmurs, his voice dark and seductive. —I can feel every pulse, every quiver. You belong to me now, don't you? — His voice possessive close to your ear in a whisper —Y-yes, I’m yours… — You whine, you were so close to your orgasm. —That's what I want to hear— he says, pushing another digit inside you. —You're mine and you'll do as I say. — His fingers thrust into you in a faster pace, filling you up completely.

—You’ll cum when I say you can— With that he continues to finger you, his other hand moves closer to your clit, his fingers start rubbing that sensitive nub. Your walls squeezing his fingers as you were trying to not cum in his hand, not until he tells you that you can. You squirm and beg for him to let you come.

—Cum for me, sweetheart… Cum around my fingers. — And you did, you cum around his fingers with a loud cry, he continue milking your organs moving his fingers in and out while he continues rubbing your clit. He stops when you finally finish your orgasm, he withdraw his fingers slowly, a soft whine comes out of your mouth.

You close your eyes for a few seconds trying to get your breath –Don’t fall asleep already, sweetheart… I'm not close to finish with you. – You try to turn to look at him when you feel the tip of his cock on your swollen folds, he groaned, his hands gripping your hips tightly as he pushed into you, filling you up with his length. You only could moan loudly and squirm under him. Your tightness around him felt incredible as he began to thrust slowly, taking his time to stretch you out. —So tight and warm for me… — His lips curled into a smile as he felt your pussy clench around his cock. He increased his pace, thrusting harder and faster. The sounds of their bodies slapping together filled the room, punctuated by your moans and gasps of pleasure. You don't want to admit it, but he was making you feel the pleasure you never though you could get. Zemo moves to kiss your neck and shoulders as he continues thrusting in you in a rough pace, his grip on your hips was strong, that's gonna leave you bruises the next day. You cry louder when you feel his fangs break the skin in your shoulder, taking your blood. —So sweet and all mine— he whisper on your ear after take some blood of your body, his hand move to your clit, he moan when he feel your inner walls clenching around his cock, he pick more faster and rougher the pace, you can feel the tip of his cock hitting om your cervix, making you squirm under him, you didn't even think straight in that moment he was fucking you deep and senses that you only moan and whimper, you have lost the count of how many times he had make you cum.

Seeing you all ruin for the pleasure just arouse more Zemo, he grabs your face making you to face him and he takes you in a messy kiss, with a deep thrust his cum inside of you filling you up with his warm seed.

Zemo stays inside of you for a few seconds as he catches his breath, you were laying on his desk, blushing and panting, he pulls out of you, his seed come out of your swollen pussy, dripping on your thighs and floor, your red ass checks just give him the imagination of you that he wants —What a messy girl you are, What you're “fans” will think of you? Their little hunter here on my desk all marked by me, you don't want they find out the truth about you? That you enjoy being my little maid and warm my bed. Don't worry, my love that's not gonna happen, because you're mine and you will stay here by my side—

You try to run away a few more times, but the punishment gets even worse with the time that you start to get used to stay around him, you even start to crave for his touch and his sweet words, you fall in love with him, and now you were tied to him for the rest of your life.

#fanfic #zemo x y/n #baron zemo x reader smut #helmut zemo x reader #helmut zemo #marvel #smut #zemo x you smut #zemo x reader smut #baron zemo #female reader #daniel bruhl x reader #daniel brühl #vampire #vampire zemo #dark!fic #dark!zemo #dark!helmut zemo x reader

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mariaxxxxx · 11 months ago

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Welcome a Masterlist of Masterlist

Hello, I'm Maria E, She/They. Just a Brazilian girl who loves to write. I hope you enjoy my stories and forgive my bad English. My stories are for people of legal age (18+) Pay attention to warnings, please; Some themes can be sensitive and trigger triggers.🩷🩷

🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊

Namor/K'ul'ku'kan

🐍 Love under the sunset (in progress)

🐍 Underneath the waves (in progress)

🐍 Dragon fruit (completed)

🐍 Fantasize ( completed)

🐍Gods Falls Sometimes ( completed)

🐍 I Wish Under The Same Roof ( completed)

Baron Helmut Zemo

🫐Blueberry (shortly)

🟣 The love you offer me ( completed)

Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier

🔫Cherry (completed)

🔫 Boy, I want your attention (completed)

Steve Rogers/Capitain America

🗽 Blackberry (completed)

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heydoaflip · 1 month ago

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The Doctor and The Tracker | Helmut Zemo

Zombie Apocalypse AU!

Female Original Character ('Doc') x Helmut Zemo

Summary: When an unsettling discovery forces them to abandon their fragile refuge, Doc and her group face the grim reality of survival in a world that’s always closing in. As chaos erupts, one mistake pulls her away from her friends, leaving her to confront not just the undead but a haunting glimpse of something—or someone—that defies reason. Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, including gun use and combat with walkers. Themes of guilt, trauma, and survival in an apocalyptic setting. Intense suspense and danger, including close encounters with the undead. Brief mention of blood and injury (medical and combat-related). Word count: 11K

oo. the tracker

The fire station had seen better days. Faded red paint curled like brittle parchment, exposing the skeleton of weathered wood and rusted metal beneath. Inside, its transformation was equal parts ingenuity and desperation, the remnants of a structured world repurposed into a fragile refuge.

The main garage, once an echo chamber of sirens and hurried boots, now sat heavy with silence. Its emptiness was stark, a hollow reminder of what this place had been. The stretcher at its center, long past its prime, sagged under the weight of makeshift supplies: jars of scavenged ointments, antiseptic bottles clouded with age, and scissors dulled by overuse. Even the shelves around it seemed tired, their contents a precarious balance of necessity and neglect.

The air smelled of old smoke and mildew, with an undercurrent of something sharper—coppery, metallic. It clung to her skin, the way fear and exhaustion clung to their lives. Above, fractured sunlight trickled through a cracked skylight, streaking the dust-filled air with muted gold.

Doc perched on a battered crate, her back stiff with focus even as the weight of exhaustion tugged at her shoulders. Her fingers moved deftly over Bucky’s arm, her gloved hands carefully cleaning the wound’s edges. The jagged stump where his right arm had been was swollen but healing, though the angry redness still clinging to the skin told her the fight wasn’t over yet.

Her movements were steady, but her mind was far from calm. Every time she looked at the wound, she saw that day—his blood on her hands, her frantic breath as she tried to stop the bleeding, the way his voice, rough and broken, had told her to keep going. She had, of course. She had done what she could, and it hadn’t been enough.

"Keep it steady," she muttered, breaking the quiet but not the tension.

Bucky obeyed without complaint, his body still under her touch. His silence wasn’t unusual, but it carried a weight today that unsettled her. His blue eyes stared past her, distant and unseeing, as if retreating to a place she couldn’t reach.

The world outside had never felt so far away. The wind rattled the station’s loose window panes, a low, mournful sound that seeped into the cracks of her thoughts.

She hesitated, the cloth pausing mid-swipe as her gaze flicked to his face, "Still holding up?"

There was a pause, long enough for her words to feel like they were swallowed by the stillness of the room.

“Yeah,” he said finally, his tone clipped and unconvincing. He shifted slightly, the old chair groaning beneath him, before adding, “You don’t have to check it every day, Doc.”

The nickname made her grimace faintly, but she didn’t bother hiding it. They all called her that now, as if it was her real name. It wasn’t. It was just another thing she’d inherited from this broken world, like the ash-streaked sky and the hollow weight in her chest.

“You know exactly why I do,” she said, picking up the antiseptic with brisk, deliberate movements.

She dabbed at the wound, glancing at him as she worked. “You’re lucky to be alive, Bucky. You know that, right?”

The words hit harder than she’d meant them to, and for a moment, she regretted saying them at all.

The words hit harder than she’d intended, and for a moment, regret tugged at her. She wasn’t trying to chastise him.

He winced—not from the antiseptic, but from the weight of the truth she’d just dropped on him.

“You’ve got a hell of a bedside manner,” he muttered dryly.

A faint smile ghosted across her face, there and gone in an instant, “You want sugar-coating? Don’t avoid me when you’re in pain.”

Her eyes flicked to his face again, and she caught the tension in his jaw, the way his left hand flexed and unflexed against his knee. He was holding something back, but so was she.

“Fair,” he limited himself by saying, his expression forever stoic.

"I mean it, Bucky," she said, her voice softer now, the edges of irritation blunted by something gentler. She paused, searching for the right words but finding none, "What happened back there—"

"It wasn’t your fault," he cut in, sharp and sudden, the words slicing through her sentence.

Her hands stilled, the antiseptic-soaked cloth hovering above his skin. He still wasn’t looking at her, his gaze fixed somewhere far away, but there was something raw in his voice that made her chest tighten.

"You don’t know that," she murmured, her tone uncertain, almost fragile.

When he turned to her, his expression caught her off guard. His eyes were unflinching, filled with a heaviness that seemed to press against the walls of the room.

"I do," he said, his voice quieter now, weighted with conviction. "There’s nothing we could’ve done. And if I had to do it all again, I wouldn’t change a damn thing."

The silence that followed wasn’t empty. It was thick, filled with everything they wouldn’t say. The sound of wind rattling the station’s loose windows barely registered as she looked back at him, her hands falling limply into her lap.

“That’s a really stupid thing to say,” she pointed out, breaking the silence. Her tone wasn’t sharp, but it carried a weight that made Bucky glance at her. “You lost an arm, Bucky. How... How are you going to do what you do?”

The question lingered in the air, and she hated how it sounded. Not accusatory, not exactly, but laced with the kind of helpless worry she tried to keep hidden.

The wind outside scraped against the building, rattling loose window panes like an uninvited guest. Dust motes danced lazily in the fractured sunlight spilling through the cracked skylight above, their slow, aimless drift a stark contrast to the unease gnawing at her thoughts.

Bucky tilted his head slightly, his brow furrowing as if weighing her words.

“What I do?” he echoed, his voice calm but edged with something unreadable.

She swallowed, her fingers brushing against the edge of the crate as though searching for stability.

“You know exactly what I mean,” she said, quieter now, “You’re the one who keeps us safe out there. You hunt. You cover us when things go south. You’ve always been the one we can count on, and now...”

Her voice trailed off, the words catching in her throat.

And now I’ve ruined that.

The thought scraped against her, raw and unrelenting. She wanted to say it out loud, to scream it, but the weight of everything held her silent.

Instead, she looked away, her gaze drifting to the jagged streaks of gold on the floor, cast by the fractured skylight above. The light flickered slightly as a breeze stirred the dust, and for a moment, it felt like the walls were closing in.

The fire station was quiet—too quiet. The kind of quiet that left room for the wrong thoughts to creep in.

“And now you’re wondering how the hell I’m gonna manage without two hands,” Bucky said, breaking the silence. His voice was steady, almost resigned, as if he’d already resigned himself to this being his reality.

Her head snapped back toward him, her brows knitting together.

“No,” she said firmly, though not unkindly, “I’m wondering how the hell you’re going to manage when you refuse to take even five minutes to let yourself heal.”

To let me help you. It was the least she could do and, yet, he avoided her like the plague.

He leaned back in the chair, the old wood groaning faintly under his weight. The corners of his mouth quirked into a wry smile, but it didn’t touch his eyes.

“I’ll figure it out,” he said simply, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“That doesn’t bring me any comfort,” she replied, her voice barely above a whisper.

Her eyes lingered on the jagged edges of his stump, the angry redness that still clung to the skin. She could still hear the sound of that day—flesh tearing, his gritted groans of pain, and her own frantic breath as she’d scrambled to stop the bleeding. The memory was vivid, each detail burned into her mind: the sickening warmth of his blood soaking her hands, the metallic tang in the air, the way her fingers had trembled as she worked.

She’d told herself it was just adrenaline, the urgency of the moment forcing her body to keep moving. But deep down, she knew the truth. She’d been terrified. Not just for him, but for all of them. Bucky had been their anchor—the one who kept them moving, kept them alive when the world outside tried to swallow them whole. Without him, what were they supposed to do?

Her chest tightened, her breath catching for a moment as her gaze drifted to the floor.

“You’re not invincible, Bucky,” she said, quieter now, her voice cracking just slightly. “I don’t know what I’d do if...”

The words hung in her throat, too heavy to say aloud. She shook her head as if the gesture could physically push the thought away, her hands brushing against the crate as though searching for something solid to hold on to.

“If what?” he asked, his voice softer now, though his stubbornness still lingered at the edges.

“If we lost you,” she finished, the words barely audible, fragile in the quiet of the room.

Her gaze flicked back to him, and for a moment, she hesitated. She wanted to leave it at that, but the truth pressed against her chest, demanding to be spoken. If I lost you.

Bucky had been one of her first friends in this fractured world, though “friend” hardly seemed strong enough for what he was to her. He’d been a constant, the steady presence she could lean on when everything else felt like it was crumbling. He was the one who didn’t flinch when things got bad, who carried the weight when the rest of them faltered.

He’d believed in her, even when she doubted herself. When she’d stumbled through those early days of survival—making mistakes, hesitating when she couldn’t afford to—he hadn’t judged her. He’d just been there, steady and unyielding, like a pillar holding up the sky. She couldn’t bear the thought of him crumbling now.

The room felt heavier after that. The air seemed to press in around her, thick with unspoken fears and unacknowledged truths.

“You’re not gonna lose me,” Bucky said after a moment. His voice was firm, steady, but his eyes betrayed him. There were cracks in the armor, faint but undeniable.

She wanted to believe him. She needed to believe him. But the image of that day was seared into her mind, playing on a loop she couldn’t stop. If she’d been faster, better, maybe it wouldn’t have come to this. Maybe—

The sudden rattle of loose window panes snapped her out of her thoughts, the sound jolting her like a splash of cold water.

She blinked, her hand gripping the edge of the crate as if anchoring herself back to the present. The fire station felt oppressively quiet again, the faint rustle of wind outside only serving to highlight the stillness within. Her gaze flicked toward the windows, the cracked glass reflecting fragmented streaks of light onto the walls.

“You’re not gonna lose me,” he said again, softer this time, as though he could sense her spiraling. “You need to let that go, Doc.”

Her lips pressed into a thin line, but she didn’t respond right away. Letting go felt impossible. The weight of her own guilt was too familiar, too comfortable in a way she hated to admit.

Her lips pressed into a thin line. Letting go wasn’t something she knew how to do. The weight of her guilt was a constant companion, settling into the corners of her mind like the ever-present scent of old smoke and mildew clinging to the station’s walls.

Her eyes flicked toward the windows. The wind rattled the loose panes, a mournful sound that filled the gaps in their silence. Outside, the world was as lifeless as the space they now called home, its stillness punctuated by the occasional creak of the old building settling under the weight of its history.

“It’s not that easy,” she murmured, her voice so low it barely carried across the room.

Bucky didn’t respond immediately. His gaze dropped to the floor, the tension in his shoulders softening just enough to betray the exhaustion he carried. He flexed his left hand again—a restless, automatic motion that seemed to anchor him to the moment.

The silence stretched, punctuated by the faint scrape of her gloves against the crate as she adjusted her grip. She felt her thoughts start to spiral again, looping back to the same unanswerable questions. What if she’d been faster? What if she’d done something differently that day? What if—

“You heard anything yet?” Bucky’s voice broke through her thoughts, sharp but not unkind.

She blinked, the question catching her off guard. Her fingers tensed around the edge of the crate. “No,” she said, her voice steadier than she felt.

The thought of them hadn’t left her since they’d disappeared into the gray haze of the horizon. Steve had insisted it would be quick—one day there, one day back—but now every tick of the clock felt like it chipped away at her hope.

She could still see the supplies they had packed: the last of their ointments, a crumpled map covered in faded marker, and the small stash of ammo they couldn’t afford to spare. It hadn’t been enough then, and it certainly wasn’t enough now. A hollow ache settled in her chest as her mind played through worst-case scenarios: bartered goods gone wrong, the fragility of trust snapping like brittle glass, or worse, the things that prowled the world outside. They’d been gone too long.

The shelves behind her seemed to loom, mocking her with their emptiness. Supplies for one week, two at most, if they stretched them to breaking. And now, they were the only things keeping her from sinking entirely into panic.

Bucky’s jaw tightened, and he leaned forward slightly, the chair creaking beneath him, “They should’ve been back by now,” he said, the words heavy with unspoken concern.

“I know.”

The words came out sharper than she intended, and guilt immediately twisted in her chest. She exhaled slowly, rubbing a hand across her face.

“I know,” she repeated, softer this time.

Her gaze wandered back to the windows. The cracked glass caught the light, scattering fragmented streaks of gold onto the walls. She followed the patterns absently, trying to focus on them instead of the sinking feeling in her gut.

“They said it’d only be a day,” Bucky said, his voice taut.

“Maybe something slowed them down,” she replied, though the words felt hollow even as she spoke them. Her gaze didn’t leave the window. “It doesn’t mean—”

“You don’t believe that,” he interrupted, his eyes cutting to hers.

She turned to face him fully, her jaw tightening. He was right. She didn’t believe it—not really. The knot in her stomach had been twisting tighter since last night, and the longer they went without word, the harder it became to keep her worry in check.

“They’re smart,” she said finally, as if saying it aloud would make it true, “Steve wouldn’t let anything happen to them. You know that.”

The thought of them hadn’t left her since they’d disappeared into the gray haze of the horizon.

Steve had insisted it would be quick—one day there, one day back—but now every tick of the clock felt like it chipped away at her hope. She could still see the supplies they had packed: the last of their ointments, a crumpled map covered in faded marker, and the small stash of ammo they couldn’t afford to spare. It hadn’t been enough then, and it certainly wasn’t enough now.

A hollow ache settled in her chest as her mind played through worst-case scenarios: bartered goods gone wrong, the fragility of trust snapping like brittle glass, or worse, the things that prowled the world outside. They’d been gone too long. The shelves behind her seemed to loom, mocking her with their emptiness.

Supplies for one week, two at most, if they stretched them to breaking. And now, they were the only things keeping her from sinking entirely into panic.

“Steve’s smart, sure,” Bucky said, his voice hardening, “But those guys they were meeting—they’re not exactly known for playing fair.”

The traders weren’t strangers, but they weren’t friends either. Wanda’s voice echoed in her memory: calm, clinical, but sharp with unspoken warnings:

“They’ve got their own rules. Stick to the deal and walk away clean.”

Doc had wanted to ask more—who they were, what they wanted—but Vision’s grim expression had stopped her.

“We’ll be fine,” he’d said at the time, but she hadn’t missed the flicker of unease in his eyes.

Now, alone with her thoughts, she filled in the blanks they’d left open. Opportunists, Wanda had said once. People who traded in desperation. People who wouldn’t think twice about turning a deal sour if the odds tipped in their favor. The weight of their silence felt heavier now, like a storm cloud pressing against her lungs.

She didn’t know them, but she knew enough: they were exactly the kind of people who survived this world. That didn’t comfort her.

“They’ve been reliable so far,” she said, though even to her own ears, the words sounded weak.

“Reliable until they’re not,” Bucky muttered, his voice dark.

The wind rattled the panes again, louder this time. She glanced at the window, half expecting to see something lurking beyond the fractured glass. Instead, there was only the empty horizon, streaked with the dull gray light of an overcast sky.

“They’ll be fine,” she said, forcing the words out. Her voice wavered just slightly.

Bucky didn’t respond. His gaze was distant again, fixed on a spot on the floor.

“If they’re not back by tonight...” he began, his voice quieter now, “We go after them.”

Her stomach tightened. The words hung in the air, heavy with possibility.

“Bucky—”

Her gaze flicked to him. His left hand flexed unconsciously against his knee. It wasn’t that he couldn’t fight—she’d seen him take down more than she cared to remember—but there was a rawness to the way he moved now. Like a violinist playing with a broken bow, every strike carried the faintest hesitation, every block an unsteady rhythm.

The fight outside the station—the way he’d faltered for half a second—still lingered in her mind. Would Natasha or Sam even agree with such a reckless idea? They’d urge patience, wouldn’t they? But patience wasn’t something she could feel at that moment.

“I mean it, Doc,” he said, cutting her off. His tone was firm, but there was a vulnerability beneath it that caught her off guard. “We can’t just sit here and wait. Not when we don’t know what’s happening.”

Her chest tightened. She wanted to argue, to tell him they needed to stay put and think things through, but the truth was, she felt the same. The thought of waiting much longer, of sitting here in the suffocating quiet while Steve, Wanda, and Vision were out there—somewhere—was unbearable.

She exhaled shakily, trying to steady the chaos in her mind. “Okay,” she said finally, her voice barely above a whisper, “But I’m going with you.”

Bucky’s head snapped toward her, his expression hardening instantly. “No, you’re not.”

His tone was like a brick wall, but she barely registered it. Her chest burned with a heavy mix of determination and dread, a feeling that had been clawing at her since the moment Steve, Wanda, and Vision had left.

“Don’t start,” she said, her voice sharp, “I’m not sitting here while you go out there alone.”

“I won't go alone,” he countered, his brow furrowing deeply as he leaned toward her. “Sam and Natasha will go with me, they’ll agree with me and interject to join me. They can handle themselves, as I myself, you don’t need to get involved.”

Her hands clenched into fists at her sides.

“You can handle yourself?” she snapped, gesturing toward his left arm, “You’re still getting used to—”

“That doesn’t matter,” he interrupted sharply, his voice loud enough to make her flinch. His expression softened slightly, but his tone didn’t lose its edge, “I’ve been through worse. You know that.”

She knew he was right.

Doc had seen him withstand pain most people wouldn’t survive. But all she could think of was the way his body had sagged against her that day, blood spilling over her hands as she fought to keep him alive. Her breaths were shallow now, her pulse loud in her ears.

The sound of the walkers grunting from afar that day still haunted her nights.

Her mind drifted back—unbidden—to the first moments after the attack. Wanda’s screams had echoed in her ears long after the chaos had settled, a haunting soundtrack to her own failures. She could still feel the sticky warmth of Bucky’s blood as they’d tried, futilely, to stop the bleeding.

Every memory sharpened into a vivid, unbearable ache. She’d told herself over and over it hadn’t been her fault, but she didn’t believe it.

She blinked rapidly, trying to refocus.

“I can’t just sit here, Bucky,” she said, her voice trembling with frustration, “Not again. I didn’t do enough last time, and look where that got us. If something happens to them now, while I’m hiding here, I—”

“You’re not hiding,” Bucky said, his voice cutting through her words like steel, “You’re our doctor around here, we need you in one piece. They need you alive, we all do. Who else would keep Sam from trying to play hero when he’s hurt, or patch Natasha up when she refuses to admit she’s bleeding?”

Her lips twitched despite herself, but the moment passed too quickly, leaving behind only the gnawing weight in her chest. Her gaze dropped to the floor, shame coiling in her stomach. Surviving felt like an excuse. It felt like cowardice.

“You don’t understand,” she murmured.

“I do,” Bucky said, his voice calm and measured, though a flicker of pain crossed his features, “You think I don’t know what you’re feeling? That guilt? That weight? I carry it every damn day. But it doesn’t mean you throw yourself into the fire just to make it stop.”

Her breath hitched as his words struck a nerve, unearthing emotions she’d buried too deep to face. The images she’d been trying to suppress came rushing back again: Vision’s desperate attempts to shield Wanda, the way the chaos had swallowed them whole. She’d frozen at the worst moment, and she’d felt the cost of that mistake every day since.

Her shoulders sagged, the fight momentarily draining out of her.

“You’re asking me to stay behind and do nothing,” she said softly, her voice barely audible, “But I can’t, Bucky. I can’t stand the thought of—”

“Of what?” he pressed, stepping closer, his voice softer but still firm. “Of losing them? Of losing more people? You think I don’t feel that, too?”

She looked up at him sharply, her jaw tightening.

“I know you do,” she said, though the words felt thin and insubstantial. “That’s why I hope you understand me and let me go with you.”

“You think this is about permission?” he countered, his tone softening as his gaze fixed on her, “This isn’t about what you want, Doc. It’s about what we need. And what we need is for you to stop punishing yourself for something that wasn’t your fault.”

Her heart felt heavier, his words pulling her in two directions at once. She wanted to believe him, to let the truth settle into her bones, but her guilt sat heavier. Her mind spun, latching onto his words and twisting them.

The silence between them thickened, stretching into a chasm. Doc stared at the floor, her fingers twitching against her sides as her thoughts spiraled again.

She could still hear Steve’s voice, low and steady as he’d assured her they’d be back by now. She could still see Wanda’s tentative smile, Vision’s quiet nod. If she stayed here and they didn’t come back, she wouldn’t just be failing them—she’d be failing herself.

“I have to do something,” she said, her voice trembling.

“And I have to stop you from getting yourself killed,” Bucky said, his voice softer now, but no less firm.

Her lips parted to respond, the fight still bubbling at the back of her throat, but before she could speak, the sound of hurried footsteps interrupted them.

“Hey!” Sam’s voice cut through the tension, sharp and urgent.

They both turned to see him standing in the doorway, his expression tight with unease.

“Something’s wrong,” he said, glancing between them, “You need to see this. Now.”

The chill outside hit harder than expected, the wind carrying with it the faint, sour scent of decay. The fire station loomed behind them, its once-vivid red paint peeling in ragged strips, exposing the weathered wood and rusting metal beneath. Around them, the forest stretched endlessly, its skeletal trees swaying against the gray horizon like brittle fingers reaching for the sky.

Sam moved ahead of them, his pace brisk but purposeful. His jacket flapped with each gust of wind, revealing a patched-up shoulder that spoke to a lifetime of survival in a world that didn’t allow for rest. His expression was sharp, his dark eyes flicking between the treetops and the undergrowth as if expecting danger to leap out at any moment.

Doc’s breath came quick and shallow, the cold air biting at her lungs. Her boots crunched against the frost-dusted ground, the sound far too loud in the eerie quiet. She struggled to suppress the rising dread, but her thoughts swirled with growing panic.

What was wrong?

Her stomach churned as memories of past close calls clawed their way to the surface—hands grasping at her ankles, lifeless eyes staring through her as she fought tooth and nail to escape. When the problem wasn’t walkers, it was about other survivors.

The last time they had to deal with survivors who weren’t at all good still didn’t bring her any good memories.

The forest around her suddenly felt too close, the looming trees pressing in, cutting off the faint light of the overcast sky.

Ahead of them, Natasha stood on a rocky outcrop that overlooked the clearing, her figure stark against the muted greens and browns of the forest. Her hair was tied back tightly, stray strands clinging to her face from the wind.

She didn’t glance back as they approached, her sharp eyes narrowing at the horizon. Her rifle was slung over her shoulder, but her hand rested on her sidearm, fingers twitching in restless anticipation.

Sam reached her first. “Tell me this isn’t what it looks like,” he said, his voice tight.

Natasha’s lips pressed into a thin line, her eyes locked on the horizon.

“They’re closer,” she said flatly. Her voice carried an edge of worry that Doc wasn’t used to hearing. “A lot closer.”

The words hit like a stone sinking in her chest. Doc stopped a few paces behind them, her hands instinctively gripping the straps of her satchel.

“Closer?” she echoed, her voice barely above a whisper, “How close?”

Bucky stepped up beside Sam, his expression darkening as he scanned the treeline. “How close are we talking?” he asked, his voice low, measured.

Natasha exhaled slowly, the sound merging with the mournful rustling of the wind. “Close enough that we don’t have time to argue about it.”

Doc swallowed hard and turned her gaze to the treeline. At first, all she saw was the dense sprawl of trees swaying gently in the breeze. Then, movement.

Faint at first, almost imperceptible, but unmistakably unnatural. Figures staggered into view, their jerky, uneven steps disrupting the stillness. From this distance, they looked more like shadows than bodies, but the sound came next—low, guttural groans that seemed to rise from the earth itself.

Her breath caught in her throat. The walkers moved as if guided by some unseen force, their twisted forms weaving between the trees in eerie, disjointed patterns. They weren’t supposed to be here. They weren’t supposed to move like this.

“They were miles away,” she murmured, her voice trembling. “How are they already here?”

“They shouldn’t be,” Natasha replied tightly. “Two days ago, they were far enough out that we should’ve had at least a month.”

Doc’s heart raced as her thoughts spiraled. She’d studied the walkers enough to know their patterns, their sluggish movements and aimless wandering. These weren’t the same. Their pace was faster, their movements less random, almost purposeful. The idea sent a cold shiver down her spine.

“Unless they’re tracking us,” Bucky muttered grimly.

The thought hit Doc like a punch to the gut. “Tracking us? How?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Sam interjected, crossing his arms. His jaw tightened as he glanced at Natasha. “How long do we have?”

Natasha tore her gaze from the horizon to face them, her expression unreadable. “An hour,” she said, her voice clipped. “Maybe less.”

The wind picked up, howling through the rocky outcrop, carrying the walkers’ groans closer. Doc’s gaze drifted back to the treeline. She could see more of them now, their shapes growing clearer as they emerged from the forest’s shadows. Their bodies were twisted and broken, patches of skin hanging loosely from exposed muscle and bone. Some dragged limbs behind them, while others moved with an unnatural speed that made her stomach churn.

She forced herself to look away, but the sound lingered—wet, uneven footsteps against frost-covered earth, the grotesque symphony of broken jaws gnashing and guttural groans filling the air. They were closing in, a relentless tide of death that wouldn’t stop until it consumed everything in its path.

Her thoughts raced. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

Walkers didn’t move like this. They didn’t track people, didn’t organize. It didn’t make sense, and yet here they were, defying every rule she thought she understood.

“They’re moving like they know where we are,” she thought, a sickening realization clawing at the edges of her mind, “How do you fight something that learns?”

Bucky’s voice cut through the rising panic.

“Grab what you can carry,” he said sharply, his tone brooking no argument. “We’re moving. Now.”

The fire station was alive with chaos as they scrambled to gather their supplies. The sound of boots thudding against the worn wooden floors mixed with the muffled groans of walkers approaching outside. Each noise felt magnified, echoing in her ears as though the world itself was narrowing to this single point. Doc’s hands moved quickly, shoving rolls of bandages and jars of antiseptic into her satchel.

The sharp tang of alcohol mingled with the musty scent of old wood and mildew, clinging to her as much as the panic settling deep in her chest. Every item she touched seemed heavier than the last, her mind warring between what to take and what to leave behind.

Her thoughts spiraled, racing between what she needed and what she could afford to leave behind. But with every passing second, the groans outside grew louder, closer. Every creak of the building, every gust of wind that rattled the windows, made her nerves tighten further, the pressure of the outside world pushing in.

“You don’t have time for all that!” Sam’s voice barked from the garage entrance, his figure a stark silhouette against the dim gray light filtering through the open door. Beyond him, the treeline loomed, dark and unyielding, like the open mouth of a beast waiting to swallow them whole, “Just grab what you can carry!”

“I am!” Doc snapped, though her hands lingered on a box of sutures, the decision to leave it behind weighing on her like a physical blow. Her eyes darted to the shelves around her, taking in the jars, gauze rolls, and scalpels she couldn’t carry. Every piece felt vital, irreplaceable.

She tried to convince herself it would be fine—they’d find more. They had to. But the knot in her stomach told her otherwise.

Bucky stormed in, his boots striking the floor with a force that matched the tension radiating from his frame.

“Doc, we’ve got to move. Now.” His voice was low, commanding, each word clipped with urgency. His left hand flexed and unflexed unconsciously, his rifle slung tightly across his back. The sharpness in his blue eyes cut through the chaos, locking onto hers, “We don’t have time for second-guessing.”

She hesitated, her gaze flicking to a jar of precious antibiotics on the shelf. The sight of it was like a knife twisting in her gut.

“I can’t just leave this,” she murmured, her hand already reaching for it.

“You have to,” Bucky growled, grabbing her arm before she could touch it. His grip was firm, his tone leaving no room for argument, “We can’t carry everything, and you need your rifle free.”

The air outside felt even colder than it had moments ago, as if the very atmosphere was shifting with the encroaching danger. The frost-covered ground crunched beneath their boots as they bolted toward the path leading to the observatory, the sound of each footstep echoing in her ears. The wind whipped through the trees, its mournful howl filling the silence between them, as though the forest itself was mourning the loss of whatever had once lived there.

Every gust of wind seemed to tear at her skin, biting through her clothes, and mingled with the groans of walkers closing in from behind.

The scent of decay was thick in the air, a sharp metallic tang that clung to the back of her throat, heavy with the promise of what was to come. Her pulse quickened with each passing step, her eyes scanning the darkness of the forest ahead.

Doc kept her rifle close, her fingers tight around the stock, as though its familiarity was the only thing holding her steady. Her satchel bounced against her side with every hurried step, the weight of it a constant reminder of the things she had left behind—things she hadn’t had the time or space to carry. It was like a physical ache, that bag slapping against her side as if mocking her failure to prepare.

The forest around them felt alive with unseen menace. The skeletal branches above creaked and groaned in the wind, their long limbs swaying ominously, casting shifting shadows that seemed to stretch and warp like living things. The sound of leaves rustling in the breeze was sharper than it should have been, the snap of a branch too loud, too distinct, almost like a warning.

Every crack of frost beneath their boots made her flinch, every movement of the trees felt as if it might be something lurking just out of sight. Her senses were heightened, but it wasn’t enough—her heart hammered in her chest, her mind a whirlwind of chaotic thoughts.

We’re not safe. We’re not safe enough.

Then it hit her—a sudden, wrenching realization that cut through the haze of panic swirling in her mind. Her hand flew to her neck, her fingers grazing empty skin. But it wasn’t the locket. It was the antibiotics. The vial.

The thought slammed into her like a physical blow, stealing the air from her lungs. She’d left it behind—the very vials she’d been using for Bucky’s wound, the only thing keeping his infection from spreading.

The weight of that hit her harder than anything else. Panic surged through her veins, cold and unrelenting, and in that moment, her legs refused to move. How could I have forgotten it?

Her thoughts spiraled as the image of the fire station came rushing back, vivid and cruel. The counter, the medical kit, the vial of antibiotics—she could picture it exactly as she’d left it. Set aside for Bucky’s wound, ready for the next treatment. And now, still there. Waiting.

She stopped mid-step, the forest around her stretching endlessly, a blur of skeletal branches and frost-covered ground. The others pressed forward, their movements purposeful, but her feet wouldn’t obey. Something inside her refused to let go of that single image: the vial, sitting untouched, just where she had left it.

Why didn’t she pack it?

The question flickered through her mind, unspoken but persistent. There had been no reason not to. She’d been careful, deliberate with every other piece of their supplies. Yet somehow, the most important one had slipped through. A faint pang twisted her gut, unwelcome but unavoidable. Her hands clenched, as if the motion could undo the moment entirely.

She glanced up at the others, their figures moving steadily ahead. They didn’t know. They couldn’t. Their focus was forward—on the path, on safety, on what came next. But her focus wouldn’t move. It remained tethered to the fire station, the counter, the vial.

Her gaze dropped back to the frozen ground. It wasn’t far. That thought lodged itself in her mind, stubborn and insistent. If she turned now—if she ran—she could make it. She knew the risks, felt them in every hollow groan carried on the wind, but even those seemed muted next to the quiet insistence pulling her back.

The wind stung her cheeks, a sharp reminder of the urgency around her, but it wasn’t enough to snap her forward. Her legs shifted almost unconsciously, her body responding to a decision her mind hadn’t yet admitted.

“Doc!” Bucky’s voice broke through the fog of her thoughts, sharp and tight. She flinched, looking up. He’d stopped further up the path, his frame outlined against the pale sky, “We have to move!”

Her pulse quickened. Her fingers twitched at her sides.

The right thing—the safe thing—was to keep going, to trust they had done all they could, that there would be another way. But safety wasn’t what came to her now. Instead, it was the memory of Bucky sitting still as she worked on his wound, the faint tension in his jaw as he’d pretended not to feel the pain. The antiseptic had burned, but he hadn’t flinched.

The vial. The infection.

“I forgot your antibiotics, I’ll catch up with you,” she said, her voice catching in her throat. She didn’t look at them as she spoke, and didn't need to see the disbelief in their eyes, “Go to the watchtower, we are in four, it will be safe for us there as the horde passes through the forest.”

“Doc, no!” Sam called, his voice urgent but tinged with frustration, “You’ll get yourself killed!”

“I’ll be fine,” she muttered, barely hearing them anymore. Her feet were already turning, moving instinctively toward the fire station, “I’ll catch up. I promise.”

“You’re not going back there!” Bucky shouted, his voice breaking with the strain. He took a step forward, as though he might physically stop her, but Doc shook her head, her pace quickening.

She didn’t stop. She couldn’t. Not now.

Doc ignored the voices calling her name as she turned back, her feet pounding against the frozen ground. The urgency in her chest pressed down with each step. She couldn’t afford to waste any more time. The wind bit at her face as the forest around her seemed to close in, but she pushed on, determination fueling her every move.

The fire station came into view, its weathered walls grim against the cold, the door hanging open. The sight made her heart race. She could already hear the sounds of groans and shuffling feet—too many walkers closing in. She had to get in, grab the antibiotics, and get out.

No more hesitation.

As she stepped through the door, a sickly warmth met her, the stench of decay heavy in the air. Her eyes scanned the room quickly. It wasn’t overrun yet, but it was far from empty. A couple of walkers had already made their way inside—slow-moving, disoriented, gnawing at the remnants of their last victim. Their blank, dead eyes fixed on the dark corners, not yet aware of her presence.

Doc’s fingers tightened around the hilt of her knife, the cold steel offering her a brief sense of comfort. She moved quickly but cautiously, trying to avoid drawing attention to herself. The counter where she had left the antibiotics was just ahead, a faint light shining from the open window above. The sight of it—small, but so important—sent a fleeting wave of relief through her chest.

But the sound of groaning grew louder, sharper, filling the air with a sense of urgency that clawed at her throat. She could hear more of them now—shuffling closer, entering the station. The door she had come through wasn’t far behind her, and the sickening realization hit her: they were pouring in. Not a flood yet, but enough. Too many to fight if it came down to it.

She had to be quick.

Her heart thudded in her ears as she reached the counter. Her fingers grazed the familiar bottle of antibiotics, its cool surface a reminder of everything riding on this moment. She grabbed it, slamming it into her bag with shaking hands. The small moment of victory was short-lived.

The first walker noticed her then, its head jerking toward her, eyes blank and hungry.

Doc didn’t hesitate. She spun, slashing her knife across its throat. The body crumpled without a sound, the stench of blood and rot hanging in the air. She didn’t stop to think, just pushed forward, moving toward the door, but as she passed through, she saw more of them stumbling inside.

The sound of their dragging feet filled the space, their moans growing louder as they converged from all directions.

The door she had come through was barely closed when the groaning reached a new intensity. She turned sharply, her pulse spiking as she saw more walkers entering through the open door, and in that moment, a flash of movement caught her eye.

At first, it seemed like just another walker. But the way it moved—so much more fluid, less disjointed—was unsettling. Its skin was torn, flesh barely clinging to the bones, but it had the posture of something alive. Something human. A fresh, human shape, now hidden beneath the decaying skin of a walker. Its eyes locked onto hers for a fraction of a second, and something in her froze.

Was it possible?

“Hey,” she tried not to shout, “Who the fuck are you? Get out of here!”

But the sound of her own voice—loud, desperate—only drew more attention. The walkers around her snapped toward the noise, their vacant stares now focused entirely on her.

Her breathing quickened, the sound of her own heartbeat drowning out everything else. The walkers were converging now, their soulless groans blending into a grotesque harmony of hunger. The figure—the one that didn’t quite move like the others—had slipped from view, swallowed by the chaos. But its presence lingered in her mind, a sinister anomaly in a world that thrived on the bizarre.

Perhaps, she had imagined. She had imagined something that wasn’t there and would have to run faster because of such stupidity.

Doc’s grip tightened around her knife as she sidestepped a walker dragging its feet toward her. She didn’t pause. She couldn’t. Her fingers brushed the counter as she lunged forward, closing the distance to the vial. The cool glass met her palm, and she snatched it up, shoving it into her satchel. Her hands trembled as she secured the strap tightly across her chest.

There was no time to think. She turned, her boots scraping against the cracked floor, just as a walker lunged from her left. She ducked instinctively, its decayed fingers swiping through the air above her head. With a sharp jab, her blade found its mark, sinking deep into the side of its skull.

The body crumpled, but the noise of its fall only drew more attention.

She bolted for the door. More walkers were pouring in, the weight of their bodies pressing against the doorframe. Their groans echoed in the confined space, blending into a suffocating roar. One stumbled directly into her path, its teeth snapping at the air. Without slowing, she pivoted and slammed the heel of her boot into its knee, sending it toppling to the ground.

The cold wind hit her like a slap as she burst through the fire station door, the pale light of the outside world blinding her for a brief moment. She stumbled forward, her boots skidding on the frost-dusted ground, but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t. The moans behind her were growing louder, spilling into the open air with a guttural resonance that sent ice through her veins.

The treeline loomed ahead, a skeletal wall of gray and brown that swayed with the biting wind. It wasn’t safety—not really—but it was the only cover she had. Her legs burned with each step, the satchel bouncing heavily against her hip as she sprinted. The straps dug into her shoulder, the weight of the supplies inside a painful reminder of everything she’d risked to retrieve them.

Her breath tore through her lungs, harsh and ragged, pluming in short bursts against the icy air. Behind her, the cacophony of groans and dragging footsteps surged, echoing across the barren landscape. The sound clawed at her resolve, each guttural cry a reminder of how close they were. How close they always were.

She glanced back once—just once—and immediately regretted it. The walkers were pouring out of the station now, their twisted forms staggering into the open. Their flesh hung in tattered strips, their jaws slack but snapping hungrily at the air. Some crawled, their broken bodies dragging through the dirt, while others moved with a terrifying, jerky speed. Her stomach twisted at the sight, but she forced herself to look away.

Keep running. Don’t think. Just move.

The forest swallowed her whole as she plunged into the shadows of the trees, their brittle branches clawing at her jacket. The ground beneath her boots was uneven, littered with fallen twigs and patches of frost-slicked leaves that threatened to trip her with every hurried step. Her pulse thundered in her ears, louder even than the groans behind her, as though her body was trying to drown out the noise.

She pushed deeper into the forest, weaving through the skeletal trees with a frantic, unsteady rhythm. Every snap of a branch beneath her boots sounded deafening in the oppressive silence, and every rustle of leaves made her flinch, her mind conjuring images of walkers lurking just out of sight. The light filtering through the canopy was thin and pale, casting shifting shadows that danced and twisted in her peripheral vision like specters.

She stumbled, her boot catching on an exposed root, and barely managed to catch herself before hitting the ground. Her knee grazed the dirt, and a sharp pain shot up her leg, but she forced herself to keep moving. She didn’t have the luxury of stopping—not here, not now.

The terrain sloped upward as she neared the observatory, the incline forcing her legs to work harder with every step. Her breath came in shorter gasps, her muscles screaming in protest, but the sight of the tower ahead pushed her forward. It rose above the treetops like a crumbling monument to a world long gone, its once-pristine walls weathered and gray, the dome at its peak fractured but still intact.Her thoughts spiraled as she ran, the events of the day replaying in an endless loop. The fire station. The supplies. Her friends. She could still hear Steve’s voice, steady and reassuring as he’d promised they’d regroup at the observatory. "It’s high ground. Safe."

Safe. The word felt hollow now, meaningless against the reality of what she’d seen. If it was so safe, why weren’t they there? Where was Sam, Bucky and Natasha?

Looking around, Doc was sure: no one of them was there yet.

She reached the base of the tower, her chest heaving as she gripped the rusted railing of the staircase. The old metal groaned beneath her touch, the sound echoing in the stillness. For a moment, she hesitated, her gaze flicking back toward the forest. The faint sound of groans was still there, a low, distant hum that sent a shiver down her spine.

They were coming. Slowly but surely, they were coming.

Her boots clanged against the metal steps as she began to climb, each step a battle against the exhaustion threatening to drag her down. The staircase spiraled upward, the air growing colder and thinner with each turn. Dust swirled in the shafts of pale light filtering through the gaps in the tower’s walls, catching in her throat and making her cough. She gritted her teeth, forcing her legs to keep moving.

The top of the tower was just as she remembered it—wide, open, and eerily quiet. The observatory dome loomed above, its glass panels shattered and jagged, allowing the wind to whistle through unchecked. The room was empty, save for the remnants of equipment long abandoned: a rusting telescope lying on its side, a desk with drawers hanging open, and a scattering of papers so faded they were little more than fragments.

Doc’s eyes darted to every corner, every shadow, searching for any sign of her friends. But the room was still. Lifeless. She dropped the satchel onto the floor, her legs threatening to give out beneath her as the weight fell away.

She waited, standing in the center of the room as the silence pressed in. Her chest rose and fell with labored breaths, her mind racing with questions.

Why weren’t they here? Had something gone wrong? Had they even made it this far?

The questions circled in her mind, relentless and unanswerable. Her pulse hammered in her ears, and for a moment, she couldn’t tell if the sound was her heartbeat or the faint groans of the horde below. Her friends had been right there—right there—just minutes ago. She’d barely been apart from them long enough for anything to happen. They were ahead of her when she veered back toward the fire station. They had to be here. They had to.

She paced the room, her boots scuffing against the dusty floorboards. Every creak of the wood beneath her feet made her flinch, her nerves stretched thin. Her breath came in shallow bursts as she glanced toward the stairwell, half expecting to hear the echo of hurried footsteps or a voice calling her name. But there was nothing. Only the wind and the hollow groan of the old building settling under its own weight.

Minutes passed, though they felt more like hours. The emptiness of the observatory pressed down on her, heavy and suffocating, the quiet amplifying the chaotic churn of her thoughts. She moved toward the cracked window, her fingers brushing against the jagged frame as she peered outside.

Where were they? Had they been delayed by walkers? Overrun? Her mind spiraled, conjuring images she didn’t want to see: Sam cornered, Natasha until her last breath, Bucky shouting commands as he went down swinging... The scenarios played out like a cruel slideshow, each one worse than the last.

Her fingers clenched against the window frame, splinters digging into her palms. Her throat tightened, the raw ache of helplessness clawing its way up. She forced her gaze down to the clearing below, desperate for anything—a sign of movement, a clue, something.

She should’ve stayed with them. She shouldn’t have gone back for the supplies. She should’ve—

Something moved.

Her breath hitched as her gaze locked onto the clearing. At first, she thought it might have been the wind shifting the frost-covered grass, but then she saw it again—subtle, deliberate. A figure.

The person came into focus slowly, as though emerging from the haze of her scattered thoughts. They moved unevenly, their gait uneven but not aimless. One hand clutched at their side, where dark streaks of red stained their coat.

Blood.

Doc’s pulse quickened as her eyes followed their movements, taking in the bag slung over their shoulder, the way they adjusted its weight with a practiced efficiency.

Her grip on the window frame tightened. This wasn’t one of her friends, that was for sure.

She would have recognized their silhouette, their stride. But this person—whoever they were—didn’t stumble like a walker, nor did they panic like a survivor running for their life. There was something else in the way they moved. It wasn’t desperation.

It was...Calculation. Probably, he was a tracker of some kind.

She swallowed hard, her mind latching onto the details she could make out from this distance:

The bag. The blood. The deliberate, almost methodical way they navigated the clearing.

A flicker of unease sparked in her chest, followed quickly by something sharper. Anger, there was something wrong.

Her gaze dropped to the bag they carried. The stitching along its edges. The way it sagged, its contents shifting with each step. Her breath caught as realization dawned, slow and painful.

That’s ours.

Her mind snapped back to the fire station—the empty shelves, the supplies she’d fought to protect. The chaos of the walkers flooding the area. The pieces fell into place with a sharp finality that left her reeling. The strange figure she had a glimpse…

Her knees threatened to buckle, but she locked them in place, her hands shaking as they hovered near the rifle slung across her back.

This wasn’t some coincidence. This person—this stranger—had taken from her. From them. And now, they were walking away with what might have been theirs.

Her heart hammered in her chest, anger bubbling up beneath the exhaustion. She pulled the rifle from her back with trembling hands, her fingers curling around the cold metal as she raised it. Her breaths came quick and shallow, the weight of her own voice cutting through the stillness as she shouted.

“Hey!” The word ripped from her throat, raw and trembling, “Stop right there! I won’t hesitate to shoot you.”

The figure halted, their body eerily still despite the tension in her voice. Slowly, almost deliberately, they turned to face her. The movement was unnerving in its precision—not the panicked flinch of someone caught off guard, but the calm shift of someone who knew they held the upper hand.

The wind carried the faint, sickly scent of decay as the figure’s full form came into view. He wore a long coat, dark and heavy, its edges caked in mud and streaked with the dried, rust-colored smears of walker blood. The coat’s fabric hung unevenly over his lean frame, torn in places where crude patches of cloth and leather attempted to hold it together. His hands were bare, the knuckles split and red, as though they had seen far too much use against both the living and the dead.

But it was his face that gave Doc pause.

The sharp lines of his features were partially obscured by streaks of dirt and dried blood. A faint layer of stubble darkened his jawline, blending with the grime on his skin. His brown eyes were cold, unsettlingly sharp, and locked onto her with an intensity that made her pulse quicken. A smear of blood—fresh—traced the edge of his brow, disappearing into his short, neatly cut brown hair, which somehow remained untouched by the chaos that covered the rest of him.

More disturbing was the way his coat and boots glistened in places, patches of gore clinging to them as if he had waded through the carnage of walkers, not just avoided them. Thin strands of flesh—barely noticeable but sickening once seen—clung to the seams of his coat. He had blended with the dead, hiding among them, a grotesque trick that made Doc’s stomach turn.

So, he was indeed who she had spotted back there.

Even from this distance, there was an air of control about him, a calm that didn’t belong in a world where survival demanded chaos and fear. It set her on edge.

“I said stop!” she barked again, her voice trembling with anger, but her finger steadied on the trigger.

The figure tilted his head slightly, the faintest hint of curiosity flickering across his otherwise impassive face. His gaze dropped briefly to the rifle aimed at his chest before returning to her, his posture shifting as though weighing his options.

He didn’t answer her.

The wind howled through the shattered panes above, the distant groans of walkers carried with it, growing closer. Doc’s chest heaved with shallow breaths as the silence stretched between them.

Her eyes darted to the bag slung over his shoulder.

“What’s in the bag?” she demanded, her voice rising to fill the silence, “And who the hell are you?”

The man’s lips twitched faintly, not quite a smile but the ghost of something that made her skin crawl. He adjusted the bag on his shoulder, his movements slow and deliberate, as though to show he wasn’t reaching for a weapon.

“Supplies,” he said at last, his tone low and measured. His accent—a faint trace of something Eastern European—added a layer of dissonance to the single word.

Doc’s jaw tightened.

“My supplies,” she shot back, her anger bubbling to the surface, “You stole them. You brought the horde down on us.”

The man’s pout deepened the unease curling in her chest. His shrug was almost dismissive, but it was cut short by a sharp flinch, his hand twitching toward the bloodied side of his coat. Doc’s gaze flicked to the dark stain spreading there, her mind registering more of the injury even as her anger refused to abate.

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” he said evenly, his tone bordering on indifference.

Her grip on the rifle tightened, the cold metal grounding her in the face of his maddening calm.

“Don’t lie to me,” she snapped, her voice rising, “That bag—you got it from the fire station. It’s ours. You tore through our shelter and left us for dead.”

The slightest hint of amusement played across his face, though it was hard to tell if it was real or just part of the mask he seemed to wear so effortlessly.

“I did what was necessary,” he said, tilting his head slightly as he met her gaze. His tone was quiet, almost conversational, but it carried an undercurrent of steel, “You understand that, no? Survival demands... Adaptability.”

Adaptability my ass, Doc’s breath hitched as his words sank in. Stripping them of their supplies and drawing the horde straight to their door? That was adaptability?

In her world, that was called stealing.

“You put my friends in danger,” she spat, her voice trembling with barely restrained fury, “If they’re dead—”

“Then it is not because of me,” he interrupted, his voice cutting through hers like a blade.

The calm precision of his words made her falter. He didn’t raise his voice, didn’t plead or defend himself. He simply stated it, as though it were fact.

Doc’s hands shook, the rifle trembling in her grip. Her mind raced, torn between the instinct to pull the trigger and the gnawing doubt creeping in at the edges of her anger. He wasn’t wrong. The walkers were coming, and they had been closing in even before she’d reached the fire station. But that didn’t absolve him. Not when her friends were still missing.

“And why shouldn’t I shoot you right now, you fucker?”

The man’s lips pressed into a thin line, his expression sobering. He shifted slightly, his hand brushing against his wounded side as he straightened.

“Because,” he said, his tone measured, “we are both still standing here. If you shoot, it will only bring the horde's attention to us.”

Doc’s jaw clenched, her teeth grinding as the weight of his words pressed against her better judgment. He wasn’t pleading. He wasn’t begging for his life. He was stating facts, and that infuriated her even more.

Her finger hovered over the trigger, the weight of the rifle almost comforting in her hands. The logical part of her mind screamed at her to pull it—to end this before he had the chance to turn on her. But the sound of the groans in the distance, carried on the sharp winter wind, kept her grounded. He wasn’t wrong. One shot, and the horde would come straight for the tower. And with the way they were closing in, there wouldn’t be time to outrun them.

He tilted his head again, watching her with an infuriating calm, as though he could sense her internal struggle. His piercing blue-gray eyes were unflinching, almost clinical, like he was dissecting her every move.

“You are angry,” he said, his tone devoid of apology but filled with a maddening level of understanding, “That is fair. I would be too. But anger will not help you find your friends. It will not help you survive.”Doc let out a sharp, bitter laugh, the sound cracking against the tension like shattering glass.

“Don’t act like you’re doing me a favor,” she snapped, her voice trembling with the force of her frustration. “You stole from us. You put us in this position.”

“Perhaps,” he conceded with a faint nod, his voice still maddeningly even. “But I am not the reason your friends are not here. The world is cruel enough without your help in laying blame.”

Son of a bitch.

Her knuckles whitened around the rifle, her chest heaving as she fought to keep her emotions in check. The rational part of her mind screamed that every second spent talking to him was a second wasted. But the truth—raw and unforgiving—dug into her like a blade: how would she find Sam, Natasha and Bucky? She had no idea where they could have gone.

He must have noticed the slight falter in her stance because his voice softened, the sharp edge of his tone giving way to something almost persuasive.

“Think about it,” he continued, gesturing faintly to the dark stain spreading across his side. “You want to find your friends, right? I need help treating this, because I’m not a doctor myself.” He paused, letting the weight of his words sink in, “But I saw you back there taking those vials, you seem to know something or two about it. We can help each other. Or we can die here, arguing over what cannot be undone.”

Doc’s stomach churned, the truth of his words twisting like a knife in her gut.

She didn’t trust him. She couldn’t. But he was right.

Her friends could be anywhere, and the supplies she had weren’t enough to see her through on her own. Despite not trusting him, she wasn’t a tracker either, she had no clue how to find them.

Her voice was quieter when she spoke again, though it still carried the edge of her anger, “How do I know you won’t turn on me the second I patch you up?”

The flicker of a smirk tugged at his lips, though it didn’t reach his eyes.

“I could have killed you already if that were my intention,” he said simply. “But I didn’t. That should count for something, no?”

He was referring back to the fire station, when she had found him. You didn’t because it would bring the attention of the walkers to you, she dared say it out loud.

However, she got a glimpse of a dagger clinged in him. He could have easily sneaked up on her and killed her right there.

Damn.

She didn’t respond, her glare burning into him as she weighed her options. He shifted slightly, wincing as the movement pulled at his injury. Despite his calm exterior, she could see the subtle signs of pain etched into his features—the tension in his jaw, the faint sheen of sweat on his brow.

“If you kill me,” he added, his voice dropping lower, “You lose your only ally in finding them. And if I die, well, that would be my problem, I guess.”

Doc’s lips parted, a retort on the tip of her tongue, but the sound of the horde cut through her thoughts like a warning. The groans were closer now, their low, guttural chorus blending with the distant rustle of movement through the trees.

Time was slipping through her fingers, and she knew it.

She let out a sharp breath, lowering the rifle slightly but keeping it trained on him.

“Fine,” she bit out, the word heavy with reluctant resolve, “But if you even think about double-crossing me—”

“I won’t,” he interrupted, his tone clipped but sincere, “I am a man of my word.”

She didn’t know whether to laugh or scream at the audacity of his claim. A man of his word? He’d just admitted to stealing from her, to taking supplies that didn’t belong to him. But the alternative was clear. She could kill him, call the walkers down on herself, and hope to find her friends alone—or she could take the gamble.

Her hands shook as she pulled the satchel off her shoulder, the supplies inside rattling faintly.

“Climb,” she ordered, nodding toward the nearest flat surface—a weathered bench that looked as though it might collapse under his weight, “Quick, don’t worry about the wound, I will take care of it once you are up here.”

He complied without argument, though the effort was clearly taxing on him. His eyes narrowed briefly in pain as he shifted, but he moved with the grace of someone used to enduring hardship. As he climbed, his movements were slow, deliberate, clearly trying not to strain his injury further. The bench creaked under his weight, but it held, albeit barely.

“This doesn’t mean I trust you,” she muttered loudly enough for him to hear, her eyes still fixed on him.

“I would be disappointed if you did,” he replied instantly, the smirk never leaving his face. He was far too calm, too confident—something about that smugness made her blood run cold, but she couldn’t afford to focus on that now.

The wind howled through the shattered panes above them, the moans of the walkers growing louder with every passing second. The sound was unnerving, distant but unmistakably close. Her stomach churned as she tried to ignore the gnawing sense of urgency that gnawed at her from every direction.

This was a risk—a dangerous one—but it was a risk she had to take. For her friends. For herself.

She needed to find them. She needed to find Bucky. He and that injury... she couldn’t say for how long he would be okay without the antibiotics. And he couldn’t afford to wait much longer. His arm—his right arm—had been torn off, the injury severe. And without the proper care, it would only get worse.

Worse, she still had no idea where Steve, Wanda, and Vision were.

And as she wondered about all of that, she couldn’t help but feel the weight of his gaze on her, cold and calculating, as though he were already thinking five steps ahead.

Good for him, Doc thought with herself, because I always think ten steps ahead.

#helmut zemo fanfiction #marvel #mcu #helmut zemo x female original character #helmut zemo #baron zemo #marvel cinematic universe #helmut zemo x reader #zombie apocalypse #zombie apocolypse au #marvel fanfiction #mcu fanfiction #steve rogers #bucky barnes #sam wilson #natasha romanoff #wanda maximoff #vision

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justsomerandomfanfic · 2 years ago

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Never Gonna Give You Up - Helmut Zemo X Female Reader

Title: Never Gonna Give You Up

Helmut Zemo X Female Reader

Additional Characters: Bucky, Sam, Sharon (Mentioned), Steve (Mentioned), Helmut's Family (Mentioned), and other TFATWS characters (Mentioned)

Requested by @futuristicyouthvoid! (Thank you for requesting!!!)

WC: 932 (sorry if it's a bit short)

Warnings: Agent Reader, follows plot sort of, Zemo loves to dance, slight Bucky X Sam, anxiety, nervousness, german nicknames (my darling), mentions Helmut's loss of family and home, baby angst, and fluff

You entered the club of vibing people, dancing to upbeat house music. The lights were low in the nightclub, but you could tell that it was packed as all clubs tend to be. You weaved past dancers, and to the bar where you spotted Bucky and Sam, they were staring off at the dancing, as you made your way to stand beside them.

"Why'd you call me here?" You called out to Sam loudly over the music, "You know how expensive Madripoor tickets are? This better be something important because that was an eighteen-hour plane ride."

Sam shrugged, "I'll pay you back," He said. "And try to be quiet, will you? Don't want our cover blown."

You rolled your eyes, "What cover? Will you tell me why you so desperately wanted me here for then?" You asked, glancing at Bucky as he continued to stare down at the dancers.

"We're trying to find out who has been recreating the Super Soldier serum," Sam spoke in your ear, before leaning away.

You furrowed your eyebrows, "That doesn't explain the club?"

"It's Sharon's. She's helping." He answered and your jaw dropped slightly.

"Sharon? Steve's old fling? Jesus." You muttered under your breath and Bucky turned his head towards you.

"She's going to help us with intel on Nagel." He spoke, before turning back to the dancers. You furrowed your eyebrows once more, turning to Sam.

"Why is Buck staring at the dance floor? If he so desperately wants a dance partner... Why aren’t you two dancing?" You asked Sam, gesturing between him and Bucky.

Sam rolled his eyes, "Bucky doesn't want to dance. He's watching Zemo, so he doesn't get any ideas."

At his words, your eyes widened. Zemo? Your Zemo? Was here? You hadn't seen him since before the snap. You had visited him on multiple occasions before, but that was for SHIELD business. You had to interrogate the man, and it didn't help that Helmut was gorgeous. You didn't know it then but somehow you were able to melt his frozen heart, and that was saying something. Helmut had lost so much... His home, his family... He was distant towards you for so long. But, slowly, gradually, Helmut warmed up to you, and for the first time in years... He felt loved again.

And here you were, in a club, eyes wide as you stared at your Helmut from across the dance floor. He was dancing, rather... Adorably. You would've laughed if you weren't in so much shock. Sam stared at you, before placing a hand on your shoulder.

"You know him?" He asked and you ignored the man, rushing to maneuver and weave past dancers, desperate to get to Helmut as fast as you could.

Standing behind him as he fist-bumped the air, you let out a sigh. Slowly, with your bated breath, Zemo turned around and paused when his eyes locked with yours. You stared at one another, the loud music slipping away into nothingness as the world disappeared into only the two of you. Your gaze softened as you stared at Helmut, as did his. The two of you smiled, almost shyly as you gazed at each other.

Then, suddenly, Helmut was pulling you into his arms and into a deep kiss. The kiss felt like a dam had burst inside of you. You couldn't stop yourself anymore, wrapping both arms around Helmut's neck, clinging onto him desperately. Your fingers curled into his expensive shirt, tugging lightly on it as you kissed him passionately. Helmut pulled away after a moment, resting his forehead against yours as you both breathed heavily. You rested your hands on his chest, holding him tightly. You both looked at one another with soft smiles, before Helmut placed a small peck on your lips and stepped away. His cheeks reddened under the dim lights of the club, but his smile remained plastered on his face.

"Helmut... How did you get out?" You whispered gently, grabbing his hand to pull him closer.

He glanced away briefly, before looking back down at you. "James let me out."

"Bucky... Bucky let you out?" You asked skeptically, not believing this. Helmut nodded. You opened your mouth to speak but stopped yourself as Helmut spoke up.

"Not that I’m not elated to see you, my love, but why are you here?" He asked, wrapping his arms around you, holding you close to him, as the two of you swayed together on the dance floor.

"Sam called me." You mumbled into his shoulder, your grip tightening around him. He held you tighter. He knew you needed this. "He said he and Bucky needed help."

"Well," Helmut began, his hand running through your locks, "I am happy you're here. It's been a long time, meine Schatz."

You leaned away just enough to look him in the eye, "It has... And I am not letting them take you away from me again." You spoke determinedly.

His eyes flickered downwards, before looking back into your own eyes. "I know, my Schatz. I shall hope you never leave my side as well."

"I never could, Hel.” You muttered. "Now what trouble have they gotten you into?" You asked playfully as Helmut only smirked lightly, rolling his eyes. as he began to explain everything, you simply stared up at him, listening to his soft voice, hypnotic accent, and all, while holding the man you loved in your arms. You weren't going to let anyone take him away again, that was for sure. And if they tried, you would fight them tooth and nail. For Helmut.

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violetmuses · 1 year ago

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Four Course - Bucky Barnes

TITLE: Four Course - Bucky Barnes (Restaurant AU)

FANDOM: Marvel’s “Falcon and The Winter Soldier”

CHARACTER: James “Bucky” Barnes

MAIN STORYLINE: As Bucky helps a restaurant succeed, you suddenly turn heads.

Author’s Note: Hey! I couldn’t get away from one absolute brainrot. This project is also loosely inspired by “Burnt” and “The Bear.” Feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much for reading my work as always. - V. 💜

Main Masterlist

___________

2024

“You’re late, Sam. What the hell?” Clashing dishes and sizzled burners echoed all around while James continued working, already slammed.

“Watch your mouth, I just clocked in. Had to drop AJ and Cass off at school this morning too.” Sam quickly rolls his eyes. “Is Z here yet?”

“Nope.” James immediately praises the ceiling, casted in fluorescent lights that sharpened too much now.

“Thank God.” Sam pings that response, snatching one of many tickets and handing it to one server in record time. “I’m not trying to deal with his attitude yet.”

“Neither am I.” James agrees. The last few years scorched like Hell. Zemo had finally traveled stateside and opened this restaurant.

“Stop complaining. He can smell annoyance blocks away.” Joaquin warns, returning to the kitchen and still giving meal orders.

“Obviously.” James shakes his head, cooking regardless with his bare right hand.

____________

Helmut Zemo would’ve arrived during the first shift, but showing up fashionably late still made a difference in his own mind.

His limousine pulls up towards that familiar curb and one young driver almost runs around New York traffic just to aid that exit.

“Thank you.” Helmut whispers gratitude with accented English, but uses a separate door to enter the restaurant.

*****

“Shit, Come on. Zemo’s coming!” After running outside, Joaquin finds James smoking a cigarette and finally snaps, sending himself into panic.

“Where’s he now?” James stubs out the cigarette and brushes off his uniform, standing up in an effort to calm Joaquin down.

“Kitchen. Get up.” Joaquin continues, no longer messing around.

“I thought he didn't spook you anymore.” James chuckles without humor and still faces Joaquin.

“Zemo doesn’t scare me, but we got a critic today. She’s hiding through our rush at this point.” Joaquin sends out even more alarm bells.

James almost wants to choke him with his leftward metal arm.

“Why didn’t you just say that?” James almost yells out loud, but is smart to walk back inside with Joaquin trailing behind him.

___________

This restaurant leveled out in terms of quality placement, but wasn’t exactly known to be high-end.

Ambitious owner Helmut Zemo founded the location eight years back, fusing Sokovian favorites right alongside other cuisine nowadays.

The official review would be…something. Not that you would bum out this entire place, but everything felt rushed for plating. Each meal balanced onto your table without showing much love.

You wouldn’t fault the cooks, at least not yet.

***

“Is she nice?” Now, Joaquin mentions you, the critic, fighting an urge to cringe. Yet, he still helps out his coworkers. There’s no other choice.

“So far.” Zemo clears his tone, clipping the response.

“Quit chatting, you two. We gotta work and she wants dessert in the next few minutes.” Sam chimes, uniting with James as tickets keep moving in or out of the kitchen.

“Sam?” Zemo arches one leftward brow and crosses his suited arms. James and Joaquin keep working, completely ignoring this quiet square up.

“What? I’m not wrong.” Sam defends himself and silence then falls between both men. Zemo walks off.

“James, come with me.” Zemo instructs. James can’t refuse, following both Zemo and Joaquin out towards the dining room.

_________

“Here you go, Miss.” Smiling, Joaquin greets you once more and ends up gifting scrumptious cheesecake as dessert. “Hope this one makes you feel better.”

“Thank you.” You grin back and chuckle at the moment, looking forward to enjoying this slice.

James and Zemo stand at a fair distance as you turn your fork, cutting down this cake a bit more now.

“Last bite.” After different meals, from appetizers to right here, Zemo whispers, hoping that you won’t actually step away and shut this restaurant down.

Meanwhile, James’s heart races and drops all at once. In truth, he crafted every morsel that you’ve ordered.

“How’s the cake?” Joaquin smiles back at you for the millionth time.

“I need another slice.” You wipe your lips and rave, genuinely surprised.

“Yes, Ma’am.” Joaquin nods, saying farewell as you finish eating the first cake slice alone.

“Zemo?” You acknowledge Helmut at last, gesturing for this man to come closer despite this dinner rush.

“Yes?” Helmut answers quietly, using his typical brand of charm to greet you.

“Who covered my orders?” You question Zemo.

At that moment, James’s blue eyes nearly widened. Still, you look right at him, knowing that he is the main “culprit.”

“Fair enough.” James accepts that comment. You’re standing feet away from him now, privately standing outside and not viewed under Zemo’s watch.

________

“Tonight wasn’t bad,” You tell James. “The main entree that you put out could’ve been a lot better, though.”

“Glad you’re so understanding.” You nod, taking in your sight of an alleyway landscape. Horns blare from nearby traffic.

“Good to see you again.” James clears his throat, slyly referring to the past.

“Call me, Buck.” You lift your cell phone, use his nickname, and wink, heading elsewhere to leave him behind.

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whowantsnachos · 2 years ago

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Strawberry Champagne

Pairing: Helmut Zemo x Original Fem!Character (or you can insert yourself if you want)

Summary: After Madripoor, Zemo thinks Lydia should stop drinking. This is the result. (set post episode 3 FATWS)

Warnings: Swearing

Word Count: 2.4k

A/N: Lydia, my character, has like this fire magic thing that HYDRA implanted in her. She has a lot of scars because of all of the experiments and the injections, but she covered them all after she got out with different tattoos. Another thing, her hair does this thing where streaks of it will turn into like a brighter red / ginger than her regular hair color [kinda like Tonks is a good way to describe it] when her body temperature goes up. The language that is occasionally spoken is Serbian, but it’s supposed to be Sokovian, and I heard they were similar. Anyways, feedback and stuff is always accepted, given this is the first thing I wrote officially. Enjoy!

Lydia was sitting in bed, wearing an oversized Metallica hoodie with her knees close to her chest. Her dull, red hair was a mix of slightly messy and living hell. She thought about everything she had just witnessed in the past couple of hours with one arm wrapped around her legs and the other holding champagne. Lydia sat in the same position for about an hour or two, either thinking, spacing out or drinking. A sudden knock on her door made her jump in surprise.

“Yeah?”

“Can I come in?” she heard Zemo ask on the other end.

“Um, yeah, sure,” she said quietly.

He opened the door and stepped inside. He raised his eyebrows in slight shock seeing her so distraught.

“Are you alright?”

“Oh, I’m over the moon,” she said sarcastically.

“I apologize, I probably should have warned you ahead of time what we were getting into.”

“Yeah, you think? I can’t really blame you though, I should’ve expected all of that. I mean, it’s you, Sam, and Bucky, how could it have been any different? Anyway, it’s more my fault for agreeing to get into all of this shit again.”

“It’s not-”

“No, wait, that’s right! It's not my fault. It’s you three that dragged me back into this shitfest. Why am I blaming myself? I guess I agreed… regardless! Why am I the one to fix your guys’ messes, huh?”

“Ok, that’s enough champagne,” Zemo said as he grabbed the glass from her, sensing her getting mad.

“I wasn’t done with that yet,” she said sternly, reaching for the glass.

“Yes. You were.”

Lydia glared at him, and Zemo rolled his eyes out of annoyance, grabbing the champagne bottle from the side table next to her. He went into the bathroom and poured the rest of it into the sink.

“Why do you have to ruin my fun all of the time?” she asked, crossing her arms.

Zemo raised his eyebrow and said, “I’m not. I just think you would rather not have a hangover first thing in the morning.”

“How would you know? Tomorrow hasn’t happened yet,” Lydia cockily stated.

“Trust me, you wouldn’t.”

“Oh, you’re trustworthy now?”

Zemo gave her a death stare and Lydia looked down, realizing she might’ve hit a nerve.

“Sorry,” she murmured, playing with the edge of her sleeve.

Zemo softened his gaze a little and leaned on the doorway of the bathroom. He noticed the tattoos near her wrist, each one a different pattern or idea than the other.

“What are those for?”

Lydia quickly put her sleeve back down and said, “Nothing.”

Zemo titled his head to the side and narrowed his eyes at her but shrugged it off.

“Where did you find that champagne?” he asked.

“Um, I may or may not have stolen it from that club...”

Zemo’s face lit up in amusement, and he asked, “You stole two thousand dollar champagne?”

“Possibly,” Lydia said with a smirk.

“Impressive.”

“I can be spectacular sometimes.”

Zemo laughed breathly but didn’t say anything. Lydia wanted to thank him for helping her out when the shooting broke out, but she didn’t know if now would be the appropriate time or not.

Well, it couldn't hurt.

“Um, I wanted to thank you. For helping me out back there. It really means a lot to me, I mean, I know that I’m not your favorite person in the world, but-”

“What gives you that impression?” Zemo asked.

“You’re kidding me, right? You’ve shut down half of the ideas I had about how we were going to execute Madripoor, and look where we ended up!”

“I knew it better than you did.”

“Apparently not! We could’ve died, Helmut.”

“If we would have done it your way, that fate would have been met sooner.”

“You don’t know that.”

“And neither do you,” Zemo responded.

Lydia cocked her head and put her hands on her hips. Raising her eyebrows at Zemo, she went into the bathroom to grab something from under the sink. Lydia also noticed that some streaks of her hair lit up, but she hoped that he hadn’t noticed.

“What are you doing?” Zemo asked.

She answered him by holding up another bottle of champagne with a strained smile on her face as she was walking out of the bathroom. As she was about to open the bottle, Zemo grabbed it and put it on the bathroom counter. Lydia gave him a mock pouty look, and he rolled his eyes.

“You need to stop drinking, I’m serious. You giving me that look isn’t helping you,” he said.

“You sure?” she asked as she emphasized her look.

“Lydia. I’m serious.”

Her ears burned at the way that he had said her name, and she could only pray that her hair hadn’t betrayed her now.

“And,” Zemo continued, “For the record, I don’t hate you or anything like that. To be honest, you’re the only one I can stand out of the ones I’ve met.”

Lydia raised her eyebrow slightly, and he quickly added, “Not that you’re the best of the worst, it’s just, how should I put this… I guess it’s more around the lines of ‘you’re smart and they’re not.’”

“Wow, harsh,” Lydia said with an amused look on her face.

“Well, it’s true,” Zemo said with a smirk on his face.

“Well, if I’m so smart, then that means… my plan was the best.”

“Eh, I wouldn’t go that far.”

Lydia rolled her eyes playfully at him and walked back into the bathroom, but Zemo stopped her by closing the door halfway.

“Lydia,” he said with a warning tone.

Now, Lydia could see her hair quickly turn into a brighter red color, and she cursed herself in her head silently, hoping he didn’t notice, but she wouldn’t bet on it.

“Does your hair always do that?”

God damn it.

“Do what?”

“Change color like that when your name is said.”

“Um, no. Not to my knowledge, no,”

Zemo narrowed her eyes at her while his attention seemed to turn to her hair. Lydia felt slightly embarrassed by his staring, but this only led to it turning brighter again. He smiled a little and said, “It’s a nice color; it suits you.”

She could feel her face burning mainly out of embarrassment and something else she couldn’t describe. Lydia jumped a little when she felt Zemo touch her arm. She felt her skin burn up, and he said, “I apologize, but I recognize this one.”

Zemo went to touch her arm again, but before he did, he asked, “May I?”

Lydia nodded, and he lifted her sleeve, intently scanning the dragon on her forearm. He carefully traced the outline of it, and Lydia felt her skin heat up with each trail he left. The way that he was looking at her tattoo sent shivers down her spine, but surprisingly, it was a nice feeling, considering she hasn’t felt anything cool in a long time.

“Змај,” (“Zmaj,”) Zemo whispered.

“What?”

“Змаj, correct?”

Lydia nodded, and Zemo hummed, “Yeah, I remember that story. My parents used to tell me that all the time.”

“My parents weren’t into the whole legend thing, they always said it was just a bunch of lies people tell to poison our minds, but I have heard it a few select times.”

“Your parents were quite the people, huh?” He laughed.

She laughed with him and said, “Yeah, they were definitely something, alright.”

“Well,” Zemo started as his hand traced bits and pieces of her tattoos before stopping at the palm of her hand, his fingers slowly intertwining with hers. “They raised well.”

Damn you.

She felt her skin heating up with every second, but she tried to contain it as much as she could. She looked over at the bathroom mirror that was mostly covered by the door, but she could see that dozens of streaks of her hair were lit up bright orange like crazy. He glanced back at her hair, and his smirk grew.

“Does it usually change when people touch you as well?”

“A-again, not to my knowledge, no.”

Zemo hummed again and began tracing the tattoos on her other arm before grabbing her other hand and running his thumb over her wrist. He carefully moved his hands up her forearms, tracing the shapes of her tattoos more fully this time, while pulling her closer to him. Lydia’s heart picked up even faster, not that she knew how that was possible. To her, it felt like they’d been spending an eternity standing in the doorway, but at the same time, it felt like no time had passed at all.

“Lydia?”

She took a breath in, and looked up at him, asking, “Yeah?”

It wasn’t until that moment that she realized how close they were to each other. Zemo’s breath lightly fanned her face, and his hands let go of her arms, slowly wrapping them around her waist instead. Lydia swallowed discreetly from his stare, and Zemo tilted his head to the left slightly and smirked at her.

“Do I make you nervous?”

“N-no, why would you? I could beat your ass into next year if I wanted to, what would I have to be nervous about?”

“I don’t know, you tell me. I’m sure your hair doesn’t light up around other people every time you stand next to them, or they talk to you.”

He pulled her closer and leaned his head down just enough so that he was only inches away from her face.

“Unless… it’s something else that makes your hair light up whenever I'm around.”

After he said that, he backed up a little and looked at her hair. Several streaks of it were brightening up, lightly illuminating the aura around her head. He smiled and laughed lightly through his nose.

“If I remember correctly, ‘Miss Vesta’s abilities cause her physical appearance to change as well. Her hair will change into different shades if she has any sort of strong emotions, including, but not limited to: anger, stress, sadness, and attraction.’ Does that sound right?”

Lydia squinted at him in confusion, and Zemo chuckled, saying, “SHIELD’s not very good at hiding things like they think they are.”

Lydia sighed and looked to her right and then down at her feet.

“So, again, I must ask,” he started. “Lydia…”

He removed one hand from her waist and lifted her chin up to meet his gaze.

“Do I make you nervous?”

Lydia licked her lips and said, “...no.”

Zemo leaned in closer, guiding her face to his slowly. He stopped centimeters before her face, just like before, and she could smell his expensive cologne radiating off of him.

“Are you sure? Your skin is burning.”

‘Копиле.’ (‘Bastard.’)

“Maybe I shouldn’t-“

“Ох, забога.” (“Oh, for God’s sake.”)

Lydia put her hand in the back of his neck, pulled him down, and their lips met. Zemo’s grip on her waist tightened, and moved his hand from her chin to the side of her face, the extreme heat of her skin slightly burning his hand. He furrowed his brow and backed her up onto the doorway, allowing him to close any distance between them. The smell of strawberry champagne intoxicated his senses, and he couldn’t get enough of her.

Lydia could feel every part of her body start on fire, whether she knew that’s what was actually happening to her or not. Her heart felt like it skipped ten beats at once, and heat filled her chest. She felt magnetized to him, and every break for a quick breath of air filled her with a sense of longing for more. Lydia thought her knees were going to collapse from underneath her, and she was grateful for the doorway behind her. She felt ripples of chills go up her spine for the second time that day, and the sensation of his thumb grazing her cheek only made it harsher. She felt her fingers become white hot, and she quickly retracted her hand to his shoulder, not wanting to burn him. She felt every bone and muscle in her body become the same temperature, and she felt the texture of the material of his shirt change. She removed his hand from her cheek and pulled away from him, catching her breath.

“I-I’m sorry. My skin… I can’t-”

Zemo shrugged and said, “To be honest, I never liked this shirt anyways.”

“No, you don’t understand, I don’t want to hurt you.”

Zemo tilted his head and raised his eyebrows quickly. He looked down and put his hands in his pockets, taking out the pair of gloves he was wearing earlier that day and putting them on. After he did that, he put his hands up and smiled at her.

Lydia lightly laughed and said, “I appreciate the gesture, but that’s not gonna do you much good. I’ll just burn-”

Zemo cut her off by saying, “I’ll take that chance.”

He kissed her gently, not wanting to make her skin burn back up again.

A sudden knock at her door caused Lydia to jump and separate from him, turning her head towards her door.

“Lydia? We need to discuss the plan for tomorrow. Have you seen Zemo anywhere?” Bucky asked through her door.

Lydia turned back towards him with a devilish look on her face. She whispered, “Play along,” and quickly pushed him away from her, a glare forming on her face.

“Yeah, he’s trying to steal my champagne.”

Bucky opened the door to the pair glaring at each other with murderous intent.

“You mean, I’m trying to take away the champagne that you stole from the club,” Zemo quickly countered, getting the message.

“Well, it’s mine now, isn’t it?”

“Alright! Look, she can keep the champagne, it doesn’t matter,” Bucky said.

“James, that was worth probably around two thou-“

“I don’t care,” Bucky said while giving Zemo a death stare before continuing. “We don’t have time for this anyway. We have to figure out the plan for tomorrow, come on.”

He left the room, and Lydia turned towards Zemo, raised her eyebrows, and dramatically put her hand out. He rolled his eyes and took the champagne bottle off of the counter and gave it to her.

“You’re only getting this because he likes you more than me.”

“And who’s fault was that?” Lydia retorted.

Zemo gave her an annoyed look as she laughed, and they both walked out of the room.

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loki-quinn · 2 years ago

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Annoying the Winter Soldier... Part1

Link to chat bot here

#bucky x zemo #james bucky buchanan barnes #james bucky barnes #james buchanan barnes #bucky barnes #bucky x female reader #bucky x you #bucky x reader #bucky fic #marvel #the falcon and the winter solider spoilers #the falcon and the winter soldier #the winter solider smut #the winter soldier #winter soldier

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free-for-all-fics · 2 years ago

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More Marvel prompts! Most are about Bucky, but a couple are about Zemo. Pls tag me if these inspire you to write something, I’d love to read it! 💜

1. You and your husband Bucky are in a crowded mall with your very young daughter. She sees a person selling balloon animals and asks, more like begs for one, but you and Bucky tell her no. At some point she lets go of your hand and sneaks off to look for the balloon seller, but gets lost. You both realize she’s gone and panic, searching everywhere for her. Meanwhile she wanders around and cries for her mom and dad, running away from any unfamiliar face that tries to help her because she knows Stranger Danger. Uncle Steve to the rescue maybe? (Note: Turns out it’s free balloon day)

2. Rockstar AU: You’re taking yours and Bucky’s kid to their first concert. Despite the protective headphones you put on them, the loud aggressive noises scares your kid and halfway through a song, they run out on stage and latch onto Bucky’s leg, crying for their dad. Bucky has to comfort and cheer them up with the help of the band in front of a huge crowd.

3. Rockstar AU: You get a new lip/tongue piercing and the guys see it for the first time when you go to the studio. They all think it looks great, except Bucky. He acts like he disapproves at first, but the other guys come to your defense and in private he eventually admits he loves it and never disapproved, it’s just too sexy for him to resist and he could hardly restrain himself in front of his band mates. He wants to know what it’d feel like against his mouth and other parts of his body 😏

4. Possible Mob/Mafia AU: You’re participating in a very important and much anticipated dance competition and your dad, Bucky, promised to be there to support you. Despite his very busy schedule, he’s never missed a recital. But then one of the other girls is very jealous of you and tries to sabotage you while in the middle of your performance, and you get badly hurt from falling objects or marbles, etc. Bucky sees red as he rushes from the audience and up to the stage to help you, despite protests from the judges and other dancers. Steve and his other men have to stop him from doing something hasty that he’d regret later.

6. Rockstar AU: Going on tour with Bucky and standing side stage/in the front row during a concert. The crowd gets too rowdy and someone throws a glass bottle that hits you in the head and you pass out. The band becomes enraged and are by your side when you wake up in the hospital.

7. Bucky takes you out to dinner at a quiet restaurant to celebrate your engagement/anniversary. you share a big plate of spaghetti and unknowingly share the same noodle until your lips meet, lady and the tramp style.

8. Possible CEO or Mob/Mafia AU: Bucky or Zemo accidentally run into you while on his way to a meeting he's late for, causing papers and other important things to fly everywhere and get mixed up. Both of you are in too much of a hurry to realize that in the hassle, he picked up your phone and you picked up his by mistake. By the time you have each other’s phone, you’re too far away from each other to switch back since he’s already boarded a plane for a business trip.

9. Scream/Ghostface AU where it’s college and you’re in a poly relationship with Bucky and Zemo who are fairly popular guys on campus (Zemo’s the new exchange student from Sokovia so everyone is interested in him and his country, and Bucky is classic charming ‘womanizer’ Bucky). They’re the ones behind the ghostface murders, whether you know it or not. Bullies and local assholes keep giving you shit for dating two men at once, calling you a whore or slut, asking for sexual favors like threesomes, “since you must be a pro at it with your boyfriends”, “Do they do kinky shit in Sokovia too?” etc. Those same bullies who harass you keep winding up dead sooner or later. While you may be a suspect for a time, you get ruled out when it’s eventually determined “only a man could do something like this” based on the condition of the bodies.

10. Mob boss AU: Bucky is your new boyfriend and he helps you wreck your ex's car, among other things. (Maybe you and Bucky have sex both inside and on the hood of your boyfriend’s car as a show of dominance so that it’ll just reek of your sex smells. Sweet revenge. You and Bucky want to rub it in his face that you’ve found a new man who’s bigger and better.

11. You’re dating Bucky and he’s trying to coax you back into his car after a bad argument. Like that scene from legally blonde except he isn’t a total jerk and he doesn’t break up with you.

12. You and Bucky putting up the Christmas tree and decorating it. He’s on one side trying to reach a part of the tree when he accidentally underestimated the strength of his vibranium arm and pushes it a little too hard while trying to hang up an ornament/the star, causing it to fall on top of you while you're on the other side. Whoops.

13. You’re in a relationship with Bucky and going to the beach with the guys. You can't swim, so you choose to stay on shore. One of the guys throws you into the water as a joke, but you get pulled under and don't resurface right away, making all of them panic. Bucky has to dive in and save you by giving you CPR and then taking you to hospital to make sure there’s no other damage.

14. Rockstar AU: Imagine being newly engaged to Bucky and walking around after a show with the band. A woman who’s been stalking him for months looks at you in envy, blaming you for Bucky not answering her love letters or phone calls. she pulls out a gun and is about to shoot him, but you jump in front of him and take the bullet instead.

15. You think your husband, Bucky/Zemo, is dead after watching a news report state the plane he was supposed to be on crashed with no survivors. You break down, destroying and throwing things. Bucky/Zemo walks through the door but you think he’s a hallucination, so he comforts you and explains what happened. (Could be a false broadcast)

16. You’re Bucky’s teen daughter and he gets a new girlfriend. You hate each other, but Bucky doesn't know. She’s a good manipulator, making up lies about you and blaming you for things you didn't say or do. She causes a rift between you and your dad. Bucky just thinks you don’t want him to be happy, that you’re afraid of letting another woman in after your mom died and are just being a stubborn teen who doesn’t like change. It just gets worse and worse until you overhear her telling Bucky he should disown/emancipate you or ship you off to boarding school after they marry, and you run out of the house/take his car and leave. He finally breaks up with her and worriedly chases after you. (Either on foot or on his motorcycle, depending on if you can drive or not)

17. Rockstar AU: Reader is Bucky’s best girl and is on tour with him and his band, who consist of your best friends. You make a stop and since the band is mostly drunk/hungover/passed out from the long road trip, you and the designated driver kick them out of the gas station before they make a scene. You offer to get some snacks, non-alcoholic drinks, and other supplies. The trouble is, they’re so out of it and because of a simple mistake by the designated driver, there’s a mix up. So they think you got back on the bus when you didn’t and accidentally drive off with the things you bought, and without you. Like a Home Alone head count gone wrong situation. They don’t realize their mistake until the next morning when Bucky wakes up and you’re not in his bunk. Now they have to rush to get you back, even if it delays their tour. Screw the tour, screw what their manager may say, you’re more important to Bucky and your best friends.

18. Reader and Bucky in a sort of Mr. Freeze and Nora AU. Reader is Bucky’s wife, but she was dying from some rare disease so he agreed to this experimental procedure that would allow her to be cryogenically frozen until he could return from the war and start looking for a cure with the help of others like Howard Stark. Your husband stared deeply into your eyes before sealing the cryo-pod that would keep you alive into the future, hoping for a cure. Only he didn’t expect he’d never make it back from the war or back to you. Now it’s present day, Bucky has escaped Hydra and been unfrozen for some time, but it’s only recently your cryo pod has resurfaced and been found. For over 70 years you’ve slept, and he thought you were lost forever. Has a cure been found? Is it time to finally wake up? Many, many years later, will you finally wake up with your husband being the first thing you see, just as he promised he would be before you went under?

19. The Last Man and Woman on the Planet AU: The cryo chambers open up, you and Bucky are starting to wake up, and slowly figuring out what happened. Upon recognizing each other, you quickly embrace, relieved you’re both alive, before taking in your unfamiliar surroundings. Neither of you remember falling asleep here. How long have either of you slept? An ethereal voice starts talking to both of you. "If you are listening to this, welcome to Eden, where we start anew and are not making the same mistakes ever again.” Are you and Bucky truly the sole survivors of a new world? Where do you go from here?

21. Stardust AU where reader is a star who falls from the sky, causing her to be separated from her family and taking human form. She’s found by Bucky who could either be a peasant boy, a shopkeeper’s son looking to use reader to woo another woman in the village. Or Bucky is a witch tracking and hunting reader after she keeps escaping from him and thwarting his murder attempts. He wants to cut out her heart for eternal youth but then maybe decides to keep her alive and get what he wants some other way. Or he could be a cruel prince in search of a magic stone so he can be king. Could be dark or not, up to you.

22. Bucky is reader’s father. When you’re a kid, he’s being a cute dad by arm wrestling with you and letting you win, pretending you’re so strong. After wrestling with his flesh arm and “winning” multiple times, you grow confident and are like “Other arm, daddy!” Bucky messes with you by not moving his vibranium arm an inch and pretending to yawn while you huff and puff, using all your might to pin him. He then pretends to let you win again to make you, his precious baby, happy. Until one day you become an adult. You’ve grown so super-strong from years of training mixed with effects of the super soldier serum getting passed down from Bucky and running through your veins that when you ask for a rematch for old times sake and tell him not to hold back, you manage to win. He gives you a “Wait WHAT o_O” bewildered look similar to when Spider-Man grabbed his left arm or when the Dora Milaje disconnected his arm mid-combat.

23. Silence of the Lambs AU where reader takes the place of Clarice Starling and Zemo takes the place of Hannibal Lecter. You’ve come to visit him in prison for an interview.

24. Reader is Zemo’s wife and has a conjugal visit with him while he’s in custody. Aka imagine having sex with Zemo in that glass cell and not caring who sees.

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #bucky barnes x you #helmut zemo x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes x female reader #bucky barnes au #bucky x you #zemo x you #helmut zemo x you #zemo x reader #Bucky and daughter reader #random fic ideas #fic ideas #pls tag me if you write this #i’d love to read it

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buckysdollsworld · 5 months ago

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The Adventures of Bucky Barnes and Y/n Stark | Madrippoor | Bucky's Doll

Warnings: mention of SA, language

content: praise, pet names, kidnapping

Selby walks over to you and caresses your cheek "We're going to have so much with you little mouse." Bucky was barely holding on but had to keep in character for your sake, so he glared at both Zemo and Selby. Selby signals to her guards "Take her to the back room and get her settled" They both nod getting on either side of you they grab both your arms and walk you out. The guards led you into a dimly lit room the walls were covered with many things paddles and a variety of sex toys and stuff for bondage which made your fear heighten. They lead you to a large king-size bed keeping their grip on you tight one of them lets go and grabs rope from a nearby closet you start to panic a bit so you struggle against the guard in response the guard pushes you onto the bed pinning you down. The other guard grabs your wrists tying them above your head you keep trying to fight back but are unable they are too strong. You eventually give up on fighting back both of the guards smirked noticing that you finally gave up.

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Meanwhile, as Selby is with the others discussing the serum and other things Bucky can't help but feel uneasy especially now that you are gone he glances at Zemo and Zemo immediately notices "Excuse me Selby but I need to talk with my associates before we continue." Selby nods as Zemo steps toward Bucky and Sam. "We are not leaving her here" Bucky growls "Bucks right we can't just abandon Y/n" Sam agrees Zemo just gives them both an annoyed look and says "We aren't leaving her..." he pauses "At least not forever, she'll stay with Selby and her boys until the auction" "Auction? What are you talking about? What auction?" Bucky glares at Zemo, Zemo just smirks at the two of them "Oh you don't know? We just handed our little friend, Y/n over to one of the biggest sellers in Madripoor" Zemo gave a satisfied grin. Bucky got right in Zemo's face "Where are they taking her?" Bucky demanded "Oh don't worry soldier they're going to take good care of your precious doll" Zemo smirked.

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Back in the dimly lit room where you were tied up, you were alone now the guards had done unspeakable things to you and then left. It didn't matter how much you cried or even screamed they just left you feeling used like you were just there for their enjoyment. You cried for what felt like hours but when you heard the door open it went silent all but the door creaking open. You hoped maybe it was Bucky coming to save you but no instead you were met with yet another stranger "Please don't hurt me, I'll be good I promise" you cried out. The stranger walked forward toward you he chuckled "Aw don't worry my dear I'm not here to hurt you, I want to help you" You looked at him not a single part of you trusted him. The man reached forward to undo the knot you flinched and his expression softened "Easy now, I'm not going to hurt you" he said it gave a small sense of reassurance but it was so confusing why would this random man be helping. He reaches out again and undoes the knots his gaze lingers a bit longer on you before backing up, just enough for you to get up. You don't move not an inch he studies your movements a moment before speaking up "Hey it's okay I know Bucky he sent me to come save you" For a moment you feel hopeful but it all falters at those last words Bucky sent me to save you. "No he didn't who are you?" you say as a demand more than a question the man chuckles "Ah a smart one I see but don't you worry my dear pet you will forget about your little friend Bucky soon"

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navybrat817 · 14 days ago

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Hold You Tight: Part 14

Pairing: Club Owner!Bucky Barnes x Female Reader

Fic Summary: The owner of The 107th wants you to be his girl whether you like it or not.

Part 13 | Series Masterlist | Part 15

Chapter Word Count: Over 5k

Chapter Summary: The manager of The Red Room gives you a little advice regarding your situation with Bucky.

Chapter Warnings: DARK AU, backstory, reference to stalking, hopelessness. inner turmoil, slight feels, Bucky Barnes (he's a warning, okay?), more warnings to come.

A/N: More Hold You Tight! I realize some of this may feel like filler, but it's happening for a reason. Thank you for sticking with me! Bucky edit by the beautiful @nixakimbo . ❤️ Beta read by the lovely @whisperlullaby , but any and all mistakes are my own. Divider by the talented @firefly-graphics . Please follow @navybrat817-sideblog new fics and notifications. Comments, reblogs, feedback are loved and appreciated!

Ray kept a close but respectable distance as he took you to his car. It was similar to the vehicle he drove Bucky around in, but a slightly different shade of black that wasn’t as flashy. You should've spotted it sooner, but you weren’t exactly looking for it, were you?

“Have you just been driving around following me all day?” you asked once you were in the car.

“I followed you on foot, too. I’m good at blending in,” he said, giving you a sideways glance as he buckled up and made sure you were buckled up, too. There was no boasting in his statement, just truth. “It wouldn't surprise me if I’m the one asked to stay nearby when you join your friends on Saturday.”

“But perhaps if she really does want to go and you’re unable to accompany her, boss, someone could discreetly keep an eye on her.”

With his looks and massive build, he shouldn’t be able to blend in so easily. How many people paid that close attention to their surroundings though? You hadn’t before. You needed to be on guard more. And what was that going to do to your stress levels?

At least it would be Ray watching if he was asked and not one of Bucky’s other friends.

“Well, I hope watching me drink wine doesn't bore you,” you said, glancing out the window as he drove off, watching the cars and people go by. “How did you get so good at what you do?”

“Making sure you're safe doesn't bore me,” he said. Ironic considering his boss put you in danger. “And I think that’s a story for another time.”

Ray said he had been working for Bucky for a few years. You wondered just how they met. There had to be a story there. “Do you ever think about walking away from it?” you asked curiously, bringing your gaze back to him while he kept his eyes on the road. “I mean, you have a life outside of this, right?”

Did he have family? Friends? A loved one? He had to have a hobby at least. Something.

He tapped a finger on the steering wheel. “Do you think one simply walks away?”

“No, I guess not,” you replied. It was unlikely that you would ever escape, but you didn’t know how it was for people who willingly ran in circles with men like Bucky. You still had a lot to learn. “But I’d like to think there’s hope for you if that’s what you want.”

“I appreciate the hope and I don’t want you to lose that,” he said, sparing you a sad glance. “But you should place it elsewhere.”

Where exactly would you place that hope when Bucky continued to infect everything in your life?

You nodded once, feeling a bit sad for him, too. He just seemed different from the others Bucky surrounded himself with. “Sorry for the questions.”

“Don't apologize,” he said, tapping the steering wheel again. “It’s nice that you care enough to ask.”

You smiled to yourself, content to sit in silence after that. Grabbing your phone from your bag, you aimlessly scrolled through your messages and stopped at Bucky’s name. There were no new messages, but would he send something at the stroke of midnight? And if he was in a mood without you around and Ray eventually told him that Zemo introduced himself to you, what would he do?

“We’re here,” Ray said after a minute, parking his car in front of a tall, sleek building and getting out. He held up a hand to stop the valet from opening the door for you, opting to help you out himself. “This way.”

The sleek theme continued as you went into the lobby and you understood why it was called The Red Room. The color was everywhere, balanced out by a mix of black and gray and soft lighting. The nearby sofa and chairs looked high-quality, as did the art. It appeared to be an oasis of luxury and a place for a well deserved break.

You stopped Ray before you got to the desk. “How much is a room? I get paid tomorrow, but…” You had some money in savings you could transfer over to cover what was surely an expensive cost.

“You haven't checked your account today, have you?”

Taking out your phone with a furrowed brow, you quickly logged into your bank account. An embarrassing squeak came out when you saw the amount, your eyes wide as you looked between your phone and Ray. That had to be some sort of mistake. There was no way…

Bucky.

“He put money in my account?” you whispered, double checking the amount to make sure your eyes weren't deceiving you. Why did he do that? “I can't…”

“He did and he won't take it back if you try,” Ray confirmed. “Regardless of how much you now have, if my boss found out that I suggested you stay here and made you pay he’d have my head.”

“Well, what’s the point of having this money then?” you pressed.

Not that you intended to use it. Spending even a dime of it would likely encourage Bucky to give you more. Or was it a test to see if you would spend it? Would he know if you did?

Maybe, just maybe, you could get Addison and Brady a nice wedding gift.

“To make sure you're taken care of in every possible way,” he said, gesturing to you to move forward.

“Welcome to The Red Room,” a woman in a black dress smiled, Ingrid from the name on her tag. “Do you have a reservation?”

“We do not,” Ray said, sliding a card over. “And I’ll need to speak with Natalia regarding a room, please.”

“Natalia?” Ingrid’s smile didn’t slip, but a hardened look took over her eyes and you suddenly felt uncomfortable. “I’m afraid that’s-”

“It’s fine, Ingrid. I’ll be happy to take care of them.” A redhead in a similar black dress walked over, her heels echoing on the marble floor. She carried herself with grace and power and looked like she could snap your neck without breaking a sweat. So did Ingrid for that matter. “Why don’t you go on break?”

“Of course.” Ingrid’s smile was back on her face. “Enjoy your stay,” she added, gliding away.

“Raymond. Good to see you,” Natalia said, her voice warm as he gave her a nod. “You’ll have to excuse Ingrid. She gets a little protective when anyone asks for Natalia. You know you're one of the only men around who still calls me that.”

“It’s your name, is it not?” he asked, though her tag read Natasha.

“Indeed it is. Maybe one day you’ll call me Natasha,” she said, cocking an eyebrow at you. You didn’t think she was judging you, but you still felt a little self conscious under her gaze. “I wasn't supposed to meet you until later. I also expected Bucky to be with you when that happened.”

You held your breath before you remembered that Ray said the manager had worked with Bucky before. “So you know who I am,” you said. For Bucky to preach about your safety, a lot of people were aware of who you were. “Does everyone know who I am?”

The corner of her lip quirked up. “Not everyone,” she said, turning her attention to Ray. “Why is she here early? Did something happen?”

“She needs a place to stay for the night and she’s not to be disturbed. That includes my boss.”

She raised an eyebrow again. “Understood. I’ll give her suite 213 and put you just across the hall.” Her fingers flew across the keyboard before she slid the card back to Ray. “Follow me.”

“Isn’t a suite a bit much?” you asked. And for Ray to pay for that, you had to pay him back somehow.

She paused to stare at you. “All of the rooms here are nice, but the suites are a bit more spacious. It’ll give you room to breathe while you relax,” she gently spoke. “You look like you could use some rest.”

Did she know the extent of what you had gone through? You weren’t claustrophobic but with Bucky smothering you, breathing and rest didn’t come to you as easily. “I appreciate that,” you said. A spacious area would feel nice.

She nodded, pressing the elevator button. “You’re also welcome to book anything in the spa at no charge and whatever you’d like from the restaurant or room service menu is on the house.”

You gaped at her. “So because I’m Bucky’s girl, you’ll just give me these things for free?” you asked, noticing that she stood on one side of you and Ray on the other. “I mean, I’m not trying to sound ungrateful, but there’s no need for the special treatment.”

Everyone so far in Bucky’s circle fawned over you. But what had you done to earn anything? Nothing. All you did was catch the eye of a powerful man.

“Nothing in life is free. There’s a price for everything,” she said above a whisper. “And I know you’re not ungrateful. You’re just not used to it.”

You weren’t sure if you’d ever get used to it since you grew up with the belief that you had to work for what you were given. “You asked why I was here early. When exactly was I supposed to meet you?”

“Not to spoil the surprise, but Bucky booked a dinner reservation and our best suite for a romantic evening.” She gave Ray a glance, who didn’t look too pleased. “I think he plans to tell you the day of, if I had to guess.”

“Wonderful,” you muttered, a shiver running through your body. You weren't an idiot. If Bucky booked a suite for the two of you, he’d expect you to sleep with him.

“I thought you were good at keeping secrets, Natalia,” Ray uttered.

“I’m very good at keeping secrets that are actually worth keeping, Raymond,” she retorted.

“I’m glad you told me,” you said. In her defense, you asked a question and she gave you an almost direct answer. “Besides, it’s just another thing to add to the list of ‘surprises’ for today. Bucky having Ray follow me. Meeting Zemo.”

“Zemo?” She didn’t give anything away, but she gave Ray another look. This guy didn’t seem to have a lot of fans. “You met Zemo? When?”

“He introduced himself to me at the park just before we came here,” you replied.

She pursed her lips when the elevator door opened. “I can’t wait to hear how Bucky responds to that.”

Your stomach sank. You saw what he did to John after he insulted you. Zemo likely wouldn’t fare much better, but he also seemed to be a bigger player in whatever went on in the city.

“Will you let me do a sweep before she goes in?” Ray asked before Natasha could open the door.

“No one has been in this room and no one knew you were coming here, but I know you'll be chewed out if you don’t,” she said, stepping aside for him.

“You’re not planning to bug the place, are you, Ray?” You didn’t want to think he would, but you had to ask.

He didn’t look offended by the question. If anything, he seemed to understand your concern. “This is meant to be a safe haven for the rest of the day. I won’t take that from you,” he promised, shutting the door behind him. It was nice to have him somewhat on your side, even in the smallest capacity.

The hall was eerily quiet as you stood alone with the redhead. Your gaze darted back and forth, expecting Bucky to waltz in and tell you that this wasn’t a haven at all. That he’d drag you to the suite bed and do whatever he pleased.

“I’ve been told you have a kind heart,” Natasha said, bringing your attention back to her. “That’s good for Bucky.”

“Is it?” you asked, looking down the hall again.

“Relax,” she urged. “You don’t have to feel nervous here. You’re safe.”

“You work with Bucky, so I’m naturally going to feel nervous and suspicious,” you said. You wouldn’t apologize for that. “How much do you know about me?”

“A man named Jake who does security and surveillance works for both Bucky and I. When Bucky needed him for an extended period of time, I was naturally curious as to why. He gave me just enough pieces to put the puzzle together.”

“So you know I’m trapped,” you said. She had to know it wasn’t a consensual relationship.

“More or less,” she said.

“And let me guess. This Jake guy specializes in bugs and listening devices?”

“Hmm. So you know about the bugs,” she said. Bucky was all too proud to share that when you asked. “Jake does specialize in those and you might meet him at some point. If and when you do, don't blame him for doing his job, please. Not everyone gets to choose their line of work.”

“Well, I wish he would’ve stopped him,” you said. You could blame this guy, but it wouldn't do you any good. Like Natasha said, he may not have had a choice.

“If it’s any consolation, he wasn’t pleased when he realized he was helping bug an innocent person's place, but he has a sister and niece to consider,” she said, giving you a hard stare when you opened your mouth. “And before you ask because I know you’ll ask, I can’t help you.”

You tried not to get upset at her immediate denial to help. “May I ask why not?”

She sighed, toying with the delicate gold necklace around her neck. You wondered if the arrow charm was symbolic. “The women who work here… We didn’t exactly have the best upbringing and we didn’t have much freedom, even as adults. Including my sister,” she explained, a haunted look taking over her eyes momentarily. “But Bucky stepped in some time ago and helped us. Without him, I wouldn’t have been able to open this place or give us normal life. I’ll be forever in his debt for that.”

“He helped you?” you asked. Marc mentioned that he donated to the local hospital and charities, but this was something else. Was this a normal hotel or some kind of refuge?

“He did. When he isn't doing bad things, he actually does some good,” she answered, still toying with her necklace. “In all the time I’ve known him, there have only been two things I’ve ever heard him say he wants and you’re one of them. If I help take you away from him, I don’t know what he’ll do.”

“So you won’t help me, but it’s really more like you can’t,” you guessed. She was essentially in Bucky’s pocket and had to think of the women under her employment and her sister. She couldn’t put them in danger. “No one will help me.”

“Barnes isn’t the kind of man you win a fight against. It’s better for most to stay on his good side than to be his enemy,” she said, putting a hand on your shoulder when you hung your head. “Hey. I’m not telling you to just lay over and accept your new relationship for what it is, but I don’t want you to be surprised when people keep telling you ‘no’ when you ask for help.”

“Everyone just looks the other way and that isn’t…” You bit your lip to keep from screaming.

“It isn’t fair. I know,” she whispered. Her sympathy didn't make you feel better. “I won’t make excuses for him because what he has done is awful, but he isn’t entirely evil. He’s… flawed. We all are.”

Would Bucky be so flawed if people didn’t enable him or look the other way? “Do you think I’ll get used to belonging to him? I keep fighting it, but…” Doors kept getting slammed in your face in terms of help and that hope continued to fade. Was it time to accept the inevitable?

She considered your question. “I can’t say if you’ll get used to it, but there’s a careful balance between embracing a circumstance while maintaining your own boundaries. You need to find that.”

“But I have no boundaries thanks to Bucky,” you argued. He took them away.

“Maybe not now, but you could get some back down the line. He isn’t a man most people win fights against, but he’s still just a man. Use what you know about him and sway him. You have a little more power than you think.”

You thought back to the club when Jax flirted with you. Bucky worked himself up, but your touch and soft demeanor helped calm him down. “I guess I could try,” you said. It seemed easy enough, but he was so good at swinging things in his favor that you had a hard time believing you had a chance.

“And it isn’t much, but I can offer you a space here to use on occasion if you need time away from him. I know you don’t believe he’ll let you use it, but I think you can convince him and you deserve a safe haven,” she said, smiling a little when she handed you a card. “I could even have one of the girls teach you some self defense if you’re interested in any lessons.”

You turned the card over. There was only a phone number listed and a black widow spider. “I appreciate the offer, Natasha,” you said, tucking it in your bag. It wasn’t freedom, but it was something. And whatever Natasha’s full story was, your heart went out to her. “Can I ask what the second thing is?”

“Excuse me?”

“You said Bucky has only wanted two things in the time you’ve known him and I’m one of them. What’s the other thing?”

She shook her head. “That’s for him to tell you.”

Ray came out of the room a moment later. “All clear. Not that I expected anything less from you and your staff, Natalia,” he said. It earned him a small smile as she passed his room card over. “I’ll be just across the hall if you need me.”

“And you can ask for me personally if you call the desk,” Natasha added.

“I appreciate it, but I’ll be fine,” you said honestly. As long as Bucky didn't show up. “I’ll just order some wine and food, curl up in bed, and finish reading my book.” You didn’t need much else.

“Are you sure?” Ray asked.

“I’m sure,” you smiled softly. He had done enough by bringing you there. “Thank you both.”

They each gave you a sympathetic gaze as you stepped inside and shut the door behind you. The red, black, and gray theme continued in the tastefully designed suite. It was the nicest hotel room you had ever been in. Too nice for someone like you.

Setting your bag down and removing your shoes, you went right to the bedroom with your phone and book. The large bed looked comfortable and inviting. Sighing as you stretched out, you stared at the ceiling and tried to reflect on what had recently transpired.

Natasha. She couldn't directly help you and she had her reasons, but she might be a good ally. She was at least in the camp that you deserved some sense of freedom and offered you a small form of sanctuary. It was better than nothing.

Ray, you still couldn't figure him out. Like Natasha, he wouldn't directly help you. Bucky said he was loyal and didn't let emotions cloud him. He seemed to care to an extent though.

You froze when a message popped up on your phone. It wasn't from Bucky though. It was from your coworker, Kate.

“Hey, girl! You know Clark? Pretty blue eyes. Super hot. He stopped in and asked when your next shift was.”

Your stomach twisted in knots. Why was he asking? “Hey. What did you tell him?”

Kate messaged back quickly and your stomach twisted up more. “Told him you’d be in tomorrow and he looked happy until Mrs. Crandle announced that you have a boyfriend?! Girl, WHAT?! I need all the details!”

You groaned and hid your face in the pillow. Mrs. Crandle meant no harm, but this was the last thing you needed. Maybe Clark wouldn't come around after hearing that. “I’ll tell you about it during our next shift together.”

You didn't look at your phone for the rest of the afternoon. Instead, you lost yourself in the pages of the book and only took a break to order a drink and meal from the room service menu. And true to Natasha’s word, no one disturbed you. The food was left outside of the door once ready. Natasha even had a nice pair of pajamas sent up for you.

It was a quiet and relaxing rest of the day.

But as the sun went down and you got ready for bed, you held up your left hand and looked at your bare ring finger. A shuddering breath left your lungs as you imagined a ring around your finger. How happy your friends would be that you found love. How happy Bucky would be to have you tied to him forever.

Glancing at the empty side of the bed after your delicious meal, you wondered how it was going to be sleeping next to Bucky. Was he a cuddler or would he want his own space? Would he hog the covers? You would find out soon enough, wouldn't you?

But for today, he left you alone. He kept his promise. Yes, he sent Ray to watch you, but he hadn't shown up or reached out. He actually gave you some space instead of smothering you. And with you in the suite, he didn't have eyes on you.

Who knows? Maybe his mood improved and he had a good day without you. One could only hope.

“Good night, Bucky,” you whispered, closing your eyes and getting the sleep you craved.

A loud knock on the door woke you. Slowly opening your eyes with a groan, you wondered what time it was. Your body alarm clock said it was too early. Stretching, you made your way to the door and stopped when you heard raised voices outside.

“Get the hell out of my way, Natasha.”

You gasped when you heard Bucky’s voice, the quick anger rushing through you making you clench your fists. God, you knew it. You knew he’d show up.

“Don't make me put you on your ass, Barnes.” Natasha didn't sound afraid at all. What was it like to not have fear? “I’ll repeat myself in case you didn't hear me the first time: My instructions were that she wasn't to be disturbed and that includes you. So unless you're checking in, I suggest you leave. The fact that you’re even on this floor after I promised no one would bother her-”

“He was up here to speak with me,” Ray cut in.

“And I did. Now I need to see her,” Bucky said, the desperation in his voice making your heart ache.

“Boss, it’s two in the morning.”

“Exactly. You need to let her sleep. It’s the least you could do,” Natasha urged.

“I promised her the day to herself, but that day is up and I have to see that she’s okay,” Bucky argued. You were lucky he didn't knock on your door at 12:01. “I just need to see her with my own eyes.”

The bugs at your place would've given him access to whatever he wanted, but he didn't have that in the suite. It was probably driving him crazy. He sure as hell sounded out of sorts.

“Wow, an entire day. How generous.” You almost laughed at Natasha’s snark. It was appreciated. “Is this about Zemo? I know he saw her at the park, but he hasn’t been around here. We both know I’d never allow him to set foot in the door without a very good reason.”

“I still need to deal with him and he’ll be lucky if I don’t kill him with my bare hands,” Bucky growled, making you tense up.

“You have enough blood on your hands, but what’s one more body?” Natasha asked, the conversation reminding you once again that Bucky was a killer. “Look, I’m not going to disturb her and neither should you.”

“Natasha-”

“No. You played this wrong, Barnes. You could've chosen a compassionate route of courting her and eased her into this, but you intimidated her from the start and made it so she won’t ever be free of you. Maybe you're more like your father than-”

The sound of something colliding with the nearby wall made you jump back from the door, your heart thudding. It took a moment to get your bearings before you threw the door open to make sure Natasha was okay. The redhead, Ray, and Bucky all looked toward you and no one had a single mark on them. The wall beside the door, however, had a fist sized hole.

“Kotyonok,” Bucky smiled the second he saw you. He looked like he hadn't slept much. Good. Now he knew how it felt.

“What are you doing here?” you asked, not having it in you to scream, cry, or anything else. “And did you just punch a hole in the wall?”

He chuckled sheepishly, brushing off his gloved hand. “Yeah, I did that.”

He was unbelievable.

“I’m so sorry he woke you,” Natasha said, putting out an arm to stop Bucky when he stepped forward. “Back up, Barnes. You’ve seen for yourself that she’s fine.”

“Yep. I’m fine.” You gestured to yourself and yawned. “Can I please go back to sleep?”

“Can I come in for just a minute?” Bucky asked, a touch of guilt in his eyes when you narrowed yours. He was pushing his luck when all you wanted to do was go back to bed. “Please?”

“Apologize to Natasha for damaging her property,” you demanded. He had no right to do that.

“I’m sorry, Natasha,” he sincerely stated.

Natasha’s mouth parted before her cool expression took over again. “Thankfully no one else was on this floor, so you hopefully didn't disturb anyone else.”

Bucky's eyes were still on you, full of longing. “May I please come in?”

You mulled over it. Technically he still kept his promise and let you be for a day. You could be angry later that he showed up so early. For now, you needed sleep.

“Come in,” you said, surprising everyone, yourself included. “It’s fine,” you assured Natasha and Ray.

The redhead nodded after a moment and lowered her arm, but the bodyguard shot his boss a subtle glare. “You know I'll have to bill you for the damage,” Natasha told Bucky.

“I know,” he said. He could afford it.

“Thank you, Ray. Natasha. I hope you both get some rest, too,” you said, letting Bucky into the suite and shutting the door.

Bucky let out a breath as he looked you over, but didn't move any closer when you backed up. Of course he had to invade what was meant to be your haven for the night. Strangely, you weren't as nervous as usual to have him so close. “Hi.”

“Hi,” you mumbled, crossing your arms when he slipped his jacket off. “You really couldn't wait until after sunrise to see me?”

“I’m sorry. I was up late at the club and Ray said you were here and… I missed you,” he explained, his expression soft.

It was kind of nice to be missed. “I’m sure you did,” you yawned again. “King of the loopholes,” you added under your breath.

He ran a gloved hand through his hair. “And I’m sorry about Zemo. I should've known he would-”

You shook your head quickly. “Nope. Not having this talk when I'm still sleepy,” you said, heading toward the bedroom. It was too heavy of a discussion to have in the middle of the night. “Take your shoes off. We both know you aren't leaving.”

He looked surprised all over again when you looked back at him. “You’re letting me stay?” he asked, a smile on his face like you handed him a gift. “You aren't telling me to leave?”

“Stay or go, up to you, but I'm going back to sleep,” you said, curling up on the bed. “And if you sleep next to me, don't you dare let your hands wander.”

“And you’re letting me lay with you,” he said, the mattress dipping beside you. “You’re being very agreeable.”

“You’re lucky I’m choosing to be nice instead of kicking your ass or letting Natasha kick your ass for disturbing me and my sleep,” you said, tensing up when he spooned you, his arm wrapped tight around you and his breath warm against your neck. “We have some things to talk about when I wake up.”

Ray following you. Zemo. Natasha’s offer. Bucky’s mom. Your relationship.

“We can talk about whatever you want,” he whispered, nuzzling you gently as your eyes shut. “Did you miss me yesterday?”

“No,” you mumbled.

Your reply didn't stop him from chuckling. “Not even a little bit?”

You sighed. “If I say ‘yes’, will you let me sleep?”

“I will,” he answered.

“I missed you a little,” you said, snuggling further into the pillow. He placed his hand over yours and you blamed your tiredness for why you didn't tense up again. “Now sleep.”

He pressed a gentle kiss to your neck, but didn't push any further, thankfully. “Thank you for letting me hold you.”

Your heart clenched. He sounded so happy just to be around you, just to be in your space. You were his everything.

“You’re welcome,” you mumbled, drifting off not long after.

Your last thought before you fell asleep was that you hoped Bucky would behave himself.

Lovelies, I think we all knew Bucky would show up the first chance he had. What do we think of Natasha? Is she being truthful that she can't help or is she biding her time? Will Bucky behave? Love and thanks for reading! ❤️

Masterlist ⚓ Bucky Barnes Masterlist ⚓ Ko-Fi

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