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raven-dor · 20 days ago

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jealous

in which you don't realize what bucky had thought was obvious

PAIRING: bucky barnes x avenger!reader, platonic!avengers x avenger!reader

WARNINGS: flirting, jealousy, miscommunication, avengers teasing reader, kissing, slight angst ig if you squint, arguing, FLUFF

WORD COUNT: 3.4k

🎶 : jealous - nick jonas

AN: 🩵💗 - another one of my favs... honestly any Bucky fic is my fav bc i love (writing) him so so much!! Superhero name is Vortex!! ENJOY!!

“Is the bacon almost done?” You asked, skirting around the super soldier to pull the tray of cinnamon rolls out of the oven.

“Careful, Doll.” Bucky watched nervously. “They’re hot.”

You glared, setting them on the counter behind you. “Thank you, Captain Obvious.”

“Just saying.” He shrugged, turning back to the task at hand. “Almost done. Two more minutes.”

You couldn’t help but watch him work, admiring the domesticity of it all.

This was your job, making breakfast. It had been since you’d joined the Avengers. And one hectic morning, while you’d been making breakfast by yourself for the millionth time, Bucky stepped into the kitchen, asking if you needed any help.

Now it was both of your jobs.

“What’s the ETA on breakfast?” Clint poked his head through the kitchen door. “The masses are starving.”

Bucky quickly glared over his shoulder, grumbling. “The masses can wait two more minutes.”

You looked over at Clint, whispering so Bucky wouldn’t hear. “We’ll be done soon, just entertain them or something.”

Clint scoffed, the door slowly closing as he walked back to the dining room. “What am I, a circus clown?”

You stood beside Bucky, looking over his shoulder at the now extremely crispy bacon. “You’re going to burn them.”

“They’re good this way.” He muttered. “Besides, Steve and I like them this way. No one’s complained so far.”

“Well said.” You admired the way his sleep shirt complemented his frame, smiling to yourself before you remembered where you were. “I like them that way, too.”

“I know.” Bucky smiled.

Without thinking, you reached up, pushing a strand of hair out of Bucky’s line of sight. “Rather unsanitary, Sergeant Barnes.”

“Thanks.” He whispered, cheeks pink. “We should invest in hair nets.”

“Just teasing you, don’t worry.” You laughed, hand still lingering on the side of his face. “Don’t want to hide your beautiful hair.”

“ETA-”

You whipped around so quickly you swore you had whiplash, both yelling at the unfortunate soul who had interrupted your moment. “Two minutes!”

“Okay, jeez.” Rhodey raised his hands in surrender, backing out of the kitchen as if he were being held at gunpoint. In his defense, if two of the world's deadliest assassins yelled at you with that look in their eyes, you’d be wary too.

Nabbing a piece of bacon with the stealth of a super spy, you relished in the perfect texture (at least, in your opinion) that Bucky had achieved. “So good.”

Bucky shook his head, a humble smile gracing his lips. “It wasn’t done.”

“Tastes perfect to me. I think it’s crisp enough, honestly.”

“Alright then.” He turned the stove off, placing a paper towel on the bacon’s plate to soak up the grease. “I trust your opinion.”

“That’s a good man.” You grinned, balancing a pitcher of orange juice and a tray of cinnamon rolls on one arm. “Shall we?”

He held the door open, taking the cinnamon rolls out of your grasp. “After you.”

Your cheeks felt hot, attributing his kindness to nothing more than his wanting to be helpful. “Such a gentleman.”

“Finally.” Peter groaned, practically frothing at the mouth as he stared at the food in your hands. “I’m starving.”

“We’re all starving,” Sam grumbled, cradling his coffee with the care you would typically reserve for a newborn baby. “You’re not special.”

“Sam.” You sighed. “He’s a kid.”

Peter smiled, glad of the support. “Yeah, Sam-”

“Peter.” You gave the teenager a pointed look, effectively silencing him. “Don’t push it. You know how grumpy he gets in the morning.”

The spiderling winced, nodding in understanding. “Sorry.”

“I’m impressed.” Tony leaned forward in his chair, eyeing the array of food you’d made. “Normally, it takes an arm and a leg for this one to stop talking.”

“What?” Peter frowned. “Mr.Stark, I thought that was just-”

“Guys.” Bucky groaned. “Can we eat in peace, please?”

Steve laughed, grabbing the last red, white, and blue sprinkle donut from the box. “Don’t think we’ll ever achieve that, Buck.”

“We have our own kind of peace.” You smiled, grabbing a couple of pieces of the bacon, much to Bucky’s delight. “Let’s be honest with ourselves, if we were completely quiet at any meal, would we feel peaceful?” The table grumbled, all shaking their heads, none of them having enough energy to argue this early in the morning. “Exactly.”

“Well said, Doll.”

Your cheeks felt hot as you smiled quickly at the super soldier sitting beside you. “Thank you, Bucky.” You ignored the pointed looks aimed in your direction, wishing your legs were long enough to kick Natasha and Bruce in the shins.

Natasha leaned forward in her chair, a smirk on her face. “You two are behaving like we’re your children.”

Before you could even respond, Bucky muttered under his breath. “Maybe if you stopped acting like children, Natasha, we’d stop treating you like it.”

We. He kept saying we. You couldn’t bring yourself to look anywhere but your lap, heart skipping at the thought. There was no way, you told yourself, that there ever would be a we, yet you allowed your mind to drift to that dangerous place.

We.

Steve and Bucky always sparred as if it were real life, as if they were actually on the battlefield, with the stakes being life or death. It was mesmerizing, the way they moved. You and Sam had been watching their sparring session since Bucky had moved in, even placing bets on who would win from time to time. It was only when Natasha, Clint, and Wanda had overheard you talking about your routine did they join you.

Bucky would never tell anyone this, but he enjoyed having you there; your voice motivated him more than any enemy’s assault ever could. That, and the fact that he felt this constant need to impress you. Sam was Steve’s cheerleader, and you were his. It was nice to have you in his corner, even if it was for something as trivial as training.

“C’mon, Buck!” You cheered, clapping your hands. “Wipe the floor with him!”

“Jesus.” Sam’s eyes widened. “Relax.”

“I am relaxed.” You responded, eyes never leaving the two super soldiers in front of you. “We all know that Bucky could take out Steve in a minute.”

“Oh yeah?” Clint scoffed. “Because it looks like he’s struggling just a bit.”

“As if.” You rolled your eyes. “It’s Bucky.”

“It’s Steve.” Wanda laughed. “Captain America. Steve Rogers.”

“Okay?” You huffed. “If we’re just naming things off - The White Wolf. James Barnes-”

“Alright.” Natasha sighed, laughing at how defensive you became. “You have that intense look in your eye. The one you get when you’re about to fight someone.”

You rolled your eyes. “Whatever. What time is it?”

“Why?” She wiggled her eyebrows. “You have some hot date you need to get to?”

“Actually.” Your cheeks grew hot at the question. “I do.”

Bucky’s focus faltered, eyes darting toward you before Steve’s fist barely missed his cheek. A date? “Pay attention, Buck.”

“I am.” He glared, flipping his knife intricately before throwing it toward his best friend. “Totally fine.”

“If you’re sure.” Steve laughed, deciding not to point out that he’d never asked Bucky if he was alright.

“You have a date?” Sam yelled, and you jumped, placing a hand over your heart to calm yourself down. “Who’s the lucky guy?”

“Why do you want to know?” You squinted, wary of Sam’s interest. “He’s a nice guy. That’s all you-”

A large thud rang through the room, your head whipping back toward the fight to find Bucky’s back flat on the floor, Steve’s eyes wide. “Jeez, I’m sorry. I thought-”

You ran over, kneeling beside Bucky. “Are you alright?”

Bucky just nodded, staring at the ceiling as he tried to regain his breath. You raised a brow, finding his lack of talking concerning. “Let’s get you to the med wing.”

“I’m really fine.”

“Yeah, yeah.” You stood, pulling him up with you. “You’re not indestructible, you know.” You practically marched him toward the med wing, with Steve and Sam in tow. Pushing the door open, you greeted Bruce warmly as Bucky sat on the examination table, visibly annoyed that he had to do this.

“What’s the issue?”

Bruce looked highly amused at the way you were standing nervously beside the super soldier.

“Steve body-slammed-”

“Accidentally,” Steve interjected.

You nodded. “Steve accidentally body-slammed Bucky.”

Bruce nodded. “Alright. You look fine-” You gave him a pointed look, which he immediately cowered under. “But it doesn’t hurt to check.”

“Thank you.” You smiled.

Bruce walked back over to his desk, asking the typical preliminary questions. “How exactly did Steve body slam you?”

“I was distracted.”

Bruce laughed. “Not exactly what I meant. But fine. Why were you distracted?”

He’d walked himself into that one. He couldn't stop thinking about it. How could you have a date tonight? It never came up in conversation; hell, he’d never even heard of this so-called analyst until today, before his untimely defeat. You told Bucky everything, or at least, he thought you did. He decided to ignore Bruce’s question, looking toward you curiously. “You have a date tonight?”

“I do.”

He laughed, leaning back, trying to seem nonchalant about the whole ordeal. “That’s funny.”

“Why?” You took the bait, a reserved smile gracing your lips.

“Don’t remember asking you, Doll.” Bruce slipped a blood pressure cuff on Bucky’s arm.

You laughed. “That’s because it’s not with you, hotshot.”

Steve gasped, slapping a hand over his mouth as Sam fought to keep it together. “Sorry. It’s just-” Sam took a deep breath, holding Steve’s arm for support. “Are you two not- We thought you-”

“We’re not.” You looked back at Bucky for backup, confused when he refused to meet your eye, his body language telling you he was positively miserable. “Right?”

Bucky shrugged, the blood pressure cuff signalling that this conversation was making him nervous. “You tell me.”

Your heart stopped, the severity of this conversation hitting you like a ton of bricks.

You hated how he made you feel in that moment, how his face made your stomach turn, guilty beyond belief. He was acting like it was the most obvious thing in the world, you two dating. Were you truly so oblivious, so unwilling to realize he liked you? “I thought you were just flirting with me.” Your voice was smaller than you’d meant it to be.

“I was flirting with you.” He nodded. “I was flirting with you because I thought we were in agreement.”

The confusion, anger, and agitation coursed through your veins like a ticking time bomb. “In agreement with what, James?” Your hands settled on your hips, trying to reason with him as to why you hadn’t realized. “You have a charming personality. You were hitting on the old lady at the grocery store last week!”

“First of all, thank you.” Bucky stood up, ripping the cuff off. “Second of all…” He had this horrible smirk on his face, and you wished he were taking this more seriously. “Were you jealous?”

“That-” You scoffed. “That is not what this is about!”

“Fine, fine.” He searched your face desperately, like he was waiting for you to understand, for all of it to finally click. “Sometimes you just know.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“I disagree.”

“Disagree all you want.” You glared. “I have to go get ready for my date.”

“Fine.” Bucky nodded, hand itching to reach out and stop you. Instead, he stupidly let you go, watching as you stormed out of the room.

“Fine!” You yelled over your shoulder.

“Shit." Sam winced. "My bad, I guess.” Bucky closed his eyes, stopping himself from punching Sam in the face.

“I have some good news.” Bruce laughed, trying to break the tension, instantly stopping when Bucky glared at him. “You don’t have a concussion.”

You’d yet to see Bucky since that disastrous interaction, going out of your way to avoid him. It felt wrong; you and Bucky were attached at the hip, and you spent every waking moment together.

You hadn’t even helped him with breakfast.

Now you were being forced to attend your weekly team bonding night. Steve and Tony had implemented this after the whole Leipzig-Halle Airport incident. They felt that the infighting would be solved by forced hangouts.

You felt that if they had been more open and listened to each other’s side of the argument, the whole Leipzig-Halle Airport incident wouldn’t have happened, and you wouldn’t be in this mess.

Peter sat beside you on the couch, braiding your hair (or at least trying to, he was failing miserably). You forced yourself not to look over at Bucky, as you so often did. The avoidance, both from his side and yours, made you realize just how central he was to your daily routine, to your life.

“Alright.” Steve clapped his hands, pulling you out of your thoughts and back to this dreaded reality. “What game do you guys want to play?”

You grumbled. “The game where we don’t have to do this.”

“Cards against Humanity?” Nat grinned as Steve’s cheeks grew bright pink, rubbing a hand over his face to hide the embarrassment.

“Do you want Steve to have a heart attack?” You raised an eyebrow. “Again?”

“What about truth or dare?” Peter proposed. “It’s fun, Ned and I play all the time.”

You turned around, laughing. “Just you and Ned?”

He shrugged, growing timid under your gaze. “It’s more fun with two people.”

“Sure.” Steve nodded. “Is everyone fine with that?” To your surprise (and horror), everyone seemed to agree. Steve went first, scanning the room for the game’s first victim. “Nat. Truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“I dare you to let Rhodey do your hair.”

You scoffed, wincing as Peter accidentally pulled your hair. “That’s a lame one, Steven.”

Nat sat in front of Rhodey, gesturing to the spiderling. “As long as you don’t pull my hair, we won’t have a problem.”

“Sorry,” Peter frowned, petting your hair gently as if that would magically take away the pain. “I didn’t mean to.”

You smiled warmly, finding it endearing how guilty he felt about all of this. “It honestly didn’t even hurt, Peter. Just a quick pinch. I’m fine.” You could feel Bucky’s eyes on you, attuned to your every move. His gaze had been fixed on you since you'd let out that hiss. It was sweet, you told yourself, that he was worried about you.

Even if it was over something as little as pulled hair.

“Sam.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He lazily looked over from his very comfy spot on the couch. “At your service.”

The super spy wiggled her eyebrows. “Truth or dare, Falcon?”

“Truth.”

“Who is your least favorite person to be partnered with?”

“Quick with it.” Natasha nodded, and Sam sat up, seriously pondering his answer. “I guess, it would have to be either Peter-”

“Hey!”

“Or Thor.”

“What's the meaning of this?” Thor looked absolutely betrayed. “Am I not a helpful member of this team?”

Sam laughed, shaking his head. “You’re very helpful. So helpful that I don’t even need to do anything.”

“Ah, I see.” Thor nodded in understanding. “The issue is that I am too good at taking down my enemies.”

“Exactly.”

Sam’s quick to find his victim, wiggling his brows at you menacingly. You want to crawl into your skin, jump back in time, and convince the team to play anything else. There’s only one way this can go with Sam asking you the fateful question. Horribly.

“Truth or dare, Vortex?”

You look around the room, heart beating faster than it should. “I don’t want to play anymore.”

Sam looks a little too proud of himself. “That’s too bad. Truth or dare?”

“Fine. Truth.”

Sam’s smirk never leaves his face, and you’re scared that your ‘safe choice’ wasn’t all that safe. “How was the date?”

The room erupts into chaos, each of your teammates (who had no idea) talking over each other animatedly. You stare, because that’s all you can do. They’re way too invested in your love life, and you tell yourself that after this game, you’re going to have to set some boundaries. They finally simmer down, and just as you're about to tell them what happened, Bucky scoffs, muttering something incoherently.

The anxiety at telling them all the truth quickly turns to anger when you see Bucky so casually commenting on your date, which he has no business involving himself in. Your head tilts, and you sit forward, pulling your hair out of Peter’s hands. “Have something you want to say, James?”

Bucky looks more than happy to repeat what he whispered. “I said I’m sure it went perfectly, Doll.”

It wasn’t necessarily a rude comment, but the way he said it, the way he sounded, pained to even speak it, pissed you off beyond belief. Your blood is boiling, voice eerily quiet. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

"Don't I?" The room is now dead silent, all of them staring at the two of you, ready for this to blow up in front of their very eyes. Bucky shrugs, taking a sip of his Coke. “You probably didn’t even realize you were on the date until the poor guy tried to kiss you.”

Alright. You stand up, fists clenched. “That’s it!” Steve’s eyes widen, and Sam, once again, is trying to control his laughter. “It is not my fault that you assumed we were dating! You never asked me!” Your voice radiated off the walls, loud and piercing.

Bucky scoffs, standing up, trying to escape the very argument he started. “Next time you announce to the world that you have a date, I’ll make sure to tell you that I’m in love with you!”

If you thought the room was quiet before, it’s even quieter now. No one dares to move, all of their eyes glued on Bucky, shocked that the man, the super soldier who is normally so stoic and reserved, just yelled out his love confession. He turns around, barely taking one step, when you scream at his back.

“I didn’t even go!”

He stops, back still facing you, like he’s scared to turn around, scared to face the music, to even allow himself to feel hope. “What?”

You huff, suddenly becoming very self-conscious of everyone’s eyes on you. “I got to the restaurant, I saw him through the window, and I couldn’t do it. I left.” You hug yourself, laughing bitterly. "Happy?"

Bucky turns around, and suddenly, all that yearning, all the hours spent longing over you when he thought he had no chance, has finally paid off. Your anguished face, conflicted beyond belief, tells him that maybe, just maybe, you realize what he’s always known. “Why? Why did you leave?”

You can’t do this in front of everyone else, you can’t confess that you’ve loved him since he got here, that you feel empty when he’s not by your side, that you would crumble into nothing if he ever got hurt. So you take the coward’s way out, tears threatening to fall as you whisper. “I’m done with this.”

Bucky shakes his head, and that simple action alone compels you to stay. “Why?”

You realize now that you are fully crying, a tear drop falling onto your shirt. “Bucky-”

“C’mon, Doll.” He’s urging you, begging you to say it.

You almost sob as you speak the words you know you can’t take back. “He wasn’t you.”

He practically jumps across the room, hands on both sides of your face as he pulls your lips to his. It’s not gentle, it’s needy, it’s like he’s not sure if this is real, and if it isn’t, if this is all a dream, he wants to make the most out of it. Your eyes flutter shut, hands grasping his shirt to pull him closer. You sigh into his touch, his hold.

It’s like one of those cheesy scenes in the movies Steve forces you to watch.

Wolf whistles erupt around you, all of them cheering you on. Again, you tell yourself to set boundaries with them when this is all over. Soon, the wolf whistles die down to a dull roar, and Tony clears his throat, bringing you both back to reality. “Should we give you the room?”

Your cheeks feel like they’re on fire as you pull away, avoiding eye contact with everyone, staring into Bucky's chest. “Sorry.”

Bucky just smiles, kissing you quickly before returning to his seat. You kind of stand there in shock before sitting back down yourself, beaming like you can’t believe that just happened. Clint claps his hand, once again pulling you from your thoughts. “Let’s get this show on the road. Your turn to ask someone.”

You nod, but you can hardly focus when you feel Bucky’s eyes following your every move. “Peter, truth or dare?”

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dameronspector · 1 month ago

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Philophobia (Part 10)

Pairings: Joaquin Torres x Stark!Reader, Sam Wilson x Platonic!Reader, Bucky Barnes x Platonic!Reader

Chapter Summary: You try to find information on Rhodey and call the biggest asshole for help, Karli and Zemo are a pain in the ass, all of you get a special visit from the Dora Milaje, John Walker is annoying and you hate him, Joaquin is a sweetie pie who loves you so much, you end up hurting our bird boy unwillingly.

Warnings: Cursing, Angst, FLUFF so much fluff, Tension (no smut), Revisiting Past, Mentions of Depression and Phobias, Isolation, Loneliness, Talks of a Funeral, Guns/Bullets, Injuries, Concussion, Bruises, Jealous!Joaquin, Sam and Bucky are worried dads, Joaquin loves Reader so much, Joaquin is whipped, A Special Cameo, Nicknames, This is a long one. that’s all I think!

AN: nothing really, except this one is really cute hehe

“Stark, I’m in the middle of-”

“Where’s Rhodey? And don’t say you don’t know anything about that. We both know, that you’re the only person who has eyes everywhere.”

Fury sighed heavily on the phone.

The moment Pepper told you that Rhodey was missing, your mind went straight to Nick Fury, the only person in this country who had his eyes everywhere and in everyone’s business. Especially when it came to people like Rhodey, who were government officials.

“Fine. I do know. But I can’t tell you anything right now.”

Your blood boiled, irritated with his constant state of unbothered attitude, “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that I can’t tell you anything right now. It’s confidential. You’re not new to this business, Stark.”

You closed your eyes in annoyance. It was never easy with this man.

“Alright, fine. But if I don’t get my uncle back safely, I’ll give you something to worry about, Fury.”

“Are you threatening me?”, Fury let out a disbelieving chuckle.

“Why? Are you scared?”, you challenged him back. He knew you could be as reckless as your dad if you wanted to be.

“Relax. He’s alive, if that makes you feel any better. Just figuring out how to bring him back. And no, I can’t elaborate on that right now. You’ll just have to wait.”

You clenched your jaw tightly, reluctantly agreeing to his terms.

“Yeah, alright. You’ll keep me updated, though?”

A beat passed.

And he finally replied, “Yes, I’ll try.”

You huffed through your nose and cut the call, pinching the bridge of your nose after. You wouldn’t be getting any sleep for a while now.

Your phone buzzed with a notification again. Harley had texted you that the suit will be arriving to your doorstep in approximately 10 seconds.

As if on cue, your watch informed that the suit was here.

You made your way over to the main doors and there it was, the sleek red and gold of the armour glinting in the light, the blue arc reactor in the middle glowing brightly, like it was never broken down.

For a minute, it felt like your dad was inside the suit. The sight of him roaming around the living room in one of the suits was a common occurrence, and the times when he wore it to help Peter out, fighting against Thanos, or save Pepper—all of the moments flashing in front of your eyes like it was a short film.

Involuntarily, your eyes filled with tears, the fact that he would never step out of one of these suits, after doing something crazy and typically Tony Stark, made your chest ache with a pain so profound.

You didn’t notice Joaquin coming up next to you in your trance. You didn’t notice how he saw your body lock up and eyes turn glassy, the emotion and pain swimming in them sending a sharp pang of hurt through his own chest.

His eyebrows scrunched up and he slowly put a hand on your shoulder, making you jump in surprise. Your teary eyes shifted to look at him, his worried face intently focused on you.

"Hey, you okay?", he asked lowly, the hand on your shoulder shifting to rest on your shoulder blades.

You swallowed against the lump in your throat before nodding, "Y-yeah. I'm good. Sorry-um. This is Mark 50, Mark 50, this is Joaquin", you sniffled and pointed at the suit, introducing it to Joaquin like it was a real person.

In a way it was, the suits and the robots were as much as a part of the Stark family as Rhodey or Happy. They were, truly, your siblings and you hated how right Sam was about that.

Joaquin noticed the shift in you and immediately switched his mood, "Damn. Lookin' good", he greeted the suit, a hand extended in front of it.

He wasn't expecting the suit to actually listen and shake his hand in return, a metal fist enclosed against Joaquin's human hand, the suit's helmet tilted to the side like it was nodding.

Joaquin looked at you with wide eyes, face lit up with excitement, "Whoa!"

That made you laugh quietly, heart fluttering in your chest by looking at the wide smile on Joaquin's face.

He was so cute.

"Yeah. Dad used to command it before, but Harley must've programed it to respond to any commands and rewired it's systems to be operated by FRIDAY", you looked at the suit with a fond smile, completely missing the sour look that passed across Joaquin's face.

"Let's go inside. And Joaquin, could you please pull up Sam and Bucky's location? I’ll just thank Harley for his help", you shifted away from the threshold, the suit and Joaquin following closely. Joaquin stared at your back like a lost puppy before reluctantly sitting down at the couch with his laptop propped up on the arm rest.

You rang Harley back, taking a seat next to Joaquin and watching his pretty hands type away on the keypad.

Pretty hands? where did that come from-

"What’s up, Buzz."

"Hi, Haz. Thank you for working on the suit in such less time", you begun sincerely.

Joaquin clenched his jaw. You noticed that and quirked an eyebrow before Harley broke your train of thought.

"You owe me a treat and a new headset", Harley replied casually, and you could hear loud cheers in the background.

"Wait a minute, headset? Didn't you get a new one last month? And where are you, boy?", you chided him.

"Uhh...I may have blasted mine accidentally while working on the suit? And I'm at a football game right now", you could just picture his stupid shrug right now.

Your eyes widened, "Harley did you destroy my lab?! I swear to god- and why are you skipping your classes-"

"Oh my gooood, your lab is fine! There might be a small hole in the wall but otherwise, it's all good! And you're welcome! Come back home and treat me to lunch and a new pair, mkay? I gotta focus on the game now, byeee!"

And he ended the call.

You stared at your phone with your mouth agape before bringing your watch up to your face, "FRIDAY, give me a status update of the lab?"

FRIDAY pulled up a small screen, a footage of your lab visible on it. The footage showed the exact moment Harley accidentally pushed the wrong button and activated the blasters, destroying his precious headset and a small chunk of your wall paneling, the gaping hole standing out against the white and gray interior.

You pinched the bridge of your nose and groaned loudly, Joaquin, who was already looking at you, decides to finally speak up.

"Who is this guy?", he blurts out and immediately regrets it, his hand clenching into a fist.

You looked up and sighed, "Just a stray that my dad picked up long ago and now he's my problem."

Joaquin looked at you in confusion. You smiled fondly.

"He's like the twin I never had, you know? Dad met him in Tennessee in 2013, during the Mandarin attacks. Harley basically saved my dad from starvation and hypothermia, let him stay in their family garage for the night. He was a smart kid, helped dad fix his suit, uncover the Extremis program, and helped track down the Mandarin in Miami."

Joaquin's eyes were wide with wonder, "Whoa."

You chuckled, "I know right? He must've been barely 11 years old. Even supported my dad during his panic attacks and PTSD. Dad was so impressed with this little guy who was practically helping him save the country, that he became a surrogate father to him. Gave him a scholarship and, later, an internship, brought him home during Christmas the next year, and that's how we became friends. I was an only child, so he was the closest thing to a brother to me", you finished with a sweet smile.

Joaquin relaxed. Harley was like a brother to you, there was nothing to be jealous of. Now that that was out of the way, he was happy and impressed with Harley and his presence in your life. He had saved your father’s life at only 11 years old and had given you a feeling of siblinghood. He knew how special a bond with a sibling could be.

Joaquin felt like he could get along with him.

His curiosity got the best of him and he asked, “That’s…really cool. He seems like a nice guy. But, why’d you call him Woody the other day?”

You let out a delightful laugh, one that made your eyes squint and crinkles appear next to them. One that made Joaquin’s heart race and cheeks red.

“We were just two Disney obsessed kids, okay? Spent half of our time watching the animated movies. Toy Story and How To Train Your Dragon stuck out because, Woody and Buzz, and Ruffnut and Tuffnut, were way too similar to us. So those were our nicknames for each other. Never grew out of them”, you finished with a nostalgic smile.

Joaquin ducked his head and smiled, happy that you had these sweet memories as a child.

“Why did you abruptly leave when I was talking to him?”

Joaquin whipped his head up, “Huh?”, nervousness bleeding through his tone and you knew you had him there.

“Why did you leave, Joaquin? You even tensed up when I was talking to him right now”, you tried again in a softer voice.

Joaquin scratched the back of his head sheepishly, eyes looking down at his laptop to avoid your observant gaze, “Uh-I…I was-”

You pursed your lips to stop the smile from spreading, “Jealous?”

And there was the word vomit that you were expecting, “No! I wasn’t jealous. I just- I didn’t know- I didn’t want to force you into anything with me, you know? So like, I thought, maybe you already had someone so- I didn’t want to—And you looked so happy—”

You stopped him from spiralling any further and covered his mouth with your hand, shutting him up effectively. His brown eyes stared at your hand in surprise before looking at you, his soft lips brushed against your palm and you almost shivered.

“It’s okay.”

His eyes widened, head tilting to the side as if he was asking you to repeat it again.

“I mean, I don’t mind that you were jealous”, you repeated quietly, swallowing to get rid of your nerves. It’s been a long time since you opened up to someone like that. You weren’t sure how Joaquin would react to it, your heart was beating out of your chest, hands were shaking and turning cold at the same time.

Before your overthinking could get worse, Joaquin wrapped a hand around your wrist and slowly tugged it down, a thumb rubbing soothing circles against your heartbeat, sparkling eyes flickering all over your face.

“Is that so?”, he asked softly, a stray curl falling apart from his neatly gelled hair and resting on his forehead.

He was so handsome, it hurt.

You nodded shyly, face heating up with nervousness and excitement, both.

He slowly leaned in, a hand coming up to cradle your cheek when there was a beeping sound coming from his laptop, the two of you jumping apart at that.

You cleared your throat while he gently removed his hand from your face, leaving a cold feeling behind. You almost sulked at that when he swooped in to press a kiss to the swell of your cheek before turning back towards the screen.

You blushed hard and thanked whatever force that was out there, for making him turn around at that moment.

“Shit. Walker and Hoskins have tracked Sam and Bucky down”, Joaquin cursed.

You snapped out of your day dream and leaned closer to him to look at the screen.

“What? How’s that possible?”, you murmured as you watched the two dots follow Sam and Bucky around.

“I got no clue. But this can’t be good. I don’t trust Walker”, he muttered, his voice scratchy.

“Yeah, that makes the two of us. I knew this was gonna happen, which is why I called in the suit”, you confessed and he looked at you in confusion, his warm breath hitting your face because of how close you were to each other.

“What? Why?”

“I’m going after them. I’ve got a bad feeling ever since they left”, you admitted and bit the inside of your cheek.

Joaquin’s face fell, “(Name), no. You’re literally recovering from a rib injury that you got a few hours ago. You’re supposed to be resting right now”, he chided you gently, face twisted in concern.

You stared at him for a moment before softening, hands framing his face carefully. Joaquin closed his in contentment.

“I have the suit for a reason, Quino. It’s got the suture spray and FRIDAY will keep you updated with my vitals, in case something goes wrong. And Sam and Bucky will be there, too. I’ll be okay, I promise”, you cooed gently.

He opened his pretty eyes and stared at you in worry, a dent appearing in between his eyebrows because of how much he was stressing them.

“You’ll let me know if anything goes south?”

“I swear.”

“And you won’t do stupid shit?”

You gave him a guilty smile, “I’ll try”, and pressed a thumb in between his brows, smoothing the dent away before squeezing his cheeks in between your palms. He grabbed your wrists in his hands.

“I’ll give you access to FRIDAY. She’s directly connected to the suit so you can talk to me, and track me through her, okay?”

He nodded, his head moving up and down in your hands.

“Anything else?”, you prompted him to open his eyes.

He looked at you for a moment and said, “Can I kiss you?”

You blushed and whispered, “Yes.”

He didn’t have to be told twice. He put his hands on your cheeks and brought you closer to him, lips pressing to yours in a gentle embrace, thumbs smoothing the skin below your eyes.

The kiss wasn’t desperate or needy, it was gentle and reassuring, as if he was trying to savour the way your soft lips felt against his but at the same time, needed comfort that you’d be okay.

He pulled away after a few moments, pressing one last kiss on the corner of your mouth.

“Go save our dads”, he murmured against your cheek and you burst out in giggles, nuzzling against his face in return.

You flew to the location where Sam and Bucky had gone for Mama Donya’s funeral. After commanding FRIDAY to compress the suit, it took the shape of a red and gold bracelet with blue accents that went on your wrist alongside your watch and you walked the rest of the way, not wanting to draw too much attention.

The funeral was held in a closed off factory or a community center of some sort, the building filled with large machines and huge halls, scattered with food supplies and tables full of clothes, bags, pots and other essentials. It was clearly a camp for the refugees.

It was way too quiet when you got in, and Joaquin informed you about the heat signatures a few feet ahead. You slowly made your way over to the main hall’s entrance, the view blocked by 2 rusted machines that looked like unused boilers, and a blue suit came into view—Walker.

Your expression soured as you approached him and noticed Zemo being handcuffed, Bucky standing guard in front of a door, meanwhile Walker and Lemar were pacing back and forth.

“Wow, I wasn’t told that there was gonna be a party here”, you quipped and the four of them whipped their heads up in your direction.

“What—Kid, why are you here?”, Bucky asked in concern.

“Great, we have another trigger-happy child to look after”, Walker sassed.

“The call is coming from inside the house”, Walker glared at you and opened his mouth before you waved him off, “Anyways. Buck, where’s Sam? You guys okay?”

You walked over to where Bucky was standing and leaned against the door.

“Yeah. He’s inside, trying to talk Karli down.”

You nodded in understanding, it was very much in character for Sam to do that, his natural instinct to care for people and the professional experience of being a counselor helping him out.

“And why’s this clown here?”, you murmured and gestured towards Walker.

Bucky sighed, “He thinks Sam is doing a mistake by talking to Karli. Says we should just arrest her or worse.”

You rolled your eyes in irritation before John started breathing heavily. Bucky exchanged a look with you.

“Is he high? What the hell is wrong with him?”, you asked Bucky, who chuckled.

“Ignore him. Why'd you join us? You’re supposed to be resting. Did you sneak out? Did Torres not stop you?”, Bucky rapidly asked one question after the other, his eyebrows scrunched deeply.

You narrowed your eyes, “I don’t need anybody’s permission. And relax, old man, I told him to track me and gave him access to FRIDAY. And here”, you pulled back your dad’s leather jacket’s sleeve and showed him the bracelet, “I got the suit as a backup.”

Bucky looked down at your wrist in doubt, “How?-”

“I’ll tell you later-”

“Uh-uh. No, no, no. This is a bad idea”, John spoke up and paced around in panic.

You quirked an eyebrow.

“It hasn’t been ten minutes, John. Just sit tight”, Bucky drawled out in boredom.

“Don’t do that. Don’t patronize me”, John gritted his teeth.

You stood up straight and looked him in the eye, noticing his restless body language, “Dude, you need to calm down.”

“He knows what he’s doing”, Bucky referred to Sam.

John glared at the two of you, “I’m goin’ in. This is all really easy for you, isn’t it? All that serum runnin’ through your veins. Barnes, your partner needs backup in there. And you”, he looked at you with eyes, “not everybody has the privilege of living in ignorance and having a back up ready. Do you really want his blood on your hands?”

You clenched your jaw, your eyes hardening in anger, “Watch it, John”, a hand moving to your bracelet before Bucky stopped you. You stared at him in disbelief.

John smirked before pushing Bucky out of the way, Lemar choosing to stay behind for now.

You watched John leave and broke your hand away from Bucky’s grip.

“Bucky, what the hell?”, you chided him, his jaw clenching tightly at that.

“I know. Just- be careful. Lay low, I'll go after him", Bucky instructed, you gave him a curt nod and ran in the opposite direction, Bucky taking off after Walker and Lemar following closely, ready to stop Bucky. Zemo was the only one left behind, and he took that opportunity to break free from his handcuffs and follow Walker and Karli himself.

You ducked behind the staircase, observing the scene closely before making any moves. You knew Sam would be upset to see you here, but you weren’t going to sit back and watch them get ambushed by Walker or, god forbid, the Flagsmashers.

“This is what that was?”, Karli’s upset voice rang out in the empty hall.

“No, wait—”, Sam tried to placate her, his hands held out in a peaceful gesture.

“Tricking me until help came?”

“We had enough time to talk—”, Walker stopped Sam while Lemar tried to restrict Bucky. You clenched your hands in anger.

“Nazi", Karli spit at Walker and pushed him against Sam, bringing him down with him and a few pots and pans scattering in the wake. Bucky pushed Lemar off of him and ran in the direction of Karli.

You pressed the small button on your bracelet and let the suit wrap around you, the blue screens coming to life inside the helmet, FRIDAY's voice alert and ready.

"FRIDAY, track down Karli."

"Ok, Boss."

And you blasted off, whizzing through the building. Her and Bucky jumped through the staircases, the serums running through their veins helping them run faster and scale heights. Bucky dropped down behind her, landing in a room that was filled with people drying their clothes around and meandering about, they looked at you in alarm and gasped when you swooped in behind Bucky in a blur of red and gold.

Bucky whipped his head behind as he ran, relaxing when he noticed it was just you and ran faster, matching Karli's pace with you close on his heels.

The doorway made way to a dark, brick walled space, surrounded by flights of stairs and metal railings, low light passing through the windows on the opposite wall.

Bucky ran up another series of stairs and you paused, looking around in confusion, "FRIDAY, where is she?"

"Second floor, in the boiler room. Last door at the end of the hallway."

And you took off, reaching the second floor and noticing a brown door at the end of the hallway. Flying close to the door, you turned the suit back into the bracelet by pushing on the reactor and straightened yourself before opening the door, which gave you a clear view of Karli from the railings around the platform.

Descending from the stairs, you tried to keep the noise to a minimum as you followed Karli closely, ducking behind storage shelves and large pipes.

She suddenly stopped, staring at something or someone across her, her breathing laboured. You furrowed your eyebrows.

And suddenly, a gunshot went off, a bullet ricocheting off a pipe, making a loud clang. Your eyes widened as you pressed the bracelet and let it cover your hand in a partial gauntlet, arm raised in defense as you slowly stood up and saw the perpetrator- it was Zemo.

"Fuck", you cursed under your breath. All of you had stupidly left Zemo behind.

"(Name), what are you doing?", Joaquin's urgent voice came in from your ear piece.

You closed your eyes in regret. Thankfully, you didn't give him access to video yet or else he would've not given up until you backed away.

"Joaquin-I'm okay. FRIDAY, shut off comms until further notice", you guiltily informed FRIDAY.

"Wait, no-don't do this, (Name)-", his voice called out before FRIDAY ended the connection. You would definitely regret this later but you needed to focus here, for now.

A series of gunshots went off, Zemo backing Karli into a corner while you covered yourself with a huge crate right behind Zemo, keeping your blaster trained at him.

Karli jumped over a table and used it as a cover, the contents on the table scattering on the floor and that's when you noticed.

The blue glass vials. The serums.

Zemo slowly made his way over to the table while keeping Karli on gun point. You raised up and followed him, wanting to keep him away from the vials and Karli. He fired another shot and almost missed Karli's hand, her quickly ducking behind the table and his eyes went towards the vials rolling around.

"Is this what I think it is?", he asked Karli.

"Zemo, don't!", you cried out and he whipped around, his gun still raised but lowering it when he saw you.

"Let me do this, (Name). This has nothing to do with you", he warned you lightly before turning back towards the vials. He crouched down before picking one up, Karli's distressed face popping out from behind the overturned table.

"No, no...", Karli whispered and Zemo shattered the vial in his hand, it breaking in tiny pieces, the blue liquid spilling on the stone ground, turning it damp.

"Zemo, stop it, I'm gonna blast you, I swear", you raised your arm, the gauntlet powering itself when a door opened and a man came out, Karli making her way up to escape. You forgot the serum then, knowing that they weren’t as important as Karli’s coordination with Sam and to this mission.

"Karli, wait!", you ran towards the stairs, catching up with her when she suddenly turned around, pulling your arm close before pushing you harshly.

She ran away while you lost your balance, the heel of your foot slipping off the step. Your stomach coiled in itself, that feeling of free falling engulfing you.

A sound of metal hitting something echoed in the still room but you couldn't see it as you closed your eyes tightly, waiting for the ground to hit you for the second time since yesterday.

But it never came. Instead, rough gloves and the feel of kevlar on your cheeks greeted you, hands helping you get off the stairs before making you sit on the ground, releasing you immediately and the sound of footsteps walking away hit your ears.

You heart was pounding in your ears, the brief scare of falling had shaken you up, your eyes still shut tightly. Taking a deep breath in, you opened them to see that Zemo was unconscious in front of you, Walker stood next to a pile of water bottles with his head titled, looking at something in his hands.

Had he saved you from falling?

Just as you though that, the door above opened once again, Sam and Bucky walking through it while Lemar rushed in from the other entrance behind Zemo.

You were breathing loudly, eyes meeting Sam and Bucky's from across the room, nodding to let them know that you're okay.

"What did we miss?", Sam asked John in exasperation, Bucky scowling next to him and the four men exchanged a look with each other.

"You okay?", Bucky asked you as you walked next to him.

"Yeah, he-"

"What are you doing here? I told you to rest. The doctor told you to rest!", Sam chided you, a frown tugging his lips.

"I know, I'm sorry-"

"Oh, now you're sorry. What if you'd been injured, or worse? What was I supposed to tell Pepper or Rhodey?", Sam stressed. In his panic, he thankfully didn't notice the way you and Bucky froze at the mention of Rhodey.

"And how did you even get the suit?"

"Yeah actually, I have the same question", Bucky chimed in, staring you down with narrowed eyes.

You shrugged casually, "I have contacts", and gave them a smirk.

Sam shook his head in disbelief and Bucky huffed out a laugh. Zemo was stumbling behind the three of you, his right temple bruised and red.

"I didn't think I'd ever say this, but maybe I need to thank John for that", you quipped and the two men next to you chuckled in agreement.

"He also saved me from falling when Karli shoved me", you confessed and they look at you in confusion.

"Who? Walker?", Bucky asked in disbelief and you nodded.

"Well, colour me surprised. They do say, a broken clock is right twice in a day", Sam joked.

You shook your head and chuckled.

"You guys go ahead. I'll join you", Bucky informed you before walking back to the building. Assuming he was most likely going to ask around for information, Sam and you made your way back to Zemo's place with a wincing Zemo in tow.

As soon as you entered the living area, you were greeted with a sulking Joaquin, headphones over his head that made a dent in his otherwise fluffy curls, eyes intently focusing on the screen of his laptop, lips set in a frown and hands constantly fidgeting with the keyboard. His arms strained against the tight t shirt he was wearing and you felt your breath hitch at the sight.

There was also an ache in your chest. You hated that you had shut him out like that but you didn’t do well with distractions. Not when you were trying so hard to prove yourself to Sam, that you’d be useful. But, those are just excuses, you suppose. He didn’t deserve that in anyway.

Sam made his way over to him while Zemo went into the kitchen, likely preparing a cold compress for the bruising.

Patting his back, Sam brought Joaquin’s attention back to the present and he jumped lightly before removing the headphones, wide eyes looking up at Sam in alarm.

“Oh-Hey. You’re back? Where-”

He looked around Sam and spotted you, perfectly okay, wrapped in your father’s jacket, hands playing with the bracelet nervously.

Sam took notice of this frantic behaviour from Joaquin and turned to look at you, the nervousness radiating off your body and quirked an eyebrow.

“Uh…you good, man?”, he asked Joaquin while squeezing his shoulder, Joaquin reluctantly looking away from you to answer Sam.

“Um- yeah. I’m good. How-how did it go?”

Sam sighed, “Well. Walker’s dumbass ambushed us. Karli felt betrayed and she escaped. And Zemo broke the vials of the serum.”

Joaquin looked at Zemo, noticing the way he was swaying and stumbling over his feet and let out a low whistle, “Did he get his ass kicked?”

Sam snorted, “Walker threw the damn shield at his head. Knocked him out for sometime and bruised the right side of his face.”

Joaquin breathed out a laugh in response. Sam patted his back again and sat down on the chairs lining the kitchen island to work on his laptop, leaving you and Joaquin staring at each other longingly from across the room.

Zemo came over and laid down on the couch opposite to Joaquin, a towel over his eyes and a drink in his hand.

You averted your eyes away from Joaquin before joining Sam at the island, sitting down next to him and staring at the laptop idly, lost in your own thoughts. Sam was sending a text to Sharon, warning her about Walker and asking her to keep an eye on him.

“Were you ever offered it?”, Zemo asked Sam, who looked at you in confusion.

“What?”, he asked Zemo.

“The serum.”

“No”, Sam replied and went back to his work.

“If you had been, hypothetically, that is, would you have taken it?”

You stopped fiddling with your bracelet and looked up in surprise, the loaded question from Zemo taking you off guard.

Sam turned around to look at Zemo and instantly replied, “No.”

You slowly smiled with pride. Joaquin looked at Sam with stars in his eyes.

“No hesitation. That’s impressive,” Zemo grunted and sat up, pulling away the towel from his eyes to look at Sam.

“Sam, you can’t hold out hope for Karli. No matter what you saw in her, she’s gone. And we cannot allow that she and her acolytes become yet another faction of gods amongst real people. Super Soldiers cannot be allowed to exist.”

You stiffened up, his words holding some truth yet his way of tackling the issue rubbed you the wrong way.

Sam grimaced, “Isn’t that how gods talk? And if that’s how you feel, what about Bucky? Blood isn’t always the solution.”

Right after that the door opened, Bucky walking through it with irritation bleeding from his every step.

“Something’s not right about Walker”, he announced and walked around you and Sam, throwing his jacket into a chair and picking out a glass from the cabinet, pouring himself some whiskey.

“You don’t say”, Sam quipped.

“No, I agree. He was being really fucking weird. Twitchy and always on the edge…”, you added, suspecting your worse fear—Walker took the serum.

“Well, I know a crazy when I see one. Because I am crazy”, Bucky added in self deprecation. You pursed your lips.

“Can’t argue with that”, Sam joked and you noticed Joaquin stifle a laugh.

“Shouldn’t have given him the shield”, Bucky throws at Sam and you frown, a hand coming up to pinch your nose.

“Not this again”, you groaned and Sam turned around to look at Bucky in disbelief.

“I didn’t give it.”

“Well, Steve definitely didn’t.”

You looked up in shock, “Dude?!”

Why did have an attitude all of a sudden?

And as if the devil sensed the rising tension, the doors flung open, revealing the last person you wanted to see.

“All right. That’s it. Let’s go. I’m now ordering you to turn him over”, John’s loud mouth announced himself as he strutted in, a stupid smug smile on his face, Lemar walking next to him.

You actually preferred Lemar over John. Atleast he didn’t spew bullshit at random times.

Sam sighed in exhaustion and met John halfway.

“Hey, slow your roll. Shield or no shield, the only thing you’re runnin’ in here is your mouth. Now, I had Karli and you overstepped. He’s actually proven himself useful today. We’ll need all hands on deck for whatever’s comin’ next”, he said and pointed at Zemo who walked over to the kitchen.

Bucky leaned on the countertop meanwhile you felt a warm hand on your forearm, shifting your intense stare away from John to to look at Joaquin standing next to you, his jaw clenched.

“How do you want the rest of this conversation to go, Sam? Huh?”

Sam stared at Walker and Walker let out a breathy laugh.

"Yeah. Should I put down the shield to make it fair?", John belittled Sam and you clenched your fists, eyes hardened in anger. Sam scoffed.

Just as John went to rest his shield by one of the pillars, a spear zipped past him, lodging firmly into the pillar right next to John's head.

All of you turned around in shock to see that a Dora Milaje warrior was standing in the corner of the room. You let out a laugh and Bucky shifted. Joaquin was too starstruck to even move, Sam looked at her in shock and fear.

Two more Doras entered from the main door, the clinking of their silver jewelry and armour rippling across the room in a pleasant way, their bodies held with grace and poise, the orange and patterned traditional armour fitting them royally, unimaginable power and stealth oozing off of their shining skin. Their sharp eyes pierced through Walker and Bucky sat up uncomfortably.

A Dora clinked her spear against the ground and looked at Bucky directly, saying something in Wakandan isiXhosa that was clearly not funny as Bucky ducked his head in shame. You exchanged a serious look with Joaquin, standing up in alarm.

"Release him to us, now", the warrior demanded, her voice serious and firm in warning.

Nobody spoke, except-

"Hi. John Walker, Captain America."

Except this dumb fucking man.

You rolled your eyes and shut them in embarrassment, Joaquin's mouth agape in disbelief. Sam laughed and looked at the three of you, his face lit up with shocked happiness, like he couldn't believe his was happening.

When the Dora didn't respond, John looked around the room and ran his stupid mouth again, "Well, let's uh- put down these pointy sticks and we can talk this through, huh?", he said in a fake happy voice.

"Oh my god", you whispered lowly.

"Hey, John, take it easy. You might wanna fight with Bucky before you wanna tangle with the Dora Milaje", Sam tried to warn Walker.

"They're gonna lay you down in 2 minutes max, man”, Joaquin added. You scoffed in humour.

John looked at you two blankly before turning around and running his mouth again.

"The Dora Milaje don't have jurisdiction here-"

Your eyes were so wide you were sure they would burst, if that was possible. Joaquin let out a choked gasp next to you.

"The Dora Milaje have jurisdiction, wherever the Dora Milaje find themselves to be", the warrior conceded and stared down Walker with her sharp and vigilant eyes.

"I know that's fucking right", "Hell yeah", you and Joaquin muttered together.

Sam smiled and Bucky still looked constipated. You assumed it's because he was going to get his ass handed to him by the Doras as well.

Just when you thought that it was over, Walker did something even worse.

"Okay. Look, I think we got off the wrong foot", he replied smugly and tried to casually put his fucking hand on the warriors shoulder.

You and Joaquin grimaced and slapped your foreheads in unison.

"He's dead", you whispered in shock.

And he was, indeed, dead because the warrior pushed his hand off her shoulder with the spear and kicked him so hard in the stomach, that he hit the lodged spear harshly, and fell down, her partner pulling up her own spear in defense.

You gasped as John picked up his shield and the warrior spinned over him before stabbing his shield. The one who kicked John threw the third Dora her spear, who caught it mid air and attacked Lemar.

The three Doras kept hitting the two men with their spears, choking them and pinning them down, the grunts and groans and glasses shattering being the only sounds heard.

Sam backed up in shock, Bucky walked over to stand next to him smugly, his arms crossed around his chest.

Meanwhile you and Joaquin stared at the fight in wonder, awed at the fighting style of the Dora. They moved like it was a dance, not breaking any sweat or huffing and puffing, their movement precise and every attack purposeful.

Zemo sipped on his whiskey casually, like this wasn't any of his concern.

"We should do something", Sam mumbled to Bucky, who just pursed his lips and watched the scene unfold.

"Looking strong, John!", Bucky taunted as John got smacked by the spear once again and you let out a chuckle at that.

Bucky kept staring the fight smugly, his lips molded into a silly smile with his arms crossed.

Sam shook his head, "Bucky...", he called out in warning. Bucky looked at him before sighing, the warrior pinning down Walker and driving her spear straight into his face.

You let out a gasp, Joaquin holding you by the shoulders and then-

A vibranium arm shot out, stopping the spear before it hit John.

"Ayo-", Bucky twisted the spear away and Ayo, the warrior who kicked John, grunted, as she tried moving it out of Bucky's hand.

"Ayo, let's talk about this!", Bucky tried to reason but Ayo grunted once again, twisting the spear away, Bucky bringing up his flesh hand to stop her movements.

The other two Doras kicked Lemar and he dropped down in pain, one of them raising their spear before Sam rushed in to stop it, the warrior jamming in her spear's end into Sam's chest instead.

"Joaquin, we need to stop them-"

"No. Listen to me this once, please", Joaquin stopped you firmly, his hands pulling you back against him. You pouted.

The warriors kept attacking the four men, grunts and clangs echoing across the room and suddenly a spear shot out towards Walker's hands, passing through the straps and trapping the shield into the wooden table, Walker standing up with empty hands.

Ayo and Bucky's fight escalated and suddenly, she pressed a hand onto his left shoulder, where his metal arm met his flesh and-

The metal arm dropped down with a clink.

You gasped, Joaquin stared at the scene with fear and Bucky looked at Ayo with disbelief and slight betrayal, his eyes blown wide.

You walked over to Bucky, Joaquin making his way towards Sam.

You stood next to Bucky with a hand on his back, watching Ayo open the bathroom before announcing, "He is gone. Leave it."

The Dora handed the shield back to Sam and walked out just as gracefully as they had entered.

That's when you noticed that Zemo was missing. You frowned. How did you miss him slipping away?

"Did you know they could do that?", Sam asked as Joaquin helped him up, making his way towards you and Bucky.

Bucky furrowed his brows and you stared at him in worry, the vibranium arm's inner gears moving as Bucky prepared it to be fitted back into place. He inserted it into the purple grooves on the place where his armpit is supposed to be and the arm clicked, Bucky's clenched fingers making it whirr as he set it.

"No", he rasped out and moved his arm in a circle, making a clanking noise as it set.

You exchanged a worried look with Sam.

They walked over to the bathroom, leaving you behind with Joaquin. You clasped your hands in front you and Joaquin tucked his inside his pockets, both of you observing Sam and Bucky silently.

After a couple moments of awkward silence, Sam informs you that him and Bucky are going to look out for Zemo. You cursed inwardly as you realised you’ll have to be alone with Joaquin for sometime now.

You just hoped he wasn’t too mad about your little stunt.

You were scouring through the kitchen cabinets to find something to eat when you heard footsteps behind you.

You turned around to look at Joaquin, who had left the bedroom a while after Sam and Bucky left.

In a way, you had decided to give him some space, the dent between his eyebrows kept growing the longer he was around you. You just couldn’t gather the courage to speak up to him because what would you even say to the most patient and understanding person around you whom you just pushed away because you couldn’t multi task?

He walked around you to get a glass of water, his body language casual and unbothered, avoiding eye contact with you throughout. You sneaked a look at him and chewed on your lower lip, deciding to simply ask him what’s wrong.

“Are you upset with me?”, you mumbled loud enough for him to hear.

He paused drinking, hand hovered in the air. He gulped it down heavily after a moment, before putting the glass down. Your eyes lingered on his adam’s apple bobbing up and down.

“Uh-no. What made you think that?”, he murmured and cleared his throat, arms crossing around his chest and making his muscles bulge and veins strain.

You narrowed your eyes at him, putting your hands on the hips.

“You’re a horrible liar, did you know that?”

Joaquin winced and scrunched his nose. You sighed and leaned against the counter top, your arms holding your torso in comfort now.

“Look…I’m sorry, okay? I just—I get overwhelmed easily and I-I just wanted to prove to Sam and Bucky that I can be useful, that I want to help. I can’t help it”, you let out a breath.

“When you called, I couldn’t comfort you and keep an eye on the mission at the same time. It’s just how I am. Did this before when dad was around and he’d get upset at me every time”, you chuckled lowly, the memory of him scolding you for not updating him during a fight vivid. Joaquin’s lips twitched at that.

“Every time someone close to me is in some kind of danger, it’s like I have this uncontrollable impulse to jump in to protect them. And I know, I said I won’t indulge in field work before joining you guys but…they’re family. I can’t just…leave them out there to fend for themselves. Not when I can still help”, you confessed in a small voice, the vulnerability of your words weighing you down.

Joaquin’s eyes softened then, because he could perfectly understand how you feel. Everything he did, he did it to prove himself to the world, to his mom, grandma and his sister. and most importantly, to Sam. That weight crushed him almost everyday, but Sam’s endless support and strength and the inherent trait to help the ones in need kept him going.

He supposed it was, in a way, worse for you because you’d lost your family members and you couldn’t do anything to save them. That is a burden that he wished on no one. And how he wished, that someone as pure hearted and loving as you, would have never experienced this.

His heart did a little lurch after taking in your dejected and small form. He crowded your personal space, making you look up in surprise, your glossy eyes wide, eyebrows furrowed and a frown tugging your lips down.

Joaquin tilted his head like a puppy, his brown eyes looking at you with fondness and sympathy, “It’s okay, angel. I understand.”

Your mouth fell open. He forgave you? And called you angel?

“What?”, you blurted out like a loser.

Joaquin smiled gently, “It’s okay. I get what you mean. I understand you. You don’t need to apologise to me. Not now, not ever, okay?”

Your bottom lip quivered and nose tickled, a telltale sign of crying. You quickly swallowed the tears and nodded, a hand coming up to brush against your nose.

Joaquin stared at you with thinly veiled love and affection in his eyes. He was so gone for you, it was a little scary.

So he did what he did best when words failed him.

He held out an arm to grab your hand and pulled you in gently, the other arm going around your waist to bring you to his firm chest. When you were close enough, he brought both of his arms up and hugged you, a hand splayed against your back and the other one holding you close by your shoulder.

You froze for a moment before burying your face into his chest, arms going around his waist and squeezing him tightly. You breathed in the comforting scent of fresh laundry and citrus, your favourite, and closed your eyes in relaxation, nuzzling against him like a cat asking for more pets, your forehead touching the warm skin by his collarbones.

Joaquin leaned his head against yours and let out a content sigh, a hand rubbing your back soothingly and you forgot all your problems for a moment.

Both of you were happily wrapped in your little bubble, unaware of the shit that was about to unfold around you.

Part 11

AN: AAAAHHH I love this chapter so much plsssss!! Please like and reblog and let me know your thoughts! 💙

taglist: @og-baby-ob14 @lilmrsramirez-stan

@thejadevvitch @giona45-5 @melaninqueen04

@i-heart-marvel @fayxv @noble-17 @yvonne-dump @borhapparker @mosshead-z @alanis-altair @ethereal-athalia @joaquinsgf @spideybrie @parkersjoy

sorry if I couldn’t tag anyone/reply if you wanna be added or removed from the taglist!

#joaquin torres x stark!reader #joaquin torres x you #joaquin torres #fluff #danny ramirez #marvel cinematic universe #angst #joaquin torres x reader #sam wilson #joaquin torres fluff #sam wilson x platonic!reader #bucky barnes x platonic!reader #marvel #the falcon and the winter soldier #Philophobia #bucky barnes #john walker

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ramen8008 · 7 months ago

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The Avengers and whether Tony will allow them to Babysit Peter.

A List

Rhodey:

Yes only one other than Pepper I will fully trust to make sure Peter doesn't die.

Yes, Rhodey is cool other than the fact he is so used to Mr. Stark's shit that it's impossible to trick him into doing anything dangerous. So it gets boring

Thor:

No. Point break you're great but I can't trust you and Peter not to cause absolute HAVOC.

YES YES! Lord Thor is the best. We tested how much lightning I could handle last time and we flew!! And he let me use his hammer (idk why he looked surprised I think he forgot about my super strength)

Loki:

He shouldn't even be on the list- but Mr. Stark. No, he comes near you and you or the world explodes.

Well I think Mr. Loki is cool and fun! So yes

NOT HAPPENING!

Natasha:

Yes.

She's scary but yes.

Bucky:

Oddly enough? I actually think he'll make sure Peter doesn't die. So yeah

OMG ROBOT ARM! AND he likes the Hobbit! We can talk all day!! YESS

Steve:

Again surprisingly no. Maybe? Mainly for his sanity. He could not keep up with Peter. I don't care how strong he is Peter will make this 80 year old go into a coma.

Okay rude! Cap is great and all but I am scarred for life from his PSA's. I can't do that again. I have severe PTSD from that.

Clint:

I UNDERSTAND in hindsight he is the only one who has experience with kids. I GET that. But no. Not the Clint I know. I still think his family is just a bunch of spies.

Hawkeye is SO much fun! He was really cool and he actually understood the references I was making and he taught me how to shoot a bow. AND the best way to prank each Avenger! YES

Banner:

Yes. Absolutely. Peter would have fun. Banner would have fun. He would make sure Peter can do all his science stuff in the lab too without exploding his homework

THAT WAS ONE TIME! And omg YES The Dr. Banner?! I would love that! I have so much I want to talk about!!

Wanda:

What? She's just a kid. SHE needs babysitting too.

Omg Yes! It'll be like we're hanging out! She's so cool!

Vision:

You would ASSUME that Vision would be a no brainer but due to his internet knowledge he understands whatever that slang nonsense that Peter speaks in and Vision speaks back the same. I'll come back to them having a conversation that doesn't make any sense!

Cap. You're just outdated. Unlike you we are both skibidi rizzlers. Don't be salty that you can understand the fam. We're slay and it's high-key sus you don't get our energy.

NONE of that was even remotely coherent. You don't talk like that normally. Why do you do this to me??

Strange:

I would. I really would even if it was just to annoy him but he would not let me. I called him once to look after Peter for me and the moment he heard the name "Peter" he hung up.

He's mean sometimes :(. BUT he is also magic which is really cool and annoying him is fun and I know he cares for me. Mentioning that to him is also fun. So yes

#tony: Anyways that's the list. I'm putting this in the fridge.#peter: You know I don't need babysitting right? I'm a grown bo- man.#tony: You literally said yes to almost everyone #peter: Because they are cool! Not because i need a babysitter!#incorrect mcu quotes #incorrect quote #incorrect spiderman quotes #incorrect iron man #incorrect irondad and spiderson #incorrect tony stark #spiderson #iron dad spiderson #irondad and spider son #irondad #incorrect peter parker #marvel #spiderman #peter parker #tony stark

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scoonsalicious · 1 year ago

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Unwanted: Chapter 12, Unlucky - Pt. 4

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Avenger!Fem!Reader

Summary: When your FWB relationship with your best friend Bucky Barnes turns into something more, you couldn’t be happier. That is, however, until a new Avenger sets her sights on your super soldier and he inadvertently breaks your heart. You take on a mission you might not be prepared for to put some distance between the two of you and open yourself up to past traumas. Too bad the only one who can help you heal is the one person you can no longer trust.

Warnings: (For this part only; see Story Masterlist for general Warnings) Language, mentions of violence.

Word Count: 1.2k

Previously On...: You learned the extend of Rhodey's condition and, based on Sam's testimony, Carthage is to be held responsible. When Tony ripped into her, Bucky came to her rescue. Much to your embarrassment, Tony called out his penchant for being there for Carthage over you in front of the entire team. Sam overhears how you want Carthage gone; he suggests you, he, and Natasha talk.

A/N: Some interesting information is revealed. Interesting information indeed. This is a scheduled post, so I hope I'm having a good time in NoLa right now! lol

Banner By: The absolutely amazing @mrsbuckybarnes1917!

Thank you to all those who have been reading; if you like what you've read, likes, comments, and reblogs give me life, and I truly appreciate them, and you!

Taglist: (Please let me know if you’d like to be added!) @jmeelee @cazellen @blackhawkfanatic @les-sel @marcswife21 @buckybarnessimpp @mrsbuckybarnes1917 @erelierraceala @hayjat @capswife @itsteambarnes @jupiter-107 @marygoddessofmischief @sebastians-love @learisa @lethallyprotected @rabbitrabbit12321 @buckybarnesandmarvel @fanfictiongirl77 @calwitch @fantasyfootballchampion @selella @jackiehollanderr @wintercrows @sashaisready @missvelvetsstuff @angelbabyyy99 @keylimebeag @maybefoxysouls @vicmc624 @sashaisready @j23r23 @wintercrows @crist1216 @cjand10 @doublejeon @pattiemac1

Moments later, the three of you were holed up in your room, as it was on the floor closest to the med bay. You and Nat sat on the couch while Sam, who had quickly rinsed himself of Rhodey’s blood in your shower, and was now wearing your terrycloth robe, sat in one of your armchairs. While passing Jade’s room, you’d put an ear to her door and heard her still crying, the low thrum of Bucky’s voice as he tried to reassure her.

“Spill,” said Nat eagerly. “Who knows how much time we have before Barnes gets back.”

“Yeah, on second thought, this might not have been the best place for a clandestine meeting,” Sam said.

“Just talk!” you urged him.

“Okay, okay!” he began. “So, I think we were set up.”

You and Nat both gasped simultaneously. “You’re not suggesting–” you said, just as Nat said:

“You think Carthage faked the intel?”

Sam shrugged. “I can’t prove it, but none of it adds up,” he said. “To be honest, she was pretty useless on the entire mission. Didn’t come up with a single piece of intel until that final night, and it just so happened to point to an abandoned Hydra base? Come on, man, what are the odds of that?” Sam scoffed.

“We told her protocol dictated we report it back to command, then wait for back up if the intel was deemed worthy of investigating. She got real insistent we check it ourselves, told us it was probably nothing, but even if it was something, it’d just be an abandoned spot. Said her source told her it had a motherlode of dirt on Hydra operatives in positions in international governments. If we could bring it home, we’d be single handedly exposing the very inner workings of Hydra, and how could we not do that? Rhodey wanted to go interrogate her ‘source’ himself, but Jade wouldn’t give it up; said he just had to trust her.” Sam snorted. “Girl, please. You’re a fucking snake.” You couldn’t help but giggle at that; you’d had essentially the same thought, once upon a time.

“Everything we do to try to convince her to hold off, she fights us on. There was nothing we could say to get her to let go of the idea. But we’re thinking Probie just wants to prove herself in the field, right? We’ve all been there. When she took off, we followed her. Figured we’d at least have her six if something went screwy, and we weren’t going to get reamed out by Cap and Stark if something happened to her out there. But here’s the thing:” Sam scootched forward until he was sitting at the very edge of his seat. “She went in there well before us. By at least three, maybe five minutes, okay?” You and Nat both nodded. “So, my question then becomes, ‘how come the shooting don’t start until after me and Rhodey go in?’ ‘s almost like she went in first and gave them the signal to start firing.” You and Nat stared at each other, wide-eyed. It was speculative, true, but…

“And she don’t come out with a scratch, or a drop of blood on her.” Sam continued. “Plus, I checked her clips when she was sleeping on the flight home. Girl didn’t fire a single shot. Me and Rhodey are in a shootout for our lives, and she doesn’t fire one bullet? Almost like she knew she didn’t need to defend herself.”

“Or you,” Nat added thoughtfully.

“Sam,” you began slowly, “I hate her more than everyone else in this building, but you’re making a really heavy accusation. We would need real, hard evidence in order to do anything about it. She could just really be that incompetent.”

“That’s why I’m comin’ to the two of you,” he grinned. “Computer genius and a super spy. Shouldn’t be hard for the two of you to help Ole Sammy out.”

“Ugh, I hate it when you refer to yourself as ‘Ole Sammy,’” Nat bemoaned. “But I’ll reach out to some of my old KGB contacts. See what they drum up. Pocket, can you go through the Tower’s systems, see if she’s tried to access anything she shouldn’t have? Anything that sets off alarm bells?”

You nodded. “Yeah, that’ll be easy enough.”

“Good,” said Sam, standing up. “In the meantime, this stays between the three of us. Pocket, you gonna be able to keep this from Tin Man? He’s a little too cozy with her for my taste.”

You snorted at that. “Yeah, mine, too. Don’t worry, I won’t say a word.”

“Neither will I,” Nat promised.

“Alright then, ladies, meeting adjourned.” Sam said as he walked to the door. You followed him, wanting to see him out. As you opened the door for him, you met Bucky in the hallway, leaving Jade’s room.

“Hey there, Buck,” Sam smiled cheerfully before giving you a peck on the head. “Thanks for the chat, Baby Girl. I’ll see you later.”

You and Bucky watched him walk down the hall before he turned to you, eyes narrowed. “Care to tell me why Big Bird is coming out of our room wearing nothing but your robe?” he asked carefully.

“We’re obviously having an affair,” you said dryly, walking back into your room, him right at your heels.

“Well, if it walks like a duck,” Bucky’s voice was angry as he entered your room.

“Are you serious with that right now?” you asked.

“In that case, you’ve been quacking like a duck for a long time now, Barnes,” Nat said from her spot on the couch.

“Oh, hey Nat,” Bucky said, relief washing over his features at knowing you and Sam hadn’t been alone.

Nat stood up and made her way to the door. “I’m gonna head out, let you two work through your ducking issues. See you later, Pocket. Barnes; nice projection work just now.” With a nod, she was gone.

“Listen, Pocket,” Bucky, blatantly ignoring Nat's jab, began, “about earlier…”

“I get it, Buck,” you said, sighing. “You were just trying to protect your friend. I’ll be honest and tell you that I didn’t love the way it looked, and it was embarrassing. But I’m not holding it against you. How can I when you wherefor looking out for someone you care about, even though I really wish you would care about literally anyone else but her? Sorry– that was petty.” You sighed. “Tony made it worse. He’s the one I’m furious with, not you.”

“Thank you for understanding, doll.” He kissed your forehead. “Stark had no right to yell at her like that. He was way outta line.”

“Oh, I’m completely on Tony’s side about that,” you said, holding up a hand when he began to argue with you. “But you and I are going to have to agree to disagree there.”

The corner of his mouth turned up in a cute half-grin. “Alright, sweetheart.” He pulled you to him. “I’m just sorry your special day got overshadowed by all this other shit. I know!” He looked down on you, grinning. “Why don’t you pack a bag and first thing tomorrow, you and I’ll drive Upstate, find ourselves a nice little BnB, and spend the rest of the weekend celebratin’, just the two of us? Maybe we can drive out to the Catskills, find a nice spot to look at the stars. You always complain how you can never see them in the city.”

“Yeah, Buck,” you said, snuggling close to him. “‘S long as we know Rhodey’s gonna be alright, I would love to do that with you.”

<- Previous Part / Next Part ->

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky x you #bucky x reader #bucky fanfic #bucky barnes #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky x female reader #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes fanfiction #james bucky buchanan barnes #james buchanan barnes #mcu bucky barnes #james barnes

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literaryavenger · 1 year ago

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Captain America: Civil War - 4

Summary: You make it to the airport but it looks like you're gonna have to fight your way out. Thankfully, Steve called some backup.

Pairing: Avengers x Reader, slight Bucky x Reader

Warnings: Descriptions of violence. Descriptions of injuries. Language. Mentions of Y/N and Y/N/N (=your nickname). My poor attempts at being funny.

Word Count: 3.6K

A/N: It took me a fucking long time to write this, I hope I did the airport scene justice. Here's to hoping the next chapters don't take me as long to write! I did my best, enjoy!

Masterlist | Series Masterlist

You get to the 6th level of the parking garage at the Leipzig/Halle airport and Steve parks next to a van and you all get out.

Steve gets closer to the van, followed by Sam while you stay behind with Bucky, both of you leaning on the car as you stand on the passenger’s side to be able to see over the car because you’re just that short.

You hear a little snicker from Bucky and look at him with your eyes narrowed as he seems amused by the sight but doesn’t say anything. Your attention goes back to the van as Clint loudly opens the side door.

“What timezone is this?” Scott asks, clearly disoriented as he gets out.

“Come on.” Clint encourages him and pushes him slightly towards Steve. “Come on.”

Scott walks to Steve and shakes his hand with an amazed look. “Captain America.”

“Mr. Lang.” Steve politely says as he shakes his hand.

“It’s an honor.” He says in awe. “I’m shaking your hand too long.” You try your best not to laugh as Scott fangirls over Steve.

“Wow! This is awesome!” He turns and sees Wanda and, in the same cheery voice, says “I know you, too. You’re great!”

Then he turns back to Steve and feels his shoulders saying “Jeez.” and you can’t help but giggle, seeing the scene and everybody’s reactions that go from amused to confused while Scott continues talking.

“Ah, look, I wanna say, I know you know a lot of super people, so… thinks for thanking of me” He says and you giggle more while looking at Bucky to make sure you heard right and his face is as confused as you feel. You turn back to Scott as he says, “Hey, man!”

Sam tries to play it cool by saying “What’s up, Tic Tac?”

“Uh, good to see you.” Scott says, seeming a little confused at the nickname but deciding to blow past it. “Look, what happened last time when I-”

“It was a great audition, but it’ll…” Sam interrupts him, shaking his hand with a chuckle. “It’ll never happen again.”

“It was hilarious!” You comment somewhat loudly and everyone turns to you, Sam glaring while Scott giggles quietly as you wink at him and wave at Wanda and Clint.

“They tell you what we’re up against?” Steve brings everyone’s attention back on the matter at hand before you and Sam start bickering.

“Something about some… psycho-assassins?” Scott says innocently and you keep in your laugh, hoping Bucky is not offended by Scott’s description of the Winter Soldiers.

“We're outside the law on this one. So, if you come with us, you're a wanted man.” Steve warns him.

“Yeah, well, what else is new?” Scott says casually and you grin. Dude is pretty cool.

“We should get moving.” Bucky says.

“We got a chopper lined up.” Clint says to the group, just as the PA starts announcing something in German, which you fortunately understand.

“Dies ist eine Notsituation." You frown. Emergency? “Alle Passagiere müssen den Flughafen sofort evakuieren.”

You’re about to translate when Bucky beats you to it. “They're evacuating the airport.”

“Stark.” Sam says and you roll your eyes. Yeah, that makes sense, that dramatic diva.

“Stark?” Scott echoes, sounding surprised and not in a good way.

“Suit up.” Steve says in his Captain voice and you know better than to disobey.

Steve is in his uniform now as he strides through an underpass, then jogs onto a private runway, heading for the chopper when an electro-disabler slams onto the chopper and Steve looks up.

Tony and Rhodey, both in their Iron Man and War Machine suits, descend and land in front of Steve.

You’re in the terminal with Bucky and Sam as the latter scans the airport to find their Quinjet. You can’t really hear what the others are saying, but you can hear Steve through the earpiece.

“Hear me out, Tony.” Steve tries to reason. “That doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this.”

You see T’Challa leap over a truck and after a moment Steve says “Your highness.”

You can see Tony talking, you assume trying to get Steve to surrender, before you hear Steve again. “You're after the wrong guy.”

Tony says something else you assume to be about Bucky because of what Steve answers back. ”And there are five more super soldiers just like him. I can't let the doctor find them first, Tony. I can't.”

You can see Natasha talk next and then Tony makes a face and you know he’s done, then you can hear him yelling “Underoos!” through Steve’s earpiece.

Suddenly you see a guy in a red onesie swing in and shoot what looks like webs at Steve, stealing his shield and binding his hands before landing on top of a truck a little wobbly.

You furrow your eyebrows and look at Sam to your right but he’s busy with Redwing so you look at Bucky next to him and he looks just as confused as you do. He meets your eyes and raises an eyebrow in question but you simply shrug and look back at the scene when you hear Steve say. “You've been busy.”

Tony tries his hardest to reason with Steve while, as planned, the Captain patiently listens to him while Sam looks for their Quinjet. “You did that when you signed.” He answers calmly at whatever Tony said.

You can see Tony pleading with Steve, and you almost feel bad but are snapped out of it when Sam finally talks. “We found it. Their Quinjet’s in hangar five, north runway.”

You see Steve raise his arms and one of Clint’s arrows flies through the air and breaks the webs on Steve’s hands, freeing him. “Alright, Lang.” Steve says and Scott enlarges, taking the shield from the guy with the red pajamas with a flip and giving it back to Steve.

“I believe this is yours, Captain America.” Scott says and you chuckle. Dude has a serious man crush.

The two men next to you look confused at what is so amusing, and you merely roll your eyes and say “come on.” as the three of you start running.

As you’re going through the terminal, you see the Spider-man dude stick to the glass outside and all three of your attention goes to him.

“What the hell is that?” Bucky asks as you run.

“Everyone’s got a gimmick now.” Sam sounds really annoyed and obviously you have to tease him.

“That’s a person, not a metal bird, Wilson!” You say.

“Don’t bring Redwing into this!” He yells back, glaring at you as he runs.

“You brought Redwing into this!” You snark back and, before Sam can say anything, Spiderman breaks through the glass towards the three of you, Sam tries to protect you and that causes you both to go crashing into the wall.

You can see Bucky throwing a punch but Spiderman catches his fist easily, shocking all three of us while shouting “You have a metal arm?! That is awesome, dude!”

Sam goes flying into Spiderman and takes him away, while you approach Bucky.

“Did that sound like a kid to you?” you ask him, still looking after Sam and Spiderman.

“Doesn’t matter. Let’s go.” He says starting to go after the other two.

“Matters a little…” You mumble while following Bucky.

You can hear Wanda and Clint talking through the comms, to Tony you assume when Wanda says “You locked me in my room.” and then you hear Clint say “made you look.” just as you see through the window all the cars flying down thanks to Wanda’s magic.

Spiderman wings through the rafters in the terminal, chasing Sam who flies backwards firing shots. Spiderman stops on a high beam and just then Bucky throws a giant piece of metal at him.

You can hear Spiderman yell back “Hey buddy, I think you lost this!” before throwing back the piece of metal, causing Bucky to cover you with his metal arm while it flies back, thankfully missing you both.

Sam takes the opportunity to kick Spiderman and try to bring him down, but Spiderman swings again and webs Sam’s wings, which sends him crashing to the floor. As he gets up, Spiderman webs his hands to the railing behind him and then sticks to a column and starts nerding out about Sam’s wings as you run to help Sam, Bucky right behind you.

You’re too focused on Sam to notice Spiderman swinging towards him at the same time that you get to him, luckily Bucky wraps his arms around you as all three of you crush into the railing and down to the floor on the level below.

As you all land Spiderman quickly webs Sam’s arms together, Bucky’s metal arm to the floor and then your arms, sticking you to Bucky since he was still holding you with one arm as you basically landed on him.

While Spiderman talks over you, you can faintly hear Sam messing around with his gear and you hope he’s doing something useful. Just as Spiderman is about to shoot webs again, Redwing attaches to his wrist and drags him off.

After a beat of silence Bucky says “You couldn’t have done that earlier?” to which Sam answers “I hate you.” and you roll your eyes and say “God, you two are children.”

You do your best to grab your pocket knife and, after a moment of struggling, you succeed then cut the webs off of you and Bucky with a little difficulty. You get up and cut the webs off of Bucky’s metal arm before going to Sam and helping him out of the webs too.

Your heads all snap to the window when you hear the sound of an explosion and can see it just as you hear Scott through the comms saying “Oh, man. I thought it was a water truck. Uh… sorry.”

You frown and turn to Sam and Bucky. “That can’t be good. Let’s go.” The three of you run out of the terminal as fast as you can and when you get outside you meet up with Steve, Scott, Clint and Wanda, all of you running towards the Quinjet.

“Come on!” Steve yells, but your run is interrupted when suddenly a yellow laser makes a line in front of you and you’re all stopped in your tracks. A fucking laser. You look up and see Vision hovering over you.

“Captain Rogers. I know you believe what you're doing is right.” He starts while the rest of Tony’s team gathers around him. Tony flies in while holding Natasha, Rhoday flies T’Challa and Spiderman swings down with one of Dora Milaje, T’Challa’s personal guards, that you saw at the FBI bunker and you think her name is Ayo. “But for the collective good you must surrender now.” Vision finishes talking and there is a moment of silence where you all just look at the opponent directly in front of you, which in your case is Ayo.

“What do we do, Cap?” Sam asks.

“We fight.” Is all Steve says and you hesitate for a second looking at him and then at Ayo.

“Anybody wants to switch?” You ask while looking at your teammates, some look amused but Steve kind of glares at you. “No? Alrighty, then.” You look back ahead as you all start walking, then jogging faster and faster until you’re full on running towards the opposite team.

Tony, Rhodey, Sam, Wanda and Vision take flight and then the first sound that can be heard is Tony’s fist meeting Steve’s shield.

Clint shoots an arrow at Vision that dodges it, Sam bumps into Rhodey mid-air, Scott shrinks and jumps on Natasha, Wanda shoots her magic at Peter while he shoots webs at her and T’Challa straight up jumps onto Bucky.

You lose track of what everyone else is doing once you come face to face with Ayo, who loses no time hitting you with her spear but you luckily dodge it, throwing a punch of your own that she easily avoids. The only thing you can tell is that Nat and Clint are near you fighting, and so are Bucky and T’Challa.

You take out your extendable baton, glad that Clint suggested it, and try to hit Ayo repeatedly, but you miss everytime. You’re getting frustrated when you finally land a hit to her cheek and grin, but you quickly regret it when she kicks you hard on the ribs, sending you flying back.

Ayo jumps on you and raises her spear right over your face, but before she can hit you Wanda sends her flying back far away from you.

You don’t have time to thank her when she’s throwing Natasha off of Clint and into a metal container.

“Geez, Wanda, go easy on them.” You tell her and she gives you a pointed look, before looking at Clint and saying “You were pulling your punches” before walking away.

You and Clint exchange a look but you get distracted by T’Challa throwing Bucky into a container near you. You get into action right away and just as T’Challa is about to claw at Bucky, you push the supersoldier out of the way and you both go stumbling to the side while Wanda throws T’Challa into a big metal container far away from you.

You and Bucky roll a little and, when you stop, you end on top of him. He looks up at you and whispers “Thank you.”

“Anytime, Soldier.” You wink at him and get up, helping him up too. Wanda joins you with an amused look on her face.

“Still think we should go easy on them?” She asks smugly, and you merely roll your eyes.

You’re thankfully distracted by Spiderman knocking Steve off his feet but when you go to help him, you’re intercepted by Natasha.

As you start doing hand-to-hand combat with her, you can hear Scott calling Clint “Arrow Guy” and you almost chuckle, but don’t let it distract you because you know Natasha could seriously hurt you, although it seems like she’s going as easy on you as you are on her.

“Nothing’s changed between us, right Tasha?” You ask, concerned about your friendship as you keep fighting, though it almost feels like any other sparring match you’ve ever had.

She laughs and nods. “Nothing, Y/N/N”.

You grin at the nickname and say “Good” before kicking her a little harder than you’ve ever had and sending her flying back, then you run to Steve and get to him as he points at himself and says. “Brooklyn.”

You frown at him and then look at Spiderman with one of those giant metal walkways people use to get to the planes and your eyes widen.

“That seems a little excessive.” You say, looking back at Steve.

“He’ll be fine.” Steve says shortly and starts jogging away, signaling to you to follow him, which you reluctantly do.

You and Steve are running when you hear Scott say “Uh-oh” through the comms and you frown. “Are you okay, Scott?”

You can hear him panting freaking out, saying “Oh boy. Whoa!”

You and Steve are joined by Bucky as you’re hiding behind some containers and you’re about to ask Scott if he’s okay again when Bucky talks and you turn to him. “We gotta go. That guy's probably in Siberia by now.” You can't help but think how fucking blue his eyes are.

“We gotta draw out the flyers.” Steve says, snapping you out of it and you make up your mind.

“I'll take Vision.” You tell him “You two get to the jet.”

You know Steve’s about to argue when Sam cuts in “No, you get to the jet! All three of you!” He says through the comms. “The rest of us aren't getting out of here.”

“As much as I hate to admit it, if we're gonna win this one, some of us might have to lose it.” Clint chimes in.

You and Steve look at each other and it’s like Sam can sense your hesitation as he says “This isn't the real fight, guys.”

“Alright, Sam, what's the play?” Steve says, his eyes darting between you and Bucky.

“We need a diversion, something big.” he says and you try to think about what you could do.

“I got something kind of big, but I can't hold it very long.” Scott offers “On my signal, run like hell. And if I tear myself in half… don't come back for me.”

You frown and look at Steve and Bucky who seem just as confused as you do. “He's gonna tear himself in half?” Bucky asks.

“You're sure about this, Scott?” Steve asks into his comm.

“I do it all the time. I mean once… in a lab. Then I passed out.” He tries and fails to reassure you.

“That doesn’t make me feel better, like at all.” You say looking from Bucky to Steve, who seem to agree.

You can hear Scott mumbling “I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the BOSS!” to himself and then suddenly he grows into a fucking giant of 60-65 feet.

“Jesus fucking Christ.” You say almost in shock.

“I guess that's the signal.” Steve says and starts running towards the jet, you and Bucky following closely.

You can hear Sam saying “Way to go, Tic Tac!” as you run, going past Scott, who stops T’Challa from following you by kicking a bus into him, then Rhodey almost gets to you, but he’s stopped by Wanda.

The three of you are getting closer to the jet when a tower starts falling over the entrance, courtesy of Vision, but Wanda keeps it up with her magic for you.

As you pick up your pace and approach it, you’re stopped by a spear landing right in front of Bucky, missing his foot by a centimeter.

Ayo is about to jump on Bucky but before either him or Steve can do anything to stop her, you throw yourself on her, sending her stumbling back and to the ground, enough distance between you that you have the opportunity to look behind you at Bucky, Steve just behind him with a look that’s both impressed and shocked at your reflexes.

“I got this. Go.” You tell the two men even though your eyes are fixated on Bucky.

“Are you sure?” he asks you with a hint of worry and you grin.

“It’s nothing I can’t handle, Sergeant.” Steve smirks and nods, moving towards the jet again, but Bucky hesitates. You know Wanda won’t be able to keep the path clear forever so you try to reassure him.

“Go, I’ll be fine. Go!” You yell the last word, which seems to snap him out of it and he turns around with a nod, running at full speed towards the Quinjet.

You turn around just in time to see Ayo running towards you, but this time you’re not fast enough and she sends you falling back. You quickly get up and do your best to keep her occupied while the tower that Wanda was keeping up falls to the ground.

Or, more accurately, you're taking her punches while landing little to none yourself.

Ayo gets distracted for a second when she sees Natasha stunning T’Challa and that’s enough to give you the opportunity to take the upper hand and take her down. Unfortunately you don’t notice how close the two of you are to her spear but then again neither does she.

You see Giant Scott get taken down and, while still holding Ayo down as best as you can, you say worriedly through your comm “Scott? Scott, talk to me, are you okay?” There's a pause while you hold your breath and then he says “Does anyone have any orange slices?” And you let out a breathy laugh, both amused and impressed by his resilience.

In the time it took you to check on Scott, Ayo managed to get a hold of her spear, almost driving it through your arm. Thankfully she misses, though it still leaves a pretty deep cut.

Your eyes widen and as you get off of her she wastes no time to go help T’Challa. You lay down on the ground while holding your arm where the cut is and can see the Quinjet taking off so you let out a relieved sigh.

You sit up and, when you see Vision going to Wanda, you smile and get up to gocheck on Scott.

“You alright, big guy?” You ask him as you approach him with a little bit of a limp and he nods chuckling.

“I am. Are you alright? “ He eyes your arm and you nod. “I’m fine.”

Clint approaches you and wraps an arm around you to help you stay up, knowing you’re not gonna ask for help but he can clearly see by your quickly paling face that you need it.

You look towards the Quinjet and your eyes widen when you see Rhodey quickly falling down, Tony and Sam both diving to help him. “Shit…”

You all watch in shock as he hits the ground, Tony lands right beside him and then Sam lands a little further away. You can hear Sam saying “I’m sorry.” right before Tony shoots him and he goes flying backwards.

“SAM!” You yell and try to start making your way to him even if he’s far, but Clint holds you back with his arm around your waist, Scott’s hand on your uninjured arm.

You hold your breath until you hear the faint “I’m okay” in your ear, followed by Sam’s grunts and you relax, mumbling “Thank fucking god…”

You look around the airport, all the destruction and the people you still love despite it all.

Steve and Bucky made it out of here, so you won. At what cost though?

You can just hope this was all worth it.

Requested taglist: @sapphirebarnes @aki-ham @mary-jinx @abbyyourlocalmilf @selcouthial @esposadomd @americaarse

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pandagirl45 · 4 months ago

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Tony eyes widened when he spotted the face that the familiar voice belonged too, "Bucky!" The business man turned research and development head sprinted to his long time best friend... and ex.

"Tony! Hey!" The chef, a well beloved chef ran up to him hugging him tight. A greeting as if they were long time lovers.

At least, that's how stone sees it. He watched them grinning and gesturing quickly. Then barnes face look at him and grinned. It was... wasn't right how they are so attached. He looked over and saw Barnes current and longest relationship. By the way, Tiberius Stone found out, she is a daughter of a horse ranch owner but she made snide comments about being second best. To what? Stone knows it now.

His own fiance, standing there as if the world bleed away to nothing but Bucky. High school sweethearts. Broken up because college. Turned college sweethearts once again because surprise, Tony school merged with Bucky school, to obtain more art grant based students. Thus propelling them back to each other. At least... what rhodes said. Speaking of.

Rhodes and Rogers, both best friends of those two and they are colder than ice. Stone remembers the first time rhodes spoke to him, "you're never going to be the one Stone." The airplane mechanic spoke calmly, "I've seen this song and dance for years, you are not going to last long." He thought at first rhodes was going to try and break them up. Then he went investigating.

Restaurant openings. Meet and greets. Building openings. Tony eating frequently at the first restaurant. Bucky speaking about how he likes getting the lastest kitchen supplies because it works and long lasting, stark brand. How they ended playing matchmaker for the now exs, "yeah, i dated barnes. But we didn't last long. No, Bucky was a great guy but he wasn't my guy. You know who has his heart even if he doesn't realizes it, Tony Stark." To others saying, "Tony was a sweet guy, but listen you get him on a tangent, it'll either circle to rhodey, the best big brother ever or to Barnes. The chef, can you believe it?"

Stone didn't want to. He wanted to believe that those were rumors. It wasn't until he felt his anger rise, barnes never once thought about the fortune. Never once. Maybe that makes stone a bad person. Now, staring at them both, seeing rhodes and Steve calm but boastful smirks, their own hands interlocked. It was like a coup.

Morgan arms crossed even as she was introduced after what felt like 2 hours of them catching up, "Morgan, Tony. Tony, my fiance morgan."

Tony grinned at him, "please treat him well. He is an awesome guy." Morgan eyes widen before narrowing as she watched Bucky face redden but the grin spread wide on tan face, "im serious bucky. You are amazing. I've known practically forever. He even waited in the rain for me. We both got sick, no umberella." A soft laugh and Morgan didn't even try to hide the green growing.

"Oh!!" Tony eyes widen before hopping over to stone, finally, "this is my fiance ty. Tiberius Stone, Bucky." Stone eyes narrowed just enought with a planted on smile, arm wrapped around tony shoulder holding him close, "ty, come on no need to posture."

The chef laughed. At him or at the antics, damn him. Stone felt laughing eyes on them as rhodey and Steve shoulders were shaking, "nice to meet you. Note, Tony will find your coffee and try to drink it."

The shorter of the three snorted, "ty drinks decafe. Besides, I go to your restaurant to buy the coffee grounds. Those are my favorite."

What?!

(Imagine, Tony and Bucky broken up, life going in different directions. Things happening. Nothing bad and they kept in touch. Everyone who dated them are in a happy relationship with someone they set them up with (accidentally) and they always support each other. So they end up engaged at some point to other people. They also decide to meet up for a couple trip. Them and their fiances. Along for the ride Steve and rhodey who knows both people their friends are with are good people. Tony and Bucky also are so goddamn infatuated with one another, they will definitely come to realize this. It is a little angst but so comedic silliness. Also a good dose of familiar intimate love. No cheating, but they absolutely realize them being engaged is a mistake, because it's not with each other. Rhodey is planning stone and Morgan break up papers. Steve is getting their wedding banner ready (again)).

#tony stark #bucky barnes #winteriron #tony stark x bucky barnes #steve rogers #james rhodey rhodes #warshield #tiberius stone #tony and bucky being best friends but also stupidly on love with each other #fanfic ideas for later #fanfic #drabbles

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mrs-barnes-rogers-writes · 7 months ago

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The Pull Of You - Part 7

Marvel

Pairing: Steve Rogers x reader x Bucky Barnes

Soulmates - Feeling the pull between each other indicates a bond. A kiss confirms it.

Summary: You meet Steve and Bucky on a Tuesday. Steve ignores the soulmate pull, Bucky can't. There's something about you that neither can shake, even when you're wearing one of Clint's t-shirts and your unicorn slippers. After weeks of slipping into your bed Bucky decides he can't hold back anymore. He's telling you after the mission, whether Steve is all in or not. When you don't come back from the mission, they are both ready to burn the world down and the team have the matches to help. But is everything as it seems and have they been betrayed by someone on the inside.

Chapter Summary: It's been 48 hours and the cracks are starting to show.

Chapter Warning: Mentions of injuries and being held captive.

“Look I know you don’t want me to say it but I think we should head back to the compound and regroup.” Rhodey advised cautiously.

It was at that moment that Bucky lost it. He’d done his court mandated therapy and he’d committed weekly sessions ever since. The elders in Wakanda had taught various relaxation techniques. He’d been keeping his emotions in check or so he thought. With you gone they had bubbled to the surface and now spilled over into what Sam had nicknamed the murder strut and he was headed in Rhodey’s direction. Clint and Pietro blocked his path.

“Move.” He growled.

“Not happening.” Clint replied.

“Move or I’ll move you.”

“Touch him and I’ll put a bullet in your head.” Snapped Natasha.

“Yeah, well I’ll spit it out.”

“Why didn’t you have her six?”

“Watch your damn mouth Romanoff!” Steve snapped “You know damn well how he feels about her! You saw her body cam footage. He went to her. She pushed him away.”

“And here we are. My best friend gone!”

“Rhodey might have a point. It’s been over twenty-four hours, nearly forty-eight. We’re going round in circles here. We’re the best there is. We haven’t missed anything. There are no leads, even within two miles of here. We already know they’ve removed her trackers and ditched her camera. We need to discuss other options, maybe call in some help.” Sam told them.

“We don’t need help.” Steve snapped “We, we need, we need.”

Steve stuttered over his words, a lump forming in his throat and tears in his eyes. Bucky’s shoulders slumped and he turned towards Steve pulling him in for a fierce hug.

Vision and Wanda stood quietly watching the back and forth between the team.

“I can feel their pain. All of them, as well as my own. This could tear us apart again.” Wanda whispered to her soulmate. She glanced up at vision to see his head tilt slightly.

“Vis? What is it?”

“I have a theory.”

Meanwhile………..

Pain is the first thing you’re aware of. Everything hurts. Your head probably hurts the most. You can’t open your eyes. You try but realise your eyelids are being held down. A weighted eye mask or tape perhaps?

A wave of panic spread over you and you soon knew that the breathing that came with panicking was not a good idea. A shooting pain went up your side. Broken ribs.

For fucks sake, you thought to yourself. You decided to get your shit together and allowed your training to takeover.

Smell. Damp. Musty. Sound. Tripping. Water. Voices and a radio but far away. Sight. Stuck. Feel. Pain. Body check. Toes not broke. Ankles. Damaged sprain or low level breaks. Also bound to each and whatever I’m on. Legs bruised. Broken cocsic. Ribs broken. One shoulder dislocated. Arms bruised. Left possibly broken. Hands. Bruised and bound. Right possibly broken. Fingers. Two on left hand broken. Neck pain. Eyes still stuck. Head injury. Possible concussion.

You sighed. Fuck my life.

You tried to separate your ankles but met resistance. The same came again with your wrists. You tried to lean forward but couldn’t move. You’d been tied repeatedly. Excessively and well too. You’d extracted agents that had been captured before and, although you couldn’t see yourself, you knew you’d been tied up more than they had. Clearly your reputation proceeded you. You could get in and out of anywhere and you taught others how to do the same.

Being good at breaking and entering, you’d become an escape expert in various ways and you could also slip out of knots, cuffs and traps but that wasn't common knowledge, and yet here you were.

How did they know to tie you up so well? Think.

They knew your skill set. They knew you. Realisation washed over you. They KNEW you.

Next part - Part 8

Enjoy this fic? Fancy a cuppa? My Ko-Fi.

TAGLIST

@mcira @imdoingbetternow @mrsevans90 @blackhawkfanatic

#steve rogers x reader #avengers au #bucky barnes #steve rogers #bucky barnes x reader #avengers #steve x reader x bucky #soulmate au #avengers soulmate au #steve rogers x reader x bucky

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firstelevens · 5 months ago

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40. letting go when there is an obstacle in their way and immediately grabbing each other’s hand again when they pass it + sambucky + f1 au?

40. letting go when there is an obstacle in their way and immediately grabbing each other’s hand again when they pass it

Everybody please clap; I managed to write an F1 AU fic without babies in it. (It probably won't happen again.) This one takes place immediately after the last scene of and I saved you the passenger seat.

Bucky's heart is thudding so hard behind his rib cage that he's sure Sam can feel it, too, a hummingbird flutter pressed between them. He can hear cameras flashing around them, punctuated by the rising pitch of surprised exclamations, but all Bucky can really bring himself to care about in the moment is the way that Sam's mouth moves against his. Even when they pull apart again, Bucky can't help but go in for one last peck, and then another, and then another.

"I love you," he murmurs, before he finally makes himself move away from Sam. Somewhere between the surprise visit and the kissing and the unplanned announcement of their relationship to all the press milling around the Stark garage, Bucky had managed to forget that this is technically Sam's place of work, and maybe there should be a vague semblance of professionalism in the air.

Still, Sam doesn't let him move far: catches him by the forearm and pulls him back in, slipping his hand into Bucky's. "It doesn't say a whole lot about my skills in proposing that you're already running away," he says, grinning.

Bucky snorts. "If I've learned anything from Instagram, it's that I have to go post a picture of my ring finger and just caption it with the date and nothing else. I'm losing daylight here, Sam."

Sam laughs, pulling Bucky along with him as they walk over to Rhodey and Misty, ignoring the shouted questions of the journalists at the opening of the garage. Bucky still can't believe that he's getting to hold Sam's hand in public. For eighteen months, it's been stolen kisses and private tables at extra-discreet restaurants. Almost all of their dates have been at home or during weekend trips to picturesque B&Bs in towns full of senior citizens who definitely don't know who they are.

It's been quiet and gentle and absolutely glorious in its own way, but this...this is its own kind of heady, almost as much of a rush as Sam's proposal was. Bucky's heart is still pounding, and he couldn't wipe the grin off of his face if he tried. This is the love of my life, he wants to shout at the cameras and the reporters and the whole entire world. I found him in a place I never thought I'd get to return to, and now he's the only thing I want to always come home to.

But that would probably be bad form, and it would almost certainly be too muffled for the reporters to hear from where Bucky is standing, so he keeps his mouth shut and follows Sam's lead to the team principal.

Both Rhodey and Misty have known about Sam and Bucky's relationship for over a year, and if Bucky had been thinking about anything except Sam, he might have worried about their reactions, but it turns out that he doesn't have to.

"I assume you'll be skipping the press conference then?" asks Rhodey, his bored voice belied by the laughter in his eyes.

"I mean, I wanted to make an appearance so I could talk about track hygiene during qualifying, but somehow I think I wouldn't get any questions about that if I showed," says Sam.

"I would pay good money to the journalist who managed to ask a track hygiene question that was also about you two kissing in front of all those cameras," laughs Misty. "Congratulations, by the way. I don't know how you made it this far; I've never seen a couple so bad at hiding that they're in love."

"That's Bucky's fault," says Sam. "He doesn't know how to look at me with anything but puppy eyes."

"Yeah, Sam, I'm sure it was that and not the fact that there's photo evidence of you at multiple public events looking at me like you want to eat me."

Rhodey makes a face. "Okay, remind me to put you two in emergency publicity training before I let you in front of any microphones."

"But it would be so much more interesting if you didn't," says Bucky, wrinkling his nose. Publicity training sessions might be the stupidest part of being a famous athlete, and Bucky would know, because in his twenties, Scuda must have put him through at least forty of them. "Plus, you're not my boss anymore, so I think technically you can't tell me what to do."

"That's right," says Rhodey lightly, "but I am Sam's boss, so if you want to play the odds with his career, I'm sure you could-"

"We'll do the training," blurts Bucky. Sam gives his hand a squeeze of what he assumes is gratitude. "Just tell us when and we'll be there."

Rhodey nods, satisfied. "That's what I thought."

"So can we-" Sam starts to ask, but Rhodey nods again before he's finished.

"Get changed and get out of here, before the cameras manage to get past the engineers," Rhodey says. "And if either of you gets calls from any press, you--"

"Direct them to the Stark Motors team press office," Sam and Bucky chime in unison.

"We know," says Sam, smiling at Bucky. "We're not talking to anyone; I promise. I'll workshop a post with Peter tomorrow."

"Good," says Rhodey, then waves them off. "Now go."

Sam looks like he wants to say more, but Bucky chances a glance over his shoulder at the gathering group of journalists--now twice as big as it was--and gives Sam's hand a squeeze. "C'mon, sweetheart," he says, not caring if his voice carries. "Let's get out of here while we still can."

Surprisingly, Sam follows, letting Bucky lead him out of the garage and into the humid night air. There are cameras out here, too, but either they haven't noticed Sam and Bucky yet or they're used to dealing with polite Europeans and they're not equipped to chase a New Yorker. Whatever it is, Bucky puts his game face on and pulls Sam along--they don't have time for his Southern politeness, and he will say hi to everyone he passes if left to his own devices.

Up ahead, Bucky watches a SkySports cameraperson get some kind of message that makes them look up at him and Sam with wide eyes. Bucky just keeps moving forward, eyes on the doors to the Stark pen. When the camera ends up right in the middle of their path, Bucky keeps moving determinedly towards it, his and Sam's joined hands making it seem like the operator is about to get clotheslined.

At the last possible second, he drops Sam's hand, weaving around the camera. When they've moved past it, Bucky feels Sam take his hand again and grins like a fool. He raises their joined hands to his lips and kisses Sam's knuckles.

"All that fuss," he says, leaning in so that only Sam can hear, "and we haven't even told them that we got engaged."

Sam laughs. "We already gave them a free story. Let's save a revelation for the next Grand Prix."

Bucky snorts, drawing Sam close and slinging an arm around his shoulders without letting go of Sam's hand. "It's so hot when you talk strategy to me," he says drily, as they duck into the Stark pen.

"That might have more sting to it if it wasn't literally how I wooed you," says Sam. "You're a nerd, Barnes. You love race strategy. Race strategy has literally made you horny before. There's definitely a version of this world where you marry race strategy."

"Well," says Bucky, "in this timeline, race strategy is going to have to wait, because a professional athlete just proposed to me, and I'm not going to have my looks forever. Gotta lock him down while I still can."

"You're so stupid, you know that?" asks Sam, as they head up to his driver room.

"I've heard it once or twice before," says Bucky. "But I've also heard that you love me anyway."

"Well, you are nice to look at," says Sam. He pulls the door to the driver room shut behind them, and Bucky flips on the lights.

Bucky unzips his Stark jacket. "I'm actually very smart, you know."

Sam raises his eyebrows. "Oh, yeah?"

"Uh-huh," says Bucky. "That's how I know that we're better off waiting in here for a while so the press thinks that we've already left, and then they'll leave us alone when we walk out of here."

There's a thoughtful hum from Sam. "And what are we supposed to do to pass the time in here?”

Bucky shrugs. "Make out to celebrate our engagement?"

"Oh, shit, you are smart," says Sam, with a laugh, and pulls Bucky closer so they can get started.

#pure unmitigated fluffy nonsense #sambucky #i guess you don't need to have read the au to understand it because it's just them being silly and in love but it might help #zainab does ask meme things #sambucky f1 au #my fic #touch prompts

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starker-raving-mads · 1 year ago

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For You: Part II

›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹

It had been two weeks since Tony Stark's disaster of a funeral.

Peter thought he'd gotten maybe 12 hours of sleep in that time, mind still haunted with the last images of Mr. Stark he'd ever have - but also now haunted with Ms. Potts's words.

He did it for you.

The rest of the sleep he'd gotten was mostly from passing out from sheer exhaustion. The city was in ruins and more than ever, Queens needed their friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. It was humbling the first time a grandmother started sobbing after seeing him, clutching him to her chest. Kids of all ages came up to him in ferocious hugs and clinging to his arms and legs. Many of them had heard tell of Spider-Man but were too young to have known him, and many more had missed his suited face around the streets, protecting them and keeping peace.

Peter's heart ached knowing that they'd been without him for so long, and through something so awful. The Blip was an instant for him, done and undone with only the vaguest sense of time loss in between. But for them? Half a decade of time, gone, lost in the deep expanse of tragedy. The teenager could hardly begin to understand it.

When he'd told May - who wasn't Blipped, who'd lost him for five long and miserable years, who had gray hair at her roots and frown lines where the laugh lines had been - that he couldn't leave Queens, couldn't leave his people, even for something like college, she grabbed him fiercely around his shoulders and they both cried.

"You're so incredibly strong, baby," she whispered into his hair, voice husky from holding onto her tears. "I'm so fucking proud of you."

So yeah. Queens needed him.

But that wasn't what was on his mind, not now, not with 12 hours of sleep and too much coffee in his system and a overwhelming, polished stone building looming over him. He tapped his fingers restlessly against the worn thigh of his jeans. Taylor & Taylor, the sign said. Attorneys at Law.

He was here for Mr. Starks will reading. Apparently, per the couriered letter to his and May's apartment last week, he was part of the will and was required to be in attendance. Baffled, all he'd even remotely begun to believe Mr. Stark would leave him with was the Spider-Man suit, or maybe a patent for it, to keep his identity safe? He really wasn't sure.

The caffeine in his system was causing his anxiety to ratchet up as he entered the building, greeted the receptionist, and was ushered to a conference room with a long, shiny table. At the other end of the table sat Pepper and Peter flatlined his lips together and gave her a nod, ignoring her well-hidden wince.

She hadn't said anything to him after the barrage at the funeral, Happy having pulled her off of him and led her away, still sobbing. He imagined, for all that she was probably still mad at him, that someone as put together as Pepper Potts felt uneasy with her emotional break, understandable as it was.

He sat down in the furthest seat from her anyway.

2 silent, tense minutes later, Happy entered the room. He gave Peter a quiet clap on the shoulder before going to Pepper's end of the table and sat down next to her, holding a whispered conversation. He could've easily heard them but was trying to mentally tune them out for their own privacy. Not long after more people entered the room - Rhodey, Sam Wilson, Steve Rodgers, and Bucky Barnes all ushered in a line, looking like they'd come together.

It was an odd mix of people, Peter supposed, but then again Mr. Stark always valued the unseen in those he cared about. The hardest one to figure was probably Bucky, whom Tony had given Peter the breakdown on. The man had gone, in his words, feral after learning Bucky was the one to take out Howard and Maria Stark and Peter could hear the stale anger and sadness in those few moments Mr. Stark talked to him about it, explained why he'd come back from Germany beaten, how the rift in the Avengers came to be.

Looking across the table, though, Peter couldn't see the ruthless killer he'd once been. His metal arm had been removed, the shirt sleeve carefully tucked around his shoulder, and he was quiet and contemplative, glancing around the table much like Peter was. In fact, it was less glancing at the other occupants and much more at Peter himself.

Actually, most of the table had looked at Peter more than once and it took him a good, long moment to realize it was because they didn't know who the hell he was. Pepper and Happy were the only two not looking his way, still whispering quietly between themselves. It struck him that despite his mask having been torn away in battle, no one had seen him, no one here but Pepper and Happy knew he was Spider-Man.

No wonder they're staring at me, he thought. Why would a teenage boy be at Tony Stark's will reading -

What little blood his body could spare rushed to his cheeks and the back of his neck and he stared resolutely down at the table. Despite many, many fantasies, he and Mr. Stark didn't have that kind of relationship. But oh how Peter had wished they had - how his heart and soul belonged to Tony Stark even if it was never given in return.

His long unrequited yearnings were interrupted by the lawyers finally coming in. It was two of them and what looked to be a junior associate, hands loaded with files. "We apologize for the delay," the more sleek looking 50-something woman said. "We had been confirming the last of the details."

"It's all right," Pepper said, brusque and business-like despite the emotion the teen could read in every line of her face. "Let's get started."

The lawyers sat themselves at the long table, at the head near Peter and across from Pepper. "This is the final reading of the last Will and Testament of Anthony Edward Stark," the male lawyer said, reading from his portfolio. He glanced up. "Much of this actually comes in the form of videos that Mr. Stark created himself," he said, and Peter could tell he wasn't the only one who'd barely withheld a pained gasp. "We have some to read and at the end, we'll set the video to play and he asked that only those called for his Will be allowed to remain to view it."

That figured, Peter thought. If there were a handful of powerful people in this room, superheroes and not, it made sense Mr. Stark wanted everything as on the downlow as possible.

"Firstly, to Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes," he said as a junior associate quietly and quickly handed Rhodey a file folder. "He leaves all patents and holdings and architecture belonging to the tool 'War Machine' to you. Specifically with the addendum - try not to give this one away to the government, Platypus." The lawyer looked uncomfortable but Rhodey chuckled, smile full of love and pain both.

"Next, to Captain Sam Wilson," the junior slid a similar folder in front of Sam. "He leaves all patents and holdings and architecture belonging to the drone 'Redwing' to you." The man cleared his throat. "Per Mr. Stark's instructions - 5 years is a long time to fiddle with something without ever knowing if the owner is coming back. If what we're about to do works, enjoy the little sucker."

Sam's lip quiver slightly before he tightened his jaw, nodding once. Peter wasn't the only one seemingly effected by the genius's generosity, not by a long shot.

"To Captain Steve Rodgers, he leaves all intellectual property rights to the design of his vibranium shield." The lawyer cleared his throat. "And the entirety of his liquor collection. Per instructions, 'So you have something to test that alcohol tolerance with, boy scout." Steve let out a low chuckle, nodding in thanks to the associate who handed him his folder.

"Finally," the female lawyer said, standing up as her colleagues exited the room. "We have the rest of his Will on video. We have not, and will not view this video, but have specifics mentioned within documented. These are vague," she clarified when Pepper looked like she was about to ask, "and only enough to allow the contents within the video to be legally sanctified." She gestured to a remote at Pepper's end of the table. "Simply press play and the recording will begin."

The room was quiet for a moment after the last lawyer left and Pepper cleared her throat before gesturing to Happy to hit play. An instant later, on the large screen at the end of the room, Tony Stark appeared.

His face was lined with the extra years Peter didn't get to have with him, hair graying and so fucking handsome it hurt. The frown lines around his mouth were more distinct than ever and there was a sort of settled sadness to his eyes that Peter had never seen before. He didn't move with the restless fidgeting that Peter himself often exhibited, the sign of a mind that wouldn't cease moving. If the teen had to guess, it was because of too much having happened. He knew that after the Blip, Tony had spent months withering away on a space ship and then years secluding himself at the cabin where his funeral was held. He retreated into himself more and more, letting the rest of the world figure itself out without his interference. If the pain in his face was anything to go by, Peter understood and his heart broke for that version of Tony he'd never gotten to know.

"Testing, testing," the Tony on the screen joked, letting a put upon smirk flit across his face. "Just joking, we all know my technology wouldn't fail me like that." The wink was devastating to Peter's psychology and it was already clear that this whole video would be his downfall.

"But seriously," the older man continued, more collected now. "If you're seeing this video, we either failed and died trying or I died after having succeeded." He shrugged. "The chances of everyone coming out alive were," he wiggled one hand in a so-so fashion, "basically zero. At least if it's only me, then hopefully no one else got hurt." He winced. "Sorry, Pep, but if it's me or half the universe - I'm so sorry, honey," he was so sincere it hurt Peter's teeth. He could hear the hitch in Ms. Potts's breathing from here. "If it's me or half the universe, you know which one I'm gonna pick." He looked genuinely regretful, as if he didn't realize that he was worth more than just one man. As if he didn't realize he was the center of more than one person's whole world.

Much as Pepper might hate him, she and Peter had that much in common.

"Soo," Tony continued, dragging out the note. "Now is the time to give you guys my last Will I guess. Honeybear, Sam, and Capcicle, you should've all gotten your patents and whatnots," he gestured to nothing again. "The lawyers insisted on that bit. But the real important stuff is in this video, right now." He cleared his throat.

"First, Bucky," the super soldier's head snapped to attention, looking like he didn't know why he was being called on even though being in this room was enough to know something was coming his way, words or otherwise. "Man, I went ballistic on you when we first met," Tony frowned. "It took me a long time, and a smart guy to tell me that sometimes people aren't the culmination of their actions, especially when they weren't in control of themselves."

Those were the words Peter had said to Mr. Stark during one of their lab binges - but about Mr. Stark himself, when he was too in his head about his past as a weapon salesman. He nearly started crying thinking that the man had heard him so profoundly that he'd applied to knowledge to others. Fuck, this hurt.

"So," Tony cleared his throat. "You don't need my forgiveness because you did nothing wrong. But I'm giving it to you anyway because if you're anything like me - and I have a suspicion you might just be - then you need to hear it. I forgive you, Bucky. And, not only that - in case that wasn't enough," he said, voice taking on its cocky tone that, again, Peter could tell was put upon, "I have a secondary prize for you. I figure you probably don't like that arm the Russians gave you, so I made you a new one. Arc reactor powered, and it shouldn't be as painful. Plus, I integrated some of the nanites from my suit to help with the whole sensation thing. I, uh," he cleared his throat, ducking his head before looking back up. "I kind of just thought about what Dad would want for his oldest friends and figured I could at least do that, especially since you really have had just the most shit time the last 70 years. So. I hope you take it, and I hope it works, and just like live the rest of your life the way you want, okay?"

The gaze that Bucky had on the screen was like someone frozen, unable to express anything or feel anything. Like a statue too overwhelmed by movement to do anything but sit there. Next to him, Steve wrapped an arm around him, hand sliding up to grip the back of Bucky's neck. It seemed to wake the man up and he took a deep breath, nodding to whatever the super soldier had whispered into his ear.

"Next," Tony continued. "Happy. I'd make you chief security officer but we both know you'd pull your hair out." Both men chuckled. "Instead, I bequeath my classic car collection. You already have funds sitting in your bank account so don't worry about not being able to take care of them, buddy."

"Thanks, boss," Happy said and it was sweet and sorrowful.

"Pep," the genius took a second to smile sadly into the camera. "I'm so sorry, Pepper, that I couldn't give you what you deserved. But we all know that you are, and have always been, bigger and better than me." Silent tears gathered in the corners of the CEO's eyes and she dabbed at them, elegant and perfect and everything Peter knew he wasn't. "I leave you the lake house and that brownstone you love in Manhattan, all the money in the prenup account, and 20% of my shares at SI. You've always been an amazing CEO and mother, and I know you'll be even better without my shenanigans haunting you every waking moment."

At that, everyone at the table chuckled. Grief, dark humor, and Tony Stark went together like nothing else. Peter's mind, though, was turning over. Mr. Stark only left those things to Ms. Potts? Wouldn't it have made more sense to leave her for last and say 'everything else is yours, babe.'

"Finally," Tony sighed and it was the most straightforward he looked all video. "Pete." Peter's heart clenched and he felt more than saw everyone start eyeing him. He was too focused on the screen to look anywhere but Mr. Stark's face. "You put so much trust in me, kid, and I gotta say it wasn't warranted. I have fucked up almost every single part of my life and until Thanos, you were the only thing I never ruined." The teen swallowed past the lump in his throat, tears gathering in his own eyes and wanting to scream you didn't ruin anything. "If you're seeing this, then that foolhardy plan of mine worked. And you gotta know, kid," the sincerity in the older man's eyes was sharp with pain, now, instead of dull with grief. "You gotta know I did it for you." He cleared his throat. "You're the best of us, and I wasn't going to leave you behind."

The sounds of crying hit Peter's ears and he realized that both he and Ms. Potts were starting to cry in unison. Their pain so similar and shared but so very far apart.

"I couldn't leave things the way they were knowing you had been lost because of that big purple smurf," Tony continued. "The first year you were gone I don't think I left my lab more than 5 times," he laughed softly and it made Peter's heart clench. "I drank more than my liver could probably take, considering everything, and I tried, tried, tried to figure it out, Underoos, I really did. I'm sorry it took this long."

He took a deep breath and the inhabitants of the room did the same. Peter could feel their curious stares boring into his neck but his eyes didn't stray from the screen.

"You have to trust me once more okay, Pete?" Tony asked and Peter would give him anything. He nodded even though the man obviously couldn't see him. "Firstly, to everyone else." The everyone else in question sat straighter up in their chairs. "This," he gestured and somehow it lined up with Peter's chair, "is Peter Parker. To all of you but Happy, Pete was my intern at SI. Believe me when I say this kid has the brightest mind of his generation, but that's not the only reason he's here."

He took another breath. "See the thing is, Peter Parker also happens to be Spider-Man. Yes," he said, sensing that half the room was going to interrupt with questions despite him being a recording - he knew them well. "Yes, the same guy that fought with us in Germany. Yes the same one who's spent the last few years - pre-Blip - defending the streets of Queens."

Voice becoming more intimate, he continued, "Pete is the best of us. He's got your bravery, Rhodey, and he's got your need to stick up for what's right, Steve. The kid is pure good and too smart to not do anything with it. He's gonna be better than you or me combined."

Peter flushed. It wasn't that Mr. Stark hadn't said things in that vein to him before, but to other people? He wanted to protest so, so badly and the fact that he couldn't was strangling him alive.

"And he's gonna need your help. I did what I could, before everything, and I failed over and over again." His mouth was set into a thin line. "He needs people on his side, now more than ever, now after everything, and even more than you might think because," he took a deep breath, "I'm leaving him the company."

"What the fuck," Rhodey whispered.

"What the fuck!" Pepper screeched.

"What the fuck?" Peter gasped.

Their weird sort of chorus ended after that as the room went up in cacophony. On screen, Tony was quiet because yeah, he knew most of the people in that room well enough to know they needed a minute.

"He can't do that," Pepper kept saying as Happy tried to calm her down.

"Pepper," Tony started talking again and it shocked all of them enough to calm down and shut up. "I know you're mad and I know you think I can't but - you're amazing, okay? You are so fucking good at being CEO it's like you were born for it. But Stark Industries has always, and will always, need someone there to be the mad scientist. First it was dad, and then it was me, and now it's gonna be Pete - if he accepts." He sighed. "I had really hoped to last a few more years to get you prepped for his, kid," he shrugged, chagrined smile on his face again. "But death waits for no one, me especially." That sobered them all up.

"I really hope you take this, Petey," he continued, "but if you don't, I won't be disappointed. It's a lot, I know, and if you say no, then everything goes to Pepper and that's fine. But all the weapons I've made for the Avengers and co over the years, all the Iron Man designs, all the Spider-Man things - I'm sorry, but I'd have to trash it. Friday already has the program depending on your answer, but don't let that stop you. Even if you say no to this, you're still gonna be set for life, okay?" His voice, for the first time the entire video, took on a pleading tone. "Please, please don't do this just because I'm asking. Do it because it feels right for you and if it doesn't that's okay. I set aside money for you and May to live easy for the rest of your life if you need it, college, all of it. Just, please consider it."

As if Peter could do anything else. As if Peter would let the last of Tony die with this one request. Say yes and get everything, say no and Tony dies again.

"Pepper," Tony goes on. "If Peter does accept, then I need you there to support him. I know it's hard, and I know you're probably fucking furious at me," he smiled and for just a moment his eyes twinkled in the most devastating way. "But trust me this last time that this is what's best. You know I was never the business guy, not really. But you also know that I love this company and would never leave it to someone who wouldn't do it justice."

He shifted in his seat on screen. "And for Rhodey, Steve, Bucky, and Sam - the kid's gonna need you guys to help him out with the superhero gig. I wasn't really the best with, you know, ground level stuff and that happens to be his specialty. Get him what he needs, help him where you can, and just be there for him, okay?"

"We will, Tones," Rhodey agreed, swearing on their behalf.

For his part, Peter was overwhelmed. It didn't matter what everyone else was saying right now. He heard it, but it was cotton in his brain, the lightning fast jump of thought to realization to devastation of this whole hour more than he could keep up with.

"And with that," Tony sighed. "I'm sorry, but I've got to hopefully go save the world. Or end it," he shrugged, chuckling, "who knows."

The video cut out and the screen turned off. Silence reigned until -

"You cannot take it," hissed Pepper.

"Pep - " Happy started.

"No!" Pepper yelled, standing and slamming her hands onto the table loud enough to make Peter's sensitive hearing ring. "He already took Tony he's not taking my company!"

"My company," Peter said, quietly, resolutely.

Her bright red hair whipped as she faced him, glaring. "No."

"I'm really sorry, Ms. Potts," he said quietly, firmly. "But Mr. Stark was right. Stark Industries needs someone to lead the innovation side and I'm not saying I'm the best - "

"You aren't," she hissed. Across the table from Peter, Rhodey frowned at her.

" - but I'm the one Mr. Stark chose," the teen finished. He stood, facing her, and it felt weirdly powerful to be the only other person standing in this room of powerful people, facing off against Pepper Potts against something that was by all rights his.

What the fuck was his life.

"It's not the first time Tony's thought with his dick before his brain," she spat, "but for fucks sake to give the leading shares of SI to a fucking teenage twink."

"Pepper that's enough," Rhodey said. Beside her, Happy was trying to get her to calm down, one hand reaching up to her shoulder. She shrugged it off, shaking her head.

"You can hate me all you want," Peter said, shrugging. "But Mr. Stark spent the last 20 years trying to fix the world in the best way he knew how and if a bunch of board members who are too greedy to care about that get a hold of his patents or turn the tide against the CEO and spin SI back to the weapons manufacturers that you used to be," he shook his head. "There is no greater way to disrespect Mr. Stark's legacy than that and I'm not gonna let it happen."

"You think you know about how business works," she laughed cruelly. "You think you know Tony - well you don't, Peter. No matter how many promises he made you or how much he lied to everyone else, Tony Stark was always one thing at his core: selfish."

Peter's face crumpled in perplexed sadness. "You can be as mad at me as you want, ma'am," he said, shaking his head. "But I know you don't believe that."

"I didn't," she said, voice quiet but still full of venom. "I haven't for 20 years. But him killing himself to bring you back to life, only to give the leading shares and intellectual rights to you after the fact?" She rolled her eyes. "God, you must have been some fuck."

"Virginia," Happy hissed, standing up next to her finally.

Her eyes darted over to him, then to the rest of the faces staring at her from around the table, like she'd forgotten they were there. Her face blanched slightly but her expression didn't change. She glared at him, gathering her things, and walked toward the door.

As she left, she shouted over her shoulder, "You'll be hearing from my lawyer."

#peter parker x tony stark #ironspider #starker #tony stark x peter parker #iron man #peter parker #peter x tony #spiderman #tony stark #no beta we die like men #for you fic #angst #i swear it gets better

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