#And yes I’m dreaming about the day I can grow stubble lol

[augustsails]

Cowboy picrew chain!!! Please show me your cowboy-selves. Everyone, I mean it.

Picrew here!

I’ll start by tagging @silverdragonoid @aptericia and @od-10kira but if you want to join in without being tagged, please do!! I’m serious I want to see as many cowboys/cowgirls/cowpokes as I can. For serotonin.

[bittywitches]

Ask: 6. Accidentally stepping on their heel in a crowded room. w gray ? 🤍

Oops forgot to post a lot of these 😅 (also I just realized this said heel but I didn’t do that exactly I’m sorry)

6. Accidentally stepping on their heel in a crowded room 

(for reference lol)

You honestly didn’t expect to find yourself in this situation, especially on your mother’s wedding day. This was supposed to be the best day of her life, she’d spent months planning this day for hours on end. She wanted it to be completely perfect, and you did all that you could to ensure that it would be. And you loved your Mom’s fiancée, she was literally the sweetest woman you’d ever met (aside from your momma). You already knew her pretty well, but in the weeks leading up to the wedding, you guys became even closer. She literally felt like one of your closest friends (even though she was a few decades older than you). So when the day finally arrived and you found out that you basically had no role to play in it? It hurt a bit.

You were already a bit furious with the fact that your sister was the one who got to be the maid of honour. Sure she was a lot older, and could probably handle the role a lot better, but it didn’t make you any less bitter. And even though you were still a bridesmaid, you were practically locked out of her dressing room for most of the night. And since you guys had gotten to the venue earlier than the wedding was scheduled, you just spent your time moping around the almost finished wedding hall.

It was only about an hour later did you have your phone ringing, a call from your sister. You sighed, picking the phone up reluctantly.

“Finally remembered that I exist?”

“Don’t be an ass. We need you to run an errand.”

“Of course. I knew my own family wouldn’t think of me unless they needed me for something.”

“Would you stop being petty for one second? There’s been an issue with the bouquets. Apparently, nobody remembered to go pick them up.”

“What? Isn’t the wedding supposed to start in-“ your phone away from your ear to look at the time. “Fifteen minutes?”

“Yea, that’s why I need you to GO.”

“Weren’t the bouquets supposed to be your responsibility?”

“Will you please just go get it?”

“What do I get out of this?”

“The satisfaction of giving mom the wedding of her dreams?”

“Mmmmm….”

She sighed over the phone. “I’ll pay you.”

“How much?”

“Twenty dollars.”

“What, do you think I’m twelve? No deal.”

“Dude-”

“Do you want my help?”

“Ugh, fine. Thirty.”

“Fifty or you’re on your own.”

“What? I’m not paying you fifty dollars just to-”

“Alright, good luck with-”

“God, FINE! Fifty!”

“That’s what I like to hear.”

“Fuck you. I’ll text you the address.”

Seconds later your phone vibrated in your hand, the location of the florist popping up in your notifications. You stuffed your phone into your purse and headed for the coatroom.

As you approached the door, you were confronted with  a few dozen faces pouring in through the front doors and drifting into the coatroom, in quite a disorganized fashion. You groaned. You guys were really cutting this close.

You pushed your way through the hectic sea of guests, making it through the coatroom door with a bit of ease, but after that, it was literally as if you were drowning in hairspray and cologne.

“How does my mom know so many people?” You grumbled, throwing out an ‘excuse me’ and ‘sorry’ every half a second, but eventually just trying to push your way through the group of people.

Your eyes landed on your coat, so you began treading towards it, but just before you could grab it, the heel of your pump dug into something that most definitely was not the hardwood floor, causing your ankle to jerk sideways and you stumbled over.

“Woah,” Your shoulder jabbed into the side of a lavender dress shirt, and you definitely would’ve toppled over if it weren’t for the large hands that came up to catch you. You looked up to see who the voice was, and saw the face of a handsome young man staring back down at you.

“Jesus, I’m so sorry.” You fumbled, trying to stand up straight but another elderly woman rammed into your backside as she headed for the door, shoving your right back into the man’s arms.

“At least try to look where you’re going?” You yelled after her, but she only gave you a dirty look before leaving.

You sighed, looking away from her to see that you were still clutching onto the man’s shoulders, his black polyester slipping in your fingertips.

“God, hold on-” You leaned up and behind the man to reach up and grab your coat, your chest flushed against his when you did so, and his arms naturally came to rest on your lower back.

You leaned away, holding your coat in one hand and then grabbing his wrist with the other, yanking him to get him to follow you. You pulled him out of the coatroom, gasping when you finally got to breathe something that didn’t smell like fancy fabric softener.

“Felt like I was gonna drown in there,” You turned around to look at the man with you, colour returning to your face when you noticed his disheveled look.

“God, I’m really sorry,” you walked up to him and adjusted his blazer, straightening out the collar.

“It’s no big deal, really.” He placed his hands on your shoulders to get you to stop.

“No, you look so nice and I just,” You looked down at his black leather dress shoes to see the left one was creased right at the tip, a large cut where your heel had stepped on him.

“Oh my god, no!” You bent down at his feet, wiping at the top to see if it was just a smudge or not, and you blew air out of your nose in annoyance when you confirmed that the cut was there.

“Hey, it’s seriously not a problem.” He bent down to grab you by the shoulders and pull you back up.

“No, I ruined your shoes, and they look really expensive-”

“It’s fine, I promise.”

“Jeez, I’m sorry.” You got up on your toes to fix his ruffle hair, a result of the pandemonium that had occurred within the coat room. “You’d think a place like this would have a bigger place to leave your coats.”

He laughed, and you smiled when he did. You noticed a gem on his canine tooth when he chuckled, almost looking similar to the two shiny studs in his ears. His hand came up to rub his stubble, trailing up his chin. You were right. He looked really nice.

He looked back at you, an eyebrow quirked. “You’re one of the bridesmaids, right? I saw a few girls wearing that dress outside when I came in. Seemed like they were in a rush.”

You sighed. “Yeah, apparently things aren’t going as smoothly as we’d hoped.” You tilted your head. “Well, as smoothly as they’d hoped.”

He scrunched his nose at you in confusion.

You stuck your hand out. “I’m Y/N. Daughter of the bride. Er, well, the bride that proposed.”

He laughed when you said that, and took your hand, giving it a firm shake. “Grayson.”

“My sister is the maid of honour.”

“Oh.... ouch.”

“Yea, pretty much sucks ass. She’s practically planned the whole thing without any of my help. Except now, because things are going off the rails, I’m the one who has to save everyone’s ass.” You blinked. “Speaking of, I should head to the florist’s. Bouquet mishap and whatnot.”

“Oh, okay.” He said, a bit disappointed. “Maybe I’ll see you la-”

“Wait!” You grabbed his arm, startling him a bit. “There’s a small formal wear store that’s literally in the same plaza as the florist! I can make up for ruining your shoes.”

His eyebrows raised. “Y/N, it really isn’t necessary-”

“Nonsense! I’m not going to let my mother have guests wearing improper attire to her own wedding.” You winked at him.

He chuckled. “Alright, we better leave quickly then. The wedding’s gonna start soon.” He held out his arm for you, his elbow jutting out to the side.

“My, what a gentleman.” You smiled, hooking your arm around his and gripping his bicep as you led him out to your car.

・ ・ ・

“So, how do you know Lindsey?” You said as you hopped out of your car, locking it behind you as Grayson followed suit. “I’m assuming you're a guest from her side.”

“Yea. My dad used to work with her, and they were pretty close. Recently drifted apart, but he was very excited to be invited to the wedding. She also used to babysit me.” He held the door to the florist open for you, and you walked inside.

“Hah, I bet you were a cute kid.”

“You think so?” He asked, the door jingling as it fell closed behind him.

“Well I can’t imagine that anyone could be ugly as a kid and then grow up to look like-” You looked over your shoulder at him to see him chewing on his bottom lip, his eyes resting gently on yours.

“What I mean is,” you fumbled, pulling the straps of your dress higher up your shoulder. “Nobody could have that big of a glow up.” You gave him a small smile, turning back to the counter to hide your gradually growing pink face.

“Well, thanks.” You heard his feet pacing behind you, snaking through the rows of beautiful flowers. It was pretty late, so nobody else was in the store except you two and the Clerk.

“Hi, I’m here to pick up an order. Should be under ‘Lindsey and Nia’.”

“Ah, yes. One moment.” The clerk disappeared through a door, and you laid your elbows onto the counter, your face resting on one hand while the other tapped your fingers on the cool marble.

“Hey,” You felt a tap on your shoulder, and you looked around to see Grayson gently holding a beautiful pink peony right in front of your nose.

You breathed in, taking in the wonderful scent, opening your eyes and looking up to meet Grayson’s soft ones.

“It matches your dress,” He said simply, but his sweet tone somehow made it feel like he was serenading you with a love song.

“It does.”

“Kinda looks like you,” He said, gesturing towards your low bun, tiny white flowers peeking out of it. He handed the flower to you, and you took it, holding it gently in your fingertips.

“It’s beautiful.”

“That’s what I said.” Your eyes widened as you looked up at him, a small but playful simper on his lips.

“I-”

“Here you are, miss.” You suddenly turned away from Grayson to look at the vendor, your eyes landed on the two pink plumeria bouquets.

“Oh, they’re gorgeous, thank you.” You took them from him, closing your eyes to inhale their scent.

“Do you plan on buying that, miss?” You looked at where he was pointing, and saw he was talking about the peony in your hand.

“Oh, no, I was just-”

“Actually, no. But I was.” Grayson stepped up to the counter, taking his wallet out of his pocket. You stepped back to give him some room, looking at him with a bit of wonder in your eyes.

“Five dollars.”

“For ONE flower-” You interjected, but Grayson rested his hand on your arm, and for some reason it silenced you.

Grayson handed the man a five-dollar bill. The vendor asked if he wanted a bag, and Grayson refused, wishing the man a good night after the exchange. He turned to you, handing you the flower then heading for the door.

“You coming?”

It felt like you’d been watching this happen from somewhere out of your body, and had to blink to get yourself to return to Earth. “Yea, coming.”

・ ・ ・

“Y/N, we seriously don’t have to do this.”

“Yes, we do. I owe you for two things now.”

“The shoes were an accident, and the flower was barely anything, you don’t-”

“Just shut up and choose a pair of shoes.” You demanded, and he put his arms up in defeat, walking back up towards the display of shoes on the wall. You sat down on one of the stools, absent-mindedly smelling the beautiful pink flower that Grayson had gifted you.

“These look pretty good, don’t you think?” He gestured towards a pair that had two different shades of brown on it.

“You’re kidding right? Do you think my mom’s wedding theme is ‘the wild west’?”

“Jeez, it was just a suggestion.” He said with an exaggerated tone, and you giggled.

“How about these?” You walked up and picked up a jet black pair, almost resembling the ones he was wearing except for the seams lining the sides.

“They’re basically the same as these.” He wiggled one foot in the air.

“Yea, but these don’t have a cut in them.”

He chuckled, picking up the box that had those shoes, then taking them out to try them on. They fit perfectly.

“Dang, these are nice.” He sat down to slip them off and place them back in the box, but his eyes bulged when he saw the price tag. “No way, these are way too expensive.”

“Lemme see.” You read the label, and you had to chew the inside of your cheek to prevent you from making any sort of remark. “It’s not that bad.”

“Are you serious?”

“It doesn’t matter, I’m paying for it.”

“That’s exactly why it does matter-”

“Grayson come on, I don’t have the time for this!” You took your phone out of your purse to check the time, and instead saw a stream of texts from your sister asking where you were. “I was supposed to be back like ten minutes ago. Just pick a pair of shoes!”

“But I can’t let you buy these! It’s too much!”

“You bought me something too.”

“It was a flower! For five dollars!”

“Okay, time’s up, we’re choosing these ones.” You grabbed them back from him, running for the front of the store as you heard Grayson call behind you.

“Y/N-”

You slammed the shoes down on the counter, startling the cashier. “Is this all, ma’am?”

“Yep.” Grayson stumbled up behind you, slipping on his creased shoe and sighing as the cashier scanned the box.

“At least let me pay for it.”

“What? No! Then I’d still owe you!”

“You don’t owe me anything-”

“Jesus, you’re more annoying than my mom and Lindsey bickering over what centerpiece they want.”

At that he finally dropped it, laughing. “Lindsey is pretty picky about her flowers.”

“Yeah.” You inserted your credit card and put in the pin. “I was surprised they were even able to make a decision on the bouquets. I was so sure they were going to choose different flowers.” You sighed, looking at him. “But Lindsey knew mom would die for these, and that was all she needed to know to make her decision.”

“Guess they really love each other, huh?” Grayson mused as you took your credit card back. The cashier handed you the bag with the shoes as well as a receipt, and you thanked her before walking out with him.

“Yea. They really do.” You remarked, looking down at the single peony still in your hand.

“Hey, your car is that way.” He grabbed your arm, then took the bouquets from you as you laughed at your disorientation.

“Right.”

・ ・ ・

After rushing to the dressing room to find half the exasperated bridesmaids as well as a finally stress-relieved sister, your mother gave you a huge sloppy kiss on the cheek that you squirmed away from, but you were happy all the same that she was able to get her bouquets. One of the other bridesmaids rushed off to give the second bouquet to Lindsey.

Of course you were pushed out a few minutes later, but this time you weren’t as upset. Your mind was lingering on other things… so when your sister pushed you out the door, you were quick to snatch the pink peony that you’d left lying on the dresser.

・ ・ ・

Ceremony over, bouquets thrown, tears wept and first dance completed; After it was all over, you found yourself hovering near the back of the hall, watching as your Mom and Step-mom danced the night away, carefree as ever with the biggest smiles on their faces. You sighed, happy at how this night had turned out. It was perfect, it was gorgeous, it really was everything you’d all dreamed of and more. The love of the two oozed out of their very pores, filling the room with a bubbly feeling that you quite easily caught on to you. You found yourself with eyes roaming the room, looking for a certain someone with a lavender dress shirt, but your shoulders slumped when you couldn’t find it through the haze of pink lights dancing across the room. You looked down, and took another whiff of the flower you still held in your hands, not daring to let go of it after your bridesmaid duties had been accomplished. You looked up again, hoping to find the disheveled hair and shiny studs.

“Looking for me?” A voice caught you from behind, and you looked behind you to see Grayson, his arms casually held behind his back, but a small smirk played on his lips when he noticed the flower in your hands. “Still have that?”

You bit your lip, slowly shifting your way over to him amidst the music and laughter. “It’s too pretty to get rid of.” You looked down to see he’d changed into the new shoes you’d bought him, and it brought a smile to your lips. “They look good.”

“They’re great. You have great taste.” You met his eyes, them dark and wonderful as they glazed over you. “I really wish you didn’t pay for them though.”

“I’m happy I did.”

“But now I owe you.” His fingertips met yours as he took the delicate flower from you, bringing it up to his face to smell it, smiling at the fact that it still had that wonderful scent.

“Maybe you can make it up to me…” Your hands came up to his, your fingers first tracing the petals of the flower, then down the stem, then dragging across his large hands.

He wrinkled an eyebrow. “How so?”

You gestured towards the dance floor, that now had many bodies moving to the music on it.

He smiled, taking a step back from you just so he could lean forward with one hand behind his back, the other holding the peony out for you. “May I have this dance?”

You grinned, taking the flower from him, but letting your fingers linger a little while longer this time. “Of course.”

He chuckled, holding his elbow out for you once more, and you gripped it, leading him towards the dance floor.

[areyoureadyforsomemeatballz]

Firebug (End)

Summary: After opening a bakery a little over a year ago the reader gets a new regular customer and maybe something more.

Pairing: Firefighter!Bucky x Baker!Reader

Word Count: 2,000

Warnings:  Slightly NSFW (heavy petting lol). Swearing. Wedding shenanigans.

A/N: It’s just passed the one-year anniversary of my blog (AND FIREBUG)! I can’t believe the amazing year I have been able to spend with all of you. I hope you enjoy this final chapter to this sweet little story.

Like/Comment/Reblog; It’s your call but, I’d adore you forever!

Previously:

He wraps his arm around your waist and he tugs you closer to him. “I can’t believe I’m wearing Tony Stark’s sweats.”

“Is that what you’re thinking about? Tell me again how this isn’t a crush?”

“It’s a healthy appreciation for all things science.”

“And the sweats play into it how?”

He presses a kiss to the back of your neck. “I don’t know? Maybe he did something sciency while wearing them?”

“Or he could’ve pissed in them after having one too many on New Year’s…”

Bucky’s eyes pop open and he leans over your shoulder. “Is that what happened?”

“Night, Bucks.”

He squirms behind you and a grin spreads across your lips. “Doll, is that what happened?”

“G’night, firebug.”

“You win, you’re the biggest menace,” he groans.

Soft snores beside you pull you from your dreams. Your eyes crack open and you can’t hold back your smile. There’s a stream of golden sunlight coming in from last night’s hastily drawn curtains. You can still feel Bucky’s lips on your neck as you pulled them closed last night. He’s sprawled out across the bed with his hair sticking up in every direction. You reach up and run your fingers through it, smiling to yourself when it seems to stand up even more.

A small whine escapes him, and you place your hand on his solid chest, your eyebrows pulling together in concern. His blue eyes blink lazily open and a smile cracks across his face when he sees you.

“Morning, beautiful,” his rough voice shoots straight to your core and his smile grows when he sees you shiver. “See something you like?”

“More like something I heard.”

He lets out a scandalized gasp and his hand shoots up to clutch his bare chest. “That hurts! I know I’m pretty in the morning.”

You laugh and nuzzle against him. “You seem like you’re in so much pain.”

“I am! I’m mortally wounded,” he says as he presses a kiss to your temple. “Kiss it better?”

“James Buchanan Barnes-”

His laugh cuts you off and he rolls so that he’s hovering above you, propped up on his strong forearms. “You’re middle naming me for that?”

He dips his head and just misses your lips. You bring your hands up to cup his face and stroke your thumbs over the apples of his cheeks. “Bucky?”

“Yes, doll?”

“Kiss me.”

His eyes narrow and he grins down at you. “I don’t know… I’ve got pretty bad morning breath...”

You try and pull him down to you, but he keeps himself steady. “James.”

“I wouldn’t want to scare you away,” he murmurs, his lips a hair away from yours. “Last night went so well. This may ruin it.”

You huff and wrap your leg around his waist, throwing him off balance. He lands on his back with a groan and you smile down at him. Before you can slip off him his hands come up to circle your waist.

“God, that move isn’t fair,” he grins up at you as he squeezes your hips in his large hands. “Maybe you could teach me a few things?”

You smile down at him and dip your head as if you are going to kiss him but turn to nip at his earlobe at the last second. “You’d like that wouldn’t you, Chief?”

“Doll?”

“Yes, James?”

“Kiss me?”

“I don’t know, what with the morning breath,” you mimic his deep voice. “It may ruin-”

He shoots up, the two of your lips connecting fiercely. He smiles against your lips and his hands find his way to your backside. His warm hands squeeze you and your responding gasp gives him the perfect opening to slip his tongue into your mouth. Your fingers jump from his shoulders to tangle in his unruly, sleep mussed hair and tug lightly.

He pulls away with a soft moan and looks into your eyes. “Fuck.”

“Well, I was trying-”

Your alarm goes off on the nightstand next to you and you bury your face in the crook of his neck with a smile. Bucky reaches over and silences your phone and tilts your chin up to kiss you again.

You hum against his lips and trail your lips across his jaw, nipping at his earlobe. “As much fun as this is we have a wedding to get to.”

He pushes out his bottom lip and you smile at how adorable he looks. “Five more minutes.”

Bucky squeezes your hips and you raise your eyebrow. “Were you not here last night, Mr. Barnes? I don’t think five minutes would come close to cutting it.”

You bite your lip to hold back a smile and he rolls his eyes. “A compromise then? Shower with me?”

You laugh and roll off the top of him, squealing as he wraps his arms around your waist. “No funny business though! Sam and Riley will kill me if I keep their groomsman from the ceremony.”

“But, sugar, that’s no fun!” He grins and nuzzles his nose against your neck, breathing deeply as he takes in the smell of you.

“Them’s the rules, Chief,” you say with a grin as his stubble tickles your neck. “Are you going to take Sam’s advice and shave?”

You let out a low whine as he sucks a mark over your pulse point. “What do you think I should do?”

He grins as you run your thumb over his jaw. “Keep it.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

You can’t keep the smile off your face as you lean up to meet his lips. He pulls you close to his chest and the room is practically spinning when you pull away, drunk on the feel of him. You force down a moan as his body slots against yours, knowing it will only spur him on.

“Shower,” you insist breathlessly. “We need to shower.”

He pouts and you lean in to kiss his full lips, nipping his bottom lip as you pull back. He moans softly and you grin. “This doesn’t feel like showering?”

“Go!”

He grips your hips and pulls you into the bathroom. He giggles the whole way there and you return his happy laughs. He tugs the off shirt you pulled on hastily last night and tosses it on the floor behind him. His eyes trail over your body hungrily as he drinks in the sight of you. His lips trail down your neck and he catches your nipple with a grin. Your fingers tangle in his hair as his tongue darts out to taste your soft skin.

“Fuck, Bucky,” you breathe. “Please.”

“We’re showering, baby,” he whispers, smiling against you. “No funny business.”

You scowl at him and push him backwards into the shower stall. “Fuck it.”

You tug off his boxers and toss them over your shoulder before turning on the warm water. Bucky tugs your body to his, and he hisses when you roll your hips against his, catching his hardness between your thighs.

“Heaven help me.”

“You’re gonna need a lot more than angels on your side, Barnes.”

His eyes sparkle as he looks down at you. “I’ve already got one right here, though.”

“God, you’re cheesy.”

“You love it.”

You hold your tongue, knowing it’s not the only thing you love. Instead, you tug his lips back to yours and try to show him how you’re feeling.

You’re finally able to pry yourself away from Bucky somewhere between him pulling on his jeans and the kitchen. You slide him a to-go mug of coffee across the counter, careful not to let your touch linger too long.

“Thanks, doll,” he murmurs before taking a long sip.

“Go, wild man, you’ll make it with time to spare if you leave now.”

He rounds the counter and wraps his arm around your waist. “Time to spare? Sounds excessive…” He dips his head and kisses you softly.

“James,” you sigh. “You’re on thin ice, mister.” There’s no malice in your voice as you grin up at him.

“I’m goin’, I’m goin’.”

You peck his lips and before you know it, he’s peeking around the elevator door to shoot you one last smile. You lean against the wall and let out a deep breath, your legs suddenly feeling like jelly. You run your fingers along your lips and smile to yourself before pushing off from the wall to get ready for the busy day.

It’s you who’s almost late for the ceremony. By the time you get the cake loaded into your car traffic has already piled up in the city. You tap your foot against the floor of your car, counting down the seconds until you get to see Bucky again.

You pull up to the back of the venue and get help setting up the cake inside. You’re placing the finishing touches on it when you feel a pair of arms snake around your middle.

“James, I’ve already dropped this cake once… If it falls again it’ll be your head.”

He laughs against your neck and you smile at the soft noise.

“You what?” Riley’s voice comes out shrill from somewhere behind Bucky.

“Shit,” you mumble under your breath and Bucky laughs quieter this time. “Happy wedding day, handsome.”

You turn around and take Bucky’s hand, giving a big smile to Riley. Sam sidles up beside him and you mock-gasp.

“Isn’t this bad luck?”

“Apparently we’ve had that already,” Riley says. “What with our baker going ham on our cake?”

Sam bursts out laughing, and he nuzzles against Riley’s cheek. “But, look at how beautiful it turned out. And delicious, if our tasting has anything to say about it.”

You give the men a sheepish smile. “If it helps at all you weren’t supposed to find out.”

“It definitely does, sweetheart,” Sam says and pulls you in for a hug. “You look amazing, by the way.”

“I think that’s my line,” Bucky says and squeezes your hand.

“Gross, Barnes,” Sam groans. “No flirting at my wedding, no exceptions.”

Riley nudges your arm with a soft grin. “You haven’t seen these two in action, have you?”

“Never for a long period of time.”

“Wait until you see champagne thrown into the mix.”

Sam and Bucky both protest at the same time and Riley takes your arm to lead you back to where the ceremony is going to take place.

“Where’s the lie, Barnes,” you throw over your shoulder with a grin.

Despite yesterday’s setback with the cake, the wedding goes off without a hitch. Long after dinner is served and one to many bottles of liquor has disappeared, you’re all gathered around the happy couple. Sam is on his third piece of cake, with no end in sight.

“-and Bucky ended up having to buy a new suit,” Steve laughs, his words slurring slightly. “He was covered in piss!”

“At least it wasn’t my own, Steven,” Bucky says as he elbows the blond man in the ribs.

“Hey!” Steve’s eyes widen comically and dart over to where Peggy is sitting. “No need to go there.”

“Darling, I’m well aware of the literal pissing match you got in.” Peggy pats his arm and beams.

“I haven’t, though,” you whine. “At least tell me who else was involved?”

“Me and you, drinks sometime. I’ve got stories about these two that’ll have you in stitches.” Peggy wiggles her eyebrows.  

“Deal!”

Bucky and Steve give each other a worried look over both of your shoulders.

After another round of drinks, you feel yourself slump into Bucky’s strong body. His warmth soaks into your skin through your dress and you shiver despite the crowded room. You pull away from Bucky and before he can question it, he feels you tugging on his arm. He grins and the two of you make a beeline to the back door, to his waiting bike.

“You’d think they were the ones getting married,” Sam says with a huge grin as the two of you run away from them giggling.

Riley twists his fingers through Sam’s and knocks back the rest of his champagne. “I’m glad someone’s getting some tonight, though. I see a very long nap in our future.”

“Wedding night sex is a myth,” Steve says.

Peg raises an eyebrow and squeezes Steve’s hand. “I’m not the one who passed out on the floor of our hotel room, darling.”

The roar of the Harley is heard from where the two couples are sitting. You wrap your arms around Bucky’s trim waist tightly and he speeds off into the night. Your heart thumps wildly as the bike picks up speed.

“Menace,” you shout, a wide smile spreading across your lips.

[spicy-dunkaroo]

Taking Power Back (One-Shot)

♫Now Playing: “Taking Power Back” by Spicy Dunkaroo…♪

❀ Word Count: 5k

❀ Rating: Mature, 18+, Minors Do Not Interact (please)

❀ Genre: One Shot (Not sure how to explain this haha)

❀ Summary: (Writing Prompt) Mora’s job was to take away the powers of supervillains as they’re admitted to jail. For a few years, she’d been reselling these powers to interested bidders on the side - no questions asked. Today, a prisoner showed up with a power so unusual, she decided to take it for herself.

❀ Warning(s): Please read!! Dark Content ☠, Mentions of Murder, Attempted Murder, Implied Childhood Abuse, Implied Bullying, Swearing, etc.

❀ Author's Note: Hello everyone!! This will be my first story/one-shot of hopefully many other more positive ones lol. Credit for the prompt goes to u/totoropengyou on reddit for the writing prompt!! Just want to warn you all once more if you skipped over the warnings, this is a dystopian world that's fucked up. Please read with caution.

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Everyday seems the same as the one before it. Same coworkers at the same job, not to mention the same shitty work Mora has to do to get paid.

Her job is to extract the powers of crooked criminals that somehow ended up in the nation's most secure penitentiary. Why? Well, if it weren’t for her, most of these monsters would have probably destroyed the government and Gods know what else.

Somedays, Mora finds it easier to sleep at night when she doesn’t think of the ‘what-if’s’ of not taking on the government position, if she screwed up, and what if she was any less moral than she already was.

That’s not to say that she was any sort of ‘holier than thou’ being that had mankind's well-being as top priority. The job doesn’t pay her enough to be so kind to the shitty world she’s lived in for the last 19 years. There probably isn’t enough money in the world for Mora to change her ways now, now when the temptation has become that much sweeter.

Sure, maybe she could be helping the world out by not selling the quirks to the highest bidder every Friday night. But in all honesty, who gives a damn? Yes, the government would and probably would punish her to the highest degree, and most citizens wouldn’t be too pleased. Why be mad at her though? It’s the buyer's fault for throwing hundreds of millions of dollars for just one of the many powers she extracts from those crooks everyday. Most of them aren’t too bad, they at least seem nice with the weekly gift baskets and extravagant gifts they throw her way in hopes of getting a nifty power before it’s on the floor the following Friday night.

Then again, you’d never expect those who were begging to be in Mora’s favor to be in the positions they are.

If it’s any consolation, most of those bidders can’t even infuse the power within their own bodies without risky surgery and the high chance of dying.

See, nearly 70% of all humans born in this ‘age of power’ are gifted with one of the four types of abilities. There’s fight, flight, freeze, and then there’s the unknown fourth type, probably the most rare of them all, mutants. As they are listed, 43% of these humans have the fight type, 32% have the flight, 20% have freeze, and less than 5% have the mutation type. Despite this, research says that you have a good chance of walking past a human with the mutation type of power at least once in your life without knowing it. Since there have always seemed to be so few ‘mutants’ as they call them, there's not much information on the different variations of the ability outside of that they don’t fit in the category of the other three.

Lucky for Mora, she happens to be one of the very few with the mutation power. Her’s happened to be perfect for her government assignment as well as for her side business.

The government took it upon themselves to name this “company” Vera. Mora wasn’t too sure why this was outside of the Latin meaning of the word (truth), like some sort of ‘holier than thou’ complex she presumed.

Though there have been struggles with her ability. Since there has been little research done, nobody knew how to teach her to hone her skill. Not her teachers, advisor, biological parents, or her other parents in the past. Despite this, Mora feels that she has a pretty good idea how her power works now.

Did she ever dream about extracting a part of most humans' identity as her ‘ideal job’? Of course not, when she was growing up she dreamed about being a rockstar, firefighter, or a damn teacher, anything but the hell she’s had to live through day in and day out.

Since she was assigned her power type, she moved from one home to another, left one school after the next, and was always called a mutant. Although she wasn’t sure exactly when the government began to really lock their sights on her, she was heavily reminded of the fucked up world she lived in once she graduated high school. There were only ever two options for her. Look out for everyone else, or look out for herself.

When you’re asked if you’d be willing to become a human lab rat or work as an official government officer, just about anybody wouldn’t have thought twice about that choice. Though there are a few poor motherfuckers that wanted what was best for humanity. To that Mora thanks them for giving her the ability to have a choice. Besides that, screw humanity. The criminals on the street aren’t the monsters you’re told live in the darkness, the ones in your closet, or the ones hiding under your bed. No, sometimes those monsters are a lot closer to you, and they’re not there to protect you.

It’s a real dog-eat-dog world on both sides of the door. So look out for yourself, that’s the only way you can survive. Despite learning this throughout her whole life, Mora lived by the only saying she could remember from her time with her father.

‘Don’t let anything in this world tear you down. It’ll be tough, sure, but you deserve to pursue your happiness as much as anyone else because you’re a fighter- a winner! Never let anyone make you feel like anything less than the champion you are.’

Though she never understood what her father meant when she first heard it, now it’s one of the only few thoughts that seem to brighten her day as she looks back on her more fond memories of growing up.

Even now, as Mora sits in the holding room, it appears to be the only thought that can take her out of the mindfuck that was currently her train of thought as she regretfully remembered her last patient.

If Mora had the freedom her fellow peers had back in high school, she always thought she might have wanted to go to college to become a doctor. These happier possibilities help Mora to separate herself from her gruesome work. So regarding these scum of the earth beings as ‘patients’ helps to block off the blood-curdling screams that echoed in the walls many hours after they were moved to their prison cells.

As Mora begins to think of her perfect life, a knock is heard at the door, quickly followed by the door swiftly

“You okay in there Spe?”

“Oh, it’s just you Timentes. You scared me for a second there, also, please stop with the formalities. You know how much I hate my birth-given name. At least call me Griseo if you have to.”

“You know the rules, officially I can’t call you by your revised name, at least in front of others that is.”

“Then could you at least call me Mora in private?”

As she says this, Mora pats a spot before her at the small table, deciding to sit herself in the patients chair as she sees what they always saw before she conducted her ‘surgeries’ on them.

“Fine, fine, but only because you’re the most tolerable person in this hell hole.”

“Damn right I am! Ain’t nobody gonna take that title away from me haHA!”

“You worry me sometimes, Moralis.”

“Aww, is that your secret way of telling me you’re thinking about me? I’m touched, really, but I don’t think I can say the same about you, no offense.”

Timentes dramatically gasps as he places his right hand onto his bullet-proof gear, leaning back as he begins to speak once more.

“Offense completely taken. And here I was about to ask you out.”

“And by ‘ask me out’ you really mean make some instant ramen as we binge watch another anime this weekend? Because you know I can’t say no to that.”

“Which is why I always ask. You know you love our marathon nights! We- we might as well be a married couple with how often you stay the night.”

As Timentes says this, Mora notices the sudden change in demeanor, his cheeks becoming a brighter shade of pink of his stubbly face, the way his blue eyes dart away from her direction, and how she can clearly see how awkwardly cute his eyebrow quirks at his own words.

“I don’t think we fight enough to move that fast.”

‘If he won’t get the balls to actually ask me out, clearly we aren’t meant to be.’

Despite thinking this, Mora knew the real reason she was writing off her adorably shy co-worker. Mora knew she had to keep everyone at arm's length, regardless of her happiness in order to make it out of this world alive.

Mora rolls her eyes as she decides to change the topic.

“So...What did you come in here for? I know I’m a nice piece of eye candy, but you can’t let my womanly charms distract you from work. There’s only so many times I can cover for your ass.”

“R-Right...The next inmate will be coming in soon.”

“Okay? What’s wrong with him? Is he deranged? Violent? Or did he murder his family? Usually you don’t come to tell me about them in person either way.”

“The thing is… From what I’ve heard through the grapevine, this guy is something else.”

“Could you elaborate?”

“Well that’s the thing, I think it’s something about his power that nobody can figure out. We had to pull out all the stops just to restrain him. Who knows if he’s deranged or violent, apparently he took out 8 officers before he was apprehended.”

“Well, how’d they end up arresting this guy?”

“That’s the weirdest part, they didn’t.”

“They didn’t?”

“Well- they did but only after he surrendered.”

“You mean to tell me that this guy had more than enough man-power to escape, and yet after he was done screwing around he just- gave himself up?”

“Exactly.”

“So you’re telling me to be on high alert because you guys don’t know this guy's deal?”

“Yep. Everybody here knows how strong you are. But- you know the guys and I care about you, don’t you?”

“Yea yea, more like you’re worried this guy might catch my eye.”

“I’m being serious Mora… He's code 10.”

Despite feeling her nerves begin to creep up, Mora attempts to keep her composure as she blows Timentes off.

“I’m sure he’s not-”

Before she can finish her sentence, she hears a sudden thud, making her jump in her seat as she looks back over at the man before her.

“You and I both know there are no other inmates that are code 10. Hell, there hasn’t been a code 10 in years!”

Mora crosses her arms in disgust as she turns her head away without an answer.

“Oh Gods- Mora, I’m so sorry I just- I’m just worried about you-”

“Leave.”

“W-What? Lo-look I know I screwed up but-”

“I said leave. Go before you piss me off.”

Without another word between the two, Timentes stands up, hearing the metal chair scrape against the dull concrete floor, quietly turning to open the door behind him, the metal eye-sore loudly scratches against the frame and floor as it screeches open, and soon after slams back into its frame.

Mora can feel the tears begin to trickle down her cheeks as she refuses to look forward again. The memories of her past begin to flood in slideshow form as she feels a panic attack start up.

‘Damnit- Keep it together Griseo!’

As she thinks this, she wipes away the few tears that escaped her lids.

In the little time Mora had in isolation, juxtaposed to every other day, she’s able to calm herself down as she regains her composure once more.

Before she has a moment to breathe, the signaling of five knocks at the door are heard through the metal barrier as she is quick to stand up and move back over to her chair. She coughs in an attempt to drown out the dejected tone in her throat that was previously gripping at her vocal chords.

“C-Come in.”

Hearing this, three men step into the muted turquoise walls of Mora’s ‘office space’.

Two are wearing the familiar dark uniform, while one appears to be restrained in a black straight jacket.

Outside of the workers uniforms, most of their gear and restraints are color coordinated based on the risk factor code. Usually Mora only ever saw the white, orange, even the occasional red, but the most heavy duty of all was always.

‘Black? Timentes really wasn’t kidding when he said this guy was code 10.’

Mora begins to feel on edge as she stares at the man who appeared…average. The man stood at 6ft as he was seated in his chair, umber bangs seemed to be askew but still were able to hide his eyes completely. Minus a blistering red scar on his neck, the man before Mora looked like any other law abiding citizen. Although, based on the look of it, the scar appeared to be fresh.

As the two officers restrained the man further into his chair, Mora props her foot on the top of the table between them, waiting for the sound of locks to cease in its continuous echo.

Once the officers were finished, Mora waved them away dismissively, speaking up once she heard one of the two grip at the handle.

“Stand by and guard the door for me? I’m sure this won’t take long.”

As Mora looks back, the men both nod as they exit the suffocating room, leaving her with her newest patient.

Grabbing the clipboard that was left by one of the officers, Mora glances over at her patients health information, zeroing in toward the bottom of the page that listed his allergies, blood type, and ability type.

“Allergic to: None. Blood Type: AB-, let’s hope you don’t lose too much blood then.”

As Mora reads the final section, she notices there are many unprofessional scribbles with many question marks behind the possibility of what this man’s ability type was.

“So tell me, since you have nothing better to do, what is your power categorized as?”

Mora looks back up toward her patient as she waits for a response. After a moment if awkward silence fills the room, she speaks up once more.

“Here, I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours, okay?”

Without a verbal or physical sign of agreement, Mora quickly gives in, but not before she has a bit of fun with him.

“I’ll give you a hint, it’s the reason why I have no chance at another job. Why I’ll be stuck under these assholes' thumbs till the day I die. Why I always hate it when my patients don’t cooperate. It just makes my job so much harder. Think that gives you an idea?”

There’s another moment of silence as Mora flimsily flips through the other pages of paperwork she’ll have to fill out after the surgery.

“Here, I’ll give you one more hint, but if you don’t answer this time, we’ll, you’ll feel soon enough how painful I can really make it.”

Mora sighs as she continues on once more.

“Kids used to call me ‘mutant’ back in school. I was always looked down upon because nobody knew who or what I was- no, more like they didn’t know how to scare me because I knew what they were capable of, while they were afraid of what I was- what I am.”

Hearing this, the man before her finally reacts, slowly moving his head up, for the first time looking Mora dead in the eyes.

She would be lying if she didn’t say that his stare didn’t scare her. It felt like he was carving her up with just his eyes as his mouth began to stretch into what appeared to be a smirk.

“So we’re the same then?”

Mora was taken aback by his sudden answer, noticing his voice was hoarse as he spoke. It takes her a moment to sort through her thoughts as she walks over toward the door, knocking twice.

In a matter of moments the red blinking light on the camera pointed at the man cease, signaling that nobody was watching them now. Mora walks back over toward the table, moving closer toward the man as she drops the volume of her voice to a whisper.

“So you’re a mutant type? No wonder those guys couldn’t handle you back there. Dumbasses don’t even know how to hold a gun half the time, much less deal with people unlike themselves.”

The man turns his head eerily as he looks back at Mora, seeming to drop his guard for a moment. This causes Mora to relax as she responds once more.

“I’m sure those guys haven’t been treating you well, are you thirsty?”

Nodding, the man smacks his lips at the lack of hydration. Walking back over to her side of the table, Mora grabs her bottle of water that sat by the legs of her cold chair. Once she grabs the half filled bottle, she walks back over toward the man as he appears to be pleading with his eyes in hopes of quenching his thirst.

“Now, since you’re restrained, I’m going to have to pour it into your mouth. If you want me to do that, I’m going to need you to promise that you won’t bite my finger or something, alright?”

The man shakes his head in response, this time appearing more eager than when he was brought in as he watched Mora’s fingers twist the cap off, titling the bottle toward him as he begins to open his mouth.

“Just to make sure, you aren’t going to bite me if I give you a drink?”

Looking back at the man once more, he shakes his head just as eagerly, giving Mora the scariest idea of ‘puppy-dog eyes’ she might have ever wished she could have unseen.

“Okay, I’ll try to be slow but let me know if it’s too much.”

Mora then places the top of the bottle onto the man's lip, beginning to pour the water into his mouth.

Despite her beliefs and her attitude toward those she called her ‘patients’, she couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the bastard. Mora is a lot of terrible terrible things, but knew she wasn’t some sort of cold monster that found satisfaction in others' pain. Especially since they had one thing in common, getting fucked over by the world because of who they were. The least she could do was show empathy for someone who seemed to have it worse than herself.

Before long, the man gulps down the remaining water, releasing the top from his mouth as Mora cautiously moves it away from him. Mora speak quietly once more as she twists the lid back on to the plastic bottle.

“Good, thank you for not trying to hurt me. You’d have no idea how many of these inmates would leap at the chance to do just that. It’s- it’s fucked up. Now… Since I feel safe enough to trust you, I think I should tell you something about why you’re in here with me…”

Mora looks away from the man as she feels guilt in what she knew she had to do. In the past, all she did was touch the patient and take away their power as she tried to block out their strained shrieks that made her ears bleed.

Now, because she extended an olive branch to this stranger, it made everything moving forward begin to feel all the more gut-wrenching. Despite this nauseating feeling that began to crawl up her throat, she felt it would be best to tell him the process, doctor to patient.

“I have to remove your ability from your body.”

As Mora says this, she works up the strength to push away her feelings of guilt by staring the man in the eyes as she broke the news.

“It’s an excruciatingly painful process and there is a 20% chance you could die before the procedure is complete.”

Mora could feel her strength begin to evaporate before her very eyes as she felt the bile crawl up her throat once more.

“In the event that that happens, I will still continue to extract your power from your body as emergency services attempt to revive you.”

‘Gods, I’m gonna fucking puke.’

“A-And I know you don’t have any choice in this, but- I’ll try to make it as painless as possible, and hopefully you won’t die.”

As she spoke, Mora can feel the tears begin to form in her eyes as her vision begins to blur. Before now, she was able to block off the painful wails of her past patients, feeling some pass on as she was forced to continue on with the procedure, Gods- somehow she was able to sleep at night before now.

She never thought too much about her power until now, but somehow, Mora became the grim reaper, selling strangers' souls to the highest bidder. The more she thought about it, the more she began to feel disgusted in herself for not realizing this for years! Maybe it was for her own sanity, or it was so she wouldn’t become a lab rat, but for some damn reason, she couldn’t forgive herself for acting so selfishly.

“I’m so sorry.”

Mora was at a loss for words as she felt a few tears begin to cascade down her cheeks as she forced her gaze at the man.

The pair sat in silence for what felt like hours, Mora eventually dropping her head in shame for what she had done and would have to do. Before long, the man speaks up.

“It’s not your fault. I deserve this. So please, don’t cry.”

Her breath is caught in her throat as she looks back up at the man. There was no reason for him to talk to comfort her when he was the one about to suffer. It wasn’t fair, none of this was fair for either of them. Before Mora can speak up in retaliation, the man speaks up once more.

“Before you take it away, could you do one thing?”

Mora nods energetically as she wipes her cheeks with the back of her hand, wiping her eyes with her knuckle in an attempt to give him her full attention.

“Whatever happens to me, could you please tell my family that everything they’ll need is in the basement?”

“I-I can!”

“Good good. I’m ready.”

In utter shock, Mora takes a moment before she stands up from her chair, clenching her fists in anger as she trudges toward the man.

Before Mora has a chance to rethink her decision, she places her hand on the man’s shiny bald head, forcing the breath she held to release as she began the surgery. As she does this, Mora can see the man attempting to restrain his howls of agony in the indescribable torture he must be feeling.

“I’m so sorry!”

As Mora says this, the man looks up at her, exhaling his last words as the process is nearly complete.

“Bring back peace.”

Mora’s bottom lip begins to quiver in guilt as she nods in response, not understanding the weight of the man's words.

After the procedure, Mora left early, deciding to get a breath of fresh air as she put it. Taking long strides in the direction of her home, she began to think back on the man’s words.

‘The hell did he mean by “Bring back peace”? Was he some sort of hippy that got into trouble? If that were the case then why was he a code 10?’

Mora’s thoughts continued to consume her attention as she failed to notice the looming shadow that didn’t seem to be too far behind her as it continued to stalk its prey.

‘Maybe he was a scapegoat? They didn’t really give me much information on his charges so he could have been some sort of cult leader for all we know. That- there was no way that could be it… So then, why-’

Suddenly, Mora was pulled from her thoughts as she felt a tug by her side. Before she had a chance to figure out what was happening, she felt her body being pulled away from the desolate streets and into a damp alleyway- pushed against what felt like a dirty brick wall as she felt a bit of her shirt tear.

In a mere few seconds, Mora went from walking home to suddenly being trapped in an alleyway between a brick wall and from what she could tell was a pistol as all she could see was the underside of the gun that was held against her forehead.

“Listen here bitch. If you so much as yell, I’m putting this entire magazine in your skull, ya got that?”

Without seeing another way out of this endeavor, Mora nodded as she looked toward the perpetrator, only able to recognize a scar that started at his top lip, continuing diagonally across, and ending a few centimeters away from his bottom lip. The assailant continued speaking as she felt her heart beating a mile a minute.

“Nobody has to get hurt, just reach into your purse there and give me all your money and I’ll be on my way, alright?”

Mora nods once more as she feels the metal cylinder against her temple shift in its position on her. Between this and the brick wall behind her, she’d never felt more suffocated now than all those years she spent in that stupid cell she currently wished she never left in the first place.

As she agrees to this, she slowly moves her purse straps from their comfy place on her shoulder, now sitting in her hands as she shakily reaches in to pull out her wallet.

‘Where the fuck is it?! Of all times, NOW I had to stuff it away somewhere else!? I’m so fucking dead…’

With weighted breath, she begins to speak as she continues to scrummage through her messy bag.

“I-I- heh, you’re not gonna believe this. I- uh, I can’t find my wallet.”

“You tryna fucking pull a fast one on me lady?!”

“N-No I swear I’m not, I-I think I left it at work.”

“Bullshit. If you don’t get your money out in three fucking seconds, there’s gonna be a bullet between your eyes.”

Mora began to panic as she knew exactly where she left her wallet in the locker room that morning.

The assailant began to count down, each second seeming to further paralyze the woman in fear as she couldn’t see any other way to escape her fate.

‘Is there really no way out of this? Is this where I die? Goddamnit-’

“One.”

Mora hears a shot fired from the man's gun, the ringing in her ears proving his threats were legitimate but- something was off.

As she looked up toward the gun, she could see the smoke from the firing at the front of the cylinder dissipate, but Mora didn’t feel...anything. No pain, no blood trickling down her face, nothing! She wasn’t sure what had happened but as she shakily reached up to feel the point of impact, she was met with a cool metal feeling. The thief standing before her stumbled back as he saw the chamber appeared to have exploded rather than fire off at its intended target.

“W-What the- D-Don’t think you’re off the hook just because you have a freeze type bitch! I-I’ll fucking kill you myself!”

Confused by his statement, Mora sat there stunned as she knew that this definitely wasn’t her ability at work. Suddenly, the man begins to charge at her, wrapping his hands around her neck in hopes of choking her.

Feeling her airway begin to close off, Mora instinctively reached her hand out toward the man, gripping at his arm as she attempted to remove the man’s ability in hopes of injuring him. Mora did injure him alright, just not the way she was attempting to do so as she looked to her hand and noticed it began to burn and glow a bright orange hue. In the blink of an eye, the man before her was suddenly engulfed in flames as he released her throat.

“YOU FUCKING PSYCHO!!! AHHHHG-!”

As the man frantically began to run around in circles, Mora lost strength in her legs as she slid down the brick wall, watching in both fear and amazement at what she had done. Looking down, she sat on the ground, pulling her hand toward her face as she noticed the orange hue continue to glow.

Suddenly, from the corner of her eye she saw the assailant fall to the ground, not attempting to extinguish the fire as his body laid there lifelessly. As she sees this, she notices the fire begins to burn out itself. Looking back at her hand, she notices the glow start to fade, nervously clenching it into a fist as she trembles in...excitement?

As Mora began to think that she’s lost her mind, another thought began to linger in the back of her mind.

‘I think I’ll keep this one for myself...’

[tiemeupspidey]

Heading Home Back to You

Can’t Help Falling in Love with You Series

Relationship: Tom Holland x Reader

Summary: Tom and Zendaya are flying to London to start a tour for Europe. Jaxon,Tom’s son Facetiae’s his Aunt Zaya to show his dad something he learned.

Warnings : Cute fluff, Tom as a Dad, Reader is battling Cancer.  Tom swears cause he does IRL and I do too :,)

Word Count:1,400+

A/N: One of my favorite series to write because I know I can’t have kids sadly so Jaxon is a dream son I would want. Little fact about me sorry lol Enjoy my loves xx

[Reader’s POV]

   Tom was heading home from his us tour tonight and heading to London for the first part of their Europe tour. You knew he was going to be wide awake now and jet lagged when he gets home the next day. The time zone he was in was much later in the day. In London it was an odd sunny day,still cold enough to wear a long sleeve.It was better than living somewhere hot.

“I guess I’ll tend to the roses” I muttered getting up from the couch Tessa and I were laying on. She got up as well at my sudden movement. Jumping off the couch she padded along beside me.

“C’mon Love, let's make sure they look nice for when Daddy gets home” I smile rubbing her soft head. She barks happily running out the door once I open it. Closing the screen so the bugs don’t get in.  The small sun rays felt good against your skin. Your body chilled from your medication you were taking. Your bald head was wrapped in a bandanna.

“Mumma! Aunt Zaya is on the phone, she says she misses me”Jaxon smiles holding the phone to his ear. You laugh as he attempts holding your Iphone 7 plus to his ear. He calls her Aunt Zaya cause it’s easier to say than Godmom Zaya.

“Little star, how bout you press Facetime?” I say setting the hose down. Walking over I take the phone setting it on the table. Pressing the button Zendaya’s face pops up on the screen. Picking Jaxon up I set him in a chair so he could see the screen. Shock on his face as he looks between the phone and you.

“Zaya you’re in mumma’s phone?! I didn’t know you were a magi-magician too!” Jax smiles in amazement at the screen. He always forgets that you can Facetime on the phone. You couldn’t blame him he’s four.  Plus Tom and I don’t allow him to be sucked into a tablet playing those ridiculous apps. The only thing he could play were with his toys, and his video games.

“Hey lil bug, how was your dance class the other day?” her voice coming through the speaker.

“Zaya I can do a turn like daddy can!” He says proudly with a grin. One of his canine teeth fell out so he looks adorable.

“Well I don’t believe it till i see it! Hold on let me go find your daddy on the plane” you hear her shuffling in the background. Jaxon slides off the chair doing a little stretch. He really wants to be just like his dad so he wanted to take dance classes.

“Thomas wake up, your offspring is going to do something cute!” she yells at your husband. Grabbing the camera you switch it to the back camera. Tom comes into view with his eyes looking dead. His stubble was coming in and his mustache was growing too. Zendaya squishing her face near his so they could see the phone together. He looks at her rolling her eyes letting out a chuckle.

“Okay baby just like we practiced earlier, spot me okay ?” I say as he gets in his prep to turn.

“C’mon lad I know you can do it”  Tom leans forward a bit. You could see the excitement in Tom’s face.

“1-2” Jax steps in second.

“Tom move your face!’ Zendaya laughs shoving him.

“3-4” He preps to get ready.

“He’s my son!” Tom argues moving his head back.

“He’s my godson!”she retorts back smushing her face back in the frame.

“5-6” Jaxon does a turn smoothly, his little arms in a perfect circle.

“7-8” he says happily landing throwing his hands up in the air.

“Yes my little star! You did so well, soon you can do a double.. Practice makes perfect” I smile down at him giving him a highfive. Turning the camera around I pick him up and hold it infront us. Kissing Jaxon’s head as Tom and Zaya praise him.

“Tom you can use my phone till yours charges, I’m going to sleep just bring it over when you’re done with it.” Zaya blows kisses to Jaxon before leaving the frame.

“What happened to your blue jacket from earlier?” I ask noticing he was in a grey one now. He sent me a snapchat of himself in the blue one a couple hours ago.

“I dropped a bagel with cream cheese on it and when I wiped it off it wouldn’t come off and Harrison made fun of me, fucker” he laughs but stops realizing what he just said.

“Thomas” You glared at him. He’s lucky he isn’t here because you would have bonked him on the head.

“Mumma what’s f-fuck?” Jax asks looking up at you. Your eyes opening wide at your son.

“Jaxon Zander Holland.. We don’t say that word understand?” I scold him with a stern voice.

“But daddy said it!” he pouts pointing at your phone.

“Daddy is getting a punishment when he gets home, you will too if I hear you say that word again… Now go play with Tessa babe” I sigh setting him down onto the grass near his toys.

“What’s this punishment I’m getting? You’re making me feel like a school boy with his teacher” he grins cheekily.

“Thomasss” You laugh loudly as your cheeks heat up. He can be so naughty minded.

“There’s that smile I love so much” he sighs in content looking at you.

“You’re still in trouble,don’t think your cheeky remarks will get you out of this one!” I say pointing a finger at him.

“You know you can’t stay mad at me love” his smile says it all, you knew it was true. He was impossible to stay mad at.

“I’m blaming it on you if he says a bad word at school Tom” I say to him heading back inside after setting the sprinkler up. Jaxon follows shortly after coming in the house. His Spider-man and Iron Man action figures in hand.

“Can I go with you to your next appointment darling?” Tom asks scratching his stubble that’s been starting to form on his jaw.

“Y-yes it’s actually in two days ba-” Jaxon tugs on your shirt making you look down.

“What is it my little star?” I ask tilting his chin up with your finger.

“Mumma you don’t have to go to the white place again do you?” he asks with little tears in his eyes.

“Baby love, your daddy and I are just going to ask the doctor if mumma is still doing okay.. I will never leave you..” I whisper kneeling down pulling him into my chest.

“Don’t worry lad, mumma is going to be fine hopefully we will get some great news” Tom’s voice lightening up the mood. Jaxon grabs the phone holding it so he could see Tom.

“Daddy will be back for a little while and you can play legos with him, everything is going to be okay” My lips pressing kisses to his head. Ruffling his curls I stand back up heading towards the kitchen.Setting down my phone I pull out a mug. Tom’s long sleeve shirt rising up exposing your skin.

“Darling we have much to discuss when I get home” his grin mischievous as you tug it back down to cover your ass. You were lounging in his shirt ‘cause you missed him. What can he tell you,no? You were going to wear his shirts regardless.

“Stop staring at me like that” I laugh crossing my arms over my chest.

“You’re so gorgeous, look at that smile… How am I so lucky? Are you sure this is real?” he teases looking at you in disbelief.

“Tom..this is real, we have a child together you idiot” Hitting my palm against my forehead.

“Y’know I’m such a lucky man to have a wonderful woman like you.. I love you babe, I don’t want to waste Zendaya’s battery give Jax a kiss from me when you send him off to bed” Smiling he blows you kisses while you saying all the I love you’s before he has to go.

   Ending the call you plug your phone into the charger. Walking upstairs to see Tessa and Jaxon passed out together in his room. The both of them sharing his Spider-Man blanket. Watching your son’s chest rise and fall for a few minutes. Closing the door you make your way to bed. Everything was fine but it feels more complete when Tom’s home. It’s never fully the same without him there with you all.

[trade-baby-blues]

The Zoo

Pairing: Bones x Reader

Word Count: 1584

Warnings: secondhand embarrassment, some swearing

A/N: This is loosely based on a true story from my own childhood. When I was like...10? Maybe? We went to the zoo in Nebraska and they have this koi pond near the entrance. My 3 year old cousin wasn’t paying attention and just ran straight into it, but it’s chill because I’m a natural sprinter and tugged him out before anything bad could happen. Also I definitely took the nickname J for Jim from someone?? I think it was kaitymccoy123 from the Lost Days series (which I desperately need to catch up on lol)?? Either way, I 100% love that nickname for Jim.

In theory, you really should've expected this. It was Jim after all. Why else would your brother invite you to go to the zoo with him and Bones knowing full well how hopelessly in love with Leonard you were. The only person you could blame was yourself, but that didn't stop you from blaming Jim anyway.

“Pick up your goddamn comm,” you muttered as you called Jim for the third time in a row. After another two rings, he picked up.

“Morning sunshine,” he said. You could hear that smug grin through the phone.

“Don't ‘morning sunshine’ me, J. You're late.”

“Late to what, my dear sister?” He was teasing you. Typical.

You pinched the bridge of your nose, trying not to make a scene in front of Bones and his daughter. “You complete and total douche yacht. This was your plan all along wasn't it?”

Jim laughed at your weak insult. “Douche yacht?”

“Yeah like a douche canoe but bigger.” You heard the comm drop as Jim laughed harder. “This isn't funny Jim! What the hell am I supposed to do alone with Bones at the zoo?!”

Jim scrambled to pick up the phone before replying, still laughing, “As if you've been thinking about anything but what you’d do when you got Bones alone.”

“Well it's not like I can just jump his bones in front of his daughter!! What the hell do I even do with a kid!”

“Y/N,” a small voice beside you said, “what does ‘jump his bones’ mean?”

You froze, and you heard Jim cackling louder than ever over the comm. “You're a dead man, J,” you whispered before hanging up the phone. You took a breath to collect yourself before crouching to face Joanna. “Well, Jo, it means...It means I want your daddy to, uh…give me a piggy back ride is all.”

“Hm, okay!.” Joanna smiled and hugged your leg. You relaxed a little, glad something was at least going your way. Now, you just had to figure out how to swear her to secrecy.

You were devising a plan that involved a lot of ice cream, when Joanna bounded back to her father. “Daddy, daddy. Auntie Y/N said she wants a piggyback ride.” Oh God, you thought desperately.

Bones crouched down in front of his daughter, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “I don’t know, Jo. I think Y/N’s a little old for piggyback rides.”

Joanna shook her head, hair swinging in waves around her. “She said so, Daddy, she said so! She wants to jump your bones.” You were frozen mid-step, hoping to cut Joanna off before she could say anything. A few passersby turned to look at the three of you as Joanna’s voice carried. It felt like all the blood in your body got a one way ticket right to your cheeks. At this point, best case scenario for you was falling into the wolf pit and getting eaten. You couldn’t bring yourself to look at Bones, but out of the corner of your eye you could see him smirking.

“Well, Jo-bear, Y/N’s piggyback ride’ll have to wait, ‘cause this back is reserved for my princess today,” Bones said, ruffling Joanna’s hair. She giggled and swatted his hand away before he picked her up, carrying her on his hip. “Oh, and Jo.”

“Yes, Daddy,” she said, still working on straightening the bows in her hair. “Let’s not say, ‘jump your bones’ again, okay, sweetheart? Ain’t lady-like,” Bones directed the last part of the sentence to you, with a wink. Yeah, definitely time to throw yourself to the wolves.

With your embarrassment soon forgotten by all but you, the rest of the trip was pretty enjoyable. Once you got down to it, it was surprisingly easy to talk to Joanna. She kept asking you questions about Leonard and life on the Enterprise, the two things you were most passionate about. Right now, she was propped up on your shoulders, braiding your hair as you walked and talking about her own dreams to join Starfleet and become a medic like her dad. Bones couldn’t help but smile at the two of you.

He looked at his watch with a sigh, really not wanting the day to end: “Well, ladies. I think it’s time we hit the road.”

Joanna slumped over your head dramatically. “But daaaaddy, I haven’t finished braiding Y/N’s hair, and we haven’t even been to the reptile house. I wanna see the Filian pythons!”

Bones reached out for Joanna, pulling her off your back and setting her on the ground. He knelt in front of her, straightening out her jacket and smoothing her hair down. “I know, sugar, but the animals have to sleep too. You can finish braiding Y/N’s hair in the car, okay, pumpkin? Don’t you have your spare bows in there?”

“Plus, I think there might be a Filian python in the gift shop with your name on it,” you said, dropping to Joanna’s level and throwing her a wink. She immediately brightened, throwing her arms around your neck and knocking you backwards.

You barely managed to catch your balance before Jo was tugging on your and Leonard’s hands, pulling you towards the gift shop. “Come on, come on! Why are grown up so slow?” She stopped for a moment, staring at the two of you in horror. “Am I gonna be that slow when I grow up?” You and Leonard laughed.

“You can run on ahead,” Leonard replied, “just stay close, and be careful.”

“Thanks, daddy,” Joanna said, hugging Leonard’s leg. “Will you guard this for me Auntie Y/N?” Jo handed you her backpack, not giving you time to answer before skipping off ahead.

“So,” Bones started, still staring straight ahead at his daughter, “‘bout earlier.”

“Hm,” you hummed, eyes still trained on Joanna. You shifted her backpack higher onto your shoulder. Leonard took your hand in his, gently tugging you to a stop. Your breath caught, eyes dropping first to your hands entwined and then looking to his face. The smug bastard had that eyebrow raised again and you were sure you’d melt on the spot.

“You really gonna pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about?” Leonard ran his hand up from yours to your elbow, pulling you closer to him. His other hand brushed your cheek, and then back into your hair, running his fingers over the braid Joanna had put in.  

“I dunno. I don’t think my brain’s getting enough oxygen right now. Maybe I need a little mouth-to-mouth to kickstart my memory.”

Bones laughed. “I hope you know more about xenolinguistics than you do about medicine, or our ship’s doomed.”

“Oh, trust me. I’m very skilled with my tongue.” You slipped a hand around the back of Leonard’s neck, pulling him towards you. You could smell his cologne already and the thought of his stubble brushing against your cheeks was making you a little lightheaded. Your lips brushed together, and you were expecting fireworks. There was a scream instead.

You whipped your head to the right, eyes immediately going for Joanna. You heard a splash of water and before your brain processed what happened you were already sprinting to the pond. You pulled the backpack off as you went, dropping it by the side of the pond before tumbling in arms first, not wanting to hit Joanna. You reached blindly, hitting a koi fish before grasping the front of Joanna’s jacket. You quickly stood, hoisting Jo over your head and putting her on the rocks at the edge of the pond. She was soaked but seemed to be in otherwise good condition.

Leonard was there in a heartbeat, fussing over her. He insisted on pulling out the tricorder he’d put in Joanna’s backpack and scanning the both of you twice. When the scans came up clear, he pulled both of you against his chest, kissing the tops of your heads. He hoisted Jo up, cradling her in his arms, trying to calm himself down more than her.

“Uh, Bones,” you said, still lying on your back at the edge of the pond, “I appreciate your concern and all but maybe we could go? I’m kind of freezing here.” A small breeze hit you, making a shiver run through your body as if on cue.

“Jesus, yes, of course. I’m so sorry.” Bones reached his free hand towards you, pulling you up against his chest. He held you there for a second, pressing another kiss to the top of your head. “Thank you,” he mumbled. Joanna giggled.

“Daddy likes Y/N!” She gasped as a thought struck her. “Does that mean Y/N’s gonna be my mommy too?”

“It’d be an honor to be such a beautiful little girl’s mommy,” you said, reaching out to Jo. She jumped from Leonard’s arms to yours, but you caught her easily. “I think that’s a decision your daddy and I are going to have to make later, though, okay, sweetie?”

“Yeah, okay. I forgot grown ups are slow.” You chuckled again as Joanna snuggled up against your shoulder. She was asleep by the time you reached the car, so you carefully climbed into the backseat, not wanting to wake her. Bones chanced a glance at the two of you before pulling out of the parking lot, only to find you curled around Joanna, the two of you sleeping soundly. The smile didn’t leave his lips the whole ride home.

As always, let me know if you want tagged or if you want not tagged!

Tags!

@jimtkirkisabitch @imamotherfuckingstar-lord @outside-the-government

@martinawalker @thevalesofanduin @goingknowherewastaken @daybreak96

@8bit-arc-reactor

[justsomebucky]

Flashes (Part 4 - End)

Summary: Soulmate AU. “The fault, dear Brutus is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings.” - William Shakespeare (Julius Caesar)

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader

Word Count: 2,964

Warnings: language, fluff, angst, pain, descriptions of injuries, graphic death

(Do not read if you’re squeamish or easily frightened or triggered by this sort of thing! DO NOT DO IT. I will completely understand.)

A/N: Well, I did it…at least I tried. The lovely @minervaem challenged me (sort of) to do an angsty story. Thank you to my friends Rochelle, Nicole, Lauren, and Bella for their support. I’m sure they are glad to see this go, too, lol.

I hated every second of this story. PS - I’m not doing an alternative ending, I’m not doing a follow-up. I want this gone!

Part 1 - 2 - 3 - 4

He was nearby.

You knew, because Nat had told you the closer you got to Bucky, the more frequent your flashes would become. That’s what happened with her and Clint, anyway. You’d been having flashes off and on all morning, five in total so far.

The first three had led you to the street you were on at the moment.

You’d seen the street signs, walked the same sidewalk, smiled at some of the same passersby. Clues had led you to this outdoor café, where you sat with a cappuccino, in the same chair at the same table that you’d chosen in your visions.

That was all good and fine…that made sense to you. Your flashes made you see something, and you followed the clues like a treasure map.

But now you were so freaking confused.

These last two flashes didn’t make any sense, and didn’t follow the same structure as the others. Neither flash had featured Bucky. In fact, the only thing you had seen was the sky. You couldn’t move your head, you couldn’t look down…your only view was the swirling clouds above.

You tapped your fingers on the table at a different tempo than your shaking leg, wondering what it all could mean. Natasha had never ever mentioned feeling uncomfortable or frightened after her flashes. No, she’d always been subjected to sunshine and rainbows in hers, apparently.

Maybe your flashes were reflections of how you were feeling, sort of like your dreams? You were anxious as all hell, and scared to be rejected (which sounds stupid when dealing with a soulmate, but what did you know about acceptance? You could count those loyal to you on one hand).

You let your eyes drift upward, noting the mix of light and dark grey clouds. There was an occasional sun shower peeking through, though, which left the city looking a little mythical, like something that Tolkien had dreamed up. Some small trees lined this street, giving it the feel that you were outside of a major city, when really you were just in one of the boroughs that was a little less pavement and a little more hipster.

Back to the sky, though. Why was it featured so heavily? There was nothing out of the ordinary about it. Maybe Bucky was really Superman? It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s James ‘Bucky’ Barnes!

A smile tried to find its way to your lips, but you were having none of it, biting your lower lip to stop yourself. This was serious business, and you were exhausted and having some silly thoughts instead of staying on task. You needed to focus, you needed to find Bucky.

Flashes were a lot more emotionally draining than you had anticipated. There’s this strange tug that feels like it’s centered from your spine, pulling out through your gut and tethering you to this other person. When you see them, you feel this incredible sense of urgency…to be near them, to talk to them, whatever. It was wearing you down when it should be building you up, making you feel whole.

Your eyes flitted across the faces of strangers, searching for any familiarity in their faces and coming up empty. You were so intent on the task at hand that when your phone buzzed, you jumped out of your seat.

“Hello?”

“Y/N? Why do you sound weird?”

Oh, probably because your nerves were shot, no big deal. “I’m fine, what’s up?”

“Did you find him yet?”

You made a face, still glancing around. “Nope. Did you finally get to Clint?”

“I did! Sweetie, it’s unbelievable! It’s just freaking unreal to finally be in his arms. I can’t even explain it. Wait, what am I saying? You’re gonna find out in no time at all what it feels like, then we can discuss!”

“Is he the dreamboat you were hoping for?” You were so happy she finally got to Clint, but keeping up the excitement when you were still waiting was becoming quite the task. “Am I gonna be your maid of honor?”

“You better freaking believe it! And to answer your question, yes. He is a dreamboat. But more than that, he’s absolutely my better half. Clint’s such a good man, Y/N. I can’t wait for you to meet him!”

“Me either. He sounds perfect for you.”

“Thanks for sounding thrilled, I really appreciate it,” she replied dryly.

You laughed. “You know I am, Nat. It’s just…I’m really tired, and he still hasn’t made an appearance, and I’m just ready for it all to be over, you know? I just want to be with Bucky.”

“I know, Sweetie. Soon, your hand will be in his, and you’ll look at him and say, ‘Hot damn, you are one sexy cop!’ And then you’ll find lots of new and fun things to do with those handcuffs.”

“Nice,” you replied, smirking. Your best friend certainly had a way with words. “I’ll make sure that’s the very first thing I say, ya know…reel him in right away with my wit.”

Natasha snorted. “Seriously, as soon as you’re done kissing the hell out of him, call me. I want to hear his voice, maybe lay down a few rules and warnings for how he needs to treat a gem like you.”

“You got it. I’ll call you after I find him. Go be with Clint, make the most of your day. I love you, Natasha.”

“Love you too, Y/N. Good luck!”

Your cappuccino had long since gone cold, and there still was no sign of your soulmate. Heaving a big sigh, you tossed some money down beside your cup and stood, stretching a little. There were still two days left in your trip, so you could try again tomorrow.

It was getting dark, you reasoned. It was a little chilly, and it looked like it might drizzle soon anyways. There were loads of reasons to call it a day and spend another night lonely, wishing you had met Bucky already.

Tomorrow was another day.

You tossed your bag over your shoulder and scooted around the tables, exiting the café’s patio area and finding yourself back at square one on the sidewalk. You decided, just for your own piece of mind, to walk back to the corner you’d seen in your flashes. Maybe it would trigger another vision with more helpful information besides the stupid sky.

After looking both ways, you darted across the street and turned left, staring at the sidewalk dejectedly as you walked. You made it about two feet before you ran smack into someone.

More specifically, you ran into someone’s muscular chest. Your heart pounded, your knees weakened, and you felt that familiar tug from your midsection as you looked up into the bright blue eyes of one Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes.

He reached out to steady you, his own eyes wide. “Excuse me, I’m so sorry, I didn’t-“

“No, no,” you interrupted, feeling your face grow hot. “It was my fault, I wasn’t watching where I was going, and I-”

Your voice trailed off when you realized he was smiling at you with a look of recognition. 

“It’s you,” Bucky breathed out, marveling at the sight of you. “I’ve been looking for you.”

Oh, shit…you’d been so caught up in your own flashes that you failed to remember that he was probably having weird flashes about you, too.

“Found someone, you have,” you joked, immediately shaking your head in embarrassment. “I’m sorry, that was so lame, I’m…I’m just so freaking nervous! I-” You shook your head again, giving him a sheepish smile. “I’ve been looking for you, too.”

Bucky’s smile was the most amazing thing you’d ever seen in your entire life. It was just like in the flashes; he radiated warmth, and those little laugh lines appeared, and thank god he was holding your arms because you were sure you would have fallen over.

“I’m Bucky,” he offered, eyes twinkling. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Y/N.”

Your name rolled off of Bucky’s tongue as he repeated it, his smile widening. He had a little bit of stubble along his strong jaw. His mouth was gorgeous, mesmerizing even.

“You’re a sexy cop,” you blurted out, cursing at Natasha in your head. “I mean, uh…What I meant was, I’ve been seeing you in my flashes, and you’re usually in uniform.”

“Oh,” he chuckled, his nose crinkling in the cutest damn way ever. “Yeah, I had a vacation day today. My flashes were becoming more frequent, and…well I’m sure I don’t have to tell you, after waiting this long, I didn’t want to risk missing you.”

“I know exactly what you mean.” This time you smiled back at him. You were sure that if you didn’t look away soon, you were going to fall head-first into those bottomless blue eyes and drown. “Do you want to, maybe, go somewhere and talk? Get to know each other?”

“Yes, yes we should definitely do that.” Bucky let his grip drop from your arms, immediately reaching his hand out to entwine your fingers with his. He gave your hand a gentle squeeze, and you about melted there on the sidewalk. “I know a little pizza joint around the corner, best pizza in the city!”

“I knew we were going to get along. Pizza is the way to my heart.” God, when were you going to stop being so damn awkward?

Bucky laughed again, his perfect teeth on display, and you knew in that moment that you were going to let your dork flag fly for the rest of your life if it meant that your cheesy jokes would make him smile like that.

You allowed him to tug on your hand and lead you down the sidewalk a bit. The two of you were grinning at each other like teenagers experiencing their first dose of puppy love, but you didn’t give a shit what you looked like to anyone else.

The reverie was broken when a man came running out of the building to your right, nearly bowling the both of you over.

“Rude,” Bucky muttered, glancing at the guy before continuing.

There was a little convenience store at the very corner of the street, one you’d been in twice today to buy gum and lottery scratchers to waste some time. It was owned by an elderly Greek couple who lived in the apartment above it.

You glanced inside as the two of you passed by the door, but when you saw what was going on, you stopped short, pulling Bucky to a standstill too.

“Oh my god,” you rasped. “Someone’s got a gun to that poor woman’s head!” Your eyes flew to Bucky’s face, and he immediately went into superhero mode.

“Stay here,” he instructed, pulling his hand from yours.

“Wait, don’t you think you should call for backup first? He’s got a freaking gun!”

Bucky looked at you again, eyes pleading. “Just stay out here, okay? Actually, no. Go across the street. I don’t want you anywhere near this guy. Go!”

He gave you a little push, but instead of relenting, you panicked.

You grabbed his face and pressed your lips to his for the first time, trying to convey everything he already meant to you in this kiss. Bucky was too stunned to react for a second, then he returned your kiss eagerly.

It was over far too quickly for your taste, but, ya know…gunman and all…

“Be careful,” you murmured when you pulled back.

“Go,” he repeated, his eyes a little darker than before. “Please.”

You nodded, then turned and crossed the street quickly, reaching for your phone to dial for emergency help. Your eyes stared at the glass door as Bucky went inside and approached the counter slowly. You lost sight of him.

“What’s your emergency?”

“I need to report an armed robbery, on the corner of-“

A couple customers came running out, screaming at the top of their lungs, but not Bucky. You tried to find your voice again. “On the corner of Third Avenue and Union Street, in the convenience store. The robber has a gun!”

“Okay miss, is the shooter still inside?”

About ten seconds went by and you heard a shot ring out. You tried to move to see inside the door, but the gunman came running out instead, still brandishing his handgun.You ducked behind a small tree, trying to stay out of his line of sight.

“Miss? I asked if the shooter was still inside of the store?”

“No, h-he ran outside, they’re outside, oh my g-”

You watched in horror as Bucky came crashing out the door after him, trying to tackle him to the ground. They wrestled around on the sidewalk, and no one was helping him, oh god, no one was helping Bucky, what if-

Another shot rang out, and this time, you heard a man grunt in pain.

When the shooter stood up and raced down the sidewalk, away from the corner, you knew he hadn’t been the one to take the bullet. No one went after him. What the hell was wrong with people?

“Miss, stay on the line, all right? I’ve sent officers to the scene. Is the gunman still there?”

Bucky couldn’t go after him. He was writhing on the ground.

“Officer down,” you cried out into your phone. “Buc- Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes has been shot!” Oh god, oh god, oh god…

“Miss, I really need you to remain calm and-”

You dropped your phone, finally finding the courage to ignore Bucky’s plea to stay put once you realized that he was trying to crawl to the curb. There was blood everywhere, so much blood that you could see it from across the street. Bucky was dragging himself with one arm, on one knee, and clutching his chest with the other hand.

He lifted that blood-soaked hand in your direction. “Stop,” he croaked, immediately covering his wound again, his face scrunched in agony. “Don’t.”

“Bucky!” You were hysterical now, knowing he was trying to spare you the sight of him bleeding out. “Bucky, I’m a nurse! I can help you, I promise!” You leapt across the first lane of traffic, dodging two different cabs as one driver honked at you in irritation.

When you go to the center line, you let another car pass before taking off again toward Bucky. His blue eyes were locked on yours, his brows stitched together as he shook his head at you.

Almost there. “Stay still, okay? You’re gonna be fi-“

You never saw the movement in your periphery. It happened too fast for you, for anyone to react.

You never saw the shooter in his stolen getaway car as he peeled out of a parking space by the curb. You didn’t see him because you’d been too focused on Bucky.

When the car struck your body, you unexpectedly felt yourself go airborne. Screams pierced the air again, but it wasn’t your cry this time.

No, you couldn’t make a sound, because the air was taken from your lungs.

Your bag flew into the street, while you rolled up over the hood of the car and back down again, right near the curb in front of Bucky.

At least, you think that’s where you landed.

You couldn’t move; you knew your spine was at the very least broken, and possibly - probably - your neck. You knew that because you couldn’t feel a thing. No pain, just…nothing.

All you could see was the sky.

“Y/N!” You heard Bucky’s gurgled voice to your right. You couldn’t reply, still didn’t have a voice. From your training, you knew that sound meant that the gunshot probably, at the very least, pierced his lung, maybe even worse. He was bleeding to death, and you were the only one nearby who could help him.

Why was no one else helping him? There were millions of people in this goddamn city…surely one of them…

You stared at the sky. Little shadows were creeping in your line of vision, just like they had in your last two flashes.

Your mind was wandering, your focus on the sky drifting in and out.

“Y/N,” Bucky’s voice was a mere rasp in your ear. He’d somehow crawled off the curb to you, and you knew that he knew…

He moved over you then, blocking that godforsaken sky. His mouth and nose both dripped blood. When he coughed, even more blood spilled out.

He was crying, his eyes lined in red, and you wished you could reach up and brush the tears away. You wished you could whisper something soothing, to reassure him that you loved him the minute you saw him in your flash. You wanted to tell him to get well and move on from this, but you couldn’t do much of anything besides wheeze and stare, stare and wheeze.  

Bucky seemed to be saying something, but you lost all focus. You were so tired…

The universe is cruel, you thought idly.

You’d finally found him, the one you were meant for, the one you’d almost given up hope in ever finding. You were handed three minutes or so of pure bliss, only to have it immediately snatched from your hands.

The universe is so cruel.

Your eyes were leaking now; you only knew because your vision was blurring. His face disappeared, but you saw the top of his head, saw his fluffy brown hair in your periphery. He must have collapsed on your chest. Maybe he was already gone. Maybe he thought you were. Maybe you were both on your way out.

You weren’t going to make him smile for the rest of your life.

You’d never see his blue eyes again.

The grey sky disappeared, and there was nothing.

Part 1 - 2 - 3 - 4

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