#It's the only version of Tony I could get behind

[oifaaa]

I feel like while we've had a bunch of villains become heroes in recent years but we've not had nearly enough heroes becoming villains which equivalent exchange I think for every villain that goes hero permanently there should be one hero that goes villain permanently

[endless-ineffabilities]

The Bolter (part three)

Steve Rogers x f!reader

synopsis : Steve carries out his decision to return to Peggy, aiming to live out the rest of his days with her. But this means he's leaving everything behind - he's leaving you. Did he make the right choice? Will there be anything left with you to come back to?

in this chapter : The reader returns to New York for the first time after Steve left, reuniting with Bucky. We see a little more of what the reader and Steve went through while on the run.

themes/warnings : pining, tension, unrequited love, two sad saps (reader and Bucky) trying to get over trauma and heartache :(, language, brief mention of injuries

word count : <2k

main masterlist ▪︎ series masterlist

2024, three months after Steve's departure

You just finished your second mission since the final battle.

Since Tony. Since Nat.

Since... him.

Only three months, or rather, three long months. You don't know why Sam was worried that you are apparently overworking yourself.

He keeps calling you up, checking in from time to time, making sure that you are allowing yourself to relax. Have a little break. Stay with them in New York for a while. Maybe even have a couple of sessions with the therapist Bucky is seeing.

He must have done a darn good job at convincing you, or maybe you were just exhausted, because you arrive back in New York soon enough.

And Bucky comes knocking on your door not long after.

Your eyes meet, both of you blocking your doorway. Not a single word needs to be said - the understanding you two share runs much deeper.

Two kindred abandoned souls and whatnot.

You step aside to let him through and close the door behind him. His hair is trimmed shorter now, and with his getup, he could pass as just another civilian. It takes another beat of silence before he finally asks, "So how are you?"

You snort at how ridiculous his question sounds. He knows. "How are you?" you counter, eyebrows raised in a challenge.

"Touché," he says, shrugging off his leather jacket and placing it atop your kitchen island. He knows his way around. He's been here before, on the many nights you both shared drinks with Natasha, Sam and... him.

Damn it. You curse internally. It's okay, his name was Steve. He's not the fucking boogeyman.

He gives you a quick once over, immediately noticing that you're putting a lot of your weight on your left leg.

"I fell out a window," you sigh.

"Fuck's sake," he grimaces, shaking his head.

"Hey, we can't all be super soldiers, Buck. My muscles are just a bit softer than yours."

He presses on, still concerned, "Checked in for your physical yet?"

"Booked it for tomorrow," you respond. "But it shouldn't be too bad."

You feel his eyes continue to scan you, but in a non-invasive way. He's checking for more injuries, more signs of wear and tear. He's a lot like Steve, but his gaze is different, less commanding.

More broken.

"Anything new?" you have to ask to distract yourself, and he picks up on it right away. About Steve. He hasn't shown up like he said he would. You had been dreading it - the possibility of seeing a much older Steve, after he got to live out his life in this timeline.

He promised he would try and find you. A version of him, at least. White-haired and wrinkled and weary, but still your Steve. He said you would see him again, in what would be his future and your present, and say a real goodbye. Maybe even tell you all about his life and his girl.

You thought you blocked all that out, but sadly it did not slip your mind. You remember. And you didn't want to be there when it happens.

But nothing did, and you didn't know whether to be worried or relieved.

"Nothing," Bucky shakes his head. "But Dr. Banner is keeping track on whether there are any anomalies in the timeline, specifically in where Steve went back. Everything seems to be normal."

He's fine, and he finally got his normal. And you should let go.

As if he can read your mind, Bucky says, "It's hard to let go, isn't it?"

He's struggling. Of course he is. Bucky also has an old skin to shed, and bones to bury. You never encountered the Winter Soldier back in the day, but you heard of him.

Once you got to know Bucky, you never needed to know anything else. This is who he really is, and he's a good person. He's your friend.

And Steve trusted him. He believed in him. That would have been enough in your eyes, if anything.

"What makes you think I haven't let go yet?" you smile weakly.

He exhales, smiling back. Because, he seems to say, I know you.

Stepping forward, he opts for putting a hand on your shoulder first, unsure. He squeezes gently once, but then changes his mind and pulls you in for a hug at the last second, careful not to add any stress on your leg.

It takes the breath out of you, with his vibranium arm wrapped around your midtorso.

"I'm glad you're back," he mumbles against your hair.

Bucky knows that only you would really understand. The others, maybe they loved Steve too. Admired him. But it was different with the two of you.

Clint can move on with his family. Sam has his new responsibilties. Thor is out of world. Wanda has her own burden to bear. The world will go on as it always has.

But not for us, you think. As he held you tight, you decide that you will help Bucky through it. You will make sure that he gets the peace that he deserves and he is able to let go of Steve. Even if doesn't happen for you, this would be enough.

You offer him a drink after a moment, and he accepts without hesitation.

This is how it starts. This is how the two of you begin to move on.

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2017, ten months after the Avengers' Civil War

"Where were you?" Steve's voice came from somewhere in the room. He was seated in the small living room of your shared cabin, blinds drawn shut, almost out of sight.

You twisted around, and let your duffel bag fall to the floor. Squeezing the bridge of your nose, you let out a shaky breath. "What the hell, Steve, you nearly scared me."

You rummaged through the cupboard, looking for your stashed whiskey. "Nearly," you repeated in jest, when you heard him making his way to you.

You got a much better look at him then. His hair had darkened due to its length, and his beard was thicker. You were going to need several swigs of hard alcohol to resist jumping his bones.

"I was worried," he said, and his tone was gentler. It made you feel guilty, and you didn't know why. "I came back from Wakanda and you were gone."

"I wasn't gone, Steve. Sam needed help getting away with something, you know how it is. We don't exactly have a set schedule on when and where to go, given our fugitive status."

"I know, I know," he said right away, frustrated. What's wrong with him? "But you could have called, left a note - "

"A note could have been intercepted."

" - anything. Just to let me know how you are. You could have been taken in for all I know - "

"You really think I would let them take me in?"

He threw a stern glare your way, propping a hand on his hip. Based on his stance, you thought of how it looked like Captain America was about to give you a good scolding.

But you beat him to it. You were just too tired, and your arm was killing you. "Look, Steve, I had to help Sam and you were still in Wakanda checking up on Bucky. I didn't think it was a big deal. I thought I would be back here by the time you - "

"What's wrong with your arm?" he interrupted you, his practiced eyes easily noticing the damage, and reached for your forearm. "Take your jacket off."

Your eyes nearly bulged out of your head before you can catch yourself. "What?" you squeaked, but you knew just what he meant.

Steve was on full Captain mode, always looking out for anyone he feels responsible for. That's all it was. You had to remind your hopeful self that it was nothing more.

His hands were waiting by the neckline of your jacket, asking for permission. Ever so polite, even when his mood is sour.

You can ignore a lot of things, compartmentalize your emotions. You're used to it all, not getting too attached to anyone or anything as a result of your chosen life.

But you couldn't ignore the burning feeling his fingertips left behind as they grazed your skin. When he guided you to the couch so he can take a better look at the bruises on your arm, you were seated close. The closest you've ever been to each other, but he didn't look fazed at all.

Of course not. This doesn't mean the same to him, as it does to me.

You watched him the entire time, his long eyelashes almost grazing his cheek as he looked down at his work. His brows furrowed in concentration. Once in a while, he mumbled something that sounded like, never should've happened, or gotta watch out next time.

It didn't take long for him to fix you up nicely, your arm disinfected and wrapped in gauze.

After you thanked him, you stood from the seat, ready to compartmentalize that moment too. Because that was not the time to go falling for anyone, especially not someone who was just too good for you.

But he grabbed your hand before you walked away, looking up at you as he stayed seated.

"Steve?" There it was again, that burning. That warmth. If he didn't notice the goosebumps on your skin before, you were sure he saw them then.

"I - " he hesitated, before finally deciding on, "I'm glad you're okay."

You tilted your head, smiling. "You're not getting rid of me that easily, y'know."

His worried and serious expression drops and he smiled, eyes all crinkled.

And that was one sight you won't ever be able to ignore.

▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎

A week later, Natasha dropped by. Sporting a brand new white-blonde hairdo that suited her just as fine as her signature red.

You teased her about it, saying how she must have been waiting for an opportunity like this to have an excuse to drastically switch out her hairstyle.

The two of you sat on the bench on the patio while Steve chopped up wood in the distance, looking like a right ol' lumberjack.

He looked too damn good, and it annoyed you. He wasn't making any of it easy.

"You could switch your hair out too, you know. It helps in going incognito," she reached over and twirled a strand of your hair.

You swatted her hand away playfully, grinning, "Oh, but my face is too memorable so it might not even work."

"Oh really?" she smiled, with that mischievous glint in her eye. "Well, Steve certainly seems to think so."

"Uh, what do you mean?"

"He looks at you like you're his sun or something," she stretched out, amused by the obvious rush of blood to your face.

You shook your head profusely, because of how wrong you thought her assumptions were. "He looks at me because there's no one else around here to look at. Not for at least fifty miles or even more."

"Honey, please. It's my job to know these things."

"Oh, is it now?"

"Mhmm," she patted your knee, tilting her head in Steve's direction without turning to look at him. "I'm willing to bet Tony's LA mansion that he's looking at you right now."

"No, he's not - "

"Then prove me wrong."

But you turned, and you couldn't prove her wrong.

Your eyes met Steve's and when he realized your attention was on him, he simply smiled.

Like you were his sun, Natasha had said. But she was a bit off the mark.

You were never Steve's sun, but he was yours.

Read part four here ~

taglist (let me know if you wish to be added!) : @vicmc624 @littleliyah16 @babezawa @klammykayla @justsebstan @blue--ingenue @numblytemporary @bradshawass @delicious-xx

It will be a bit more of jumping back and forth through time, before we see everyone back together (even Steve? 🤷🏻‍♀️)

It's the start of a potential Bucky x reader. I gotta be careful here because I might just flip and want the reader to be with him instead.. who could ever look over Bucky???? He's going to make it hard for us that's for sure.

[shanastoryteller]

Happy Fall Season! 🍁🍂🌻🎃👻🧛🏻‍♀️ … Three faced goddess continuation 👉🏻👈🏻? God dammit shana i fucking loved this prompt, 2012 Tony is the only version that has rights and I’ve had such a problem with him ever since aou, but your writing took me back to when I actually loved his character

a continuations of 1

Rhodey heads to the smith, unsurprised to see a line of people outside of it, waiting for the man inside to succumb to his need to eat or sleep and pounce on him for whatever issue they believe needs his immediate attention. Peter is among them, the closest to an apprentice that exists, but he can’t enter the forge without everyone else pushing in too, so he waits with all the rest of them.

When they see him coming, they groan, knowing their chances have been destroyed, except for Peter, who just looks relieved.

He remembers a time when Edward belonged to him alone. Edward exists because of him, after all, and needs must, but sometimes he can’t help but resent that this is another piece that he’s had to share.

“When I walk back out, it better be to an empty hallway,” he says blandly.

He receives a chorus of, “Yes, General,” and a jaunty wave from Peter before he’s opening the door and then shutting it firmly behind him.

In the beginning, the alchemy lab and the forge had occupied the same space, the outpost not yet big enough to have the rooms to spare. It had been quickly remedied once Rhodey had found about it, because the last thing any of them needed was losing him to an explosion of his own making, but he can’t say he’s surprised to see a cauldron bubbling ominously in the center of the room. “You have a lab for a reason.”

Surprised brown eyes snap up to meet his, and then there’s that familiar grin that always causes tension to unspool from his spine, even when it really shouldn’t. “Well, well, look what the cat dragged in. How goes the battle on the Eastern border?”

As if he doesn’t know. “They’re retreating. Our soldiers are holding the line and it looks like they’ve given up attacking us on that front. For now.”

“Sounds like something you should tell the king,” he says, frowning down into the cauldron as if it’s personally disappointed him.

Rhodey closes the distance between them, grabbing his chin and tilting his head to the side, frowning at the bruising mostly hidden by his hairline. “I am. But it’s a bit of wasted effort, considering the king is half the reason for their retreat.”

“Just half?” he pouts. “I really think that I deserve more credit-”

Rhodey kisses him to shut him up, a strategy that he’s been employing since they were teenagers, the whole reason necessitating Edward in the first place.

The second prince could not be scene dallying with someone so below him in station, the fact they were known to be friendly was a fluke of a broken wagon and much derision to all who heard of it. But Edward was no one, an educated fifth son of some nameless noble with a talent for metalwork, and no one cared if he kissed a commoner.

Then war had come knocking and a king could not do what needed to be done and so Edward had shifted from Rhodey’s to the country’s overnight.

Tony hums happily against his mouth and Rhodey pulls back rather than deepening it. Half the trick with was not letting him get distracted. “You need to get some sleep. Have you slept at all since getting back from the battle?”

The deep bruises under his eyes already tells him the answer, but it’s still worth asking.

“Need to figure this out,” he says, tilting his head to the cauldron. “It’s a coating for the blades to get them sharp enough to cut through armor. Not our armor, obviously, but other people’s.”

“A day,” he says, because Tony is needed everywhere at all times in all ways, and someone has to keep him from running himself into an early grave, and at the outpost, that’s him. “Just a day at home. I know you miss it. It’s been a while.”

Tony’s eyes go distant and fond. “Yes,” he agrees, and that one word has all the exhaustion that he won’t let show.

“You disappear all the time, no one will question it,” he murmurs, “I’ll make sure of it.”

“I’ll go if you will,” he returns. “You haven’t been home in even longer than I have.”

“Less of a need,” he argues, and he should argue against this too, when it’s unnecessary and dangerous, but he’s tired too. “Fine. We’ll need to sneak out to the woods if you don’t want to get caught.”

Tony clearly hadn’t expected him to agree that easily. “You hate flying.”

He hates how much pain it puts Tony in, but since he’s flying either way to get home, it doesn’t matter. “I’ll deal.”

Tony kisses him again, writes down some notes, douses the cauldron, and then they’re using the secret entrances that had actually been the whole point of building a lab near the forge. When they’re far enough away, Tony’s chest glows, the light and sparks spreading out from his chest to effulge his body and liquid gold and mercury sliding down his limbs. Rhodey has to close his eyes against the light, but Tony’s arms around him are always welcome, even when they burn almost too hot to stand.

The Iron Mage flying to the castle is a common enough sight that it raises no alarm and the brightness of Tony in flight means no one can tell he has a passenger, seen as nothing more than their own personal shooting star.

Tony melts the iron shutters back with a wave of his hand, likely reforming it behind them with a more intricate pattern than they’d been wrought with, because he always had such opinions about anything he hadn’t crafted himself.

He’s barely set Rhodey back onto his feet and folded the star back inside himself when there’s the running of little feet coming straight for them. Rhodey’s not surprised.

She’s always watching the stars, looking for her father.

Tony bends to pick up Morgan as she rounds the corner, barreling towards him with single minded intensity. “Daddy!”

“Hey, buttercup,” he says, hoisting her into her arms and settling her on his hip. “Miss me?”

“Yes,” she answers, wrapping her arms around Tony’s neck in a hug. She turns her head to grin at him, Tony’s eyes shining in her face. “Hi Rhodey. I missed you too.”

“Hi, Princess,” he says, leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead. She frees one arm from Tony to grab onto the front of his jacket, keeping him in place. He settled a hand on her back and that seems to satisfy her.

The door pushes open and Pepper is standing there, still with hair up and braided around a circlet and in a deep blue silk gown. “Someone here is supposed to be asleep.”  

Tony and Morgan’s innocent faces are identical and equally unconvincing.

“It’s me, isn’t it?” Rhodey asks.

“It’s all three of you, really,” she answers, striding forward. She squeezes his shoulder, then uses it as balance to push herself to her tip toes.

Tony bends to meet her in a kiss, chaste enough that Rhodey doesn’t feel the need to pull away but long enough that he assumes Tony’s sleep might end up experiencing a delay.

“I don’t want to go bed,” Morgan says. “Daddy’s home.”

“I’ll be here in the morning,” Tony says and Pepper’s face relaxes. “Come on, I’ll put you to bed myself, okay? And then you can tell me about all the new things you learned over breakfast.”

“I’m not tired,” she insists, but only waves at him when Tony pulls away to take her to her room.

Rhodey waves back, almost goes with them, but having the two of them there will just make her twice as riled up.

“I could have another, you know.”

He looks down at Pepper, blinking. “I thought – after the war?”

After the cave, after swallowing a star rather than being swallowed by it, Tony couldn’t justify staying on the sidelines, couldn’t justify only contributing to the war as Edward. Besides, being captured in the first place had shown him that he wasn’t safe as Edward anyway, but even Tony couldn’t justify taking to the battlefield without an heir, without a child of Stark blood to inherit, without a queen who could rule both while he fought and invented and in the event of his death.

Prince Gregory had been ten years older than Tony, he’d been the boy everyone knew would be king. Tony was just the spare, and not even one had on purpose. It’s why he’d had the freedom to meet Rhodey in the first place, to take on the name Edward and poke and prod his way through universities and labs and harassing blacksmiths into teaching him a craft a prince was never supposed to know. They’d assumed his father would arrange his marriage to some foreign noble for political reasons and Tony would install her onto an estate and do what was necessary to add a couple kids to the royal line and that would be that, he would then be free to spend his time on pursuits he enjoyed and with the man he loved. He was just the second prince, after all, it’s not like what he did really mattered, and he and Prince Gregory had never gotten along anyway.

Lots of people hadn’t gotten along with Prince Gregory, lots of people had thought his temper and his cruelty and several other attributes made him unsuitable as king. Maybe, on their own, they wouldn’t have mattered much – Rhodey thought Prince Gregory was not so much worse than King Howard – but he was constantly compared to the brother ten years his junior and found lacking.

They never found out who was behind the attack that killed Tony’s parents and brother. With their enemies sensing weakness and declaring war soon after, it was easy to pin the blame on them. But there were persistent rumors that it’d been someone, or several someones, that wanted Tony on the throne over his brother.

Rhodey doesn’t know if it’s true. All he knows is that relief rippled through the country far heavier than mourning.

The relationship he and Tony had, the future they’d mapped out, had been possible for a snubbed second prince and utterly impossible for a king. Tony had put off marriage for longer than he should have, but he couldn’t forever, and his urge to get out and fight now that he could pressed down on him.

Pepper had been his friend first. Their friend first. A noble, but only barely, and utterly unsuitable for the title of queen according to her pedigree and also the only one Tony would agree to marry so the rest hadn’t mattered.

If she were anyone else, he thinks he would have hated her. But Pepper had come to him after Tony had asked her and said, “I love him,” like throwing down a gauntlet.

He’d known. Who couldn’t help but love Tony, once they got to know him? And Pepper was beautiful and competent and trustworthy, could have Tony’s children and lead his country and keep all his secrets. And Tony might be able to resist falling in love with Pepper when she was only his friend and confidant, but as his wife, the mother of his children, his queen? He would fall.

“I want what’s best for him,” she’d continued in what he thought was going to be the worst conversation of his life, “and that’s me and you. He would never give you up. You know that. You should have a little more faith in him.”

“He needs you,” he’d said quietly. What Tony needed is something he couldn’t be, he wasn’t a noble or a woman.

Pepper had lifted her chin in defiance, every inch the queen she was going to become. “He needs us.”

That had been years ago. They made it work, awkwardly and painfully at first, but much smoother these days, warmer and easier. When the war ends, he thinks things might even be easy.

Tony and Pepper had needed to have a child and quickly, to secure the succession. She’d been pregnant within four months of their marriage and Princess Morgan’s birth had been greeted with relief by the country. Still, more heirs are better, especially with Starks being thin on the ground, but Tony resisted the idea of having another child in the midst of war, another child that he might die on and abandon.

Which is what makes Pepper’s statement so confusing.

“I didn’t mean right this second,” she says, lips turning up at the corners. “I know I’m not exactly your type, but I certainly wouldn’t mind the process myself. Morgan’s yours, of course, but if you wanted – I wouldn’t mind. Tony wouldn’t either.”

He understands what she’s offering and he’s shaking his head before she’s even finished talking. “We can’t – they’d know.”

“Maybe the next one will take after my genes,” she says. “Goddess knows Morgan’s all her father.”

She is, so clearly Stark, from her eyes to her intelligence to her love of trouble. But there’s no way a child of his could pass as a child Tony’s, which is what any child of the queen’s would have to be. Even if they came out pale enough to pass as a Stark, which isn’t any sort of risk they could take, it wouldn’t be worth the risk of anyone finding out that a child in line for the throne was not of the Goddess blessed bloodline.

“Tony’s children are my children,” he says, and means it. Pepper and Tony had always been clear about that and it had been a relief, to not have to be so close and yet so far, to be able to love Morgan as his daughter even if it was nothing he could ever say out loud. “Go and help him with her. I know you have a lot to catch up on.”

He’ll go to his room, with the bed and comforts that he’s missed quiet a lot, and get the sleep that he’s also missed.

She sighs, squeezing his arm. “Don’t wander. I get up early and Tony never sleeps through it.”

Tony will get up with her, and kiss her as she heads to the hall, then go down to his room and crawl into bed with him, still sleep warm, until he has to get up and put in an appearance as King Anthony.

Rhodey smiles and nudges her towards the hall. “Go on, your husband is waiting.”

“Our husband,” she corrects imperiously and doesn’t move until he laughs and nods and repeats her words back to her.

[gingiesworld]

The Scarlet Storm : Hydra Reborn

Chapter One

Taglist : @mothertoall2 @natashamaximoff-69 @canvascoloredin @wizardofstories @louxbloom @wandanats-goodgirl @the-ox-fan20 @ladyqueenxoxo @aemilia19 @wandaromamoff69 @mfd-101 @dorabledewdroop @marvelogic @dopeyouth @karsonromanoff @bimad @reginassweetheart @machyishere @gemz5 @pawiie @duckiekong (If you want to be added to my taglist, please DM me or comment)

After Thanos was finally defeated. The world lost some heroes. Tony sacrificed himself, leaving behind his 5 year old daughter Morgan and wife Pepper.

Clint was the one who sacrificed himself. He finally beat Natasha at her own game. Leaving behind his wife and children.

The there was Vision. The one who gave his life, scarificing himself to stop Thanos from retrieving the stone. Only to have Wanda watch him die once more.

The world was working hard on mending itself. Bucky and Sam had disappeared to work on some case. Leaving Natasha, Wanda, Steve and Scott at the Avengers compound. Yelena was travelling, in hopes in helping people adjust again.

"Hey, are you ok?" Wanda asked Nat as she walked inside the meeting room. Seeing Nat looking for someone. Seeing a name on the screen. Y/N Romanoff. "I didn't know you had a daughter." Wanda stated only seeing the last picture that was ever took of Y/N. Back in Ohio

"Y/N is my sister." Nat said quietly. "Well she was. We were split up before Yelena and I were took into the Red Room. Y/N was taken somewhere else."

"So you want to try and find her?" Wanda asked her.

"I do." Nat said as she turned to face the witch. "But she hasn't surfaced since she disappeared. I hoped that with everyone being back, she may be one of them. She has this thing with her eye. Most of the kids used to call her a freak or a demon. She has this red line going through her left iris." 

"You don't think she could be, you know?" Wanda asked her sadly.

"That's what we were told when we were first taken in, but then Dreykov told me years ago that she was alive." Nat informed her. "He only said one name after that before he tried to escape. The Lightening Soldier."

"I remember that name." Wanda said as she used the computer. Typing in the name. A picture came up of a tall masked figure. The only name noted was the Alias they are known by. "Pietro used to tell me how they used to train him with his super speed and combat skills."

"They were experimented with an enhanced version of the super soldier serum. Also giving them super speed." Nat read from the file. "They have only been spotted a small amount of times."

"They get moved very often. Hydra didn't like to keep their most prized weapon stationary in the same place for too long." Wanda informed her. "Last known location, Russia. Five years ago." Wanda pointed at the screen.

"Do you think they could still be there?" Nat asked her. Wanda shrugged unsurely. "I just need to know for definite if my Y/N is still alive or not."

"We will." Wanda told her, the two coming up with a plan.

----------------------------------------------------

Y/N had been awoken from their cryofreeze slumber. Frozen in time for five years. Johan Schmitt's grandson, Alec Schmitt took over his plans with Hydra. Finding the unknown Hydra base in Russia. Coming across a chamber, the power was still surging through the base. Keeping the Cryochamber working. Keeping The Lightening Soldier in a frozen slumber.

He had read up on The Lightening Soldier. Knowing that she is the older sister of the Natasha Romanoff. Also that she doesn't remember a single thing about her life before Hydra. She doesn't remember her sisters.

He started the defrosting sequence. Hoping that The Lightening Soldier was still Hydra's property. Once the sequence was complete, the chamber hissed as the hydraulics to the door had finally been opened. After years of being locked.

Alec watched proudly as The Soldier opened her piercing blue eyes. Noticing their was a red line through her left iris.

"We have work to do." He told her with a smirk. "Hydra will be born again."

----------------------------------------------------

"So, let me get this straight." Steve started as the remaining Avengers stood in the briefing room. "You want to fly to Russia in hopes of finding your sister. Who may or may not be this Lightening Soldier."

"Yes. That is exactly what I want." Nat told him as she crossed her arms.

"And who is going with you to look for her?" Steve asked her.

"Me." Wanda said as she stood beside Nat. "I will go with her."

"Me too." Maria told him.

"Look, I understand that this is important to you." Steve started as Nat shook her head.

"Not just to me Steve. Yelena, Melina and Alexei." Nat told him. "We were all told that she died. Was killed during experimentation and now we have a real lead on her."

"So you think that this Lightening Soldier is Y/N?" He asked her.

"I do." Nat told him. "And I think she is in Russia but we will only find out if we go there ourselves."

"Ok. We'll leave at dawn." Steve told them all before walking out. The three girls glanced at each other.

"Did he just?" Nat asked as both Maria and Wanda nodded. "I can't believe it." Nat whispered. Looking at the two pictures. Her eyes staying on Y/N. The Y/N she remembers from when they were children.

"Are you going to tell Yelena?" Maria asked her as the three stood there.

"No." Nat told her. Turning around to face them both. "I think it's best to tell her after we find Y/N and bring her home."

The Avengers were coming up with a plan to find Y/N, while Alec was coming up with a new order. Bribing some SHIELD agents who were stationed in Russia. Using Y/N as a scare tactic to get them to fall in line.

Hydra was being reborn.

[justkending]

Bullshit! How about a bet? (One-shot)

Summary: Who knew that being short would lead to such great benefits?

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader (shorter)

Word Count: 3900+

A/N: Once again, I dipped my toes into smuttier waters, but still am building up the courage to jump in fully... I have some announcements (life-wise) that I'm going to make soon, but I needed to write something after the week I had just to bring some happiness to my life, so here you are! I hope you enjoy :)

___________

I was adamant about finding some way to sue Tony Stark for placing the microwave at such an unnecessary height. 

I also planned to sue him for the emotional distress it had caused me this far with the teasing and mocking jokes the team landed on me when they watched me attempt to put food in it. 

Nat and I weren’t far from each other’s height, but either she didn’t use the microwave, or she was better at hiding when she did because I seemed to be the only one who got the quips thrown at me when I stood on the tips of my toes just to push something onto the turntable. 

To make the task harder, the door opened top to bottom like an oven instead of side to side like any normal version of the kitchen amenity did, making my arms stretch out as far as I could just to get whatever it was I needed to be heated up to actually go into the damn thing. 

Damn the rich for trying to be fancy where it was unnecessary!

Recently, I tried to adopt Nat’s efforts of never being seen doing the mundane daily act, and the last few times, I had been successful. My luck seemed to run out today...

Trying to make my task as quick as possible, I pulled the door down and stood on my tiptoes to push my now lukewarm coffee mug into the middle of the turntable. 

“You’re so close, Pixie,” I heard behind me, and I cringed, finding I was far from being in the clear. 

“Fuck off,” I grumbled, knowing the voice of the person the nickname had originated from. I accepted that the mug was in the microwave even if it wasn’t centered. 

“Those aren’t nice words,” Bucky retorted, and I could hear the smug grin on his face even if I didn’t bother to look over at him. 

“You’re an angry Pixie today,” Sam added, walking to the counter and grabbing a banana off the stand in the middle, and then going to the fridge for a drink. 

“I thought you guys were on a tactical mission,” I groaned, pushing the buttons that were also too high quickly to start the radioactive machine. 

When I turned around, Bucky was closer now but had propped himself on the side of the bartop of the counter that faced the seating area ahead. Sam was still head deep into the fridge, trying to decide on his drink of choice. 

“We were. Finished it early,” Sam hummed as he ducked his head to see all the varieties of sodas, waters, and juices Tony kept stocked. “Weren’t you supposed to be in a meeting?” 

“Canceled,” I answered shortly, glaring at Bucky, who seemed to still find my height funny as he grinned at me. “Stop looking at me like that.” 

“Like what?” he asked, playing coy. 

Instead of a response, I just sent him another hate-filled look. 

“Find a way to sue Tony yet?” Sam broke the stare-off we were having, and I didn’t process what he meant. 

“About what?” I looked at him.

“About the microwave being placed perfectly so that you look like a toddler trying to reach for the cookies on the top of the fridge,” Bucky answered for him.

I turned my head slowly and murderously to the brunette. 

“Out in the field isn’t the only place you can get killed,” I smiled, but there was no hint of joy or joking behind it—instead, a sadistic pull of my lips. 

“No threats,” he pointed at me with a warning Tony had started since forever ago, and I could see his shoulders tense even if he tried to hide the hint of discomfort. 

“Promises are different than threats,” I tilted my head with the smile still on my lips. 

“Stop that.” His body had ever so slightly leaned back. 

The microwave dinged before I could torment Bucky further, and I turned my head to look at it and then back at Sam. 

“I won’t replace your shampoo with nair if you get that for me,” I smiled, almost instantly turning the psychotic one into an innocent one. 

“Why would you do that, to begin with?” He asked, concerned, slowly moving to get my mug out of sheer fear. 

“I think you can take a decent guess,” I replied, watching him as he carefully brought the mug out and walked calculatingly to hand it to me. 

“Y/N,” he warned. 

“Hope you two have the day you deserve,” I skipped away, mimicking a child about to go prance through a field of flowers. 

“She scares me,” Sam whispered once I was out of the room. 

“Are we sure she’s not an evil serial killer on the side and just does this job to lessen her karma?” Bucky asked, their eyes still on the doorway I had left out of. 

—————————————-

“Bullshit!”

“I see they’ve started early,” Steve sighed, taking a tired sip of his coffee as he sat in the den where Bucky, Nat, Sam, and I were already up, causing chaos for the day.

“They got a bet going,” Sam explained while Steve sat beside him.

“What is it this time?” Steve questioned, looking between us three and keeping the lip of the mug close to his mouth.

“Bullshit!”

“Exactly that,” Sam smirked, grabbing his own cup of caffeine.

“Bucky claimed that Y/N couldn’t, and still hadn’t, beat him in Bullshit since our last Christmas party,” Nat said, joining on the other side of Steve with her own playing cards in hand, leaving him in the middle of the two. 

“I have beat him,” I mumbled, looking over my cards in hand as I debated on the next set to put down. “He just got the honorary win because we were called on a mission before I could put my cards down and go out.”

“If you didn’t get to play the winning hand, how did you win?” Bucky snarked, watching me carefully as I put two aces down. “Bullshit.” 

“Ha ha!” I pointed at him. “Pick 'em up, Buckaroo.” 

He rolled his eyes and looked down at the decent-sized pile of cards stacking up, seeing that I did, in fact, tell the truth and added them to his own hand. 

“Careful what you claim, Buck,” Steve retorted about more than one thing, only getting a middle finger in return from his friend, who stared at his new options. 

“There’s a larger bet hanging over this one,” Nat hummed, putting her two cards in before pulling her legs into a crossed position. 

“Yeah?” 

“If I win, he has to be my man-servant for the microwave,” I celebrated, putting down one three of clubs that I was lucky enough to have. My deck in hand was growing thinner and thinner. 

“And if not?” Steve asked. 

“If not, she can’t call me Buckaroo for five months,” Bucky mockingly sneered at me. 

“Actually, two weeks,” I shook my head, putting a card down. 

“If you’re so sure you’re going to win, why does it matter?” he said teasingly. I stuck my tongue out at him as a response. “Real mature.” 

“Just play your hand, Jackass.” 

He did, and on my turn, I went out.

“Hell, yes!” I jumped up and down, hands in the air, before doing a small victory dance. 

“How the hell?” Bucky looked absolutely flabbergasted by my win. “You had like ten cards left.” 

“Did I?” I cheered, showing my empty hands for effect. 

He turned to Nat, who had a grin on her face, and shrugged when she noticed his glare turned on her. 

“Don’t look at me. I played clean,” she laid her deck of cards neatly on the table and put her hands up in defense. 

“Fair win, Buck,” Steve laughed. 

“You’re my man-servant now,” I gleamed, dipping down to grab my mug of coffee and handing it to him. “Would you mind heating this up by chance? I forgot about it while I was busy kicking your ass.” 

“Yeah, because of how long it took you to do it,” he grumbled, not putting up a fight as he took it from my hand and stomped to the microwave passively. 

________________

Bucky’s POV

For the next week, Y/N multiplied her microwave use by a thousand. Things that didn’t even need microwaving were thrown in for two seconds sometimes, just to annoy me. 

She’d say stuff like, “Oh, perfect. It was just half a degree too cold,” or, “Careful, I burned my tongue last time 'cause you were too busy glaring at me to watch it. We don’t want to make that mistake again.” 

She even had me heat up Nat’s and Wanda’s food at one point, even though that wasn’t part of the bargain. Her reasoning should have had me leaving the room, but instead, Nat and Wanda had a nice glass of steaming apple cider in hand by the time I did leave. 

I was close to being done with it all and the constant nagging that accompanied it, so when I walked in and saw her in the kitchen today, I instantly turned on my heel and tried to run before she saw me… Luck wasn’t on my side...

“Oh, Buckaroo!” That name had multiplied its use as well... “I need to pop the popcorn for movie night, and I could use the help!”

I could have kept walking and brushed it off as if not hearing her, but no one was dumb enough to believe that. Damn my super hearing… And as annoyed as I was, I was a man of my word. I made a bet, and I lost. I only had six more days, eight hours, and 28 more minutes to go.

“Ten seconds at a time,” I muttered under my breath as I turned my direction back to the kitchen and stomped slowly to the microwave. 

I had been coming in here for my own hidden snacks for movie night and forgot that most of the team would be here for this night’s movie marathon. It had been a while since we all had some free time together, and even if the new chore had become irritating, Y/N was using it for good tonight by making sure everyone had their favorite popcorn in hand for the trilogy we were watching. 

“Why do you put all the work on yourself when they can come in here and make a bag themselves?” I asked, leaning on the counter where she was organizing the multiple varieties of popcorn we had stocked. She was measuring to make sure that everyone’s favorite was accounted for.

“Why not? It’s not hurting me,” she shrugged as if it was common sense and I was asking a dumb question. “Why do you pick the same two types of candy every time we have a movie night?” she shot back, looking at me and slightly nodding to the microwave. 

I took the message as I saw the timer count down from three and moved to grab the finished bag inside. 

“It’s a comfort food,” I argued my answer. 

“Exactly, and this is their comfort food. Plus, I don’t know, it’s one less step they have to map out. It’s already an exhausting part of our job having to think of the next step constantly, and it doesn’t bother me to do, so why not take an extra few actions so they don’t have to,” she simplified.

She handed me a prepped bag, ready for the microwave next. 

I took it and went back and forth for a while as I thought of her answer. 

I had learned over the years that Y/N’s love language had been acts of service, whether that was making sure that our favorite cereals were on the shopping list so we wouldn’t run out, or offering a blanket or pillow when she came into the same room as you before she got comfortable herself. 

We were almost always constantly tired from our jobs and just the general weight of the world on our shoulders some days. Having someone make popcorn for you on an off day was just one less action to do, and Y/N did more things to help us in that area than I had even tried to notice.

I had seen her acts of service being done, but mainly out of spite of not being one of the people who received them. Not because I wanted her to do things for me, more so the thought behind it. 

We bickered and got on each other’s nerves a lot, more so just to poke at her and see that fire in the pixie’s eyes on my end, but I didn’t get this kind of treatment as often. I had accepted it at this point, but the few times she had extended that kind of care to me, it felt like burning a candle on a fall day after deep cleaning for eight hours. Something about it put you at peace and made you feel even more at home. 

Maybe this deserved a conversation with her, even if I was terrified to wander into those grounds. 

We had quietly shuffled around the kitchen, and I had taken on the job as her co-chef as I grabbed multi-colored popcorn bowls to empty the bags into and organize them according to type. 

“Peter likes the bowl that looks like the Death Star cut in half,” she pointed at one of the bowls I had pulled down. “Tony got it for him for Christmas last year, and he uses it every movie night.” She smiled as she turned back to grab one of the last bags from the microwave. 

She was saying something about adding the extra-extra movie butter popcorn bags to that bowl, but I was already moving to her side to grab the bag that was just out of reach from her fingertips in the microwave. 

Her back molded into my chest as I reached over her, pulled the brown paper bag out, and handed it down to her. I wasn’t massively bigger than her, but the nickname Pixie held its title well. 

“I had it,” she looked up at me from behind, and damn it, if that didn’t stir something in me. 

The intimate position had me feeling a new kind of warmth, different from the subtle glow of a candle in a pristine room. Instead, a weird and fuzzy feeling of realization made goosebumps form up my arms, but I didn’t quite understand what it was. 

Was this a form of anxiety I hadn’t felt yet?  I snapped out of it when I noticed I had stayed there a beat too long, and Y/N looked worried.

“We made a deal,” I said, grabbing the last bag to pop out of her hand and placing it in the microwave. “I’m a man of my word,” I added, clearing my throat and reminding myself out loud that that was the only reason I was not moving from my spot with her back in my chest and our bodies practically molding into the others. 

“You really hold up your end of the bargain,” she smiled and ducked under my arm, immediately leaving me in the cold. 

I snapped out of the headspace I was thrown into without a choice and shook my head as I helped her finish the last few tasks before accompanying her to the movie den. 

My days were almost up with being Y/N’s personal microwave-er, but for whatever reason, there was this new realization I had that made the excuse of being near her in this way not as frustrating.

I made it an excuse to try and get closer to her again and again, and not just for kitchen amenity requirements, but anytime she couldn’t reach something, which I was learning was a lot. 

Any form of aid, like trying to get a box from the top of the pantry, trying to reach a book or file on the top of a shelf, or trying to put a mug back when she was emptying the dishwasher. 

Currently, I had walked by her room, door open, and saw her struggling to hang a new picture frame on her wall, being just a few inches too short as normal. 

“Fucking hell.” I heard her mumble as she looked around for a chair. 

Before she could move from her spot, I was already behind her, hanging it to the spot she was replacing. 

“Oh, thanks,” she said, but the tone in her voice wasn’t a grateful one. “What is going on with you?” She turned and crossed her arms, looking up at me while I centered the gold frame before pulling away. 

“What do you mean?” I cleared my throat, not sure if I even knew what I was doing. 

“Don’t play coy,” she leaned back on her heel, anchoring her stance at me. 

“We made a deal,” I answered, even though it was a half-assed one, but it was better than admitting what I was feeling. Or at least I thought it was…

“For the microwave. Mind you, that ends tomorrow,” she pointed out. “What’s with all the extra help suddenly?” 

I hesitated, not sure what route I wanted to take. 

“I realized you have more things you struggle with than just in the kitchen. I figured you’d be happy to be getting a bang for your buck.”

“Bang for my Buck?” she said back with a raised eyebrow, and I heard it even if I didn’t mean it that way. Or did I?

“Yeah, getting what you bargained for,” I swallowed thickly, seeing a new fire in her eye I didn’t understand. 

“Bang for my buck, or are you trying to get a bang for your buck?” she said softly, taking a step forward. 

I froze as our chests were inches from touching, and she looked up at me in a way that would make any man melt. 

“It was the bet,” I cleared my throat, and the sound of something in the hall broke our attention from each other. “I should go check on that,” I stepped back, stabbing my thumb behind me but failing to pull my eyes from hers. 

“Should you?” she shrugged, with a sly smirk on her lips. 

I couldn’t help but stare when her tongue slowly came out to wet her lips. When I looked back at her eyes, all traces of annoyance were gone, and elements of lust took over. 

“You hate me,” I stated, knowing- or at least thinking I knew- that this feeling of chemistry would ruin us if we gave into it.  

“I don’t recall ever saying that,” she tilted her head to the side, never breaking eye contact with me.

“Actions speak louder than words,” I swallowed when the two-inch gap between us became one. 

“Why so nervous?” she ignored me. 

I hesitated because there were a million things going through my brain to answer why I was stiffening at the change in energy between us. 

“We shouldn’t-”

“Actions speak louder than words, though. And hate to break it to ya, but your actions have been showing otherwise.” Her fingers brushed my chest, and I held back a shiver that threatened to escape. “I’ll stop if you want,” she offered, halting her hand in the middle of my sternum and looking up at me before smiling mischievously again. “But you have to say something.”

My jaw tensed, and I saw her trying to read the emotions on my face. Unlucky for her, she had just flipped a switch I don’t think she meant to touch. 

I immediately turned and, with determination, walked to the door. I heard a subtle “pft” behind me like she was disappointed in my choice, but she was sorely wrong if she thought I was leaving now. She didn’t get to look at me with those eyes, bite those damn lips, and make threats she didn’t plan on following through with. 

With a quick slam, I bolted the door handle and turned to look at her from my spot. 

Now I had the upper hand, and her eyebrows were raising. 

“It’s not nice to make threats,” I said lowly and took slow and careful steps closer. I could see her go rigid now. “Unless, of course, this is actually one of your promises. Either way, don’t say something you’ll regret following through with.” 

“Should I regret it?” she hummed, and even if she looked more relaxed, I could tell she was still trying to read me and couldn’t quite follow if I was serious or teasing her back. 

“How good is your judgment?” I asked, doubling my stride until my hands were on her hips, and she was pinned to me. A sharp intake was the instant response I got from her. 

“I’m starting to wonder if it’s losing its edge right about now…” Her chest heaved in quick motions, but she tried to act as if unphased by the proximity. 

“I’ll stop right now,” I mimicked her words from earlier, but not without lowering my face to hers and stopping mere centimeters from her lips. “But you have to speak up.” 

Her breath was on my lips as her own parted, waiting for clarity to come back to her, but she stayed looking over my features, debating all her choices. 

“Answer me this,” her hands slowly and delicately took my forearms as she held me in place, our hips brushing each other in close proximity. My hands couldn’t help but squeeze in a possessive manner. “When did you realize it?”

“Realize what?” Our nearness made the tips of our noses brush, and the heat between us grew with each passing second.

“That you wanted this?” Her hands traveled up to my elbows, and she needily pulled me closer, causing our lower halves to slam in friction. 

I stifled a low moan, even if it took all the willpower in my body to do so. 

“Darling.” One of my hands on her waist moved to her lower back, and I pulled her in enough for our chest to connect next. The other hand released to come up and cup her jaw. “I’d be lying to you and myself if I said it hasn’t been a daydream of mine for a while.”

She tried to hide her smile by biting the inside of her cheek, and my thumb brushed over the movement. 

“It’s taken you fucking forever to do something about it,” she replied breathily. 

“Made it damn hard to know the feelings were mutual, doll,” I said back, looking down at her lips and keeping my attention there for a second longer to prove my point. 

“Where’s the fun in easy?” she said, pulling me into her, and our lips crashed without hesitation. 

I was hungry for something I’d been starved of for far too long, and the feeling seemed to be reciprocated on her end because the next thing I knew, we were pulling and tearing at each other’s clothes like they were on fire, and we had seconds to live before they consumed us. 

“We should make more bets,” she said breathlessly as she moved feverishly to undo the buttons on her jeans.

“I agree, Pixie,” I huffed, throwing her shirt off before moving to take mine off next. 

“I bet you can’t make me-”

“Oh, there are going to be a lot of things I’m gonna make you do after waiting this long. No bet’s necessary…” 

I pushed her back on the bed, and she fell back on her elbows, looking up at me with wide eyes and a blushed complexion. 

“I like the way you talk, Barnes. Now show me instead of telling me.”

​​​​​​​​​​

Marvel Tags:

@thejourneyneverendsx​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @death-unbecomes-you @mythos-writes​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​  @srrymydood​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @xa-dia​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @redhairedfeistynerd​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @morganclaire4​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @connie326​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @captain-asguard​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @mollygetssherlockcoffee​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @teenagedreams-bucky @shower-me-with-roses​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @livstilinski @basicallylool​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @starryeyeseunbyul​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

My Lovelies forever:

@natura1phenomenon​ @lauravicente​ @kakakatey​ @traceyaudette​ @notyourtypicalrose​ @awesome-badass-cafeteria-sauce​ @sandlee44​ @thorne93​ @thefaithfulwriter1​ @essie1876​ @greyeyedsmile14​ @capsiclehan​  @xostephanie​ @averyrogers83​ @awesomenursingstudent​ @gh0stgurl​ @cs-please​ @jjlevin​ @rainbowkisses31​ @deannotmoose​ @their-bibliophile​ @kitkatd7​ @willowbleedsonpaper​ @mariaenchanted​ @snffbeebee​ @couldabeenamermaid​ @rebekahdawkins​​ @alyispunk​​ @billyseye @hallecarey1​​

Bucky Barnes Tags:

@chloe-skywalker​ @charmedbysarge​ @jbarness​ @bellamy-barnes​ @katiaw2​ @aikeia​ @stopjustlovethemcu​ @enchantedbarnes

[ultralightpoe]

Copy Cap - Steve Rogers

Authors Note: HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Word Count: 1,601

Warnings: slutty is used A LOT

Description: Small halloween blurb.

This is a part of my Halloween event, stay tuned for a new story every hour!

Happy Halloween!

“What on earth is that?” The sound of Steve Rogers honest to god shocked voice draws your attention from the halloween decorations you had been sent out to get. You find him standing towards the end of the aisle where the kids' costumes started. 

Tony was throwing a halloween party within the tower, and he said that each Avenger HAD to be there. He sent a text out reminding each and everyone of you of a threat on what would happen if you did not attend ‘Starkoween’. And as much as you hated Tony’s parties you truly did not want him sending out the falls and mistakes that Jarvis has caught on tape over the years. The public did not need to see you running into the glass windows thinking it was open.

But not only had you been invited, no, you had been given a task from Tony. 

He apparently was out of lights, and he had also found out that you were short of a costume so he gave you his card and sent you on your way to complete his shopping and on your way out he pawned the super soldier off on you. 

It’s not that you hated Steve, the exact opposite actually. You had a huge crush on him, the kind that reduced you to very few words whenever he was near. Your heart beating through your chest and the need to impress him filling your bones. 

But he was the exact opposite, he liked to ignore you, and when he did actually talk to you it was always about work. He truly just could not be bothered by you. 

So it was odd, so freaking odd, when Steve agreed to ride with you to pick up his own costume. 

Which leads you to this moment, walking up behind Steve to where he is now glaring at a costume. A laugh threatens to escape you as you see what has his so irritated, your eyes catching on the slutty cap costume. 

The woman wore a very skimpy one piece that plunged down and barely covered her ass. It was placed together with male versions and kid versions, and you couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. 

“What’s so funny?”

“It’s just….. You look like a mom-” A cackle finally falls from your lips and he whirls on you with a shocked face, the hands on his hips just making it worse. 

“A mom?”

“YES!” “Do you realize how vulgar this costume is?” 

“It looks great, she looks great.” You sigh, finally beginning to calm down. “Not the best spot for it, but still a great costume.”

“It’s completely inappropriate.” He snaps out, snatching a random costume from the shelf and storming off. 

“I didn’t mean to make you mad!” You call after him, seeing his head shake as he keeps storming off. 

That stings, and just like every other conversation you have had with the man you are left feeling stupid. And that wasn’t fair because you were always trying. He NEVER tried. And honestly, you were sick of it. So you shoved the pumpkin and bat lights in the cart before grabbing your own costume and making your way to checkout. 

- 

“You don’t understand, Nat.” Steve can do nothing but sigh out, one hand clenched around a beer bottle as he watches everyone pass around him. The beer was honestly just for show, truthfully he thought they tasted disgusting and the super soldier serum didn’t allow him to get drunk so he pretended to drink to blend in. Not that it truly mattered since he was hiding by Nat and Sam all night. “It was so embarrassing.”

“What about a slutty costume is embarrassing?” His friend laughs, sipping slowly on some weird cocktail that had gummy eyeballs floating through it. It was the first time he had seen her drink anything but a martini or beer. “I don’t think-”

“What does Y/n think of me?” 

“That…… you’re slutty?”

“Yes! Or just… it’s embarrassing that she might view me like a joke. I mean if people can dress me that way then what do they think of me? What does SHE think of me?”

“I think that you are overthinking this whole thinking thing.” Sam sighs, rubbing his eyelids. “I seriously doubt that costume made Y/n think of you in a bad way, everything can be turned into a slutty costume these days. A nun can be-”

“What about nuns?” Bucky asks, walking up with another round of drinks balanced in his hand. 

“Slutty nuns on Halloween. I was telling Steve that anything can be slutty on halloween. Hell I’ve seen girls dress as slutty corn-” Sam starts. 

“Slutty teacher.” Tony cuts in.

“Don’t forget slutty michael myers.” Wanda supplies, fixing the pirate hat she wore. 

“Or slutty pirate!” Nat points and Wanda looks completely shocked. “Says the slutty mouse!”

“You guys are saying slutty wayyyyy too much.” Bruce sighs before Bucky smiles from ear to ear. 

“How about slutty Y/n?” He blurts and Steve’s head whips towards him, anger coursing through his blood as Bucky looks back to him. “Watch yourself James.”

“No, look at your girlfriend.” Bucky teases, pointing in your direction. Steve finds you in an instant, coming down the steps from the living quarters with a wide smile on your own face. Your walk is smooth, and Steve cannot pull his eyes away from you in the slutty cap costume he had seen at the store. 

You had paired it with thigh high red heels and red lipstick, the mask covered half your face but it was very easy to recognize you. 

The beer bottle in his hand shatters and multiple turn to see the commotion, party goers spotting all the Avengers and suddenly move forward to greet the group. But Steve is already moving through them to get to you, not even bothering to apologize when he bumped into people. 

“Y/n.” He calls, face heated as he tries to catch your attention. “Hey-”

“Eyyy, It’s lady liberty over here-” A drunken voice catches his attention, filling his vision before he could get to you. And the second he sees the drunk abe lincoln heading towards you a wave of jealousy fills him.

  It’s not really fair, he knows this. He avoids talking to you because he doesn’t want to look like a fool but he hates when other people talk to you. A never ending game. 

“Y/n! Hey-” He calls again, feeling his chest lighten when you finally glance over at him. 

“Captain America!” Drunken Abe calls, reaching a hand out for a high five. “Hate to say it but she wore it better-”

“Don’t I know it.” Steve blushes, finally within arms reach of you.

“I’m not changing.” You snap, crossing your arms. “And before you start you should just be thankful that I didn’t buy the little shield.”

“I wasn’t gonna say you should change, you look…… you look great.”

“Oh? Not too vulgar?” You glare and his fight or flight begins to kick in. Landing on flight.

“Did I…. have I made you mad?” He asks, rubbing at his chest, trying not to blush too much. He probably looked insane, standing in a turtle costume while you are here looking like an actual goddess. 

“Did you make me mad? You were mad earlier!”

“I… what?”

“You snapped earlier and stormed off.”

“Because I looked like an idiot!”

“Oh whatever-” You go to walk off and he finds himself following you. 

“Wait, just hold on-”

“You realize this is like the third actual conversation we have had that lasts more than two sentences?”

“I do.” Entirely his fault, he could never seem to figure out what to say. 

“And you always act like an ass-”

“I don’t mean to. Wait just let me explain, okay?”

You squint, watching him for a moment before sighing and nodding. “Fine.”

“Thank you.” He sighs, leading you to a quieter side of the room, the lights around you both flashing bright. “I just… okay here goes nothing-”

“You’re wasting my time.”

“I know, it’s just I don’t know what to say.”

“How about the truth?”

“The truth? Okay. You make me feel like an idiot. Not on purpose but you do. It’s been nearly 100 years under the ice, 100 years since I talked to a woman and I was still unpracticed before I went under. And then I come out and I am living with this absolute gorgeous gal who is just…. perfect . I am so under prepared for anything, I know nothing of the new world and I think everything I say is wrong.”

You're watching him with such intense eyes he might die. 

“And then today, I finally talk myself into trying to talk to you and before I get a chance I saw the costume and I just felt…”

“Stupid?”

“Yes. Embarrassed and like I was the butt of a joke. Truth is I really like you, and here you are wearing a copycat of my costume while I am dressed up as a Ninja teenage mutant turtle-” Before he can finish his sentence your mouth his on his own, and he can’t breathe. 

Kissing back deeply and falling into a trance as his hands move up to hold the sides of your head. By the time you both pull back the red lipstick is covering half your chin. “I don’t think you’re stupid and I love the costume.” You smile and before he knows it he is reaching down to kiss you again.

[just-dreaming-marvel]

LEGACY ~ 7

LEGACY MASTERLIST

< previous chapter

Word Count: 2,717ish

Summary: Clint takes you to a safe house. Fury tells you the truth.

Notes: There are some serious changes from the original character version in this chapter. Hope you enjoy!

You were definitely confused when Clint landed the quinjet in a field in some country side. As the ramp lowered and you exited, you realized that it had to be the only house around for miles. Clint led the way, still helping Natasha walk. You and Tony were next with Thor, Steve, and Bruce following.

“What is this place?” Thor wondered.

“A safe house?” Tony questioned. He kept a protective hand on your back, just in case.

“Let’s hope,” you whispered.

Clint opened the farmhouse door and led Nat inside. “Honey?” he called. “I’m home.” A pregnant woman waddled out of the kitchen. She was clearly surprised at the Avengers walking through her front door. “Hi. Company. Sorry I didn’t call ahead.” Clint and the woman walked towards each other until they could hug.

“Hey,” the woman greeted before they shared a kiss. The group watched, all with confusion written on their faces.

“This is an agent of some kind,” Tony said to Thor.

“Gentlemen, Y/N, this is Laura,” Clint introduced. You didn’t miss the fact that he didn’t mention Natasha. 

“I know all of your names,” Laura admitted. Suddenly, footsteps rushed down the stairs.

“Ooh, incoming,” Clint sounded excited.

“Dad!” A little girl squealed as she and an older boy raced around the corner. Clint quickly ran and picked her up.

“Hi, sweetheart!” He kissed the top of the boy’s head when he reached him. “Hey, buddy! How are you guys doing?”

“These are… smaller agents,” Tony tried to excuse.

“Oh my goodness!” Clint exclaimed.

“Did you bring Auntie Nat?” The girl asked.

Nat’s mood quickly shifted. “Why don’t you hug her and find out?” Nat said. The little girl rushed over to Nat, who picked her up for a hug.

“Sorry for barging in on you,” Steve apologized.

“Yeah,” Tony added, “we would have called ahead but we were busy having no idea that you existed.” You threw your elbow back into Tony. He grunted before he mouthed ‘what’ to you.

“Yeah, well, Fury helped me set this up when I joined,” Clint explained. “He kept it off of SHIELD’s files, I’d like to keep it that way. I figure it’s a good place to lay low.”

“Honey,” Laura said softly, turning to Clint, “I missed you.”

Natasha walked up to Laura and gently put her hand on her pregnant stomach. “How’s little Natasha, huh?”

“She’s… Nathaniel.”

Nat leaned down to Laura’s stomach. “Traitor.”

You smirked before a shooting pain entered your head. You squeezed your eyes closed. You felt someone brush past you and suddenly you were somewhere else. There were flashes of dancing women. Their clothes looked Asgardian. The images disappeared as Thor left the house. Your hand shot up to your head as you let a whimper slip through your lips.

“Thor,” Steve called, going after the Asgardian.

“What’s wrong?” Tony whispered, hearing your whimper.

“It’s nothing,” you looked at him. “I’m fine.”

Tony didn’t believe you for a second and you knew it. Before either of you could say anything else, Laura spoke up.

“You guys should get cleaned up,” she said. “There’s showers upstairs and I’ll lay out some clothes for you.”

Everyone nodded and started moving. As Tony headed up the stairs, you slipped out of the house and onto the porch. You walked over to the railing, grabbed ahold of it with both hands, and leaned into it.

What was happening? Why were you suddenly seeing random scenes? Were they visions? Did the Maximoff girl have something to do with it?

The door opened and closed behind you. “Y/N, right?” Laura’s voice wondered from behind you. You nodded as she came up to your side. “What are you doing all alone out here?”

“I needed some air,” you told her. “A lot has happened in the past few days… I’m just trying to process it all.”

“I get it. Clint has to do that a lot too.”

You let out a light chuckle. “You know, I suspected a few days ago that Clint was hiding something from the Team. This wasn’t what I thought it was, but I respect it.”

“I kind of feel bad that I knew about everyone, but no one knew about us.”

“Don’t. This was a secret worth keeping. He is clearly lucky enough to be able to separate his family life from his superhero life.”

“It’s not as easy as it sounds, but I think you know that.” You nodded, staring off into the lush green fields. “If you need something to take your mind off everything, there’s plenty of broken things to fix in the barn. You followed her hand as she pointed to an old barn a ways from the house.

“I think I’ll do that. Thanks.”

“I’ll tell Tony that you’re showering and taking a nap.”

“Thanks.”

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you, Y/N.”

You nodded as you headed for the barn. You slid the door open and closed upon entering, wanting as much privacy as possible. You looked around. There was a green tracker near the center, work tables to the side, and a lot of hay. As you looked around, you heard some movement. You grabbed a gun from one of your thigh holsters and raised it up, ready to fire if necessary. Slowly, you made your way around the tractor to see a man, mostly dressed in black with an eye patch, sitting on a bail of hay. 

“Fury?” You questioned. You hadn’t ever met him, but had heard plenty about him. He was also supposed to have died a year ago. 

“In the flesh,” he replied. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Miss Stark.”

“You’re supposed to be dead.”

“Clearly, I’m not.”

You came to the quick realization that this had been a set up. “Laura knew you were in here, didn’t she?”

“She did.”

You slammed your gun down into the holster, mad that Laura had tricked you when you just wanted some alone time. “What can I help you with, Fury?”

“It’s more of a question of what I can help you with.” He reached into his pocket and took out a USB drive. “Tell me, are you currently experiencing a headache that seems to never want to go away?”

“How did you— Nevermind,” you shook your head, “I remember reading that Nick Fury knows all. Guess it was right.”

“I need you to start knowing everything as well.” He tossed you the drive. You caught it with ease, holding it up.

“What’s this?”

“Your files.” You inhaled sharply. “Everything, including current information, that SHIELD and HYDRA has on you.”

You swallowed. “Have you read them?”

“I have.”

“And?”

“And I think that you’re going to want to sit down.” You walked over and sat down on a bail beside Fury. “Your current shown abilities are healing yourself and super strength.”

“My shown abilities?”

“You are more powerful than you know, Miss Stark. Your healing abilities go beyond you, you can heal others. And you have, back when you were with HYDRA. You would heal their injured agents.”

“Why don’t I remember any of that?”

“Are you familiar with Sergeant Barnes?”

“Bucky Barnes? Steve’s friend?”

“He’s also known as the Winter Soldier.” The name sent a pang through your head, but you ignored it. “They continually wiped his memories and brainwashed him. It seems like HYDRA did the same to you.” 

You nodded, taking a moment to take the information in. “It makes sense.”

“I don’t believe that’s the full reason you don’t have your memories though.”

“What do you think is the reason then?”

“Your other ability, telepathy.”

“Telepathy? You can’t be serious.”

“There are clear documents in your file about it. I believe that you blocked off your own memories using your ability to protect your memories. When they wiped you, they wiped your memory of having that power. They never wanted you to know how strong you really were. There were times that you even fought back against the wiping and won. They made major upgrades and continued wiping. They couldn’t take the chance that you would overpower them. I believe that one day you decided that the trauma was too much. You hid your memories away and let them wipe the rest.”

“Do you know what my telepathic abilities allowed me to do?”

“You were able to read people's thoughts and control others. You were able to feel other people's emotions and relive their memories as well. HYDRA used you to get information out of their enemies. You were a great asset to them.”

“Asset…”

Fury sighed. “You were trained to replace the Winter Soldier. Losing you was a hard blow to HYDRA.”

“How were these files not exposed in the fall of SHIELD? I thought Natasha spilled all the files to the world?”

“I had a separate server. Your files were safely put away there right before. I knew that you and Tony couldn’t handle the information yet.”

“Does… Does my Dad know about any of this?”

“No.”

“I… I’ve seen some glimpses of images lately. I think they’re from Steve and Thor’s memories.”

“Your run in with the Maximoff witch must have let some of your ability free.”

“What if I don’t want it?” You stared at the USB you were holding.

“I don’t think you have that option. Now,” Fury stood up, “your father is on his way. You might want to leave before he kills me for talking to you alone.”

You nodded, stuffing the USB into one of your pockets. You went to slip out the back door but you stopped yourself. You wanted to know what was going to be talked about. You hid behind some bails of hay just as Tony entered. He walked over to the tractor like you had, studying it.

“Hello, Deere,” he greeted the tractor. “Tell me everything. What ails you?”

“Do me a favor,” Fury started as he dramatically emerged from the shadows, “try not to bring it to life.”

“Ah, Mrs. Barton, you little minx,” Tony grumbled. “I get it, Maria Hill called you, right?” He turned to face Fury. “Was she ever not working for you?”

“Artificial intelligence. You never even hesitated.” There was a touch of anger in Fury’s voice, maybe even disappointment. 

“Look, it’s been a really long day, like, Eugene O’Neill long, so how about we skip to the part where you’re useful?”

“Look me in the eye and tell me you’re going to shut him down.”

“You’re not the director of me.”

“I’m not the director of anybody.” Fury sat down on the hay bail he was on when talking to you. “I’m just an old man, who cares very much about you.”

Tony looked away for a second, trying to get his thoughts together. “And I’m the man who killed the Avengers… I saw it. I didn’t tell the team, I didn’t tell Y/N. How could I? I saw them all dead, Nick, including my own daughter. I felt it. The whole world, too. It’s because of me.” Tony started backing away. “I wasn’t ready. I didn’t do all I could.”

“The Maximoff girl, she's working you Stark. Playing on your fear.”

“I wasn’t tricked, I was shown. It wasn’t a nightmare, it was my legacy. The end of the path I started us on.”

The pain in your head grew as your vision was filled with the scene Tony was talking about. The Avengers and yourself, laying dead on a mound of rubble. You shook your head, causing it to disappear. You could now understand a bit better why Tony had created Ultron.

“You’ve come up with some pretty impressive inventions, Tony.” Fury stood back up, stuffing his hands in his pant pockets. “War isn’t one of them.”

Tony picked up a discarded rag and began twisting it. “I watched my friends die. I watched… I watched my kid die. You’d think that’d be as bad as it gets, right? Nope…” Tony looked away. “Wasn’t the worst part.”

“The worst part was that you didn’t.”

That admission stung. Tony was always trying to act strong, like nothing hurt him and he didn’t care about others when he probably cared the most. You had to stop yourself from jumping over the hay bails to hug him. After Fury and Tony were done talking, they both headed to the house, leaving you finally alone in the barn.

Backing up against the wall, you slid down it and pulled out the USB. You were feeling mixed emotions about how something so small could potentially change everything.

~~~

It was nearly dark when Steve decided to take it upon himself to go looking for you. Especially since Tony didn’t seem to be that worried about your whereabouts. He went to the barn first, thanks to Laura saying that she had seen you go there. He went in and walked around before circling it. You weren’t there. 

Steve headed to the back of the property, still searching for you. He was growing more concerned. You had been growing distant since Ultron first appeared. The two of you used to tell each other everything and now Steve couldn’t help but feel like you were keeping something from him. 

After not seeing you in the back, Steve rounded back up to the front. Lights coming from the quinjet caught his eyes. Cautiously, Steve walked over. He peeked inside and felt some relief when he saw you sitting on a chair in front of one of the computers in the quinjet. You were spinning something small in your hands and looked like you were stuck in your head. 

“Y/N,” he called, walking over to you. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“Sorry,” you mumbled, still focused on the USB in your hand.

“You’re still in your gear. Have you rested at all?” You shook your head. Steve came around to sit beside you. “Are you alright?”

“I honestly don’t know anymore…”

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t want to talk about it right now.” You slipped the USB into one of your pockets. 

“What was that?”

You sighed, knowing that it was pointless to keep it from Stevce. “My files… Fury brought them for me. He believes it’s time I know my past.”

“Have you looked at them yet?”

“No… it’s going to change everything.” You closed your eyes to stop the onslaught of emotion that was hitting you.

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do, Steve.” You snapped your eyes open and turned your head to look at him. “There’s a reason I don’t remember anything past my rescue. Whatever is hidden is hidden for a reason… everything will change with the truth.”

“You don’t have to read them alone. I will read them with you.”

“No… this is something I have to do alone.”

“What are you keeping from me? I thought we told each other everything.”

“Clearly, not… you knew Fury was alive and didn’t say a word. Also, don’t forget to mention what the Maximoff girl showed you.” Steve gave no response, simply looking away. You stood up and headed out of the quinjet, Steve following. “I’ll talk when I’m ready. Right now, I just want to stop Ultron.” 

Halfway to the house, Steve caught your wrist. “Y/N… just tell me. I’m worried.”

Suddenly, you could feel his worry like it was your own. You pulled your wrist from his grip as you shook your head. The feeling stopped. 

“Something just happened,” Steve said, noting the sudden change with you. “What’s going on, Y/N?”

“I can’t talk about it right now.”

“More secrets.” Steve scoffed. “I guess you Starks are all the same.”

You took a step back. “This is different and you know that.”

“Hey, guys,” Clint greeted, poking his head out of the front door. “Dinner.”

“Great. Let me just change.” You marched up to the house and pushed past Clint, heading upstairs.

Clint looked at you and then back to Steve. He could sense the tension. “I don’t know what just happened and I know it’s none of my business, but you better fix it. I don’t need to see you and Stark at each other’s throats more than I already do.”

next chapter >

[infiniteeight8]

redone prompt

I skipped prompts on April 1 because I figured it would get lost amongst The Boopening. (And also I was chasing the 1000 boop badge. lol.) 

Today’s prompt is a post instead of an Ask reply because I decided to rewrite the prompt that I answered and then deleted on March 31. I’m glad I did! I like this version much, much better than the other one. 

The prompt:

@mystical-magician asked:

Ironstrange prompt: arranged marriage. Maybe with royalty au, maybe magical shenanigans, maybe it's canon background? Maybe something else completely.

-

Tony leads his new husband to the suite of rooms that has been prepared for them. He wishes he could follow, instead; the back of his neck is prickling like crazy, and the words of the negotiators who hammered out the marriage contract are echoing in his ears: The negotiations were too easy. They hardly asked for anything. They must want something else. Be wary of your new husband.

Tradition forbids armed guards on the marriage night. It will be only the third time in Tony’s life that he’s been outside the reach of his guards. It’s the perfect opportunity for Stephen Strange to murder him, if that’s what Kamar-Taj wants.

But when the suite doors close behind Strange, all he does is pull off the elaborate headdress his traditions call for and drop it and the heavy marriage robe on the floor, leaving him in a much lighter, royal blue tunic. “Thank the Vishanti,” he groans, taking a seat on one of the low settees in the suite’s receiving room. “Whoever made those so heavy when they have to be worn from dawn until dusk is a cruel man.” 

Tony is left dumbstruck for the first time he can remember. Strange looks up at him and takes on a sheepish expression. “I apologize, I know no one has explained anything to you. The Elders couldn’t decide whether or not it was permitted prior to the marriage, and ultimately they decided to err on the conservative side. But I can explain now.” He gestures to the other settee, placed perpendicular to the one he’d claimed. 

After a moment, Tony shrugs out of his own marriage robe and sits. “The negotiators did suspect something else was going on,” he says. “I take it they were right.”

“Yes, but nothing political.”

“I’m a prince and you’re The Ancient One’s prize protege,” Tony says dryly. “It’s political by definition.”

Strange snorts a little. “For you, maybe. Not for Kamar-Taj. We didn’t need any of the things we asked for in the negotiation. It just seemed like the done thing.”

Tony frowns. “Then what did you want?”

Strange looks slightly… embarrassed? “When a Sorcerer of Kamar-Taj attains the rank of Master, a spell is performed. It reveals their most ideal romantic partner. You’re mine.”

“Your most ideal romantic partner,” Tony repeats, staring. Strange nods. “This is… a love match?”

“Well, not yet,” Strange says, blushing slightly. “But unless something goes very wrong—and it can, this isn’t a guarantee—it will be.”

Tony can’t help it: he laughs so hard actual tears start leaking out of his eyes. Every time he thinks he’s going to stop, he looks up at Stephen’s bemused expression and starts laughing again. Eventually, he sucks in enough breath to gasp out, “They thought— They warned me you might— might try to kill me.”

After one gobsmacked moment, that sets Stephen laughing, too.

Not a bad way to start a marriage.

[to-eat-laugh-love-in-peace]

Saw more people talking about Tonis and what his deal could be in S2 based on what’s already established about him during the first few episodes he was introduced in and that concept art of an older version of him Kenji Muto posted on his twitter a while back which, one, I’m so freaking happy about, this and the other concepts artworks he posted aren’t talked about nearly enough, and two, I have more thoughts to add on to it so let’s get into them.

With how useful the Wams are, besides the fact that they have strength in numbers and size and can either fly across the sky or travel underneath the sand, their abilities are especially useful in information gathering and sabotage, as they are able to mimic other lifeforms from birds (I like to think that the vulture-like bugs that hung around Vash in episode 1 weren’t a thing to begin with since the only other birds we’ve seen so far are Tomas which were confirmed to be biologically engineered by humans) to humans (seeing as Zazie looks so convincingly like a human kid that they were able to fool Meryl and the only thing that physically set them apart from humans when they assumed a human form was a buzzing noise that humans aren’t even able to pick up in the first place) and relay images (as seen with how Zazie summoned a swarm or bacteria-sized Wams that formed the image of the planet Earth and its wildlife during their talk with Meryl in July), they are able to telepathically connect and communicate to each other, and are able to administer poison as implied by the stingers that some of them have been shown to have that I think is what Wolfwood spat out after he plucked a Wam out of midair and ate it raw and the fact that they’ve been confirmed to be what’s in those cigarettes Wolfwood and Roberto have been smoking in place of tobacco meaning that it contains either nicotine or a toxic, addictive drug with both stimulant and depressant effects like it

(Kenji Muto actually talked about in this post depicting this piece of concept art of Zazie that their scarf is actually another kind of Wam whose stinger is very poisonous, making it good for both a means of attack and defense),

Knives and the EoM would surely find an alternative way to keep the Wams under their thumb now that Zazie’s (and the Wams as a whole) alliance with Knives is seemingly implied to have dissolved following what had gone down in July, what with them clearly panicking about the roots, vines, and flowers from Vash’s gate that were gradually covering the entire city and even just about the rest of the planet, so much so that Wolfwood commented on it,

and them saying how they didn’t understand the fact that humanity made Vash out to be the villain behind Lost July,

and one way that they could do that is include the Wams as another species besides Plants they experiment on in for their eugenics research.

(Sidenote, I also like to think that Zazie made it clear to the EoM they were no longer on their side and would no longer do any favors for them when they were asked to locate Vash, which of course the EoM would do, seeing as it wouldn’t be all that difficult for them to do, what with them even having gone so far as to refer to themselves as the planet itself, only for them to refuse to do so, maybe in part as a sort of thanks to Vash for saving the planet and almost everyone on it back in July by letting him rest and relax and recover as much as he could for as long as he could with Lina after everything he’s gone though and in part as a sort of precaution seeing as since he’s seems to have lost his memories and is in no condition to leave Lina’s hometown and live on his own, much less get himself into trouble, then that means he’s out of the way for the time being.

Also, that just makes me think that they may have a part in Vash being found and brought out of hiding since with the incoming arrival of Chronica and Project Pieces of Earth fleets and possibly rumors of Knives being brought back from the grave might force them to reveal Vash’s location since he was the one who put a stop to the shit another Independent Plant pulled two years ago so he might be the only one who can put a stop to whatever either of these two plan to pull this time around two years later.)

Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if Conrad has tried or will try to do something like that since Wams are the natives species of No Man’s Land, at least the only ones we know of so far, so they’re more than capable of withstanding the harsh environment of the planet without the help of Plants. Actually, I kind of wouldn’t be surprised if Zazie was kind of interested in that kind of thing, since they’ve shown a genuine interest in seeing why and how they can coexist alongside Plants or humans, and agreed to allocate a couple of Wams to him for this reason.

Now onto Tonis, now that I think about it more I could see him getting roped into the EoM, seeing as Jeneora Rock has not only lost its’ Plants but also was cut to pieces by Knives, leaving him and his mother and the rest of the townspeople not only heavily injured from the collapse of his hometown, with him being down to one arm, but also homeless with little to none of the basic necessities they need to survive left, and then there’s also how, assuming his mother hadn’t suffered from a miscarraige during or after what went down in Jeneora Rock, his mother would not only have to take care of and provide for him and herself, but also his soon to be born younger sibling. That’s a lot to deal with to say the very least.

Baby supplies are expensive and babies themselves are a lot to deal with as is, but buying baby supplies and raising a baby when they both lost their home, lost people, were suffering from PTSD, and were suffering from major injuries ON NO MAN’S LAND my god, that’s just-that’s SO MUCH. And it sounds like the perfect set up for him to fall right into the hands of the EoM, I mean, didn’t Wolfwood in Trimax go with the EoM thinking that he’d be building churches for them in exchange for being able to provide for himself and the orphanage, so Tonis could be led to follow the same thought process.

Besides that he just looks so much older in the concept art compared to his first appearance in S1 that I saw some people wondering just how long the timeskip would be, but there doesn’t need to be a long timeskip for him to look that old, he just needs to be subjected to the same or at least similar experiments Rollo, Livio, and Nico had been subjected to and he’ll end up looking like that in around six months and then with the EoM having access to lost tech they could hook him up with a prosthetic arm similar to Vash’s which could be why they share a similar silhouette.

Also, Zazie’s 98 counterpart was a normal human kid who happened to have a device that allowed him to hijack worms to do whatever he ordered them to do, and their Trimax counterpart was a human who happened to have their body hijacked by worms and did whatever they wanted them to do, so maybe Tristamp could pull something similar with Tonis.

And and, there are a couple of spots on the GHG so to speak with EG the Mine and Monev the Gale out of the picture, now they could have just done that to allow for more room to focus on the remaining GHG that haven’t appeared yet like Midvalley, Hoppered, Dominique, Leonof, and to an extent Livio, Legato, and Elendira, but they could also have done that to come up with new members to fill those empty slots, they did it in 98 with Caine, then again they didn’t bring in Livio and Elendira but still.

Not to mention, someone on twitter here pointed out how Tonis is repeatedly shown time and time again with something that has to do with catching Wams in his hands, like the cage filled with Wams he shows off to Vash and then to Gosef in Rosa’s bar, and the net he’s seen holding whenever he’s on his own like when he encounters Meryl and Roberto in the cliffside, which while it could just be something to show how much he’s into Wams, and maybe to foreshadow how Wams make for a really good alternative resource in place of Plants as addressed in episode 4, it could also be foreshadowing a potential confrontation between him and Zazie.

I still like my previous theory about Tonis where he got his prosthetic arm from Father Nebraska as thanks for pulling Gosef out of the rubble and sparing the both of them some medical supplies as seen in a quick shot of them being one of the injured near the end of episode 3 since it looks like Vash’s prosthetic arm if it was made out of scrap metal instead of lost tech by a No Man’s Land resident than a first generation SEEDS crew member, Father Nebraska was even seated right across from Vash in the table which I’m sure would be able to afford him a good view of his arm, not to mention, he could have also seen him showing off his cage full of Wams to Gosef in the background, and Gosef’s arm was mentioned to be designed to catch Wams so he’d put two and two together and figured it’d be fitting especially since Tonis wasn’t as squirmy with Wams like Gosef was and Zazie possibly taking him under his wing for whatever reason but I’ll admit I’m quickly growing attached to this new theory and when it comes down to it I’m just really excited to see what going to go down in S2 when its finally released. @tristampparty

[scoonsalicious]

Reminder: I am on a posting break for new content until May 23rd so that I can focus on writing WFLT...

In the meantime, please enjoy this third installment of Unwanted: Unusables, or, chapters from the original story that never made it to the final draft. Today, we're looking at an alternate Chapter 7: (what would become) Unburdened. This draft immediately follows the events of yesterday's Unusable.

I ended up scrapping this entire version of the chapter, because I decided to go in a different direction in Chapter 5, so everything had to be redone. But, it has one of my favorite scenes-- Girls' Night, so I'm glad that I could eventually share it with you, besties!

Enjoy!

When you woke up the following morning, you felt lighter than you could remember feeling in a long, long time. It was as if the maelstrom of agitation that had been coursing through you since Bucky first saw Jade's profile had finally abated, and you were waking to the calm following the storm, everything feeling newly cleansed by the rain.

Granted, your head was killing you with a tremendous hangover, but your soul felt lighter, and that's what should count the most, right?

You stretched, reaching out for Bucky, but finding only empty sheets where his body had been the night before. With a frown, you craned your head to see if he was in the bathroom, but no-- the door was open and the room beyond it dark. Against your will, you felt the weight of your insecurities begin to hover over you once again. Perhaps it was time to talk to Tony to see if you could borrow his Dr. FRIDAY therapy program for yourself. You were definitely in need of some kind of professional help.

Drawing your knees up to your chest, you contemplated whether or not you should change out of Bucky's shirt before you trekked back across the hall to your own room so you could mope. The odds of anyone seeing you were slim, since you were still the only two people living on this floor, but there was no guarantee someone wouldn't be around looking for either one of you. You wondered what would have people talking more-- the sight of you in only Bucky's shirt, or you leaving his room in the clothes you'd worn the night before. Not that it really mattered, you supposed. You were fairly confident from the team's reactions at dinner last night that the majority of them knew the two of you were having sex, or at the very least suspected it, anyway.

Before you could make your decision, however, Bucky's door opened and he walked in, carrying a breakfast tray laden with bacon and eggs and an overly-large water bottle.

"You're up," he said, smiling as he closed the door behind him. "I was hoping I'd be back before you woke, but I figured you could use some sustenance for what's probably a major hangover." He slid the tray onto the bed before crawling back in next to you.

"Did you seriously bring me breakfast in bed, Barnes?" you asked, a smile tugging at the corners of your mouth. That was beyond adorable of him.

"'course I did," he said, picking up a slice of bacon and taking a bite. "Figure your head's got to be killing you, since you never drink that much. Here." He unscrewed the cap from the water bottle and passed it to you. "Electrolytes. Drink up." You took a swig of the lemony-lime flavored Liquid IV he'd prepared for you.

"Thank you," you said. "This is incredibly sweet, but I could have gotten up to get breakfast myself; you didn't have to go to all the trouble."

"I confess, my motives aren't that altruistic," he said, running his tongue over his bottom lip. "I have no intention of letting you get out of this bed at all today, and I figured you should have at least something in your stomach before I launch my nefarious plan." His eyes twinkled with mischievous intent, making your heart flutter in anticipation.

"Your nefarious plan, huh?" Your eyebrow arched in curiosity as you took another bite of bacon, cooked extra crispy, exactly the way you liked. "And what might that be?"

"Well," he started, his voice dropping to a seductive whisper as he leaned closer to you, his breath tickling your ear.

"Since I was an absolute ass and made you feel like shit yesterday, I had hoped I could spend today making you feel good. I could lie and say I planed a day spent snuggled up together watching movies, but in reality I was thinking we could explore the possibility of other more... intimate activities."

A blush crept over your cheeks as you met his gaze. The promise lingering in his icy blue eyes sent a thrill down your spine, making you momentarily forget about the pounding headache. "That sounds...enticing," you admitted. "You have my attention."

"Good," he grinned, his thumb gently brushing against your lower lip. "Because I also remember a promise made to fuck you until you couldn't remember your own name."

The heat that instantaneously flooded your cheeks at his words made you glad you hadn't bothered changing out of his shirt, after all. You tried to play it cool, to match his relaxed nonchalance, even as your heart pounded like a drum within your chest.

"I do seem to recall you saying something to that effect last night, now that you mention it," you said, trying to sound casually thoughtful in spite of the tidal wave of arousal that was rushing throughout your body.

Bucky nodded, the smile on his face growing wider by the second. "Let it never be said that I'm not a man of my word." You turned, leaning in to kiss him, but he pulled away from you. "Nu-uh, doll," he tsked. "You need to hydrate and protein-load first, then I'll ruin you."

"I dunno, Buck," you contemplated as you dug into a forkful of scrambled eggs. "You may have already ruined me. I could get used to this kind of treatment real fast."

"Sweetheart, if one breakfast in bed has ruined you, you've been spending all your time with the wrong kind of man," he drawled.

"Well, I think we both know that's the understatement of the year," you laughed.

Bucky chuckled, a hearty sound that reverberated through the room and eased any lingering insecurities that had arisen when you woke up alone. He was right; you were spending time with the right kind of man now. You turned to find him watching you with an intensity that made your breath hitch.

"God, you're beautiful," he murmured, reaching out to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear. His touch was gentle, sweet, causing goosebumps to rise on your skin.

You found yourself blushing again, quickly turning your attention back to the breakfast tray in an attempt to hide it. "Says the man who looks like he fell straight off a GQ cover," you teased lightly.

Even though his smile never wavered, there was a depth to his gaze that made your heart race. "Noticed that, did you?" He asked, his tone teasing as he took another bite of his bacon.

It was your turn to chuckle now, the sound soft and full of warmth. "Maybe once or twice," you said with a shrug.

"I ever tell you you make make grateful I fell off that train?"

Your heart momentarily stopped at his words. You looked at him, really looked, and saw the sincerity in his eyes. His tone was so casual, as if he were commenting on the weather, but the weight of his words were monumental.

"What?" you managed to gasp out, completely thrown off balance, breakfast momentarily forgotten.

He chuckled softly at your bewilderment, his fingers reaching out to gently caress your face. "I shoulda been dead long before you were ever even born, doll. Fallin' off that train, becoming the Winter Soldier, it was hell, but if it'd hadn't happened, I never would of gotten to meet you. That's made it all worth it."

You stammered, trying to find words that could match the intensity of the moment. "Bucky... That's..."

"True," he finished for you, his gaze steady on yours. "You are my silver lining, sweetheart. The best thing this twisted life has given me."

Your eyes filled with tears at his heartfelt admission. This was Bucky - raw and open-hearted - sharing something profoundly personal with you.

"Bucky... I..." You struggled to form a sentence that could properly encapsulate how you felt in the moment, so instead, you took the breakfast tray and put it up on the bedside table. Turning back to face him, his expression curious, you cupped his cheek in the palm of your hand. If you couldn't tell him what his words meant to you, you'd show him.

"I think I'm done with breakfast," you whispered, pulling him in for a kiss.

His lips moved against yours with devastating slowness. There was nothing rushed or fevered about the kiss, but it was no less all-consuming.

He responded immediately, drawing you closer and wrapping his arms around your waist and maneuvering you until you straddled his lap. His large hands roamed along the curve of your lower back, pulling you against him until there was no space left. The contact made your head spin and your body heat up in places that made you shudder with anticipation.

His taste was as delicious as his touch; a combination of coffee, bacon, and something distinctly Bucky that made your senses reel. His tongue slipped into your mouth, tangling with yours in an intimate dance that left you breathless and wanting more.

As the kiss deepened, you could feel every hard line and muscle of Bucky's torso pressed against your own. His heart pounded in sync with yours, the rhythm picking up as the kiss escalated from sweet to passionate. The sensation made you dizzy with longing.

You reached up to tangle your fingers in his hair, tugging lightly at the strands. A low growl rumbled from Bucky's chest at the action, sending a thrill of lust coursing through you. His response was immediate, his lips leaving yours to trail hot, wet kisses down your neck. His teeth grazed your skin, making you gasp in pleasure.

"You're mine," he said, his voice a primal growl that echoed in the otherwise silent room. His possessiveness was as thrilling as it was unexpected. You nodded, unable to form words as desire clouded your mind.

"Yours," you managed to gasp out, the word coming out as a half-sigh, half-moan as Bucky's fingers danced down the length of your back, causing goosebumps to rise in their wake.

His hands moved with a purpose, tracing paths of fire along your skin. Every touch was measured and precise - he knew exactly what he was doing and how it affected you.

It was almost too much to bear - this closeness, the intimacy of his words. It was overwhelming and wonderful all at once. Bucky's touch was like an incantation, a spell that had you completely entranced.

The world narrowed down to just the two of you. The crisp sheets beneath you, the cool morning air filling the room, everything felt insignificant compared to the heat radiating from Bucky's touch, from his gaze. You were lost in him, and it was a sensation you never wanted to quit.

His fingers dipped lower, trailing up the hem of the shirt you wore. A shiver coursed through your body as his cold metal digits met the warm bare skin of your stomach. You gasped audibly, your back arching slightly.

"Sensitive?" Bucky teased, a smirk playing on his lips. His fingers continued their tantalizing exploration, circling around your navel before moving upward.

"You have no idea," you managed to breathe out between gasps. Every nerve ending was on fire, your senses heightened by Bucky's seductive touch. His fingers traced a path up your body, fingertips lightly grazing the underside of your breasts. You bit your lower lip, stifling a moan. Bucky noticed, his ocean blue eyes darkening with a hunger that mirrored your own.

"Good," he murmured, leaning down to press his lips to yours once more. This kiss was different, though - more demanding, more intense. He claimed your mouth with a burning passion that left you breathless and craving more.

His metal hand moved from your stomach to cup your breast through the thin fabric of the shirt. His touch was electrifying; every stroke sent shock waves coursing through you straight to your core. You moaned into his mouth, arching into his touch.

Bucky pulled away slightly, his gaze sliding down to where his hand was on you. "You like this?" he asked in a low, husky voice.

"So fucking much," you admitted, reaching up to grasp the back of his neck and pull him back down to your lips. You kissed him with abandon, pouring all the pent-up desire you had been feeling into the action. His groan of pleasure was muffled by your mouth, further stoking the flames of your desire.

His hand kept up its unhurried exploration, fingers finding a hard nipple through the shirt, brushing over it in slow circles. The sensation made you whimper, pulling away from his lips to gasp for breath.

His eyes were filled with a wicked gleam as he took you in, his gaze heated and full of desire. It made your heart beat faster and your body ache with need. In that moment, you wanted nothing more than to melt into him completely.

"Bucky," you whispered, the sound coming out as a high-pitched plea. His touch was driving you wild, making it difficult for you to think straight.

"Hmm?" His voice was rough with desire, his breath fanning across your face.

"I... I need..." you trailed off, unsure of how to put your needs into words. You've never wanted someone this much; it was disorienting.

His lips curled up into a smirk again, understanding flashing in his blue eyes. "I know what you need, doll," he murmured against your ear, sending shivers down your spine. His hand slipped underneath your shirt, skin on skin contact causing you to gasp out loud. His touch was demanding, taking and giving pleasure in equal measure.

His fingers traced the contours of your body, causing your nerves to sing with exhilaration. Playing your body like an instrument he'd long ago mastered. He skillfully made his way to the apex of your legs, his fingers just ghosting over the sensitive skin there.

"Does this feel good?" he asked in a low growl, his voice rough with need. His fingers dipped lower, hooking into the waistband of your panties and pulling them down slightly.

Your heart pounded in anticipation as you nodded, not trusting yourself to speak as desire coursed through your veins. His eyes never left yours - an intense gaze filled with passion and unspoken promises.

His hand moved lower still, slipping beneath your waistband. A breathy moan slipped past your lips as his fingers touched you where you wanted him most.

His fingers were cool against your heated skin, and the contrast sent sparks through your body. You couldn't help but shift against his touch, seeking more.

"Bucky," you whispered again, this time in a desperate plea. His smirk widened at your response to his touch as he rubbed slow circles around your most sensitive area. You reached down to wrap your fingers around his wrist as he teased you. He watched you carefully, taking in your every reaction and using it to heighten your pleasure.

"You're so beautiful like this," he said in a low murmur, his voice filled with raw need that caused your pulse to flutter. He continued his slow exploration, dipping a single metal digit into your heat, causing you to gasp at the intrusion.

"Yes... Bucky," you stammered out, your voice barely above a whisper. The slow stretch of his finger inside of you sent fire shooting through every nerve ending. Each stroke of his hand was perfectly orchestrated as if to bring you the greatest amount of pleasure possible.

"Shh, I got you, doll," he reassured you, his voice low and thick with wanting. His pace didn’t quicken; instead he kept a slow, torturous rhythm that had you squirming.

You could feel the tension building within you, spiraling up from the pit of your stomach. The pressure increased with every skilled stroke of Bucky’s fingers until you felt like you were on the edge of something monumental. Your breath hitched, and your grip on his shoulders tightened to the point where you were sure it would leave marks.

You wanted to look at him, wanted to see his face as he watched you unravel under his touch, but your eyes were squeezed shut, the tension mounting within you too intense to bear otherwise.

"Look at me," Bucky commanded huskily, his voice sending shivers down your spine. You obeyed instantly, forcing your eyes open to meet his dark blue gaze. The raw desire there took your breath away. "That's it," he murmured approvingly, his fingers continued their exploration, every touch igniting a flame that threatened to consume you completely.

"I want you to come for me," he growled, pressing harder against the sensitive bundle of nerves at your core. You whimpered at his words, the knot in your stomach tightening further. His command added another layer of intensity to the already building climax.

Your body tensed and you gasped audibly as waves of euphoria crashed over you. Your mind went blank and your vision blurred as the orgasm hit you with full force. All you were aware of was Bucky; his intense gaze, his fingers relentlessly driving you through your climax, and his voice murmuring words of encouragement.

"Good girl... that's it. Let go," he coaxed, his rough voice a thread anchoring you in the storm. As the tremors began to recede, he slowed his movements, easing you through the aftershocks.

Your senses slowly returned, and you were left gasping for breath, your heart pounding wildly. You were still clutching his arm, your grip loose now but no less desperate. His touch was intoxicating, a heady mix of pleasure and need that left you craving more.

Bucky eased his hand away from your core. His gaze was steady on your face, watching as you tried to regain your bearings. His eyes softened as he took in your flushed face and disheveled hair.

He pulled you closer, wrapping his arm securely around your trembling form as he pressed a soft kiss to your forehead. There was a tenderness in this gesture that moved you deeply, causing tears to pool in your eyes.

"Bucky..." you murmured, turning your face further into his chest. He hummed a quiet acknowledgement in response, his fingers beginning to draw soothing patterns on your back.

"Yes, doll?" His voice was still rough, but the edge of raw need had smoothed out. Now it was gentle and filled with warmth and affection that had not been so evident before.

"You...you're..." You found it difficult to articulate what you were feeling right then. It was overwhelming - the intense euphoria from the pleasure he'd given you combined with the burgeoning emotions that threatened to spill over.

He seemed to understand regardless. "I know," he whispered, his lips brushing against your temple. "I know."

There was an unspoken agreement between you both then; an agreement that this casual arrangement you had entered into all those months ago had transcended into something far deeper, far more meaningful, than either one of you had ever anticipated.

You sat together in silence for a while, foreheads pressed against each other as you regained your composure, breathing in each other's breath. When your limbs had finally stopped shaking and your pulse had evened out, you met his gaze.

"Buck, we have a problem," you murmured, sliding your cheek against his, the rough stubble tantalizing against your skin.

He nuzzled into your face. "What's that, doll?"

You pulled back to look him in the eye, a wicked glint in your gaze. "I seem to still be able to remember my name."

He reached for the hem of the shirt you'd borrowed and pulled it up over your head and tossed it to the floor. "Honey, I haven't even begun to fuck you yet." With a wolfish grin, Bucky picked you up and maneuvered you so that you were lying on your back, his form hovering above you. His drew his head down to your breast, taking it into his mouth and sucking long and hard on your nipple.

"Oh, fuck, Bucky," you moaned, arching your back and pressing your chest further into his eager mouth. He devoured you like a man starving.

You lost yourself to the sensation as he continued his ministrations, and it wasn't long before he had once again reduced you to a whimpering mess. Time itself lost all meaning as he brought you over the edge over and over and over again. Finally, after what seemed like hours, you were sobbing with over-stimulation and the sheer intensity of what you felt for him.

After he'd finished inside of you for the second time, Bucky leaned over you, planting feather-light kisses along the planes of your face. "What's your name, doll?" he asked, voice husky.

You tried to answer, but no coherent thought would come to you; all you could do was pant as you tried to focus and re-center yourself.

He had done it. The man had fucked you until you'd forgotten your own name.

And you absolutely loved him for it.

*

The days that followed were some of the very best of your entire life. If you weren't training or working (well, okay, plenty of times when you were working), Bucky had you on your back. Or bent over a desk, or up against a wall, or down on all fours. Several times, he had sat you on his face, your hands gripping on to the headboard for dear life as his tongued probed as deeply into your cunt as he could get it. You had fucked in so many positions, in so many places, you were sure the entire Tower knew what you were doing. Not that you cared; you were head over heals in love with the man, and you were fairly confident he felt the same about you.

It was just that neither one of you had actually spoken the words.

So secure were you in this new connection with Bucky that it didn't even phase you when Tony announced one afternoon that Jade Carthage had officially accepted a three-month probationary appointment with the Avengers, and would be moving into the Tower in just a few days time.

"Okay, Pocket, what gives?" Nat asked you. Girls' Night had come around again, and the two of you, along Wanda, were set up in the common room, working your way through two large pizzas and a couple of orders of mozzarella sticks. Pepper was unfortunately on the West Coast, away on some official Stark Industries CEO business. "Tony announces Jade's imminent arrival and you don't even blink."

You shrugged your shoulders as you popped half a mozzarella stick into your mouth. "I'm not worried about her anymore," you told them. "I mean, I still don't like her, and we're not going to be best friends, but Bucky and I are in a good place." You paused and gave them a knowing look. "A really good place."

"So you are sleeping together!" Wanda leaned back, lifting her feet off the floor and kicking them in delight. You ducked your head, trying to stifle the smile and hide the blush that bloomed across your face. "Okay, I have so many questions! First of all, how long has this been going on? Second, what' it like? You know, his..." she tiled her eyes down. "Third, how is it? It's got to be so good, right? I mean, look at him!"

"Slow down!" you laughed. "God, Wands, should we change your name from Scarlet Witch to the Sokovian Horndog? Cause damn, girl!"

It was Wanda's turn to blush. "I'm sorry; I've just wanted this for you for so long, I can't stand it!" She stood up and threw herself at you, wrapping her arms around you in a tight hug, which you gladly reciprocated.

"Thanks, sweetie," you said with a laugh.

"Thanks later, answers now," she told you, pulling back from you to lean against the arm of the couch.

"Oh, I got this," Nat said, grin plastered across her face. "Let's see... One: four months, since the night he got back from his first mission. Two: She's called him Magic Dick, to his face. And three: Sometimes, when they're done, she can't even walk." She turned to you. "That about cover it?" You laughed, nodding your head.

"Yeah, that basically covers it," you said with a grin.

"I cannot believe this has been going on for four months and you both kept it from me," Wanda said with a pout. "I have been shipping the two of you for over a year, and this is how you repay me?"

"We weren't telling anyone, Wands," you said, trying to placate your friend.

"Oh, I'm too excited for you to be actually mad at you," she confessed. "So, you two a legitimate couple now, or what?"

You paused, biting your lip in consideration. "Well, no? I mean, it started as this completely no-strings-attached, casual sex, friends-with-benefits thing, but the morning after the dinner disaster, he told me that I made him grateful he fell off the train and--"

"I'm sorry, he said what?!" Nat interrupted at the same time Wanda grabbed a throw pillow and screamed into with with excitement, kicking her feet once more.

"Pocket," Nat continued grabbing your arms and shaking you, "for Barnes, that's practically a declaration of undying love!"

You scrunched your shoulders in glee. "I know!" you squealed, not being able to help how exhilarated the idea made you feel.

"And then what did you say?" Wanda asked.

You dropped your shoulders. "Um... well, I didn't actually say anything."

Wanda's eyes went wide. "So you just left him hanging there after he said that?" she asked, incredulous.

"No! I absolutely replied!" you insisted. "Just... not with words. It was more of a... physical response."

Wanda and Nat shared a look. "Okaaaay," they both said in unison before the three of you burst into laughter.

"Pepper is going to be so pissed she missed this," Wanda said, pulling out her phone to text your missing friend. "Though she'll probably be more angry about losing the bet."

"The bet?" you asked, confused.

"Oh, I bet her $100 that you two would end up together before your birthday," Wanda said with a grin as she texted away. "Pepper thought it wouldn't happen until night of, or after."

You tossed a pillow at her, knocking her phone from her hands. "Hey!" she cried out.

"That's what you get for betting on your friends' love lives," you told her, though your voice held no heat. If anything, it was weirdly sweet. Except... "Wait, is it super bizarre that Pepper's making bets on my sex life when she's technically my boss?" you asked.

"Yeah, you going to HR with that complaint?" Nat asked, laughing at the face you made. Her laughing set Wanda off, which set you off in turn, and soon the three of you were in hysterics.

"Damn, we too early for the panty pillow fight?" a voice from across the room caught your attention, and you looked up to see Sam, Steve, and Bucky standing in the doorway.

God, Bucky looked so good. He was wearing a Henley and a pair of jeans, but damn it if it wasn't doing things to you. You flashed him a giant smile. "Hey, Buckaroo," you said, your voice coming out far huskier than you intended it to.

"Don't engage, Pocket," Nat murmured. "They'll think think it's an invitation to come join us." But it was too late; the boys had already begun walking over to where you sat, Sam immediately grabbing a slice of pizza and digging in.

"Hey, doll," Bucky said, leaning over you and placing a kiss to your lips. He quickly pulled back as though he'd been burned, realizing what he'd done of your friends, and the two of you started at each other in surprise and shock over his actions.

"You know what, fuck it," you said, fisting his shirt and pulling him down, slotting your lips over his like your life depended on it. He responded instantly, practically crawling onto the couch to deepen the kiss, pulling you into his lap. You barely registered the sounds of your friends whooping and cheering around you. After what felt like several heady minutes, when you eventually came up for air, you were both smiling, red embarrassment creeping up your faces.

"It's about damned time!" Sam shouted, throwing a mozzarella stick a the two of you. With lighting reflexes, Bucky caught it midair, bit half of it and fed you the rest.

"All this fanfare over a simple kiss?" he asked rhetorically, ignoring the pointed looks. "Stop making it a big deal."

"I have literally wanted nothing more in my entire life," Wanda said, fiddling with her phone. "And I may have taken a picture to send to Pepper to prove she lost."

Bucky gave you a questioning look.

"The Sokovian Horndog over there has been placing bets on us," you sighed. "We just won her $100." A corner of his mouth tipped up in a smile.

"Best buy my girl something pretty with your winnings then, Red," he teased. Leaning your head against his shoulder, you watched in amusement as Wanda's cheeks flushed at Bucky's words.

Your friends continued to playfully give you both shit for a few more moments when you realized someone was missing from your little group.

"Hey, where did Steve go?" You were sure the blond super soldier had entered the room with Bucky and Sam, but now he was nowhere to be seen.

"Um, he sort of ran out when you two started to play tonsil hockey," Sam said between bites of pizza.

"Bathroom, maybe?" Nat suggested, her eyes glancing towards the hallway, but you could tell there was a note of uncertainty in her voice.

Bucky, however, seemed to have a better grasp on what might have occurred and his eyes scanned the room with a more discerning look. A sigh escaped him before he gently nudged you off his lap, rising from the couch. "I'll go find him," he said, turning down to give you a quick kiss goodbye. "Come on, Sam. We've disturbed Girls' Night long enough."

The Falcon began protesting, unfinished pizza slice still in hand, but Bucky grabbed him by the arm, dragging him off toward the hallway. Once they reached the doorway, Bucky turned around and gave you a quick wink.

"I'll see you at bedtime, Babydoll," he said, before dragging Sam off with him.

You waited a beat, giving the boys time to get out of earshot before the three of you began squealing like pre-teens.

"He's never called me that before," you gushed, the happiness coursing through you so intense you were afraid you'd launch into orbit.

"You are going to get such a good dicking down tonight!" Nat declared, coming around to playfully punch you on the shoulder.

And you absolutely did.

[captaincapsicle83]

Iron Man

The Avenger series, part 2

Tw: cursing, Tony not following directions

Previous Part

"Dude, you're like a million years old-"

"Excuse me, Ma'am, but I'm a billion! And your closer to zero. You're a baby. Added with the fact that I'm ten times as important as you-"

"Ten times zero is still zero."

"Not the point."

"I just wanna name it," you whined. Tony rolled his eyes, clearly baffled at your audacious manner.

"I picked an acronym before you were even born," He shakes his head, holding up the glasses frames in front of his face, not putting them on.

"Yeah? When?"

"September 21st, of..." He hesitated. "Of 19...93."

"Well, genuis, I was born in 1992-!"

"So me picking the name in the year of 1991 proves me right-!"

"You liar!" You exclaimed. "JARVIS, play back what Tony just said."

Before Tony can object, the ceiling emits his voice, "Of 19...93."

"JARVIS, you're being evicted," was Tony's response. "Pack your things. You're getting uploaded to a surf shop in Daytona Beach."

You laugh, taking the glasses from Tony and putting them into their case.

You were something of an accomplice to Tony's "Iron Man" shtick. You were what he called a "trainee," meaning you didn't fight anybody like Tony did. You practiced, though, and not just in a suit. You did end up giving Tony a black eye, Pepper freaking out over press stuff due to it.

"We can't send you in front of hundreds if people, or broadcast you to millions, if you looked like you run an underground fight club," Pepper exclaimed, pulling his head to the side with a grip on his chin. She looks at you all accusatory like, "You did this?"

"Cool right," you giggle, and pretend to bop Tony on the side of the face again. Peppers eyes roll before she stalks away, heels clicking.

"I'm her favorite," you say as she walks away.

"Nuh-uh."

"Yeah-huh."

☆☆☆

You sat on a gray couch, wearing pajamas and eating a bowl of cereal. A peanut butter reeses brand version of cocoa puffs. It tasted like heaven.

"Iron Man," Tony mumbled, reading a newspaper, standing behind you with Pepper. "Hey, that's kinda catchy."

"Thanks, I came up with it," you say, taking a bite of your cereal. Pepper was doing Tony's "makeup" since he had another bruise on his face, and also, the planned press conference scheduled for today was being broadcasted "everywhere."

Probably not in lesser fortunate countries, but you didn't mention that to Pepper. You wanted to stay the "favorite."

On the TV in front of you, the news was playing. You found the news to be exhausting, and quite morally wounding, but you were to lazy to find the remote and change the channel. You wished you could be watching literally anything else though. You had quite a liking for American children's shows. And Hannah Montana was on at this hour, maybe even SpongeBob.

Tony is given a speech, which he looks over as Pepper thanks Agent Coulson.

You wouldn't. The guy ate the last donut this morning, and he doesn't even live here.

As Pepper and Coulson walk out, you turn around in your seat to look at Tony.

"You aren't gonna read that, are you?" You say, crunching the last bites of your cereal.

"Of course I am, who do you take me for," He winks at you. "Now finish your cereal, and get dressed, we have ninety seconds before we have to be out there, and you look like a bum."

"I'm a squatter, it's the New York in me."

"The only 'New York' in you is Venice Pizza."

"And yet, I'm living in Iron Mans house rent free," you say, putting a false wistful look on your face, as Pepper is walking back into the room.

"He's not Iron Man," she shakes her head.

"Is so," you retaliate, walking away, tilting up your bowl to drink the milk out of it.

"You know, I'm starting to belive I'm not Iron Man," Tony says thoughtfully.

"You're not," Pepper scoffs. "And I'm starting to believe I'm raising two children. Y/n! You better come back out here dressed!"

☆☆☆

"And now, Mr. Stark will be making a statement," A man onstage says. You're on the sidelines with Pepper. You follow her lead, clapping when she does. Smiling when she does.

You were a star student. Have a star.

☆

You knew what was coming though. Oh boy, Pepper wasn't gonna be Happy. And, well, the head of security, who really was Happy, wasn't exactly gonna be a basket of roses himself.

But when was he ever?

"-To consider that I am a superhero."

Fuck up number one; they never said he was a superhero. You sucked in a breath, knowing the house of cards was about to fall.

As Tony stumbled over his words, a soldier whispered in his ear. Maybe something taboo, or maybe to read his cards. Guess the world will never know...

You have to bow your head, as you were already laughing. You felt Pepper smack you shoulder.

"The truth is..."

You pulled in another large breath, looking at Pepper to show you had composed yourself.

"I am Iron Man."

[marvelwitchergilmore]

Bloody Pardon 4

Summary: Anthony Lockwood x Fe!Reader -> Yourself and Lockwood finally return home and it's time for Violet and June to leave, but will you tell Lockwood before it's too late?

Disclaimer: Sorry if there are any plot holes, it's been a while since I've updated. Mostly fluff, mentions of blackmail and denial. This is the final part.

By the time you all arrived home, the smell of George’s cooking wafted through the kitchen. 

He was home. 

“Good, you’re back! Try this.”

Lockwood had just managed to help you get your coat off before George shoved his cooking spoon into your face and fed you the tasty, albeit burning hot soup. 

“Does it need more Thyme? I think it needs more Thyme but I can’t find it on the shelves.”

“I’ll help you find it.”

Lockwood and George disappeared with Violet hot on their tail leaving just you and June alone in the hallway. 

“That was very romantic.”

“June, please.”

“No, no. I’m not saying anything.” June held up her hands before walking away. “Just tell him.”

You sighed as she made her way into the kitchen, ready to follow her only to be greeted by Kipps at the living room door. 

“Tell who what?”

“Nothing.”

“No, no. Come on, tell me.”

“It’s nothing, honestly.”

“Is this about you and Lockwood?”

You whipped around to find Lucy stood behind you with a Digestive in her hand, half eaten. 

“Oh my, god. It is.” Kipps replied, spotting the look on your face. 

Fake denial. 

“Please, can both of you just drop it?”

“Drop what?”

You whipped around again, this time facing the kitchen where Lockwood was now standing behind you.

“Oh, nothing Tony.” Kipps answered for you. “Just gossip, that’s all.”

“About what?”

Lockwood mainly tried to look to you for answers, but you weren’t for giving them up. Just like the night before. 

You had the same look. 

You were hiding something he desperately wanted to know, but he knew you well enough to know you’d just breeze past it and never mention it again. 

And so you did. 

“Is George almost finished? I’m famished.”

Breezing past Lockwood, you entered the kitchen where you found Violet trying to carry a stack of plates over to the table. 

“Oh, here, let me do that.”

“Oh, please, dear. Let me help. You and my Anthony have been so kind. At least let me set the table. Or else, you’ll make me feel like an old woman. I can still do the Quickstep as quickly as I could when I was your age.”

“I’m sure you can, Aunt Vi.” Lockwood appeared by the door again. 

“Don’t mock me, boy.”

“I never would.” Lockwood appeared genuine. 

Dinner went smoothly and before you knew it, it was time for Violet and June to head home. 

George said his ‘goodbye’ before he left to go to the Archives to search up for the next case and both Lucy and Kipps came with Lockwood and yourself to drop them off at the train station.  

Of course, Aunt Vi hugged everyone telling them all to keep in touch and June made her own version of goodbye to everyone before she pulled you aside. 

“Tell him. If not for yourself, then for him. That boy…every time he looks at you he looks like he’s about to explode. Tell him. Tell him before it’s too late and he tries to…i don’t know…’move on’. You and I both know, deep down, that wouldn’t work for either of you. You’d both be too miserable without one another.”

“June-”

“No.” June said, firmly. “No. You tell him, or I tell Vi the whole truth. In about a month, she’ll be expecting an update on your marriage. Now, that divorce lawyer is drawing up the papers for you to sign a week on Monday. That gives you two weeks to tell him the truth and I expect a letter and a real wedding photo from the both of you. If I don’t, I will go to Vi.”

“Isn’t that Blackmail?”

“Perhaps, but it’s for both of your wellbeing. And, besides, who’s gonna lock an old lady like me up. I’ll break out within a day. They wouldn’t find me until I wanted to be found.”

You couldn’t help but show a smile. 

“Two weeks.” June warned you. “That’s all you’re getting. Now, go back to your husband and tell him how you really feel about him.”

You nodded, unsure on what else to do. 

“Oh, here she is.” Violet hugged you so tight, you couldn’t do anything else but hug her back. It was the kind of hug you still felt after she let go. 

“Oh, I’m just so happy for the both of you. Anthony, I haven’t seen you smile like this in ages.”

“What can I say? She makes me happy.”

“You suit one another. Don’t they, June? Don’t they just suit one another?”

“Like a bride and groom on top of a wedding cake.”

You felt a pang of guilt in your stomach as Lockwood placed an arm around your waist and held you closer to him. 

Ten minutes later, they were both on the train headed home. Meanwhile, Kipps and Lucy had decided to go on a day out, picking a random time and getting on that train. 

This meant you and Lockwood were left alone. 

Together. 

On the way back, you both remembered that it was food shopping day. George had given you both a list of things to pick up on your way back. So, hopping into his car, Lockwood drove to the main supermarket where you both grabbed all the items George said he needed, plus some extra before driving home. 

As winter drew in, closer and closer, the sky got darker earlier and George called ahead. A family emergency had come up and he was heading home. In fact, he was already at the train station. 

Then, twenty minutes later, Lucy called. 

Herself and Kipps were going to stay the night and get the train back in the morning. 

So you and Lockwood were left alone. 

Together. 

Again. 

By 6 o’clock in the evening, you and Anthony had eaten dinner and you were preparing the fire as he finished up some research on the current case. 

Only, as the fire started producing heat and warming up the house, you popped in a VHS tape of Christmas in Connecticut. It had been right at the very back of the collection - it probably hadn’t seen the light of day since it was first played. 

The Title Credits began to roll just as Lockwood entered. 

“Can we talk?”

“About what?”

“About…the last couple of days.”

You went to speak as you stood up but Lockwood hurried forward to stand in front of you, in the hopes you would remain standing in your place and not leave the room. 

“Please. Just…I feel like I’ve been going crazy. I understand this whole thing is completely unconventional. I mean, most people start out with a first date and we just jumped straight to the wedding.”

“You’re idea, might I add. Even that we didn’t do.”

Lockwood cracked a smile for a moment but he didn’t want you to try and divert what he was going to ask. 

“I just…I want to ask you a question.”

“Okay.”

“And I want you to answer it. Truthfully.” Lockwood clarified. “And I don’t want you to divert or try to run away from me. At least for the next five minutes,” he added when he saw your eyes flick to the hallway. 

“Okay,” you eventually agreed. 

“The other night, you told me you could barely lie to yourself. What did you mean by that?”

“Tony…”

“Please.” The warmth of the fire reflected itself in Lockwood’s eyes as he pleaded with you. “Please…I just need to know.”

You tried your hardest to shut off the memories of June and her Blackmail. 

Two Weeks. 

Two weeks you had, to tell him the truth. 

“You really don’t want to, Tony. Please, can we just forget I ever said it?”

“No.” 

He surprised you. You knew he could be stubborn, but it was rare he pushed this hard on a subject with you. 

“What Aunt Vi said before. What I said before, about being happy. I meant it. Every word. And everything I told Aunt Vi and June about watching George teach you to dance…I meant every word.” Lockwood told you before taking your hand in his. 

You didn’t know what to say. 

What would you say?

What could you say?

“If you meant it in the way I think…I hope you meant…please,” Lockwood said, adding your name. “I just need to know.”

“Tony.”

“Please.”

Taking a breath, you tried to find the courage to look at him, though your eyes seemed to dart elsewhere every now and again. 

“I…what do you want me to say? That these last couple of days have confused me more than ever? That I can’t wrap my head around what’s real and what not? Tony, before I found out you and I are married, it was clear. Everything was clear. I knew what my feelings were for you, I knew what I could keep from everyone, including myself. But now…now I can’t even do that. I know I have feelings for you, Tony. But that doesn’t matter. Because not only are you my friend, but we also work together. Any feelings that I tried to convince myself aren’t real…they won’t stop feeling real.”

“Do you have feelings for me?”

You went silent, looking to his hand that grasped onto yours. 

“Because I’m in love with you and I need to know if you feel the same.”

Looking him in the eye, Anthony got the confirmation he needed. 

“I fell in love with you the moment I saw you dancing with George. And, even though the whole marriage thing was accidental, I can’t lie…it took everything in me to not go against calling the lawyer. And when I was dancing with you in the square…it was like everything I had wished for.”

“What if it doesn’t work out?”

“We’ve stuck together this long, even before we got married.”

You cracked a smile and laughed, “Yeah, that’s true.”

“So, is that a yes?”

“A yes to what?”

Trying to hide his smile, Lockwood kept hold of your hand before lowering himself onto one knee. 

Saying your full name, along with his surname, which sent butterflies-in-a-tornado all around your stomach, Anthony Lockwood asked you;

“Will you stay married to me for as long as you love me?”

You smiled, “Yes, Tony. I will remain married to you.”

With a grand smile, Tony stood and kissed you, pulling you in closer than ever. 

After a moment, the back of your legs hit the sofa and he lowered you down carefully before quickly joining you, the kiss breaking just enough for the both of you to catch a breath. 

A week later, June received a professional wedding photo of both you and Anthony in the back garden where Lucy had decorated the place in fairy lights and different whimsical pieces that made the entire day feel like it was plucked out of a book. 

On that same morning of you preparing her letter, Lockwood came into the study, wrapping his arms around your shoulders before kissing your cheek and resting his head on yours. 

“What are you doing?”

“Sending June confirmation that her Blackmail worked.”

“What?”

“She knew. She knew the whole thing was fake, well…kinda.”

“I beg your bloody pardon?”

You laughed a little at his reply before watching him pull up a seat to be next to you. “She knew. The second morning she was here, I found her in the kitchen. She knew about the whole thing. But she knew I loved you. And she knew you loved me.”

“And the blackmail?”

“I had two weeks to tell you the truth, or else she’d tell Violet.”

“Wow. I knew she could be tough but I’d have thought she would have drawn the line at blackmail.”

“And now I’m sending her confirmation.”

“Okay.” Lockwood kissed you twice before standing up. “Cup of tea and some toast.”

“Love some.”

“Okay.” Lockwood smiled before coming back and kissing you once again.

Tags:

@mischivana

@i-am-not-a-raccoon-anymore

@cassiopeiia24

@anathemaloren

@locknco

@wordsarelife

[missvelvetsstuff]

With Friends Like You, Who Needs Enemies

Bucky Barnes x Reader

Last chapter.....

A few hours after they arrived, Rainbow was starting to run out of energy and trying to figure out how to leave without being rude. Bucky noticed and moved towards the hall where her room was located but before they could go a blonde woman came storming down the hall.

Bucky greeted her "Hey Yelena-"

She walked right up to Y/N "You're Y/N right? The mutant bitch that made the Avengers push my sister away."

She shoved Y/N, who stood her ground.

Rainbow shook her head "That's my name but I don't think you have the whole story. I never-"

Yelena sucker punched her and Bucky caught her before she fell "What the fuck, Yelena?"

Clint grabbed Yelena and held her back as she spat at Y/N "Natalia told me what you did so you better watch your back." And stormed off.......

Chapter 7

Bucky carried Rainbow to the sofa and set her down carefully "Are you alright doll?" He turned to Sam "Could you grab some ice for her?"

Y/N looked dazed "Who the hell was that?"

Bucky sighed as he took an ice pack from Sam and gently set it over her eye "Nats sister from the red room, Yelena. Apparently Nat told her own version of what happened. Don't worry, we'll get to the bottom of this."

Y/N looked nervous "Does she live here too? Maybe me staying here isn't the best idea. I can always call Charles and go back to his school."

Bucky shook his head and almost shouted "No! You don't have to go." He took a breath "Nat is only here until her vision is back to normal and Yelena is only visiting."

He looked up at Tony "Right, Stark?"

Tony nodded distractedly "Yeah, no. Neither of them are staying. Nat is doing much better. I'll ask Helen to take a look at her tomorrow. FRIDAY, can you invite Yelena to the common room and lock Nat in behind her?"

"Of course, sir."

When Yelena returned she scoffed at Y/N sitting with ice on her eye "Aawww, did the poor baby get a boo boo? Do you need a blankie and baba?" And laughed loudly.

Tony stopped Bucky from going after her "As much as she deserves it, Barnes, we won't resort to violence just yet."

He turned to face Yelena "You are a guest here and assaulting a member of my team won't be tolerated. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Yelena laughed again "Why do you have whiny little babies on your team? Why did you force Natalia out for this crying little girl?"

Y/N tried to protest "Hey, Nat made her own bed. I never did anything to her until she broke my damn wrist."

Yelena looked at her in shock "What did you say?" And started walking over towards her, only to be stopped by Bucky. She glared at him "No, I need to talk to her. What happened?"

Y/N told her side with the rest of the team confirming her account. "I thought Nat was my friend but I guess she always hated me."

"Bullshit! That's not what Natalia said at all and she would never lie to me." Yelena replied defiantly.

Tony shook his head "It turns out Nat isn't the person any of us thought she was. I don't really care what you believe, she's off the team and no longer welcome here"

He looked pointedly at Yelena "If she gets the ok from our doctor tomorrow, I think it would be in everyone's best interests if you took her with you."

He shrugged "Or not, she's out regardless."

Yelena looked at the rest of the team, then at Rainbow, and scoffed "Some family you people are. She's better off without you."

Steve nodded "and we're better off without her, something we can all agree on. We'll have Friday notify you of her appointment in the morning and then you can both go."

Yelena looked Steve up and down then shook her head and went back to Nats room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nat was stretched out on her bed, the bandages that covered her eyes were pushed up and she was reading a magazine. The sound of the door opening made her jump and she quickly set the magazine down and tried to adjust the bandages over her eyes but Yelena caught her.

Nat stammered "It's still all spotty but I keep trying, makes me feel more normal even if I'm pretending." Her brow twitched and Yelena gasped before her face turned to stone

"Really Natalia? Are you pretending you can see the pages of the magazine or pretending your sight hasn't returned."

Her voice went up as she spoke "Or was it ever really gone? Did that girl even hurt you or was that fake too?"

Yelena went to get a drink and sat angrily "So spill Natalia and you better tell me the goddamn truth because every single Avenger that's here agrees on one story and it's not the one you told me so you'd better explain yourself."

Nats lip quivered and her eyes filled with tears "You want the truth? Steve and I were together until she showed up and he dropped me like I was trash. A few months later he's afraid to push her for sex and we started up again. I told him I loved him and he laughed at me, insisted that Fury wouldn't let us be together out in the open. Claimed the public wouldn't accept it and I would hurt his reputation. I started seeing Bruce but he's afraid that sex will bring out the big guy and hurt me.  Now she's got Bucky all over her and me out on the street."

Yelena listened quietly "Did you pretend to be her friend?"

Nat laughed "Yeah, it was pathetic really, how desperate she was for a friend. I wasn't going to just let her have Steve without a fight."

Yelena nodded "And you broke her wrist?"

Nat shrugged "I needed to talk to her and she kept trying to run away. It was her fault really, she kept leaving."

Yelena grimaced "So they are telling the truth? You all saved her from Strucker and you resented her, pretended to be her friend. Instead of telling her the truth about you and Steve you blamed her for something she knew nothing about while fucking him behind her back? And pretending she blinded you. Is that about it?"

Nat shook her head "No, she really did blind me but it's much better now. I was just waiting for you so we can get away from these jerks."

Yelena sighed "Why should I trust you after you lied to me about everything?"

Nat teared up again "I was afraid you would reject me too. If you do, I don't have anyone else to turn to."

Yelena scoffed "It sounds like you've lost everyone because you're a manipulative bitch."

Nat tried to defend herself "No, but I-"

Yelena shook her head "Whatever, doesn't matter. You'll see their doctor tomorrow and if she says you're ok we'll go. You can help me free the rest of the Widows. After that you can do what you want."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bucky told Rainbow to stay on the couch while he helped Sam make dinner and both men did what they could to cheer her up and help her forget about Nat and Yelena and Steve. They did a pretty good job until the food was done and the Avengers all came down to eat together.

Rainbow was seated between Sam and Bucky to keep Steve from bothering her.

Dinner was a raucous affair with the whole team together, telling stories and different versions of previous fights.

Rainbow felt someone behind her right before the entire room went silent. Nat and Yelena came up to the table and Nat sat next to Steve after filling her plate then looked at Yelena to do the same.

Tony's temper was rising until he couldn't hold his tongue "I'm sorry, this is a team dinner and you, ahem, ladies aren't part of the team.

Of course Nat took the opportunity to play victim.

"What? I can't eat with my team one last time before you kick me out onto the street? You all treat this little brat like a princess and push me aside like I'm nothing."

She scoffed as she stood "some family you are."

She gestured to Yelena "just grab a plate and we'll go back to my room. Then we're done here. I don't need Cho to check my eyes, I can see fine."

Tony shook his head and ran a hand down his face "I'm sorry but due to legal obligations I can't allow you to leave until we're sure your injury is fully healed. I don't need you coming back in a year, trying to sue me for any future problems. In fact I have some legal, separation paperwork to confirm you're no longer the team's responsibility, etc. If you get hurt, it's not our problem." He smirked at Nat "I'm sure you understand."

Nat was fuming "You can't make me stay here one more second, this is bullshit Tony."

She turned to Rainbow with a hate filled look on her face. "You might have won this round but it's not over. One of these days you won't have all these assholes around to protect you and then we'll see how tough you are."

Rainbow scoffed "Pretty sure the answer is pretty fucking tough since the only time we've fought you ended up blind and that was before I had any real control over my powers. After my time working with Loki I've learned a lot and I'm not afraid of you anymore."

Nat sneered "You'll never see me coming little girl. Just watch your back and don't depend on this fake family to help."

Rainbow stood defiantly "Take your best shot." She had a mist surrounding her that turned dark as she glared at Nat.

"They aren't a fake family, you're the fake one Natalia." she spat "Cruel and manipulative, you're only upset your games didn't work so are playing victim when you brought it all on yourself."

She shook her head and spoke softly "I feel sorry for you."

Nat screamed "I'll get you for this, bitch" threw her plate of food at the wall and stomped back to her room.

Yelena looked at the team apologetically before running after her sister.

Bucky squeezed Rainbows hand "Don't worry doll, we won't let her hurt her. As long as I'm breathing, I will always protect you."

Bucky pulled her to him and kissed her softly which made Steve groan, beating himself up for the mistakes he's made. When Bucky pulled away he gave Steve a dark look, then gave all of his attention back to her. "My beautiful and precious Rainbow." he said quietly before kissing her again.

Steve grunted and left, Tony spoke up "Look Barnes I'm glad you two found each other and all that but could you save all the lovey dovey crap for your own rooms and not the dinner table.

Bucky and Rainbow both blushed and chuckled. He kissed her hands and they sat back down to their meal both feeling a little nervous about what comes next.

Everyone else, convinced that the drama was over, for now, went back to their food and stories.

Chapter 8

[nourrris]

I hate, and love Steve Rogers.

there is no character who's given me as many conflicted feelings as he does, i can't tell if i absolutely hate his guts or adore him helplessly, one side is coming from the fact i love tony stark, and steve rogers is an absolute cunt for the way he's treated him at times (which some instances are understandable, but i still hold civil war against him) and then theres the version of him that i hold so close to my heart, excluding his confident demeanor and severe savior (guilt?) complex, he is still the man who couldnt help himself and risk his life for everybody else, the man who was pushed into a situation so life changing, experiencing the quite literal horrors of the world and humanity, both pre and post serum, he lived a rough life, especially with the timeline he lived in originally, and then the entire ordeal with bucky, the horrifying realization what's happened to one of the closest people in his life, what he's become, and the fact he's alive. (not that he ever got the chance to mourn anyways)

and thats not to talk about how his life was ultimately changed completely within such a small time frame for him, prior the modern years, living through a whole different world, about to sacrifice his life to mankind, then he wakes up 70 years later, the love of his life has aged in a way he didn't get the chance too, the world has became something completely separate to the timeline he lived in, he has to learn new social customs, new ways to adapt to how society exists, how is he meant to grieve or mourn through any of this at all? he had absolutely no time, he was consistently put into the highest of stress situations.

i hate how civil war went down, he gave away his life he had began building, of course there were multiple different ways to act and he definitely did not choose the right one, but i'll give the smallest inch of credit and say i'm not sure how i'd act either if i found my best friend (who was supposedly dead, now a deadly assassin) was back in the limelight for the worst reason possible, one that was causing the entire world to hate him, but not only that - his identity of actually still being alive is now public for the entire world to see, even if the man they saw hadn't actually been him.

i can't say i would have taken his side as confidently so brashly, almost killing a person you could almost consider a close friend in defense when they just found your supposedly dead (now assassin) bestfriend is at fault for who killed his parents, tony acting irrationally was rather reasonable, i'd understand bucky defending himself, steve through? i'd say its different, maybe?

he's also rather arrogant in same situations, especially in 'the avengers' when he says 'Big man in a suit of armor, take that away and what are you?' as if tony wasn't the genius behind making every little detail in the suit, constructing it all single handedly, and the prototype that had been created in a very spontaneous manner which still worked miraculously better than any person managed to create in a much larger time frame, and a much less stressful situation.

i cant pretend and believe that steve must know this information of course, they seemed like they had been roughly introduced to eachother, but also to make such a claim against somebody like him who's father was also an insanely credible genius, he should have given him at least some benefit of the doubt, or actually attempted to learn more about him before going straight for eachothers throats like a bunch of kids.

another part of that quote that irked me was the sacrifice one, i frankly do not understand that part, the entire idea of iron-man is one big ol' self sacrifice, there is no safe (or really sane) way to make a machine like that and go into conflict way too big for one person to overtake, he's almost died multiple times for the sake of helping society, the idea of getting his information right isn't even the biggest issue, its that i just genuinely dont understand why he keeps spouting out things with absolutely no context? he says he see's the videos, but its a little hypocritical steve rogers of all people is letting other people define who tony stark is when he lived his entire life being defined what society deems of him just by a single glance, unless of course he just saw one random iron-man video of the stark expo performance with the girls. (which god, i cringed at myself.. why tony, why)

still to act as confident as he did, i would have assumed he attempted to well.. learn more about the guy. i genuinely think this part itself is a poor writing issue though, it felt weirdly out of character, but i can understand it from a certain viewpoint i guess.

once more, another point i wanted to make this time was somewhat against tony's actual response to what steve said, of course in a way hes completely correct where "everything about him came out of a bottle", in a physical sense, but steves over eager need to help was always very evident, his courage in place since the dawn of the world. although, he realistically would likely have never been able to become the man he is without the serum, so well technically theres not much to fight back there, but the serum could have distinctively (and quite literally has) gone to the wrong hands, i'm not sure if i should be applauding him for having morals, but at last, its difficult to say how anybody would react to such a life altering experience, and not really even getting the chance to understand whats happening, or how it works.

i've likely gotten off track, but point is i think he's a very flawed character, but at the same time still one of the kindest people with a heart made out of gold, albeit a bit of a blockhead at times, he truly tries, and he was frankly put in a very unfair position, no matter what he signed up for, there was no world it could have possibly entailed what he's gone through so far, even if he doesn't regret it, or would do it a hundred times more.

anyways, i hate him and love him all the same, and still very strongly hate his ending in endgame (as a total writing issue, i cannot possibly blame the character).

thank you for reading this ramble, so sorry if this upset you, or if i actually got any of the lore wrong, do correct me if i have!

[bedlamsbard]

POV

Natasha POV of the opening scene of Of Home Near! (Original version here.) About 1.1K below the break.

*****

Sometimes Natasha thought that Howard Stark just liked looking at Steve.

She had seen Tony watch Pepper when he thought no one else was looking, and there was a little of that in the way Howard watched Steve, his chin propped on one hand and his eyes going soft and pleased.  Part of it might have been only that Howard had missed his best friend while Steve had been presumed dead and was more than a little afraid that Steve would vanish if he looked away, but if there was one thing other than how to kill people Natasha knew, it was how to read men.

She couldn’t exactly blame Howard for it.  She liked looking at Steve too, and she was the one who was in his bed every night.  She had the right to look, which was still a fairly novel sensation for her.

By the time they had been there for a week, everyone in the SSR was getting fairly stir-crazy due to the lockdown Howard had imposed.  As far as Natasha could tell, no one was actively opposed to it; despite Howard’s attempts to spread a more mundane version of the story, rumors of Captain America’s dramatic return had spread and at this stage in the war everyone in the SSR was paranoid enough to understand the reasons for the lockdown.  It just didn’t mean they enjoyed it.  It also meant that they were running short-handed since Howard had instituted the lockdown in the middle of the night, when most of the SSR’s personnel had already gone home.

They were in Howard’s office, Natasha watching Howard watch Steve and wondering if Steve had any idea that Howard Stark was in love with him, when she heard the sudden silence in the lab outside.  Steve cocked his head to one side, listening, then suddenly went white.  Natasha looked at him in concern, then turned as the door opened behind them.

“Stark, you are aware there’s still a war on, aren’t you?  We can’t drop everything to hop across the Channel just on your say-so.”

The speaker was a tall army officer with a weathered face, wearing a colonel’s insignia and SSR pins.  There was a woman with him, mouth painted red and brown hair perfectly coiffed, and four years ago Natasha had seen both of their portraits flanking Howard Stark’s in an old SHIELD building in New Jersey not long before Hydra had blown it to hell.

Howard’s gaze flickered quickly to Steve’s still face before he straightened up. “I didn’t think this one could wait,” he said.  “And you took your time coming back; I called you a week ago.”

“Because there’s still a war on,” the woman said.  Steve shut his eyes at the sound of her voice, breathing hard, and Natasha closed her hands into fists.  She might be sleeping with him now, might have his name and his borrowed ring on her finger, but she was under no illusions about where she ranked on a scale that included Peggy Carter.  “Well, what is it?”

Howard looked at Steve again instead of responding.  Steve breathed in deeply, then opened his eyes and turned around.  “Peggy,” he said, then swallowed hard and added, “Sir,” to Chester Phillips.

Phillips blinked once, clearly startled, and said, “Rogers.”

Peggy didn’t say anything at all.  She just walked forward until she could put her arms around Steve.  Natasha bit the inside of her cheek as Steve hugged her back, his whole body briefly going slack with relief, like he had gotten something back that he had never expected to have again.  Which he had.

When Peggy finally pulled back, she reached up for him, and this time Natasha looked away, belatedly aware of Howard Stark’s sharp gaze tracking the motion.

Steve said, “Peggy, wait – wait –” and Natasha looked back, startled.

Peggy seized his left hand, staring at the ring on his finger, and said, “You –!”  Then she punched him in the face.

Steve staggered backwards and almost fell.  Natasha and Howard caught him to steady him as he got his feet under him again, staring at Peggy with huge, hurt eyes.

“Well,” Howard said, releasing him once he was sure that Natasha had a good grip on Steve’s other arm, “at least she didn’t shoot you this time.”

“Thanks, Howard,” Steve said, touching his jaw gingerly. “That really makes me feel better.”  He was trembling a little under Natasha’s hands, but his voice was even.  Since she had seen him take a punch from a god without flinching, she suspect his reaction was more surprise than anything else.

Peggy shot Natasha a hard look that both took in the ring on her left hand and quite obviously found her wanting.  Natasha met her gaze calmly, not willing to let herself waver and undermine Steve.

“Glad to see you’re in fine form, Rogers,” Colonel Phillips said, turning to shut the door on the audience they had acquired in the lab.  He looked at Natasha and added, “Is this the lucky lady?”

“Natasha Rogers, Colonel Phillips, Agent Carter.”  She let go of Steve and offered the colonel her hand.  His grip was firm and dry; she saw him register her pistol calluses and nod a little, giving Steve a contemplative look that was probably at least as much evaluating his taste in women as gauging anything about Natasha.

Natasha felt the pistol calluses on Peggy Carter’s palm and fingers as the other woman squeezed her hand a little too hard, her expression suggesting that she would have liked to rip Natasha’s throat out with her teeth.  Her gaze tracked the scar at Natasha’s hairline from the Battle of New York as well as the way Natasha shifted her weight after Peggy released her, one professional’s quick evaluation of another.  She didn’t look at Steve, whose expression was miserable.

Howard and Phillips were both looking back and forth between Steve, Peggy, and Natasha like spectators at a three-way tennis match.  Natasha let out her breath, then took Steve’s hand in hers, folding her fingers around his and squeezing a little to reassure him.

She had only been thinking about how Steve might react to Peggy Carter.  It had never occurred to her to worry about how Peggy Carter might react to him.  Or to Natasha, for that matter.

“You were able to bail out?” Phillips asked Steve.

Steve took a deep breath. “Not exactly,” he said. “I didn’t walk away from the crash, either.”  He glanced at Natasha, who nodded a little in response to his unspoken question, then took another deep breath and looked back at Phillips.  “I’m Steve Rogers, but I’m not your Steve Rogers – I mean, I am, I’m just not from 1945.  Nat and I are from 2018.”

[miss0atae]

It's my random thoughts about Pit Babe the series ep 12:

What can I say? I still have so much fun watching this series. I know there are some loose ends and plot holes, but frankly I don't really care.

▪️ Way saved Pete from Kenta who fled the scene as soon as possible. It was really the episode where Way finally stopped spending all his time drinking and drowning his sorrow. He finally decided to properly apologize to Babe (even if he knew he would not be forgiven) and help everyone take Tony down. He used his power to help get some documents and tried his best to show remorse. I'm still not his best fan but it was a nice change from previous episodes where he was just crying and feeling hopeless. We can thank Pete who helped him a lot.

▪️ Speaking about Pete, this guy really see everyone good side even if they don't show it. He believes Way, still think that Kenta is a good person deep down (which I agree) and do his best to save all children taken by Tony. I still think their plan to do it isn't exactly the best but it works for the series so what should I say?

▪️ Babe really wants to put an end to Tony's actions and he does everything to get it. He didn't want to forgive Way, but to have his end goal happen, he accepted him in the team. When Way asked him if one day they could go back to how their relationship was, he wasn't entirely against it. He simply told him, it wouldn't happen soon but they might get there. Even if he is still really sad over Charlie supposed-death, he is poised and ready to fight no matter what. Babe is impressive.

▪️ Jeff was captured by Kenta to be sold to the new auction, since every special child Tony had, disappeared or is fighting against him. What is the point of seeing the future, if you can't save yourself from being kidnapped?! I know they told us, he can't really control his power but it's very unfortunate he couldn't this time. I was impressed about how calm he was.

▪️ Alan was trying is best to find him and was helped by his "family" (Can we say that Pit Babe is a BL type version of Fast & Furious ?). North and Sonic have always been helping him but I'm glad we saw Kim. Even if I get two minutes of him, I'm happy. I'm attached to this character. By the end of the episode, Alan saved Jeff. The power of love... always here when you need it. I only have one question: Why did they leave the children behind? Is there a good reason?

▪️ Finally, I'll talk about Kenta... It's been several episode where Kenta was abused by Tony and this one was no exception. I feel so sad for this man. He truly believed Tony was his father but unfortunately Tony never saw him as his child because he is not "special". It broke my heart to see Kenta kneeling and begging Tony. I wish he would understand how he could be loved and treated well if he just stopped helping him and leave! I hope in the next episode he will be free from Tony. He must be saved like the other children taken by Tony.

▪️ Oh and of course, we all knew the man who helped Charlie and Jeff is Babe's father. Anyone was surprised?!

▪️ Charlie also saved Babe in the last two minutes of this episode. and we'll get the reunion we were hoping between them, in the next one. It's a happy ending guaranteed. I just feel like 13 episodes is too light to tight up everything. Why didn't they make 14? Is there a good reason for this choice?

Anyway, Friday will feel empty when this series will end.