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bistevethor · 3 years

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Steve Rogers Fanfiction Recommendations

Happy birthday, Steve!

I know that there are some (a lot?) of steve fans who sometimes struggle to find fics focused on him, so I am here now putting a list of Steve fics. I was going to fics that I haven't seen recommended a lot and most of the ones on this post have less than 200 kudos only, but I end up putting everything (it's probably easier to put my bookmarks as public but well...). It's a massive list (over 100 fics?), so it's will be separated into several posts/reblogs.

Not all of them are from Steve's POV or even have him as the main 'main' character, but rest assured he played an important role and is featured heavily. Lots of these are friendship-focused but I categorized them. The shippy ones are mostly samsteve, thundershield, and some rare pairings because I don't venture to other ships a lot and when I did it's to the rare ones instead lol. Hopefully, any of you can find some gems from this list and these are as enjoyable or as good as I remembered. I'll continue to update it, hopefully, every time I find new ones.

Fics are under read more.

General

The Rocket's Red Glare

Steve was born on the Fourth of July (no joke), so a party is in order! Unfortunately, PTSD decides to rear its ugly head. Fortunately, Steve's got an entire team at his back to help him through it. And screaming goats.

an entry in the scrapbook of absurdity

In which Steve turns into a baby and bites people.

Baby Steve Adventures

Captain America gets hit by a spell during a battle. The rest of the Avengers look after him.

Do You Remember Being Happy? ('Cause I Sure Don't)

"Dragr," Thor called them. "Demons" Clint had said. "Thieves" is what Steve labels them as. AKA, the one where Steve is captured by creatures that feed off of happy memories, and the team is left to pick up the pieces. Post-Avengers.

In Search of (Bucky, Family, Home)

Pairings: Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov & Sam Wilson

A week following the events of CATWS, Steve recruits Natasha and Sam to help find Bucky.

Sam raised an eyebrow. “Do we need to recap again? You were shot three times, beaten near to death by an enhanced super soldier with a metal arm and then almost drowned. Yeah, your ass is going to need a few more days of healing time.”

The Truth When Captains Meet

Steve Rogers wakes up on an alien’s space ship being carried bridal style by Carol Danvers. As far as first meetings go, it’s memorable.

Irish Coffee

Pairings: Jessica Jones & Steve Rogers

Jessica runs into an incognito Cap at a cafe. They form an unlikely friendship of sorts.

The Lifetimes of Steve Rogers (Series)

What happens when Steve Rogers steps onto the quantum platform to return the Stones? Where does he go? What challenges does he find? Who does he meet? How many lifetimes can one man have?

Fifty-Two Pickup

Less than a week after the fall of the Triskelion, Steve Rogers is released from the hospital. Although his physical wounds are almost fully healed, other injuries need a bit more time, and some help from friends.

little kids get big so fast

Steve ends up having to take care of the deaged Defenders.

Grampa Steve's Bedtime Stories

If Mommy was away for work, then Morgan’s Grampa Steve came over to stay with her. He’d tuck her in, let her give Mommy a kiss on video chat, then hand her the picture of Daddy for his kiss. Once Daddy’s picture was back on the bookshelf, Grampa Steve would turn off the bedside lamp so that Miss Friday could cover the ceiling with stars, and ask Morgan what story she wanted to hear.

“Captain Steve, Grampa! Tell me Captain Steve!”

Grampa Steve sometimes read to her from books and other times watched a movie with her, but her favorite by far was when he told her Captain Steve’s Adventures Through the Multiverse.

On Camping Trips

Sam is more Hermione than Natasha is, and Steve doesn't want to be Harry.

Powerful

Steve loses the advantages of the super-soldier serum. This is not a tragedy.

His Dream

Pairings: Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson

As if on cue, Steve cut him off with a loud sneeze.

"Yeah. Like that." Sam nodded. "And please sneeze into your elbow next time, dude. You could've just started an epidemic."

"Sorry. Allergies." Steve excused, and Sam raised an eyebrow.

"How do you know it's allergies?" Sam asked, and Steve sighed, putting the ingredients together and solving the mystery of what the gas had actually done.

The answer wasn't ideal. "It feels like the seasonal allergies I had before. Before the serum- and I haven't had them since the serum."

Realization clicked in Sam's head.

"The gas de-serumed you."

Steve swallowed and nodded reluctantly.

OR: Steve gets temporarily de-serumed, with his height and stature staying the same but his immune system being as bad as it was before, and has to stay in the hospital to prevent a severe allergic reaction or illness. Sam stays with him the whole time, making sure he's not alone.

A Strange Encounter

Things have gone awry and Strange is injured. With no other options, he's called for assistance from Captain America and his team.

even if we're apart, i'll always be with you

Steve finds a dirty toy bear at an abandoned gas station, on the way back from a school trip. He brings him home.

As Long as You’re Not Tired Yet of Talking

Pairings: Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov

When Steve Rogers tells her, “Don’t be a stranger,” as they’re all going their own ways after New York, it makes her want to laugh.

Draw/Breath

Pairings: Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov

Natasha like knowing what makes people tick. She likes knowing things, about her teammates and her coworkers and herself. Oddly enough, sometimes other people like knowing her too.

AKA: Natasha wants to know why Steve isn’t drawing anymore, and takes the long way round to get her answer. Because why not.

With Magic We Do Fly

Pairings: Wanda Maximoff & Steve Rogers

In Civil War we see Wanda fling Steve into the air with her magic. They must have practiced that, right?

Que Wanda throwing Steve against a wall. Many times.

Just Like We Practiced

Pairings: Wanda Maximoff & Steve Rogers

Steve had said, in the movie when he asked Wanda to lift him into the building, "Just like we practiced." But just how did they come up with the idea of her lifting people with her powers, and putting them up somewhere like an escalator? Perhaps it was because Wanda accidentally sent a certain tall, blond Avenger face-first into the floor once and he decided he would help her learn to utilize this as a confidence building exercise. Natasha keeps an eye, Thor and Sam help build the training grounds, and Wanda has found her new home. Takes place between AGE OF ULTRON and CIVIL WAR.

Black and White but Red and Blue

They're watching black and white film reels, but Steve sees them in colour.

"My shield may be black and white but it was red and blue. Just like the blue sky under which red blood was spilled. Like Bucky's blue eyes and Peggy's red lips..."

The Road Warriors

Characters: Sam Wilson (Marvel), Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Wanda Maximoff

It wasn't pretty, but somehow the four of them managed to make it through two years on the run.

We'll Fix It

Pairings: Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov

Steve has a hard time after his battle with The Winter Soldier and isn't sure what to do with himself. After not seeing him for a week, Natasha finally shows up to his apartment unannounced to figure out how they can get back to work. There is some crying involved.

From Here On Out

Pairings: Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov

The Accords, the search for Bucky, the fight at the airport ... In a world where nothing will ever be the same, sometimes the road to rebuilding trust and friendship is a little rockier than it should be.

AKA, the story of Steve & Natasha and how they got to where they are.

Set post-Civil War but pre-Infinity War.

I have this breath and I hold it tight

Parings: Wanda Maximoff & Steve Rogers, Clint Barton & Wanda Maximoff, Wanda Maximoff & Vision

Steve finally goes to Wanda’s tiny room and taps on the doorframe, although it’s hardly necessary, with the slightly warped floorboards creaking under his feet. “Hey,” he says. “Got a minute?”

Wanda's been a little withdrawn since Steve broke everyone out of the Raft. She's had a lot to think about.

to you.

Pairings: Pietro Maximoff & Wanda Maximoff, Clint Barton & Wanda Maximoff, Wanda Maximoff & Natasha Romanov, Wanda Maximoff & Steve Rogers, Wanda Maximoff & Sam Wilson, Wanda Maximoff & Tony Stark

It's Wanda's birthday today. She's not sure how to feel.

New Love

Pairings: Diana (Wonder Woman) & Steve Rogers

Near the end of World War II, Diana Prince finds herself attempting to reconnect to her long-gone, beloved Steve Trevor. However, she comes across Steve Rogers instead.

Sharing Life (And Canned Green Beans)

Pairings: Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov

It’s Thanksgiving, and Steve is hiding in the second living room on the 8th floor of the penthouse apartments with a can of green beans.

I'm Fine

Steve slowly began to realize that the problem with being a national icon, a hero, and a role model, is that somehow, he became more than human. He become a symbol, not a person. So when he becomes increasingly unhappy, deeply depressed, and utterly adrift in a world where he doesn't belong, the loneliness and isolation are unbearable. How could anyone believe that an iconic hero like himself was really just an ordinary kid from Brooklyn, dying inside because everything he'd gained still wasn't enough to replace everything he'd lost? How could he possibly bring himself to bleed on the ones he loves? So he tells himself the same lie over and over, hoping one day, he'll believe it.

dogpile

"My dog ate my mission report" An injured Steve remembers something he has to do. Unabashed Steve and dogs fluff. "Didn't peg you for a pet guy." "Allergies."

Alone In This World (Together)

Pairings: Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov & Sam Wilson

“We’re fugitives,” Steve said finally. “It might never get better.”

“The world’s always going to need saving," Sam replied. "We’re still Avengers. No one can take that away from us.” Then, like they hadn't been having an entire conversation before, “So when do we leave?”

“Once night falls.”

Do we have any idea where she is?”

“No.” Steve took a sip of his coffee. “But I know where she’ll be.”

it gets the worst at night

Pairings: Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov

Here's how it goes: Natasha sometimes shares a bed with Steve. It's not what it sounds like.

(In which there are Colombian drug lords, awkward boners, cuddly super-soldiers and the Avengers are all giant dorks.)

Shelter

Pairings: Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson

Sam and Steve, right after the fall of SHIELD.

Princely Bickering

Pairings: Jane Foster/Thor, Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson, Steve Rogers & Jane Foster, Steve Rogers & Thor

Steve allows Sam to lean up and inspect his head for bruises and blood. He then checks out Steve’s eyes. ‘Do you know where you are?’ Steve rolls his eyes. ‘Don’t be an ass, Cap, apparently you can break.’ ‘London, England, chasing apparently useless Hydra intel despite having about five hundred international arrest warrants out for us because we’re just that stupid,’ says Steve. Sam pats him - gently - on the shoulder. Life on the run isn't easy, especially not after an injury. Fortunately Steve still has a few allies left.

And The Seconds Tick Down

AU of Civil War. How the world ended in twenty steps when Steve died.

"Grant" and "Francis" Go Shopping

Pairings: Clint Barton & Steve Rogers

Steve and Clint both have holiday shopping to do for their family of choice, so they make a day trip to an outlet mall, have a few heart to hearts, use some coupons, buy a bunch of presents, and eventually get through their shopping lists.

A Tune Without Words

Pairings: Jane Foster/Thor, Steve Rogers & Thor, Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson

As he and Sam prepare to begin searching for Bucky, Steve gets various offers of help—some more unexpected than others.

Purpose

Tony Stark wins the fight in Siberia completely by accident.

Steve Rogers does not resist his arrest as he is taken to the Raft.

Sam Wilson, T'Challa, and Pepper Potts pick up the pieces.

Full of Wounds and Still Standing on my Feet

Pairings: Steve Rogers & Wanda Maximoff

The five times Steve looked out for Wanda, and one time Wanda decided someone needed to look out for Steve.

Three Awakenings

The first three times that Steve Rogers woke up during his first twenty-four hours in the twenty-first century.

Making Your Own Future

Characters: Steve Rogers, Diana Prince, Steve Trevor Five times -- plus one -- that Diana Prince and Steve Rogers encountered one another.

Better Living Through Pizza

Pairings: Clint Barton & Steve Rogers

Steve takes some time off from soldiering and Avengering to get his head on straight, and Clint is assigned to keep an eye on him, because apparently SHIELD believes in the blind leading the blind. Steve really needs a hobby, since modern television shows baffle him, but Clint keeps bringing him DVDs and pizza.

Five Times Clint Barton Spoke with Steve Rogers about Growing Old and the One Time He Didn't.

Pairings: Clint Barton & Steve Rogers

When Steve Rogers reappeared from the past as an old man, there was a lot of catching up to do. Clint Barton made sure nobody got left behind.

Hammer's Totally Heavy-Handed and Incompetent Revenge

"So, at the end of IM2, Justin Hammer swears revenge on Pepper. He waits until Tony and Rhodey are halfway across the world to launch his attack.

Unfortunately for him, thanks to SHIELD, Iron Man and War Machine aren't the only superheroes in Pepper's rolladex. Steve thinks Pepper's just swell and doesn't take too kindly to somebody trying to hurt her."

Cue badass!Steve and competent!Pepper

Fan Mail

Steve starts getting his fan mail and receives an invitation to the prom. Written for a prompt at the Avengers kink meme. It was a great prompt, and so much fun to write and get feedback for!

Prom. Steve 'Grandpa Iceberg' Rogers at a 21st-century high school prom. "This isn't happening. This whole conversation is just an elaborate practical joke. Bruce really just has orders for widgets or something."

Bruce waved the printouts at him. "Fraid not. I don't really do practical jokes. Messing with other people's moods just seems. I don't know. Karmically unwise."

Mascot

Steve runs. People see Steve run. Steve gets adopted by the neighbourhood he runs through every week day morning. He finds this confusing. Tony finds it amusing.

Locks Not Replaced

Tony angsts back at Avengers' HQ, Ross is a bully and Steve makes sure he doesn't get away with it. In other words, there is much regret, a bit on the philosophy of locks, adventure and far too many Robin Hood metaphors.

woof

For a prompt on the avengers kinkmeme: "...something different happens when Steve gets Dr Erskine's serum plus the Vita ray treatment... Steve does get taller and stronger, but when the first full moon hits, he turns into a big friendly looking dog. Yes, he's a weredog, not a werewolf."

Mission: Baby

Pairings: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers

The Asset finds himself in charge of the care of a small baby, but somehow he knows—he has to protect the baby from all harm, whatever the cost.

14 Tracks

Pairings: Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers & Avengers Team 14 tracks from Steve's iPod and how they got on there.

Life Will Rattle Your Bones

Pairings: Erik Lehnsherr & Steve Rogers

Captain America and the Howling Commandos find Schmidt sooner than they thought... wait, what do you mean this is a *different* Schmidt?

In war-torn Germany, the paths of Steve Rogers and Erik Lehnsherr cross, part, and cross again.

come build me up

Pairings: Sharon Carter & Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson, James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers

“Do you ever feel like -- like you joined up because you wanted to do good. You wanted to do the right thing but somewhere along the way, you just lost the whole fucking plot.”

“All of the time.”

Or: the one where Captain America and Agent 13 give long distance friendship a whirl.

Down in the Worn Out Place Again

Pairings: Wanda Maximoff & Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers & Wanda Maximoff

“You don't look a day over 85, Captain,” Wanda says.

Natasha smiles, just barely, and nudges Steve with her elbow. “She makes jokes now.”

(Post AoU, stories about friendship.)

Satellites

Characters: Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Tony Stark, Clint Barton, Nick Fury Pairings: Natasha Romanov & Steve Rogers, Minor Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson, Minor Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov

In the immediate aftermath of SHIELD's collapse and Steve's plunge into the Potomac, Natasha considers her place in the world. Also the fact that Steve is depressing.

Timeless Classics

Pairings: Steve Rogers & Avengers Team Five An undetermined number of times (six, apparently) Steve unexpectedly got the reference (sort of), and one time everyone discovered something new together.

you just wait and see

Pairings: Rocket Raccoon & Steve Rogers

“Thor said you’re the captain.” Rogers says, his voice distant, sad smile growing into a sadder grin. “Tough job.”

The Small Hours

Pairings: Steve Rogers & T'Challa, James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers

"I'm not getting him back, am I." The words were flatly delivered – not a question so much as fatigued resignation. "We will do everything we can to help him," T'Challa quietly replied, but he wouldn't lie, not about this. Not to a fellow warrior he respected on and off the field of battle. "The possibility does exist, however, that the triggers are permanent."

The Man We All Remember From the Newsreels

Still getting used to the twenty-first century, Steve comforts himself with memories of long-gone friends. But Howard Stark, the man Steve remembers, is nothing like the man he sees in the newsreels.

we're all choir boys at best

Characters: Steve Rogers, Johnny Storm

You are totally getting laid tonight. "Please stop talking." You hijacked my brain first, this is totally not my fault.

Epistaxis

Steve doesn't worry the first time he gets a bloody nose that won't quit. But when it happens a second, third, fourth... He, and his teammates, start to get concerned.

You Close Your Eyes and the Glory Fades

His body isn’t his own, he knows that, knew before the procedure that everything would change. That was the easiest thing to wrap his head around, actually, the physical changes. He’s used to his body betraying him, so this is just another thing to learn his way around. But the colors of everything, even the sliver of blue sky he could see, craning his head at the tiny window, look different.

Looking For Answers (From The Great Beyond)

After the Battle of New York is over, and Loki and the tesseract are returned to Asgard, Steve takes a road trip across the country, and tries to figure out what he wants to do next.

Mourning the Future

Steve's ties to the past and the future are pretty tenuous, and the serum ensures he lives in an eternal present state of ever-youthful vigour. When an old war buddy gets handed his last marching orders, Steve has to wonder if everyone will eventually leave.

Riviera Life

Sam and Steve have been traversing Europe looking for Bucky. Not everyone is convinced it isn’t an open invitation road trip.

Voluntary Bros.

Characters: Steve Rogers, Johnny Storm

"Dude, you could be twins, they tested you before they defrosted you to see if you were a clone or something, or if he was a clone," Clint said.

"I want to talk to him, I think. I mean, a girl threw her latte at me last week for not calling her back and this dude felt me up at an art gallery yesterday," Steve said.

Two Brooklynites and One Big Apple

Pairings: Miles Morales & Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers

“You did good out there today,” Captain America said, brushing a layer of detritus from his unfathomably broad shoulder. “I’ll see you around.”

“Not if I see you first,” replied Miles, fingergunning with one hand as he sent a web rope fwipping off into the distance with the other, catapulting himself away at tremendous speed.

... in which two superheroes battle with bad guys, embark on community art lessons, and a friendship forms along the way.

Battle Fatigue

Steve thought he was doing okay. Things weren't going great, but they were fine, manageable even, and then suddenly they weren't.

We Become New Yorkers (or: Five Times Steve Rogers Looked For Home, and One Time Home Found Him)

New York is a million cities at the same time. This is how Steve found his.

A beautiful day in the neighborhood

In which Steve and Peter learn that the best way to get through a bad situation is together. And to avoid collapsing buildings. And that concussions are terrible, terrible things.

Leviticus 25

"You want to save Bucky Barnes? You are going to have to put your own house in order first because he is going to need a rock to cling to. You are not ready to be that rock for him. You owe it to him -- and more importantly, you owe it to yourself -- to figure things out, figure out how you can be happy in this time and place, whether or not Barnes is with you."

Strike

Sometimes the road to recovery involves bowling. Conveniently, so does the one to the Grand Canyon.

Conversation in Wakanda

“I have been told that you had the privilege to share a training session with some of our Dora Milaje,” T’Challa says. “May I ask how it went?”

“Well,” the Captain huffs. “There’s no polite way to say it: I had my ass handed to me. Repeatedly.”

He sounds and looks utterly delighted.

Contact Light

Everyone thought computers would be the thing that really blew Steve's mind about the 21st century. They were wrong. When he finds out that he missed the moon landing, it's the start of an ongoing obsession with space that maybe involves Neil deGrasse Tyson, Twitter, and Star Trek marathons.

Twenty-Two

“This is Lucky,” Clint said when a dog got between him and Natasha. Lucky’s vest was bright, like desert mornings and night explosions.

“Does he help?” Natasha asked.

Clint pressed his hands flat on the counter behind him. “He saved my life.”

Natasha looked at Steve, her expression fierce. Steve resisted the urge to yank down his sleeves. Instead, he dug his nails into the puckered skin on his forearms.

AKA An AU in which Steve is a veteran just trying to survive (or not).

Gray

Peter doesn't expect Steve to show up at his house one night when he gets home from school. He also doesn't expect to have a long conversation with him, and choose to be on his side instead.

We're Happy, Free, Confused, and Lonely at the Same Time.

"Tony isn't sure, but he *thinks* Steve Rogers is going to try and argue with him about not being a kid, while wrapped up in a fluffy blanket and plaid pyjama pants watching a Disney movie. Tony really hopes that is the case. The Captain America voice looses all affect when wrapped up in that blanket and Tony can't wait to inform him as such." - The one where Tony realises that Captain America and Steve Rogers are not the same person, and Steve is so much younger then he thought.

This Isn't A Love Song, This Isn't A Fable

Steve's not OK with people's perception of Captain America, no matter what he says or how much he pretends otherwise. It's like no one in this time period realizes that there's more to him than a spangly outfit. And yes, he's including the Avengers in that. ... or, the one where everything's all right, until it's not.

it's safe here in our new world

Post TWS. In which Natasha and Steve go shopping, have Thursday night movie nights, and learn that Natasha loves to platonically kiss Steve. Which is good, because Steve loves being platonically kissed by Natasha.

Shadowboxing

Pairings: Matt Murdock & Steve Rogers

It doesn’t matter how many times you fall – what matters most is how many times you get back up. Steve Rogers knew this lesson far too well and it was one Matt Murdock had endured all his life. With both men at their lowest, could a chance friendship bring each of them to their feet again?

Everybody Eats When They Come to My House

Pairings: Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson, James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers

“You’ll ruin your dinner,” Sam says, gesturing with Steve with his spatula.

i fear for the calendar; its days are numbered

Pairings: Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson

Before she goes off the grid, Natasha gives Steve her phone number. He’s honored that he’s the only one to be trusted with it, but quickly learns that she spends most of her free time texting him Dad jokes.

Status Quo Ante

Pairings: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers

A tale in which Sam suspects he should be used to this by now, for values of 'this' that involve certain folks he hangs out with and situations he finds himself in, Team Cap becomes Team Ex-Cap becomes TBD, and nobody but Clint really wants to know what happened to Scott Lang's GI Joes. (Sam Wilson from the final scene to the mid-credits scene.)

The Glass Parade

Pairings: Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov

Steve thinks that he’s seen Natasha be at least three different people in the short time he’s known her, and he isn’t sure which one is real.

In which the most confusing part of the future is how much Steve has in common with Natasha, and the fact that she seems dead-set on being his friend.

Still Life

Steve Rogers and a very modern form of art therapy. (The one where Steve draws himself out of despair and into some notoriety when his cartoons hit the internet, but he's still not allowed to look at Tumblr without an okay from Pepper.)

Selective Service

The serum's given Steve a lot, but it hasn't taken anything away from him. Not even the things he never wanted in the first place.

I'm a Hustler, Baby

Steve Rogers has a talent for pool--and for making others believe he's terrible at it.

The Healing Properties of Felt-Tip Pens

Rapid healing has worked wonders on Steve Rogers' body, but occasionally it really screws with his head. In the aftermath of torture, Bruce Banner helps Steve to reconcile mind and body.

If I Die Before I Wake

It's his job, as their leader, to endure the sadistic focus of their captor, and that is the one thought that carries Steve through.

Even Gods Do

Captain America doesn't have a good relationship with sleep anymore. Also, he's not a toy.

Under My Skin

Written for a prompt on avengerkink: I want to see something where, for whatever reason, Steve's accelerated healing turns out to be a bad thing. Something where the faster healing is making things worse. I would prefer something other than the standard, super-healing allows for more torture without death. “He's lucky – to have the serum, to have you all.” Tony wasn't sure about that first part. When one faced death and destruction every day on the job, there were many advantages to having a healing factor...and a great many disadvantages as well.

A Glossary of the 21st Century

Pairings: pre-Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov

Steve's sick of not understanding what's going on, and the team are not all that helpful, so he starts keeping an illustrated notebook for further research. With the help of wiki, google and Logan he starts to settle in and find his place in the twenty-first century.

Blanket Gift Policy

“You didn’t,” Bucky said, with no real hope of being contradicted. Clint shrugged helplessly and passed him the large, soft bundle wrapped in shiny purple foil.

“Sorry.” Tony covered his eyes with one hand.

“I’m getting a migraine.”

“So,” Bruce said wearily, “counting Clint, me, Bucky, Tony, and Sam, that brings it up to five.”

“Excuse you, mine’s not a blanket,” Sam said. “Mine’s a slanket. Big difference.”

Bucky resisted the urge to throw the whole heap of parcels at Sam’s head. “Because it has sleeves? It’s still a blanket, Wilson. They’re all blankets. Even Thor’s direct-from-Asgard raven gift delivery was a cloak, which just means it’s a blanket with a strap. We all got Steve a goddamn blanket.”

One Tin Soldier

Written for a prompt at avengerkink: Because really, under any other circumstances, why would they follow him when he's some guy who's younger than the rest of them (time as a Capsicle aside), who goes around wearing that spangly outfit, who's not even used to the modern world? Why Steve Rogers, rather than a Norse god or the CEO of Stark Industries or anyone else?

“Love is for children,” she'd said, but respect knew no such bounds. The five times the Avengers accepted Steve as their leader, and the one time they followed without question.

and if there's life we'll see it

Steve is instantly taken with this idea of having the picture of the person calling you flash on your screen when they ring your cell.

Secure Your Own Oxygen Mask (Before Assisting Others)

Steve keeps going, because they need him. Being Captain America - having the serum - is a responsibility and a privilege he takes seriously, and he won't waste it by sitting around resting in the middle of a crisis. But then the work is over, and the original victims of the crisis aren't the only ones needing looking after.

Way of the Eagle

Clint introduces Steve to kung-fu movies. Things escalate quickly.

Walking Wounded

In the aftermath of the battle against the Chitauri, Steve's doing just fine. Until he's not. Fortunately, Thor is a perfect mother-hen, Tony makes decent back-up, JARVIS is a genius, and Soap Operas are life-changing. (Or, Post-Shawarma Feels.)

#steve rogers #fic rec #pro steve rogers #i guess i'll tag the ships #samsteve #thundershield

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pixie-lated · 3 years

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Apparently the flavor of my current Star Wars fixation today is “Satine Kryze: Reformer or Tyrant?” and I have some Thoughts™.

To me the ‘evidence’ is inconclusive either way, and can depend a lot on how willing you are to fold in material from legends. On the page, so to speak, I think it's pretty clear she’s intended to be a total white hat with mildly antagonistic qualities, but if you extend past hard-confirmed Disney canon, the implications get very dubious.

(for the record, I’m aware that a particular author who provided a lot of our Mando-Lore is A Problem, but I also have no idea what she invented and what came from elsewhere. I tend to assume most of her stuff is what provides the ‘but imperial warrior classes are so cool!’ vibes. Either way, I’m not really interested in defending Mandalorian warrior traditions so much as recognizing that there are ways to get rid of cultural practices that are toxic and destructive while instituting new ones that pay respect to the positive foundational values, arts, and needs of the community they have played a part in defining.)

Satine was native to the Mandalore sector, but her background was Kalevalan, which had been culturally distinct from the rest of Mandalore for centuries by the time she was born. Her title, Duchess of Mandalore, was a Kalevalan import, and she fully shifted the capital on the planet Mandalore from Keldabe to the more New Mandalorian-friendly Sundari when her government took over. And Sundari itself is a more engineered, sterile environment than the few glimpses we have of other Mandalorian cities and towns (though those are few and far between, mostly pre-civil war, and, critically, non-canon as far as I know), which tend toward a vaguely complementary organic hodgepodge of structure, style, and layout.

I tend to be a bit uncharitable in my read on her because of how she came across to me in Clone Wars. It felt like she didn’t just have a strict code of pacifism for herself, but a condescending evangelism that cast people who didn’t comply with her views on the subject as ‘unworthy’. It smacked of Ghandi’s, frankly, shitty opinions about what European Jews should have done when faced with annihilation. This is entirely a tonal and contextual interpretation, not clear intent, but it flavors my read on just about everything about the New Mandalorian policies.

I certainly agree that no amount of Cultural Heritage entitles you to own a weapon of mass murder or engage in rampant imperialism, but between the background noise of Satine’s complete political overhaul, what I see as a universally applied and absolute philosophy, the ACTUAL EXILE of all Mandalore's remaining warriors, and the completely homogenous Kalevala-flavored anti-culture we see her framed by, I’m not sure she’s earned the benefit of the doubt. Maybe somewhere off in the background, beskar smiths were crafting jewelry and equipment inspired by the armor they once forged but suited to the new mandalorian way of life, military resources were liquidated to establish a robust communication, promotion, and support system to make it easy and safe for communities to engage with and adopt children in need of a family, and combat training was being carefully transitioned into a performance art to display the traditional weapons and martial artistry of Mandalorian fighters, decontextualized from militarism and conflict. It doesn't seem likely, though.

So, basically, I can see both sides of the argument, and, actually, I like both versions of the story. Either Satine was a young idealist with the steel nerves to stare down all of Mandalorian history to reject the glorification of violence and conquest and rebuild her people's way of life in the wake of a catastrophic civil war, OR she was a teenager radicalized by the violence and trauma of living as a fugitive in a war zone, hunted by the same people who had already done their best to fully annihilate her entire family, causing her to turn the philosophy of strength in peace which she held dear into a tool of oppression and control. Both stories are compelling and even sympathetic in their own way, and I suspect that if she were a real-life political figure, both would turn up in historians’ interpretations of her life.

#Star Wars #duchess satine

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f1ct1onalplaces · 3 years

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New to You

a/n: Hello everyone! This fic is a reader insert and takes place in Caption America: Civil War. It follows you and your significant other, Wanda. She has no romantic interest in Vision in this fic, but I leave hints that Vis likes her. I did this because I may or may not make this a series. We’ll see. Anyway, this is gender neutral so if you see anything that assumes a specific gender please let me know. Enjoy!

Summary: You try to cheer Wanda up but end up burning something in the process and when you try again you're interrupted by an unexpected guest.

TW: little bit of violence, mention of death, language, angst, self-doubt, kissing

"Oh m'god, oh m'god, oh m'god," I say as smoke seeps out from the oven. Quickly, I grab the oven mitts, open the oven, and grab the pan of burnt brownies while my eyes water from the intoxicating fumes. I drop them on the counter before using the mitts as a fan to try and disperse the smokey air before the smoke detector picks it up.

"What the hell is going on here," I hear a thick Sokovian accent say from down the hall. I pay little attention to her chuckles as I continue to fight the smoke. My peripheral vision makes out her outline leaning against the door frame. From just that I know she's dressed in a black long sleeve, a black jacket, a skirt that stops mid-thigh, knee-high socks, chunky black heel boots, and her layered jewelry. Wanda's usual style. I give a sheepish grin and shrug as she pushes off the wall to make her way towards me.

"Babe, you know cooking isn't your best skill." I laugh.

"You don't have to tell me twice," I respond continuing to fan the gray air around us. "I just thought I could do something nice. Guess not." Wanda rolls her eyes at my obvious attempt for pity. She grabs the makeshift fans from my hands, ignoring my grumbling protests, and proceeds to do her own thing. Her hands raise as red power flows throughout the room, gathering the smoke together. Once it's all encased within her power she releases it through an open window.

"Now that wasn't so hard." She croons to me. I huff and stare at my charred brownies.

"Say's the enhanced superhuman." Footsteps thud against the concrete and stop directly behind me. Hands slip around my waist, loosely grabbing my hips as a kiss is planted to the back of my neck.

"Your also an enhanced superhuman," She says with chin resting atop my shoulder. I shrug.

"Yeah, but all I can manage to do is turn invisible and conjure healing abilities." I place all my body weight on Wanda as I lean into her. She presses another kiss to my neck.

"Yes, that may be true but that doesn't mean your useless. Y/n your a valuable member of this team, plus you train with Nat and Cap, making you pretty skilled in combat." Her attempt to cheer me up does the exact opposite when she uses the word team. Since the UN meeting in Vienna, the "team" has divided, resulting in Cap, Sam, and Bucky being made fugitives. I decide to change the subject.

"How are you?" I ask my girlfriend. I feel the movement of her shoulders slump as she lets out a sigh.

"Guilty, horrified, ashamed." She doesn't need to say why. My body turns until our eyes meet.

"It wasn't your fault." Her head shoves into the crook of my neck.

"Yes, it was. Y/n, people are dead because of me" I shake my head and run my fingers through her hair, doing my best to comfort her.

"No, it was Cap's fault. I'm not saying it was on purpose, but he froze and didn't act quick enough. You were just cleaning up his mess." Wanda groans in my shoulder before looking back at me.

"What would I do without you." I glance over at my brownies.

"Well, you definitely wouldn't have to deal with burnt food all the time." At this, she giggles, a sound that makes me weak in the knees, before resting her forehead against mine.

"But actually, what would I do." Her green eyes peer into mine and my answer is simple.

"I could ask the same thing." Wanda smiles and leans in as close as possible without our lips touching.

"Is it okay if I kiss you?" Warm air caresses my face, mixing our breaths. A smile spreads

across my face and then I'm rewarded with a smile of her own.

"Of course." Her lips press to mine. I tilt my head back, gasping at the feather-light contact. Our bodies press together, desperate to fill our minds with each other, riding the presence of our ghosts. My fingers weave into her soft locks and give a light tug, pulling a sigh from her lips. Wanda leans closer to my body, hands firmly grasping my back, causing the both of us to stumble back. We both come up for air before diving back in, rougher and heavier. My skin is searing with each touch, every graze of a fingertip against my neck or her nails following the shape of my spine are coals being thrown into a furnace. Hot and smokey. Soon her lips aren't on mine but on my neck. Her teeth skim the smooth skin below my ear, followed by kisses to soothe the sensitive area. I grip the hem of her shirt to ground my buckling knees and it isn't until my back hits the wall that I realize we never stopped moving. My hands finally loosen and slip beneath her shirt, digging into her waist. I'm not sure how far we would have gone if it weren't for the explosion. Jumping back from each other we peer out the window to see fire. Instantly, Vision appears behind us.

"What is it?" I ask, still breathless from a moment ago.

"Stay here please." Vision then goes right through the glass with his strange ghost abilities.

"Cool." I mummer under my breath as we watch him shrink with distance. Wanda tilts her head with a troubled expression.

"It's probably nothing," I say, "And if it is there's nothing Vision can't handle." Her expression stays the same. Browse furrowed, her swollen lips in a line, and blank eyes that show she isn't listening to me.

"Babe," I start but it's interrupted when Wanda spins on her heels, hands in motion with a knife. The knife is ripped from its original position by magic and shoots at a man. It stops mere inches from their face once we both recognize him. Barton flicks the knife to the ground, not a flinch insight.

“Guess I should have knocked” Wanda walks up to him with me right behind.

“Oh my god, what are you doing here?” His elbow bends behind him grabbing an arrow.

“Disappointing my kids,” he says as he shoots one arrow to the right, spinning around and then one to the left. “I’m supposed to go water skiing.” Quickly, Barton grabs both our hands leading us out. “Cap needs our help.” He gives a tug to my arm, properly sensing my hesitation. “Come on.” I glance over at Wanda, raising my eyebrows in question. Suddenly a voice behind us speaks.

“Clint.” We all freeze. “You should not be here.” Slowly, we all turn around to see Vision, who looks as intimidating as I’ve ever seen him. My mind races to find a way to convince Vis on letting us leave and a way to do it without anything getting physical. Barton though goes a completely different route.

“Really? I retire what, for like five minutes and it all goes to shit.” My mouth makes an O shape as I watch carefully. Though Vision would never severely hurt us I can’t help but think of what he’s capable of. To be fair, I’m dating maybe the one person that can overpower Vision.

“Please consider the consequences of your actions.” Barton doesn’t even think about his response.

“Okay, there considered.” Then from the two arrows, he shot electricity comes out, holding Vision in his grasp, for the time being. “Okay, we gotta go.” Barton and I start jogging away, but it only takes seconds for us to realize Wanda isn’t following. “It’s this way.” She stands there looking down at her feet and tugging at the sleeve of her jacket.

“I’ve caused enough problems.” My heart breaks, remembering our previous conversation. We both turn back and I’m prepared to beg her to come with us. Even if she decides not to fight, just to get out of here. But, once Barton decides to speak I leave it to him to do all the talking and instead decide to grab her hand, letting her decide.

“You gotta help me, Wanda. You wanna mope you can go to high school. You wanna make amend you get off your ass.” Then it goes to hell. His face goes blank as we both look back to see Vision our of the electricity. I pull Wanda and me out of the way as Vis goes for Clint. I grab her shoulders, making her look me in the eyes.

“Wand, you have to make a decision. I don’t want you to feel pressured, but I’m going. You need to know that whatever you decide I’ll support you, but I can’t stay here and do nothing.” Her eyes are on me though I don’t think she sees me. The look that occupies her face has changed from doubtful to perfectly poised and I don’t think it was me who got to her. I finally turn my attention back to the other two and am not surprised to see Barton in a headlock.

“Clint, you can’t overpower me,” says Vision, and that’s when I realize the plan.

"I know," he pronounces, pausing to look at Wanda. "But she can." Wanda circles in front of Vision.

“Vision that’s enough, let him go, I’m leaving” Her magic is a sphere in between her hands, fingers constantly moving to keep it alive.

“I can’t let you,” he responds. Then, vision lets go of Barton As he loses control of his ghost abilities and is forced to his knees by red magic. Vision struggles to get up and the eye contact they hold leaves an ugly feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“I’m sorry.” He sinks closer and closer to the floor.

"If you do this they will never stop being afraid of you." The words come out in between breaths that betray how close he is to losing. His words cause my fists to ball up, angry at the way Vision chooses to say this to Wanda. Trying to insert fear within her bones in order to keep her locked up. The only reason my fist doesn't find a place in his face is partially due to his impenetrable skin, but mostly because of the way Wanda responds.

"I can't control their fear, only my own." She pushes her hands down and with that motion goes Vision. Vision’s shoved down multiple floors, creating giant holes throughout the compound. Once she stops the house is silent with the eagerness to escape before Vision recovers.

“Oh.” Barton looks down. “Come on, we got one more stop.” I grab Wanda's hand, tugging her away from what she just did, and peck her on the lips.

"You did the right thing, no one is going to blame you." I decide to leave out the part about how skeptical I am about everything, but I know Cap would never start something he knew was wrong. So, if he needs help that's what I'll do. She nods in understanding and kisses me again to show she's with me. Our little bubble is popped when we both catch Barton staring.

"So, you two are, umm." I let out a snicker at his helpless confusion. Wanda smiles before answering his incomplete sentence.

"Dating. Yes." This time he laughs.

"Good for you guys. I presume it's pretty new?" We start to jog our way out of the building and to a van pulled just outside the gates.

"New to you," I say elongating the last word.

"Shit," I hear as we get into the van and buckle ourselves in. "I owe Nat twenty bucks."

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marygaby25 · 3 years

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I am going to write this and this post especially because I have seen that on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and YouTube there is a theory going around that Sharon would be the power broker.

All because she tells a woman "I have a big problem, actually two big ones. On the way I'll explain" sincerely I doubt very much that Sharon is the power broker, the closest thing would be that she works for him, but not because she is bad but because she wants to somehow stop him. Before the haters come to me with questions of this style "Where do you get that from?" "Now they are making up that she is a double agent because she might be evil?" "Do you want to create such far fetched ideas or crazy theories like WandaVision to defend Sharon? "I know things like this will come out because they can't hate her anymore with these excuses: for not having more fight scenes, for few appearances, for having little screen time, being Steve's love interest or that she could be Sam's or Bucky's (nothing more for seeing a scene that was meant to create uproar in the fandom and be misunderstood) they decided now to hate her for believing she is the power broker Well, my basis for believing that Sharon is not the power agent is that she has since she was introduced to the comics worked as a double agent to accomplish the mission and save the day. I don't remember the comic issue very well, but if I remember correctly it was one of the old cap comics where she posed as a famous assassin and then later helped Steve and black panther. This trait of hers became stronger, after being believed dead by Steve and left in the enemy camp by SHIELD. She changed, became a survivor and had little problem playing double agent to save the day, but since you can't live on my memories I'll be a little more specific.

In the "Operation Rebirth" comic they talk about what I commented above aside they show us in the story that she works with red skull to save Steve, since the serum in Rogers wasn't working and he was going to die (even the avengers couldn't save him) so she makes a deal with red skull to help him if he helps her reactivate the serum in Steve, red skull helps her, but then she betrays him, saves Steve's patriotic ass and along with cap stop the evil plan. Basically in the comics during and after this we are shown a darker Sharon personality, but she still does good like pretending she would sell Steve's memories to stop a mob (of course Steve didn't know that and offended her a lot when he stopped the operation).

Well, let's go to the civil war comic before they say "Sharon killed Steve in this comic". 1 she didn't kill him she just displaced him 2 she was mind controlled like Bucky was . Now Steve was a fugitive and Sharon was shield people so as they knew the relationship between the two they gave her the order to set a trap to capture Steve and in the comic it looks like it was going to be like that, but no honey, Sharon met Steve somewhere else and plan failed my dear SHIELD. Sharon didn't give him up and she didn't give up her relationship with him either. In the secret empire comic where she never supports hydra despite captain hydra begs her to join him, no matter how much she has her Steve's face she doesn't join the fake Steve Rogers. Later she pretends to be under Faust's control again in order to gain their trust, she manages to knock Faust out to escape and hack the ships giving the resistance an advantage. So with that background on Sharon I think they are letting us know that she is capable of appearing to join the bad guys to defeat them. The power broker will be another person (in the comics there have been two) you could say they are showing us that dark stage of the character saying they forgot about her and the part where she will always do what it takes to defeat the bad guys, even joining the bad guys to defeat him With what they have shown us in the series I think this is the ucm's version of the events that changed Sharon in the operation rebirth comics.

Guys I was going to post this last week, but I was finishing some projects and posted it now before the premiere of the fifth chapter. Well, I know this kind of posts are not your favorite, but I had to write it.

#agent 13 #sharoncarter #tftws #sharon carter

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kyber-crystal · 4 years

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united we stand || s.r

summary: in which you, sam, steve, and natasha are forced to go on the run after civil war. unfortunately, being a fugitive with government officials out for his blood doesn’t seem to stop the great captain america from falling even more in love with you.

words: ~2.5k

warnings: slight angst, sam and natasha being matchmakers, fluff

a/n: OMG IM SORRY THIS ONE WAS SO POORLY WRITTEN ADLFJDSF

It doesn't have to come down to this, Tony. Look what you're doing. You're tearing the Avengers apart."

"You did that when you sided with Cap, Y/N."

"What do we do now?"

"We fight."

"He's my friend."

"So was I."

"He killed our parents, Y/N. And you're still willing to take his side? I thought I could trust you. But I guess I can't even rely on my own judgement anymore to make decisions, can I?"

Your heart hammered against your ribcage as you jumped from rooftop to rooftop, a dull ache forming at the edges of your skull due to all the thoughts rushing around in your brain and narrowly escaping a flurry of over two dozen of General Ross's men.

Guilt settled in the pit of your stomach, making your insides churn. You turned against the last family you had left, and now you were paying the price.

You're one hundred percent sure that Tony hates your guts at this point. Leaving your brother for someone else; what had you become?

"What now?" Sam asked, looking around and sending Redwing out to survey your surroundings for any other agents that could be approaching. "What's our next step?"

"We gotta catch a train. Belfast's no longer safe for us," Steve panted as he slid his shield over his back, trying to catch his breath. "Our safety's already compromised as it is."

"Nat's gonna go get the tickets, I'll buy us some disguises. We're less likely to be recognized because you guys are all suited up with your wings and shield," you explained. "Wait here."

A few minutes later you were all dressed inconspicuously in your new disguises, looking like the other civilians that were walking around. You didn't have enough time to check the sizes of the clothing, so Steve ended up wearing some jeans and a light grey T-shirt that was about a size too small for him, outlining every inch of his toned torso.

You quickly tore your gaze away before anyone noticed you staring. Sam caught this, however, and sent you a little wink. You glared at him in response.

"The next train to Glasgow leaves in nine. We gotta hurry," Natasha said as she handed you your tickets. "Come on."

Luckily you weren't recognized as the ticket holder came around, though you tried to keep your heads down low when she passed by.

"It's a 14 hour ride. You fellas might wanna relax, take a nap or something," she said, reclining her seat back and closing her eyes. "We won't be arriving until early tomorrow morning."

You relaxed in your seat, the tension in your muscles loosening a bit. But Steve saw the distressed look in your eyes and placed a gentle hand on top of yours.

"You alright?"

"Could be better, I mean, it's not like I chose to be a fugitive on the run from the entire world," you joked, but the smirk on your face quickly fell. "No. I'm not."

"It's going to be okay, you know. Things'll work out in the end."

"I sure hope so."

You fell into an awkward silence after that, resting your chin on your hand as you stared out ahead, watching the rolling hills whiz by in a blur, the vibrant green a sharp contrast to the powdery blue sky. Ireland was a beautiful country, really. You wished you could stay longer purely for the sake of admiring all the lovely scenery.

"You know, if you just want to talk about anything, we can do that. 14 hours is a pretty long train ride," he finally spoke up about an hour later. Sam was fast asleep at this point, mouth opened slightly as his head rested on Natasha's shoulder, who was sleeping as well.

"Yeah, it is. But we've had worse days, right?"

"We have," Steve agreed.

So you just talked, about whatever came to your minds. Your childhood, your past before joining the Avengers Initiative where you'd previously served as one of SHIELD's top agents for several years, Steve's life back in the 40's before becoming a super-soldier, how much things changed over the years. About past missions.

Soon enough you felt your eyelids droop heavily from fatigue. He noticed your tiredness and reached out his right arm, gently wrapping it around you and pulling you towards his side, encircling you completely in his warm embrace. Slowly but steadily, your muscles began to release the tension in them and you leaned into his touch.

"Why don't you get some shut-eye. We have plenty of time to talk when we arrive."

"Mhm," you mumbled sleepily. He smiled, brushing a few stray hairs away from your face as you drifted off.

...

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, this is our final stop. We have arrived at Glasgow Central Station," the conductor's voice announced over the intercom as the train began slowing down. "The weather is currently 59 degrees, and it is 5:27 a.m."

"Wake up, lovebirds," Natasha clapped as you stirred slightly, looking confused as you raised your head from where it rested against Steve's chest. "Time to get going."

You yawned and stood up, stepping off onto the platform into the station, surprisingly busy at the crack of dawn. You really just wanted to curl back up into a ball and sleep. Talking for four hours straight with Steve had knocked you out completely.

After getting new SIM cards, Sam quickly created an account to get you checked into a hotel.

"It's a half hour walk. We should probably limit public transportation as much as we can," he stated as he slid his phone into his jacket pocket. "Managed to snag a 40% off deal including a free night, so we're good for the next few weeks until we get an actual apartment."

"You know," Natasha commented, adjusting her baseball cap and aviators as you made your way outside down the bustling street, "if we weren't currently trying to flee from the government's grasp, I'd say I'd wanna come back here for a vacation. And that's on nice architecture."

"With us?" you raised an eyebrow.

"Why not? You're pretty good company. I wouldn't wanna hang out with anyone else."

"Well, what can I say?" Sam puffed up his chest. "I'm smooth with the ladies."

You simply laughed. "Yeah, sure you are."

Glasgow was a breathtaking city. With sprawling Victorian style buildings and cobblestone roads, brightly labeled bars and restaurants, it appeared as if it was pulled straight from a rustic 19th-century painting.

You checked into your hotel after grabbing some food from the nearby bakery. For a cheap price, your room was surprisingly simple but large: a king bed in one room, a pullout couch, and a small balcony so you could stand outside and take in the view of the city.

Despite having no time zone difference between Ireland and Scotland, you were still extremely jet-lagged, most likely due to the flight you'd taken over to Berlin not long ago. After binge-watching reruns of some sitcom for the rest of the day, you fell asleep, clutching your pillow tightly.

Natasha and Sam had good eyes, and could clearly see something was going on between you and Steve.

The truth was, you wanted something to happen but both of you were too chicken to make a move, thinking being in relationship while on the run was inconvenient and unnecessary.

The first few days passed by relatively quickly. You only really went out to buy groceries, and even then you went two at a time to avoid drawing unwanted attention to yourselves. Once, you treated yourselves to a night out at a nice restaurant, enjoying each others' company. It was a way to forget about your currently unfortunate situation.

...

But then the nightmares began.

You swung your legs over the edge of the bed after waking up in a cold sweat, heading over to the bathroom. Everyone had already gone to sleep long ago, and you envied people like Sam as he could knock out cold almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Staring at your ghostly reflection in the mirror, you squeezed your eyes shut, releasing tears that cascaded down your flushed cheeks in a hot flood. You ran trembling fingers through your messy hair in an attempt to tame it, taking a brief look at your disheveled appearance. The heavy dark circles underneath your bloodshot eyes that were a result of hardly sleeping over the past week were clear, as well as your sunken cheekbones and deathly pale complexion.

You studied the woman that looked back at you, with the same unnerving and hollowed out gaze that she'd worn for years; a façade she learned to develop so that nobody could see when she felt weak; helpless.

Ten days.

Only ten days had passed since you arrived in Scotland, yet it seemed as if you aged ten years during that short amount of time. Small creases in between your brows indicated stress and anxiety from leaving everything you knew behind, for a future you could barely see ahead of. For a life that held an endless amount of consequences if you took one misstep, one wrong move.

Your body felt heavy, weighed down as if you carried the weight of a thousand men upon your aching shoulders. You didn't know what to do; what to think anymore.

You didn't look thirty-two anymore, you looked older. Almost as old as Tony. And there was a 10+ year age gap between you and him.

God, Tony.

You betrayed him. The last living member of your family on earth, and you betrayed him.

Turned your back on him, because you didn't believe in the same ideas. Was it really worth turning your back on your own blood just because of a disagreement?

I thought I could trust you.

I thought I could, too. But I guess things don't always work out as planned, do they?

They don't. I don't even know what I can say to you anymore. Hell, I can't look at you without seeing a traitor. You turned your back on all of us, and that's unforgivable.

The Accords, you know I couldn't sign them. It isn't right. I'm fighting for what I believe in.

No, you're fighting for Steve, not yourself. Always running over to precious Cap even if it costs you your safety, if it costs you everything and everyone you ever loved. Because you think that you can rely on him and him alone, to get through this. You won't get very far by keeping this act up, you know.

News flash; the world doesn't revolve around you, Tony. Just because someone doesn't agree with what you believe, doesn't mean you have to tear their team, their family, apart for it.

You're blaming me?

Maybe I am.

"What are you doing up this late?"

Steve's voice jolted you from your train of thought, and you looked up to see him leaning against the doorframe dressed in sweats and another tight-fitting T-shirt, his blue eyes scanning over you worriedly.

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I'm fine, if that's what you're wondering. I'm just a bit jet-lagged," you muttered, hastily wiping away another stray tear that escaped. He pushed himself off the wall and caught your wrist as you were bringing your hand down, tugging you towards him slightly.

"Tell me what's going on."

"I'm fine!"

"No, you're not. What's wrong, Y/N?"

"I..." your voice faltered. You didn’t even realize you’d started crying until you felt your face grow wet from the salty tears that rolled silently into your cracked lips. "I don't know. Everything's wrong."

"Everything?"

"I made a mistake."

"What do you mean, mistake?"

"I turned my back against Tony. My family. I betrayed my own family, Steve." Your voice cracked. "And now I can't even guarantee that I'll ever see him again."

"You did what you had to do," he said softly, placing a hand on your shoulder. You felt your skin burning up under his touch. "You were just trying to do what you felt was right."

"Yeah, by teaming up with the side of the man who killed my parents. I can't imagine what he even thinks of me right now."

A look of hurt briefly passed over Steve's face at the mention of Bucky.

"...But I know their deaths were out of his control, so I don't blame him," you continued. "Still..I hurt him. And now, I have to live with knowing that fact." "Look, I'm sorry."

"What?"

You looked up and met his gaze, feeling his bright blue eyes boring into yours. He didn't seem upset or angry at all; there was an eerie softness and calming feeling about the way he looked at you that made you relax a bit.

"I shouldn't have dragged you into this mess. I never wanted you to have this kind of life; where you're always living in uncertainty. You deserve better than that."

"It's not your fault at all," you swallowed hard. Talking and breathing grew increasingly difficult with the sob that was building up in the back of your throat, that you tried desperately to conceal for so long, "it's mine. I made that decision to side with you, not only because I couldn't stand the idea of signing the Accords. So it's...it's on me. God, I don't know what to do anymore, I can't—"

A wave of grief suddenly hit you from all sides, causing you to keel over, sliding down against the cold wall with a hand clutching your stomach as an agonized scream tear itself through your body and out of your throat. And you were drowning; suffocated by your own tears as you struggled to breathe. You tried desperately to stop them but nothing could seem to hold back the heavy sobs that wracked your body, clawing at your lungs and heart.

Steve crouched down in front of you and pulled you against him, arms tightening around your body with each cry that escaped your lips. In that moment he wanted nothing more than to take all your sadness and frustration and grief and put it upon himself, to carry the weight on his shoulders so he wouldn't have to watch you endure the pain. He'd much rather have to suffer himself than watch you try and bear the burden and fall to pieces in the process.

Seeing you breaking down before him with your gut-wrenching cries that echoed across the small space, more vulnerable than you'd ever been in front of him before, made it feel as if someone was directly ripping his heart right out of his chest and tearing it into a thousand pieces with their bare hands.

"Hey, it's okay," he whispered soothingly as he pressed his lips to the side of your temple, "it's okay. I've got you. You're gonna be okay."

Despite how you felt as if your heart was twisting itself into knots, there was something comforting about the way he held you ever so gently in his arms, the way his warm breath fell against his neck as one arm was firmly hooked around your waist, running his free hand through your hair.

So for a moment, you allowed yourself to believe that there was no one else in the world except for just you and him, holding you close, and that everything was fine, even if the feeling only lasted for a second.

#steve rogers x reader #avengers x reader #captain america imagine #marvel fic #avengers fanfiction #steve rogers one shot #captain america one shot #captain america fanfiction #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers x you #captain america x reader

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gloves94 · 4 years

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Kingdom of the Sun [Fire Lord Zuko] 4

Chapter Warnings: None Story Rating: M Pairings: Zuko/OC

Kingdom of the Sun MASTERLIST Last Airbender MASTERLIST My MASTERLIST

Two Years Ago…

"Have you ever heard the story of 'The Man that Fell in Love with the Sun?' It's a story about a man made out of wax, that- as the title says- falls in love with the Sun and everybody warned him not to get too close, but he didn't listen, and he did. Because of it he got too close and melted which resulted in his death."

Tsai eyed her brother oddly with a disturbed expression in her features. This was very… uncharacteristic of her brother. Mecha didn’t read anything unless he had to. Much less novels and less for pleasure.

"That's pretty morbid…"

He lowered the book and tossed his head back in frustration on the chair in which he was reading. "Do you think Mai will like it?" He asked raising his head looking at her with a dreamy expression on his face.

She couldn't help but roll her eyes and turn her eyes back to the reflection on her vanity. Starring down a blemish on her face. "I'm sure she'll love it," she retorted mindlessly while brushing her wavy auburn hair back. "It's right up her alley… Although, It's not like you. To actually read to impress a girl."

"Ha!" He let out a chuckle and stood up. "But she's not just any girl." Her brother said before approaching her and messing up her combed hair. She glowered at him. “Also – I do read. I just don’t care for entretaintment literature.” "Get out of my room Mecha!" She barked pointing at the door.

"Very, very unlike you to take time off work to go visit your boyfriend in the Mainland." He teased leaning on the doorway with his arms crossed over his wide chest.

"I'm not taking off time. I'm going to go negotiate," she let out an exhausted huff while glaring at a single hair that remained standing up in defiance of her hairbrush. "And you know he can't just take the day off, I mean he is the Fire Lord."

She was excited to visit Zuko in the Fire Nation's capital. It had been a year since the end of the One Hundred Year War, and both had last seen each other since sometime after the war. Long distance was hard, the fact that he was an absolute monarch at the age of eighteen and she was back home in the colonies attempting to hold a revolutionary uprising or a civil war from happening made things even harder. Regardless, the two were trying their best sending each other letters and gifts on the daily to stay in contact. Life without him was hard; specially after a year of being around each other both day and night.

Visiting wasn't only hard because of the distance and both of their terrible schedules. There was also another problem…

"Whatever, I've warned you plenty of times and mom has warned you. It is not safe. You're going to get yourself killed or assassinated in some brutal way." One of their main enemies was her own father. Azah had been the Vice-Royal Governor of Yu Dao, after the end of the war his post was overtaken by his son Mecha, and he fled that same day. The man hadn't been seen since then. He was considered a fugitive and enemy of the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom and was currently leading the Colonial Liberation Movement. A movement dedicated to the liberation of the colonies as one independent governmental identity which was neither affiliated with the Earth Kingdom or the Fire Nation. His ideology wasn’t wrong, it was shared with his children and some of the other citizens of the colony. However, his means to achieve his goal, terroristic attacks, bombings and kidnappings… That’s were morality drew the line and things went awry.

Xxx

Mecha had been right.

Tsai had taken a warship to the Mainland. On her way there was a pirate attack. Nothing her and her troops couldn't handle, but it was something that she definitely wasn't going to tell Zuko. What would be the use in worrying him? He already had enough on his plate as things were.

A couple of days later the warship had docked in the Fire Nation. They arrived earlier than expected.

Her stomach flipped in excitement and nervousness. She was so excited to see him, to hug him. Just to be around him. She missed him so much her heart would leap every time she got news or even a letter from him. She took in a deep breath in hopes of soothing her jumping nerves.

She walked on the docks, adjusting her clothes, running hands through her hair, pacing. She couldn’t contain the smile on her face as she rushed down the ramp ready to see Zuko. But he wasn’t there. Instead, she was surprised to see Mai out of all people waiting for her at the docks. She stood surrounded by a handful of Fire Nation guards. She thought the maximum security was a little odd but decided not to comment on it. The scene was almost reminiscent of the time she had welcomed her and Ty Lee from prison about a year ago.

Mai looked just about the same as Tsai remembered. Midnight jet black hair that was straight and reached past her midback, it was styled in the same fashion. Her skin remained a flawless porcelain composure and she stood tall looking as graceful and elegant as always. "Mai!" She said surprised and gave the girl a friendly hug.

"Welcome to the Mainland." Mai said dully in the same tone she always spoke in. She didn't hug back. It was hard to tell if she was happy to see her or not. "It's good seeing you Tsai." Then again, Mai did not seem like the touchy feel type.

"I'm afraid the Fire Lord is in a meeting, but he'll come and see you as soon as he's out." She explained, hands hidden inside her sleeves. "I'll show you to your room."

From what Tsai knew Mai was one of Zuko's advisors. Considering they lived in times where they didn't who to or who not to trust it had been a good decision to appoint her. After all, Mai was educated and one of his oldest friends. Her brows turned up in disappointment when Mai turned away from her. He still had meetings scheduled during her visit. They had been planning this for weeks! Why couldn't he just take a day off?

Mai lead her to the room where she would be staying in inside the Royal Palace. She could never quite get used to the intimidating feeling she got from looking up at the golden dragon carved walls of the entrance.

"This is your room," Mai said dully standing outside. The guards behind carried some of the luggage that she had brought back with her from the colonies. "If he takes too long, I'll be in the study room. You can join me if you want." Tsai nodded at the invitation.

"He shouldn't be long." She added. "Oh and be ready, you're in for one hell of a weekend." The slightest of uncharacteristic sly smiles made way to her face. Why did it sound like she was… hiding something? However, her tone did not seem to hide any ill intentions.

‘What was that all about?’

She stepped into the royal guest room. One that had a queen bed and looked as if maroon had thrown up in here. Maroon bed covers, matching curtains, a rug of the same color and even canopy arches with more curtains. The room was austere. The guards left after a moment and said they'd be waiting outside ready to escort her anywhere she wished to go. It was a very different feeling being here as a guest and not as a prisoner…

She leaned against one of the window's arches and looked out to see the vast kingdom that magnificently spread out until it blended in the horizon with the ocean. To her this was a foreign land… “What to do now…” She pondered to herself. Maybe she just would take up Mai in that offer and go hang out in the study with her.

Suddenly the door was slammed wide open.

"- It's not my fault her ship got here early! Now, go, go, go! Before she gets to her-" A voice that was foreign to her dropped. A handful of servants stepped in each one of them carrying heavy porcelain vases that seemed to be hundreds of years old and intricately carved. Each one of them had been filled with sun flowers the size of her hands all in colorful shades of yellow, orange, vermillion and bright red. "Room…" the voice finished.

Boxes and boxes of gifts large, small, medium all professionally wrapped and decorated were also ushered in.

Her eyebrows went up to her hairline as she looked at everything they had brought into the once austere room which was now crowded in presents and flowers. She suddenly felt a little guilty considering she hadn’t brought him anything.

"Ah, sorry about that. You must be Lady Tsai from Yu Dao." A mousy man a little older than her stepped in. His hair was light brown and worn in a bowl cut style tied back in a low ponytail behind. "I'm Nezu," he lightly bowed. "I'm Fire Lord Zuko's assistant." He said clumsily tripping over an edge in the carpet.

"Nice to meet you?" She said eyeing the man oddly. Zuko had never mentioned that he had an assistant to himself.

She was so distraught interacting with the assistant and glancing at the overwhelming number of flowers and gifts in her room. That she didn't even notice the Fire Lord walk into her room.

"Tsai!"

She knew that voice. She snapped her attention away from the assistant rudely and turned to see Zuko standing beneath the doorway. She felt warm, her heart jumped to her throat, stomach prickling with butterflies which made her feel like a schoolgirl.

“Zuko!” She beamed and ran into his arms.

She relished his touch, the warmth of his body. Both were so engrossed in each other they didn’t even realize when everybody scattered out of the room just as quickly as they had arrived. She buried her nose on his shoulder and in took that familiar scent she had missed so much. Firewood and that odd hint of eucalyptus they washed his clothes with.

He was taller, he also felt stronger. “Your hair, it’s so long!” She said holding on to the sides of his face. Brushing a hand through the bangs that not fell past his eyes and were split in the middle.

He didn’t waste another second and kissed her. Chastely, innocently, very much like the type of love they had. “I missed you too,” she responded and kissed him back.

But maybe not as innocently…

Her arms tangled around his neck and she pulled him to her pressing their bodies together. Her feet almost moving on their own stepped back into the bed pulling him forward. Maybe their love had been innocent when they were teenagers, but now that they were adults. She wanted more, she needed more of him. “Woah,” He broke the kiss and held on to one of the bed’s posts for support remaining standing. He let out a nervous chuckle. “We have to get going,” he said his eyes darting back to the door behind them and she didn’t know if he was oblivious to the hint she had just dropped or if they really had to be somewhere else. “There’s someone I want you to meet.” She leaned back on her elbows sitting up and tried to meet his avoidant gaze. With a frustrated sigh she blew a lost hair out of her frustrated face.

"Come on," He said reaching for her hand pulling her up.

“Who are we meeting?” She asked as he led her through the Fire Nation’s palace corridors. “Are we meeting the Minister of International Affairs? Do you think he’d sign for the liberation of the colonies?” She asked. “No…” He said avoidantly not wanting to touch on the subjects. “Well, do you think he’d sign? I mean if you’re signing on it on, he can’t tell you no, right?”

Again, he remained silent, not wanting to discuss the topic. She looked at his face profile oddly. Zuko was signing on it, right? The liberation and secession of half of his territory. Territory that had been unfairly taken away from the Earth Kingdom and sowed and exploited under the cruel fist of colonization. However, his silence said otherwise.

Xxx

The two arrived at a nice restaurant that was close to the palace. They walked in and were ushered to a private room in the back where there was a table with four chairs. Sitting in one of the chairs was a dark-haired girl that didn't look older than seven and a woman with matching straight, dark hair that reached her mid back.

The woman stood up and turned around smiling warmly at the two of them. Her eyes were a matching shade of gold and her hair was parted down the middle. She was beautiful. Both of them greeted Zuko excitedly and hugged him. Tsai looked at them with a perplexed expression confused at who these people were. All this time she thought they would be attending some type of political cabinet meeting.

"Tsai, I want you to meet my mother. This is my younger sister Kiyi." Externally she looked at both of them and smiled pleasantly just like she had been taught to do her whole life. She even straightened out her back standing a little straighter. Internally she could've murdered him in the spot.

‘WHY DIDN'T HE MENTION HE HAD MEET HIS MOTHER?! HE COULD'VE GIVEN ME A HEADS UP OR SOMETHING. ANYTHING.’

She let out a surprised "Oh!" taken back by the introduction.

"Uh- It's very nice meeting you!" She said bowing her head in respect before his mother. "I really wish Zuko would've told me I was meeting you two." She rambled nervously shooting him a deathly glare before smiling back at his family.

She wasn't expecting his mother to actually hug her. She looked at her surprised at the sudden contact. She held her as if she had known her whole life. "It is so nice to finally meet you. My son has told me a lot about you." She held her at an arm's length. "I'm Ursa." “And I’m Kiyi!” The younger girl said hugging her waist. They were both to welcoming. It was hard to believe that Ursa was actually related to Azula and well had actually been married to that monster Ozai.

Tsai took a seat before Ursa and next to Zuko. Kiyi sitting in front of her brother.

"Yeah, Zuzu always talks about you." Kiyi laughed lightly. “Your hair really is the color of tomatoes. Can I touch it? Can I be one of your bridesmaids when you marry my brother?"

"Kiyi!" Both her mother and brother turned to give her what looked like a warning gaze. Zuko panicked and defensibly stomped on Kiyi's foot. "Ouch!"

"...I look like a tomato?" She asked weakly, this time actually resembling a prime red tomato. "Only sometimes?" He said sheepishly placing a panicky kiss on her cheek.

She shot him an angry glare. Today was really not what she had been expecting.

"A cute tomato!”

"So," She began awkwardly. "I'm very happy that you two- you three found each other." She said looking between the family with a small smile. Her tone was friendly but Zuko understood that she demanded an explanation. Why the hell had never mentioned it? He seemed to hear past her friendly tone and understand her true question.

"I wish I could've told you. I wanted to tell you, but you can never be too careful. What if the message was intercepted? It was too risky."

Right. So why the hell couldn't he have said anything in the past hour that she had been here?!

"I'm afraid it's a long story," Ursa apologized with a small smile.

They ordered their food and tea and Ursa explained how she had been exiled for what she hinted at as the assassination of Fire Lord Azulon. She explained how she ran away, went to the Mother of Faces, traded in her memory and face for a new one and rekindled with her young love, married him and had Kiyi. It really was more complicated than she had let out. Lunch was pleasant. Tsai really liked both his mother and sister. Both were warm people with good hearts. She definitely felt welcomed into the family and right at home with the two.

"Fire Lord, I don't mean to interrupt." Zuko's assistant interrupted poking his head in. "But we have a situation." He said poking his head into the small room. Zuko sighed, his expression shifting into a stressed one he apologized and stood up. Kiyi chased after him saying his name.

It was only Ursa and Tsai together alone in the room.

There was a brief shared moment of solemn silence between the two. Tsai took an awkward sip of her hot tea.

"I know what you must be thinking," Ursa began. "About what I did to be banished and hide away from my children for as long as I did… But I did what I had to do to save my son and the rest. I'm just happy to have my memories and my son back."

She looked at her a little struck. "Actually… I really wish I could've known I was meeting you and Kiyi. I would've brought some candies from Yu Dao, souvenirs or something." “Oh no, no, don’t worry. Like I said we were both just really excited to meet you and for you to move here” Tsai blinked twice confused and lowered her beverage, “Move here?” What did she mean by that? Ursa looked a little struck by the younger woman’s perplexed reaction. Both heard Kiyi walking back with her older brother. She laughed at something and Zuko looked flustered at something she had said to him. “Zuko tells me you partake in herbalism and botanics too!” Ursa steered the conversation topic with ease. “It’s more of a hobby,” the girl followed. “I originally became interested in plants because of their tea properties. I make a great cup, probably as good as Uncle Iroh's. I'd love to make one for you one day!” Despite the smile on her face her thoughts were still distraught with Ursa’s comment. What exactly had she meant by that comment? Other than that lunch was great.

“It was so nice meeting you,” she said sincerely to Zuko’s mother. “But we have to go get ready. We’ve got tickets to see Love Amongst the Dragons.” “Really?”

Zuko nodded with a smile and wrapped an arm around her side pulling her close to him. He was obviously excited to show it to her, after all it was his favorite play. “You’ll have a great time!” Ursa said clapping her hands together wishing them well.

They bid Ursa and Kiyi farewell and returned to the palace.

“I’ll meet you in the parlor room soon,” Zuko bid a momentary goodbye to his girlfriend before retreating to his room to change into his own evening robes. Already on edge from the long day’s travel, the surprise introduction to his mother and sister, and his disposition to not speak about the liberation of the colonies, she was more than happy to catch a moment to herself alone.

She walked in and slowly closed the door behind her resting her palms and leaning against it letting out a draining breath she had been holding all day long.

Suddenly her breath caught. A surprised scream trapped in her throat as she looked at the mess in the middle of the room. The maroon covers had been tossed to the ground and the white sheets were stained and smeared with black tar mud spelling one word: blood. The muddled message was clear. Mud-blood. A most derogative name given to Fire Nationers that mixed with Earth Kingdom people. She wasn’t welcomed here. Her eyes darted around the room dangerously looking for any sign of the intruder but there was none. She was ready and on the offensive, ready to strike with one or the two hidden blades underneath her long sleeves. There didn’t seem to be anybody else in the room. She looked down at the message on the bed sheets. It was obvious, somebody clearly didn’t want her to be here…

She swallowed the nervous lump that had formed in her throat and angrily wrapped up all the sheets together in a bundle before throwing them under the bed. There was no way she was letting this ruin their evening. There was also no way she was sleeping in this room tonight. It was best she kept this to herself for now. It was then that there was a knock on the door. She flinched towards it with a raised arm ready to strike whatever was behind the door.

She opened it only to reveal three terrified stylists standing outside with their briefcases and tools. The three looked horrified and clearly shaken up. It was a hair stylist, make-up artist and a fashion stylist holding several outfits. Oh. Some moments later Tsai was escorted to the parlor room where Zuko was waiting for her. He was wearing an elegant set of maroon robes with a gold trim. He wore his hair piece crown and his hair up, bangs covering most of his forehead. He looked absolutely regal. She looked like his proper match, a lady from the Mainland wearing a long evening ochre Fire Nation styled dress. Half of her hair pulled up in a top knot fashion and bangs split down the middle. He looked at her struck and grinned broadly as she took her arm and they both made way to the Royal Theatre.

Maybe this was just what the two needed an evening at the theater to clear their heads and forget about everything that had happened earlier. The clothes she was wearing were nice, but it wasn’t what she was normally used to wearing. This fashion was foreign to her, it just reminded her how much more she did not belong here. All eyes were inconspicuously fixed on the two of them as they walked into the theatre. She didn’t want to stop and think if the prying eyes were fixed on them in admiration or in judgement of their relationship. She wanted to push it to the back of her head and forget about it, but the words still lingered there: mudblood. It wasn’t only that, she felt violated. Somebody had intruded on her space with threatening means. Her eyes scanned the unfamiliar faces in the crowd. Who would it have been? She wondered if the person responsible was also in the same room as them. The two were escorted to the Fire Nation’s Royal viewing box were the two sat alone in private with a perfect view of the stage. Fire Nation guards keeping guard right outside for their safety.

Thankfully there was also wine. That should put both of their nerves at ease. “I have a surprise for you,” he whispered against her ear. “Really? What is it?” She asked in an excited tone before her expression rapidly shifted to a sardonic one. “Do you want me to meet your grandmother now too?” She teased still a little upset at the fact he hadn’t warned her about introducing her to his mother and sister.

“Believe me, I really wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t. You can never be too careful when sending mail during these times. You never know who’s reading our letters or what an enemy would do with that information.”

Yeah, you also never know who’s opening our mail or lurking the Royal Palace swearing mud on people’s sheets. An unpleasant chill went down her spine at the thought. She chugged her glass of red wine and agreed with him.

He noted the uneasy look on her face and reached for her hand. She smiled at the comforting gesture and kissed his face. “I’m really excited for this.”

They watched the play and Zuko was literally mouthing the words. He was such a dork. The production really wasn’t as terrible as the time they watched “The Boy in the Iceberg” with the Ember Island Players.

“So, what’s the surprise?” She whispered during one of the intermissions already on her third glass of wine. All of the day’s problems in a faraway place. She placed her hand on his upper thigh and he tensed under her touch. It took him a moment and he grabbed her hand carefully removing it from the area. “Are you going to tell me?” She leaned even closer to him, placing a hand on his chest. Fingers lightly stroking the soft fabrics. Zuko sat like a wall, completely hard, not caving into the dangerous look in her eyes. “It-It’s about to start,” he stammered, before nervously clearing his throat. She sat back in her chair displeased and glared at the stage.

Xxx “Zuko where are you taking me?” She asked him as he led her inside and down the stairs of an ancient Fire Nation temple, one that was almost as old as the nation itself. The guards that had been escorting them throughout the capital waited outside. “You’ll see,” he said looking back at her as they walked down the ancient stone stairs. The humidity in the air was dense, moisture greeting them as they reached several levels underground. Several Fire Sages bowed to their Fire Lord. She held on to his hand as they advanced and she noted that his palm was sweaty, he also had a tense look on his face.

They walked inside of the Dragon Crypts. A graveyard. A hollow stone room filled with the majestic skeletons of hunted dragons. She could smell the moisture in the air blended with the scent of incense and myrrh. What the hell were they doing here? It was actually kind of spooky. “Hmm,” She hummed now hugging onto his arm. They walked into the Dragon Crypts which are filled with dragon skeletons, it smells like myrrh, its dark, there are candles lit everywhere. It's low key creepy. There are actually people buried here. “So mysterious…”

“I told you I could be mysterious,” He said slyly. That he had. He led her through the labyrinth of rows, bones, craniums caskets carved out of polished marble and stone were his ancestors remains lay. Actually, it wasn’t spooky, it was a little unsettling. She was about to ask just where the hell he was taking her when they stumbled upon a glowing chamber. The small chamber at the end was illuminated by what she swore were almost a hundred candles. They lit the room with a warm glow. They were all placed around the front of an empty carved stone slab where a casket would one day go. She gave him a confused look, and both took a seat on the empty slab. She looked around the room oddly and noted that one of the caskets in the chamber was engraved with his grandfather’s name the one opposite of the room had the name of Sozin, his great-grandfather.

She couldn’t help but smile a little at him. Only he could find an evening spent in the family’s crypts to be romantic. She still had her arms wrapped around his, chin propped on his shoulder.

“I’m so happy to be here with you,” she confessed closing her eyes for a moment. She wasn’t sure if it was her or the wine talking. “Even if it’s a creepy graveyard filled with dead people and skeletons.” He looked at her and smiled a little before catching her lips in his. His kiss was soft, innocent. They broke for a moment and she smiled provocatively at him. She pressed her lips against his kissing him harder, wanting more, needing more from him. Her hands were exploring his chest, wrapping around his neck as she clung to him. However, he was wary of her touch. Almost shy. He put his hands on hers shoulders and lightly pushed her off his body. Unaware of this, she groaned slightly and sat up, bringing her knees on the slab, leaning forward planting a kiss on his jaw, on his neck, behind his ear. Every kiss becoming hotter and more lustful.

“I brought you here to ask you something,” he interrupted brashly removing her body from his and holding her at an arm’s length again. She looked at him skeptical, almost upset. “Why don’t you want to touch me?” She demanded transparently, almost cross.

“I need to ask you something,” he emphasized again. His hands shaking slightly as his fingers sank into the flesh of her shoulders.

She arched an eyebrow frustrated and remained silent expecting his question. “These are the Dragon Catacombs,” He explained. “It's where Fire Lords are buried. My grandfather was buried and so was his grandfather as well as the rest of my ancestors and one day too, I will be buried here." He explained the morbid concept. Her face shifted to a perplexed expression; eyebrows furrowed with concern. She had no clue just what he was getting at. He took her hands in his and held them in a slightly tight grip, his thumbs stroking her knuckles. Hands clammy and uncomfortably warm. “Lie in the same grave with me?”

She moved her head to the side still looking at him with an odd expression. There was a hopeful glint to his eyes. She hummed a little, as she sought her words carefully. This seemed important to him for some peculiar reason. “Would we… fit?” She drawled out slowly testing her confused tone.

He pulled her hands closer to him and lowered his head for a moment.

“Tsai... What I’m asking you-” he let out a deep breath that he had been holding. “I’m asking you to marry me.”

She looked as if she had been split by a bolt of lightning.

Now everything made sense.

All of the little looks that Mai had been giving her. His mother and his sister’s comments towards her. She was expecting everything but this. She didn’t smile, her face didn’t flush with a colorful joy, he wasn’t sure if she was even breathing.

She hadn’t even realized he had been pleading her to say something anything. She looked like she was in shock. He looked at her concerned, his expression dropping. This was supposed to be one of the happiest memories of their lives. He felt a tightness in his chest. His heart dropping at the look on her face. “Why don’t you want to have sex?” She dead panned, her eyes glazing as they stared blankly at him. “What are you talking about?”

Oh, he knew what she was talking about. The fact that he was playing dumb made her even more peeved. “Every time I try to get intimate with you, or touch you, you freeze up. Why?” “We don’t have to talk about this right now,” he clammed up in denial wanting to avoid the subject all together. It was just like he had done earlier when she had asked him about the liberation of the Fire Nation’s colonies. “Actually-“ Her eyes widened as she looked at him in disbelief. “Since you just asked me to marry you, we do.” She dropped her arms to the sides. “Do you not find me attractive?” “What? No-No,” He shook his head. “I do. Trust me. I do.” She looked at him with a baffled expression her eyes fixed on his still demanding an explanation. Probing if he was being truthful or not. It took him some time to choose his words carefully. “It just seems disrespectful.” He divulged after a moment. The puzzled look in her eyes never left her face. ‘What the fuck did that mean?’

“We’re not married. It would be wrong.”

She fought the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose. She had the gut feeling that this might be the issue, but really hoped- she prayed that it wouldn’t. There was a reason why Mainlanders of the Fire Nation had spread that nasty rumor that people from the colonies were stereotypically promiscuous. It was because of the conservative nature of the relationships Mainlanders had. Mainlanders believed that one had to remain pure and save themselves for their partners by remaining pure until marriage. It would be a respectful stain not too. However, since life in the colonies had been off to a rough start when the colonization of the lands began, death tolls were high, because of that morals became looser as colonizers were encouraged to copulate in order to populate the land faster. “No it wouldn’t,” she shot back. “We’re both consenting adults and we love each other. How can that be wrong?”

A hopeful smile grew on her features as she wrapped her arms around his neck again. Yet eyes didn’t meet hers. She looked at him intently, hopefully. “I’m not ready.” Looking at him with disbelief she removed her arms from him. They rested on his shoulders for a moment and she sucked in a deep breath. “Okay,” she said weakly. She wrapped her arms around herself and hung her head feeling rejected. In all honesty today had been a terrible day. Everything about it had been awful. This was going to be hard, but she could work with it. She could be patient. She had to be mature and respect his decision despite the terrible urge she felt.

He looked at her concerned and stood up rounding around her and dropping in one knee in front of her. Again, he reached for her hands taking them in his. “Let’s get married,” it didn’t sound like a question, it sounded more like a statement.

“I’m not ready.” She stood up, walking away from him. Both looked away from each other uncomfortably. She really wasn’t ready. It wasn’t the right time. Not right now. Not like this. She knew he was the man that she was going to marry, she had no doubts about that. It just really wasn’t the right time. There were still mountain loads of work that she had to do back at home. She wouldn’t feel comfortable committing to such kind of engagement without prioritizing her own dream of accomplishing the liberation of the colonies. His colonies. Much less moving all the way across the ocean to the Fire Nation to be… Fire Lady. Tsai kept her gaze away from his. She didn’t want to look at the hurt expression on his face. At the way his body slouched, and his fists trembled at his sides from what one could only interpret as anger or frustration. Maybe both. She couldn’t bear looking at the dejected expression on his face. Zuko’s mind was pounding as a pulsating migraine quickly set in making it feel as if he had just splattered against a cinder brick wall. His heart ached. He had only been planning this his whole life. If they loved each other and wanted to be together why did anything else have to matter? “You know what you’re acting like?” He snapped hurt. The flames surrounding them growing with his ire almost touching the ceiling which made the room feel smaller, hotter, more unpleasant. His tone fueled with anger as he turned towards her. It was that infamous temper he was known for. “You’re acting like a-“ He tried to swallow his angry words. “Like a-!” The word vomit was threatening to spill. She looked at him expectantly. Waiting for the ball to drop for him to strike her with his sharp words. He almost let out a growl. A look on his eyes. He scowled let out a rumble and turned away from her once again.

“Like a what?” She challenged stepping forward her eyes blazing with resentment. How could he react in such a graceless matter? He wasn’t being fair. He was being selfish. She had gracefully and patiently accepted his choice, but he couldn’t accept hers? “Say it!” She barked her words echoing the small chamber. She knew what he was thinking. She wanted to hear him say it. She wanted to make him angry.

Instead he remained silent averting her furious gaze. Looking away from her. Growing dead silent. “Like a damn colonial?” She spat out the ugly stereotype as it was venom.

“That is not what I was going to say.” He defended.

“Oh yeah? Then what were you going to say?” She challenged.

“You’re putting words in my mouth Tsai!” He shot back.

“Well I have to put them there since you won’t communicate! You’ve been egg shelling around me all day long. You talk about taking this next big step together, but you can’t even bring yourself to do it physically, much less emotionally.” “What about you? I am trying to talk but you won’t listen. All that you’re thinking about is sex.” She gritted her teeth together. “That’s not all I’m thinking about. What about the colonies? Where would I live? I can’t come and live here, not until the colonies are independent, which may I remind you – they are not! What would I even do here? Also- your people, they hate me!”

“What would you do? Plenty! You can do whatever you want- have anything you want. My people don’t hate you and even if they did why would that matter? The Fire Nation’s been closed off from the rest of the world for a hundred years, naturally they are mistrustful of strangers. Give them time and they’ll love you just like I love you.”

But it wasn’t just that. It wasn’t the fact that she wasn’t from here. It was the fact that half of her person, half of her culture, half of her family was from the Earth Kingdom. An ethnic group and nationality that had been an enemy of the nation he led for the past one hundred years. Sure, maybe half of her was Fire Nation, maybe her whole heart was Fire Nation, but as long as that part of her still ‘tainted’ her blood with mud… She thought of the sneering looks that the Fire Sages gave her when they walked into the temple. They’d never accept her, and he’d never understand. Her eyes welled with tears at the thought. The dark words smeared on her mattress mudblood. The thought they couldn’t be together, the thought that there would always be an obstacle between them. It pained her. She felt her heart twisting in pain, stomach churning at the horrible realization. “You want the colonies to be free?” He looked down at her pausing for a moment. “Fine! Consider it done.” He shouted. She flinched at his aggressive tone and looked at him shocked, her eyes glassy and loaded with tears threatening to spill. “It’s not the right time…” She whispered tears spilling down her eyes. “For either of us. There’s still a lot I have to do before leaving my life, and it’s obvious that we both still have a lot of growing up to do.”

He looked at her crying face and he suddenly felt guilt wash over him. He shouldn’t have done that. He shouldn’t have said half of the things he said. His expression softened. “Tsai…” He whispered her name shaking his head lightly. He looked at her red nose and at her swollen face. Sure, it had been a bad fight, but it wasn’t worth the rivers of tears that were streaming down her face. “I want to marry you,” she admitted meekly. “I do, but we can’t do that.” She lowered her gaze shifting on her feet uncomfortable. “Not right now anyways…”

The anger melted off both of them and she embraced him burying her head on his shoulder. He could feel her tears seeping through his clothes. He held her tightly, mellowing in their sadness.

Then they suddenly heard a brief flickering. It sounded like a rapid clicking. Both of their eyes turned to look at a particular candle that was flickering peculiarly. It suddenly stopped; the flame dying giving both the most awful feeling. They made eye contact and their eyes drifted back to the candle. Uh-Oh…

It was a bomb. The candle exploded. Both fell back with the recoil from the explosion. He barely managed to bend a sphere of fire that barely shielded them. Both sat up in the floor, heaving, coughing the black smoke that filled the small chamber. Rocks, and other parts of the catacomb crumbled everywhere. “Are you okay?” She reached for him concerned. Her eyes scanned the ceiling hoping it wouldn’t collapse on them. “Fine. You?" He mumbled dusting his clothes off. She sighed.

There was that too…

The constant assassination attempts.

“I'm sorry, this is all my fault. This was a mistake. My brother was right. I shouldn't have come."

“What?” He sat up and looked at the debris around him. “The bomb. Someone's been trying to kill me.” “You’re not the only one.” She looked at him in shock, neither had said that to each other. She thought about the hordes of Fire Nation guards and escorts that seemed to follow them around everywhere. Well, that made a lot more sense now. She stood up first and helped him rise. He stumbled weakly. Still with his hand in hers she led him away and out of the catacombs, but his steps were low, stumbling. She looked back at him, he looked pale. She stopped and he seemed to wave for a moment. He reached for his temple seeming pale. She had only seen that look on his face once before. “No, no. Please! not right now,” she cried out and managed to catch his dead weight before he collapsed unconscious.

xxx

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#prince zuko #zukoxreader #Zuko x oc #Zuko x you #zuko #avatar #avatar the last airbender #avatar fanfic #avatar x oc #avatar fanfiction #atla fanfic #atla fanart #atla x oc #atla #fanfiction #fanfic #fanfic writing #fire lord zuko #Zutsai

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heroeslogic · 2 years

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tag drop : verses

#the first of the delinquent class . . . [ AGENT IN TRAINING ]*#enter the delinquent task force . . . [ POST AOU ]*#being a fugitive is not my style . . . [ CIVIL WAR ]*#undercover theater kid . . . [ POST SM:H ]*#now this is where i start spiraling . . . [ ENDGAME / THE BLIP ]*#i’m supposed to be on desk duty . . . [ POST ENDGAME ]*#figuring out retirement . . . [ POST NWH / CIVILIAN LIFE ]*#call me director gallagher . . . [ DIRECTOR OF SHIELD ]*#i’ll burn it all down if that’s what it takes . . . [ THE FLAGSMASHER ]*

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conniejoworld · 3 years

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By KEVIN KRAUSE

Staff Writer [email protected]

He was a fugitive who had threatened to go to war with the government and had illegally gotten his hands on a powerful firearm after being released from prison.

And he was in contact with another militia extremist who months later would begin plotting to kidnap Michigan’s governor, according to the FBI.

“I am now a sought after man, who is going to stand up and NEVER allow them to kidnap me again,” Kevin “KC” Massey said on Facebook.

Massey’s final days were spent running, hiding and talking about a final confrontation. That, however, never happened. The North Texas man who once led vigilante patrols on the Texas-Mexico border shot himself two days before Christmas in 2019 in Van Zandt County, putting an end to the manhunt.

Over a year after Massey’s death, some associates who allegedly provided him with aid and support are now themselves facing prison time. While on the run, Massey, 53, became a powerful symbol of resistance for the resurgent anti-government militia movement that has been radicalizing people disaffected by the pandemic and national politics.

Cody Gene Reynolds, 34, of Hunt County recently pleaded guilty in Dallas to buying Massey an AR-15-style firearm a few months before Massey’s suicide. Reynolds is scheduled to be sentenced in August, according to court records. His attorney declined to comment.

And Barry Gordon Croft, 44, was communicating with Massey on Facebook in the fall of 2019, promising to help him and to train him for a coming war against the government, the FBI says. Croft, of Delaware, has been charged along with about a dozen others with plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

A third man, James Russell Smith, was arrested and tried on a charge of harboring Massey at his Hunt County home. But a federal jury in Dallas found Smith, 70, not guilty several months ago.

Massey was already a hero to some other homegrown extremists, and his death only served to make him a martyr in the eyes of like-minded militia members. An Illinois podcaster last year called Massey a “fallen political prisoner.” And a Facebook page created for him called Massey a “patriot who served on the Texas border repelling foreign invaders.”

For federal authorities who are looking to contain the growth of domestic terrorism in the U.S, that is a concern.

“Massey’s status as a fugitive became a symbol of government oppression for individuals like Croft who harbored anti-government and anti-federal law enforcement views,” an FBI complaint in that case said.

Croft was arrested in October. Prosecutors called him a ringleader in the Whitmer kidnapping scheme as well as the “prime mover behind” the construction and testing of “weapons of mass destruction.”

Croft took part in nighttime surveillance of the governor’s house, planned to bomb a bridge and detonated test bombs he planned to use, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler said in a filing. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His attorney declined to comment.

‘They will ... pay’

Croft messaged Massey on Facebook in October 2019 when Massey was a fugitive, the FBI says. Among the things Croft said to Massey were, “They will have to pay for what they have done,” and “I don’t care if we destroy this whole planet in the fight that is coming, but a reckoning is necessary,” an FBI affidavit said.

Croft also allegedly said that “the People” didn’t support what happened to Massey and that “Our hour draws near, brother.”

“I’m going to North Carolina on Saturday to discuss going to war against the government of North Carolina,” Croft allegedly wrote. “They invited me to speak and share tactics. Please come out bro. We need you.”

Croft also told Massey in his messages that he could help him, according to the FBI.

“I can pull you out,” Croft allegedly told him. “Let me get you nourished back to combat ready … I need to recover you, sir.”

Massey, 53, was an electrician from Quinlan, an hour east of Dallas, and a man with “alarming rage” and a love of heavy weaponry, federal authorities have said.

He had gone into hiding around May 2019, several months after being released from prison on probation for a federal weapons charge that stemmed from his armed border patrols, court records say.

In addition to being a militia member, Massey was a Three Percenter, which refers to a far-right, anti-government movement that the FBI is building a conspiracy case against in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and insurrection, according to published reports and court records.

Three Percenters are also referred to as “III%ers” or “threepers.” The term Three Percenter is based on the myth that only 3% of American colonists fought against the British during the American Revolution. Authorities say it’s not a single group but more of a common belief that a small yet determined force of armed citizens can overthrow a government. Many independent militias incorporate it into their names.

Authorities say Croft posted the following comment online in April 2019: “Be it known, any harm to KCI Massey III by the federal government will trigger my 3% [expletive] to action!!!%”

Help from friends

Massey came to the attention of federal authorities in 2014 when he was in Brownsville as a member of a border vigilante group called Rusty’s Rangers. Dressed in military fatigues, he conducted armed patrols with others on the South Texas border to search for immigrants attempting to cross into the U.S., authorities say.

The militia members, displeased with U.S. border enforcement, said they took matters into their own hands after obtaining permission to access private property. Their makeshift “Camp Lonestar” on rural land served as a “staging area for their patrols,” according to the feds.

Massey routinely videotaped his border activities and posted them on Facebook, court records said. He would later say on Facebook that he had the power of citizen’s arrest. In posts, Massey described detaining immigrants at gunpoint and binding their wrists with zip ties.

He vowed to remain at the border until regulators “sealed the border or there’s some sort of civil war,” prosecutors said.

Instead he was arrested and charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Massey was found with 20 homemade explosive devices and other weapons at the time, court records say. He was convicted and sentenced in 2016 to 41 months in federal prison.

His prison writings, archived online by a supporter, as well as his Facebook posts, show that he fervently embraced right-wing extremist movements.

According to prosecutors, he also expressed support for Timothy McVeigh, whose bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995 killed more than 160 people and injured over 680 others.

Massey was released from prison in June 2018 to begin serving his three-year probation term, according to court records. As a felon, he could not legally have firearms.

But Massey drove with Reynolds to a Caddo Mills gun store in December 2018 to buy one, according to court records. Massey gave Reynolds money and told him which gun to buy. Reynolds then purchased the Diamondback Arms DB15 for Massey. The gun, although called a pistol, looks and performs like an assault rifle.

Reynolds pleaded guilty on March 30 to acquiring a firearm from a licensed dealer by false or fictitious statement and to aiding and abetting a felon in possession of a firearm, court records show. He faces up to 10 years in prison.

A warrant was issued for Massey’s arrest in May 2019 after he tested positive for illegal drugs and failed to report to his probation officer, court records show.

While on the run, Massey went to a second man for help, an old friend, prosecutors said.

An acquittal

James Russell Smith is retired from the construction industry and lives in Lone Oak, east of Dallas. He had known Massey for about 20 years and recruited him to join the Cossacks Motorcycle Club years earlier, prosecutors said. Massey told Smith he was broke, hungry and needed a place to stay, according to court records.

In July 2019, Massey moved to Smith’s property near the banks of Lake Tawakoni, court records say. Smith provided him with food and shelter and also allowed Massey to store his property, including firearms, on his land, according to prosecutors.

U.S. marshals learned Massey was there and set up surveillance. Massey was seen coming and going from the home with what appeared to be a firearm on his hip, a federal complaint said.

Agents raided the home with a search warrant but Massey was gone, having “escaped into the woods,” prosecutors said.

Smith told agents he didn’t know where Massey was. The marshals said they found an AK-47-style pistol inside a bag he left behind. While the marshals continued to look for Massey, the government in July 2019 charged Smith with conspiracy to conceal a person from arrest.

Smith’s trial ended in September with an acquittal. Juror notes submitted during deliberations indicate they had an issue with a critical element of the charge — that Smith knew of the existence of a federal arrest warrant for Massey at the time.

‘Key issue’

Smith’s attorney, Keith Willeford, said in an interview that the arrest warrant for Massey had been sealed and therefore wasn’t public knowledge.

“The key issue was the fact that they had to prove that my client knew that KC had a warrant,” he said.

Willeford said Massey stayed at his client’s property for only about four nights. And no one ever called Smith to inform him that Massey was wanted or to ask for his help in locating him, Willeford said.

William Hagen, a federal prosecutor, tried unsuccessfully in 2015 to seek a tougher prison term for Massey, citing his “utter disregard for federal law.”

And he issued a warning that turned out to be prophetic.

“Because the defendant not only disrespects the law, but explicitly rejects the legitimacy of it, he will undoubtedly rearm and reoffend once released from prison,” Hagen wrote.

The 911 call came in on Dec. 23, 2019. Police said Massey’s body was found in a “small wooded area.”

Twitter: @KevinRKrause

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fyrapartnersearch · 3 years

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M/M Marvel and ITV Emmerdale (Email)

Hello! I'm a 21+ roleplayer (seeking the same) in the GMT timezone. I am on the search for a partner with some time on their hands, as I have recently found myself with a couple months free and I am looking for someone slightly more regular with replies after a while of being with partners available every couple of weeks or once a week. I want to enjoy the back and forth a bit more! That said, real life always comes first and so my partner and I would both have to respect those times when things get busier!

In terms of my writing style, I'm a quality and quantity type person. Starters and transitional scenes will be more likely to drift onto the long side of things whilst dialogue heavy scenes would be a bit shorter. I am open to anything and everything and have no triggers but will always respect yours! I enjoy angsty moments, dark scenes... but also lots of fluff and nice times :)

I much prefer to roleplay via email. My email is [email protected] - reach out here and tell me about yourself, what you’re into etc! I take introductory emails as a writing sample :)

Marvel

- Bucky Barnes/Sam Wilson

Something set starting with FATWS would be awesome. It's just started so I am happy for a slow burn plot about them coming back together, so we can work canon things in as we go. I am also happy to write a post Civil War story where Sam, Steve and the rest stay in Wakanda too OR where Bucky goes on the run with the others and instead finds his moments of stability in his growing friendship with Sam.

- Bucky Barnes/T'Challa

Kinda like above. A thorough explanation of Bucky's time in Wakanda, after Shuri is done fixing him. Maybe starting before Steve and the others leave, with the King only wanting to hide one fugitive. A beautiful friendship blossoming in to more, with T'Challa dealing with what happened with Erik and stealing moments of respite with the White Wolf.

- T'Challa/Erik

Erik is placed under arrest in Wakanda. Or at least, he is placed in a locked room. He's got a bed, a kitchen, a living space, access to books or paints... But he is kept there as a prisoner with the understanding that his sentence will be used to rehabilitate. That, maybe, one day he will be released. He gets one visitor. The King. Soon, stony silence during T'Challa's visits turn to conversation.

- Jimmy Woo/Scott Lang

Maybe set during WandaVision, if Scott and the Pym's were bought along in the home that their tech will be able to get through the wards. Perhaps the two of them end up within WestView and Wanda's mental manipulation puts them as a couple that... really works.

Or maybe a Post Snap, where Scott doesn't end up trapped. Jimmy, at a loss for what to do and desperately clinging to the parts of his job he knows, goes to check in on Scott and Cassie. Together, they embark on a trip to find the surviving Avengers. Jimmy proves his worth. Scott has a oh f*** I'm smitten moment... Romance at the End of the World :)

Would also be open to crossover pairings such as Klaus Hargreeves/Bucky Barnes and could play either.

Emmerdale

Aaron/Mackenzie (Will play either)

Looking to write Mackenzie and Aaron and I will play either character. I love angst and slow burn, a sort of enemies to friends with benefits to love. We can write this during a canon time in the show - current or previous - or make up our own timeline. Happy to include Robert in the future!

#Anonymous

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roleplayfinder · 3 years

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I can be found at [email protected] so reach out to me there. Tell me a bit about yourself, what you are looking for etc. Below are the fandoms I am interested in and snippets of ideas I may have but I'd love to hear yours too! Bold is my preferred character.

Marvel

- Bucky Barnes/Sam Wilson

- Bucky Barnes/T'Challa

- T'Challa/Erik

- Jimmy Woo/Scott Lang

Would also be open to crossover pairings such as Klaus Hargreeves/Bucky Barnes.

[email protected]

#twenty-one and over #gmt #marvel #marvel roleplay #marvel rp #tua #tua roleplay #tua rp

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popculturebuffet · 4 years

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OK KO Reviews: Back In Red Action

As you can probably tell by the fact Red Action week started 4 days ago my schedule slipped a bit, with a bunch of unexpected stuff, an expected job for a friend, and a day of laziness with the isle of armor meant I never got around to writing it. As such i’ve decided to play catchup.. all 3 reviews, HOPEFULLY all in one day. And yes 3 as I decided to cut Plaza Prom for a number of reasons: It’s not all that necessary, I was doing it more for myself, and if I find time before or after pride ends, I can easily cover it in isolation, so being done in a timely manner isn’t an issue like it is for the red action ones, or the other three pride month reviews I have planned after red action week. So witht hat dust settled let’s talk about Enid. While I went on about Enid a LOT last time, for good reason, a LOT has happened since episode 3 as you’d probably guess, episodes I will cover in the future because enid is awesoeme. And the two episodes that built her up a bit had plaza prom as the creamy filling for that airing sandwitch, and were unsuprisingly good. But since we’re not covering them just yet Enid confronted her ex best friend and dealt with her and rad’s bumpy past, and that coupled with our previous episodes and some others have melted down her walls a bit. She’s still a bit distant, and still terrible at her job as ever, but she’s grown as a person and grown past her past. Now it’s her turn to do what K.O. has done for her, he was inttrumental in getting her to stop ignoring Elodie and confront her, for someone else. Let’s recap this. back in red action under the cut...

We open with a normal day at the Plaza and Enid’s alone, with K.O. offscreen and Rad not in this episode so he’s not around and Gar clearly gone or else he’d be yelling at enid probably. Enid’s checking around on her phone and after checking to see if anyone’s there, once again decides to look at Red’s social because that’s not creepy. But Enid browses it wondering why Red came here in the first place, figuring there’s probably better food, better this , better that and trips up on a picture of Red with her old girlfriend, Yellow Technique.. and yeah i’m not beating around the bush, while they never come right out and SAY IT, the episode contextualizes things as such. I Mean granted given my shipping habits on this blog, you can see i’m willing to ship plenty of kids together, and even then only in a “Awww” holding hands, maybe an awkard kiss way, and am a shipping monster who has plenty, but here i have no horse in this race, it’s just really obvious subtext.

Anyways enough Cul De Sacs, Enid sees a new picture... Red taking a selfie with an unaware Enid.. and who probably just heard Enid’s last few sentences and at the very least dosen’t care. After a flirty “Hey Ya” and enid awkardly hiding her phone, Red buys some gum for cover then invites Enid to hang out for the afternoon then leaves. Then KO pops up out of nowhere hilariously, and for his only scene this episode to gush about Enid’s sorta date, though Enid is paranoid it’s just a setup for some sorta joke or prank.. which given that red was willing to set a child on fire while her friend spanked him because that’s not weird at all, yeah kinda a good point, even if she’s ignoring the obvious signals that, for once, Red seems to be genuine. She WAS a bit awkward at times during asking her out, pausing or stammering, she just quickly recovered. But it also shows the downside, if breifly to red’s kind of life: If your an ass to everybody, even people who genuinely like you may worry your just messing with them.

But when Enid goes to return the gum, she finds Red not only waiting but ninja snatching the gum.. and doing that to a NINJA takes skill. Top notch. Enid realizing this isn’t a prank holy fuck her crush really did ask her out out of nowhere, suggests a few things before Red shoots them down gently and revealz their going crusing. She also has enid turn her back and cover her ears while she summons her submarine.. using a sentai/power rangers set of poses and summon chant, as you do. With their ride here and enid buckeled into Red’s Submarine, and Red dodging any questions Enid has about her past , you know, the oppsitie of normal first date behavior. Everyone knows your supposed to talk a lot, get them coffee, look deep in her eyes and tell her about your family, hold hands then shoot cocaine into your eyes and rock a buglarly.

But no instead of any of that Red has something just as romantic and dangerous planned their going high into the...

Which, befiting this wonderful show, is an actual place that’s full of explosions, maurading gangs and dinosaurs.. I mean every place is full of dinosaurs but this place has extra dinosaurs. It’s like the savage land if it didn’t annoy me as a setting. So the two cruise on exotica style, though in a great bit Red keeps enid from unbuckling, and when asked about her past again Red dodges and instead takes them down thunder road, where the lightining strikes.... I.. I can’t stop waxing lyircal this review. Help. On thunder road the two share a moment when both go up top and see how damn pretty the place is, what with all the glowing orbs, Red gets electrocuted and both look at each other lovingly at diffrent points with that faded light effect, you know the one. I”d name it jeremy but it definitely has a name. The two really bond and it’s telling that it’s those moments where things go well: Enid’s not nervously trying to ask first date questions, if not wrongfully and Red isn’t running from them. Their just two teenagers attracted to one another getting to know you getting to know all about you.. getting to know if you like me. Anyways, enough of my nonsense that’s now clearly a medical condition, Red’s old friends show up to spoil the mood, with Red brushing them off as performance artists, and a chase insues.. and it’s really well done. I’ll get into this more in a minute. The two max max race, Enid gets into the cockpit and makes good use of it as it’s just like shooting womp rats back home. With help from red, they manage to get two of the hue troop cars to collide and the two hide behind a sign despite it telling them not to back to the future style. It’s here we get into the heart of the episode and what makes it really work for me: For most of the season, before and though not as often after this, Enid’s been standofish even to people she cares about, blunt and hard to get to open up. But the two incidents I mentoined last time that caused her to harden her heart and swallow her tears... got some closure in thos enidcentric eps. IN short Elodie returned and Enid tried to act like it didn’t bother her and Elodie throwing their relationship away like hot garbage for her own admitssion into point and then came back smug as ever, but KO once again got through to her and convinced her that she needed to face her and in a stunning action sequence, i’ll gush about it more when I review the episode eventually she whalloped her and got closure, even if Elodie was ssitll super popular. She then patched things up with rad after Cupid showed up to force her and rad on a date to deal with their sexual tension since Rad went on one with her in middle school that went terribly because rad listend to his friends and his friends are obnoxious piles of toxic masculinty who sucked and were not unsuprisngly phased out of most of season 2 aside from the one episode they were needed and only showed up in season 3 for rad to tell them off. It went poorly, Enid nearly died and Rad saved her and apologized for being a dick, taking the two from would be exes who are understandibly bitter to best friends at long last.

So Enid’s healed some of her wounds.. sure she’s still standoffish.. but she’s finally opening up and letting the right ones in. And now it’s Red’s turn. Red has the same problem: She dosen’t hide but she does run or scream at issues, and as someone who tends to be quick to anger I totally understand that, a tendency to lash out due to some other thing bothering you even when the person did nothing wrong. But her crush, and now possible relationship with, Enid gets Red to finally stop dodging Enid’s questions and open up and we get Red, and her friends Backstory Red and Friends are The Hue Troop, a group of warriors founded by a woman who long ago found a powerful prisim that linked to the mysterious Zordon-like alien Ren-Bow, a precog who could sense oncoming disasters and thus empowered the woman and her 4 friends with attitude to stop them. Like Minority Report meets Power Rangers but the Minioirty Report part actually works. And like civil war 2 if the leaders of both factions weren’t douchebags especially you Carol. But given the fight is eternal they pased their powers on generation after generation , and it was Red and co’s turn. But Red chafed at being part of a team, wearing uniforms, following orders from a rock, doing sily poses, which came to a boil when she accidently, truly accidently broke the Prisim and rather than face up to what she’d done, ran for it and thus ended up here, hiding from her past in the past. It’s also revealed Enid’s one way crush on her is not one way. Red had also been stalking HER social media, like Enid too intimidated to make a move before now, though we DO have an explination for what changed things coming. She liked how unlike Red enid had her own style, moves and a disregard for authority. it also frankly explains a lot about Red. spent her whole life probably, given we see what could be a kid version of red or red’s mom in the finale, preparing to be a hue trooper, given the whole generational thing i’m theorizing the Hue Troop we see are the kids of either the first gen hue troop or the second, the flashback also supporting this. Her whole life being what other people told her to be, following orders doing poses.. not being her own woman. So when being forced to turn fugitive meant she had to hide, it also meant she was free to do what she want, and went about it in the worst way: being rude to people and lashing out at them because she could, only spearing the girl she found cute and her two friends, who went along with the beahavior likely due to both liking red and being deeply insecure themselves as we saw last time, from her obnoxiousness. Even if it wasn’t a generational thing, I still supset the pressure of having to be part of a regimented group drained her and rather than talk about it she likely just avoided it like she tends to do.. and like ENID tends to do.. So it’s says something for Enid’s own development when she encourages Red, who also asked her out since Red figured shed idn’t have much time left, to STOP RUNNING and face her problems.. and punch them in the face.

Yellow shows up right as Red agrees, and a fight breaks out.. and a damn good one. I put a pin in this earlier, but the shows battle scenes, vechicalr and man to mand, are utterly gorgeous, well coregraphed and part of why I belive the animation style is so simplified. Besides allowing for the necessarily unique background cast, it also means that when it’s time for an action scene they can go balls out and give it everything without the episodes taking as long as say steven universe or a disney show.And it shows as even this brief fight is tense, well done and full of emotion as Red’s ex and her former friends fight Red and her new girlfriend with both sides having every reason to go at it. It’s crimnally cut short when a metor hits.. the same metor delivers the crystal. While the rest of the Hue Troop instantly realize this and run, Red dosen’t because it was in the distant past.. and in a great move Enid has to tell her dumbass girlfriend that they ARE in HER past. They run, Red is hit and we get the cover image for the shippers and to make it CRYSTAL CLEAR that yes this was a date. They didn’t steal a few picassos while on a sexy date heist but still.

Also Red stole the crystal, and her friends assume it was her plan all along. Red almost takes credit for it.. but a glare from Enid shoots that plan down and Red, once again genuinely opens up, apologizing for running from them and her problems,and implicitly hurting Yellow, as while they clearly aren’t together anymore, either due to this or other shenanigans, it still had to hurt what red did. She also thanks Enid for being the one to show her the error of her ways. that being said with a fresh prisim, it’s just as likely that the Hue Troop can now clone it and get a copy back to the past for Red to be her own grandma, as I theroize given the finale again and all and red still being around.. more on that nexttime, the troop have a working prisim till then. They part as friends with the rest of the troop encoourging enid to visit sometime and Yellow giving her approval and getting her own closure as the troop leaves. And so we end as Red and Enid decide to resume their everything but saying it’s a date date and go Lava Surfing as they drive out into the sunset. THE END.

Final Thoughts: Just as good on rewatch as the first time around and a great ep, not just for the LBGTQ rep, as while I belivie we’ve seen a bi flag sticker on enid’s bike helmet at this point, and would in all future appearances of it and she’d later stick one on her flying motorcycle she gets in the last season, and there was subetext with elody and red and text with rad, this showed she was a bisexual beyond any shadow of a doubt and did everything short of having them kiss, that comes later, to confirm it. But besides being one of the series delightfully gayest episodes, it has good story, good charcter progression for enid as we see how far she’s come from those early episodes, and Red gets a good character arc that both explains her past actions and has her grows as a person. And we’ll see more of this next time as we hit 88 miles per hour and Red Action to the Future. Until then, follow for more reviews of animated shows, check my blog for more as I have pages for each show, and hit me up iwth an ask if you have a show you’d like me to review or force me to review it for 2 bucks by asking for a commission!

#ok ko #back in red action #rednid #enid #red action #ko #drupe #the hue troop #yellow technique #black strategy #blue power #green guts #elodie #ok ko let's be heroes #lbgtq #lbgtq+#pride month #red action week

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freudensteins-monster · 4 years

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A Banner Reunion

A WinterShock follow up to A Banner Day. Set post Age of Ultron and Ragnarok, not really Civil War compliant, and there’s no Thanos or looming Infinity War. Also posted on AO3.

The first person Bucky Barnes met as he stepped off the last quinjet out of Wakanda was Darcy Lewis. She looked more uptight than her file photo would suggest (Bucky had read the files of all facility staff on the flight over, and Darcy’s maybe twice), and seemed to have taken Pepper Potts as her style icon. The wavy brown hair from her file photo was pulled back in a tight bun, and the colourful sweaters and jeans had been replaced by a sharp business suit and sharper heels.

“Good morning, Sergeant Barnes. I’m Darcy Lewis. I manage the upstate facility and act as the team’s PR manager. I’ll also be acting as a liaison between the facility, your legal team, and other interested parties. If you have any questions, day or night, please don’t hesitate to contact me.”

She handed him a crisp white business card. Bucky took it with his shiny new Wakandan arm, noting a complete lack of reaction from Miss Lewis.

“Science Wrangler?” he read aloud.

“I have new ones on order,” she replied with a long-suffering sigh.

“Thank you, Miss Lewis,” he smiled, tucking the business card into his jacket pocket. “But all I really want to know right now is which way to the mess hall?”

Miss Lewis smiled, but before she could respond Steve clapped him on the shoulder and led him away for a second breakfast.

Over the next couple of weeks he received dozens of updates via Miss Lewis from his legal team about their attempts to have him cleared of all charges relating to the crimes he committed as the Winter Soldier (and the few he committed after), but he never saw her outside of their meetings. Not in the mess hall, not at team movie nights, not even in passing. According to Steve she was drowning in work and pretty much lived in her office. She needed help but had refused to hire assistants, not trusting the vetting process with all the enemies the Avengers had accumulated.

Feeling guilty, and just a little too curious for his own good, Bucky went in search of her office. He heard her before he saw her. It sounded like she was having the argument of the century with a disgruntled voice that reminded him of his old drill instructor. He was going to leave her to it and try again later when he heard his name being thrown about. He crept closer, keeping out of sight of Darcy and the holograph she was arguing with.

“How can you stand there denying the dangers posed by enhanced individuals when you’re harbouring the fugitive James Buchanan Barnes, the most prolific assassin in living memory?”

Bucky winced but Darcy narrowed her eyes at the hologram and stood her ground.

“Sergeant Barnes’ location is not a secret, nor is he a fugitive. He surrendered himself to the Wakandan authorities and per the agreement his legal representation made with the US government - which you’re well aware of, I remember how much you bitched about it in the press - he is on house arrest at this facility until his trial commences, if it ends up going ahead at all. And if you think he’s going to give up what little freedom he has now and could have in the future and sign this joke of a document, you’ve got another thing coming.”

Her opponent sneered. “Last I checked, Miss Lewis, you weren’t a lawyer.”

“Not yet, anyway. But I did pass my Civics 101 class, and I watched a lot of SchoolHouse Rock! as a kid: This is not a bill, or a law, or an official policy of the US Government. Even if it gets ratified by the UN, you cannot enforce it as it goes against the Constitution and violates a US citizen’s 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th Amendment rights.”

“Wanda Maximoff-“

“-is a dual Sokovian-US citizen; I made sure of it. And if you can somehow round up a bunch of asshole commandos willing to enforce this PR nightmare to appease your bruised ego, the governor of New York - who gifted this land to the Avengers - and all his friends on Capitol Hill are going to have something to say about it. Especially after the so-called World Security Council tried to nuke his hometown while the Avengers were risking their lives to save his constituents from aliens. So,” she continued, tossing the intimidated stack of paper aside and waiting for it to hit her desk with a satisfying thump before continuing, “until you can put together something less offensive than this pile of crap, we don’t have anything more to talk about.”

“Listen here you little-“

“Sorry Thad, you’re breaking up. I think your country club is going through a tunnel.”

Darcy disconnected the holographic video call with a wave of her hand and fell into the closest chair with a dramatic groan.

“Wow…” Bucky remarked, stepping into her office. “I take it we don’t like that guy.”

“We really don’t like that guy,” Darcy concurred, tossing her heels across the room in irritation.

“What’s his deal?”

“General Ross’ deal is that he wants all the power. And since superheroes have lots of power he wants them, preferably conscripted into service of the US government or locked up in a submersible military black site paid for with taxpayer dollars that he thinks I don’t know about. He’s been this way ever since Bruce’s accident.” At Bucky’s lack of recognition she continued, “Bruce was trying to replicate the supersoldier serum for the US Military, reporting to General Ross. Things went boom, Bruce turned into the Hulk, escaped Ross’ clutches and went on the run. Under the guise of bringing the Hulk in, Ross approved another human trial of the supersoldier serum. He ended up creating what the media dubbed as “the Abomination” – twice the rage of the Hulk, none of the ability to reconnect with his humanity. And while Bruce was forced to go back into hiding for the next five years for his part in destroying Harlem, General Ross didn’t even get knocked down a rank. The bastard shouldn’t be able to breathe in DC’s direction, let alone have a hand in policing “enhanced individuals,” so naturally he makes a perfect choice for Secretary of State,” she scoffed.

Bucky watched her for a moment before reaching out to help her up from her chair. “You look like you could use a drink. C’mon, I’m buying.”

“Dude, it’s like 10am,” Darcy argued, but took his hand regardless.

Two floors down and one building over in the facility cafeteria Bucky watched on with barely disguised amusement as Darcy made love to her Mocha Frappuccino.

“Oh, yeah, that’s the stuff.”

She’d put on some flats and discarded her jacket before leaving her office, and once they were seated and waiting for their drinks she set her glasses down on the table and took down her hair.

Bucky loved the way she smiled when she was able to let go of the stress of her job, even if it was only for a moment, so he did what he could to give her more of them. Tuesday morning coffee breaks became a regular occurrence, and if she missed dinner Bucky would check in on her to make sure she took a break and ate something. Eventually he asked her to schedule all their meetings and anything to do with his legal issues as her last tasks of the day, that way if she was snowed under and running late he had an excuse to invite her to join him for dinner afterwards. He was working up the nerve to ask her to dinner without the pretense of work when the Asgardians arrived.

Steve stood beside him, watching as the huge ship landed just beyond the facility's - and Bucky’s - boundaries.

“So it’s true?” Darcy asked, out of breath from the short run from the administration building. “He’s really back?”

“Yeah, Thor’s back. You were there when he crash landed the first time, right?” Steve asked.

“She tased him,” Bucky informed him with a smirk. “I read the report.”

“Yeah, I totally tased him. And introduced him to Pop-Tarts. But I also lost him in the breakup – it’s been, like, almost two years since I last saw him.”

It didn’t stop her waving like a lunatic the moment Thor ambled down the spaceship’s ramp, a small village worth of people following close behind him.

“Oh, this is going to be so much paperwork…” Darcy muttered as the god caught sight of them.

“My friends! Lady Darcy!!”

“Thor! What the hell happened to your eye?” she asked when he wrapped her up in one of his godly hugs.

“It’s a long story, lightning sister.”

“Did you bring all of Asgard with you?” Steve asked as he and Bucky watched the strangely dressed visitors make the most of the sunshine and soft grass.

“As many as we could save,” Thor admitted somberly. “I know that their arrival will cause some problems for your world’s governments but any aid you could provide my people in our time of need would be gratefully appreciated. A new homeland, perhaps?” he added, managing to do pretty decent puppy dog eyes even with only one good one.

“I’ll make some calls,” Darcy offered, flashing Thor an indulgent smile.

“Thank you, my lightning sister. And for your efforts, I have brought you a souvenir.”

“Space souvenir? Cool!”

“Aye, very cool,” he smirked, putting a hand around her shoulders and directing her gaze to where a man wearing psychedelic monk robes was trying to make his way through the crowd of Asgardians.

Darcy’s expression fell and Bucky almost rushed to her side.

“Bruce?”

At the sound of his name the man looked up and regarded Darcy sheepishly.

“Hey, bunny.”

“Bruce!!” Darcy was off like a shot, shoes abandoned in the grass as she all but threw herself on the new arrival. “What the hell happened to you? I hacked everyone trying to find you but not even Phil had eyes on you. Why didn’t you call me!” she cried, hugging him so tightly Bucky was worried the guy might not be able to breathe.

“I’m so sorry Darcy. I was stuck in Hulk mode up until a couple of days ago. He was like a gladiator on this trash planet in the outer reaches of the universe. It was crazy.”

“Not as crazy as these clothes, dude,” she teased with a sniffle, tugging on the gold vestments.

“Yeah, they’re a lot. But I had to Hulk out again on Asgard and these were the only spare clothes lying around on the spaceship. Oh, I gotta introduce you to some new friends,” he exclaimed excitedly, leading Darcy back towards the spaceship.

Bucky watched her go, his heart breaking at the sight of her reuniting with her fella. She’d mentioned Bruce a few times, but he hadn’t realised they had been an item. Maybe, since he’d apparently disappeared on her, it had been too painful for her to talk about. Bucky left Steve and Thor to organise the SHIELD agents that had descended to deal with the alien incursion, and left Darcy to her reunion.

In the weeks that followed Bucky hardly saw Darcy at all. She was spearheading talks with the Norwergian government to establish New Asgard within their borders and spent the rest of her time managing the needs of the refugees who had set up a temporary camp in the field where they landed. She was also fending off demands for the arrest of Thor’s brother, who apparently was more hated and feared than the Winter Soldier was.

In an effort to reduce her workload Bucky had offered to deal with his legal team directly, even though he hated how they talked down to him when giving him updates. But it made Darcy’s life easier so he took it on, often bringing Steve in on their conference calls to act as a buffer when he felt he was close to snapping at one of his condescending but very, very good lawyers.

Now that he had no reason to bother Darcy he saw her even less than when he first arrived, though he did hear that Bruce had dragged her out of her office once or twice for a late dinner. They never seemed as touchy feely as they had when they were first reunited and they hadn’t spent any time alone together behind closed doors (not that he’d checked security footage). Maybe they weren’t together any more - a lot can happen in two years, Bucky mused. Maybe Bruce had moved on - he was always gushing about that intimidating and frequently drunk Valkyrie woman. Or maybe, Bucky hoped against hope, Darcy had. The question was keeping him up at night, and since Darcy was too busy to be bothered with his insecurities he sought out the famous Dr Bruce Banner.

Bucky found him a few days later, after another postponed coffee date, in one of the facilities labs, looking over some holographic schematics.

“Sergeant Barnes, it’s nice to see you again. What can I do for you?” Bruce greeted with a smile.

“I’m not interrupting?” he asked, gesturing at the complicated calculations.

“Not at all. It’s just a project Tony wants a second opinion on. It’s his way of saying “I missed you too,” he jested.

Bucky bit the bullet. “It’s about Darcy.”

“What about her?”

“I just… I feel like a real shitheel asking, but I gotta know; are you and Darcy together?”

“Together like…”

“Dating. Are you dating?”

Bruce’s eyes almost bugged out of his skull. “Did Tony put you up to this?”

“Stark and I aren’t exactly on speaking terms,” Bucky admitted.

“And Darcy never mentioned me? She said you two had been hanging out a lot before she got sidetracked with all the Asgardian refugee drama.”

“She mentioned you plenty. She just never mentioned that two of you were an item.”

“And she also never mentioned that I’m her father, I take it,” Bruce replied with a smirk.

“...What?”

“I’m her biological father. I am not dating her,” Bruce reiterated. “But I take it you want to?” he teased.

“Uh… yes?” he winced after his brain came back online after processing this new information. “Did you not want me to? I would understand,” he murmured, gesturing vaguely at his shiny new arm as though his bloody history was written on the metal plates.

“I don’t get to have a say in the matter,” Bruce remarked, not unkindly, as he returned most of his attention back to the glowing calculations. “and I’m kind of the last guy who should be giving you grief over things you did when you weren’t in full control of yourself. Besides, you’ve probably known her longer than I have at this point.” He smiled sadly at Bucky’s confused expression. “The first time I met Darcy was when she and Jane moved into Tony’s tower. She told me I was her biological father about two weeks later. Before that moment, I hadn’t even known I had a daughter. We had maybe three months of getting to know each other, eating takeout in my lab once a week, and then Ultron happened. I quite literally disappeared off the face of the earth. I come back, and she’s all grown up and practically running the world,” he laughed. “She’s also crushing pretty hard on a certain supersoldier, in case you were wondering.”

“Yeah, well, Steve is pretty cute I guess,” Bucky mused, ducking his head to hide the blush in his cheeks behind his hair.

Bruce smiled. “Ask her out, Sergeant.”

Bucky delivered a Mocha Frappuccino to Darcy’s office that night and asked her to have dinner with him whenever she found the time. She blushed something fierce as she said yes, and Bucky committed the image to memory.

A month later they were officially a couple, but with Darcy’s crazy workload and his looming trial they were taking things slow. He’d only kissed her goodnight a couple of times but he’d stopped resisting the urge he had to wrap Darcy up in his arms the second she was off the clock.

He was indulging in said urge the night of the Asgardian farewell party - the Norwegian deal had gone through pretty quickly all things considered, and Thor and the last of the Asgardians were heading out to New Asgard in the morning - when Tony Stark made his trademarked grand entrance. He had barely taken two steps out of his latest Iron Man suit when he pointed a finger in their direction.

“What’s the murderbot doing with his murderarm around my niece?”

“I’m not your niece, Tony,” Darcy called over everyone else's scolding.

“What are you talking about? Bruce is your bio dad, I’m his science bro; you’re totally my science niece.”

Darcy giggled. “That’s not a thing, Tony. And to answer your totally offensive question; we’re dating.”

“No, I forbid it.”

“You don’t get to have an opinion.”

“Of course I do. Everyone loves hearing my opinions.”

“We really don’t,” Bucky heard Steve mutter into his beer.

“I don’t want to hear them, Tony. I’m a big girl and I make my own choices.”

“You make terrible choices,” Tony mumbled petulantly.

“I tell Pepper the same thing all the time,” she teased.

“How dare you!” Tony gasped, feigning offence. “Do I at least get to give the Russian menace the shovel talk?”

“No, no shovel talks. I don’t want you scaring him off.”

“If the Hulk didn’t scare me off, doll, nothing will.”

“Awww.”

“That’s not the way I remember it,” Bruce chimed in.

“Shut up,” Bucky retorted over Bruce’s chuckles. “Besides, I already got the shovel talk from Valkyrie. She takes her role as angry-mom very seriously.”

“Who’s Valkyrie? Wait, did you say mom?!” Tony squawked, turning to demand answers from Bruce.

“Hulk like angry girl,” Thor teased.

“Where is she? Is she here? I have to meet her.”

“Tony! Tony, stop. She went to New Asgard two days ago. No! Step away from the suit!”

As everyone one laughed at Bruce trying to keep Tony away from his suit Darcy leant in close, sending a shiver down Bucky’s spine as she whispered in his ear.

“How about I say goodbye to Thor and you walk me back to my room, Sergeant?”

Bucky smiled. “Whatever you want, doll.”

#a banner reunion #darcy lewis is bruce banner's daughter #not that bucky knows that #wintershock #darcy lewis/bucky barnes #darcy lewis #bucky barnes #bruce banner #thor #steve rogers #tony stark

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carabas · 4 years

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So I’ve just finished reading the Dragon Age Tevinter Nights anthology, and short reaction: enjoyably hit and miss right up until that final extremely thorough direct hit, thank you Patrick Weekes.

Much, much longer version:

1. I don’t know how reasonable it is to try to extrapolate about what’s going to be in the next game based on a random short story collection, but hey, the novels that came out before DAI were about the mage rebellion, the Orlesian civil war, and eluvians, so.

So things I’m now expecting to see in the next game, aside from the Tevinter-Qunari conflict and Solas of course: Nevarran necromancy, Antivan Crows, Wardens who are struggling with decimated numbers after DAO and DAI (would be the perfect time for Razikale and Lusacan to both wake up at once really), and the Lords of Fortune, a never-before-mentioned Rivaini treasure hunting organization which appeared in I think three different stories here.

Plus a few stories were very much signalling This Specific New Character Will Be Showing Up Again, whether in the games or elsewhere; I'll be shocked if Lucanis the “Demon,” reluctant heir apparent of the Antivan Crows who just got into a cliffhanger conflict with a Tevinter magister, doesn’t have more to do.

2. THERE IS A MAP, there is a great big fantasy map surrounded by nifty little illustrative details to poke at.

There’s a label reading “White Spire,” not in Val Royeaux, but on a mountain beyond the Arlathan Forest. Is that an error or is there really a White Spire mountain? If not an error, has it always been named that or is that new, possibly a new center for the mages after the war, after the original Spire fell? At no point is either Spire mentioned in this book aside from this map.

Lots of astrological sun and moon patterns prominently featured around the edges. Is that one moon chart depicting moon phases or an eclipse? Is it too conspiracy theory of me to be counting the nine dark moons (or spheres? like in that DA4 idol illustration’s seven slots?) on the dragon’s wing? Probably. Or are those spheres a reference to the second moon that never seems to actually be visible, is that missing moon actually deliberate.

Most of the astrological charts are fairly straightforwardly showing sun/moon phases but what is the crowned figure in the one on the lower right meant to represent? The Maker? What’s going on with the horizontal lines passing through it/behind it? The two moons beneath it - is that an illustration of the moon in two phases or being separated into two (metaphorical moon in that case, presumably), do those horizontal lines also indicate separation, do I need to move on from the astrological depictions here, definitely.

Love the big horseshoe crab sea monster.

3. Patrick Weekes’s first story in the collection: halla shapeshifting! An elf named Strife who I fully expected to be revealed as an agent of Fen’harel mimicking ancient elven names like Sorrow and Pride, though I was wrong - would it be charming or just annoyingly unsubtle if that became a thing among his agents. An ancient forest guardian with lyrium blades who hunts magic in a way that struck me an awful lot like a forest-themed equivalent of a golem, though I may be wildly off base with that one.

4. Nevarran necromancy story. An odd bit of the chant to highlight for a funeral: “And the Maker, clad in the majesty of the sky, set foot to earth, and at His touch all warring ceased.” I continue to squint suspiciously at overlaps between Maker and elven god imagery. Also, evidently mortalitasi believe that when someone dies, an inhuman spirit is pushed out from the Fade into the physical world, and that’s part of the reason behind their housing spirits in bodies - neat! The existence of Curiosity spirits, also neat!

5. Is Ghilan’nain’s horrible body horror place supposed to be spelled Hormak like in the title and previous canon references, or Hormok like throughout the text here? I know this was just a mistake but maybe I’ll use this to say that in-world there’s multiple ways of transliterating Dwarven.

6. Lukas Kristjanson story #1, the one featuring approximately a million minor Inquisition character cameos and a meditation on Solas’s regrets, introduces a character with the phrase “free mage by special commendation,” and I was briefly thrown by that little signal that we are Not In My Worldstate, that the mages aren’t all free by default - except then the story went on to destroy Solas’s fresco so I wound up quite grateful for that little heads up that this isn’t my worldstate actually.

(Unfortunately I can’t get into this guy’s writing style at all, which is a shame because it’s one of the big Solas stories in the book.)

7. There’s a little plot point in the Wigmaker Job story that demonstrates those elven artifacts Solas had us activate all over Thedas do indeed strengthen the Veil - like, he wasn’t lying to us about what those orbs do, that is how they work, here we see a Crow stab one in order to deactivate it, weaken the Veil and unleash a horde of vengeful demons. Nice confirmation.

8. Genitivi is the Randy Dowager. (Possibly. At least, Philliam wrote a scene in which Genitivi alludes to being the Randy Dowager. I do appreciate an unreliable narrator but after a certain point it does make the lore hard to keep straight.)

9. By the time we got to the story about adventurers stealing an incredibly powerful healing amulet just to donate it to a mysterious contact at a makeshift hospital trying to help people where the Qunari-Tevinter war has spilled over, I knew better than to expect any cameos from DAO/DA2 characters. And with the mention of the squire, I was pretty sure the mysterious contact was going to be Vaea, and it was. Still. Anders would approve. And for a moment I was fantasizing that it would turn out to be him, or connected to him. A new mental setting for him and Hawke post-mage-freedom - makeshift hospitals at the edge of the invasion, secretly sponsored by a certain pair of absurdly overpowered, dungeon-crawling, treasure-hunting fugitives.

Yes, my Dragon Age interpreting is still all about Anders even when he’s not remotely present.

10. You know, I really expected the leaders of the Crows to be a bit more ruthlessly competent than this. Someone is setting up a grand demonstration, recreating infamous historical assassinations carried out by the Crows but now with the leaders of the Crows themselves as the victims, incredibly flashy, incredibly clearly sending a message, and yet not one of the characters trying to figure out whodunit is speculating about the meaning behind that message??? the motive in going to all that trouble??? it’s all, hm, perhaps it’s the qunari invaders. hm, this one was posed with a pearl necklace just like the one in the historical murder it’s recreating, i bet the culprit owns a pearl-fishing business! I know they’re assassins not detectives but at least show the professional courtesy of paying attention to the message in the show your fellow assassin is putting on for you, geez.

Anyway. Interesting Crow details: they talked about neutral ground and territories divided between the Crow households here, does that just apply to Antiva or like, does Arainai have claim to all jobs in Ferelden?

And the line “Teia's back was bare except for a tattoo marking her as a member of House Cantori” puts Zevran’s tattoos in a slightly different light for me - he’s mentioned that some symbols are sacred to the Crows, and logically it follows that having that symbol tattooed on him would indeed mark him as a Crow to other people in the know, but that his tattoos mark him as belonging to House Arainai is a thing that did not hit me from that.

11. An agent of Fen’harel muttering “Felassan” to activate a rune. In memoriam? Charming. I mean it’s a rune that’s intended to kill an entire city, so possibly the more literal slow arrow is meant, but I’m still charmed.

12. PATRICK WEEKES CLOSING OUT THE BOOK BY JUST DUMPING THE CONTINUING DREAD WOLF HUNT PLOT ON US.

So much.

An actual giant wolf in the Fade, I’m so happy for tumblr user corseque.

A character again raising the possibility that Solas is not an ancient elf but rather a young elf who stumbled onto old magic, a theory I thought debunked by Trespasser but here we are considering it again.

A minor side note that a lot of Kirkwall’s templars went rogue after the explosion - that’s not relevant to the post-DAI plot really, I’m just noting it for my generally-DA2-focused fanfic purposes.

The possibility that somniari (presumably) can kill even dwarves who don’t dream in their sleep. Somniari in general or did Solas personally step in here?

A ritual involving the red lyrium idol resulting in the phrase “As if we were the blood and the cavern the body through which it flowed” right before the POV character enters the Fade, which is a rather Titan-esque turn of phrase.

The Dread Wolf again asserting that all creation is in danger and he’s trying to fix that. A biased POV character recognizing that, huh, funny how those spirits around the Dread Wolf which surely must be demons actually look an awful lot like Justice and Valor.

And Charter’s notes at the end, so direct, not only spelling out the new details on the idol for us (that the figure represents a crowned figure comforting another) but thoroughly hitting us over the head with Solas’s essential characterization in his own words, as if Weekes is still trying to clear up any possible lingering misinterpretations there. (Prideful, hotheaded, foolish. Doing what he must. Sympathetic to elves. Said that he was sorry.)

And the quiet simplicity of Solas coming to this meeting of spies in person because, pause, “...the Inquisition was involved,” written in such a way that you could read all sorts of things into that pause, whatever the Inquisition and the Inquisitor might mean to him.

The book would have been worth reading for this last story alone, what a note to end on.

#dragon age #tevinter nights #inquisition #da4 speculation #this is a deeply inquisition- and post-inquisition focused book #lots of neat continuing plot stuff and cameos from DAI or comics characters #no updates on your favorite DAO/DA2 companions

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