where angels fear to tread
Author: gfawkes [Twitter]
Artist: Sanne @sanguineterrain [AO3]for the @shrunkyclunksbang
Fic Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationship: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers
Characters: James “Bucky” Barnes, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov, Sam Wilson, Tony Stark
Word Count: 54K
Main Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Shrunkyclunks Big Bang 2022, Captain America Steve Rogers/Modern Bucky Barnes, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Top Bucky Barnes, Bottom Steve Rogers, Explicit Sexual Content, Injury Recovery, Physical Therapy, Philosophy, Eugenics, Ethics, Kidfic, Happy Ending
Excerpt:
Bucky gestured to the empty street with outstretched arms. The soft skin on the inside of his bicep ignited a powerful emotion inside Steve. "Out here in public? In this role, carrying that shield? You're so hard on yourself, trying to be something else. Trying to fit into a certain mold."
Bucky's hand touched Steve's cheek, thumb stroking the rough beard that had grown. Touch he hadn't felt in so long.
"But when you're with me, you're just you. Steve Rogers. Full of joy and empathy, free to do and say and feel normal human emotions. If you can't see that for yourself, why were you given a second chance at life?"
A second chance. The serum had pulled him back from the dead, preserving him for the future. For this moment.
Summary: below the cut
Ethics Professor!Bucky is barely holding it together, taking over an equine-assisted rehabilitation facility after his partner died, while working on a second doctorate. Cap!Steve, suffering from PTSD and flashbacks, is considering retirement, especially after the latest mission that left him temporarily paralyzed with a spinal injury. It doesn’t take long for the two men, affection starved and hurting, to find love in spite of both harboring a huge secret.
READ THE ENTIRE WORK ON AO3!
Major kudos to the mods for a really well organized event. This bang was a ton of fun, and I’ll definitely be participating in the next one! ❤️
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Hold your tongue - Wolviecat - Captain America (Movies) [Archive of Our Own]
3 den Febuwhump, téma Muzzled.
Naplánovala jsem si původně takovou vtipnou, odlehčenou věc - no, nějak se to zvrhlo.
The house smelled of old blood and long dead things.
More than anything, Steve wished to have someone watching his back. But this was not an official Avengers mission, or even a S.H.I.E.L.D. one, and while Sam had offered to go with him, he didn't want to put him in a needless danger. After all, it was his problem. His unfinished business from all the way back to the winter of 1945.
In the last couple of months, he’d learned that against all odds, Bucky was still alive. He had survived the fall, been kept prisoner - first by the Soviets, then by HYDRA - and turned into a weapon against his will. And that was just what he’d learned. Steve couldn’t keep a sour taste of bile from climbing to the back of his throat. All of this could be avoided if he just hadn't given up so soon.
Something creaked behind the door, like heavy steps on an old wooden floor, and Steve freezed on the spot for a second. This still could be a red herring, or even a trap from HYDRA or someone else. And even if Bucky was really here, waiting just behind that thin wall, there was no way of knowing who exactly he was at the moment. The last time he’d seen him, he was more a robot than a man, a puppet to the HYDRA. He’d managed to break free, to escape, but it doesn’t mean that he was back to his old self.
Steve remembered the way he’d looked at him that night, the cold eyes above the black muzzle of his mask. He could only hope that Bucky will, if not remember him, then at least recognise that he’s trying to help him.
He took a deep breath, grabbed the door handle, and pushed. The door jammed a little at the uneven floor, but they opened.
The room, lit only by a half-blind cracked window, seemed empty at the first glance. But something scuttled in the shadow, the way animals do when they try to hide from you. Steve could hear it breathing, heavy, gasping, filtered through something. Not it. Human.
“Bucky?” he asked, hopefully, but something in him prayed at the same time that he’s mistaken. White gleamed in the dark - eyes wide opened in the darkness. The breathing hitched, stopped for a second. Whoever they were, they were scared, but waiting, hiding, not attacking.
Was it a good sign?
“Bucky,” he repeated, moving a little closer. As his eyes got used to the dim light, more detail came out. Thin, hunched frame - much thinner than Steve remembered from Washington - leaning to one side where the metal arm hung motionless by his side. It had to get damaged during his time on the run. Lank, matted hair framing his face, and pale dirty skin. Steve could only see the upper half of it - his nose and mouth was still covered by that muzzle that seemed to bite into his skin, leaving behind bruises and ugly, weeping wounds. He took a step closer, and Bucky flinched away, until his back was at the wall, and still, he tried to shrink even deeper.
“It’s me, Steve,” he whispered: “remember?” Carefully, he reached out, until he could touch Bucky’s face. He felt him tremble under his fingers.
“Please, remember.” He slid his fingers higher. He remembered that the mask could be unclasped somewhere, and he wanted it off Bucky’s face as soon as possible.
Bucks whined, a thin, hurt sound.
Steve’s fingers searched further, into Bucky’s hair. Something heavy settled in his stomach, but he desperately pushed back the thought that occupied his mind. Until he couldn’t anymore. Until he pulled Bucky into the relative light in the center of the room.
He had to clasp his hand over his mouth to keep nausea from overcoming him.
The straps of the mask were gone, and the plastic seemed to cut under the surface of the skin, sutures digging into the swollen skin at its edges.
He was starting to remember, and HYDRA was afraid of what he could tell. Or maybe it was just a punishment from letting Steve get away.
The moment he lost his muzzle, he was, for just a second, human again, and they could never let it happen again.
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