Come Play Your Cards
New snippet & moodboard! This follows and embraces the plot that I shared in a previous post, What Comes With The Job, that along with this one are the start points of the actor!Bucky AU I’m working on. Thanks again to @andrea1717 for her support on this story 💗
Non-powers AU, MCU based. Characters: Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers, Sharon Carter & Ayo. Includling: the backstory of Bucky’s career and a bit of angst. Gen rating, 341 words (under the cut).
Moodboard created for: @allcapsbingo G2 — AU: Theatre + the @buckybarnesevents’ Connect 4: June-iverse event prompt C3 — Dance/Theatre || Snippet created for: @buckybarnesbingo B4 — Dares/bets.
Bucky’s always known that there are bets around his person. Starting in high school, when people started joking around about how long the school's jock would last in the drama club. To be fair, he only signed up because of Steve. And it was him whom Bucky graduated, one day after getting the local theatre’s sold out on the opening night of their final play as coordinators of the club. Steve planned to stay around and keep on with the club even after the summer; and even if Bucky wanted to do that as well, it wasn’t what his heart told him was his fate.
Bets came back with the rumours, when Bucky’s hometown became small for him and he left for the big city, chasing his dream of becoming a star and leaving behind his best friend and a dream they once shared. He became a start, of unknown size, and with it came along bets on how long the show that he needed two years to find a role in was going to last on TV, and how long his ‘luck strike’ in the industry would be, with barely contacts other than his agent Ayo, for whom Bucky is grateful every day.
It’s because of his wonderful agent that he realised he needed a break after four years of non-stop work for the screen, that he needed a change and got to accept that the show could keep on without him.
Sure, going back to do theatre as she suggested isn’t in his plans, but doing it at his hometown, and in the theatre that Steve now owns, is scary as hell. Basically because he never got to talk to his old best friend and explain the reason behind his unexpected departure, and now Bucky’s supposed to work with him for the next five months.
He doesn’t know how Ayo got the deal, and if it is going to play well or not. But maybe it is what he needs to do now; what he needs to find out.
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Wherein as a high caliber Sensor, Tobirama developed the ability to pinpoint out people who became psychopathic when it comes to their romantic partner/prospect.
Tobirama had first realized that something had been added to his Sensing ability.
And it all started with his Mother. Back then when all is well and good, he recalled he was only five years old when he felt the first time the spine tingling terror that shot through him when his Mother blankly stared at a civilian woman who dared to be friendly with his Father.
Mother and Father had fit to travel with him and Anija to the Capital to be introduced to the Daimyo. At the end of the week of their stay, Tobirama had vaguely recalled that the noble woman who giggles whenever Father was near her was found dead in her room. As a child it didn't really register to him that something was amiss when it happened because he was busy playing with Anija and training at that time.
But now that Tobirama is an Adult. He can now confirmed with utmost confidence that his Sensing includes knowing who becomes a Psychopath when it comes to their romantic partner.
Tobirama grimaces internally. He was loath to admit it, but his Mother is his first hard evidence of people with such extreme tendencies. He glances down at his scribbled notes with hidden codes sparsely written so no one would know of his rather personal investigation.....
Tobirama frowns deeply. Anija had been jotted down in his notes too..because he had also started to display his psychopathic tendencies. He hates to admit that he felt stupid and that it took so long for him to notice Anija's blank eyed stares when someone talks to Mito–neesan.
He shuddered in fright.
He doesn't dare to tell Mito-neesan about his speculation. Anija would probably bury him alive without killing him if he tried to warn Mito-neesan....
Tobirama bit his lips. He warily eyed the next names written underneath Anija's. Madara and Izuna had surprised him about their psychopathic tendencies. He doesn't know who are their prospects but Tobirama found himself under threatening looks whenever the Uchiha Brothers are near him. He had checked again and again with the people he had interacted with but so far as he found out... none of them had been the lover of the Uchiha Brothers...
So why is he getting hounded, furiously glared at and feeling like he's about to be killed whenever the Brothers circled around him?...
Tobirama rubbed his aching temples. Should he just hide for a month in his lab then?. So that whatever offensive thing he did would make The Uchiha Brothers forget if they can't see him?...
A single eerie knock on his lab door made Tobirama sit up in fright. His eyes nervously darted at his sealed door.
He cleared his throat and shook his head to get rid of his rattled nerves. " Who is it?. "
" Tobirama. Why are you hiding in your lab?. "
Tobirama felt the spine chilling fear shooting down his spine at hearing Izuna’s ominous question. He just knew, that it'll be an enormous mistake if he were to open his lab door.
" Uchiha. It has only been a day since I took an absence. I do not know what you need me for but just recruit Anija to help you or something. " Tobirama grimaced at his impatient tone. He didn't mean to sound dismissive but he really, really didn't want to talk to Izuna this day....preferably for a month even.
" Won't you invite us in then, Tobirama?. " Tobirama quickly stood up from his seat as he heard Madara’s voice behind the door. What in the world?...he was so sure, Izuna was the only person that was standing in front of his lab door. So where did the Elder Uchiha had come from?.
Tobirama with a dry throat swallowed nervously. " No Uchiha. I don't want the two of you entering my lab. Who knows what the two of you would accidentally destroy if you bumble around here. " he sneered in anger.
Ominous silence greeted his hateful answer.
Tobirama warily eyed his lab door. He cannot sense Madara and Izuna’s chakra behind it perhaps the Brothers had given up in pestering him?.
He decided to sit for a minute to rest his trembling legs but before he could do so...the spike of combine furious Chakra lashing out at his sensitivite Sensing made him stumble on his feet and he crashes onto the ground with a hard thump. He felt dizzy and in pain as he accidentally bashed his head on his lab table when he crashed down.
He clutches his head as he wheezes painfully. The oppressive Chakra felt like it was burning him alive....
He tried to stand up, but his shaking limbs won't support him. He only had a second to realize that his doorknob had slowly rotated and an ominous click of it signified that it had been unlocked.
Tobirama stared terrified at the sandal clad feet that step over his lab barrier without any difficulty.
He slowly looked up at the Brother's furiously blazing Sharingan.
" That's not nice of you, Tobirama. " he tried to crawl away when the Elder Uchiha crouch down in front of him. But the suffocating grip on his neck made him freeze in his tracks.
" Guess its really time for him to be trained then?. What say you Aniki?. " Tobirama was instantly confused at that remark. What in the world was Izuna talking about?. What training?.
" For such a genius man. You are rather oblivious to our romantic intentions, Tobirama. " The blank eyed looks of both Uchiha Brothers made Tobirama gobsmacked that he forgot to even fight his way out of his impending doom.
With his aching head and spinning thoughts it took a second too late for him to avoid two sets of Sharingan that bulldozed its influence inside his mind like a roaring Tsunami crashing and devouring everything in its path.
And then.... Tobirama knew nothing anymore...
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SOTM: Georgie, Holden; good talk
For the prompt: Georgie clocking Holden’s queer
Writing Georgie’s been slow going of late and I just realised that might be because I wrote 1700 words of him right here, whoops.
Massive spoilers for the latest part of cards on the table.
Georgie tends to pick up on it pretty quick, the teammates he has that aren’t straight. It’s not really a gaydar — he dislikes the term, and anyway, it’s a misnomer, but he can’t think of a term to replace it. Nothing quite fits, explains what it is he picks up on, and he doesn’t think it’s any one trait he’s noticing, that there’s one thing in particular that makes the difference.
Some of it’s probably body language, some of it’s noticing where people’s gazes rest, some of it’s what someone says or doesn’t say, some of it he can’t describe in any other way than ‘gut feeling’, doesn’t know how he knows.
He told David, back in the day, that he noticed when people were attracted to him, and that’s true, but it’s not a necessity — he’s pegged guys who’ve been entirely disinterested in him. Not Chaps, or, hell, Lourdey either, but there have been a couple, and even then he’s picking up something.
Some of it feels like it’s coming from him, almost, like subconsciously, his brain figuring out who’s safe, safe to know, safe to tell, though of course he’s had straight teammates who were safe, queer teammates he didn’t say a thing to, for some reason or another. He’s pretty sure James is something, but they haven’t exchanged a word about it, meanwhile Finn knows all about Georgie, at least the greatest hits and the lowest lows.
He doesn’t listen to his gut like it’s gospel or anything. Gut feelings are more a sign on when to pay attention than anything else, and they’ve been right so far, but that doesn’t mean they’ll always be. It’s easy to make assumptions, especially now that Georgie’s more than a decade older than the rookies, practically came up in a different league.
The younger guys grew up with Riley and Lapointe already out, gay relationships on the TV shows they were watching, listened to openly gay musicians, had classmates who were out and proud and unafraid that being out and proud would lead to getting the shit kicked out of them by the jocks, who may have even been the jocks —
It wasn’t the world Georgie grew up in. Holden either, he’s pretty sure — he’s a few years younger than Georgie, and those years are big ones, mean Holden was barely in high school when Riley got outed, but Georgie thinks Holden’s got a bit more in common with him than he does with the kids.
And again, he could be wrong. Some guys are just open, friendly, touchy, and it comes off different than they mean it to. And Georgie’s pretty sure a few people he fucked around with back in high school would describe themselves as straight, nowadays, and they wouldn’t be lying either, not even to themselves.
Holden reminds him of those guys, at first, but not for long. There’s a certain hesitation before he answers a question with, ‘My girlfriend says…’ that makes Georgie think that he doesn’t actually have one, and if he does, she deserves better. The way he holds himself. Not quite careful, Georgie doesn’t think he’d use that word, but very aware of how he is holding himself. If he sprawls, he meant to. If he’s annoying you, he’s trying to.
The only thing Georgie doesn’t think is on purpose is the way his knee bounces during the pregame speeches, lineup readings, any point he has to sit still for a minute, staccato impatience. It’s something Robbie would do when he was particularly wound up. If it’s the same with Holden, he’s wound up all the time.
Bits and pieces make it past, though, enough to form a picture.
He doesn’t engage at all with a homophobic joke, not before Georgie shuts that shit down. He gets a pass, boring married guy with kid, doesn’t get the ‘what, ring a little close?’ that James might if he does it, Finn, so Georgie never waits, lets the job fall to him so neither of them have to deal with the bullshit.
He tenses when Bryce Marcus’ name comes up, the same way Georgie felt himself tensing every time he heard Riley or Lapointe’s at the beginning, hoping it wasn’t going to be followed up on, that he wasn’t about to be asked something, end up betraying himself.
And tonight, at the bar after a shootout win against the Red Wings, Georgie’s been half on his phone, half idly watching the Caps in San Jose, the sliver that remains aware of Holden chatting with a guy at the bar, body language just off from friendly, landing on something else.
The guy leaves, and Georgie pays a bit more attention, enough to see Holden cut out five minutes later, after looking around like he’s trying to make sure no one’s paying attention, furtive look on his face, in a way Georgie recognizes. Dipping out for a hook up is something you loudly brag about doing unless there’s a reason you don’t want the others to know, and Holden says he’s got a girlfriend, sure, but that’s not the cheater’s slink. Georgie knows what it looks like. Holden looks furtive, maybe, but he doesn’t look ashamed, or even like someone who should be.
Who knows, maybe he’s left for other reasons, left because the guy has a hook up, off scoring something else, but Georgie doesn’t think so. He’s not usually wrong, not about this kind of thing. Maybe that’s what all this is. Just a simple matter of ‘takes one to know one’. That all these times he’s just been seeing reflections of his own face.
There was a lot of that shit in Cleveland, but Georgie didn’t touch it. That might be the only thing he’s proud of about his time there. Possibly the only reason his career didn’t end there. Georgie’s known plenty of guys who’ve washed out early, and some of them it’s because they couldn’t find that last gear, make the final jump, but more than a few of them got the money, the freedom, the brush with fame, and they let it get to their heads. In their heads. Some of them figured shit out. Most didn’t.
The only reason Georgie’s still in the show is that he was talented enough that even at rock bottom, it wasn’t a question of whether he was in the roster, just where. He was a disappointment, ‘waste of a first round pick’, but even then, he was an NHL player. If he hadn’t been, he doesn’t know what would have happened. Better not to think about it, probably.
Georgie’s heading to the bathroom when he runs into Ryan coming out.
“You seen Chaser?” Ryan asks. “Can’t find him anywhere.”
“Saw him by the bar about twenty minutes ago,” Georgie says, which is technically true, and sometimes a technical truth is all you need.
“If you see him let me know?” Ryan asks. “Guy bet me I couldn’t pull that move off in a real shootout, so now he owes me a drink or three.”
“Will do,” Georgie says, “But he may have slunk out to avoid paying up.”
Ryan snorts. “Wouldn’t put it past him,” he says.
He keeps asking after Holden all night, even though Georgie buys him a drink for the spin-o-rama move, and he’s pretty sure James does too — if it hadn’t worked James probably would be giving him the silent treatment for trying that shit in a real game, but he gives credit where credit’s due — and Georgie hopes he doesn’t keep on it after tonight.
Georgie’s grabbing a last call snack at the hotel bar — he has a love-hate relationship with the fries at this particular hotel, the hate part being that he can’t leave Detroit without eating them at least twice — when Holden walks into the hotel lobby.
“Chaser, c’mere,” Georgie says, and the way Holden’s feet get rooted, face going through a whole journey, before he visibly steels himself — that would have done it right there, even if Georgie hadn’t already known. The forced casualness in his gait as he walks over? Georgie recognizes that too.
“Up late, old man,” Chaser says, sitting down in the stool beside him.
“Fries?” Georgie asks, and Holden sits down, taking a couple, orders a beer just under the wire of the actual last call.
“Beanie says you owe him a drink or three,” Georgie says. “Was looking all over for you, wouldn’t let it go.”
“Shit, I forgot about that,” Holden says. “Who knew he had the balls, huh?”
“I told him you’d probably slunk out early to avoid paying,” Georgie says, and Holden looks hilariously offended for a moment, before Georgie keeps talking. “Guy was cute.”
Holden’s so still he’s practically vibrating. Which should be an oxymoron, but it isn’t, at least not right now.
“I didn’t mention it,” Georgie says. “I wouldn’t.”
“Okay,” Holden says.
“I had a boyfriend in college,” Georgie says, looking down at his fries, cold now, picked over. “It was pretty serious.”
“Then you hit the show,” Holden says, assumes, like it’s simple, and it isn’t, but maybe it isn’t that complicated either, or at least not as complicated as it’s always felt. Well, since Georgie made it complicated. Before that, he doesn’t think there’d ever been anything easier.
“Like I said, I’m not saying anything to anyone,” Georgie says, “but if you want to say anything to me, I’m here.”
“Okay,” Holden says, but he’s quiet. This is the quietest Georgie’s ever seen him, actually. He sips his beer, quick, like he lay a trap for himself by ordering it and now he’s trying to get himself out of it, and he doesn’t say a thing.
Georgie’s already paid his bill, and he figures he can put the poor guy out of his misery. “I’m going to head to bed,” he says. “Be safe, hey?”
Holden snorts. “Sure.”
“Better for you than pulling Cap’s pigtails anyway,” Georgie says, and by Holden’s splutter as he walks away, he worries he landed a little too close to the mark for anyone’s good.
Another thing he’ll have to keep an eye out for, then. Nobody tells you this shit when they offer you the A, but thinking back to Washington, he’s pretty sure team leadership knew more about what was going on than Georgie’s comfortable with to this day. So maybe he should have figured.
Georgie says a silent apology to the last of his fries, abandoned at the bottom of his basket. They’re good fucking fries — he hopes Holden doesn’t let them go to waste, but somehow he doubts he has much of an appetite right now.
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