#idk I just thought the shots of them kneeling in front of this statue were neat

[vfdcatlady]

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, ep 1x5

[firekyoshi]

i can't believe yall havent thought of a sambucky the handmaiden au LIKE GUYS LOOK AT THE POTENTIAL

okay if u haven't seen the handmaiden (2016) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE CHECK IT OUT OMG ITS ONE OF MY FAV MOVIES AND AS A BISEXUAL WOMAN ITS ONE OF MY FAVORITE MOVIES FEATURING SAPPHIC CHARACTERS

anyways here's a very self-indulgent sambucky the handmaiden! au that i wrote at midnight literally 7 hours before my exam

tw // mentions of suicide

- sam is sook-hee and bucky is hideko obvs

- sam is a criminal working for the power broker aka sharon while bucky or in this case, the winter soldier, was a test experiment for HYDRA / is now an assassin + bodyguard for their leader, alexander pierce

- sharon is conducting business w hydra to obtain some weapons and idk black market stuff which forces her to go to siberia, but obviously the ultimate weapon she wants to take home is the infamous winter soldier

- she asks sam to pretend to be her butler/bodyguard but is actually hiring him to get information on the winter soldier program and obtain the code words needed to control them

- they end up staying in pierce's mansion in like a really remote place in siberia

- sam gets acquainted w the other butlers and housekeepers, they tell him that the area is haunted because they would always hear a man screaming just before daybreak followed by complete silence. they also tell him that the forest is haunted by the spirit of a man who killed himself there

- just like the housekeepers said, sam wakes around 3-4 in the morning to the sound of a man screaming followed by complete silence

- anyways the next morning he accompanies sharon to her first meeting w hydra officials, and that's where he encounters bucky

- after the meeting, sharon is all like, "change of plans. we're going to steal the winter soldier." sam's like "and who's that?", "the person u were standing next to earlier,"

- afterwards, sam starts to spy on bucky. he doesn't talk much, sam notices, actually scratch that this man does not talk period

- they were standing by the door a few feet away from where their bosses were talking. "so uh, what do i call you?" sam asks one day, but bucky is like a statue, his response being a mere blink

- sharon and pierce always have their business meetings in the morning, but they also have spend time at night, usually supper or dinner, that's more casual. sam notices that pierce's bodyguard is less stiff and more human during the later hours of the day

- sam and bucky are again standing by the door. "what do i call you?" bucky asks quietly, almost like a whisper. "uh sam, you can call me sam. and you?"

- he freezes for a while before replying, "james barnes"

- another thing that sam notices is that bucky is NEVER alone. either he's with pierce or he's escorted by other bodyguards (who look like they couldn't even take him down altogether)

- one morning, after the usual distant screams, sam decides to figure out where the screams were actually coming from. he goes to the main house, pretending to bring tea for sharon (there's a small camera hidden in the tray)

- he sees the usual group of bodyguards escorting a half-naked and disheveled bucky from the stairs to the basement. when they see him, the group looks like a pack of deers in headlights, one of them reaches for their gun, "i'm bringing tea for ms. carter," he quickly says.

- "go ahead," the leader, rumlow, says, "but next time use the main hallway will you?"

- "right, she just said it was faster this way, and she's really peculiar about the temperature of her tea."

- he shows the video to sharon and she's like "i need u to find out wtf is going on in that basement."

- one night, sharon and pierce are having dinner tgt "since we're on the topic of legends and fairytales, i have to ask about something," sharon says,

- "go, on," pierce replies

- "the winter soldier program, does it really exist?"

- the hydra leader chuckles, "i was wondering when you would ask that," then points toward bucky, "my dear, you're looking at the winter soldier."

- sam listens in on the conversation. the winter soldier program was a program created by hydra in the 1940s with the first successful test subject being an american ww2 soldier named steve rogers. apparently he was given this serum that made him super strong and for 10 years, while the other test subjects were cryogenically frozen, hydra worked to find ways to control him but failed and they had to keep him restrained most of the time.

- one night, rogers broke out of the facility, stole all the remaining formulas, and threw them away before blowing his brains out in the nearby forest

- after rogers' suicide, hydra brought out its second test subject, bucky barnes, and used the remaining serum on him. afterwards hydra froze him again while they worked on something to keep his mind under control.

- around the 1960s they created the trigger words and since then they've been using bucky to do their dirty work for them. "this, my dear, is our greatest creation." pierce says as he approaches a stand displaying a red book. "his trigger words. say them and he will do anything you want. if you need some errands taken care of, i'd be happy to lend him to you. we can talk about the costs later."

- "i don't have anything i can't take care of myself at the moment, but i'll keep that offer in mind." sharon replies

- now sharon's like "okay we HAVE to steal him and the codes." she figured out that all of the mansion's surveillance turns off for an hour to reboot from 1 AM to 2, and tells sam to basically go to the basement and manipulate bucky when he's not under hydra's control. "make him trust you, that way we won't have much of a fuss taking him to madripoor."

- that night, after the clock strikes 1, sam sneaks into the basement and finds a cell with bucky inside. there's a bed, well, more like a mattress, but bucky's not sleeping on it. instead he's sitting in a corner, head against the wall, knees tucked in his chest, hyperventilating and,,,crying???

- "hey," sam whispers, "you okay?"

- the winter soldier stares at him with red rimmed eyes and a tear stricken face. "you're sam, you're her bodyguard."

- "yeah and you're the winter soldier, or do you prefer james?"

- "bucky. it's bucky"

- yeah basically sam visits bucky's cell every night for exactly 45 minutes before he has to sneak back out. he tries to gain bucky's trust and manipulate him but guess what they fall in love surprise surprise

- bucky tells sam his true story. how he and steve used to be ww2 soldiers that were experimented on by hydra. he remembers being frozen and the first thing he sees when they woke him up was steve's dead body. "they told me he shot his head in the forest." the first thing he felt was pain as they injected the serum into his veins then tried to erase his memories. he remembers going into cryo and being woken up over and over again to kill someone or destroy something.

- he also tells sam about the one night he broke out, ran as fast as he could, and jumped off a cliff, only for him to survive. he lost an arm, but hydra replaced it with another weapon. "i thought i would end there, but i just became more of a weapon"

- so sam starts to feel unsure about stealing the winter soldier bc goddamnit bucky's a person and he doesnt deserve any of this.

- also the more time he spends with bucky the more he realises that the actual james bucky barnes is a fucking piece of shit that still uses 40s slang and petnames and makes outdated jokes and is actually a big fucking flirt.

- and sam's heart breaks every time he looks at bucky's crestfallen face when he realises that their 45 minutes are over

- of all the people he could fall in love with, it just had to be a brainwashed assassin

- sharon tells him that in a few days, she and pierce will leave for a week to actually get the business transaction done. basically she tells sam that he should break bucky out of the mansion while they're away, take the trigger word book, and meet with torres so he can take them both to madripoor.

- while sharon and pierce leave, sam continues visiting bucky during the night. also he doesn't see bucky during the day bc they have no reason to bring him out of the cell, and he kinda misses him aw

- one night, he wakes up to noise, lots of it. everyone in the house is running. in the midst of all the chaos, sam hears, "find the soldier!"

- the first place sam goes to is the forest, and there he finds bucky kneeling by a frozen lake, with a gun in his hands. sam tackles him and throws the gun away

- "what the fuck were you thinking huh?!" sam shouts, tightly holding the front of bucky's shirt, and he can't help but cry at the thought of bucky's dead body. and all of a sudden he feels like shit. for manipulating bucky and taking advantage of his trauma for his own gain. so he gathers bucky in his arms and tells him everything. about what he and sharon were actually planning, what his true motivations were when he first went inside the basement, and how he actually grew to care for bucky

- bucky just laughs and says, "i know,” he reveals that sharon's plan all along was to take bucky and the trigger words for herself, and frame sam as the mastermind behind everything. she'll then fake bucky’s death and offer sam as another test subject for the winter soldier program as compensation for stealing (and “killing”) bucky

- "how do you know all this?"

- "she visited me the first night you arrived and we talked. she told me she'll take me away and all i had to do was manipulate you into breaking me out." bucky confesses, "i didn't realise you were a sweetheart, that made everything so complicated."

- anyways sam knocks bucky unconscious and basically helps hydra guards put him back in his cell. "just saying, maybe we shouldn't tell pierce abt this yknow" and the hydra guards r like yeah no totally cause if he knew we're all fucked

- anyways bucky and sam come up with a plan to escape together. sam contacts a friend known as baron helmut zemo, who's basically sharon's biggest enemy, but more importantly, owes sam a big ass debt and asks him to give the two of them safe passage to sokovia

- they plan to escape two nights before sharon and pierce return to siberia. on that night, sam wakes up at exactly 1 AM like he always does, and kills everyone in the house. he puts a bullet in every hydra guard, every housekeeper, everyone. he disables all the techs in the house, steals the trigger word book and breaks bucky out of his cell.

- "wait. there's something i have to show you." bucky says. he takes sam to the facility. the place where they tortured him and experimented on him. the place where every other test subjects were kept frozen.

- (if you've watched the handmaiden, yes this is a reference to the library scene) sam can't contain the anger he feels when he looks at the room. "is this where they tortured you? is this where the screams come from every night?"

- bucky nods. he points at a chair in the centre of the room, surrounded by machines and computers. "every morning they would drag me out of my cell, put me on that chair, and-" he swallows a choked sob, "and read the trigger words,"

- sam can't control it anymore. he grabs a metal rod and starts destroying the place. he breaks every machine, tearing them apart until they are nothing more than wires and buttons. he kills all the frozen test subjects, because they deserve better than this. he rips apart the pages of the winter soldier's mission reports, and gathers them into a pile.

- from afar, bucky watches as sam lights up the pile and everything in front of him starts to burn. when sam turns to look at him, he can't help but think about how magnificent he looks as the fire roars behind him. his hero. his guardian angel. his sam.

- sam approaches bucky and pulls him in for a hungry kiss. something he feels he should've done earlier. "no one will ever control you again." he says, and for once its a promise that bucky believes in.

- sam reaches in his bag and pulls out the red book. bucky starts to cry bc no one, not even before hydra, had ever loved him like this. "i mean it. no one." sam says. bucky throws the book in the fire and watches and both paper and leather melt into ash

- the end they escape using zemo's private jet and live happily ever after haha

[nightglider124]

Hi. Fan here. I love your writings. Especially Love & War. Are you planning on doing a sequel? If not, can you do a one shot sequel of it? Like, Kori's first day on Earth or first mustard encounter? Idk. It's cool if you don't feel like to. Just want you to know you're awesome. :)

Nope, no sequel in mind. Sorry! But, I can definitely do a oneshot sequel for you, anon.

Thank you and here ya go!

Earth

Kori gasped as she stared out the window of the batplane. They had almost arrived back on Earth and the Princess was beyond excited to get out there and explore her lover’s world.

She felt him lace their fingers together and give her hand a squeeze. Kori turned her head towards him and beamed.

Dick chuckled, “Excited?”

She gave him a rapid nod, “Very! Oh! There are so many of the tall buildings and the ocean you told me of earlier seems to be an eternal stretch of liquid! Does it end?”

He smiled, “Uh… sorta. It meets with different countries and there are a whole bunch of different seas too.”

Kori focused on the window again, “Fascinating…”

As the landing for the cave came into view, Kori sat back, a little intimidated by the darkness that shrouded them as they flew inside.

She leaned into Dick, her eyes watching the shadows carefully.

He laughed, “Not a fan of the dark, huh?”

She shook her head, “It is just… what is this structure? We do not have them on Tamaran.”

“It’s a cave.”

“You live here?”

Dick smiled, “No, we live above ground, Kor. This is just underneath. It’s where Bruce works as Batman.”

Kori’s expression dawned with understanding, “Ohh, I see.”

“It’s also where Dick likes to sit and do nothing.” Bruce said from the front of the plane.

Kori giggled whilst Dick pulled a face, tightening an arm around his girl.

After the plane had stopped completely on the small landing strip of the batcave, Dick stood and got out first, offering Kori a helping hand afterwards.

She clambered down and flinched as her bare feet touched the floor.

“Oh! It is… colder here than Tamaran…” Kori stammered, rubbing her arms.

Dick rubbed the back of his neck, sheepishly, “Heh… yeah, sorry about that. It’s definitely not as warm here as Tamaran.”

She offered him a smile and he took her by the shoulders.

“Take Koriand’r upstairs, Dick. I’m sure Alfred would like to meet her and be able to give her some warmer clothing.” Bruce said from the other side of the plane. He was standing by his computer, checking on the activity from recent days whilst pulling the cowl of his uniform down.

Dick grinned and tugged Kori along the edge of the cave before leading her upstairs.

When they reached the bottom floor of the manor, Kori stopped and scanned the room. She may have been raised in a palace but she recognized beautiful locations when she saw them.

“Stunning…” Kori breathed,

Dick smirked, “This is the main room and foyer of the house.”

“This room is where you would…?”

He shrugged, “Hang out, watch TV, read… normal sort of stuff.”

She nodded before being pulled further into the dashing manor. Dick led her towards the kitchen and wrapped her into his side as they approached an elderly gentleman who appeared to be dressed immaculately.

Kori shied away, turning her face into Dick’s chest.

“Alfred!” Dick greeted,

“Ah, Master Dick, you have returned from your mission-” The man in question paused as he turned around,

Kori turned timid, trying to hide behind Dick as much as possible. She trusted Dick’s judgement but she was wary of strangers of this world.

“Oh? I see you have company…” Alfred assumed, nodding to the auburn haired girl,

Dick grinned proudly and brought her out of hiding a little, “Al, this is Princess Koriand’r of Tamaran.”

His eyebrows rose, “Did you steal the Princess, Master Dick?”

Kori smiled a little at the teasing in the man’s tone.

“You got me. I snatched her up, threw her in the plane and came home.” Dick paused, “Kori and I… we started a relationship whilst I was on Tamaran and now… she’s come to live on Earth with me.”

Alfred blinked, “A very interesting mission then, Master Dick.”

He rolled his eyes before addressing Kori, “Kor, this is our butler but actually more like family… Alfred Pennyworth.”

“Hello there, Princess Koriand’r.” Alfred nodded, bowing a little at the waist out of respect,

Kori blinked before nodding to the man, “Hello… Alfred Pennyworth… it is the pleasure to meet you.”

Alfred smiled softly, “She’s quite charming, Master Dick.”

“Thanks. I found her, myself.” The dark haired man joked,

“You are going to be residing on Earth, Princess Koriand’r?”

Kori stepped forward and smiled, “Please, there is no need for such formality… you are… friend. You may call me Kori, Alfred and please… I do not wish for my royal status to be spoken.”

Alfred nodded, “Of course, Miss Kori.”

“And… yes… I hope remaining on Earth will not be a problem?” She asked, glancing back at Dick who shook his head.

“Well, I must say, Master Dick. I believe she is quite the well mannered young lady and she happens to be absolutely beautiful.”

Kori blushed, “I thank you, Alfred.”

He bobbed his head and stood aside, waiting for any requests.

Looking back at Dick, Kori bit her lip, “This is truly where you live?”

Dick nervously laughed, “Uh, no… I grew up here but I have an apartment of my own. We’ll go there later but I come here a lot so it made sense.”

Kori nodded, “So, it shall just be you and I living together?”

He smiled, “Mhm… that okay?”

“That is glorious.”

Dick looked up at Alfred, “Hey, Al? I’m gonna show Kori the gardens and was hoping you could do a cheeseburger run for me from downtown? I really want to show Kori what it is.”

Alfred nodded, “Certainly, Master Dick.”

Dick nodded in return, only for Kori to whack his chest.

“Ah! What?” Dick asked,

“Do not be rude. Say thank you!” Kori reprimanded,

Dick pouted but did as he was told and thanked Alfred.

“Oh, I like her very much.” Alfred stated before picking up the car keys and heading out.

Dick cleared his throat and brought Kori outside to the gardens. There were colourful flowers of all kinds plotted all across the space with a couple stone benches perched around the grass and a large fountain in the middle of the gardens.

She reached her fingertips to her lips and smiled, “Oh… they look so much like the royal gardens…”

He smiled, “I thought you’d like this.”

Kori took a couple of steps before yelping and jumping up into Dick’s arms.

“What’s wrong, Kori?”

“The floor! It is some strange form of texture!” Kori fretted,

Dick glanced down, realising that her bare feet had touched the cold blades of grass and that she would be unaware of what it was.

“Kori, that’s grass. It’s another form of terrain here on Earth.”

“Grass…” Kori tested,

She cautiously patted the grass with her foot and clambered down from Dick, falling to her knees. Kori rested a hand against the grass before moving it back and forth,

“Oh… it tickles!” She laughed, looking up at Dick.

He smiled softly at her childlike excitement and kneeled down beside her, resting a hand against the small of her back.

“Everything is so different here…” Kori breathed,

“Yeah?”

She nodded, “It is much less warm… you have the grass and the air smells very different…”

He chuckled, “Oh, is that all?”

Kori leaned into his side with a shy smile on her lips, “I am very happy to be here, however.”

Dick pressed his lips to her temple in a quick kiss, “I’m happy about that too.” He murmured,

“I wish Ryan could see how different Earth is to home…”

“We can get him to visit soon.”

She turned in his arms, “Truly?”

He nodded, “Once you’re all settled into my…” He chuckled, “-our apartment… we can send a transmission through.”

Kori kissed his cheek, “Thank you.”

“For what?”

She shrugged, “Everything… bringing me back with you… being a friend... everything.”

Dick gave her a squeeze and leaned his cheek atop of her head,

“You don’t need to thank me for those things, Kori.”

She gave him a responding squeeze.

“Master Dick, I have your fast food choices.” Said Alfred from behind them,

Dick turned his head and beamed, accepting the brown paper bag from the butler,

“Wow, that was pretty quick, Al.”

Alfred raised an eyebrow, “I know. Strange that; imagine, a burger restaurant not being busy at 11am on a Tuesday.” He joked, sarcasm dripping in his tone,

Dick narrowed his eyes but kept himself from snarking him in return, watching as he dismissed himself and returned to the manor.

Kori sniffed the air around the bag where the piping hot burgers and fries resided. She scrunched her nose up,

“What is that?” She laughed, sitting back to look at him,

He smirked, “Don’t like the smell?”

“It is unusual; quite unlike anything I have ever smelled before.”

“This is that cheeseburger that I was telling you about.”

Kori’s eyes twinkled with interest and accepted the paper wrapped snack from him. She raised an eyebrow at the thing before lifting it to her mouth,

“Wait! Kori, you take the paper off first.” Dick corrected her, tugging at the edge to unwrap it.

Kori’s cheeks coloured and she looked down in embarrassment, “Oh... my apologies.”

Dick touched her chin, “Don’t worry about it. It’s an easy mistake to make considering you’ve never had this before.”

She gave him a timid smile and removed the rest of the wrapping.

“Here, try that mustard I told you about, on it.” Dick suggested, grabbing a sachet of the yellow condiment and squeezing it onto her burger.

Kori licked her lips and took a big bite. Her eyes immediately widened and twinkled as flavour washed over her. There was a spicy taste and a sweet taste mingling with the fresh crunch of lettuce exploding all together in her mouth.

She lifted her fingertips to her lips and smiled.

Dick lifted an eyebrow, “Good?”

She swallowed and focused on him, “I want all of this mustard you speak of.”

He merely chuckled and shook his head; he had so much more to show her and he simply couldn’t wait.