#natalia romanova come home the kids miss you

[palelittleadaptoid]

black widows mcu peak was iron man 2 and it only went downhill from there

[themculibrary]

Canon-Compliant Masterlist

And Maybe They'd Be Happy For A While (ao3) - sweetnuisance alexi/melina T, 143k

Summary: Natalia Romanova wanted only one thing, to become a Black Widow. Melina Vostokoff didn't know how to be anything else.

When the Red Room sends them on a deep cover mission to Ohio they find they can both be so much more.

and they will run you down 'til you fall (ao3) - an_insomaniac T, 4k

Summary: The first thing he felt was bright light, even through closed eyes, coloring the insides of his eyelids a reddish color.

The first thing he thought was, fuck, I overslept. Ma's gonna kill me.

Then he realized he wasn't at home in New York with his family. No, he was overseas in Europe, fighting a war. Except not anymore, because they all got captured. And now he was stuck here, strapped to a metal table, alone.

Or: Bucky has gotten hurt by Hydra countless times in his long, long life. But how, exactly, did it go the first time around? Bucky (and the Howling Commandos)'s time as prisoners of war in Azzano.

a thing isn't beautiful because it lasts (ao3) - ladybundle wanda/vision M, 7k

Summary: She wants to look just like Mary Tyler Moore when she grows up. Or maybe Lucille Ball. She loves red hair.

———

Wanda uses TV to cope and falls in love.

Don't Hold Your Breath, Kid (ao3) - Naddy T, 880

Summary: There are hundreds of thoughts racing through Peter's mind as he leaps out of the pod in the wreckage in Knowhere's exo-atmosphere, propelling himself towards Gamora, but only one of them stands out.

Don't hold your breath, kid.

Error 404 (ao3) - lazy_stitch wanda/vision T, 3k

Summary: It's wrong to hurt your friends, and it's even worse to make battle plans on how to beat and detain them. Vision knows this, even though he has no feelings (... right?).

Ghosts of Flesh and Soul (ao3) - DCAngst T, 5k

Summary: Why did Bucky Barnes decide to go back into cryo-genic suspension? This One-Shot focuses on the first couple of days after Bucky and Steve land in Wakanda. Bucky adjusts to daily life without his arm, haunted by phantoms of flesh and mind.

"With every glance Steve sent his way, Bucky felt exposed. Guilty. Like he was taking up space he had no right to occupy."

i imagine death so much, it feels more like a memory (ao3) - thewickedverkaiking alexi/melina M, 25k

Summary: before there was the iron maiden, before ohio, before the red guardian and natasha and yelena, melina vostokova was a little girl, a long long time ago.  

-

she is in class 7A. she sleeps in bed #2. she has dark hair and brown eyes. she was top of her class in academics last year. she knows ten different ways to kill a man with a knife. she will fire a gun for the first time when summer comes. her birthday is in november.

her name is melina.

she is seven years old.

-

melina, the red room, the iron maiden, ohio, and after.

in the doldrums (ao3) - befehlvonganzunten (blueprintofyourpast) T, 3k

Summary: When he catches a quick glimpse of the little Lego figure sitting atop his GED prep books his stomach drops only half as hard as it used to and he doesn’t spend a solid 5 minutes wondering if Ned ever takes a look at his Death Star set and struggles to remember when and how an essential piece of the set went missing. He’s done after 4 minutes and 36 seconds. It’s progress on his part, he assumes.

.

.

.

Or: A day in the life of Peter Parker, post-NWH.

it gets better (but i guess that was a lie) (ao3) - inkstainedrose, interlvnium T, 1k

Summary: Peter Parker is alone, and he is fine.

Peter Parker is alive, though that might not be such a blessing.

. . .

or: Peter Parker lives on, even if the entire world has forgotten.

i've seen the future (and it looks an awful lot like you) (ao3) - em_a steve/peggy T, 12k

Summary: In the 1940s, Peggy finds a way to move on.

In 2023, Steve makes his way back.

They meet somewhere in the middle. (And they finally get that dance.)

Memorial (ao3) - Cardinal_Flower G, 2k

Summary: A lot has happened over the past two - no, seven - years. It's time for Sam to visit the Arlington National Cemetery and catch up with his best friend.

Midnight Marauders (ao3) -KDtheGhostWriter G, 1k

Summary: Spider-Man has defeated The Vulture and saved the top secret Stark Industries shipment from being stolen. Peter wonders if Iron Man ever ended up like this after saving the day: face down with sand in places he didn't know existed.

Some Version of You (ao3) - abcd_em G, 3k

Summary: The only person that would notice how drastic of a difference it was is him.

That’s the kicker, isn’t it?

The boy in the room and the boy in the reflection are the only people left that know Peter Parker for who he is. Who he was.

stages of grief (ao3) - theredhoodie druig/makkari G, 1k

Summary: A quiet moment shared on the beach waiting for Phastos to fix the Domo so they can get off of this volcano.

Survivor Story (ao3) - the_truth_within_the_lie M, 25k

Summary: On December 28th, 1944, James Buchanan Barnes plummets four miles down into a snow-covered ravine in the Alps.

On February 2nd, 1945, a HYDRA-funded band of Soviet troops captures Barnes alive in a wooded area outside Switzerland.

He’s feverish and unconscious. He's lost his left arm. And he's thirty-six miles away from where he fell.

This is how James Buchanan Barnes dies -

- and how the Winter Soldier is born.

The Last Stand (ao3) - fantasiesdreaming layla/marc T, 78k

Summary: “Mind if I sit here?” asked a voice, its owner already settling into the space on the bench next to Marc.

“Layla,” he uttered without thinking, and shit. She had been shuffling through her bag at the edge of the table, but now she stiffened.

“Do I know you?”

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

The precanon Marc backstory we've all been waiting for. Featuring Marc struggling to deal with his past and mental health as he meets, falls in love with, marries, and eventually leaves Layla.

what is and what will be (is you and me) (ao3) - momentofmemory may/ben T, 20k

Summary: The precinct is wildly disorienting at first: the high exposure of the fluorescent lights, frantic cops milling about without apparent rhyme or reason, phones and pagers filling the air with their high-pitched screams. Stone-faced detectives with blood-spattered shoes.

It’s a frazzled secretary that gets to them first, but whatever she says is lost to May’s ears—because at that moment, all she sees is Peter.

(Or, 5 times May was there for Peter, +1 time he was there for her.)

Widowmaker (ao3) - mcsquared789 T, 38k

Summary: She leaned back, keeping her eye on the cupcake. Trying not to listen to the room next door, of people who were more ignorant, and yet clearly much happier. They sat around comfortable with better heating, better lighting, and the constant threat of death far behind them.

But there was nothing like that for Natasha. The next year would be the same as this one… and the year after that. And the year after that.

As long as I'm still here, she thought listlessly. It will always be like this. I'm only still here… because my skills are all I'm good for. Madame B made sure of that.

It would have been a mercy if they had just killed me.

Natasha Romanoff — trained assassin, spy, lackey of the Red Room. She, along with her other Widows, have been dragged down to Budapest to watch over their own leader, Anton Dreykov. But when another assassin comes with the intention to take him down, will she stand in the way? Or — will she finally discover her own chance to escape?

A short fic about a fateful meeting that will change everything. Fully completed.

you're the hero in my story (and the ghost) (ao3) - jesm T, 1k

Summary: Steve spends a lot of his childhood sick and stuck in bed; the only good part of it is Bucky's company.

[wisewidow]

Hello, Your Parents Want Me To Have Your Babies

PAIRING: Natasha Romanoff x Reader

SUMMARY: Melina, my workplace’s neighbour, wants to set me up with her daughter.

I'd only ever hear about Natasha every couple of weeks, when her adoptive father, the mechanic that owned the garage workshop beside my father's cafe slash bar, met up with my uncle for beers one day last year. Ever since then, our families have been loosely intertwined, friendly but not too close. Alexei fixed my mom's wrecked car for a cheap price, in return I let his youngest daughter Yelena have free coffees whenever she pops over.

From what my father told me, Alexei's entire family, including his wife, were all involved in the family business of repairing cars, except for his eldest daughter: Natasha, who turned out to be an FBI agent living in Quantico. Dad says they're proud of her but they miss her.

"(Y/N)," my brother calls from the kitchen. I put down my phone and find him balancing three plates of sandwiches and a salad in his spindly arms.

He opens his mouth to explain the orders, but I cut him off.

"Alexei," I say, pointing to the bacon and egg sandwich. "A salad for Melina. The tuna and tomato roll is Yelena's. Did they want drinks?"

Peter nods. "Four coffees and a large bottle of water, they already have them."

I ruffle his hair to thank him and grab the plates, balancing the third on my forearm until I can place it on a tray. I carry it outside, years of waitressing practice keeping it balanced, and head towards the garage.

"Melina?" I call. Moments later the raven haired woman slips out of the office and smiles. She yells something in Russian that causes Yelena to slide out from under a silver BMW, covered in black grease. Alexei appears moments later wielding a spanner.

They hound me for their orders, gratefully patting my shoulder and carrying their food away to their separate stations. Yelena disappears into the shadows with her sandwich, and her father to his desk, but Melina simply brightens and says, "(Y/N), have you heard? Natalia is visiting."

"Yes!" Alexei yells around a mouthful of bread. "Family, reunion! Grandbabies!"

Melina hisses something in their mother tongue. I laugh, and then ask if Natasha was bringing her kids, though I wasn't aware she had any.

"He means nothing of it, Natalia is focused on work at the moment. Too focused, I think. No babies. No partner."

"Tell her about her penthouse!" Alexei encourages.

Melina flaps a hand at him in irritation. "Yes, well, she has broken up with Bruce, the shy scientist from work. And then Sharon, charming field operative, also from work. And now she refuses to date. Because of work."

I chuckle nervously. "Where are you going with this?"

Melina smiles innocently. "Nowhere. What happened to your last girlfriend, again? Your father mentioned something about . . ."  The look in her eyes is enough to egg me on, though the subject is one I rarely speak of these days.

Rubbing the back of my neck, I say, "Carol left to travel Europe."

"Shame," she nods sympathetically. "You don't seem bothered. Are you not looking for a relationship?"

"Not actively, but I'm sure another troublemaker will find me. I don't have a good track record of steady relationships," I admit.

"Neither does Natalia!" Alexei shouts.

"Oh!" I say. "Does she want Carol's number? Or my friend Harley, she's not looking for commitment."

Yelena snickers. Alexei frowns. Melina chuckles. "No, no, Natalia needs someone she doesn't work with, and you need someone serious, and we need grandbabies before we die, since Yelena neglects it."

I flush a bright red. "Grandb— I'm— okay, first of all, neither of us have the equipment for that—"

"Neither did Dad," Yelena pipes up, referring to the fact that she and her sister were adopted.

"Hey!"

"(Y/N)!" Peter calls, rounding the corner. "Ned's coming over to pick me up, we need to finish our physics project. Uncle Ben should be here soon, can you manage the bar until he gets here?"

I jump onto the excuse and yell back affirmation, say a quick goodbye to Melina before speed-walking back to the cafe.

Peter leaves with Ned soon after, and Ben arrives at around the same time. I move to the kitchens while he takes over serving our regulars, as he's friendlier with them than me.

I work on making more sandwiches and tapas meals until four, when my shift ends. I kiss Uncle Ben on the cheek and head home.

The smell of paprikash greets me as I unlock the door to my apartment, which I guess means that my roommate is home. I call out a hello to her and head to the shower.

I groan happily as the hot water rains down on my front. I close my eyes and lean my head back, thinking over how strange the day had been, and lose myself in a trance of relaxation.

"(Y/N/N)!" Wanda barges in. I jump and almost slip grabbing the shower curtain to cover my body as I peek out at her.

"I'm naked," I hiss.

She ignores me and holds up two clothes hangers. "Pantsuit or dress?"

I push my wet hair out of my face. "Uh, are you bar-hopping with Vision or going to a family dinner?"

"Get together with some friends," she explains. "Vis, Sam, Steve and some guy named Bucky who I'm informed we're supposed to be pretending Steve isn't in love with, do you know him?"

"Nope."

"Okay, well, he's bringing some friends, so I'm bringing you. Don't make that face, you know almost everyone."

"I don't feel like getting drunk," I complain.

"Good! You can be the designated driver. Pantsuit or dress?"

Grumbling, I tell her, "Dress."

"Okay, thanks, you wear the pantsuit, be ready by seven. May the Force be with you!"

She ducks as I throw my shampoo bottle at her. We bicker and mock and tease as I pat myself dry and she changes into the scarlet dress.  While she braids her hair, I carefully slip into the navy and white striped pantsuit, and we move into her bedroom to make use of her vanity, since the sun's lowering position in the sky shone straight into the window while my room would be encased in dimness by now. I sit in the chair and she leans over me, brushing her eyelashes with delicate mascara.  We fall into our normal going-out-getting-ready rhythm, periodically handing each other different brushes, comparing lipstick shades, and commenting on our days. She tells me about her brother's latest shenanigans and I make the grave mistake of commenting on Melina's attempted set-up earlier today, much to Wanda's entertainment. The two had never met but they both shared the pure ecstasy that came with matchmaking involving me.

"Do you think she's pretty?" Wanda wonders.

"I've seen photos," I shrug. "She's a redhead. Yelena says she changes hairstyles often."

"That doesn't answer my question! Pretty redhead or no?"

"They were baby photos, Wanda! I didn't have an opinion on her looks past the Wonder Woman pajamas."

She hums, and turns to draw a small heart under my left eye with her gel liner pen. "It would be nice if you wound up with her, but if you do fall madly in love with her beautiful red locks and decide to move to Washington to marry her and have her babies, I will murder you. You pay your rent on time and you're fun and please, please do not make me move back in with my brother."

"Why does everyone keep bringing up babies?" I yell.

An hour later we're pulling up to the bar in the back of  a cab arguing about getting a cat. The debate of whose bathroom would host the litter tray is interrupted by Wanda spotting Vision through the window and quickly smacking my arm and hissing at me to hurry up and pay so she can sneak in and scare him. Unfortunately, I can't locate my purse inside my bag.

"(Y/N), (Y/N), go, go, go . . ."

"Wanda, Wanda, going, going, going . . . Aha!" I pay the driver and find myself being ushered inside before I can put my purse back in my bag.

Sam, a friend of Wanda's from college, ends up foiling her evil master plan by pointing her out as soon as she walks in the door. Vision, being a good sport, pretends to be startled when she yells "BOO!" in his ear. As she cackles manically before sliding into the chair beside him, I notice the only free space is by the pretty blonde woman beside a man with brown hair pulled into a bun.

"Oh, look who I dragged out with me!" Wanda exclaims, taking a sip of Vision's drink and making a grand gesture with her hands. "(Y/N)!"

I'm greeted with a chorus of hello's. I bow and grin as I sit by the woman and offer a polite smile. Steve leans over points to the brunet man. "This is Bucky, we were close as friends. As kids. We were close as friends, when we were kids."

Sam snorts into his beer.

Steve clears his throat awkwardly. "And this is his partner from work, Nat."

I get a closer inspection and my eyes widen in shock. "Natalia?"

"Her name is Natasha." Steve corrects.

"I thought her name was Natalie?" Vision frowns.

"She goes by Nat, who cares?" Sam shrugs.

"Natalia Alianovna Romanova?" Wanda yelps. "(Y/N)! You didn't tell me this was the Natalia!"

"The what? I— Do I know you two?" Natasha asks, bewildered.

"Not me!" Wanda says, and then makes a motion for zipping her lips shut.

Everyone turns to me. I chuckle nervously. "I should probably explain. Hi, I'm (Y/N), your parents want me to have your babies."

[cunaeparker]

the gingerbread pancake scandal | p. parker

pairing: peter parker x fem!reader

genre: best friends | fluff | angst if you blink

word count: 4k

note: its been awhile, hey ? things have been ... weird in my life, to say the least. ( mental health, suicide and self-destructive tendencies tw ) shit has been crazy. ive struggled with depression and anxiety for most of my life but it all has come to a striking, terrifying, and awful peak over the past few months . i almost had to be admitted to the psychiatric ward a month ago for threatening suicide and naturally i refused (there is nothing wrong with that ofc !! im just naturally a very stubborn person lol) bc i was scared . i am currently struggling with an eating disorder as well and my life has gone to shit. but the one thing i havent done for months is writing. it used to bring me joy, and so i thought i’d give it a try - and here we go - a shitty christmas oneshot. tbh im still not in the best state of mind but im trying to get through it and recover. i wish all my followers the best, & best of all, happy holidays and enjoy !!!! <33i missed you all so much and your lovely feedback :)

— y/n is stressed out, the avengers are kind of being assholes, and peter is scared of food poisoning 

-ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ- 

Spending weekends training at the Avengers facility in upstate New York wasn't an uncommon thing.

Having been brought in by Tony Stark during the Avenger's infamous breakup, Y/N Y/L/N was accustomed to it and usually didn't mind the complexity and difficulty of their routines. Coordinator Natalia Romanova - or more notoriously, Black Widow - held well-structured and helpful sessions.

Given, it gave Y/N quite a scare when she came home from school one day freshman year and found the Tony Stark himself conversing (quite flirtily) with her single mother over a glass of wine, not-very-subtly looking up and down her tightly fitting cocktail dress; but in retrospect, she kind of respected it?

Y/N was confused as to why he was there at the time as her backpack slowly slipped from her grip, but there, knees pulled up to his chest on the side of the couch and body swallowed up by a threadbare blue crewneck, was an awkward looking boy.

He was her age.

He looked like he had just been unwillingly dragged to her flat, and he looked scared - his body language definitely proved that - but his eyes... they were unreadable. They gleamed with something like excitement and fear and incredulity as if where he was wasn't where he was supposed to be.

"Think he's cute?" a voice spoke smoothy, breaking Y/N's train of thought.

Y/N paused and frowned, not expecting the billionaire to speak to her.

"No," she said boldly, jutting out a hip as Tony raised a brow. "He's really not my type," she simpered, earning a scoff from the boy and a surprised guffaw from Tony.

"Damn kid," Tony said, as an incredulous smirk quirked up the corner of his lips. "You're quite the blunt one. I respect it." He lifted his glass and winked. "Did you know that you qualify for the September Foundation?" he quickly changed the subject, "I brought Peter here to tell you all about it."

The boy - Peter - shot him a glare but remained silent, almost defiant.

Y/N smirked.

She could tell how he was feeling because she had had that very same look on her face when arguing with her teachers - a small squint of the eyes and an accosted cross of arms over the chest. Easy to analyze.

"So, Y/N," Tony said, making her head whip around once again, "I've caught wind of your exceptional performance in school, and just came to notify you and your lovely mother," he shot Ms. Y/L/N a gratifying look, to which she giggled girlishly and made Y/N suppress a gag, "that you are eligible for the fund."

Y/N raised an eyebrow and looked from Peter to the billionaire. "I don't remember applying."

"Yeah, well - you don't. Think of your grades as an application," Tony said. "It's only for the really smart ones," he added in a whisper, winking once again.

Y/N frowned a little, finding his behaviour odd - if not suspicious.

She stood up a little straighter and a muscle jumped in her jaw. Tony noticed her reluctance, and knew she was observant and analytical - with proper training and preparation he knew that she had the potential to be a real asset to the team.

With a shrug, he pulled himself up from their couch with a small huff (ignoring how Y/N's mum seemed to deflate) and placed his wine glass on their coffee table.

"Not going to reply? That's okay," Tony teased, placing his sunglasses on his head and revealing a pair of stern whisky eyes, "Peter here had a little struggle as well. He couldn't quite grasp that fact that he actually got the internship."

Peter shot him a withering look. "I could, actually."

Tony ignored him. "Now it seems that you have the chance to intern at Stark Industries - if you want to."

Y/N's mum gasped and clapped her hands together happily.

Like Tony, Y/N ignored her. She clenched her jaw and crossed her arms over her chest.

"OK, what's happening now?" she asked skeptically.

The whole situation seemed weird to her, and the receptors in her brain were going off like crazy.

"Nothing bad, nothing bad," said Tony casually, waving his hand dismissively in the air. He looked over at her mother with a wide smile. "Gracie, do you mind telling me where your lovely daughters' bedroom is? Peter and I have to... discuss something with her."

"Oh, yes, Tony, it's the first room on your left," said Gracie, teeth open wide in a primal smile. Her voice was unusually velvety, and Y/N could see her desperate mother's intentions as clear as day. Again, she suppressed the urge to vomit.

"Thank you," replied Tony. "Shall we?"

He gestured to the hallway near the kitchen, the one her mother just pointed to, raising an expectant eyebrow.

"Er - yeah. Sure," said Y/N hesitantly.

She threw her backpack on the coat hanger near the front door and turned. She began walking towards her bedroom, though not taking notice of how Tony pursed his lips threateningly when Peter glared at him. Suddenly feeling fearful, Peter got up from his seat on the couch slowly, almost grudgingly, to slink off after Tony and Y/N.

Turns out, Tony hadn't found Y/N through YouTube videos like he had Peter. He instead found her through longtime girlfriend Pepper Potts herself. Tony reminded Y/N gratefully of the time she had manipulated potential attackers out of harming Pepper when she was walking alone downtown, because when Pepper noticed a group of scraggly-looking men lurking around a corner, eyes malicious and body crouched as if they were waiting for something, she knew something was off when they miraculously turned around, just like that, dream-like and slow, to the beat-up car they had crawled out of.

Through extensive research and questioning, the identity of her saviour lead back to one person - Y/N.

"You're telekinetic?" Peter had asked, leaning forward in awe, "you can control people? And things?"

Y/N smirked. "And read their minds, yeah."

Peter paled and backed away, grimacing slightly.

Y/N wanted to reassure him and tell him that she only did it willingly and couldn't pinpoint his exact thoughts in that moment, but, she liked how he got flustered. She suppressed a snort and decided to tell him later.

'Later' did come, eventually, because after that encounter, the rest was history.

She fought alongside Tony and Peter with an alias.

Their friendship blossomed and strengthened throughout their teenage years and stayed strong into early adulthood.

Though over the span of six years, a big difference in maturity occured between the two recruits. Y/N and Peter were both fifteen in their initial meeting, but now, they found themselves at the ripe age of twenty-one. Legal and college-age. Attending the same university and closer than ever.

Unfortunately, Peter had set up a reputation of being quite tramp-ish, though Y/N knew it was inevitable - Peter seemed to grow more attractive with every passing day. His nerdy composure and hell of a deceiving body was something she knew college girls would eat up. And admittedly, she did too.

When they were training and he fisted his t-shirt and pulled it up to wipe at the sweat dripping down his face as his chest heaved, breaths laboured and unknowingly showing the toned skin underneath that was glowing with perspiration, Y/N's knees nearly gave out.

Pathetic, yes, but she couldn't help it. Peter Parker grew to be one hell of a looker and she knew that as well as the next person.

There had been instances when Peter had to physically restrain her from going after some girl when they went out clubbing because when they all began to crowd him and giggle filthily and run their manicured fingers up and down his shoulders Y/N could tell that he was uncomfortable and it made her enraged.

He had to whisper words of reassurance into her ear so she wouldn't pull a Natasha and wrap her legs around their skinny necks and pull them to the ground.

Given, it was a little amusing seeing the way Y/N's nostrils would flare, but Peter would rather not deal with a lawsuit and speculation of an undocumented enhanced.

But however, when they were training, all of those pent-up emotions and unknown feelings would cease and it would be normal again; just Y/N and Peter sparring in the ring.

She found that prepping for real-life situations with the people who had experienced them quite amazing. She felt so lucky to have that opportunity because she knew of some people that would kill to be trained by the most talented Avenger in close-combat herself.

But, since Y/N was a full-time college student, tackling a double major in both physics and business (and around Christmas time, for fuck's sake), the free time she could spend to freely doing something she enjoyed like training or partying had been whittled down to a mere two days on weekends.

Her boss, Nathan Prescoe, was ruthless when it came to missing shifts serving at the college bar near her flat. It resulted in her having to take the night shifts and get brutally harassed by plastered college students due to the promiscuous dress code the bar held --- and especially around the holidays, that's when it was at its peak.

Usually, on any other regular day the female employees were required to wear a low-cut, tight fitting black dress with the most absurd hem that stopped literally right below their asses, but during Christmas, goddamn Christmas, they had to wear a deep red dress nearly more scandalous than their usual attire paired with an awful white fuzzy pom-pom jingly hat.

It was embarrassing, to say the least.

But, as much as it sucked, Nathan's behaviour didn't phase her because she had a pretty certain hunch that his sadistic tendencies were currently being medicated and though it was awful it made those training weekends at the compound so much better.

An escape.

Though, now, in this particular instance, it was not.

Apparently, the team had planned for a mission, and no one had yet to inform her. Or, they just didn't want her to come.

It was probably the latter.

"I planned ahead to come for the weekend," Y/N said angrily, following the team as her nostrils flared, "I cancelled classes and hours of work to get here! I cancelled the damn gift exchange I planned with my roomates! Why are you all leaving?"

"The mission," Natasha mumbled, eyes darting around the hangar before picking up a leather jacket and throwing it over her shoulder. "We got a tip that HYDRA's up and running again."

Y/N ignored how her pulse quickened at the small admittance but she persisted in their wake, eyebrows furrowing.

"And why did no one tell me this?" she threw her hands in the air, "As an Avenger I think I deserve to know!"

Nat groaned and rubbed her face in her palms as Y/N huffed, turning to offer an annoyed smile.

"You didn't ask," she shrugged, "And by the way, you aren't an Avenger."

"C'mon, Nat," said Y/N blearily. "I didn't know. And besides, you could've told me before you insulted me and made me cancel my 11 hour shift."

"That's not my problem," she said, shooting her a look before strapping a gun into a holster on her hip, "It's you responsibility to know what you're up against."

Y/N went quiet.

Natasha did have a point, as much as Y/N hated to admit it. She probably should've looked at her schedule.

But Y/N shook her head, furrowing her eyebrows and trying to forget that small obstacle.

"Nat, let me come," she begged. Her eyes focused intently on Nat's fiery red braid and she stretched her fingers, "I've been training really hard lately, and I think I should be given a chance just to prove myself. I know I'm being irrational, but ever since Titan you've been so strict - and since it's the holidays maybe you can be a little lenient - "

"Y/N! Are you twenty-one or eleven?" Nat snapped, turning to face Y/N, "Leave it be. Peter's here this weekend anyways, you won't be alone."

Y/N scoffed.

"Yeah, but -"

"I said leave it." Nat's gaze was stern and a muscle jumped in her jaw. "I've had enough. We're leaving, and if I hear one more complaint out of you, I will make you run around this compound eighty times."

Y/N shut her mouth though irritation was still bubbling through her veins. She knew Nat was never one to bluff, and she would be surprised if she had to do anything less than run laps eighty times (because it had occurred more than once).

Glaring at her, Y/N stopped her jogging and jut out a hip.

"Okay. I'll stop. But, I think that I deserve a chance based on everything I've seen."

"Which consists of Thanos dusting you," Nat deadpanned. "That's not a lot considering you missed most of the action."

Y/N scowled.

"At least it's something!"

"Okay. Good for you. We're going."

Nat offered her a tight closed-mouth smile and turned quickly, jogging to the quinjet and holding up a hand so the team wouldn't leave without her. She stepped into the aircraft and looked thoroughly irritated, shooting Tony a 'don't talk to me' look before ignoring Y/N's indignant cries and slamming the hatch closed.

"Nat! Nat!"

She heard a brief cry of 'Enough!' come from inside of the quinjet and within seconds she was stumbling on her feet from the sudden burst of air. Groaning angrily and suppressing a childish stomp of her foot, she narrowed her eyes at the jet which was now flying off into the distance.

"Fuck," she muttered, walking back into the facility with a slow grudging gait, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes.

In all honesty, she didn't mind the break, because she'd working relentlessly for the past few weeks, but at the fact that they just straight up left her, it made her angry. She cancelled her shift, fun with her roommates, study time  --- and though her job did suck, she needed the extra cash. The least they could do was understand her situation and offer to do something remotely from the compound.

Y/N slammed the door to the hangar and found herself walking angrily to the kitchen.

Muttering under her breath as a scowl painted her face, she found herself loudly pulling out pans and whisks and flour, all her necessary coping tools - Y/N didn't necessarily like cooking, which was ironic considering her stress reliever was literally baking and though the food was never really good it helped to take her mind off things.

"Don't tell me you're baking again, I can't handle another round of food poisoning," a scratchy voice echoed from around the corner, and it didn't take a genius to know that it was Peter.

He walked into the kitchen wearing a pair of grey sweatpants and a dri-fit t-shirt, chestnut curls all tousled and messy, most likely roused from a nap by Y/N's merciless throwing around of the metal pans.

Y/N grumbled and threw a whisk at him (to which he catched, much to her chagrin).

"Shut up," she said, pouring the flour into the bowl as Peter approached her with a smirk and tapped her head with the whisk. "I'm angry - do not touch me with that whisk - and I want pancakes."

Peter backed up and pouted. "Why can't I tap your head? It's quite a lovely whisk -"

And that comment is what prompted to Y/N throw a handful of flour in his face.

He spluttered and wiped it from his eyes, gaping. "Hey! Rude!"

Y/N snickered. "Suck it up, sleeping beauty."

Peter scoffed. "Fuck off," he frowned, poking her side, "I can do whatever I want. The adults aren't here."

Y/N stopped her vigorous mixing and shot him a look. "Pete. We are literally twenty-one."

Peter hummed and ran a hand through his hair, sitting back on the counter. "Yeah, but I still have the mentality of a fifteen year old," he shrugged.

Y/N raised an eyebrow. "I already knew that. The walls here aren't exactly thick - I can hear your Lego playlist play constantly."

Peter flushed, knowing fully well what she was implying - his supposed 'alone time' in his room was usually spent by playing a well-tailored Lego-building playlist as he created his life away with the small plastic pieces.

"Low blow," Peter shook his head as Y/N snorted, "You know it's a stress reliever."

"Yeah but it's not necessarily a cool one -hey!" Y/N spluttered as Peter threw a handful of flour at her mouth, scowling as he burst out in laughter. "You're such a dick!"

"And you're a grouchy bitch at the moment," he smirked.

Y/N threw her head back and groaned, glaring at him as she grudgingly wiped a handful of flour from the hollows of her eyes.

"If you're going to pester me while I bake, please, I beg of you, go back to that pigsty you call a bedroom," she said as she jut out a hip. "I don't want you here."

Peter pouted.

"Why? I'm just having some fun, Y/N/N." He sauntered up beside her and brushed her hair over her shoulder, kneading at her taut back and shoulder muscles.

The room suddenly grew tender when Y/N didn't respond and Peter could finally see how tired she was — it was in the way she hunched over and rubbed at her eyes, her telltale sign of exhaustion.

An influx of guilt surged through Peter.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I'll... I'll let you do your thing."

Y/N huffed, but found herself sinking into his warm touch.

It was comforting, and she actually found it endearing --- over the years, each of them had memorized exactly which tight muscles caused them pain and would sometimes subconsciously try and tend to them whenever they were close. It ranged from movie night on the couch when they were smushed up against each other, spooning at night when Peter had a particularly frightening nightmare and didn't want to be alone, and right now, just like clockwork, when Y/N was stressed.

It was nice and felt oddly like home.

Peter broke the silence by wrapping his arms around her waist and gently swaying back and forth as a small smile twisted up the corners of her lips, causing her to slowly put the whisk back down.

"Don't be stressed, Y/N/N," he said smoothly, pressing his lips to her hair as she sighed, "It's not worth it."

Y/N bit her lip.

"I know," she whispered, "But it's so hard when my boss is a sexist dick and the team leaves us here for important missions because we're deemed 'the babies' of the team when really, you and me both are more than capable -"

"Y/N," Peter interrupted. He relented his touch and Y/N frowned, turning to face him as a sad smile crossed his features. "You're just ranting now, love. Try not to think about all the bad stuff; yeah, your boss is a bitch and I want nothing more than to lay him out and yeah, the team might be assholes right now, but it doesn't matter because I'm here and you're here and there's a nasty looking batch of dry ingredients in dire need of a touch up."

He gave her a small smile as he reached for her hands, squeezing them gently.

Peter always knew how to calm her down.

Whether it was during a fight when someone hit Tony making her livid, Peter would hold her back and whisper words of encouragement in her hair. Whether it was when she would show up at Peter's apartment in tears after an awful shift where she was called terrible names by old perverted men, he would hold her in his bed at night and listen to her speak.

Y/N's lip wobbled at the thought.

"Awe, Pete..." she whispered, "You're the best."

A small smirk crossed his features, "I know."

A watery laugh escaped her lips. "There we go," she smiled brightly, "That's the normal Pete I know and love."

Peter gaped as his lips quirked into a small grin, "What do you mean, 'normal Pete?'"

"Oh, you know," she pressed a kiss to his hands before turning back towards the bowl, "The non-sappy one. I'm a big fan of your speeches and all, but the sappiness sure is something I'm not used to."

"Oh, come on!" he cried, "You liked it. I know you like to think you have no emotions, but I did see a tear or two."

"Yeah, yeah," Y/N laughed, smirking as she thrusted the bowl into his chest. "Get mixin' mister."

Peter's mouth fell open, and Y/N had to suppress a snort at how affronted the boy looked.

"I have to make this?" he yelped, "I don't know how to bake!"

"You're the one that said my mixing is in need of a touch up!"

Peter scoffed, "Oh I don't know! I was just saying that because I can see chunks of sugar in it!"

"Are you criticizing my mixing skills?" Y/N threatened, wielding the whisk like it was some kind of weapon, "You do not want to fuck with this. With this very whisk I have killed 10 people."

Peter grumbled, "More like 10 lumpy cups of flour."

"Shut up. Why don't we make..." she scanned the spice rack that was conveniently located on the marble countertop with furrowed brows, pensive, before landing on the perfect spice. She gasped and grabbed it so quickly Peter barely had time to register which two she picked up. "Let's make gingerbread pancakes!"

Peter's brows furrowed as she nodded and handed him the spices.

"Pancakes?" he asked, "Are you sure that works with pancake mix?"

Y/N scoffed.

"Of course it does," she dismissed, snatching the spices from Peter as she started to pour such an unhealthy amount of each into the dry bowl that it had Peter grimacing. "Cinnamon and ginger makes everything taste good."

Peter peered over the bowl and winced.

"Maybe not that much..."

-ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ-

@galaxystern08​  @averyfosterthoughts​ @pparkeramorr​ @peterparkermadness​@thenoddingbunny-blog​ @galaxystern08​ @coni-martina​ @inhumanwithpowers​ @averyfosterthoughts​ @softholand​ @quackeroos​ @parkersbliss​ @chaoticpete​ @cosmicholland​ @stardustom​ @mannien​ @my-patronus-is-mabel-pines​ @silteplaittais-toi​ @spideygirl2003​ @yoinkyourheart​ @darlintom​ @dreamofaprilsblog​ @the-crazy-fanfictionist​ @peterspideyy​ @stuckonspidey​ @eridanuswave​ @thirzaholland​ @t-holland2080​ @peachyparkerr​ @parkeret​ @etoileholland @duskholland​ @rosyparkers​ @finelinesupremacy​ @uglypastels​

[finitepeace]

fics i read this week:

 I read some bucky x natasha fics: 

Head Is Not My Home by taralkariel

Summary: The Black Widow is a legend. Legends aren't made cheap.

Shaken by the events of Civil War, Natasha Romanoff goes back to familiar ground to hide. To hide and remember how she became the Black Widow. How Natalia Romanova would do anything to save her father-figure. How she was one of 28 ballerinas with the Bolshoi - no, one of 28 Black Widow agents with the Red Room. How the only thing that made her feel human was a man with a metal arm.

(A story to show what really happened in the comics Red Room and how it could fit into the MCU)

19k words in 12 chapters, not rated (maybe T&up?), bucky nat up to IW, i think.  it’s not very dark themed <3,

tell me baby, do you recognize me? by xocean

Summary: "You're a liar." Natasha is shaking. "You're a heartless, lonely, lying murderer."

He doesn't even blink. "We both are."

The Winter Soldier's game is up, and Steve's not letting him go this time. Enter the only person who doesn't want a part in this shitfest: Natasha Romanov.

Or, as James Buchanan Barnes remembers her: Natalia Romanova.

63k words in 10 chapters (from 11), angst.

 and an IronDad x SpiderSon fic: 

This B.S. Better Be Worth It by losingmymindtonight 💙

Summary: Originally, Tony's plan had been to just surprise Peter with the fact that he would be on campus for a semester.

He’d never actually expected Peter to sign up for his class.

7k words in 4 chapters, tony acting like a dad (and awesome professor)

 as usual, the rest are Stony fics:  

American Dream by NobodysBloodyPrincess

Summary: Tony is trying, but try as he might he just can’t find the silver lining of this particular disaster.

After all, what happiness could possibly be derived from the knowledge that the perfect little girl in his arms is now motherless? What relief could be drawn, when his boyfriend of ten years, the love of his life really, is probably, currently, right at this moment in the arms of ‘Peggy’ his new fiancé?

13k words, no powers au, tony-centric, stevetony has broken up and tony adopts a kid, steve is depicted a bit insensitive (idk what the word, like unable to read the room?) here. 

Where Our Restless Monsters Sleep by Mizzy 💙

Summary: Years after Tony Stark saved the universe, the Avengers realize there’s a major problem: his body has gone missing. And he isn’t the only one. Fallen heroes all over the galaxy have had their graves pillaged.

An old foe is stealing the bodies of fallen warriors, but for what nefarious reason? There’s only one solution. To find out why it’s happening, Steve’s gotta die.

He probably shouldn’t be so eager to do that.

233k words in 12 chapters, post endgame resurrections (?), gladiator trope, lots of action scenes, and THERE’S MORGAN x STEVE INTERACTIONS!!!!! 

The Culling of the Stars by dirigibleplumbing

Summary: Tony dies saving Steve's life on the courthouse steps. Now Steve is left with the fallout of their Civil War, expected to take charge and preserve Tony's legacy. He doesn't know how he can do it alone—not when he can't stop thinking about Tony, or keep track of the days, or even feel.

9k words, comic book’s civil war not MCU’s, angst but gnidne yppah 

Together, Always by Sapphic_Futurist 💙

Summary: He swallows hard, a prickle of tears in his eyes because this is his husband.

This is Tony Stark and Steve’s husband, and Steve gets to have this. He gets to have this for the rest of his goddamn life.

30k words in 3 chapters, embodiment of stony’s “together” T_T, read the tags if you want to be spoiled lol if not then enjoy! (and I don’t regret not reading the tags tbh) 

And I'd Buy A Big House Where We Both Could Live by shinkonokokoro

Summary: Missing: Tony Stark, billionaire businessman, heir to Stark Industries, reward: none

Only Steve didn't know that when he picked up the waterlogged unconscious man from the bank of a river.

59k words in 29 chapters, non-power au, kid clint and peter as steve’s brothers

i stole the keys to this guy by kellifer_fic

Summary: Where it was Nick Fury's idea, but he didn't mean it like that

6k words, fake dating into real dating 

Home Is Where the Time Machine Is by Wordsplat 💙

Summary:Steve and Tony's daughter accidentally falls back in time, and learns that impossible time travel phone calls can and will be made just to ground you, big brothers are awful snitches, and parents used to date other people. The past blows.

23k words in 5 chapters, domestic, stony being married 

don't know why it took me so long to see by goodmorningbeloved (3799steps)

Summary: “Oh, watch this,” Natasha says, propping her chin against her knuckles and turning a sweet gaze on him. “Tony, what’s it like dating a superhero?”

Tony bristles in irritation. “We’re not dating,” he snaps. “Captain America probably thinks he can get into anyone’s pants just ‘cause he’s got a mask, costume, and reputation, but not me, buddy. That shield? Gotta be overcompensating for something.” He adds, a bit petulantly, “Oh, and all that blue? Definitely more Steve’s color than his.”

- In which Tony is a genius in all matters except recognizing his boyfriend past a mask.

11k words, tony being peacefully oblivious while the whole world isn’t. 

I Started a Joke by Naferty

Summary "Tony?"

"Who the hell is Tony?"

102k words in 11 chapters, tony is the winter soldier 

Take Two  by Wordsplat 💙

Summary: Steve loses his memory but he gets the feeling he's lost a lot more. Who exactly is Tony Stark to him and why won't he come out of the basement?

24k words, i just love it. 

Sunrise Over the End of the World by Sapphic_Futurist

Summary: When Dr. Strange arrives at an Accords Committee Meeting and warns of the coming of an alien megalomaniac set on destroying the world, the Rogues are pardoned and Tony finds himself exactly where he never wanted to be. Back at the Compound with Steve, who still can't take a hint and won't leave him alone.

--

In which Tony is broken and Steve finds redemption.

35k in 11 chapters, explicit, civil war fix-it up to infinity war 

Far Away And Long Ago by Ragdoll (Keshka) 💙

Summary: Steve steps into the past and discovers that hope held on a pedestal is as insubstantial as smoke. Then he sees Tony. And that's when things get complicated.

Full summary contained within.

18k in 4 chapters, mature, seems like abandoned WIP :( endgame fix-it au when steve returns the stones... 

Something More Than What They Are series by  Sapphic_Futurist

An exploration of love, denial and propensity for change.

38k in 4 works, explicit, Steve and Tony are married during the civil war madness but seems like their love is not enough to stop it from happening or reconciling T_T 

the marks you choose to leave behind by masterlokisev159

Summary: The Stane faction has been around for many years, long before Tony was bitten. And since he was forced, his life has been nothing short of misery and pain; a prison he will never escape. As a low member of the faction, his only hope at survival is to remain a loyal pet to Ezekiel. So when Ezekiel mentions the growing threat of the Avengers of the Undead, and the dreaded Captain, Tony is adamant to step up and do what he can. It’s also his last chance to see the outside world before he’s bonded to Whitney forever.

But what he finds instead is an unlikely companion with golden eyes. A strange werewolf by the name of Steve.

35k, general, vampire tony/werewolf steve, based on earth-666 

La La Love by Wordsplat

Summary: "To be perfectly clear, Tony always knew that Stephanie Rogers was the best thing that would ever happen to him."

4k words, teen up and audiences, female Steve, highschool au, awkward tony

Meet Your Heroes by Wordsplat

Summary:Tony gets rescued by a highly concerned, very handsy Captain America. This is confusing for a number of reasons.

4k words, identity porn AU, 

Hashtag Finally by Wordsplat 💙

Summary: Tony doesn't ever actually ask the Avengers to move into his house, steal his wifi, eat all his food, and become the best family he's ever known. They do it anyway.

15k, teen&up, domestic avengers a.k.a. tower life, hyperactive Clint lol, super cute, everyone are stony supporters

Thanks For the Memories by Wordsplat

Summary: When Tony is sent crashing-all too literally-into the 1940's by an alternate-universe Loki's spell, neither Tony nor Steve are prepared for the consequences.

9k words, time travel au, secret pining 

[redsector-a]

AO3 Ask Game

I was tagged by @themarshalstale which, thank you so much! I feel like I always get missed on these (I know why, it’s been 84 years since I published anything but still). 1. How many works do you have on ao3?

46 it seems. Which...look I’m slow man so that’s not surprising. lol Also crippling depression does not make for much production, at least for me.

2. What’s your current AO3 wordcount?

309662 according to the stats.

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

So do I could only AO3 or in like life? lol I suppose it should only be on AO3 since this is an AO3 ask game. Hrm. Basically AO3 can be summed up as: Marvel (in several iterations - all Avengers related) Torchwood Highlander But isn’t it more fun to consider my entire fandom life, which, I’m sorry, I’m old so...yeah. Not all of this is was published and beyond that a lot is not available anymore...which is likely for the best. Highlander Star Wars Babylon 5 Ronin Warriors/Samurai Troopers Marvel (again, several iterations also of note Avengers and X-Men both count) Torchwood Star Trek LOTR Stargate (SG-1, SGA) Mortal Kombat I dabbled with the idea of Potter fic but never got past the ideas stage.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1: You rearrange me till I’m sane Clint finds himself spiraling into a deep depression after the Battle of New York...until the Winter Soldier ends up saving him and inadvertently giving him a new purpose – to save the man that the Soldier had once been – Bucky Barnes. Not one to be outdone, the Soldier decides that his new mission is to ensure that Clint remains alive himself. Protecting a blonde man with a self-destructive streak is somehow very familiar to him. Through the back and forth of who is saving whom they cross the country and learn more about themselves and each other – and perhaps find a reason for living. 2: Five Dates Bucky Didn’t Realize He Was on And the One He Planned Himself To say that Bucky was surprised when Clint kissed him was an understatement. But it was nothing compared to the shock he felt when he learned they'd been dating for months without him realizing it.Clint gets whisked away for a mission before they have time to talk and Bucky is left to figure things out on his own - hindsight being 20/20 he can't help but wonder how he missed things the first go around.

3: Puck Luck Bucky Barnes is used to the ups and downs of an NHL season. He's used to the unpredictability of the game, knows that bounces don't always go your way, but that doesn't make a broken hand in the final third of the season any easier to deal with. Especially not when he ends up with an impromptu roommate/personal assistant in the form of one Clint Barton - his agent, Natalia Romanova's (rather attractive) friend he hadn't known existed before his injury.

It's just for six to eight weeks - what could possibly happen in that span of time?

4: Loose Lips Launch Ships

Based on the following prompt: “We go to school together and I think you’re cute and apparently you’re also the pizza delivery guy and my little sibling opened the door screaming hey sibling! you know that kid you’re in love with? you really weren’t kidding when you said his jawline could cut steel holy shit-” Bucky is the pizza delivery guy. Clint's younger (foster) brother has a big mouth.

5: Indelible Bucky Barnes has a pretty decent life – a good job, good friends, a cat that adores him - but something is missing. He’s always found body art to be beautiful and inspiring, and on a whim (and with the hope that maybe he can find what he’s missing) he decides to take the plunge and get a tattoo. That's how he meets Clint Barton. Clint's talented and compassionate and there is an instant spark between the two of them. It's not long before Bucky finds himself wondering and wanting more from the relationship despite the ghosts of the past that crop back up. Because Clint makes him feel normal in a way he truly hasn't for years...

(this was pre-Alpine so I was totally chuffed when canon confirmed Bucky’s status as a crazy cat lady (affectionate).

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not.

I really really really want to do it but I often times don’t end up doing it. There are a few reasons. First, I am akwward AF and bad at interaction adn I feel like just saying thank you would be...not enough? Second - I often times tend to like...turtle (aka retreat into myself) when life gets Too Hard/Busy which happens a lot to me (sigh) and then I miss the vague window in my mind in which it would be okay to respond and then it’s even more weird. I do love and cherish all of them. Like there was one months ago that made me go “hmm...I didn’t think I was going to do a sequel to that fic (You rearrange me till I’m sane), timestamp glimpses sure but a sequel hadn’t come to mind” but then the comment made me think! So...who knows? lol Anyway, I literally have been rereading some in an effort to try and get myself going again. Know that if you have commented, I love you.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

At the moment? Probably: Look at you look at me Bucky's in love with Clint - problem is he's really not supposed to be. For Winterhawk Week 2019 - Forbidden Love (I really don’t want to give away the spin in the fic but...if you’re familiar with the Secret Avengers Vol 2 run circa 2013ish (aka when SHIELD initially ‘took control of the team’) that’s a bit of a hint as to the spin). Were it done, Torch Song would be up there. ;) Torch Song Clint is sent back in time, via an alien device, to 1938. While he tries to figure out how to get back home, he takes up singing and entertaining to make ends meet and does his best to not disrupt the timeline.Then he meets a 21 year old Bucky Barnes. --- A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affected the relationship.

7. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve ever written?

Does *wanting* to write crossovers count? lol I want, so badly, to do more crossovers and fusions (which...are kinda deeper versions of crossovers in a way). The only one I do have posted is a crossover between Highlander and Torchwood -

The Immortal Mr. Jones A series of vignettes (some long, some short) in the life of the newly immortal Ianto Jones. My most ambitions project that I have been working on since late 2011/early 2012 is a fusion of the Avengers with Stephen King’s the Stand. I will get that done at some point *shakes fist*  The Stand, for those who don’t know it, is an epic 1000+ page novel about a flu epidemic (I know) that wipes out over 99% of the population and then two figures representing Good and Evil pull the survivors in two directions for a showdown. So basically it’s a non-powered modern AU set in that universe. It’s a passion and comfort project. lol

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yes. Well, minor bitching back when I was in a prior fandom because I tagged a pairing in a fic but it was pre-slash and not labeled as pre-slash. I got hate on...I think it was Torch Song? And I’ve gotten hate on tumblr re me and my fic in general as well. Fandom! *jazz hands* Oh! And I’ve also been hit by those reviewers within Winterhawk (among general Clint pairings actually) who like rate you on either number scales or the “meh” scale. Which isn’t hate exactly but...it’s passive aggressive bullshit because I can’t believe none of them realize at this point that the authors can see their bookmarks - you know?

9. Do you write smut?

Yes. Do I write it well? I have no idea. lol

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I am aware of. Well...there was, I think, one of those reposting sites that had a few fics on it but I don’t think it was being passed off as someone else’s? I can’t quite recall. It’s why I have a note on AO3 about reposting my work anyway.

11. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not entirely, but sort of. Let me explain - I am part of a PBEM game; which for those unfamiliar since it’s a term that was most heavily in use 15-20 years ago, in which you basically do a round robin type writing thing but rather than everyone writing the same characters you write your own characters and you play off what other people have done. Another way of looking at it is  it’s basically DnD without dice and written down rather than done out loud. You also don’t have to all be around at the same time. It’s a lot of fun and yes I have been in it for 20 years even though there aren’t many of us left but they are some of my dearest friends and fabulous writers. Wins all around.  One of the other writers and I have actually toyed with the idea of doing a co-written fic actually, mostly because we work super well together and keep getting ideas for things but can’t really do them as rpgs since the pbem style isn’t used much anymore.

12. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Winterhawk probably. Though, let’s be real - Han & Leia are epic and amazing as are John & Delenn (from Babylon 5).

13. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Does wanting to expand The Black Stallion books as a wee child count? lol Not much of that was written save for world building ideas but there was a great oral tradition of telling stories to my friends. Otherwise...maybe a tie between Star Wars and Highlander. Star Wars was a love since I was super young but the writing bug didn’t hit me until around the same time Highlander was a thing as well.

14. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? You rearrange me till I’m sane for sure. Though Torch Song, if it were finished, would be tied I imagine (I suck at picking favorites). Honorable mention to Puck Luck and Indelible. Tagging: I have seen this like a million times (okay 5) so I feel like everyone has been tagged already that I know. But...I guess... @vexbatch @crazycatt71 @heartonfirewrites and @disruptedvice sorry if anyone has been tagged before.

[darkenedreaper]

Mission: Avenge

Natasha Romanoff x reader, Tony Stark x reader, Avengers x reader.

Warnings: depression, bad thoughts.

I made a few changes that didn’t happen in the film because I can.

Part 1/?

It was about a year after the second snap, resulting in Thanos and his army dusting away, while bringing everyone back into the world. It was also a year after your bestfriend, whom you loved, had told you to let her go and your other bestfriend who had been told to rest now. Steve had moved on, however back it time to love with Peggy, who he was now happily married too. It was awful to not see Cap around but with the help of Scott, he had developed a time watch. Letting Cap come back to the now, not affected by age at all, which could also carry Peggy Carter Rogers along. Clint had long gone back to his family on his farm happily watching the kids grow. Sam and Bucky has found an apartment, Thor, surprisingly, had gone back to Asgard to make a change. Bruce already had a home, often making appearances on social media with his fans doing some sort of silly pose. Pepper and Morgan remained at the lake house, as they had frequent visits from Happy, and now newly wed couple Wanda and Vision. After she had him back, she didn’t let go off him. The two together made daily visits to Pietros grave, he was at peace. Peter was still doing his part for what was left of S.H.I.E.l.D. Maria often kept in touch whilst Nick has gone to live happily ever after with his wife, yet still managed to pop up anyway. Carol had gone to another planet, Wakanda was back to its old self only more closer. Story short, everyone had moved on. Then. There was you. The one who had sat at the compound day after day, night after night. Every hour since the new compound had been built. You’d changed. You were mentally scarred, and physically, due to the slice that went down your side from one of Thanos’ bitches. You had gotten colder, more and more closed off, you’d be irritated by the slightest thing, and what made it worse was that everybody had gone back to normality. Of course, Pepper missed her husband terribly, and Morgan didn’t want to grow up without a father but had no choice. And Clint missed his best friend. Every hour you were sat at your desk, studying, typing, calculating, adding, multiplying. The whole lot. To see if there was some way to bring back Tony and Natasha.

Natasha. She was your world. She was the reason why for 5 years you pushed on, helping the woman, reassuring her, holding her, combing her hair, whispering sweet nothings in her ear. You were why she could cry to you, take her frustrations out on you. Why she knew what love was. All she did for the world and yet there wasn’t one thousandth of a thank you for her. From the team? Tears were shed, a bench was thrown across a lake and that was it. But by you, you mourned every night, getting to the point where you would just cry and cry then fall asleep. And sometimes you wished you wouldn’t wake up, so you could be with her and Tony instead. It was a new discovery of yours that you loved walking in the rain as it hid the tears that fell from your sad, lifeless eyes. You had walked this path for the last year, leading to a spot where it had been designed for memorials for heros. You had a headstone written for her, a rose was placed on the ground in front of the headstone for everyday she left. You knelt down and frowned, your hood was up but your face was soaking. Perhaps from your tears.

Natalia Alianova Romanova

A hero, a bestfriend, a beautiful rose.

Not a killer.

1984-2023

[magdaclaire]

20!!!!!

20. “I’ve been waiting all my life for you.”

Thank you for the prompt!

Read it on ao3.

Enjoy!

bonus prompt added: 

Natalia Romanova met her soulmate when she was nine years old. She didn’t say a single word, didn’t even react; she wasn’t sure which one of them would be killed if the Red Room had any idea of their connection, and as much as she would rather it have been her, her lack of surety was enough to have her swaying.

They were already working on making more Winter Soldiers anyway.

Her Yasha speaks to her slowly when she’s young, barely able to keep coherent sentences sliding between his teeth with all that they have stolen the words right out of his mouth. His Russian is slanted, like he speaks a different tongue first and hers second, but she doesn’t mind. It’s calming in a way things shouldn’t have to be for a young Widow, and a Widow she will be. Yasha watches her kill a man - not her first - and still does not think she is a monster. Or, perhaps they are monsters together. Perhaps he is the perfect kind of monster to wrap around her own and create something safe. Perhaps that is the only kind of soulmate someone like her is meant to have. 

She does not always see him. The first time, she was nine. She does not see him again until she is fifteen, until she has killed her own kind with her own hands and shed no tears over it, only more blood, and Yasha still understands her. He is more vacant again, but he still knows her. 

“How could I ever forget about you, little spider?” 

He, even as he is more parts monster than they have made her yet, treats her like spun glass. He is careful when she needs it and harsh when she demands it, and she doesn’t see him again until she’s twenty. She feels empty without him, but she feels empty anyway because she is empty. Of course she is. 

She spends a week with him before he’s gone again. 

She does not miss him. She cannot afford to. She begins being called Natasha and moves on. 

When she’s twenty-five, she thinks, a man named Clint Barton is assigned to end her life. She knows that he is coming for her, but she does not avoid him nearly so much as she should. She’s very tired for such a young woman, shopkeepers in the village she’s staying in will say, smiling at her beatifically and giving her discounts on produce that she has not earned. She smiles back anyway, an engineered sort of thing that no spy would believe in, and she waits for Clint Barton to find her. 

He is not what she is expecting. 

Once, she had thought all good men were like Yasha. Clint Barton is nothing like Yasha, but he is still a good man. 

“Your clothes are soaked, Widow, let’s get you inside,” Clint Barton says, dusting snow off of her shoulders as if it is a perfectly reasonable thing to do, touching a Black Widow. The Hawkeye is perhaps two years her senior, old enough to have an expectation of rational thought leveled onto his shoulders, but still no evidence of such a pattern of behavior. Natasha narrows her eyes but allows herself to be guided into a safe house that has appeared rundown this entire time, but enters into something quite high tech for the small village. Clint Barton sets her down on a couch that is likely older than she is before offering her some of his own clothing, as much as it will hang off of her frame. She is likely a foot shorter than Clint Barton. 

It does not appear to matter. 

Clint Barton does not kill her. He does not torture her for information she does not have, he does not take her anywhere without her consent, he doesn’t even knock her out to force her into silence. Natasha feels strangely and suddenly out of her depth when introduced to Nick Fury, Phil Coulson and Maria Hill, but they do not appear to dislike her. They fear what she can do, and they are irritated with Clint Barton for bringing her in (and she would kill them for harming even a single hair on his head, she would swear fealty of it), but they do not dislike her. Phil Coulson gets creases around his eyes and welcomes her into the field kids, as if that is something that sounds remotely legitimate. 

Natasha Romanov makes her first family out of international spies. 

She thinks it might be Yasha that tries to kill her when she’s twenty seven, but she isn’t able to get close enough to check. 

Her second family comes in the form of superheroes, which is so wildly unexpected that it’s almost expected at this point. Clint is with a super villain, not by his own consent, and Natasha is going to burn Loki to death slowly, and only if no one can convince her that he needs to be kept in a box for the rest of his unnaturally long life. When she gets Clint back, she doesn’t let him out of her sight for weeks, too afraid of watching him fade away like Yasha did or getting him taken away like Phil or letting him become distant like Nick or add a layer of professionalism like Maria. Tony Stark is her friend, suddenly and violently, because he does not know how to do anything with subtlety. 

Natasha likes that about him. 

When Steve needs to find Bucky Barnes, Natasha ignores the twinges of familiarity. It does not matter that Steve’s Bucky could be her Yasha, because she will not take things from people anymore. She is no longer a thief, a destroyer of things, and Steve needs his friend more than she has ever need a soulmate. Widows need for nothing. Natasha Romanov needs for nothing. 

Sam Wilson puts an arm around her shoulders when Steve reunites with Bucky Barnes like he knows the pull of heartstrings she feels. She does not reach out for her Yasha. Even if that is exactly who Bucky Barnes is. 

Instead, she waits for months. They find Bucky Barnes again and again and again and eventually they bring him in as a team. Steve brings home his best friend to his soulmate and their friends and everything is merry, but Natasha stays away. She goes to Bed-Stuy with Clint and Sam and stays for a while, hiding between their broad shoulders and letting Lucky lay in her lap. It’s okay that Yasha doesn’t remember her. 

Widows are not meant to have soulmates. Widows are not meant to have children. Widows are not meant to connect. 

She sits with Clint and Sam and finds another family in an apartment complex in the shittiest part of Brooklyn with Kate Bishop sitting back against Natasha’s knees as they watch Dog Cops. 

Yasha comes to find her eventually. She doesn’t remember how long it has been, but he’s cut his hair. It looks almost so long as it did when he was her Yasha as a child, but it does not matter. 

“Barnes,” she greets him at the front door of the apartment she shares with Clint, standing in the way of the other inhabitants seeing Barnes or Barnes seeing very well in. He looks at her with consternation, as if she is causing him an equal amount of confusion and concern. She levels back a look that isn’t much of anything at all. 

“Natalia,” Barnes says like he’s trying it out in his mouth. Natasha feels herself pull tight like one of Clint’s bowstrings, and she waits for the arrow to fly and the string to snap back against her forearm, giving her a welt the size of a softball. Nothing comes without consequences.

 “I’ve been waiting all my life for you,” Barnes says after his requisite beats of silence, which makes Natasha still even more. 

“Oh?” she asks, willing herself not to shake. Widows have no soulmates. Widows have no weaknesses. Her Yasha looks at her with eyes that have always pierced her clean through. 

“How could I ever forget you, little spider?” he asks, this time in English, and the accent makes so much more sense without the ax of Russian cleaving through it. She blinks at him, feeling her eyes grow wet for the first time since Clint got back, and she does not stop him when he pulls her into his arms. She does not stop him when he pulls her close. 

“Yasha,” she whispers, arms resting around his neck like a necklace, like a scarf, like a noose. She is a killing thing. Yasha only pulls her closer. 

“I’m here, Talia,” he says back, and he is. He’s here. 

[notxjustxstories]

@ocmultiverse​ challenge: Sarah Jeffery

I’ve been playing around with the idea of making for Sarah Jeffery ocs since I thought of Skylar and Lyssa, and once Phoebe came to mind, there was no stopping me! OC info below the cut.

Daniella Newton, All In (Power Rangers)

Daniella grew up admiring the power rangers but wondering just why they were sent. They had to be aliens, obviously, but why come to Earth, a planet already filled with so many heroes? She finally gets a lead through her professor and heads back home to Angel Grove to research, only to fall through a quarry wall and uncover a teal coin.

Ellis Calder, The New Age (Sailor Moon)

Ellis was raised knowing there was something special about her. People in her family remembered, somehow, a time when there was life on other planets. Over time it was brushed off as just a bunch of stories, but something in Ellis told her otherwise. When a group of girls go missing in New York City, she finds herself following after, only to get caught up in the world of the sailor senshi.

Helena Archer, fic untitled as of yet (Nancy Drew)

Once Nancy’s closest friend, Helena found herself being pushed away after Nancy’s mom died. And Helena felt bad for her, sure, but you can only try to help someone so many times before you have no option but to give up. Helena moves to California to go to Berkely, but Christmastime brings her back home to her family. Unfortunately, once she comes back, something is determined to stop her from leaving- literally. She physically can’t leave Horseshoe Bay.

Ksenia Morozova, fic untitled as of yet (Marvel)

The Red Room never shut down, despite Natasha’s best efforts to destroy it after she left. As a result, Ksenia grew up hearing stories of the incredible and traitorous Natalia Romanova, an example of both everything she could be and everything she shouldn’t. But despite all the warnings against it, Ksenia couldn’t help but dream of a life outside the Red Room.

Laura Whitaker, fic untitled as of yet (Tell Me a Story)

Laura’s always been the good girl in town. Everyone knows her, everyone loves her, but one thing she keeps tightly under wraps is her narcolepsy diagnosis. She doesn’t want anyone’s pity, and she sure doesn’t want anyone to take advantage of her during an attack. But maybe the one she really needs to look out for is the one she trusts the most. Her fairytale counterpart is Snow White.

Lyssa Kent, All In (DC)

Life is pretty good on Earth in the 2030s and 40s, but when the Black Moon Clan attacks, Lyssa decides to take them on herself, even if that means going back in time to do it. She knows she’s at a disadvantage; she might be a quarter Kryptonian, but that doesn’t mean much against Chaos’s soldiers. Unless, of course, she can somehow become a sailor soldier herself. But Krypton’s been dead for decades. There’s no such thing as a Sailor Krypton, or is there?

Phoebe Rose, fic untitled as of yet (Descendants)

Auradon Prep’s resident bad girl, no one knows why Phoebe turned out so different from her perfect sister Audrey. She puts on an air of indifference and disdain, but she hears. She hears how people talk about her, how they all wish she was a perfect little show pony. But that’s not who she is. It will never be who she is. At least with a bunch of villain kids coming to school, she might get some of the pressure taken off of her.

Roxane Bisset, fic untitled as of yet (Miraculous Ladybug)

When Roxy started interning with Gabriel Agreste, she expected to learn about fashion and how to run a successful business. She did not expect to discover that her boss and his assistant were supervillains. Oh she is so filing for custody of Adrien when this is all said and done, but first, she has to figure out how the hell to save the day.

Skylar Mitchell, Charmed Hearts (Charmed)

The witch of heart never regretted her powers. She loves that she can feel the emotions of others, even in their most painful moments, but there are times when it gets to be too much. What’s the witch of heart to do when it feels like hers is breaking every day?

Waverly Jones, fic untitled as of yet (MCU)

When Waverly was 11, her older sister vanished, along with half the world’s population. They say kids shake things off fast, but she never did. Not this. She spent the next five years of her life pushing herself, trying to find a solution, a way to get her big sister back. She failed. But someone else didn’t, and now she and Michelle are the same age. So what is that supposed to mean for her, when all of her hard work was for nothing and there’s a monster attacking Venice? Well, she might not have brought her sister back, but she sure as hell did something else.

[amythecinnabunny]

Apartment 42 -- A BuckyNat AU

master and rival assassins unknowingly live together for almost a year, making sure their real jobs remain a secret from each other and everyone around them

Chapter 4

"What time do you get off work today?" James asked as he flipped a pancake. 

"Not a damn clue," Natalia grumbled, snatching the pancake out of the air without even looking. 

James stared at her as she left, munching angrily and dragging her feet back to her room to get dressed. She probably didn't even notice she'd done that.

"Then when are we going out?" James called. 

"I'll make time! I'll try to get off around five-ish!"

James nodded to himself and began planning how he was going to explain the date to Karpov. In her room, Natalia was pacing hurriedly, wondering how she was going to explain the date to Madame B. 

Simultaneously, they decided they would continue using their it's-part-of-my-cover excuse. 

Once that was decided, Natalia got ready for the day and sped out of the apartment, throwing a rushed "Bye, James!" as she sprinted through. 

He couldn't help the amused smile that crossed his lips as he heard the door swing shut.

///////////////

Around four in the afternoon, Natalia found herself crossing the courtyard with Peggy. Peggy pounded on the Jarvises front door. "Ana! Ana, open up!" 

"What?!" Ana yelled, almost pulling the door off its hinges. 

Peggy pushed Natalia in. "Tallie needs to use your facilities. Howard said he would stay in so she can go out." 

"Oh! Okay, well, you remember where everything is, right?"

"Yep." 

"Well, go on!" Peggy cried, shooing Natalia further into the house. 

"Where's Aunt Tal going?" 

The two women turned to the front door. "On a date," they said. 

"Aunt Tal has a boyfriend?" Anthony asked, eyebrows lifting.

"She's about to have one," Peggy said, grinning.

"And twenty dollars," Ana huffed. 

"Twenty dollars? For what?" 

"We bet Tallie when we went to the bar last night," Ana said, "said we'd give her twenty dollars if she went on a date with this guy." 

"Just some random guy you saw in the bar? Isn't that . . . dangerous?" 

Peggy laughed. "For Tallie? Nothing is ever dangerous! She could kill a man without even touching him."

Anthony frowned. "If you say so."

"Ana!" Natalia shrieked. 

"What?!"

"I broke the straightener! Oh, wait, nevermind. I never plugged it in." 

Peggy glanced at Ana. Ana raised her eyebrows. Peggy nodded. "I'll go keep her alive," Ana said, jogging towards her bedroom. 

"Aunt Tal's really going on a date?" 

Peggy nodded to Anthony. "Yes. Why?" 

Anthony shrugged. "She doesn't seem like the type to want to date."

"Between you and me, dear, I think she's in this for the money." 

Anthony grinned. "Can we stalk her? On her date? It's only right that we should make sure she has a good time." 

"Who's we?" Peggy scoffed. "I've got work and Ana's going out with Mr Jarvis tonight. You've got an assignment due next week, mister." 

Anthony walked further inside. "I'm calling Rhodes. Can I use your phone, Aunt Ana?"

"You are not stalking Tallie on her date, Anthony Edward Stark!" Peggy cried as Ana called an affirmative from her room.

Anthony laughed, despite Peggy pulling out the full-name card on him. He disappeared into the dining room, where Ana kept her telephone, and dialled the number to his best friend's house.

"Rhodes," he said when the call picked up, "any chance you're free tonight? We're going to stalk my aunt on her first date."

///////////////

Natalia thanked Jarvis for giving her a ride and waved him off before turning and heading into the restaurant. Smoothing down the polka dot dress she'd found stashed in the back of her closet, Natalia took a deep breath and walked in. 

This was just so she and James could make an easy ten dollars each off sweet old ladies, right? She'd done worse for less before! So what about James made this so terrifying? 

After a minute or less of searching, she found him sitting at a table and making faces at a plate of chips. 

"Did they say something nasty to you?"

"They're disgusting," James said flatly. He looked up. "Red's your colour," he added, nodding in approval.

"Thanks. Can I taste your disgusting chips?"

James pushed the plate towards her. "You can have my disgusting chips. I'm going to order the extra cheesy pizza. You want to share that or get something of your own?" 

"You know I'm broke, right? That's the whole reason we're doing this. Ten bucks each." 

"Right. Sharing it is." 

Natalia shook her head. "We should've just gone home for dinner and told them we went dancing."

"I'm pretty sure that doesn't happen on the first date," James muttered.

"James!"

He wasn't even fazed by the yell. "How are you eating that?" 

"I'm hungry, James." 

"Okay, that's fair. So, since we're out on a date, why don't you tell me something about you? What's your favourite colour?" 

"I don't have one," Natalia admitted, realising it for the first time. "You?"

James shook his head, having realised the same as soon as he asked the question.

Both found themselves caught up in the fact that their past left no room for enjoyment, no room for personal things. They were weapons, and they were always reminded of it.

///////////////

"So, are you really Russian or is your family Russian?" 

Natalia pursed her lips as she formulated her response. "I'm Russian. Kind of. I mean, I've got citizenship, so I am American, but I didn't get here til I was around sixteen or seventeen."

James frowned. "Why'd you leave? Did you come with your family?"

Natalia shrugged, rubbing her arms. "They disappeared when I was six. I don't know if they died or. . ."

"I'm sorry, Natalia," James said softly. He knew he had no experience in comforting other people, but this felt so natural to him that he couldn't do anything but stop walking and wrap his arms around her, tucking her head under his chin.

"What about you?" Natalia blurted, surprised by the hug. 

"Gone," James murmured, "I know they loved me, but I can't remember it. It's like -- it's like I don't miss them, even though I know I should."

"Life sucks sometimes, huh?" 

James glanced down at her red locks. "Not always," he whispered, leaning his head against hers and closing his eyes. 

As Natalia smiled and tightened her arms around James, she pushed away all thoughts of the Red Room and all its problems.

Both were fairly certain their handlers would have some words to say about the matter, but in that moment, neither cared. 

"TONY!" 

Natalia looked out into the street at the shout that came from the other side. She noticed the boy who was yelling into the street. He looked slightly familiar. Her gaze moved into the street. 

"ANTHONY!" 

Breaking away from James, Natalia ran into traffic without hesitation. She grabbed Anthony's wrist and pulled him into the last lane seconds before both got knocked by a car. 

Yelling in mixed languages, Natalia gave Anthony a hard shove, trusting James to grab him, before turning to pick up Anthony's brick-like cell phone and her purse. 

James stared at the teenager he held. Anthony was clearly drunk, more than most. He looked up and into the street at the sound of loud honking. 

"Nat--!"

The sound of the collision nearly stopped his heart. It startled Anthony, enough to sober him up enough that he could stand up again. Rhodes pushed through the quickly forming crowd to get to Anthony while James shoved people aside and knelt down beside Natalia. 

Someone called an ambulance.

"Nat-- Natalia? Can you hear me? Natalia?" 

She groaned and rolled her head away from the headlights of the car behind the one that had hit her. James felt as if a building had been lifted off him. She was, for the most part, okay. He didn't dare pick her up or move her, just in case she'd broken something, so he sat there and held on to the hand that closed around his. 

By the time the ambulance arrived, Anthony had sobered enough to comprehend what was going on. 

"I'm coming with! She's my aunt!" 

The paramedic looked at James, who had already claimed to be Natalia's boyfriend. James glanced at Anthony. He nodded to the paramedic. 

"I'll meet you there," Rhodes said, "call me and let me know, okay?" 

Anthony nodded and accepted James's hand into the back of the ambulance. Neither said a word to each other, not until they were left in the waiting room. 

"It's my fault. If I hadn't been out there in the street, she wouldn't have been there to get me." 

James wasn't sure what the right response was. His own head was still reeling from his own reaction to Natalia getting hit. So he chose a logical path. "Shouldn't you call you parents?"

Anthony scoffed. "Like it'll matter. But yeah, I should call home." 

"Got a phone?" James asked, holding out a few coins and gesturing to the payphone in the lobby. Now why was he being kind to the kid?

"No, it's fine. I've got mine. She managed to pick it off the street." Anthony waved James away and stood up. He paced the waiting room as he held his phone to his ear. 

"Aunt Peg? It's Anthony. Uh, Aunt Tal got into an accident. She-- okay. Oh, listen! Don't bring my father." 

Anthony lowered his arm and stared at the wall. He dropped his head and sighed. 

"It's not your fault, you know," James said.

"It feels like it is." 

"I know." 

Anthony shuffled over and sat down next to James. When a frazzled Peggy stumbled into the waiting room, Jarvis, Ana and Maria hot on her heels, Anthony was asleep with his head in James's lap, while James slept sitting in the chair.

///////////////

It was agony. The pain spread from somewhere on her right. She wasn't sure exactly where. 

"Romanova!" Madame B yelled, "hold still!" 

Natalia could not keep completely still. She writhed on the rickety bed as a doctor and several nurses worked to remove the bullet without further injuries. 

"The scientist," she rasped, "is he alive?" 

"No, Natalia." 

Natalia shied away from the hand on her head. Madame B never used her students' first names. Madame B was not a mother. Madame B did not mean anything good when she offered comfort or spoke in a motherly tone. Given that she was held down by the nurses and still had a gaping bullet wound in her side, Natalia could not run from whatever punishment she was bound to receive. 

Madame B placed her hand on Natalia's head again. Natalia squeezed her eyes shut, awaiting the worst. When Madame B made no movement aside from the small circles she made on Natalia's forehead with her thumb, the recent graduate stilled. Her attention off her wound, the doctor found it much easier to begin stitches. 

"We didn't know he was active," Madame B said softly. "We thought it would be a simple extraction. You performed brilliantly, Natalia." 

"Who was he?" Natalia forced herself to say, keeping her eyes shut. 

"They call him the Winter Soldier. He is Hydra. He is . . . he is the best. A ghost story, Natalia. He has a hundred percent accuracy and is successful in one hundred percent of his missions." Madam B paused. Her thumb halted briefly before continuing the small circles. "Until tonight." 

"What. . ." Natalia stammered for a moment, unsure what her question was. She opened her eyes and watched Madame B.

"What does this mean?" 

Natalia nodded.

"Well, Natalia, it means you've passed." 

A frown scrunched up Natalia's face. "I've already graduated." 

"No. You've completed your training. Graduated our programme. This means you've passed any test we could set for you."

"But . . . the scientist, he--"

"Your task was to obtain his research and thereafter dispose of him. You have delivered and come within an inch of your life in doing so. Natalia, you must understand the feat you have accomplished. No target has ever escaped the Winter Soldier. Ever. He was bred to perfection. The Red Room has lost a good number of incredible agents against him. Never have we sent a graduate against him. Never has one of ours come back from going up against him. You are the first person in history to survive the Winter Soldier. You are perfect." 

Natalia lay still, distantly aware of the needle piercing her skin. Her mind buzzed with the words she heard. Still dazed by the blood loss, Natalia could not properly comprehend everything.

"You will be our face, Natalia. You will be the Black Widow."

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Masterpost

[starker-stories]

An Accord (WIS), Chapter 3

I’ll be re-creating my individual chapter posts for An Accord over here on the blog that replaces starkerstories. Until I hit the current chapter, I’ll be posting daily. They’ll have links to both tumblr and AO3 chapter links. I’m sorry if that bothers people who’ve seen this all before in the tag. I’m content to leave all my other fic as AO3 only, but this is my current favorite child, so I’m spoiling it rotten.

Just because I suck and I can... @starker-stories the writer formerly known as ;) starkerstories. Here I am. 

This fic is on a weekly update schedule. Hopefully every Friday. More chapters may appear sooner if the writing is going well. Because I have 0 self-control.

Tumblr Chapter Links: ch1, ch2, ch3, ch4, ch5, ch6, ch7, ch8, ch9, ch10, ch11, ch12, ch13 AO3 Chapter Links: ch1, ch2, ch3, ch4, ch5, ch6, ch7, ch8, ch9, ch10, ch11, ch12, ch13

Tags: Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Anal Sex, Oral Sex, Polyamory Negotiations, Polyamory, Cheating, Past Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Domestic Nightmare Tony Stark, Reconciliation, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, WinterIronSpider, Happy Ending, Clothed Sex, Domesticity, Peter Parker is legal age in the state of New York, College Student Peter Parker, Takes place about 2 years after Civil War. Closeted Character

Summary: “Russian naming convention. Natalia Romanova. Natasha Romanoff. Or Ms. Widow, to you kid.” Bucky grinned. “She’ll die when I tell her that.” ——————————————————————————————

Chapter 3:  Colonel Flappy-coat

“You shouldn’t let me make you miss so much class,” Tony said, rolling over and nuzzling the spot behind Peter’s ear.

“You’re lucky I don’t take advantage of the fact that while we’re still not completely out about our relationship, every one of my professors knows that I’m Iron Man’s boyfriend. Because Tony fucking Stark told them as he signed the checks to fund their departments.”

Tony laughed. “What’s the point of being a billionaire if you can’t embarrass your boyfriend with it? As soon as you’re legal…”

“I’m legal now, Tony.”

“…in all fifty states, I will be more than happy to sing it from the roof of my tower that you are my beautiful boyfriend who puts up with far more from me than he should ever have to.”

“Do you think Bucky’s okay up at HQ?” Peter asked.

Tony brought out his phone and checked. “Company helicopter picked him up here, he flew himself there, he’s been in with Fury for almost three hours. So, no, he’s not okay. He’s been in a room with Nick Fury for three hours.”

“We should pick him up.”

“The helicopter’s there with him. We could take mine, though. Leave the other to self-pilot home.”

“I thought yours was the only one that could…” Peter rolled his eyes when he saw the way Tony was looking at him. “Can you not tinker with anything that comes within a thousand yards of you?” he asked rhetorically, giggling.

“Nope. Impossible. Didn’t you hear the story about how I upgraded a reporter’s phone just by glaring at it one day?”

“That was awesome. There’s evidence!”

“Of course there is. Who do you think ’shopped the evidence?”

“FRIDAY,” Peter said confidently. “You are the laziest computer genius in the world.”

“FRIDAY does things she can do; I do things she can’t. A more effective use of my time. Which leaves me more time to do this…”

“Not if we’re going to pick Bucky up from HQ,” Peter said, putting his hand up between them.

“Why am I doing that instead of fucking my beautiful boyfriend?”

“Because we’re rescuing him from Nick Fury.”

Tony sighed. “You had to go invoke that name and kill the mood. All right.”

~~~~~

“Do I have your attention, Sergeant Barnes?” Nick Fury asked, noticing Bucky staring out the window.

“No.”

“No?”

“No. The helicopter I flew here in just lifted off. Without a pilot.”

“You get used to that sort of thing when Stark’s around.”

“He’s not around though.”

“If his helicopter just took off, he will be. Now, about Korea… Would you mind not gawping at every technological wonder Stark pulls out of his ass? His ego doesn’t need the polish,” Fury said.

Bucky gawped at the larger helicopter landing, also pilotless. That time he saw Peter and Tony get out of the passenger area though. He smiled.

“I can see that we’re done for the day.”

“Sorry sir.”

“Go on,” Fury said disgusted at Bucky’s distraction.

“They think they’re fooling people,” he muttered under his breath as he stood, watching Tony and Peter head toward the main door.

“No,” Bucky said, smiling. “They just don’t give a fuck.”

~~~~~

“I’ll be back in a minute, baby,” Tony said, putting a kiss on Peter’s head when they met Bucky in the entrance.

“You look like you needed rescuing,” Peter said smiling. He took Bucky’s hand and held it briefly. “How are you holding up?”

“It’s fine. What I expected. More pleasant, actually.”

“With Nick Fury?” Peter said disbelieving.

“He’s professional. Calm. There’s an obvious agenda, but it’s obvious. He has a less obvious agenda naturally, but it’s obvious as well. I see why Tony insisted he handle my debrief.”

“Tony says Fury scares the shit out of him.”

Bucky chuckled. “You believe him?”

“Of course not,” Peter said. “But I let him think I do.” He paused. “I know the things that scare him.”

“I’m one of those things,” Bucky said.

Peter nodded. “He doesn’t want you to be though. I believe him on that.”

“Everyone here knows you’re together,” Bucky said, changing the subject.

“We’re not exactly subtle,” Peter giggled.

“I thought you were trying to keep your relationship quiet.”

“From the press. I’m still not legal age in a lot of states. If it got out of the small circle of people — Avengers, Tony’s personal staff, our friends and family — it… wouldn’t be great,” Peter said understating it. “When I turn eighteen, we’ll come completely out then. People will still talk and everyone will know that we started before. But there’ll be nothing that can be done about it.” He looked at Bucky sideways. “It doesn’t bother you? It bothers everyone. Even people who are our friends.”

“Peter, with my past… Is he hurting you? No. All right. Then he’s already a million miles above things that I have done to people younger than you.”

“Not you.”

Bucky sighed. “Maybe not, but my body did them.”

“Do you want to talk to someone about it?” Peter asked gently.

“Like a head shrinker?” Bucky scoffed. “What shrink is going to understand me?”

“Yeah. I get it. Hi. I can lift seventy tons and not break a sweat. I can literally feel my broken bones knitting back together. And I have trouble sleeping.”

Bucky laughed. “We’re not exactly couch material, any of us in this building, I don’t think.”

“This is true. There are some in the medical department here that try, but… even if they’re in on the whole secret identity thing, they just don’t know. And that’s just dealing with the superhero part. Not the whole… I was a secret assassin whose brain got regularly put into a blender for seventy years. Oh! I probably shouldn’t have said that.”

“No,” Bucky said, trying to keep from laughing so hard. “You should’ve. You definitely should’ve. You have no idea what it’s like when everyone around you is tiptoeing around…” He caught Peter grinning. “Of course you know. All three of us know.”

He paused for a long time. “You know, Tony’s right. You do got some wisdom about you, kid.”

“What this time?” Peter said smiling softly. It was something he and Tony knew, but no one else understood. Age didn’t have anything to do with it. They understood each other. There were things Tony understood and Peter didn’t. There were things Peter understood and Tony didn’t. And there were things they both understood. Age was experiences and maturity. Age had nothing to do with understanding.

“What you told me last night. Comparing… pain. The number of pains doesn’t matter, really. Because when you’re in the middle of one… it’s just as bad as the other guy’s is. No matter what the count. Counting just makes you hate yourself. Either you don’t think you have the right to feel that way because others have it worse…” Peter sighed and nodded. “…Or the weight of it is…” Bucky closed his eyes. When he opened them, he looked at the ceiling before looking at Peter again. “…It’s incomprehensible. When you start comparing, the spiral of hating yourself never ends.”

Peter reached across on the bench they were sharing and touched his fingertips to Bucky’s metal ones. Bucky started to pull away. Peter put his whole hand over the back of Bucky’s.

“People don’t touch me there,” he said quietly.

“Why?”

“It frightens them.”

“Huh. Really?”

“I suppose.”

“Can you feel it?”

Bucky tilted his head to the side and looked at Peter.

“Can you?” Peter asked again.

“No one’s ever asked. Not even Steve.”

“Really?” Peter’s eyes went wide. “Well, can you?”

Bucky nodded. “It’s not the same though.”

“I wouldn’t think so. The neural net would have to be totally different. Even this one that you got in Wakanda, it can’t interface with what isn’t there. It has to interface through the nerves of your shoulder… It does interface there, right?” Peter asked.

Bucky nodded. “Through my shoulder.”

“Tony’s latest suit that he's working on will interface directly to his mind. He'll think ‘do something’ and it will. Nerves don’t have to be there.”

Bucky paused. “How do you know how my arm works?”

“Data mining. Tony backdoored into Fury’s system, like, ages ago. JARVIS ran the program.”

“JARVIS is Vision now.”

“Uh… yeah mostly. Anyway, Tony got everything. What he didn’t was in the files Ms. Widow released…”

Bucky laughed quietly. “Ms. Widow? Does Romanova know you call her that?”

“No. I haven’t seen her since Berlin. It just didn’t seem right for me to call her…” Peter smiled. “She’s amazing and so… Wait. Romanova? I thought it was Romanoff.”

“Russian naming convention. Natalia Romanova. Natasha Romanoff. Or Ms. Widow, to you kid.” Bucky grinned. “She’ll die when I tell her that.”

“You know her? I mean… Yeah, of course… It just sounded…”

“I was her weapons trainer in Russia,” Bucky explained. “We went on missions together. Another me, another her.”

“Anyway,” Peter changed the subject, “whatever Fury knows, Tony knows, which means FRIDAY knows, which means Tony thinks I don’t know, except I think he really does know that I know…”

“Planning on coming round to your point anytime soon, Pete?”

“Fuck. How long has he been there?” Peter asked Bucky.

“Long enough to know that FRIDAY and I need to have a talk about you,” Tony said.

“Yeah, but what are you going to do about JARVIS’ air-gapped source matrix who tells me how to break into FRIDAY?”

“Will you shut the hell up, kid?” Tony said in a warning whisper. “Did you not just see Mr. Flappy-coat walk by here a few moments ago?”

“Wouldn’t that be Colonel Flappy-coat?” Bucky asked.

“Hush. Say his name three times and he appears,” Peter warned.

“That would be Beetlejuice, Parker,” Fury said. “Barnes? Ten a.m. tomorrow morning. I have business elsewhere, Hill will handle your next debrief.”

“Yes sir,” Bucky said, standing.

“Jesus fucking Christ, pretty, if you salute him…”

Fury raised his eyebrow at Tony’s nickname for Barnes.

“You don’t salute a retired officer in civilian clothes, Tony.”

“But standing’s a nice touch,” Fury said as he and his flappy-coat left the building.

~~~~~

Bucky started to climb into the cockpit of the helicopter.

“Flies itself,” Tony said. “Unless you’re particularly in the mood,” he added with a shrug.

“Habit,” Bucky said sheepishly and climbed into the passenger compartment with Tony and Peter.

They sat in awkward silence until Bucky finally broke it. “Will you be reviewing everything I say to Fury?”

“Directly? No. FRIDAY will be. I don’t really care if you killed JFK or if that’s a rumor.”

“Not a rumor,” Bucky said, staring out the window.

“So?” Tony said dismissively. “There are things she knows I’m interested in. Anything to do with Stark. Anything to do with the Avengers or enhanced individuals. A bit of financial data here and there.” Peter looked at him sideways. Tony shrugged. “All that,” he said, nodding towards the Avengers compound shrinking in the distance, “doesn’t pay for itself. It’s only insider trading if you get caught. I don’t.”

“About Steve?”

“I could lie, but I don’t. Yes, about Rogers. Past and present. Do I care about his current location? I care more about what happened on the Grassy Knoll. But I will not be blindsided by him again. I stopped giving a damn about him when he left me for dead in Siberia.”

“We left you. You were alive.”

“Only one of you was walking under his own steam. You went where he brought you. Away from me, which was sensible at the time. But this?” Tony tapped his arc reactor. “Not a fuckin’ night light. The shield cracked through the suit’s RT, through the sapphire-glass, and left the coils damaged. FRIDAY was busy trying to decide which was more important, keeping my heart functioning or keeping me from dying of hypothermia.” Tony’s anger and voice rose as he spoke.

“I didn’t know,” Peter gasped. “You were fine when you brought me home from Berlin.”

“I called a new suit with a replacement arc reactor. Which drained the shattered one in me more. But even at Mach 7, it takes over an hour to get from New York to Siberia. Long time to be lying there at sub-zero while your heart is deciding whether or not it wants to keep going for a little while longer. Not that Rogers gave a damn.”

“I didn’t know,” Bucky said, repeating Peter. “Steve said you had it removed.”

“I did. Steve also knew that I had to have it put back when smaller pieces of shrapnel started moving, broken off when Doctor Wu removed the larger ones. He was very aware of what an attack here,” Tony touched the arc again, “would do.”

“I was trying to power down your suit,” Bucky said quietly. “Not kill you.”

“From my perspective, it looked like you were. Rogers could’ve told you. He could’ve told us both a lot of things. He didn’t. So yeah… I’m going to be picking your debrief over for things about him.” Tony took several steadying breaths and tried to hide the fact that his hand dropped to the seat, seeking Peter’s. Which it found.

“I’m not going after him, Bucky. He can stay gone. If he walks through those doors?” He nodded again in the direction of the compound, which had faded from sight. “I’m not sure I can operate under his command. That’s disingenuous. I’m sure I can’t operate under his command. I’ll go back to being a consultant to the Avengers and to being Iron Man. Two very separate things.

“Things are complicated. I don’t want them to be, but they are. I have issues over who you are and… who you’re not. You’ve got issues over me and Rogers about this. It’s not going to resolve in a day or two. I know that. But the fact that you’re sitting here, of all places?” Tony nodded. “It’s a hell of a lot more responsibility for… things… than he’s taken. I can respect that.”

“That you opened the elevator door given everything… I can respect that as well.”

“That’s something to start from,” Tony said.

“And it always ends with what are you going to feed me?” Peter said. “Spider metabolism, remember? We slept in. No breakfast. We flew upstate. No lunch. Are you trying to starve me?”

“I’ll cook. You have an entire grocery store in your cupboards, Tony,” Bucky said, shaking his head in disbelief.

“The Depression was almost a century ago.” Tony rolled his eyes.

“For some people in this helicopter it was about fifteen years ago. I’ll cook.”

“Billionaire, remember? I’ll order in.”

“What do you do with the food in your house?”

“He mostly burns it,” Peter cheerfully offered.

[chicklette]

Final (full) chapter of my ode to @frostbitebakery’s flawless art.  I made the story.  The glory belongs to her.

Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3

When Bucky is thirty-two, he recognizes that probably won’t ever move on with his life, and he’s making his peace with it.  He runs cold - colder than any warm blooded man has a right to, and he has terrible dreams now - dreams where he’s trapped in ice or lost in the snow, dreams where everything around him is an eerie shade of blue.

He gets it - his soulmate froze to death in the space of a week, lost to the Atlantic, never to be found again.  It’s horrible.  When Bucky thinks about it, it’s horrible.

So he knows that’s why he’s having the dreams.  Doesn’t make it okay, but he understands at least.

And maybe the world needed someone to truly mourn Steve Rogers, actual human being, versus mourning the loss of Captain America.  Bucky doesn’t know the reasons, he just knows that he’s fallen flat every time he’s tried to move on, and he’s done with trying.  He loves Steve, and he always will.  There are plenty of folks who never move on from losing their soulmate.

Still, idle hands all that.  

So he spends a lot of time at the center with Sam.  At present, he leads one of the groups on new loss and grief, and another on making the choice not to date.  He’s comfortable with his choices.  He knows his family would like to see him at least try dating again, but Bucky can’t seem to convince himself that dating would be fair to anyone, not the way things are now.  

He’s made his peace with his lot in life.

Bucky heads home from work, having upgraded to a third-floor walk up with two actual rooms and plenty of windows for natural light.  As he opens the door, there’s a chirrup and Binx comes hurtling toward him, a little black ball of fuzz with great green eyes.

“Hello,” Bucky says, bending down to meet her little headbutt.  She meows more and more, and Bucky answers.  He tells her about the new  nano tech that Tony Stark has invented, and how excited he is to play with it, and Binx, well, he imagines she’s telling him about a bird that landed on the balcony, or maybe the fierce battle she had with her toy mouse.  

“Tell me all about it,” Bucky says, and Binx meows, meeps, and chirrups, leaving Bucky feeling delighted.  He refills her food bowl and checks her water fountain, and she follows along, never letting Bucky out of her sight.  

When he’s done, they go to the living room, where Bucky pulls out her toy basket and and sits down to play with her.  When she’s had enough, Binx crawls into Bucky’s lap, rolls over to show her belly and purrs.

In truth, Bucky credits a lot of his recovery - because that’s what it feels like, so that’s what he calls it - to Binx.  By the time Sam found him in that alley, he’d been wracked with sobs, trying hard not to shake too much, so that he didn’t disturb the cat. When Sam gently pulled Bucky to his feet, Bucky set the cat down and tried to walk away, but Binx wasn’t having it.  She leaped up into Bucky’s arms, sat herself on his shoulder and purred very loudly into his ear.

“Looks like you got yourself a cat, man,” Sam said.

“I don’t...I - Yeah.  I guess so.” (It should be noted that he did post fliers and ads, and he took her to a vet to see if she had a chip.  He wasn’t going to just steal someone’s cat, geez, Sam.)

Since then, even on days when all Bucky wants to do is lay in bed and feel sorry for himself, he still has to get up to take care of Binx.  The first time she woke him from a nightmare by laying on his chest and purring loudly, Bucky chalked it up to coincidence.  However, after it happened three, four, five times, he began to think that maybe there was something there.  

Regardless, he adores the little black cat, and she seems to love him right back.

He’s watching her leap through the air, going after a feathered mouse that Bucky was launching.  Most of the time she’d catch it and bring it back for him to throw again.  It’s a fun game, but his mind is wandering toward dinner when the phone rings.

Bucky considers letting it go to voicemail when he doesn’t recognize the number, but then remembers that he’d given his number out to a couple of guys at group, so he answers.

“Barnes,” he says.

“Mr. Barnes?  This is Phil Coulson.  We have - that is, there’s a - would it be possible for you to come to our headquarters?”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“There’s been - I’m sorry, I can’t explain more over the phone.”

A moment later, there’s a knock on Bucky’s door.  Answering, he finds a big man in a nice suit looking at him from behind sunglasses and holding up a badge.  The ID says SHIELD.  

“Agent Coulson sent me,” the man says. “We’re ready to transport you to HQ.”

“Did you - there’s a guy here,” Bucky says.

“Oh, oh excellent.  Rodney will accompany you.”

“What the hell is going on?” Bucky asks.

There’s a quiet pause on the phone, and Coulson speaks again.  “I’m sorry,” he starts.  “I can’t tell you anything over the phone.  Your line isn’t secure.  If you’ll come to headquarters, I’ll explain everything, but please, come now?”

Bucky’s feeling suspicious, but also - God - is it hopeful?  He’s feeling hopeful?  Whatever it is, it’s unexpected.

He wants to say no.  He has no doubt that whatever is going on is going to set his recovery back, no question about it.  

But he also knows that if he doesn’t go, the curiosity will plague him.  He’s fucked either way.

Locking up, Bucky follows Rodney out into the hall.  When Bucky heads to the staircase, Rodney taps his arm.  

“This way, please, Mr. Barnes.  We have a helicopter the roof.”

“A helicopter,” he repeats, stunned.  

With a touch to Bucky’s elbow, Rodney reminds him that they need to get moving.  Bucky follows him up the staircase.  

Bucky’s not sure what’s going on, and as he wonders, he realizes he’s getting warm.  True, he’s walking up several flights of stairs, but then, he does that every day anyway.  When he grabs the banister, his fingers tingle with warmth.  

“What the…?”  He stops, touches his fingers to his face, and he feels warm all over, warmer than he’s felt in years now.

“Oh, god,” he says, holding tight to the banister, then leaning against the wall.  “Oh, god.  You found his body, didn’t you?”

.

As the helicopter lands at SHIELD headquarters, Bucky watches as Phil Coulson crosses the landing pad to meet them.

As soon as the door’s open and the headphones are off, Bucky’s in his face.  

“You found his body.  Is that why I’m here?  You found...you found….”  Taking another steadying breath, Bucky leans down, hands on his knees.  

“Mr. Barnes, please, if you would just come with me.”

Coulson places a steadying hand on Bucky’s arm, and Bucky straightens and follows him, head spinning. The SHIELD office are neat and spacious.  When they get on the elevator, Bucky’s surprised when it greets him.

“Barnes, James Buchanan.  Welcome to SHIELD.”

Bucky gives Phil a questioning look, but Phil just smiles his Mona Lisa smile.  

“Mr. Coulson, all due respect, but what the hell is going on?”

“Just a few more minutes,” he says, and then leans forward as the elevator requests a retinal scan.

“Security level seven access denied.  This floor is for authorized personnel only,” the elevator says.  “Mr. Barnes is not authorized.”

“Override protocols,” Coulson says.  “Authority: Fury, Nicholas J.”

There’s a pause before the elevator says, “Protocol override approved by Fury, Nicholas J.”

Just then, the elevator doors open and Bucky is taken into a small conference room with a very large screen. There are a couple of other people at the table:  a beautiful woman with her dark hair up in a twist and a quiet aura of strength; a black man in a leather trench coat with a patch over one eye, and a redhead who looks like...it’s just that she kind of looks like….

“Holy shit you’re the Black Widow,” Bucky says, unable to contain himself.

He leans back against the door, trying to steady himself.  Whatever is going on, it’s big.  There is no way they’re gonna let him in a room with the Black Widow of all people if it isn’t something big.

“Have a seat,” the black man says.  The brunette woman tosses a file folder his way, and Bucky takes it, opening it to see a stack of papers littered with little yellow “sign here” post-its.  He looks up at Coulson.

“Mr. Barnes, this is Director Fury,” Coulson says, indicating the man with the patch, “Maria Hill, and, I believe you recognized Miss Natalia Romanova.”

“Mr. Barnes,” Fury says, and Bucky finds himself straightening up at the sound, like a kid caught daydreaming in class.  “The information that we are about to share with you is highly classified.”  

Bucky nods.  “Go on.”

Two hours later, Bucky’s still in a state of shock.  What they’re talking about isn’t possible, but he’s looking at the proof: Steve Rogers lays in a hospital bed, his breathing deep and even.  

He’s dressed in soft pants and a t-shirt that’s maybe just a little too small.  Bucky doesn’t want to think about someone handling him - dressing or undressing him, not while he was so vulnerable.

He’s - Christ, he’s beautiful.  

His long lashes lay against his cheek, tipped in blonde so light they almost disappear.  There’s color in his face, his cheeks are a little flushed, his bottom lip is plump and red.  Bucky wonders whether the room is too warm for Steve, but Bucky feels fine, so he lets it go.  Otherwise, Steve’s skin is pale, but not unnaturally so.

Fury asked Bucky if he felt anything different, anything strange.  The doctors said they couldn’t detect any brain damage, but they also couldn’t believe that anyone could survive for as long as Steve had without it.

Bucky doesn’t know what to expect.  He’s trying to think of how to introduce himself when Steve’s breathing picks up.  

He watches as Steve comes awake, blinking once, twice, before sitting up and looking around.

The room is modern but sparse.  Director Fury suggested mocking the room up to look like it was still 1945, but Bucky rejected the idea.  Steve’s a smart man.  Any pretense will impair their trust from the beginning.

Steve’s looking down at himself, then around the room again, before his eyes land on Bucky.

He stares, squinting a little and looking confused.  Bucky’s just about to say something when Steve speaks.

“Bucky?”

Bucky can’t fight the smile, or the tears that wet his eyes on hearing Steve say his name.  “You know me?” he asks.

“You’re Bucky.  You’re...how do I know you?”

Nodding, Bucky looks away, swallowing hard against the lump in his throat.  

“Where am I?” Steve asks, and this one, Bucky can answer.

“New York - Manhattan actually.  In a SHIELD facility.  Ahm, I guess you used to know it as the SSR? They’re not called that anymore, now they’re SHIELD, and don’t ask me what that stands for, because, buddy I have no idea.”

Steve takes a deep breath, then takes another look around.  Bucky watches as Steve notices the decor, the materials that everything is made of.  His eyes flick over the keypad entry to the next room, then flick back, studying it for a moment.

He turns to look at Bucky again.  “When am I?”

Dipping his head down, Bucky scratches the back of his neck.  It’s not that he feels sorry for Steve, but Christ, how the hell is he supposed to explain this?

“What do you last remember?”

Steve sits up straighter and presses his lips flat, and it’s that fight me stance that Bucky is so, so fond of.

“The Valkyrie.  I had to bring her down.”  His words are resolute.

Bucky nods.  “We thought you went down in the ocean.  They searched -- god, Howard Stark never gave up searching. But it turns out you went down over Greenland.  They think that the heat from the plane melted the snow, until it sank down into the ice, and the next snowfall covered it up.  Then global warming came and the permafrost finally shifted enough to bring the plane back up to the surface.”

“How long?” Steve asks.  “How long was I down there?”  Steve’s squaring off again, his tone a little bit angry and Bucky can’t help but see the spitfire kid he grew up laid over the righteous man in front of him.

“Alright,” Bucky says, holding his hands up and not even fighting the fond smile taking over his face.  “Okay.  You,” and this part is hard.  This part is so hard.  “You’ve been gone for almost seventy years.”  

Bucky’s not sure, but he thinks his voice trembles a little at the end.  He feels something like a sob rising in his chest, a feeling of overwhelming sorrow, decades lost, but that can’t be right because if it is, that means...that means….

“Oh, God,” Bucky says, .  “Is that you?  Jesus, Steve.” He brings a hand up to rub at his chest, right over his heart.  “Steve, I’m so sorry.”

Steve looks alarmed, like he’s going to bolt, and Bucky gets his head together long enough to do the thing he was brought here to do.  The thing that no one else in the world could do.  He gathers up everything he feels for Steve, all of the affection, all of the hard-won peace that he’s found, his acceptance that he’d never know Steve, but that he’d love him all the same.  For the rest of his life, he’d love him all the same.  

He takes that ball of emotion and he pushes it into the Steve-shaped space in his heart, in his mind.

Steve gasps, and bodily sways back from Bucky, eyes growing wide. “You’re- how?”

Bucky stands and approaches Steve, reaching his hand out, moving so slow.  Steve watches as Bucky nears, his expression inscrutable.

As gently as he can, Bucky brings his hand to Steve’s, brushing the tips of his fingers over the back of Steve’s hand.  

He’s holding his breath, and Steve is, too.

The moment they touch, it’s -- it’s nothing Bucky’s ever felt before.  All the years of hurting, of loneliness, all of the times that he’d longed for Steve, ached for him, all of that disappears.  Instead, he’s filled with all of the other stuff, the good stuff.  He’s filled with the moments of watching Steve grow up, his fondness turning to affection, turning to love.  He’s left with the pride he felt at what a good, decent man Steve became, he’s left with his acceptance of a life without Steve, quietly loving him, his whole life through.

Steve’s eyes widen, and he reaches out, taking Bucky’s hand in his.  Bucky wants to use the connection to push all of his love, all of his strength into Steve, but instead he’s hit with Steve’s feelings, and nothing could have prepared him for that.

He feels Steve, lonely, scared, and cold, and then he feels when that shifts.  He feels Steve’s curiosity, his excitement.  He’d waited so long for his soulmate, and somehow, there Bucky was.  He watched as Bucky grew up, through Bucky’s angry years, and his attempts to say good-bye, his attempts to move on, and then through his hard-won peace.  Steve got all of that, loved all of that.

“How…?” Steve asks.  

“I don’t know,” Bucky says, looking down at their entwined fingers.  “I don’t really care.”

Reaching up with his other hand, Steve strokes his fingers along Bucky’s jaw, tilting his face up toward Steve’s.  Bucky’s eyes flutter closed for a moment.

When people talk about meeting their soulmate, they talk about how it feels like home, how they just knew.  

None of them ever talk about the absolute absence of pain, of fear, of doubt.  

This isn’t coming home.  

This is safety and comfort, admiration and affection, and the softest stirrings of lust.  This is certainty he didn’t know could exist, and all of it bubbling along a current of joy that sings through Bucky’s entire being.

This is love.  

“I didn’t think you existed,” Steve says.

“I never thought this could happen,” Bucky replies.  

He reaches out, puts a hand on Steve’s hip, and a moment later, Steve is pulling him forward, into his space.  His eyes are bright blue, and in them, Bucky sees everything he’s ever wanted.  

Steve’s fingers are holding tight to Bucky’s shirt, Bucky’s hand.  

“I’ve waited my whole life for you,” Bucky says, squeezing Steve’s hip.  “My whole life.”

Steve smiles.  It’s small but it’s grateful.  Hopeful.  

Leaning down he presses a soft kiss to Bucky’s lips, before pulling him into his arms and holding him tight.  

Bucky nestles his head into the crook of Steve’s neck, breathing him in, and he smells exactly the way Bucky always thought he would. This is the part that feels like home.

Bucky and Steve are finally home.

A/N:  This is the last full chapter, but I am writing a little epilogue that will go up at some point this weekend when I have actual time to write again.  This will eventually post to AO3.

Thank you all for going on this ride with me. You have been nothing short of amazing, and I have LOVED getting to know some of you. 

Last but not least, thank you to @frostbitebakery who is as kind and generous as she is talented.  Go peep her art and give her some love.  She deserves every bit of it.  

[marvelfracturedrpg]

 TAKEN  -  ADMIN COURT

RACE – human

POWER /ABILITY –  Master in Bows and Firearms, Expert Swordsman

OCCUPATION –  Avenger, SHIELD agent, father

“Regardless of the cost, I don't fail you... And no matter how difficult the target is to hit, I don't miss.“

Once upon a time

Happy childhoods had no place in the lives of Earth’s mightiest heroes, and Clint Barton was no exception. Growing up in the heart of the midwest, the Barton boys hadn’t learned the rules to tag or horse, but how to defend themselves when their father came after them in a drunken stupor. Barney, Clint’s elder brother, had been instrumental in teaching Clint how to defend himself from his father’s abuse. Clint, scrappy and stubborn, had learned to be tough as nails from a very young age and to play dumb in order to lessen his chances of becoming a target, two traits that would follow the man throughout his life. After years of coping with their father’s abuse, the Barton boys were set free from their hellish childhood when their parents died in a alcohol related car accident. Clint was sent to foster home after foster home, his brother Barney keeping a close watch, and unfortunately it seemed that their new homes were little improvement from their previous one. After a few years of such mistreatment, Barney and Clint ran away and, as cliche would have it, joined a traveling circus as roustabouts. Under the Swordsman and Trick Shot’s strict training regiment, Clint became a magnificent archer.

His skills, as it turned out, were destined for greater things than a circus act. Clint got his start as a hero with a stroke of dumb luck, an act of heroism that shouldn’t have led to anything grander than that, but soon enough he found himself among SHIELD’s ranks. SHIELD recruited the man as a field assassin, one that would clean up messes before they even became an issue, and he’d never once disobeyed until he ran into a fiery redhead. After sparing Natalia Romanova’s life, she and Clint had become quick friends and a magnificent team. Strike Team Delta was recruited for the Avenger Initiative from the start, because of their loyalty and skill, but Clint would pay dearly for his acceptance of his new mission. On his very first assignment, Clint’s mind had been taken over by Loki and had been twisted to make Barton follow every order no matter how horrid. In the time since the Battle of New York, Clint has stayed out of the spotlight, taking missions far, far away, but he’s come home to help pick up SHIELD’s pieces.

Things had not been well for Clint Barton during the five years. Laura had succumbed to her injuries, leaving Clint a single father. His kids had been rescued and safely returned and Clint left to care for them. A few years later, he was called back to the field. A mission in Lagos and Zemo would be there. Clint didn’t hesitate at the chance and left the kids with Laura’s sister. Lagos would end in disaster, especially after he brutally killed Zemo and footage of it got leaked. The Act followed shortly after that and Clint refused to sign. He disappeared from the compound and didn’t go back to his kids. To this day, his whereabouts are still unknown as he is now a fugitive of the law.

[this-ginger-has-no-soul]

Alien soulmate

Request: It's no problem. It's the one where (Y/N) is a dragon hybrid like alien who happens to be a princess and she has a soulmate tattoo so she went to Earth to search for her soulmate until she sees the Avengers fighting against Hydra agents so, (Y/N) helps them out. (Reader has silver wings, tail, fangs, claws, and breathes or create fire) And later Nat and (Y/N) realize they're soulmates and they hug and kiss at the end?

Warnings: none? 

(Y/N)'s wrist held a small, albeit meaningful tattoo, one that they had had since the ripe age of sixteen. At first (Y/N) had been more than confused as to how and why a sudden tattoo appeared on their wrist, on their planet they didn't have tattoos but (Y/N) had learned about enough earth custom's to find out that tattoos were a way of expressing ones self, or in some cases it meant soulmates.  

  (Y/N) didn't know much about soulmates but they did know that they were rare on any planet other than earth, they were the only planet to have soulmates. So of course (Y/N) knew what they had to do, they had to go to earth and find their soulmate, the only problem was they were light years away, a literal lifetime away. It would take years for (Y/N) to reach their soulmate even with their technological advances in ships and aircraft's but (Y/N) decided the day they woke up with a spider on their wrist that they were gonna do whatever it took to get to earth. Now, nearly a decade later here they were, finally able to climb out of their one man ship into the heart of America, the south. 

  As soon as their feet touched the ground they wanted to cry, it had been so long since they had felt solid ground, even if the plains of fields were different from their mountainous, gold filled ruins of their home planet. 

  For a brief moment (Y/N) nearly regretted their decision to come to earth- they didn't know a single thing about earthlings, how they looked and acted, how they sounded- it was all complete new territory for (Y/N) but then one look at their wrist and they were convinced otherwise. No, they were supposed to be here and they were supposed to find their soulmate...which soon proved to be harder said than spoken. 

  (Y/N) quickly found out that simply landing on earth wouldn't get them their soulmate, they'd have to look for them, they also found out that people didn't take too kindly to someone who looked like a lizard. They were a hybrid after all, it wasn't entirely their fault that they had the appearance of a dragon...a human sized...lost dragon. They also found out that when people didn't like something they saw, namely (Y/N), they had the tendency to call the authorities.

   All (Y/N) had wanted were some directions, maybe a little bit of information about the town but before (Y/N) could even open their mouth a series of suit clad men rushed to their side, gripped their arms harshly and dragged them away from the town.

   "Wait!" (Y/N) cried out, desperately trying to claw at the men arms. "Put me down! Please! I just need some help!" But the men wouldn't listen, they just kept on struggling to pull (Y/N) away. "Let me go!" (Y/N) clawed at their necks, the only thing not protected by their suits. They got one good scratch in when more men approached them, each of them bearing the same black outfit, a small red pin on the arms of the suit. "No! Get away from me!" (Y/N) tried kicking their legs at the men, to which they quickly caught, and then they were being whisked off much faster than before.

  (Y/N) seemingly only had one last resort, one they hated to use. It was no secret that dragons could breathe fire but a dragon hybrid such as them could do so much more, with the simplest of ease they could create large, hot flames, the kind that could swallow up an entire forest within moments. 

  (Y/N) hated hurting anyone but in extenuating circumstances sometimes it was called for. So when no one replied to (Y/N)'s last cry they let loose, fire spewing from their hands at such a hot temperature they were surprised the entire farmland hadn't caught on fire yet. 

  The fire from their hands spread quickly, enveloping each suit clad man into its hot embrace. It didn't take long for everyone to drop dead, either baked from the inside, or all of their skin missing from their body. (Y/N) felt horrible, of course, numb and guilty was more correct but they had to defend themselves. But what if they had been good guys and they had just gone and murdered them all? 

  (Y/N)'s throat constricts and they can feel the hot tears behind their eyes as they look at their mess, at their destruction. 

  "Woah there kiddo," A sudden voice startled (Y/N), nearly making them jump out of their skin. "That's uh...that's quite the mess you've made," (Y/N) turns around, perhaps expecting another suit clad man but instead they were only met with a man who seemed to be dressed in gold and rubies. 

  "Who are you?" (Y/N) tried to sound human, assertive at best but instead their voice came out quivering and shaky. 

  "Uh- I'm tony stark.  Who the hell- excuse me, what the hell are you?" The words stung a bit, made (Y/N) feel the tiniest bit self conscious. 

  "Tony," Another voice piped up, this one softer, kinder. The voice belonged to a tall blonde man, one with old eyes and a gentle smile.

   "What? it was a genuine question-"

   "What's your name kid?" The same blonde man asks, his presence almost comforting to you.

   "I am Princess (Y/N), I have travelled many light years to find this planet-" 

  "That's unfortunate, there's not much here-" 

  "Tony," Another voice joined in, this one soft as well, but a bit more...feminine perhaps? 

  "God, you two were the worst," The man, Tony, steps away, going off to sulk in the field while the two figures approach the scared hybrid, their walks tentative and imploring. 

  (Y/N) looked between the two, breath catching as they looked towards the woman; she was beautiful, breathtaking really, the kind of beauty that made (Y/N)'s stomach churn and wrist burn.  

  Wait...no, that wasn't right. Their tattoo never burned, this was a new sensation for sure. 

  Their eyes fell the spider tattoo, the red hourglass on the spiders back pulsating and burning, as though the pigmentation was going to pop out of their skin. 

  (Y/N) looks up as the woman hisses, hand clasping her own wrist in pain. (Y/N) had read about the burning sensation back on their home planet, it was a sign that their soulmate was close by, or that you'd finally met your soulmate and as they looked at the woman, their eyes drawn to the small red hourglass in the middle of her suit they realize that the second option had really just happened. 

  "Did you-" (Y/N) licks their scaly lips, their tongue brushing along their fangs on the way too. "Did you feel that?" Nat looks up, eyebrows furrowed as she studies (Y/N)'s expression. One look at the woman's face and (Y/N) knew they'd found their soulmate.

   Without another word (Y/N) rushed to the woman, not quite knowing what to expect when she reached her but she was more than pleasantly surprised when she opened her arms in an embrace and (Y/N) all but charged at her. 

  The two collided, the woman's arms wrapping around (Y/N)'s form tightly as she cried, mumbling about their soulmate and how long she'd been waiting. But (Y/N) was the soulmate, she was mumbling about them, she, (Y/N)'s soulmate, was talking about them.

   (Y/N) smiles happily as they nuzzle their nose into the crook of the woman's neck, breathing in deeply. She smelled amazing, like something (Y/N) just couldn't quite describe. She smelled sweet, like strawberries and cherries, but she also smelled like protection and warmth, like something had been longing for all their life.

   "My Soulmate," (Y/N) whispers, voice almost snakelike. "You're mine," 

  "I'm yours," The woman nods, biting her lip and nodding as she looked at (Y/N) ever so lovingly.

   "What is your name?" (Y/N) asked as they rubbed their nose against hers, something they'd learned whilst researching humans. It was supposedly a gesture of affection, something humans liked, and judging by the woman's laugh she more than enjoyed it.

   "I'm Natalia Romanova,"

   "Natalia," (Y/N) hums, eyes slipping closed as they let the name fester on their tongue. "Natalia Romanova," 

  "But you can call me Nat if you'd like,"

   "Nat," (Y/N) smiles, a crooked, toothy thing. "I like it," 

  "Oh my god," The brunette man, Tony, groans from his respective spot. "Will you two kiss or something, it's killing me to watch this," 

  "Kiss," (Y/N) looks to Nat, eyes shrouded in concern. "I've never...kissed anyone before..."

   "Well," Nat smiles, her hands (which had previously been settled on their back) cupping their cheeks gently. "I guess I'll be your first then," (Y/N) smiled happily, an expression that seemed almost foreign to them. But the smile quickly disappeared when Natalia pressed a kiss to (Y/N)'s lips, letting them linger there for a few moment before pulling back. 

  "Ta-da," (Y/N) was dazed, their own lips still tingling from Nat's softer ones; The feeling of it was...indescribable. After waiting so long for their soulmate and now to have her there, in their arms, to have her kissing them and loving them almost was too much for (Y/N) to bear. "I wasn't too bad was i-" But Nat was cut off when (Y/N) came in for another kiss, this time the kiss lasted a little longer with neither being wishing to pull away but eventually (Y/N) pulled away, the same smile on their face they had bore since meeting Nat. 

  "No," (Y/N) supplies, nose bumping against Nat's again. "You weren't bad at all," 

[izzygyrl]

A Family Reunited {Black Widow x Daughter!Reader}

Words: 1554

Requested By: SkyDragonHeaven

Request: Can you do one where the daughter finds out black widow is her mother?

Hope you enjoy!

           "Agent (L/N)!" You heard your name being called from across the room by the all too familiar voice. You stood up at attention jumping up from the seat. "Yes Director Fury sir?" You asked. Fury rolled his eyes at your formality and a small smile twitched at his lips. Even after almost working as an agent for S.H.I.E.D you still were formal. You knew the Avengers well and were almost like part of the family. You were especially close with Agent Romanoff who always was there for you when you needed her. She had almost been like a second mother to you over these past five years. Always checking in on you and seeing how you were doing.

When S.H.I.E.L.D hired you, you were a kid on the street, being abandoned by your mother almost immediately when you were born. You had jumped from foster home to foster home until you turned 18 and S.H.I.E.L.D had picked you up. You were born in Russia, Nizhny Novgorod to be exact a small city about an hour or two's train ride from Moscow. However, there was no information on your mother. She had faked all the information and one day when going in for a checkup with you left you at the hospital and disappearing without a trace. You had tried desperately to find her but always ended coming up empty handed. It was a hole in your heart that you were never truly able to fill. You were proud of your heritage but always felt like there was something missing. You felt like it was right around the corner however you didn't truly know how to reach it.

"I need you to take these files down to the vault." Fury said handing you a stack of papers. "Don't look at them—top secret." He said. Nodding you took the files and sighed. "Are you ever going to put me in the field again?" You asked all of a sudden. You had been working as Fury's personal assistant for a while and a helping hand to the Avengers. You had been a field agent for quite a while but about 10 months ago Fury suddenly without warning pulled you from action without any explanation whatsoever.

Fury gazed at you and blinked. "We'll talk about it." He said. Then he raised an eyebrow. "Get going those need to be put away pronto! You'll be able to organize them by the barcodes on—"

"On the file cover—I know what I'm doing!" You yelled back as you were exiting the door. You heard Fury chuckle and gave him a final wave before heading downstairs to the vaults.

The vaults were a highly secret area with only a select few getting access. The reason of its secrecy was because it has some of S.H.I.E.L. D's most secret files and information in it. Information on the Avengers and their life before joining S.H.I.E.L.D, and weapons that were being made or used and past missions that had gone. It was constantly monitored with guards and cameras. Even JARVIS was always on high alert with this. Almost every half hour he would do a scan of the inside for any suspicious activities.

As you entered the elevator you sighed. "Jarvis I'm going to the vaults." You called out. There was a beep and suddenly the elevator stopped. "Hello Agent (L/N)." JARVIS's voice echoed in the metal elevator. "Card Please." He said. Suddenly out of the elevator console came a card swiper. With a quick swipe the red light on the swiper turned green. "Thank you Agent (Y/N)." JARVIS said and soon enough you were moving.

Soon the doors opened to a large almost garage like room. It was a large concrete area with a large vault at the end wall. Two guards stood at attention guarding the vault. As you approached you showed them your key and did a retinal scan before you were allowed admittance. Finally, the large silver door was opened and you were in.

Sighing you set the large stack of files on the desk and looked around the large vault. It was a metal library with aisles and aisles of metal drawers. You immediately got to work. As you looked at the barcodes you started to walk down the large vault halls and put the files in their place.

As you were on the last files you were picking the file up when all its contents fell out. "Shit!" You cried out in annoyance. Bending down you began to pick up the papers. However, your eyes couldn't help but notice the writing on the files.

Agent Natasha Romanoff

Suddenly you were sitting down and reading the file as you "got it back in order."

Name: Natalia Alianovna Romanova

Birthplace: Stalingrad

Family—

Family? Natasha had family?

Family: One daughter.

Natasha had a daughter???

As you turned the page a picture fell out of the file. Picking it up you gazed at it and gasped.

It was you.

Blinking in shock you continued reading the file.

Family: One daughter— (Y/F/N) (M/N) (L/N)

Black Widow was your mother?

Suddenly there was a beep.

"Agent (L/N) are you alright?" JARVIS's voice echoed in the large cavernous room.

You were jolted out of your stupor. "Yeah...yeah everything's fine here JARVIS...thanks." You said.

"Anytime Agent (L/N)." And he was gone.

Suddenly you were furious. Grabbing the file, you quickly made haste Upstairs towards the debriefing room. Checking you watch you were aware that Fury and the Avengers had a meeting now. Perfect.

Rushing up to the room you stormed in, to the shock and surprise of everyone and slammed the file on the desk and glared at Natasha and Fury. "Why didn't you tell me?" You demanded your tone full of hurt and anger.

Fury was keeping a straight face but you could tell he wasn't in the mood. "Agent (Y/N) I am busy right now—." He started

"No!" You said slamming a hand on the mahogany conference table. "Why didn't you tell me who my mother was?" You demanded fiercely shooting a gaze at the red headed Russian. At those words her face paled and Fury blinked and then his eyes furrowed in anger. "I told you not to read the—."

"I couldn't help it! The file fell as I was putting it away! But what I'd like to know is why you've been hiding that I've been with my mother for the past five years without me knowing it!" You glared at him tears now edging their way out. The group knew how lost you felt without knowing where you came from.

Suddenly you turned on Natasha. "And you! Are you ashamed of me? Ashamed of me as your daughter?" You asked your voice cracking.

The rest of the team at this point wasn't understanding what was going on and this immediately clued them in. They looked around surprised.

Clearing his throat Steve blinked. "Why do we all step out and give them—."

You slammed your hand on the table and aimed your gaze at the Captain. "Sit." You said with a tone that immediately made the captain sit back down.

"Alright that's enough out of you, young lady." Natasha said suddenly. You swerved around to face her. "Oh I'm sorry Mom!" You said venomously.

Suddenly Romanoff stood up. "You know why I didn't tell you? To keep you safe! Giving you up was one of the hardest things I had to do in my life!" She said. "You were my pride and joy! My life! But I was constantly on the run! It was no place for a child!" She said.

You had now sat down and were staring at her icily. "Why didn't you let me know?" You asked.

Natasha sighed and ran a hand over your cheek in an affectionate manner. "Because...I didn't want you to worry about me if I ever went on a mission for a long while. A child shouldn't have to worry about her mother—it should be the other way around. I wanted to give you the most sheltered life possible away from my own career." She said.

You snorted. "You call foster care a sheltered life?" You asked her incredulously.

The Russian woman sighed. "I was always watching you. Making sure you were safe. I've been watching you the day I left you. Fury helped me keep tabs on you until you were old enough to be hired by S.H.I.E.L.D." She said. "I love you (Y/N) dearly. And I'm sorry if I hurt you but it was for your own protection." She said to you softly.

You sighed. "I just...was lost..." You said your voice cracking. Immediately Natasha jumped up and embraced you in a hug pulling you towards you. You immediately started to sob. "Mom...." You said softly.

"I'm here baby...I'll always be here." She said softly to you stroking your hair with a soft and gentle hand.

You pulled away and suddenly noticed you were all alone with Natasha.

The woman gazed at you and with a finger wiped a tear from your eyes. "Can you forgive me? Can we start over?" She asked you.

You nodded. "Yes. Yes, I think I'd like that very much.... Mom." You said.

And then you just sat there and hugged.

[darkenedreaper]

Mission: Avenge

Natasha Romanoff x reader, Tony Stark x reader, Avengers x reader.

Warnings: depression, bad thoughts.

I made a few changes that didn’t happen in the film because I can.

Part 1/?

It was about a year after the second snap, resulting in Thanos and his army dusting away, while bringing everyone back into the world. It was also a year after your bestfriend, whom you loved, had told you to let her go and your other bestfriend who had been told to rest now. Steve had moved on, however back it time to love with Peggy, who he was now happily married too. It was awful to not see Cap around but with the help of Scott, he had developed a time watch. Letting Cap come back to the now, not affected by age at all, which could also carry Peggy Carter Rogers along. Clint had long gone back to his family on his farm happily watching the kids grow. Sam and Bucky has found an apartment, Thor, surprisingly, had gone back to Asgard to make a change. Bruce already had a home, often making appearances on social media with his fans doing some sort of silly pose. Pepper and Morgan remained at the lake house, as they had frequent visits from Happy, and now newly wed couple Wanda and Vision. After she had him back, she didn’t let go off him. The two together made daily visits to Pietros grave, he was at peace. Peter was still doing his part for what was left of S.H.I.E.l.D. Maria often kept in touch whilst Nick has gone to live happily ever after with his wife, yet still managed to pop up anyway. Carol had gone to another planet, Wakanda was back to its old self only more closer. Story short, everyone had moved on. Then. There was you. The one who had sat at the compound day after day, night after night. Every hour since the new compound had been built. You’d changed. You were mentally scarred, and physically, due to the slice that went down your side from one of Thanos’ bitches. You had gotten colder, more and more closed off, you’d be irritated by the slightest thing, and what made it worse was that everybody had gone back to normality. Of course, Pepper missed her husband terribly, and Morgan didn’t want to grow up without a father but had no choice. And Clint missed his best friend. Every hour you were sat at your desk, studying, typing, calculating, adding, multiplying. The whole lot. To see if there was some way to bring back Tony and Natasha.

Natasha. She was your world. She was the reason why for 5 years you pushed on, helping the woman, reassuring her, holding her, combing her hair, whispering sweet nothings in her ear. You were why she could cry to you, take her frustrations out on you. Why she knew what love was. All she did for the world and yet there wasn’t one thousandth of a thank you for her. From the team? Tears were shed, a bench was thrown across a lake and that was it. But by you, you mourned every night, getting to the point where you would just cry and cry then fall asleep. And sometimes you wished you wouldn’t wake up, so you could be with her and Tony instead. It was a new discovery of yours that you loved walking in the rain as it hid the tears that fell from your sad, lifeless eyes. You had walked this path for the last year, leading to a spot where it had been designed for memorials for heros. You had a headstone written for her, a rose was placed on the ground in front of the headstone for everyday she left. You knelt down and frowned, your hood was up but your face was soaking. Perhaps from your tears.

Natalia Alianova Romanova

A hero, a bestfriend, a beautiful rose.

Not a killer.

1984-2023

This is definitely going to be a series.

Let me know if you want to be tagged.

@natasha-danvers @jumbojamba47 @sammys-world-of-imagination @fcbarcelona-and-marvel-4-life @ecruzsalaz @confusinggemini612