#ship: barbershop quartet

[nathsolkyoako]

No one think about alphonze being a cowboy is also another part of him that he was told to be that also started as a joke and slowly became his identity not even knowing if he wants to talk like that but because the captains told him to because they thought it was funny

Also don’t think about the captains putting him in the boat not thinking about what he wanted despite his only trait that we know of being how he wants to be human and autonomous and they keep forgetting that

Not to bring this up too but no one mention how we know almost nothing about who he was before they found him and everyone keeps forgetting him unless he’s absolutely needed to be there and kinda defaults to staying on the boat and not leaving and taking care of lose ends (looking after Ollie when the captains left for the fey wild and getting the ship repaired when they were just gonna LEAVE and look around at liquidous. Also the other construct on Edison kingdom so they didn’t have to deal with it while fighting Blossom)

Haha

Fuck

[practically-an-x-man]

💛 for Nikoletta/Abner?

Thank you! Bit more than a snippet here... it got away from me lol

💛 reunion kiss / relief

____

"-currently investigating the recent shootout on South Claiborne Avenue that has left one man injured and another dead-"

Nikoletta hated watching the news. Living in New Orleans, and with Belle Reve so close to the city, there was hardly anything to be reported on but the same ceaseless violence. It all began to blend together after a while.

But Abner should have been home an hour ago. He'd gone out for a walk, and to pick up a few things for the cats, a task that should've taken no more than twenty-five minutes if he walked at his usual pace.

And the pet store was on South Claiborne Avenue.

Nikoletta couldn't tell which was worse: if he'd been the one injured, the one killed, or if he'd fought back. She didn't give a damn about the attackers - let them crumble, let them rot - but any glimpse at those dots and he'd be shipped back to Belle Reve in a heartbeat.

No. She knew which was worse. Injuries he'd recover from. She'd break him out of Belle Reve in a heartbeat. But if he'd been killed...

So she'd been watching the news, waiting for any mention of unexplainable light or metahuman abilities. So far it was inconclusive, but that did little to ease her anxiety.

Finally she had enough, and shut the television off. That left the room too quiet, but it was better than hearing about death.

Shuffling footsteps approached the door, breaking the unsettled silence that had settled over her. Nikoletta was out of her seat in a heartbeat.

"Baron Samedi?" she called out, chewing her lip as she awaited an answer. It could've been a cop. For all she knew it was a cop, waiting to deliver the news she so desperately wished she'd never have to hear-

"Barbershop Quartet." Abner's soft voice floated out from behind the door, and all the breath left Nik's lungs.

She pulled the door open and flung her arms around him, moving so suddenly that Abner staggered and nearly dropped the plastic shopping bag in his hands.

"Did you hear about the news?"

"The shooting?" he echoed, "I heard it behind me. A couple blocks down. I thought about going back- and maybe, um, helping? But I didn't think-"

Dimly, distantly, she processed what he'd said. She was too busy checking him over, searching for any sign of blood or injury. Finally NIkoletta's hands caught his face, giving him one more cursory look before she pulled him down into a brisk, desperate kiss.

"I'm so glad you're okay," she sighed when she pulled back, hardly able to find voice to her thoughts. She couldn't imagine losing him - least of all to something as sudden, as mundane as a back-alley shooting in the streets of New Orleans.

"I'm alright, Nik. I'm- I'm alright."

[waywardxrhea]

Part Eight - Just Keep Driving

[slow burn romance between you, a SHIELD investigative journalist, and Steve Rogers]

Warnings: 18+, contains humor, fluff, mental health, family trauma, romance, angst, language, violence, friends to lovers trope, smut later on.

installment list

Word count: 3.5k

You documents a STRIKE team mission and then are questioned by Fury about suspicions you both have following the mission.

After making it to HQ and getting your equipment, you sprinted onto the ship right as they were shutting the loading ramp. When you boarded, Romanoff and Steve were already being briefed on the mission while other agents listened in and got geared up. While this was going on, you stayed on the edges of the crowd, making yourself scarce besides when you needed to set a camera up on an agent's vest. Between securing cameras, you activated the earpiece that would loop you into all the action going on when the mission was happening so you could report everything back to HQ.

After setting up for a few minutes, you walked up to Steve to place the small camera on his new suit that came courtesy of joining STRIKE. "Hey," he said offhandedly while still listening to the briefing as you attached the camera to his suit. You smiled in greeting and patted his shoulder when you were done, not wanting to interrupt his concentration.

As you walked away right as the briefing was wrapped up, you heard Romanoff ask Steve, "Do you have anything fun planned for Saturday night?" Your heart skipped a beat upon hearing the question, a thought in the back of your mind hoping he didn't. Maybe you could ask him to do something together...

"Well all the guys from my barbershop quartet are dead, so, no not really," you heard him reply, a small smile slipping onto your lips at the response.

As this exchange was happening, a voice came over the speakers informing Cap that the drop-zone was coming up. He started preparing himself for the jump while Romanoff looked at him and said, "You know, if you asked Kristen from statistics, she'd probably say yes."

A spark of jealousy flickered in your heart that was doused when Steve told her, "That's why I don't ask."

"Too shy or too scared?"

"Too busy!" he shouted before jumping out of the jet.

"Was he wearing a chute?" you asked, your eyebrows furrowed, as you wandered back over to Romanoff with a camera for the mission. You held it up in an offer but Romanoff just shook her head before slipping on her parachute and jumping out of the jet.

You sighed and went to her spot where your laptop lay open ready to have video from the drone and the team's cameras fed to it. When you sat down, you picked up the tablet that controls the drone, activated the camouflage mode, and sent it down to film the mission. You kept a safe distance from the ship while capturing Cap flawlessly taking out the occupants of the ship by himself. "Damn..." you whispered as you watched the action.

Anxiety started to creep up your spine as you watched a man pull a gun on Steve and you subconsciously scooted forward toward the edge of the seat you were in in anticipation for what happened next - obviously hoping for the best. At that moment though, the parachuting agents landed on the deck with Agent Rumlow shooting the gunman down before he could get a shot at Steve. Relief flooded your body and you slouched back into your chair as you let out a deep breath you hadn't realized you'd been holding, grateful to Rumlow for saving his life.

From the coms feed, you could hear Romanoff continue her pestering of Steve with, "What about that nurse who lives across the hall from you?"

Your eyes turned down to your lap once more, the spark of jealousy reigniting inside of your chest as you remembered your encounter with the woman in question that morning. She was perfect. She was a nurse, blonde, nice... You shook your head to get the thoughts of the woman out of your head, needing to focus on documenting the mission, not your completely unwarranted jealousy.

You startled as someone approached you from behind and asked, "How close can you get that thing?"

"Pretty, but nothing too up close and personal, this thing isn't the best at maneuvering tight spaces. That's why we've got the body cams." You showed them what you meant by switching the feed you were viewing from the wide drone shot to the more focused body cameras attached to the agents' vests.

"Well get as close as possible with the drone. Fury wants all we can get on this one considering the high-profile faces we're rescuing here."

You nodded and looked at a schematic before deciding to approach the ship from an inconspicuous vantage point where you saw the main man in charge, Batroc, giving orders in a room far away from the hostages. "Wow, big man, not even doing your own dirty work..." you mumbled to yourself as you rolled your eyes.

From there, you panned out to capture the STRIKE agents scaling down the side of the ship for breach. Over the earpieces, you could hear Romanoff in a conflict but didn't have any footage of it because once again, she didn't let you set up a camera on her. This wasn't even remotely the first time this had happened either. Before missions, Romanoff always told you, "I prefer for no one to have access to my fighting style, thanks," which always irked you, but you tried to be rational and understanding to her point of view. She was after all one of the best spies in the world, she probably had reason for not wanting anyone to know her fighting style.

The struggle on Romanoff's side stopped and she informed Steve that the engine room was secured. In response, Steve ordered the team to take action, so you placed your drone to where you could capture as much of the ensuing breach as you could. As you filmed the team's taking of the hostage room, you began writing a headline for the article, coming up with something that would easily capture everyone's attention.

Since starting the assignment with STRIKE, your writing only got seen by a limited number of people, mostly just agents, but you tried to keep them informed on the happenings of the team. You always wanted to make sure the agents knew that they were working for an agency that was doing great things for this world, one criminal capture or hostage breakout at a time.

After capturing the breach, you heard Steve getting into a fight and flew the drone to capture it. The drone arrived right on time to watch him going toe to toe with Batroc. During the fight, couple of wandering techs gathered around the laptop to watch the action with you after hearing the commotion on the coms themselves.

When Steve put his shield on his back and took off his helmet before squaring up to the man again, one of the techs tensed up and asked, "Is he trying to get himself hurt?"

You shook your head in slight disbelief as you continued filming, saying, "He should be fine. Hopefully." You all watched as Steve tackled Batroc into a room and you laughed quietly, telling them, "See?"

After a few seconds, there was an explosion coming from that same room, and the tech lightly punched you in the shoulder, laughing as he tells you, "See?"

The next few moments were anxiety ridden as you waited for either the smoke to clear or for there to be movement from Steve's body cam, and your wish for his safety was granted quickly. Steve got up from his position on the ground and ensured his and Romanoff's safety before beginning to gather agents and hostages to head back to the rescue ship. You once more let out a major sigh of relief knowing that Steve was okay before you started preparing to gather all of the cameras and ear pieces as agents got back.

The whole ride back to HQ for the debrief, you were processing, editing, and stitching together your footage as well as starting on your article for the agency paper, so you didn't get time to congratulate Steve or anyone on a successful mission. As the jet landed, you were about to head off to talk to Steve when you were requested to immediately head to your superior in the newsroom to give her the files you captured that day.

After going over everything from the mission, you sent a text to Steve that said, You did great on the mission, Cap. I captured some really good stuff, it'll make you look great ;) You hit send with a slight tremble in your hands and headed back to your apartment to rest and regroup.

When you were showered and relaxed once more, you took a quick power nap before deciding Sam a call. The other line picked up and Sam answered with a charismatic, "I knew you wouldn't be able to stay away for long!"

You laughed and said, "I was just wondering if you would want to meet up? Maybe get a couple of drinks? It has been a helluva day. Lots of paperwork, lots of running around."

"Well I usually would never turn down drinks, but I am just about to hold a meeting at the VA, so I can't right now. How about later? My place?"

"I'll hold you to that Wilson," you said before saying your goodbyes and ending the call. You received a text a minute later with an address and a message saying, "You bring the booze, I'll grill."

Right after you read the text, there was a knock at the door. You cocked an eyebrow in confusion, not knowing who would be visiting. Steve usually texted first and Maria didn't knock. Cautiously, you approached the door and looked through the peephole to see Director Fury standing in the hallway.

You opened the door and Fury immediately started speaking. "Nice to see you, Agent, as usual. I don't have time for pleasantries right now, so if we could walk and talk that would be great."

"O-okay, Director. Just let me get some shoes on and I'll be right back."

Fury nodded as you quickly slipped on some shoes before following him out to the SUV that was awaiting the two of you. You both got in and Fury did some voice activations in the SUV before asking, "You captured the footage of the mission retaking those hostages yes?"

"Yes sir, as ordered," you replied quickly and respectfully.

"Did you notice anything...out of the ordinary?"

"Well, Agent Romanoff was running a different mission than Captain Rogers and not everyone seemed to be in the loop. But I know she said those orders came from you, sir. Other than that, I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Why do you ask?"

"That's correct, agent those orders to Romanoff were from me," he confirmed with a nod. He paused for a moment before adding, "You can just call me Fury, you know that right?"

"Yes sir, Fury, sir..." you trailed off awkwardly with a slight laugh to try and ease the tension.

Fury chuckled, telling you, "It's okay Agent, you can relax around me. I know based on your past and the field we work in, it can be hard to trust others, but know you can put yours in me. Hill does."

You smiled a bit and nodded, saying, "Thank you. It means a lot."

Fury made a quick call to Maria and while he did, you recalled one more thing that was bothering you about the mission. Once he hang up, you said, "Hey, Fury, I do remember one thing that was off. It's something that's always happened, so it isn't necessarily out of the ordinary, but I just think it's weird..."

"Well...?" he asked.

"Well every mission, I'm the one who's supposed to hand out cameras and earpieces to all the agents since I'm capturing video and sound, correct?"

"Correct."

"Well then why is it that a handful of the STRIKE agents always already have an earpiece by the time I get to them and there were none missing from the box?"

"Well a lot of us already have sets from our everyday comings and goings within the agency," Fury rationalized.

"But for STRIKE missions, isn't everyone supposed to have those specific ones?" You paused and then quickly said, "I dunno, maybe I'm just overthinking all of this."

"In this line of work, it's good to overthink, Agent," he told you, consideration in his voice but not answering the question fully. He paused and veered the conversation in a new direction, saying, "So I spoke with Rogers before I came to get you. How is it going with him? He still seems a bit...tense."

"He's getting there. He still has a lot to get used to, and I'm still slowly getting him accustomed to the modern world. He missed quite a bit in the last 70 years."

"No kidding," Fury scoffed, pushing the brakes to stop at a red light.

"Some days I can tell he is still hooked on the past, but what more can you expect from a man out of his own time?" You were quiet for a second before telling him, "He did recently get into contact with Peggy Carter though and they talk a lot. He's probably there right now, that's where he usually goes after missions..."

"Being stuck in the past is a tricky matter, Agent. I hope it isn't like that for you," he said offhandedly as a cop car pulled up beside him at the light, earning a look and snide remark from the Director.

He began to pull forward from the light when suddenly the SUV was being jerked around as a car t-boned it. "Shit!" you shouted, bracing yourself with one arm and protecting your head with the other. After regaining your bearings and blinking hard a few times, you looked around at the scene as a vehicle rammed your side of the car now and saw that the assailants are all in cop cruisers. You ignored the sudden and growing ache in your body as you asked, "What the hell are those cops doing?"

In response to the question, the AI in the SUV informed the two of you, "DC Metro shows no police in the area."

Looking around at their surroundings, you noticed men armed with guns surrounding the vehicle and panic started to set in. Fury gave you a look as he shot himself with meds to kill the pain from his newly fractured arm. "We'll be okay, Agent," he told you. He looked at the men surrounding the vehicle and shouted at the AI, "Get us out of here!" As he said this, the gunmen opened fire, causing you to let out a scream and you ducked down and covered your head before realizing that the car was of course bulletproof.

"The propulsion system is down," the AI told Fury.

"Then reboot damnit!" Fury shouted as he assessed the scene.

You watched on in horror as the armor integrity of the car went down, but you tried to maintain a brave face around the Director. He sent a glance in your direction and pointed out, "You know, I won't judge you if you panic right now," attempting to lighten the mood while the car rebooted.

You forced out a laugh as you attempted to focus on anything but what was going on around you as the men brought out a battering ram to begin to smashing the window, "Do you mind my asking of what the hell is going on?"

"If I knew," Fury grunted as the men hit the window which began to break, "I would tell you." He was quiet for a moment before telling you, "I'll be honest, I brought you with me because I thought maybe you had seen something suspicious on the mission. I guess my own suspicions were right..."

Looking at the intact back windows in the SUV, Fury told you, "Get in the back, it's safer there."

"I'm sorry I didn't know more, Director," you apologized as you crawled into the backseat while the battering ram hit the window again.

"Don't you act like this is the end, Agent!" Fury shouted from his spot now in the passenger seat.

"Window integrity compromised. Deploying countermeasures," the AI called.

"Hold that order," Fury sternly said to the car.

"Window integrity 19 percent," the AI announced. You shot Fury a look with your eyebrows raised and eyes wide as the car suggested, "Offensive measures advised."

"Wait!" Fury ordered.

"Window integrity 1 percent."

"Now!" Fury shouted, "Agent, get down!" You swiftly followed your orders and ducked into the floorboard while Fury deployed a machine gun that he used to get rid of the immediate threats.

The car's systems came back online at that moment and Fury ordered it to drive while he continued shooting at the attackers. You braced yourself on the floor as the car sped off and away from the men. After a few seconds, Fury jumped back into the driver's seat and took control again.

When you determined that the immediate threat was dealt with, you sat up and asked, "Do you need my help with anything, sir?"

"Yes, get back up here and use the gun in the glove compartment when we need it."

"On your orders," you replied as you fumbled back into the front seat with unsteady limbs. When you were settled back in, you grabbed the gun, checking to see if it had ammo inside.

Fury tried to get communication with Maria through the car, but that system was down too. "Well, what system isn't down?" Fury snapped at the car's AI system.

"The air conditioning system is fully operational," the AI responded.

You couldn't help the incredulous laugh that escaped your mouth but covered it quickly, saying, "Sorry."

Just to test it out though, you turned the AC vent to your face and you started to feel a semblance of calm wash over you in response to the sensation. Fury turned to look at you but didn't deliver his snide remark when he saw you visibly relax so he let the action slide.

"Agent, can you try calling Hill?" Fury asked after a few moments as he furiously drove through the streets.

Opening your eyes back up, you fished your phone out of your bag and dialed Maria but got the other end of a busy line. "Busy. Whoever's orchestrating this attack probably has her on the phone to keep her away from you. I can try her other phone though."

"Do that!" Fury shouted as he attempted to get the fake cops off of his tail. "Bet you're happy I got you out of that retail shop now aren't you?" Fury asked sarcastically as he rammed into another vehicle.

"You know, I'll take getting chased by criminals over being verbally abused by customers any day, sir," you replied with a laugh but meaning it seriously. The SUV came to a stop due to dense traffic and the "cops" got out of their cars to start shooting at the vehicle once again. In response, you aimed the pistol out the half rolled down window at one of the men and downed him in one shot, remorse filling your brain fighting with the fact that it may have just saved your lives.

After you took the shot, Fury looked at you curiously and asked, "Remind me why you aren't a field agent?"

You took a shot at another, hitting his shooting arm and causing him to drop his weapon before saying, "With all due respect, now isn't the best time to discuss my position in the agency, sir."

"Fair enough," Fury said while figuring out his way through the crashed cars. After a minute of navigating, he finally got the SUV out and was on the move again.

In one of the cars chasing the SUV, the man in the passenger seat leaned out with a gun and started shooting. Fury shouted your name in warning and you aimed the gun at him and were faced with a searing pain in your arm as you pulled the trigger, your bullet missing its target. Your hand immediately went to the sight of the pain and you saw that a bullet had grazed deeply through your upper part of your dominant arm. You became slightly woozy at the sight of blood steadily soaking through your shirt, but grit your teeth and continued to try and deter the gunman, your shooting becoming a lot less accurate with the loss of total use of your shooting arm.

The pain was worsened as another one of the cruisers rammed into your side of the SUV, jostling you in the seat and causing you to curse as you screwed your eyes shut. When you opened them again, you saw the driver of the car aiming a gun right at the window you were sitting by. With a loud shattering noise, your half-rolled-down window finally broke, sending glass flying onto your body, causing blood to begin to trickle down your cheek and forehead. The men of the cruiser on your side take aim, and you immediately began shooting at them before they could get a shot off.

"Warning, approaching an intersection," the car's AI warned, causing Fury to slam on the brakes. The police cars on either side of you continued onward though, getting hit by an oncoming semi-truck.

"Get us off the grid!" Fury shouted at the AI which then started finding a route to a secure location.

Before the car could take off though, ahead of them in the road, a masked man was walking towards the SUV. "Uh, Fury?" you asked with wide eyes when the man continued to walk towards the speeding SUV with no hesitation in his stride.

The masked man held up a weapon, shooting out a disc that flew at the SUV and attached to the underside. "Shit!" Fury shouted, throwing his good arm over you. Fury's arm and you holding onto the seat for dear life were the only things that stopped you from flying through the windshield as the car flipped from the explosion. Black started to engulf your vision and all you heard was ringing before you felt yourself being dragged into more darkness by Fury.

a/n: here is some more music to go with the chapter! Once again I am just placing it at the end so I don’t ruin the flow of reading the story.

[deep-spaghetti]

everyone makes “epic” or “cinematic” pirate music playlists. even more want a mournful barbershop quartet of royalists to sing about a tea freighter that lost a crate once. i want music that belongs with what you might call a ship but not a vessel and really probably more of just a boat. if there are vocals they should be, generously, messy. squeezebox is almost mandatory

[mrs-johansson]

Chapter 4: Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Partners in crime

Part 1;

“Since when does Rumlow manages missions?” Asked Cap as we were getting on the Quinjet. “Since you didn’t show up at the debriefing meeting.” I made eye contact with Natasha across the ramp. “I had other things to do,” with a smirk I looked down at my holister, checking if I had everything. “Yeah, I heard, you are not as subtle as you think,” I looked up and saw the tiniest smirk on that 95-year-old face. “You were listening? You nasty old man,” I chuckled and he was shaking his head. “You know, the security room is very close to the meeting room,” he shrugged. “Oh wow, didn't even notice.”

“Taking off in five,” Rumlow spoke and a couple more agents walked up. “Stark?” Heard Rumlow’s voice. “Yeah?” I looked up at the man, the earpiece dangling from his ear, gun secure on his side. “Did you get the files?” He asked and I nodded. “Yeah, I know everything,” I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall. “You can’t use your powers until we are not compromised, it’s a night mission, you know the drill.” “I just said that I do,” I looked him up and down then with a nod he left.

“What was that?” Nat came up to me, throwing daggers at Rumlow with her eyes. “He thinks he’s better now that he is the leader of STRIKE and the mission. Let’s not forget why I’m not the one who is in control of this mission,” I glanced at her and she just smiled. “I thought you enjoyed it.” “I did, but let’s not miss more meetings, yeah?”

***

“The target is a mobile satellite launch platform: The Lemurian Star. They were sending up their last payload when pirates took them, 93 minutes ago.” Rumlow explained the plan. “Any demands?” I asked. “A billion and a half.” I raised an eyebrow and Steve spoke up. “Why so steep?” “Because it's SHIELD's.” Rumlow nodded his way. “So it's not off-course, it's trespassing.” “I'm sure they have a good reason.” Nat looked up at the blonde who started to get frustrated. “You know, I'm getting a little tired of being Fury's janitor,” said Steve. “Relax, it's not that complicated,” Nat smirked up at him. “How many pirates?” I asked, hoping we know more by then. “Twenty-five, top mercs, led by this guy. Georges Batroc.” His picture came up on the screen. “Ex-DGSE, Action Division. He's at the top of Interpol's Red Notice. Before the French demobilized him, he had thirty-six kill missions. This guy's got a rep for maximum casualties.” “Shouldn’t be a problem,” I murmured, knowing we had some worse people to deal with.

“Hostages?” “Uh...mostly techs. One officer, Jasper Sitwell.” We saw his face too, then got back to the floor plan. “They're in the galley.” Rumlow looked at us, waiting for one of us to speak. “What's Sitwell doing on a launch ship?” Steve murmured to himself, clearly not understanding the situation. “Alright, Stark and I are gonna sweep the deck and find Batroc. Nat, you'll kill the engines and wait for instructions. Rumlow, you sweep aft, find the hostages, get them to the life-pods, get 'em out. Let's move.” Rogers shared the plan and everyone got ready to move.

“Secure channel seven,” Steve spoke into his wrist. “Seven secure.” “Seven secure. Did you do anything fun Saturday night?” Natasha asked him as she was getting her parachute ready. “Well, all the guys from my barbershop quartet are dead, so... No, not really.” He said with a sad smile. “What a shame, you must be very lonely, Rogers.” I sighed and he just laughed. “Coming up by the drop zone, Cap,” said the pilot.

“You know, if you ask Kristen out, from Statistics, she'd probably say yes,” Nat smirked Steve’s way while he was putting his helmet on. “That’s why I don’t ask.” “Too shy or too scared?” I asked and before he jumped off he answered. “Too busy.” “Why does he always leave in such a dramatic way?” I mumbled and jumped after him.

***

“Didn’t you jump in the water too?” Steve asked as he jumped onto the ship, with his clothes all wet. “I did, but I just dried up. You know, powers and all,” I spread my arms as a way to show off and he just shook his head. “I go left, you go right,” he said and we took off to the two sides.

One man was walking quietly on the side of the ship and without hesitation, I wrapped an arm around his neck and squeezed it until he fell unconscious. Took his gun and threw it into the ocean, just in case he’d wake up.

Running across the ship I met Steve halfway and he just kicked a guy my way, and with a quick move, I punched him in his stomach as he fell my way.

“Behind you,” said Cap and in a swift motion I grabbed a pipe from the side and swung it as I turned. The loud knock on the guard's head was a subtle sign that he wouldn’t wake up for a while.

We took off running to the side of the ship, taking out every guard that came our way.

“Get ready to jump,” I said and with a tiny bit of flying, I jumped on a lower deck, taking the guys by surprise. “Good evening, gentlemen,” I said as one of them ran at me with a knife in his hand. Dodging his attempt of stabbing me, I flipped him around and kneeled him in his lower back, making him fall to the ground. Steve took care of the other two while I just shot another one.

Rumlow shot one who was ready to hit Steve, but he was slow. “Thanks.” “Yeah. You guys seemed pretty helpless without me.” Rumlow said as he reached the ground. I quickly stepped Nat’s way to help her in case she had a bad landing, but she had no trouble. “You okay?” She asked. “As always.”

We moved forward and Nat couldn’t let the topic from before go. “What about the nurse that lives across the hall from you? She seems kind of nice.” “Secure the engine room, then find me a date,” Steve with a serious face did not care about the conversation, so just moved on. “I’m multitasking,” then she jumped over the rails.

***

Steve shot the microphone up the window and we left right away, looking for the room where they kept the hostages.

“STRIKE in position,” said Rumlow. “Natasha, what's your status?” Steve spoke into his radio. After a minute he asked again. “Hang on,” she aggressively and in a couple of minutes she spoke again. “Engine room secure.”

“Ready?” I asked. “Yeah,” Rumlow answered. “On my mark. Three. Two. One.” Steve counted back.

The STRIKE team shot at the pirates, blew open the door and Rumlow quickly killed the head pirate.

Back in the control room one of Batroc's men tried to get hold of the pirate below deck, but we moved quickly.

Steve smashed in through the window using his shield but Batroc managed to escape. “I’m in pursuit,” and I started running after him. “Right behind you.”

“Hostages en route to extraction. Romanoff missed the rendezvous point, Cap. Hostiles are still in play,” spoke Rumlow through the comms. “Natasha, Batroc's on the move. Circle back to Rumlow and protect the hostages,” Steve instructed. There was no reply of course because she was doing her part of the mission which was mostly classified. “Leave her, she’s on the other side of the ship, she’ll be back,” I said as we were still running to find Batroc. “Natasha!” Steve firmly said but suddenly Batroc kicked Steve.

The man turned towards me and with much enthusiasm, he launched at me. Holding back his punches and kicks, Steve stood up in the background and hit his head with the shield. Like he didn’t even feel it, Batroc punched me across the face and I fell to the ground. “Why can’t I just use my powers, it would be so much easier,” I turned on my back and let out a shaky breath before getting back on my feet.

Steve got rid of his mask and put his shield on his back. They were fighting closely so I used the opportunities to get behind Batroc. Swiftly got him in a chokehold, while Steve kept hitting him, but then Batroc elbowed me in the stomach and it hurt like bitch, making my grip loosen and he easily pushed me onto the ground.

After that, Cap did not hold back; he kicked him to the ground with no mercy, and after a lot of struggle, Batroc got up and Steve smashed him through a door with one final punch to his face.

Following the two I saw Nat in the room too. “Well, this is awkward…” She said with a teasing smile, before looking back at the computer screen. “What are you doing?” Asked Steve with a stern voice. “Backing up the hard drive. It's a good habit to get into.” We both walked up to her and Rogers was not happy about this. “Rumlow needed your help. What the hell are you doing here?” He looked at the screen and saw the Shield intel. “You're saving SHIELD Intel.” “Whatever I can get my hands on,” she shrugged. “Our mission is to rescue hostages,” Steve was getting aggressive and I did not like his tone. “No. That's your mission,” Nat got the drive and was ready to move. “And you've done it beautifully,” she looked over at me and was ready to leave but Steve got a hold of her arm. “You just jeopardized this whole operation,” he said it right in her face. “Let her go, Rogers, or I’ll break your arm off,” I stepped up to him and waited for him to move. Once he let go of her, he stepped back and gave me a nasty look but I did not appreciate his way of dealing with the situation. “I think that's overstating things,” Natasha said to Steve.

Suddenly Batroc rose and threw a grenade at us while he ran off. Steve deflected the bomb with his shield and I quickly grabbed onto Natasha and with her shooting out a window, the three of us jumped over the small wall and hid away from the explosion.

“Okay. That one's on me,” Nat’s admitted as she was struggling to keep her breathing aligned. “You're damn right.”

***

“Did you get everything?” I looked over at Nat as she was sitting in front of me in the Quinjet. She did not say a word, just kept staring at the wall.

Moved over to her and sat down next to her. Saw the shift in her demeanor, and I couldn’t hold in the sigh. “You know he’s still new with this, don’t let him get into your head. You had your own mission, it’s on Fury that he didn’t share it with them.”

Put my hand on her thigh and saw her eyes stuck on it. “I’m tired, I want to go home.” “We’re almost there,” I wrapped my arm around her and she lazily laid her head on my shoulder. “Do we have to go to that stupid party?” Nat asked. “Oh god, I totally forgot about that,” I threw my head back and felt Natasha lift her head. “So we don’t have to go?” The hopeful sound in her voice just made me sad because I couldn’t tell her what she wanted. “Sadly we do. I promised him, and it’s an avengers reunion so we have to go,” I looked at her and she rolled her eyes. “It’s gonna be torture.”

[pyladeshungover]

Tag 9 people to get to know better

tagged by: @theautumnriverleaves (thankyou!)

3 ships: look i'm sorry but i have to do top 3 which will name and shame me 1. destiel 2. sterek 3. bagginshield do not look at me

BUT i've also gotten into hockey lately so rn 1. sidgeno 2. mattdrai 3. nptk

First ever ship: i'm gonna be honest i have no idea because time is an illusion and memories are fickle, but it was probably something to do with h*rry p*tter

Last song: touch of the outback by josh arnold

Last movie: i don't really watch movies anymore? i'm fairly sure it was a hockey movie - either mystery, alaska or might ducks

Currently reading: for real books, just finished 'the marmalade diaries' by ben aitken. next up is at home by bill bryson. for fanfic i have 134 hockey fics bookmarked and organised by ship which i open read and replenish almost every day

Currently watching: rewatching prodigal son

Currently consuming: afternoon coffee to get me through to 5pm clock off

Currently craving: a cigarette

Tagging: @tkaptains @fadeastride @courfeyrec @alisoncooper @mcstupidassbitch @cloudofapathy @my-barbershop-quartet-is-dead @bakingenby @evilpotato (also wtf i've been mutuals with most of you for 4+ years)

Do it if you want, ignore it if you don’t, and lmk if you want in on it and no one’s tagged you

[silverislander]

(radio announcer voice) last night at dnd! our intrepid heroes have stumbled into a pirate gig and are setting a course for waterdeep, but not all is well in the hold!

captain is hot

both the old man wizard and the twunk drow barbarian are trying to fuck him UNTIL...

he appears to know too much about the barbarians past in waterdeep

he seems to be lying about his cargo, or at least not telling the full truth

he flirts with both the ranger (idiot) and cal (dyke)

but we agreed to join the crew anyway, against our better judgement, because we were given a tip telling us it's the right way to go to finish our quest (and the pay is 40 gold a week, that's more than half of them have ever made in their lives). ranger is acting navigator, we've got the wizard helping the ship medic, the barbarian doing whatever the fuck w the sails bc he's strong as shit, and cal and the monk (previously a pirate himself) acting as powder monkeys. things only got weirder from there

ranger has never seen barnacles before. he quietly tries to speak to them, in awe of this new creature, only to be sung at barbershop-quartet style

he's also hungover and has never been on a boat he's about to invent new kinds of seasickness

cal isn't great at being a powder monkey- gets fed up with how big and inconvenient the cannons are bc she can't clean them right. monk says they have to be that big to do damage to other ships. cal retorts that maybe there should be smaller cannons, like hand-size, but they could just use more of them instead. monk and cal invent the world's first gun

the captain calls cal calliope. she corrects him because she doesn't go by her full name. nobody told him her full name how the fuck does he know her full name.

(cal joined in part bc she thought you couldn't get arrested on the ocean if this motherfucker knows her or god forbid has met her enemy on the guard she's so fucking dead)

a storm rolls in and almost knocks cal and another sailor overboard. an octopus is flung onto the monk's face. she's screaming about almost dying, he's screaming about the kraken, the barbarian is rescuing people left and right like the cover of a romance novel

... and after it's over, a coffin bound in heavy chains is laying on the deck of the ship

it's gonna be a long way to waterdeep.

[ao3feed-stevebucky]

Hiding Behind A Shield

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/aKW9VIF

by CosmicksFics

Steve and Bucky fall in love with each other in the worst time possible; Civil War times. Turns out keeping their relationship a secret from Tony is easier said than done.

Written from 6-27-22 to 6-28-22

Words: 2133, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America (Movies)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: James "Bucky" Barnes, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Friday (Marvel), Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Sam Wilson (Marvel)

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

Additional Tags: Partially based on a meme, Language, Bucky Barnes Drops The F Bomb, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Steve Rogers Is An Amazing Boyfriend, Bisexual Steve Rogers, How Do I Tag, i really dunno, Bear with me I’m a noob, Quote: On your left (Marvel), Starbucks, Spooning, big spoon steve rogers, little spoon bucky barnes, Fluff and Angst, Light Petting, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark Are Mad At Each Other, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Loses It, Love Confessions, Tony Stark Ships Stucky, If Bucky Barnes Doesn’t Drop The F Bomb In Thunderbolts…, Domestic Barbershop Quartet, Platonically ofc… except for Stucky duh

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/aKW9VIF

[polizwrites]

PoliZ’s  Steve Rogers Bingo - Round 2 Masterpost

I completed 21 squares on my @steverogersbingo​ bingo card  (SB2027) with 18  fanworks  (2 fics were multi-chapter fills).  All fills were fanfics, with a total of 12,057 words written towards this bingo.   I scored six bingos total: Rows 1, 3 and 5, Columns A and B and a diagonal. 

My works featured a mix of pairings - both romantic and platonic -- one of my favorite things about a character bingo is the multi-shipping possibilities!     I wrote 7  Steve x Tony fics, 5  Steve x Bucky fics,   two Steve x Bucky x Tony fics, and three fics without any particular pairing.  I also wrote one each for the following pairings:  Steve x Bucky x Sam x Natasha,  Steve x Bruce and  Steve x Clint. 

Ratings ran the gamut - with 12 General fics,  5 Teen-rated,  3 Mature and only one Explicit.    I really enjoyed participating in this bingo and am looking forward to Round Three! 

See below the cut for the squares filled and links to the stories, with the pairing, rating and word count,  as well as my completed bingo card.

A1 - Never Have I Ever: Never Have I Ever (But I'd Like to with You) - Chapter 1 [Steve/Tony, Teen, 306 words]

A2 - Team Cap: Team Cap Reunited [platonic Barbershop Quartet , General, 306 words]

A3 - Domestic: Baby You Can Wear My Clothes [Steve/Tony, General, 223 words]

A4 - Touch Attention/Denial: Fill Me Up With Your Love [Steve/Bucky/Tony, Explicit, 1613 words]

A5 - Pirate: Thimbles and Acorns [Steve/Bucky, General, 630 words]

B1 - Omega Steve: A Not-So-Mere Relic [Steve/Tony, General, 827 words]

B2 - Mile High Club: Never Have I Ever (But I’d Like to With You) - Chapter 2 [Steve/Tony, Teen, 674 words]

B3 - Bruce Banner: Moments Where The Words Don’t Reach [Steve & Bruce, Teen, 544 words]

B4 - Steve vs the Internet: Steve Rogers vs the Internet [none, General, 484 words]

B5 - 2012!Steve: Not the Right Date [none, General, 377 words]

C1 - Arranged Marriage: Making their Own Arrangements [Steve/Tony, General, 488 words]

C3 - FREE: In Sickness and in Health [Steve&Bucky --> Steve/Bucky, Teen, 1036 words]

C4 - Groot: A Dusting of Trouble [Bucky/Steve, Bucky/Tony/Steve, Mature, 822 words]

C5 - "You get hurt, hurt 'em back. You get killed... walk it off.": The Things You Said I Wish You Hadn’t [Steve & Clint, General, 245 words]

D1 - Pre-War Era: A Fan for his Fella [Steve/Bucky, General, 277 words]

D3 - Body Painting: You Don't Have to Hide - Chapter 2 [Steve/Tony, Mature, 710 words]

D4 - Avengers Compound: A Star-Spangled Celebration [none, General, 499 words]

D5 - Long Distance Relationship: Not Too Far Down The Tracks [Steve/Tony, General, 411 words]

E1 - Scars: You Don't Have to Hide - Chapter 1 [Steve/Tony, Mature, 561 words]

E3 - Rogers: The Musical:  I Can’t Do This All Day  [Steve & Bucky], General, 288 words]

E5 - Game Night: Stucky Bingo October 2022 Round Robin [Steve/Bucky, Teen, 330 words]

[theadventurerslog]

The Curse of Monkey Island | Part 3

In which I continue the exploration of Plunder Island and work on getting a map, ship and crew. It was time to visit the Barbery Coast.

And Guybrush explains his presence before realizing it might not have been the best idea to talk about his solid gold girlfriend in front of pirates, barbers though they may be.

We've got some people to talk to here.

Edward VanHelgen: Not The! That's right, Edward 'Snugglecakes' VanHelgen. He wanted to enjoy the music of the sea without the dangers and so started a Barbershop Quartet! But they still needed money, so they opened an actual shop. They're also lacking a fourth member to be a quartet.

You can ask him about any cool pirate stories and he'll tell the story of a doomed voyage in which the crew was stricken with a melody. Incessant humming amongst the crew drove most of them mad and they returned with only 8 crew members. The melody is the main theme for Monkey Island. La la la la laaaa

You can also audition to the be the fourth member of their barbershop quartet!

Which is best heard for Guybrush's dulcet tones. I just love goofy extra things like this. And there are so many options! It could have been a one song and done deal, but they went for it. They're all entertainingly bad options, but 'There's a monkey in my pocket' has genuinely stuck with me for some reason. And as it gets referenced again in a future game, I guess I'm not the only one.

Once I was done torturing Edward, I also had the opportunity to ask him to join my crew. He won't unless I can best him in a gentleman's duel and can't initiate that without giving him sufficient insult. Some options pop up, such as the cutting "You big old bed-wetting doody head." None of them work, however.

I can actually do this now, but I wanted to save it for later. So moving on to...

Bill, that is Cutthroat Bill: Here's a salty pirate who likes treasure. Like Edward you can ask for a pirate story and he'll regale you with the tale of their captain with a special sense for treasure. He led them out one time but after sailing around for a while the crew's jewelry and belt buckles and whatnot were throwing him off. So, they dumped all that and set sail again for two years finding nothing until they came back to Puerto Pollo to find treasure just off the shore! ...belt buckles and jewelry and whatnot.

He's fine with his job, but not particularly enthusiastic. Not that he is about anything... but just really exudes joy here.

Utmost sarcasm.

You can ask him to join your crew but he refuses to have you as a captain if you haven't found any treasure. So we gotta find some treasure to lure him in.

If you examine him: "He's a salty pirate. Sucking on some candy." That's important. You can ask him about the candy and it's a jawbreaker, but trying to get anything more about it from him doesn't go anywhere. However, if you slap on his back, he chokes on the jawbreaker. Slap him again and he spits it out where it's then free for the taking. Ick.

In normal mode the jawbreaker is already on the floor in all its hairy, spit-covered disgusting glory. If I remember right from my first time playing this mode I discovered slapping Bill's back to make him choke by complete accident and then that led to the solution, so it all worked out.

Haggis McMutton: Won't talk yet because he's busy cutting the hair of one...

Captain Renee Rottingham: "Only the most cunning and well-groomed captain to sail the Caribbean." Who won't really give me the time of day either, but will sure supply the snobbery. He doesn't believe Guybrush is a mighty pirate. If Guybrush is a mighty pirate, then he's bald.

You can ask him to join your crew too, but that's only laughable to him.

He needs to be removed so we can talk to McMutton. There are various dialogue options to taunt him about possible hair problems, or try to get him out but none of them are the answer. Just fun to bother him because he's an arrogant snot.

Other more extreme methods were needed. There's a comb that the barber periodically picks up while he's working on Rottingham's hair. That comb can't be picked up, but we can add something to it. The lice!

McMutton is horrified by them and there's only one option to deal with this. Amputation (of the hair.) To Rottingham's utter horror--his hair will be ruined! His hair will be outright removed is what it'll be.

And then McMutton tosses him out, so I can finally talk to him. Who's bald now!

A few things of note about Haggis McMutton here:

Like the others he has a story to tell about his former captain and crew who'd tried to get treasure but weren't strong enough then their rival came and got it with tools. Very sad.

His best pair of scissors that can cut through anything are stuck in the ceiling where they landed after they flew out of his hands when he was cutting hair too fast. He won't give them up though; they can cut through anything.

You can ask for a haircut which gets Guybrush in the chair. From there you can kick away the paperweight from the book causing McMutton to lose his page, so he'll leave to find another. Then the chair handle can be fiddled with enough times to get Guybrush to raise it all the way to the ceiling to grab the scissors. McMutton then returns without a replacement rock so he'll have to eyeball the haircut and Guybrush gets out of there.

McMutton is another crew member possibility but Guybrush has to prove his strength first by beating him in a caber toss. This is something that can be tried immediately as well, so it was off to the field of battle.

Where we promptly lose, basically knocking over his trunk instead of even throwing it. McMutton would never follow such a weak captain.

And a last detail in this shop:

All the portraits along the wall have a rhyming bit about the kind of hair styling/cut they got. I also tried picking up all the portraits. They all have some variation on not wanting it because of how ugly it is, except the parrot. The parrot is good. The parrot is the only good art in here. I feel like I have tried to pick up the parrot portrait before but I don't usually for the others. That was less familiar anyway.

Long live Crackers the Parrot. Well, his portrait anyway. He only lived a year...

Normally, I would leave at this point now I have the scissors. But, I have what I need to insult Edward and duel him, so I figured I'd get it done right away for a change. A gentleman's duel is initiated with the slap of the white glove and so it's to the field of battle once more!

Where you're given a choice of pistols. You can grab any of them, it doesn't matter.

But once you grab a pistol the duel starts and you immediately lose.

Edward is just that speedy and fires as soon they both turn around. And gloats.

Pistols aren't the answer. You know what is the answer?

In that pistol choice, you can flip the middle box's lid to reveal a banjo case in full. Choose the banjo! Even Guybrush is surprised that Edward accepts. Commence the Banjo Duel and greatness.

I love this bit so much. There are a lot of stand-out moments in this game. This is one of them. This is a bit I remember seeing our parents play through. I remember them laughing at this and I remember knowing what to do when getting to this point myself.

You just have to match the strings that Edward plays and there are three rounds with an increasing number of notes played, starting with 4 notes and ending with 6. Once you get through that though, Edward gets real serious and starts rocking out with his banjo and Guybrush has no chance of following him. But we're given full control again and there are always other methods...

The pistols are still available, so grab one and use it on Edward's banjo.

Blam.

One busted banjo, putting an end to that showoff.

Edward's impressed by such a lowdown trick. Guybrush is a real pirate after all! And so Edward is happy to join the crew. First crew member acquired!

That's everything that could be done at the Barbery Coast for now. With the scissors I was able to go cut through that jungle that was blocking the route to Danjer Cove. Doing so also cut off an ipecac flower that was added to the inventory.

That took me to a clifftop and a variety of items and a sign... Snake Crossing...

As soon as you try to move the reason for that sign becomes apparent.

One snakey ambush.

And one eaten Guybrush. Well, swallowed anyway. I don't know that you can really say eaten; he's fine. For now. Just jammed in there...

The various items scattered around would all be helpful in this snake situation, such as a snake beating club, high fibre bran cereal, or jaws of life. But, of course, Guybrush can't reach them from inside a snake. There is however quite a collection of items the snake swallowed that's free for the taking.

A whole bunch of items.

Most of them are useless but the are a few important things here:

encyclopedia most of which is too battered or digested to read, but there is a page about what a compass is

reservation slip for Blondebeard's Chicken Shop

syrup

Now there was that sign earlier talking about how the ipecac flower was used as purgative. That was an important hint for this part. You gotta use the ipecac flower with the syrup to make syrup of ipecac then use it with the snake.

And the snake vomits Guybrush out.

All good!

Or not... out of the frying pan into the fire, as we've landed in quicksand. And unfortunately, most of the stuff from the snake got sucked out by the quicksand, except for the encyclopedia and reservation.

This was another area I remember being stuck in when I was a kid. But there are a few things here for use or for information:

sign from a former naturalist talking about quicksand before devolving into asking for help...

reeds

Pappapishu Bush, which according to its sign, it was named by the Plunder Island indigenous people and named after their word meaning 'Youch!". The fun thing about examining that is that Guybrush will start saying Pappapishu at points he'd say ouch, like when getting a thorn off that bush

life saving vine - can't reach

branch pinning the life saving vine down

So, the vine is needed here, but it needs to be freed. You have to attach one of the helium balloons (had from the start of the game) to the paperweight which makes the rock float. Then attach the thorn to the reed to make a peashooter.

Blow on the balloon to float the rock over the branch and vine, then use the peashooter to pop the balloon dropping the rock and freeing the vine, so Guybrush can pull himself out. And we're free! And from there it takes us to Danger Cove.

Unfortunately, there's not much to be done at Danger Cove yet. The pirate ship that stole Elaine can be seen but the only way over is a boat with a hole that makes it useless until the hole is patched up. It's a nice little area though! I like the waterfall--obligatory waterfall screenshot.

Now that I had a reservation it was off to Blondebeard's. There is quite a bit to do here starting with Blondebeard himself who has plenty to say:

First: He's all out of chicken, so there's not much to serve, all thanks to...the devil chicken, El Pollo Diablo! He's sure this giant evil chicken is out for revenge, unleashing all his chickens and eventually...coming for him. But he'll be ready to take him on and solve his chicken crisis.

The devil chicken.

Second: You can ask him to join your crew, but he's offended at the idea of leaving his shop.

Third: You find out he's a member of the Brimstone Beachclub but lost his membership card during an awful sneezing fit in the kitchen while preparing chicken.

Fourth: He has a gold tooth. Very admirable. Very...gold.

Fifth: He's running behind on a delivery to the mangy pirates in Danjer Cove and warns not to go near them. If you're caught near their boat you'll be tortured for sure.

Sixth: And finally conversation leads to him craving something hard and crunchy to crack his teeth on. He's missing his bucket o' beaks due to the chicken shortage.

As for the shop itself there are yet more things:

First: Barrel of 'Biscuits 'n' More.' Buttery tasty biscuits. You can grab one, bite it and... eugh, there are maggots in there. Congrats, there's the more. But both biscuit and maggots are added to the inventory.

Second: There's a pie plate and biscuit cutter off to the side that can both be scooped.

Third: There's a quiet patron sitting at the table with a gross crusty greasy roast chicken, I guess the last one. He won't respond if you talk to him and you can slap him on the back causing him to fall over the table and is then revealed to be a skeleton with a knife in his back. One of LeChuck's skeletal horde who insulted Blondebeard's chicken and Blondebeard wasn't having that. He also has an "Ask me about Grim Fandango" button. Yeah, he's an ad and reference to Grim Fandango, but you get the knife. And Grim Fandango is a great game, so it's deserved.

Fourth: The chicken. If you use the maggots on it they eat all the meat leaving only the bones and a Brimstone Beachclub membership card. That was one heck of a sneeze. This is another Mega Monkey thing. In normal mode the chicken is already gone and the bones are there with the card on full display.

Fifth: There's a menu you can examine to see all kinds of items that are served. There are several, including the biscuits of which the comment changes if you've already tried them. Guybrush is grossed out. There are other things too like Blondebeard's Mashed Taters.

Mashed chitin and flour mixed with coconut milk.

It took me a few plays to release the menu was split into multiple parts--mains, sides and drinks--and you could examine them each multiple times for multiple results. Doing this affects some dialogue later too!

And finally back to Blondebeard's gold tooth. There's the gold we need for treasure. He wanted something crunchy, so give him the jawbreaker. That loosens his gold tooth and then he wants something fleshy and chewy instead. So, give him the steak flavoured gum. He blows a bubble with it and inside the bubble is the tooth.

Pop the bubble with the needle causing the tooth to fall out. And it's free for the grabbing. In normal mode you'd be able to grab it and walk out. Not so in Mega Monkey and I still remember being startled when I tried to walk out only to be stopped by Blondebeard who searches you and takes the tooth back. So, another way to get the tooth is needed. I'd gotten stuck back then here too.

But what you have to do is, chew some gum yourself that gives you chewed gum, add the tooth to the chewed gum, suck in some helium from the helium balloons, chew the gum again and Guybrush will blow a bubble that will then float away out the open window.

There'll be a rattling sound from outside. Go outside and there's a drain pipe and mud puddle.

Use the pie pan on the mud to pan for gold.

And presto we have a gold tooth.

I brought it back to Cutthroat Bill who took the gold tooth and is now willing to join my crew.

2/3 crew members acquired!

And I now have all the materials I need to start work on getting Haggis to join, and I can get moving toward the map and ship as well. Next time!

[underscoremyposhcloset]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Vintage Disney Cross Stitch The Disney Evening Post Barbershop Quartet.

[marveltrumpshate]

March 2020 MTH fills 3/3

You can see part 1 here and part 2 here.

The best way to see all the fills that have been shared with us is our monthly roundups, but you can also check out the MTH 2019 tag on our Tumblr, “Marvel Trumps Hate 2019” collection on AO3, #MTH-fills channel on our Discord, or our monthly roundups at the end of this post. To find specific content, use our completed works tag list which includes instructions on how to search for a particular character, gen or romantic relationship, universe, and fanwork type.  

You can see 2018 fills by checking out the MTH 2018 tag on our Tumblr, “Marvel Trumps Hate 2018” collection on AO3, #MTH-fills channel on our Discord, or our monthly roundups below. To find specific content, use our completed MTH 2018 works tag list. 

Prim the Amazing/@primtheamazing “date night” (Bucky/Natasha/Sam/Steve truth serum A/B/O heat fic) for @zepysgirl

saperli popette/Mireille - “The Truth Is (An Act of Love)” (MCU Peter/Tony truth serum fic) for freegratis

Scarabrae_stone/@skarabrae-stone - “Don’t Give it a Hand, Offer it a Soul” (Winter Soldier Steve/SHIELD agent Bucky AU fic) for @zepysgirl​

semperfiona - Podfic of “I Want to Come Over,” a post-Endgame May Parker/Pepper Potts fic for @rarepairqueen ​- Podfic of “The Future Is Yet in Your Power,” a Steve/Tony post-IW time travel fix-it fic for @ashes0909

Serinah/@serinah80 - “The Art of Letting Go” (Steve/Tony canon-divergent fic featuring angry sub!Tony and confused dom!Steve) for @avengersnewb

Silver Myfanwy/@silvermyfanwy - “Deep in the Woods (Where My Heart Has Been Waiting)” (Steve/Bucky pioneer AU fic) for @kalika999 - “His Skin Was Made of Damsons (Redevenir)” (Bucky/Natasha/Steve AU fic featuring Winter Soldier!Steve, Cap!Bucky, and ace Nat & Bucky) for @zepysgirl

swtalmond/@amysnotdeadyet - “Hang the Sky for My Baby” (Steve/Bucky/Tony soulmate/coffeeshop AU fic) for sdlibrarian

TheFancyDragonqueen/@fancydragonqueendraws - Art of Steve and Bucky having Christmas dinner together for @menatiera

tuesday/@everysecondtuesday - “Home Movies” (adult Peter/Tony fic set many years after FFH where Tony gets resurrected) for tangodoodles - “No Speed Limits on the Green” (adult Peter/Tony undercover-as-a-couple fic with miscommunication) for FreeGratis

PAST MONTHLY ROUNDUP POSTS

2018: November | December

2019: January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September (1 & 2) | October (1 & 2) | November (1, 2, & 3) | December (1 & 2)

January 2020 part 1 | part 2

February 2020 part 1 | part 2 | part 3

[buckywithaknife]

part of the fun of sam steve nat and bucky as a group is that you’ve got two super assassin-spies (idk if it’s canon that bucky’s winter soldier skill set includes espionage but it does in my world) and two dudes who are absolutely terrible spies (due to the whole ‘more of a soldier than a spy’ thing but also just. they’re both reckless and flashy as hell, the guy who dresses up in the american flag and flings around a metal frisbee as a weapon and the guy who flies with literal wings are NOT suited to undercover work even IF they got training) and this combination just has such great comedic potential

[wifiwuxians]

To be fair- Song Lan doesn’t show up until much later so if someone is only talking about Xiao Xingchen, A-Qing, and Xue Yang living together I think it’s fair to call them a trio. But if someone is talking about the whole Yi City arc- then it is a Quad (? Idk the proper term). (This doesn’t apply to fix it fanfic that makes Song Lan show up earlier for family bonding instead of the tragedy that happens via canon).

I mean yeah at any given time there's only 3 people on screen max save for the Big Fight but as a whole there's 4 people involved in the story.

As an aside though I need more family bonding 😟

[mollymoppy-blog]

I really like this two together... <3

[allofthefeelings]

The nice thing about shipping Barbershop Quartet is that I am equally drawn to Sam/Bucky, Sam/Steve, Bucky/Steve, Bucky/Nat, Steve/Nat, and the ever-elusive Sam/Nat image sets. They all bring me joy.

Thank you for your service, picture editors, gif makers, and artists of Tumblr. You are very appreciated by me.