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amonrawya · 3 years

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The Greatest Gift of All

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(Inspired by^ for the people who asked :D hope it was worth the wait!)

Long before the war, before Captain America or the Winter Soldier, there was simply Bucky and Steve. At least, that's what history says. But they missed out one very important person, a girl called Y/N.

Women in those times often found themselves with little opportunity, and only two easily attainable pathways in life: wife and mother. But Y/N carved out a life for herself that defied all expectations, and it all started in Brooklyn.

She dived headlong into scuffles, usually next to Bucky in defence of Steve. Regardless of the opponent, Y/N stood by them both, and often held her own quite impressively.

Her dress style borrowed from more masculine cuts, and Y/N was never seen without her cap. A lot of people had a problem with this, but she shut them up fairly swiftly.

Everything about this girl drew Bucky in, a battle he fought with little effort. They reveled in each other, flaunting their love at every opportunity. More than a few were jealous that the rough and tumble girl got the best looking boy in town.

In a way, before even coming of age, they started an adult life together. The three of them moved into a flat. Y/N and Bucky took hard labour jobs, or anything they could get. They had little room to be picky.

Both managed to hook steady summer jobs at the local docks. They used most of their money to keep a roof over their heads, buy food, and pay for Steve's medical needs. He attended art school, and sold his work every now and then; but physically, he was in no condition to work.

The war appeared on the horizon, just as they started to pull themselves an inch above the poverty line. Y/N saw it coming, the inevitable. She treasured every second they spent together, and dreaded the day when the draft came.

A lot of the older women she worked with were disrespectful, looking down on her pre-marital relationship with Bucky. They claimed she couldn't possibly understand their grief, despite the fact Y/N had seen Bucky off at the docks that very morning.

In truth, they already planned on being married, but at the time, they simply didn't have the funds. Bucky promised, once the war ended, that ring would be on her finger.

Except, he never came home. Not properly. The person Hydra gave back to Y/N was damaged and jaded, angry at the world, angrier than she ever saw. But still, they loved each other. Though she never forgave them for stealing away his innocence, for trying to snuff out the light in his soul. A part of him would always belong to them, and she hated it.

Refusing to stay home while they risked their lives, never knowing, Y/N trained as an army nurse, working specially with the Howling Commandos unit.

Then one day, she went out to welcome them back from a mission. Every face looked devastated, but none more so than Steve. His eyes, red-raw and streaming, seemed incapable of rising from the ground. At first, the realisation didn't process, the idea simply incomprehensible. He promised.

Dugan was the one to finally break through and catch Y/N as she fell, holding her as the tears poured. Once he shook off his daze, Steve took his place, sharing in her grief.

Her world fell apart so quickly, with no warning and no mercy. Their commanders celebrated the capture of Arnim Zola, while Y/N and Steve sat, staring at an empty place at their side.

Everyone mourned Bucky, and swiftly after, began to mourn Y/N, too. The loss took a part of her...the sparkle, the happiness, the laugh that lit up her face. It all vanished. She worked hard, looked after them all, but only Steve was able to make her smile. Even then, it looked pained.

So when Steve went down with the plane, the very last shred of Y/N died with him. No tears left her eyes, no screams ripped up her throat. A cold numbness took over, freezing the woman from the inside out.

V-Day came and went. The Commandos stood and drank to their lost comrades, and Dugan silently drank another...for the loss of a bright, fiery girl who had virtually nothing to lose, and still lost everything.

She spent her days as a robot, doing nothing but going through the motions of badly imitating life. The flat was empty and quiet, yet somehow, bursting with the ghosts of her loved ones. Nightmares plagued her, terrible images of Bucky's body, forever trapped in a freezing hell, nothing but food for the birds. And Steve, his body...was it cast adrift in the ocean? Or destroyed, burnt to ash in the belly of a metal beast.

They were simple folk before the war turned them into soldiers, into weapons. Before symbols and flags stole away their names, driving them to sacrifice their lives for a greater cause.

Y/N knew their fight against Hydra was important...knew the honour behind their sacrifice. But when it's you left sitting at an empty dinner table, it's much easier to be angry and bitter.

She never married, never settled, bouncing around countries working as an army nurse. The Commandos slowly died around her, each one fading to grey as the curtain drew the show to a close. Each death, each funeral ripped open her wounds, bigger and deeper each time. Until eventually, Y/N let the blood flow freely.

Or at least, that's what would have happened. But one choice, one decision, made by a boy she thought dead in the far future, changed it all.

Bucky Barnes struggled to find himself again. His memories were mostly all returned, if a bit hazy and fragmented. He had Steve there to right any wrong recollections, and connect with on their shared experiences. But something always seemed to be missing, a piece of the jigsaw that hadn't been found.

He remembered Y/N. He remembered her clearer than anything. She was glowing like honey in the sun when Bucky closed his eyes and brought her back to mind.

Face covered in muck, hair tousled and streaked with grease from the boats, soot on the very tip of her nose and a cap perched jauntily on her head; wearing the deepest expression of concentration as she aimed a hanful of rotten fish guts at the sleezy Connell boy from Fifth, who decided his opinion on her backside mattered. The image shone crystal clear. Her laughter, rolling out from between curved lips, beautiful and full of mischief.

It never failed to make him smile. Or cry. Or sometimes, both. He missed Y/N than he thought possible for a human being.

Bucky often wondered about her life, whether she went on to marry, or maybe even have children. Was she happy? Did she bury him and move on? If they met today, would Y/N even recognise the man he was now?

More importantly, in his mind, something he both feared and longed to know: would she still love him?

Unbeknownst to Bucky, Steve saw all this. Understood, to a degree, his pain. But he and Peggy never got the chance to bond so strongly. He knew Bucky needed him, but Steve also knew he needed Y/N more.

So once his goodbyes were said, he looked one last time at Bucky, and smiled beneath his suit as he vanished into time.

The living room looked exactly the same as he remembered. Bucky's coat, slung over the back of the chair, his sketchbooks strewn around the desk. Every rip and chip. His heart swelled with nostalgia, and pain, thinking of the life they were supposed to have.

What must have been in their heads...running off to fight, so eager to throw everything away. And who was left to stare at empty beds and eat breakfast alone every morning? Y/N.

His chest constricted, hearing the keys in the door, the lock rattling three times before letting her in. His nerve faltered for the briefest second, wondering if he was ready to see her again.

"Who the hell are you?!"

Time's up.

Slowly, he turned, and watched as Y/N's eyes widened, all the bags in her hands falling to the floor with a crash.

"...Stevie?" The name came out as a whisper, nearly inaudible.

He grinned, laughing as tears stung his eyes. "Hey, spitfire. Long time no see."

"Steve!" She launched herself at him, arms wrapping around his neck and clinging on for dear life.

Catching her by the waist, he swung Y/N around, burying his face in her hair. They held onto one another as if they might vanish if they let go. But after a minute, Steve gently pushed her back.

"How? How are you here? What are you wearing? I don't understand, Steve, they said you died! Your plane went down in the ocean," she stammered, hand on his forearm with a grip like a vice.

"I survived. The serum kept me alive in the ice for seventy years," he said, questioning his own sanity momentarily; standing in the flat again made everything that happened seem like a distant dream.

Y/N frowned, brows knitting together. "What? Did you hit your head? Steve, this is 1945."

"I know, I came from 2023. I'm alive," he said, and saw her mentally backing away, so added, "I'm alive, and so is Bucky."

Her head snapped up, eyes immediately filling with tears. A dozen emotions whizzed through them in a second; disbelief, pain, hope. It shone clearly in her face as she stepped closer.

What did you say?" She asked, voice choked as she brought her shaking hands up to her mouth.

"Bucky's alive," he repeated softly, "and I can send you to him, in the future. But we don't have a lot of time. You need to listen to me, carefully, and do what I say."

She spluttered, struggling for words. "I, but...what about you?"

"I've made my decision," Steve said, and gently took her hands in his, "now, please, listen."

Bucky watched the machine, feeling a wave of numbness wash over his insides. Nothing was a better deal than the pain, the cruel sting of betrayal fighting to be felt. But he beat it back, unable to allow those thoughts validation.

Steve gave up so much for him, he fought for years to get him here. Steve deserved this. And no matter how wrong those words sounded in his head, he resolutely stood by them.

The seconds ticked by, noted by Bruce's countdown. A flash of guilt almost made Bucky explain what was going to happen, explain that Steve left them. Left him. But he possessed no energy to speak, they'd see in a second, when no one appeared-

Zap. A blinding flash of light.

There's someone there.

Bucky frowned, hands falling from his pockets. Did Steve change his mind? Did he...

All the thoughts in his head stopped as the figure stepped down. Too small, too lithe for it to be Steve. Bucky's heart rate quickened, something in his unconscious already registering his recognition.

The suit fell away, and if he weren't frozen in place, Bucky wouldn't have been standing. A quiver shot through him, nearly buckling his knees. Shock, fear and pure disbelief all delayed his reaction.

Y/N looked around, amazed, but turned to stone as she set eyes on him. Her face went utterly blank, a strangled sound leaving her lips.

Wearing her yard slacks, with a small bag on her shoulder, her face covered in dirt, hair streaked with grease, cap perched on-top, slanted to one side...she was everything he remembered, and his heart tried to leave his chest to go to her. To be whole again.

But fear held him back. She didn't know the things he'd done, the person he became after the train accident. What if-

"Who is she?" Sam asked, glaring as he stalked towards her, an accusation rising on his lips.

Bucky answered without hesitation, or thinking; the question had been asked countless times over the years. It always recieved the same reply. "My doll."

Sam stopped short, glancing between them, the way neither took their eyes off the other. He nodded, brows still closely knit, and backed off.

Slowly, Y/N approached, encouraged by the sound of his voice. She reached out carefully, when she got close enough. Trembling fingers brushed his cheek, and a shudder ran through her.

"My Bucky..." She said quietly, eyes roaming over his face, a small smile tugging at her lips, "...you're here, in front of me. Alive."

He swallowed dryly, heart thundering away beneath his skin. "I'm different...you don't know..."

No sooner had the words left his mouth that her eyes found the cold metal where his flesh used to be. In reaching to hold it, she'd been taken by surprise.

Gently, Y/N took the hand in her own, examing the limb with a careful gaze. Moments passed, and she met his eyes again. Bucky steeled himself for rejection, for the disgust and horror.

Her hand went back to his cheek, and he involuntairly leaned into it. The warmth seeped into his blood. She stood on her tip toes, the smile on her lips blossoming into a bright beam of sunlight. "You've always been my Bucky, and always will be. Metal appendages and all."

He fell apart and dove down to capture her lips, clutching her to him with the hunger of a starving man. She pulled herself in, hands tangling in his brown locks, and both tasted salt on the others' lips.

So filled with joy his heart could burst, Bucky revelled in the feeling of holding his girl again. Laughing through the tears, he buried his face in her neck.

Thank you, Steve, for the greatest gift of all.

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woahajimes · 3 years

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Alfred isn’t a grandfatherly figure to Dick, nor Jason, nor Tim, and much less Damian.

Alfred was the one that tied Dick’s shoelaces (properly) right before he went to school. He was the one that sat with Dick as soon as he came back from school, gathering his patience for a boy that struggled with double-digit multiplication. Sometimes I think the fandom as a whole forgets that Dick was utterly NINE. Alfred was the one whose heart skipped seventy beats whenever Dick tried to do dangerous stunts on rollerskates, even though he got out of the house every night dressed up as a teletubbie. He was the one that learned how to play monopoly, and beat Dick every time they played on rainy afternoons. Hung Dick’s drawings on the fridge, attended parent-teacher conferences.

Alfred was the one that sat down with Jason, with a pencil and eraser, practicing and helping him improve his calligraphy. He snuck in oatmeal cookies in Jason’s ‘all healthy’ lunchbox, he was the one that kept Jason’s room tidy, all those yearshe wasn’t there. Alfred was the one with the will and patience to still bake pecan muffins when his birthday came around. Really, Alfred is the main reason why Jason visits the manor often.

Alfred used to sit down with Tim, when things were low. Tim was the third in a line of boys that had a deep history with Bruce, boys that were agile in more ways than one. The fun thing with Alfred is that he never compared Tim to anyone else, nor expected him to fill in somebody else’s shoes.

Alfred seemed to be the only one with a thick enough patience to deal with Damian. There was Dick, sure, but as around as he was, as often as he visited the Manor, he wasn’t around. He didn’t play chess with Damian, and he didn’t give him chances, over and over, not like Alfred did. And I KNOW that Dick has shaped Damian a huge deal as well, but like,,,, Alfred. Alfred had the patience, and i cannot stress enough how MUCH patience Alfred had with Damian. Not ONCE did Alfred snap at Damian. Chastise, yes, snap, no.

I’ve said this so many times before and this post was supposed to fall into formal writing (’formal’) with little headcanons and stuff but like. I am knocking in your head with a baseball bat that Alfred is NOT a grandfatherly figure to the batboys. Maybe Dick a little bit, but not the rest, not really.

lmao im really regretting this whole taglist thing but: @bikoncon @red-hood-redemption @thesporklecat umm suddenly i forgot everyone that was in my taglist @catxsnow @screennamealreadyused @thesesickfics-justmakemesick @ ummm sorry lol

OH ALSO ALFRED IS DEAD HAVE FUN WITH THAT

#this is so repetitive i hate it #especially not damian. you hear me hoe #damian wayne #dick grayson #jason todd #Alfred Pennyworth #red hood #nightwing #robin #tim drake #red robin #batfamily #lunatick

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lovelyirony · 3 years

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Winteriron Idea: Tony doesn’t expect to see his high school crush at his cousin Sharon’s wedding, but here he is, in a suit that makes his mouth water.

Tony never exactly got over his stupid high school crush on Bucky Barnes, honestly. He was a nice guy, always humorous, and he was good-looking to boot.

And yeah, he followed him on social media and sneakily liked the pictures or just stared, and that was fine! That was fine.

He could be happy just simply living his life and not having any romantic partner! And who knows, maybe Bucky wouldn’t be a romantic partner, maybe he would suck at it and Tony’s just foisting all of his romantic scenarios onto Bucky and nothing is ever realistic!

Besides, they were living different lives now. Bucky was working at some security company that Nat also worked at, and Tony was working for his own company in the R&D department after Pepper overtook as CEO. (Thank god, he loves that woman immensely.)

Tony sees his cousin Sharon every so often. They’re closer now that they’re grown up, and he always looks forward to hearing from her.

Especially now, when he sees a golden band on her left ring finger, and her eyes are grinning.

“Steve proposed!”

“You sound like an excitable debutante,” Tony says, although he’s smiling. “I’m surprised that Steve took my hint. Along with everyone else’s.”

Sharon lightly taps his shoulder.

“Hey, he’s not that dense.”

“Isn’t he?” Tony teases, bringing her into a hug. “You have to promise me that I can help with some of the stuff.”

“No way,” Sharon says. “You can help by supervising the other cousins and making sure that they don’t steal all of the alcohol at the open bar like last time.”

“Didn’t we also do that?”

“Yeah, but we were better about it, so that doesn’t count.”

Tony laughs.

“Okay, well let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

“You know I will.”

He’s mostly left out of wedding planning, although Sharon nervously asks where he gets his suits, and Tony takes care of that little portion. (Or at least, part of it. Sharon still wants to pay for it, and so he calls the tailor ahead of time and says that he’ll pay for seventy-five percent of the cost beforehand if he’ll only charge twenty-five percent.)

And then, the day of the wedding.

Tony’s been helping set everything up, center the tablecloths, and making sure that everything is perfect or Sharon doesn’t know about it if it isn’t.

He’s so busy with everything that he doesn’t notice all the guests, and he hasn’t seen any of the groomsmen.

This is a problem. Kind of.

You see, as Tony is sitting by Bruce and Thor, he realizes that he forgot one crucial detail about this whole thing:

Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes are best friends.

He doesn’t know how he forgot this, it’s the easiest thing to remember. Hell, they would say the same thing at the same time and would get each other out of trouble every single week.

He’s in a suit.

A suit.

He sits up a little straighter and Bruce sends him a look that says he still remembers when Tony would literally rework his day to see even a glimpse of him.

“You’re still stuck on him?” Bruce whispers.

“What? No!” Tony whispers back. “No!”

“You’re so bad at lying,” Bruce says, grinning at him.

“You both need to pay attention to Sharon,” Thor says.

“We are!” They whisper back, and their eyes go back to Sharon, who has her vows written out on a napkin from Steve’s favorite diner. (Disgustingly cute.)

Bucky can see Tony from the altar. It’s weird, seeing him again.

Steve had told him he’d be there, obviously.

“So you can still have your crush there,” Steve had teased him. “You want me to tell him that you liked him in that last magazine he was in?”

“Aw shut up,” Bucky whines, fiddling with his cufflinks. “I can still knock your ass out when the priest asks for any objections.”

“But you won’t,” Steve says.

“Then you get to hear me talk about how embarrassing you were all throughout high school and how Sharon still doesn’t know that you were the reason that they got the really nice suite for the final basketball championship.”

Steve flips him off, and Bucky laughs at him.

He knew Tony would be there, but it’s very different to see him.

He looks handsome, beyond handsome. He has an artfully shaved beard, a tailored suit that fits to perfection, and the way he’s smiling as he watches Sharon and Steve say “I do” and kiss to seal the deal is good to see.

He’s always liked his smile.

Now the reception.

Bucky is busy with pictures and catching up with old family and friends, and everything else that came with being the best man at a wedding. He can’t really find Tony until he sees him in line to congratulate Sharon.

After he does so, Bucky waves at him. Tony carefully weaves through the crowd to see him.

“Hey,” Bucky says. “Good to see you again, Tony.”

“It’s nice to see you too,” Tony answers, smiling gently. “What have you been up to?”

From then, they talk all night. Bucky nearly misses his cue to give the speech before dinner, and his eyes keep drifting over to Tony, who’s smiling up at him. His heart skips a couple of beats.

He finishes up his speech, watches Steve twirl Sharon around the dance floor, and catches Tony’s eyes as the song finishes up. He tilts his head, indicating the dance floor being open.

Tony steps out.

They meet in the middle, and Bucky grins.

“Been waiting since high school for something like this to happen,” he admits. “I remember you being an exceptionally good dancer.”

“You...you do?” Tony asks as they twirl expertly around. Bucky sends him out of his arms, and watches as he twists back into the embrace. It’s perfect.

“Of course I remember. You’re an exceptionally hard person to forget about, Tony.”

“I could say the same of you,” Tony says, smiling up at him. “I remember that you were always kind. And nice. And also an alright dancer.”

“Like I could’ve held a candle to you and Pepper,” Bucky asks. “How is she, by the way?”

“Enjoying running the company,” Tony answers. He changes the pace of their steps as the song shifts into a slower one. “She and Dr. Helen Cho are doing well together.”

“Oh?”

“Oh is right,” Tony teases. “She adores the hell out of her.”

“And what about you? Surely there’s someone who adores the hell out of you.”

“Not so far,” Tony says, small frown on his face for a moment.

Bucky takes his chance.

“And if there was someone?”

Tony’s eyes snap up to his.

“Oh?”

Bucky smiles.

“I, uh...I meant to ask you out senior year of high school, after graduation. But then time got away from me, and I was too much of a damn coward to ask. So I’m hoping I’m not too late.”

“Better late than never,” Tony says with a grin. “I had wanted to do the same, but then I had found out that you and Steve and Sam were doing your grand road trip, and I didn’t want to ask you and then leave.”

“Then how should we make it up to each other?” Bucky asks.

“Coffee for starters,” Tony says. “But I think I might make you come with me to an art museum next...it’s only fair.”

“Of course,” Bucky says. “It’s only fair that I treat you to dinner afterwards, as well.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

They leave together, and Natasha cusses as she hands Bruce some bills.

“How were you right about this? You thought his name was Binky!”

Bruce cackles.

“I know my romance, Romanov.”

“You told Thor if he didn’t date you then he would receive grilled cheese sandwiches unexpectedly throughout his life.”

Bruce shrugs.

“Like I said. I’m a romantic.”

#lovelyirony writes #winteriron #bucky barnes #tony stark #staron #natasha romanoff #bruce banner #of course i have to write bruce into everything i do what else is to be done?

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roguerogerss · 4 years

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A Long Day of Saving Your Ass

(gif isn’t mine, creds to the owner!)

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Avenger!Reader

Plot: “Hi darlin! If you’re still taking requests could you do a Bucky x reader where she gets her ass saved from literal death by Bucky during a mission and she refuses to leave his side on the way back or at the tower? And he gives her a back/foot massage to make her nerves calm down aaand they may or may not share a kiss bc they like each other? I hope that makes sense, tysm! 💞” - requested by anon

W/C: 2.3k

Warnings: mentions of fights/blood/kinda ptsd but not really? she’s pretty much just really shaken up and Bucky’s cute and protective as hell about it. also kinda sexual themes towards the end, no smut or anything though it’s all fluff!

(A/N: first of all, thank you so much for all of the love on my last fic, it really really does mean the world and that was just totally insane. okay, so, this request only came in yesterday, but I was so in love with the concept and had this wave of ideas for what I could write, and so here it is! thank you so much for this one, bby! as always, requests are open for any marvel boy you want, plus any of the stranger things boys. i do smut too hehe. any feedback is so welcome and appreciated, it really helps! please like and reblog!)

————

The quinjet was ready to take off, engine on, Steve behind the wheel. But Y/N wasn't there yet. They'd been holding off on leaving, giving her time to get out and the opportunity to do it without help, but Bucky had been antsy since he'd gotten on the vehicle and realised that she wasn't there.

It wasn't exactly a secret that he liked her, in a way that he hadn't really liked anyone in over seventy years. He'd never admitted it to anyone, not even to himself out loud, but you have to have a certain level of intelligence and basic sight to join the Avengers in the first place, and it wasn't hard to figure out.

Y/N was oblivious to it, rolling her eyes whenever Natasha teased her about 'Bucky's little crush', never taking it seriously. If she'd known that they were really serious about it, she wouldn't have hesitated to make a move. She was inherently forward, had no sense of shame whatsoever, it was common knowledge that she would've said something, at the very least.

"Hey, Y/N, where are you right now?" Bucky spoke into the intercoms, earning wide eyed glances from the rest of the team. They knew that she hated being rushed, hated being babied even more, and the fact that Bucky was doing both was probably about to blow up in all of their faces.

There were obvious sounds of struggle on her end as she answered back with a grunt, "South side, got ten guys on my case. Think I can handle it, though."

"We're ready to leave, Y/N." Bucky grunted, leaning forward in his seat and chewing at his lip. He was met back with a crash and a strangled groan from the assassin, making him shoot up and towards the exit of the ship.

"Bucky, where are you going? She'll kill you if you try to help her-" Tony was standing now, too, worried about his teammate, but figuring that she'd find some way out. Bucky shook his head and pressed the button to open the escape hatch.

"She's going to die if I don't help her, Stark. Keep the engine running, we'll be back in a second." And he was gone with that. Steve closed the hatch, radioing to Bucky to 'keep in touch' as he did so.

Bucky pulled his machine gun from the holster on his back, shooting two guards that were stationed at the front entrance of the Hydra base that they'd sneakily infiltrated, managing to only cause a few minor scenes. He was inside and backed against a wall, scoping out his route to the south side of the building, without wasting a second.

His feet pounded on the metal stairs as he made his way down to where they'd been earlier, where he knew that Y/N still was, and he looked around himself cautiously, gears in his arm turning.

He could hear the fight before he could see it, and he could tell from the noises that Y/N wasn't doing so well. A lot of crashing, thuds, groans mostly from her. The sight wasn't exactly easy to look at either, she was covered in blood, slumped against a wall and kicking her legs wildly while one of the agents held a gun to her temple.

Bucky knew that he had to act fast, and so he shot the agent with the gun without giving away his position, and then proceeded to open fire on the rest of them, trusting in the fact that Y/N knew how to dodge a bullet.

When he was sure that the agents were dead, each one of them crumpled in heaps on the floor, he slung his gun back over his shoulder and ran for Y/N, who let out a relieved sigh upon seeing Bucky. "Oh my God, Buck." She whispered. She wasn't sure what she meant by the words, what she wanted to convey in them, but he seemed to pick up just fine as he wrapped his arms around her shaking and compacted body.

"You're okay, I've got you." He rested his head on top of hers for a second, breathing heavy, just allowing himself to enjoy how it felt to have his body draped over hers. "We've gotta go, okay?"

"I can't run." She said assertively, knowing that there was no way that she'd be able to get up and run like hell, like Bucky seemingly wanted her to. He nodded once, gave her an apologetic smile, and then scooped her up into his arms without another word.

She scrambled to grip onto his black jacket, a gasp leaving her mouth as he picked her up from the floor, flesh arm supporting the backs of her knees and the metal one around her shoulders. He chuckled at her reaction, the way that she white-knuckled the leather of his combat jacket. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna drop you."

"How do you expect me to believe that?" She croaked, trying her hardest to be her usual, sardonic self, but failing miserably as she realised just how fast and hard her heart was beating.

"Because I just saved you from at least ten guys who wanted to kill you within a minute, I'm not dropping you." Bucky replied as he ascended the stairs and she buried her face in his chest, the smell of his cologne relaxing her. He allowed a soft smile to cross his face, bringing his metal hand to her head and almost rocking her like an infant or a small child who had a nightmare.

For Tony saying that she hated being 'babied', she seemed to enjoy it when it was coming from Bucky.

They were back at the ship within a few minutes. Steve had taken off, and Bucky had gone to sit in the back of the ship on his own. Or at least, he'd wanted to sit in the back of the ship on his own, but Y/N was so shaken up and had looked at him like she was a lost puppy when he'd tried to leave her alone, and so he smiled and told her to come with him.

Everyone else had looked between themselves, grinning like mad. "He really likes her." Steve commented and Natasha nodded.

"She really likes him, I'm well aware of that fact." She said.

"I've never seen The Winter Soldier so caring. And, was that - sorry if this seems outlandish - a smile? On Bucky Barnes' face? Surely not." Tony pitched in, leaning back in his chair while his friends laughed.

Meanwhile, Y/N was curled up in a chair, chewing at her fingernails and dabbing at her bloody face with a wet cloth that Bruce had given her the second that she'd gotten on the ship. Bucky watched her, his heart breaking at the way that her hands shook as she brought them to her face, at the way that her entire body shook.

"Hey." He placed a tender and soothing hand on her back, rubbing gentle circles there. "It's okay, you're safe now."

She gave him a wobbly smile that didn't quite reach her eyes and placed her hand over his, allowing him to interlock their fingers. "Yeah. Safe now."

��———

She still hadn't left his side, apart from briefly so that she could take a shower. He'd offered to come back to her room with her when she'd hovered around the lounge while everyone else had already dispersed, reminding her that no one was going to hurt her.

She was laying on her bed, hair wet and wearing nothing but a big shirt, while Bucky sat awkwardly on the edge of it, twisting the sheets between his fingers. "You don't have to sit there, you know. I have a sofa, or you can sit back."

Bucky shook his head and looked round at her, she was still visibly shaking, eyes darting around to show just how on edge she was. "It's fine, darlin'. M'fine." His voice was more ragged than he'd expected it to be. "I'm just here to make sure that you're okay."

"Well," She held her arms out, "Come here, that'd make me feel okay." It was a bold move, one that told of her feelings towards Bucky, but she didn't mind much, figuring that he probably wouldn't decline her.

He chuckled, shaking his head at her, but still, kicked his boots off and lay down next to her, allowing her to wrap her arms tightly around his torso and press her cheek over his heart. "Hey, you're okay, sweetheart." He stroked her hair. "There's nothing to be on edge about, yeah? I've got you."

"Yeah. Yeah, I know. Sorry, I don't know why I'm so freaked out." Her breathing was picking back up again, so Bucky shushed her and pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head, something that drove the butterflies in her stomach wild.

"It's okay, baby." The nickname just added to the way that her stomach fluttered, and she swallowed hard to try to forget about it. "Hey, how about I do something that'll relax you, yeah?"

"And what would that be, Barnes?" She smirked mischievously and he laughed at her.

"Lay on your stomach." He removed his arm from around her shoulders, and she looked at him with one eyebrow raised, obviously thinking that he was implying something way more forward than what he was actually implying. "Woah, no, no, no. I give good back massages, metal arm and all."

She laughed, throwing her head back into the pillows at the headboard of her bed. "Oh my God, Bucky. I hate you so much." She breathed out, flipping over so that she was laying on her stomach, back exposed to him.

"Can I pull your shirt up, or?" Bucky whispered, running his hands up and down the back of her t-shirt, and she nodded.

His breath hitched in his throat and he found himself struggling to think straight when he lifted the hem of her large shirt, to show that she was only wearing a pair of black panties underneath. She didn't seem to mind, so he didn't mention it, even though his breathing was hindered as he trailed his hands from the small of her back to her shoulders, thumbs rubbing circles as he did so.

She sighed and could've sworn that her eyes rolled back into her head as she relaxed into his touch, one hand cold and the other warm. She understood what he meant when he said that he was good at giving back massages.

"Feel okay?" He asked softly, swallowing hard. She nodded again.

"My God, Bucky, feels fucking amazing." She moaned, and he hated himself when his stomach flipped upon hearing her. "You're so good at that."

He had to stop when she said that, hands still on her shoulders but unmoving, just sitting still. He couldn't think about anything else other than sex when she was moaning like that, something that he wanted to punch himself for. It was such a tender moment, she was scared and so vulnerable, and all that was going through his brain were those thoughts.

"You okay?" She asked, and when he didn't answer she flipped back over, sitting in front of him. He looked like he'd seen a ghost as his tongue darted out to lick over his bottom lip. She reached a hand out, caressing his cheek gently to bring him back to reality. "Bucky?"

"Can I kiss you?" The words were leaving his mouth before he even knew what to do with them, what they meant and how she'd react. As soon as he realised what he'd said, he had his face in his hands, shaking his head. "Shit, sorry."

"No. No, Bucky, don't apologise. Look at me." She wrapped her fingers around his wrist, prying his hands away from his face. "Yes. Of course you can kiss me."

He furrowed his eyebrows, wondering if what she'd just said was real. She was looking into his eyes so intently, staring at the light blue rings around his pupils, realising how pretty they really were now that she was this close. "Kiss me." She whispered, and Bucky took no hesitation in complying to what she was asking of him.

His lips were on hers, and they were so gentle and soft, gliding against hers effortlessly. He pulled her closer to him with a hand on her back, the other cupping her cheek lovingly. His tongue had soon slipped between her lips, earning a soft little whine from her, as his tongue met hers and they worked out how to move them together in harmony.

She eventually pulled back, breathless, and simply grinned at him before laying back and pulling him with her. They resumed their earlier position, her arms wrapped firmly around his waist, his arm around her shoulders, her head on his chest while his hand stroked her hair. "Relaxed?" He laughed and she smiled and nodded.

"I'll get goin', it's late and you look tired, princess." Another nickname, another flourish from the butterflies in the pit of her stomach. Just as Bucky was getting up to leave, she grabbed onto his shirt and pulled him back to her, snuggling back up to his chest.

"Stay. Please."

#bucky barnes #marvel #sebastian stan #bucky barnes x reader #captain america #fanfic #sebastian stan x reader #steve rogers #mcu fic #natasha romanoff #rogue writes #this is: probably really bad because i rushed it because i had so many ideas okay anyway #rogue does marvel

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mattprivettwrites · 4 years

Text

The best songs of the 1970s

“What started out as a joke has turned into a disaster!” - Stu Nahan, Rocky IV

So my employment has me in my car a lot, which means I’m listening to the radio a lot. If I’m not listening to a podcast or baseball game through my phone I also have SiriusXM, which of course has a plethora of musical options. I gravitate to the 70s and 80s channels because, well, of course I do.

Something else about me you may or may not know is that I love ranking things. I have a Note on my phone I’m regularly accessing that is nothing but different types of rankings.

Thus, you can imagine my excitement when the 70s on 7 station announced a listener-voted Top 700 Songs of the 70s countdown over Labor Day weekend. It was a fun listen. They went through it twice over the four day weekend, and I was laboring much so I heard much.

It prompted me to think: What are my top seventy songs of the 70s? Surely I wasn’t going to come up with a top 700. After all, some in that list were real stinkers. But seventy? No problem. And indeed, it wasn’t hard to come up with that many songs. The hard part was narrowing it down. And once I did, there were still so many songs on my list I had enough for more lists, so I expanded it to 140, then 210, and... well...

I’m about to give you the authoritative list of the 350 best songs of the 1970s. I originally put out a Top 70 list on Facebook a few weeks ago. Much that of that list remains the same, with a few changes. But now there is much more. I’ve divided these into five “volumes” of seventy songs. They are my picks, but I welcome your feedback, because what’s a good set of rankings without debate and discussion.

Vol. 1 (1–70)

Chicago - “25 or 6 to 4”

Billy Joel - “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”

The Doobie Brothers - “What a Fool Believes”

Queen - “Bohemian Rhapsody”

Boston - “More Than a Feeling”

Elton John & Kiki Dee - “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”

Gerry Rafferty - “Baker Street”

ABBA - “Waterloo”

Don McLean - “American Pie”

The Eagles - “Take It to the Limit”

Fleetwood Mac - “The Chain”

Lynyrd Skynyrd - “Free Bird”

Billy Joel - “Until the Night”

Looking Glass - “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)”

Stevie Wonder - “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours”

Elton John - “Philadelphia Freedom”

The Bee Gees - “Stayin’ Alive”

The Knack - “My Sharona”

Derek & The Dominos - “Layla”

Chicago - “Just You ’N’ Me”

The Emotions - “Best of My Love”

Jefferson Starship - “Miracles”

Aerosmith - “Dream On”

Joe Cocker - “You Are So Beautiful”

The Who - “Won’t Get Fooled Again”

Carly Simon - “You’re So Vain”

Electric Light Orchestra - “Livin’ Thing”

The Rolling Stones - “Beast of Burden”

Queen - “We Will Rock You / We Are the Champions”

Billy Joel - “My Life”

Journey - “Lights”

Toto - “Hold the Line”

Michael Jackson - “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough”

Pilot - “Magic”

Bruce Springsteen - “Born to Run”

Led Zeppelin - “Stairway to Heaven”

Styx - “Babe”

Stevie Wonder - “Sir Duke”

Orleans - “Still the One”

Samantha Sang - “Emotion”

Foreigner - “Feels Like the First Time”

ABBA - “Dancing Queen”

The Four Seasons - “December, 1963 (Oh What a Night)”

Marvin Gaye - “Trouble Man”

The Spinners - “Rubberband Man”

Kansas - “Carry On Wayward Son”

The Jackson 5 - “I Want You Back”

Chicago - “If You Leave Me Now”

Bill Withers - “Ain’t No Sunshine”

Earth, Wind, & Fire - “Shining Star”

Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta - “You’re the One That I Want”

Yvonne Ellman - “If I Can’t Have You”

Fleetwood Mac - “Don’t Stop”

Billy Joel - “Just the Way You Are”

The Eagles - “I Can’t Tell You Why”

Free - “All Right Now”

Kenny Rogers - “The Gambler”

The Bee Gees - “Night Fever”

Player - “Baby Come Back”

The Ides of March - “Vehicle”

David Bowie - “Starman”

The Five Stairsteps - “O-O-H Child”

Carole King - “I Feel the Earth Move”

Elton John - “My Father’s Gun”

Jefferson Starship - “Jane”

Stevie Wonder - “Higher Ground”

Electric Light Orchestra - “Mr. Blue Sky”

Seals & Croft - “Summer Breeze”

The Temptations - “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone”

Chicago - “Old Days”

——

Vol. 2 (71–140)

The Who - “Baba O’Riley”

The Eagles - “Hotel California”

Billy Joel - “Prelude/Angry Young Man”

Aerosmith - “Walk This Way”

The Four Seasons - “Who Loves You”

Gerry Rafferty - “Right Down the Line”

Chicago - “Make Me Smile”

The Bee Gees - “Too Much Heaven”

Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - “Old Time Rock and Roll”

Elton John - “Your Song”

Earth, Wind, & Fire - “September”

Queen - “Somebody to Love”

Paul McCartney & Wings - “Live and Let Die”

The Village People - “Y.M.C.A.”

James Taylor - “Fire and Rain”

Led Zeppelin - “Whole Lotta Love”

The Spinners - “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love”

Three Dog Night - “Joy to the World”

Jim Croce - “I Got a Name”

Billy Joel - “Stiletto”

The Jackson 5 - “ABC”

Styx - “Come Sail Away”

Dobie Gray - “Drift Away”

Ozark Mountain Daredevils - “Jackie Blue”

Stevie Wonder - “I Wish”

Credence Clearwater Revival - “Up Around the Bend”

The Hollies - “Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress)”

Daryl Hall & John Oates - “Rich Girl”

Elton John - “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)”

KISS - “Rock and Roll All Nite”

Fleetwood Mac - “Go Your Own Way”

Carl Douglas - “Kung Fu Fighting”

Steve Miller Band - “Jet Airliner”

Chicago - “Saturday in the Park”

Led Zeppelin - “Immigrant Song”

The Beatles - “Let It Be”

Three Dog Night - “An Old Fashioned Love Song”

Bad Company - “Can’t Get Enough”

Grand Funk Railroad - “We’re an American Band”

The Bee Gees - “More Than a Woman”

The Charlie Daniels Band - “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”

The Doobie Brothers - “Listen to the Music”

Black Sabbath - “Iron Man”

Chic - “Good Times”

Billy Joel - “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)”

Harry Chapin - “Cat’s in the Cradle”

The Bay City Rollers - “Saturday Night”

Elton John - Bennie and the Jets”

K.C. & The Sunshine Band - “That’s the Way (I Like It)”

Lynyrd Skynyrd - “Sweet Home Alabama”

Carole King - “It’s Too Late”

The O’Jays - “Love Train”

Billy Joel - “Piano Man”

Foreigner - “Double Vision”

Chicago - “Feelin’ Stronger Every Day”

Peaches & Herb - “Reunited”

Deep Purple - “Smoke on the Water”

Wild Cherry - “Play That Funky Music”

Marvin Gaye - “I Want You”

Orleans - “Dance With Me”

Earth, Wind, & Fire - “After the Love Has Gone”

Van Halen - “Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love”

Paul McCartney & Wings - “My Love”

Little River Band - “Lonesome Loser”

Stevie Wonder - “Isn’t She Lovely?”

Steely Dan - “Reelin’ in the Years”

Cheap Trick - “Surrender”

The Sugarhill Gang - “Rapper’s Delight”

Maxine Nightingale - “Right Back Where We Started From”

The Who - “Who Are You”

——

Vol. 3 (141–210)

Gloria Gaynor - “I Will Survive”

Led Zeppelin - “Kashmir”

Chicago - “Baby, What a Big Surprise”

Sister Sledge - “We Are Family”

Jackson Browne - “Running on Empty”

Olivia Newton John - “Hopelessly Devoted to You”

Vicki Sue Robinson - “Turn the Beat Around”

Billy Joel - “Big Shot”

Starland Vocal Band - “Afternoon Delight”

Rupert Holmes - “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)”

Queen - “Don’t Stop Me Now”

Andrea True Connection - “More More More”

The Guess Who - “American Woman”

The Doobie Brothers - “Black Water”

Paul McCartney & Wings - “Band on the Run”

Stevie Wonder - “Superstition”

Elton John - “Someone Saved My Life Tonight”

James Taylor - “Your Smiling Face”

The Rolling Stones - “Miss You”

Chicago - “Beginnings”

Bachman-Turner Overdrive - “Let It Ride”

Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - “We’ve Got Tonight”

Styx - “Lady”

Three Dog Night - “Mama Told Me (Not to Come)”

Journey - “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’”

Foreigner - “Cold As Ice”

10cc - “I’m Not in Love”

Credence Clearwater Revival - “Have You Ever Seen the Rain”

K.C. & The Sunshine Band - “Get Down Tonight”

Billy Joel - “Summer Highland Falls”

The Delfonics - “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)”

Electric Light Orchestra - “Don’t Bring Me Down”

The Bee Gees - “How Deep Is Your Love”

Ike & Tina Turner - “Proud Mary”

Elton John - “Levon”

The Doobie Brothers - “Long Train Runnin’”

Seals & Croft - “Diamond Girl”

Redbone - “Come and Get Your Love”

Kenny Loggins - “This Is It”

Manfred Mann’s Earth Band - “Blinded By the Light”

Roberta Flack - “Killing Me Softly With His Song”

Paul McCartney & Wings - “With a Little Luck”

The Bellamy Brothers - “Let Your Love Flow”

The Carpenters - “Superstar”

Blue Oyster Cult - “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”

Stevie Wonder - “You Are the Sunshine of My Life”

Eddie Money - “Baby Hold On”

Ted Nugent - “Cat Scratch Fever”

The Eagles - “Best of My Love”

The Four Tops - “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got)”

Chicago - “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

Chairmen of the Board - “Give Me Just a Little More Time”

The Cars - “Just What I Needed”

Queen - “You’re My Best Friend”

Thelma Houston - “Don’t Leave Me This Way”

Heart - “Barracuda”

Isaac Hayes - “Theme from Shaft”

Daryl Hall & John Oates - “She’s Gone”

Rod Stewart - “You’re in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)”

Billy Joel - “She’s Got a Way”

The Hues Corporation - “Rock the Boat”

Steve Miller Band - “Fly Like an Eagle”

Thin Lizzy - “Jailbreak”

Supertramp - “Give a Little Bit”

Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - “If You Don’t Know Me By Now”

America - “Sister Golden Hair”

Pure Prairie League - “Amie”

The Temptations - “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)”

Prince - “I Wanna Be Your Lover”

Van Halen - “Eruption / You Really Got Me”

——

Vol. 4 (211–280)

Led Zeppelin - “When the Levee Breaks”

The Clash - “London Calling”

Chicago - “(I’ve Been) Searchin’ So Long”

KISS - “Detroit Rock City”

Bobby Womack - “Across 110th Street”

Bad Company - “Feel Like Makin’ Love”

Billy Joel - “I’ve Loved These Days”

Jim Croce - “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”

Aerosmith - “Sweet Emotion”

Ace - “How Long”

James Taylor - “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)”

The Chi-Lites - “Oh Girl”

Frank Mills - “Music Box Dancer”

Amii Stewart - “Knock on Wood”

ABBA - “Take a Chance on Me”

Grand Funk Railroad - “Some Kind of Wonderful”

Elton John - “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds”

Fleetwood Mac - “Dreams”

The Sweet - “Fox on the Run”

Herb Alpert - “Rise”

The Eagles - “The Long Run”

K.C. & The Sunshine Band - “Boogie Shoes”

Marvin Gaye - “What’s Going On”

Todd Rundgren - “Hello, It’s Me”

Black Sabbath - “Paranoid”

Paul McCartney - “Maybe I’m Amazed”

The Rolling Stones - “It’s Only Rock and Roll (But I Like It)”

Boston - “Don’t Look Back”

Billy Joel - “Streetlife Serenader”

Journey - “Wheel in the Sky”

Poco - “Crazy Love”

Blondie - “Heart of Glass”

James Gang - “Funk #49”

Kansas - “Dust in the Wind”

Kenny Loggins & Stevie Nicks - “Whenever I Call You ‘Friend’”

Steely Dan - “Do It Again”

Natalie Cole “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)”

Billy Preston - “Outa-Space”

Boz Skaggs - “Lido Shuffle”

Leo Sayer - “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing”

Alicia Bridges - “I Love the Nightlife (Disco ‘Round)”

10cc - “The Things We Do For Love”

America - “Ventura Highway”

Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - “Tears of a Clown”

Donna Summer - “Hot Stuff”

Edgar Winter Group - “Free Ride”

Chicago - “Wishing You Were Here”

The Jackson 5 - “The Love You Save”

Carly Simon - “Nobody Does It Better”

Parliament - “Flashlight”

T. Rex - “Bang a Gong (Get It On)”

Ohio Players - “Love Rollercoaster”

Chuck Mangione - “Feels So Good”

Jackson Browne - “Doctor My Eyes”

The Eagles - “Take It Easy”

The Ramones - “Blitzkrieg Bop”

Seals & Croft - “Get Closer”

Queen - “Killer Queen”

Carol Douglas - “Doctor’s Orders”

Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - “Her Strut”

Billy Joel - “Vienna”

Average White Band - “Pick Up the Pieces”

James Taylor - “Handy Man”

Thin Lizzy - “The Boys Are Back in Town”

Walter Murphy - “A Fifth of Beethoven”

Three Dog Night - “Shambala”

The Three Degrees - “When Will I See You Again”

Jim Croce - “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim”

The Commodores - “Machine Gun”

Led Zeppelin - “The Song Remains the Same”

——

Vol. 5 (281–350)

Bachman-Turner Overdrive - “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet”

Billy Joel - “Miami 2017 (I’ve Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)”

Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - “Still the Same”

Al Green - “Let’s Stay Together”

ABBA - “S.O.S.”

The Cars - “Let’s Go”

Ted Nugent - “Stranglehold”

Elton John - “Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going To Be A Long Long Time)”

Styx - “Renegade”

Eddie Rabbitt - “Every Which Way But Loose”

Alice Cooper - “No More Mr. Nice Guy”

Daryl Hall & John Oates - “Sara Smile”

Chicago - “Lowdown”

Love Unlimited Orchestra - “Love’s Theme”

Rod Stewart - “Maggie May”

Paul Simon - “Slip, Slidin’ Away”

Robert Palmer - “Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)”

MFSB - “The Sound of Philadelphia”

Ambrosia - “How Much I Feel”

Electric Light Orchestra - “Evil Woman”

Bruce Springsteen - “Thunder Road”

ZZ Top - “La Grange”

Gino Vannelli - “I Just Wanna Stop”

Gilbert O’Sullivan - “Alone Again (Naturally)”

Fleetwood Mac - “Say You Love Me”

The Doobie Brothers - “Rockin’ Down the Highway”

Golden Earring - “Radar Love”

Ram Jam - “Black Betty”

The Eagles - “One of These Nights”

Meco - “Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band”

Billy Joel - “Honesty”

The Bee Gees - “Tragedy”

Queen - “Stone Cold Crazy”

Chic - “Everybody Dance”

Bread - “Everything I Own”

Olivia Newton John - “A Little More Love”

The Trammps - “Disco Inferno”

Neil Sedaka - “Laughter in the Rain”

Marvin Gaye - “Got to Give It Up”

B.J. Thomas - “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head”

The Village People - “In the Navy”

King Harvest - “Dancing in the Moonlight”

Ohio Players - “Fire”

Nicolette Larson - “Lotta Love”

Main Ingredient - “Everybody Plays the Fool”

Barry White - “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe”

The Kinks - “Everybody’s A Star”

Michael Jackson - “Ben”

Elton John - “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”

Dionne Warwick & The Spinners - “Then Came You”

Nazareth - “Love Hurts”

Eric Carmen - “All By Myself”

Foreigner - “Hot Blooded”

Bobby Caldwell - “What You Won’t Do For Love”

Foghat - “Slow Ride”

Andy Kim - “Rock Me Gently”

Cheryl Lynn - “Got to Be Real”

Captain & Tennille - “Love Will Keep Us Together”

The Miracles - “Love Machine”

Blondie - “One Way or Another”

Elvin Bishop - “Fooled Around and Fell in Love”

Leo Sayer - “When I Need You”

Little River Band - “Reminiscing”

Hudson Brothers - “So You Are A Star”

Exile - “Kiss You All Over”

Mountain - “Mississippi Queen”

Heat Wave - “Groove Line”

Sugarloaf - “Don’t Call Us (We’ll Call You)”

Hot Butter - “Popcorn”

ABBA - “Mamma Mia”

#1970s music

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buck-nialled · 4 years

Text

Mr. Lawyer - N. Horan Imagine

NOTE: sorry for those who are still waiting on requests to be posted, I just had this idea for a Niall imagine and have just been needing to get my own stuff out on here, since it’s been awhile since I’ve written something other than a request. but if you have requested, know that i will be getting to it. for now, here is some very angsty niall angst. WARNING: hella angsty. (did i mention there is angst?

also is 3.85k words (it’s a thicc boi) so get ready

Niall was shocked he had managed to keep his true occupancy hidden this long. Of course, at first, he wanted to just rip off the bandage, truly he did. But after complimenting her Bruce Springsteen shirt and being given the information that oldies were all she ever really listened too, he was enamored by the idea of having a girl who had no clue about this other lifestyle of his. She was a busy person, much like him. But her job did not require her to have social media to piddle on, not that she needed any. She admitted on their first night in she acted like a clueless grandmother sometimes, when trying to send an email to her colleagues.

She only knew one side of Niall for six months. Did Niall feel guilty? Yes…at first. When inquired about his occupation as she marveled at his “airy” Los Angeles home that made the woman’s one-bedroom apartment feel like a child’s shoebox, Niall sputtered out some fib about being a lawyer. He commended himself later on, after basking in thoughts of her eventually finding out that was indeed not the truth because he could easily use the excuse that his job obligated many policies to keep the cases private and “in the courthouse”.

But he still felt like himself around her, despite what felt like half of him was missing from the picture. They bonded over their love of seventies music, bad movies they would get drunk too over copious amounts of beer, and also what homebodies they were. Of course, both left almost every day for their jobs and stayed busy for most of the week. But to both Niall and Y/N, getting home and simply basking in their bedsheets was enough to get them moaning.

Through the six, wonderful months, however, Niall found himself becoming more euphoric with her around. Her presence alone made him feel like he was on stage again, playing the guitars he simply labeled “a hobby” when she asked about them. Little did Niall know, she was feeling the same way. It seemed that when more time went on, Y/N yearned for Niall’s hand around her waist while they lounged on his sectional compared to her bare skin on her mattress.

But it was this weekend, she wanted something entirely different. It took lots of suggestions from her and many excuses that Niall knows he could not use forever before he finally agreed to go out with her in public. She bribed Niall with the fact that it was her favorite restaurant that had even better chicken than Nando’s, something which Niall tried to dispute, but she remained unchanging in her argument that she’s tried Nando’s. Meanwhile, Niall has never stepped foot inside of the building that made Y/N drool as she talked about it.

When Niall conceded through a simple “sure petal” over a text conversation, she sent so many smiley faces it made Niall’s heart warm just by the sight of it. He let a small chuckle pass through his lips when another text from Y/N came through, asking him to wear off his “fancy lawyer” suits. She said she would agree to dress up, too, despite the setting of the restaurant to be extremely casual. It made Niall begin to worry and rethink saying yes. The last thing he wanted to do was stick out like a sore thumb and only draw more attention to himself. But he came to the conclusion that letting her down once again would be worse, so he accepted with the twiddle of his thumbs, sending back “deal”.

The night of the big date, Niall picked Y/N up from her house and nearly lost his footing by the sight of her. He was used to seeing her in her work clothes as she frantically got dressed and ready to leave his house after staying the night, or sweatpants and a tee-shirt she might have worn the night prior. On occasion, her birthday suit would also make an appearance. But tonight, the dress that reached just above her knees left Niall with a shattered breath and wobbling legs.

“Wow, you look…” his eyes could not even finish looking her up and down, much like his sentence could not conclude. She stopped him before he could resume speaking, laying her hand on his chest, a sincere look swimming in her eyes.

“Thank you, so do you.” Niall was grateful that she could basically read his mind by this point. He held his arm out for her and swears he could feel goosebumps rising on his arms by her touch on his navy-blue suit. It was a twenty-minute drive of Niall’s right hand trying not to squeeze hers to tight and alarm her while clutching the steering wheel so strictly his left knuckles were white.

But Niall failed in his mission to not concern his date within the first five minutes, when she piped up over the classic rock station, “you alright, babe?”

Niall only gave a firm nod in return, but Y/N did not miss his thumb begin bouncing faster on the steering wheel (completely off-beat to the song currently playing) nor the chewing of his lip which he thought he was being subtle about. He was exhibiting two of his nervous habits right before her, specifically ones she had not seen since the beginning of their relationship.

Her thumb comfortingly rubbed the back of his hand in arbitrary motions in hopes to get the boy to focus on something another than…whatever was making him act like this. Was it her? Was it going out in public? Was it the suit he was wearing? Truthfully, Y/N never wanted to see Niall with it off, but if that was the issue, she wished to eradicate the outfit in an instant.

“Are you nervous because I pushed you to go out to dinner with me? I get that you aren’t so big on going out…I just thought it’d be a nice way to cele—”

Niall slammed his brakes, almost missing the red light a couple of hundred feet ahead of his car. Both him and Y/N jerked back in their seats, both in shock for totally different reasons.

“Shit! M’sorry—”

“Niall—”

“No, it’s nothing you did, petal. Promise, I’m just nervous…I haven’t been in a relationship this serious in a while and I just…I don’t want to ruin it.”

“Okay…but you’re okay though?” Y/N lifts her eyebrows, irises shining from the streetlights illuminating the inside of Niall’s car. Niall nods and once again, they were moving.

Upon parking, Niall twists his body to give a could peer at his surroundings. He parked further away from all of the other cars in the lot, something Y/N decided not to question when he removed the keys from the ignition. The boy was already nervous enough. After confirming once more that his surroundings were clear of cameras and any vans whatsoever, he and Y/N exited his car.

The dinner was not anything out of the ordinary for the two. Save for Niall’s occasional wandering eyes and hushed tone, in order for his name to be heard if any other patron had mentioned it at a table near his own. Y/N tried lightening the mood by insisting he order the chicken and try telling her that it didn’t live up to his standards of Nando’s. He conceded once his plate was cleared, not a single bit of protein left on it, making Y/N smile all giddy. By the end of the dinner, Niall had backed away from the high cliff his thoughts led him to climb, a smile on his lips as Y/N was filling him in on her less-than-graceful fall in her office this week. She was grateful nobody had taken notice and managed to keep her red-tinted knees out of sight but was nonetheless embarrassed.

Then, the waitress appeared to take up the couple’s cleared dishes. “Are you both together?” Niall straightened his posture against the booth immediately, an impetus for the waiter’s eyes to shoot to his for an answer. This was it. Niall’s cover had been officially blown.

“I-I mean…” Niall paused. “I guess—if…if that’s the term you want to use.” The waiter’s and Y/N’s faces scrunched, almost in sync. Sensing their befuddlement, Niall clarified, “yes, we are together. Have been for six months. Listen if you want—”

“I meant for the check, sir.” The waitress interjected nicely, slicing right through Niall’s terse answer. Y/N remained frozen, staring at Niall with her lips parted. By this point, some couples and families from other tabletops had given their attention to the couple sat in the corner.

“Sorry, yes. Yes, we…yeah.” Niall huffed, crossing his arms and glancing down to his watch. Nearly five minutes ago, time felt like it was flying with his girlfriend sat in front of him. Now, all he wished for was the check to be paid for and be on his way home, preferably with Y/N in the passenger seat. Judging by the stunning look that was facing him, however, Niall was left wondering if that were even a possibility.

“Y/N—”

“I’m gonna…I got to use the restroom.” The woman cleared her throat, abandoning her purse and date as she slid out of the booth. Her dress swayed back and forth on her hips as she slowly disappeared from his, and the nosy patrons’ eyesight. Niall let a sigh fall past his lips as his hands came up to scrub his face. One of them was still warm from her grasp only moments before he had made a complete idiot of himself.

The check arrived. Niall paid for it. And he waited. And waited longer. Amidst Y/N’s trip to the restroom, his head was clouded with the conclusion she might have called a ride home. But he waved it away moments after, realizing her bag was still present on her side of the booth. Finally, minutes later, she had returned and sat in front of Niall. Her hand slid to take his from across the table and give it a gentle squeeze. And here he was, expecting a slap across his face.

“You want to talk?”

The two walked out of the building, hands never faltering in their grip. But her confidence in this relationship was.

“So…is that why you didn’t want to go out with me?” Niall was puzzled by her question and looked up from his shoes to meet her gaze. All he could see in her eyes was confusion and pain. Niall could confidently say he felt the same thing in those moments also.

“W-what?”

“You obviously don’t want to be seen with me—”

“What? Of course, I do. What gave you that idea?” The words sounded dishonest before Niall even said them. He felt them sitting on his tongue like a pill he refused to swallow and spit up instead. Her flats stay planted to the concrete, Niall’s step halting along with them as she turns to face him.

“Really?” She scoffs, letting her hand wriggle out of his own to cross her arms. “Because back there, when the waitress asked if we were on the same check? You hesitated to even say we were dating, and that wasn’t what she was even asking you.”

“I was…I got confused.”

“Yeah,” she chuckles bitterly, “like I believe that. You’ve been acting weird all night, Niall. I don��t get it, I mean…I thought you liked me.”

“I do like you Y/N, I like you a lot! In fact…I love y-“

“Oh my God.” She held a hand up in front of his face. “You cannot be saying that right now.” She shakes her head at him.

“What’s wrong with saying it? It’s true.”

“It’s wrong because you think that will fix this. It won’t, saying you love me for the first time is not a valid excuse for what happened.”

“I’m not using it as an excuse. I just…wanted you to know.” Niall’s voice trails, growing quiet. “You feel the same, don’t you?” His meek voice enters her ears, and Y/N can barely gather the courage to look up in his eyes and fight the urge to look away.

“I…I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Niall asks in disbelief.

“No, Niall! I did…but now…what you said back there…”

“It was a slip of the tongue, Y/N. I was nervous okay. I’ve never been asked—”

“Never been asked if we were together. Of course, you haven’t.” Her bared teeth did little to disguise the anger lingering in her voice. “I mean, not once have I met anybody you work with, let alone your friends! Or your family. How about them Niall? Do they even know I exist?” Her voice was rising rapidly, and it felt like he was buckled into a roller coaster that would never slow down. Niall’s head remained focused on her, despite its desperate need to look around for any eyeing stranger or fan.

“After the first month, I called my mom to tell her about you! Guess what? She still has yet to see or talk to you! My friends think I made you up, how ridiculous is that? Because every time I ask you to come and meet them there’s always an excuse!” Y/N goes on, the voice never stumbling in volume. “Sorry, it’s been a long day. My bad, I forgot and had something planned. Work’s been hectic lately, I don’t have time. I mean, hell! It took an entire three weeks of me begging you to even have dinner with me, Ni!” Her face was red by this point, chest heaving up and down as she attempted to mimic his deep, accented voice. Niall could not deny was she was spewing, nor did he have a reply to any of it.

“I…I just…” Y/N only shook her head, letting her voice fall back down.

“Just take me home, Niall.” The quiet request left her, broken and cracked. Niall nodded in understanding, fingers twitching by his side. The spaces between them felt empty, his palm growing colder by the second. Through their journey back to the car, Niall caught a flash from the bushes. He stopped, holding an arm up to barricade Y/N walking further.

“What?” The flash blinded Niall once more, and also caught Y/N’s eyes. She simply scoffed. “It’s just a creep taking a photo.” She shoved his arm down from in front of her, starting towards the car. “Come on.” The flashing continues, and Niall hesitated to follow her to the crosswalk ahead but did so anyway. He knew the flashes would not stop and was scared for another reason. As the silhouette of a walking figure lit up white, Y/N’s toe met the road. Suddenly, a loud screeching was heard, and she was screaming. Niall’s hand gripped her own, and tugged her body back into his chest, constricting her. The large, black van came to a loud halt upon its sharp turn.

“What the hell?” The girl murmured in aggravation. “Who gave this idiot a license?” The tinted windows gave Y/N little to no information on exactly who was behind the wheel. But Niall knew all too well.

“Come on, let’s just walk around—” Niall begins suggesting, to avoid even further confrontation. If there was even a chance Niall was still hanging by the thin thread he was, there was no way it was being cut tonight by the fools in the vehicle blocking their path to his car.

“What? No, I’m gonna give them a piece of my mind.” She angrily began to stomp back towards the van that damn near flattened her but was stopped short by Niall’s hand tugging her back.

“That isn’t such a good—” Niall could not finish persuading them to change directions fast enough, it seems. Right before them, the van’s doors slid open and the couple was being blinded by flashes yet again. The first few seconds, Y/N was shocked and delirious and was now accepting Niall’s hold on her hand, which had only tightened as they were besieged by the cameras and men screaming at them.

“Hey man, is this your new girl?”

“Give us a smile guys! Come on!”

“Niall, what’s her name? Looks like a good one!”

“You think this one will cheat on you?”

Y/N could barely catch her footing, as the circle of strangers and streaks of white only grew tighter. Through all of the yelling, she heard Niall mumble a string of curses. But the “FUCK OFF” he bellowed moments later was loud and clear, and their hands remained locked together as he led you through the huddle of bodies in a charge. Through the sea of men and cameras, you could see an opening, like a light at the end of the tunnel, where Niall’s heated leather seats would comfort her all the way to her house. The hope was cut short, however, as her toes were squished by a stranger’s heavy booty, and the painful twisting of her ankle seconds after made you screech.

“Shit!” She hisses, looking up in a glare to any eyes that dared to meet hers. Niall’s body was brought back by her slowing down, and by this point, he was ready to take the men on with Y/N.

“You’ve gotta be fuckin’…” he did not dare turn back to give the men a piece of his mind, as it would only decrease efficiency further. Rather, he scooped her form up into his arms and hauled it back to his car, praying for dear life his knee would not give out in the process. She was being lifted and sat in the passenger’s seat minutes later, Niall taking his seat behind the wheel afterward and shutting his door with a noticeable slam.

The shouts were muffled and distant, but still noticeable as Niall drove away from the building. Y/N rubbed her ankle gently, cringing at the sight of its swelling. He knew she was not okay, there was no point in asking the question. So he skipped all the small talk and went straight into the apology he knew would come about sooner or later.

“I’m sorry.” He breathed out, keeping his hard gaze on the streetlights.

“What in the world was that? Who were they, Niall?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, they clearly knew who you were.” Y/N replies, tone cold.

“…they did. You’re right…there’s something I’ve been keeping from you.” He turned to give your unimpressed face a cursory gaze. “Okay, a lot of things. But this. This is the biggest.” He slowly and shakily murmurs as the car slows in front of red light. He grabs his phone, connecting it to the unoccupied USB cord and tapping furiously at the screen. The light turns green, and as the vehicle begins moving, so does Niall's foot to the beat of his song. The pop beat was foreign to Y/N and left her even more confused than moments before.

“What is this?”

“That’s me. This is my song…I’m a famous musician.” Y/N stilled in her seat. “Those men, back there,” Niall darts his thumb behind his shoulder as his tongue peeks out to wet his lips. “They were paparazzi. It’s like they know where I am before I even know where I am going and I was scared to take you out tonight because if anybody caught sight of me then you would realize who I was and the internet would tear you to shreds and I know—I just know everything would be different between us. That’s why I couldn’t take you to meet my friends or coworkers. That’s why I haven’t met your family and you haven’t met mine. I was just so scared at one point…someone would slip up.” Niall’s voice was trembling, and his hands felt loose on the wheel as he made the familiar turns to get to her house.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” The question was followed by a mysterious silence. Niall had been asking himself this question all the months prior to this conversation in preparation for it. And, just like in months two, three, four, and five, he was just as taken aback by the ask. He had no idea how to answer and make it sound okay.

“It just felt so nice not to have my job be a part of a relationship for once. Keeping everything in the dark just made me feel so much better and like a real person, ya know?”

“So you thought I wouldn’t have treated you the same if I knew?”

“I mean…that’s not why—”

“Then why, Niall? What’s the big deal about actually being honest with your girlfriend?”

“I was honest! I never lied to you about anything else besides that—”

“Oh, yeah. Only half of your freaking life, Niall!” He pulled into the driveway to her house, shifting the stick to the park.

“We just clicked so well, Y/N. We both like the same music and shows and we just fit so well together.” His hands stayed stuck to the wheel, clammy with sweat. The button-up began feeling tight around his neck and made him feel borderline asphyxiated when he turned to find the woman shaking her head. Tears were building in her eyes and her lip was trembling.

“Niall, you can’t say that.”

“Of course, I can, it’s true!”

“Like how you ‘loving me’ is also true.” Her voice came out low and with struggle, the lump in her throat easily heard by Niall.

“Yes, and you love me too!” The man claims.

“No, Niall! I don’t!” She howls.

“How do you know?”

“How do I—” She almost repeats his question, in pure disbelief. “Maybe because I barely know you, Mr. Lawyer.”

“You do know me. Everything else was true!”

“Then why was that part so difficult? Six months, Niall! It took six months and a group of guys with cameras to bombard you with questions and pictures and twist my ankle to get you to tell me your job? Who’s to say another six months from now I find out Niall’s not even your name?” She throws her hand up like she was tossing her abundance of questions and exclamations in the air for better answers than the ones Niall had been spewing.

“I’m not a liar…if that’s what you’re trying to say…” Silence. “Is it?”

Y/N only released a breath and managed a shrug of her shoulders. “I don’t know.” The three words came out in a whisper and broke off into a mouth. But Niall wished two of them were different, and the night would end with a kiss and an invitation inside and not pained salute goodbye.

“Well…” he reached over and pulled her door handle open for her. “Maybe you should figure it out.” She looked up into the eyes that were flooded with admiration a few hours ago. Now, they were filled with disdain. Y/N was certain hers were no different as she broke eye contact with him and shoved her door open. Shutting it behind her, she refused to meet his gaze and steered herself to her front door, letting the tears Niall couldn’t see finally streak her cheeks and leave behind red during her painful march.

CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF THIS IMAGINE!

AND CLICK HERE FOR MY MASTERLIST!

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peraltasames · 4 years

Text

a million dreams for the world we’re gonna make

post jimmy jabs II plotless domestic fluff, title from a million dreams from the greatest showman bc it’s what charles boyle would’ve wanted 💞

read on ao3

Under normal circumstances, Jake going to great lengths to win a bet in order to spend more time with their future child and saving their brand new car in the process would mean he gets rewarded with lots of baby-making (and a few added bonuses) as soon as they got home.

But by the time they get home and they’ve ensured that the epi-pen won’t have any lasting negative effects on his health as he doesn’t have any preexisting heart condition (they don’t go to the hospital, but they text Rosa and they figure that’s good enough), the adrenaline from the epi-pen has also worn off and Jake once again feels like he’s been run over by a semi.

Instead of their regular nightly (at least when Amy’s ovulating) sexy times, Amy shows her great love and appreciation for her husband (and maybe a slight amount of guilt that she injected him with drugs) by getting him comfy in their bed with half a dozen pillows and a couple of ice packs for his various injuries. She also put on Die Hard 2 even though it’s her night to pick and they’re halfway through a killer docuseries about home organization that Jake found for her on Amazon after she burned through all the Netflix ones.

“Feeling any better, champ?” Amy asks softly as she curls up next to him with the raspberry fertility tea Charles brought over the day Pimento spilled the beans.

Jake smiles softly and turns his head to face her, only slightly wincing as he leans in. She’s definitely making him see a doctor tomorrow, but she checked him over a few times and she’s pretty sure nothing’s broken, so she gave into his pleas to simply go home go to bed. She meets him halfway and gently cups his cheek while he kisses her.

“Am now.”

She can probably chalk his cheesiness up to the fading adrenaline, exhaustion, and the Extra-Strength Tylenol he took a few minutes ago, but either way she welcomes it and leans in for another quick peck, letting her fingers slide into his curls and gently stroke his scalp.

When he pulls away she lowers her hand from his face to his forearm, letting her fingers rest on his wrist for a few moments.

As soon as Jake snaps out of the daze of the kiss, he raises an eyebrow. “Babe, are you checking my pulse?”

“Rosa said to make sure your heart rate is normal.” She grabs his hand with her free one to keep him still. “Hold on - nineteen beats per fifteen seconds-“

“We checked back at the precinct and it was fine then, I’m sure it’s fine now.”

“Seventy-six beats per minute,” she finishes. “That’s still a few above your average - which is actually not bad all things considered - but it’s lower than it was earlier, so that’s good.”

He smiles for a moment, as if he’s smug with himself for being a relatively healthy person despite rarely going to the gym, but the look quickly fades. “Wait, do you measure my heart rate?”

“Yeah.”

“When?”

“When you’re sleeping, when we’re watching TV, whenever.” She shrugs, slightly confused by his tone of surprise. “I’m surprised you never noticed.”

“That you’re collecting data on me?”

She rolls her eyes at his incredulous tone. “Jake, you’re in your late thirties, you don’t get enough exercise, and your maternal grandfather had two heart attacks before he was sixty.”

He furrows his brow again, but she cuts him off as soon as he opens his mouth to question her.

“Your mom told me,” she explains. “Look, it’s no big deal, I’m just making sure everything’s okay in there because I need you to stick around for a really long time, okay?”

Jake’s face instantly melts, and he reaches to squeeze her hand. “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. I had a kale smoothie with my bagel this morning, so I’ll probably live to be like a hundred and twenty now.”

She can’t help but feel warmth bubble in her chest that the only thing that’s successfully made him change his diet is the list of foods that boost sperm count, which she emailed him a few weeks ago.

“Good,” she grins. “‘Cause it’s not just gonna be you and me anymore. Everything could totally change at any time now.”

“I know,” he brings her hand to his lips and lays a soft kiss to her knuckles. “I can’t wait.”

“Me neither.”

She interlocks their fingers and leans into his side a little bit, wanting to hold him closer but also to avoid aggravating his many bumps and bruises, and uses her other hand to idly stroke his arm.

“So,” Jake murmurs sometime later, right when she’s starting to suspect he’s falling asleep due to the lack of film commentary he’s made in the last ten minutes and his new position with his head on her shoulder. “How does it feel to no longer be the reigning Jimmy Jabs champion of our household?”

“Only because I let you win,” Amy points out. “I would’ve won if I didn’t value our car more than the bragging rights.”

“Well, technically you only won last time because I let you, so we’re even.”

Jake told her the truth about him letting her win when they were finalists, during the first Jimmy Jabs of their relationship. Apparently, to quote him exactly, “the satisfaction of you knowing that I actually should have won is worth the embarrassment of me pining for you for a year while you had a boyfriend.”

“We should have a rematch,” she suggests as the end credits begin to roll and she shuts off the TV. “Next time we have the Games, no outside bets. I know I can beat you fair and square.”

“Oh, as soon as I can move without feeling like my muscles are on fire you are on, Santiago.”

They climb under the covers and Amy nuzzles her face into his shoulder, dropping a soft kiss to his collarbone and a few more up his neck.

“What do you think, winner gets to pick the baby’s name?” Jake proposes, closing his eyes as the acetaminophen begins to make him incredibly drowsy.

“Hmm, I think that should be a joint decision,” says the rational part of Amy that is fairly confident in her ability to win the Jimmy Jabs again but also really doesn’t want her baby named after Bruce Willis. After a moment, though, her competitive side can’t resist making things a little interesting. “Maybe the middle name.”

Jake reaches for her face in the dark to pull her in for a quick goodnight kiss.

“Deal.”

#formatting might be weird bc im on mobile so just read on ao3 lmao #b99 spoilers #jake x amy #b99 #i need to sleep lmao

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just-dreaming-marvel · 4 years

Text

ONE HUNDRED TWENTY EIGHT - MOURNING (2)

LEGACY: A Tony Stark Daughter Story

WHOLE STORY MASTERLIST

ENDING TWO MASTERLIST

< previous

Word Count: 1,425ish

Summary: The Team mounts the loss of their teammate.

~~~

Now you’re probably wondering how I’m writing this if I’m dead. Well… let’s just continue on with the story and figure it out.

Nat and Clint received the stone as well as my necklace that held the rings and bracelet. Something that shocked me too, but the Stonekeeper must have felt that it was needed. They held each other and cried before they activated their Quantum Suits and shrunk back to the present day. As planned, they all arrived back at the same time.

“Did we get them all?” Bruce asked.

“You telling me this’ll actually work?” Rhodey said in astonishment.

They all looked around, all eyes finally landing on the two assassins. Nat and Clint couldn’t stop the tears from coming as the collapsed onto their knees in front of every one. Clint was gripping onto the Soul Stone and Nat was clutching onto the the necklace chain, the rings and bracelet visible for everyone to see.

“Clint? Nat?” Bruce wondered in confusion.

“What are you doing with Bailey’s rings and bracelet?” Tony asked. Him and Steve quickly made eye contact before looking around to see if I was there. But, of course, I was no where to be seen.

“Bailey?” Steve called. “Bailey?!” He looked to his two friends. “Where is she?"

“She snuck there…” Nat answered quietly. “She knew the cost… A soul for the soul. She beat us to it… I’m so sorry…”

“No,” Tony tried to hid the sob, but it didn’t work. “She wasn’t suppose to be with you guys…” He collapsed onto his knees as well, rocking back and forth. “Please let this be a cruel joke…”

Steve couldn’t stop the tears from coming and Bruce bowed his head and took a knee. After a few minutes, Tony rushed out of the room. Everyone slowly followed, going to change. Once Tony had changed, he went out to the dock. Thor, Bruce, Clint, Steve, and Nat followed shortly behind. They all stood their in silence for a while, trying to process everything, before Natasha broke their silence.

“She knew what she was getting herself into…” Nat whispered. “We couldn’t stop her… We tried…”

“Why are we acting like she’s dead?” Thor asked angrily. “We have the stones, right?” He looked at everyone. “As long as we have the stones, Cap, we can bring her back, isn’t that right?” He gripped Steve’s shoulder. “So stop this shit! We’re the Avengers, get it together.”

“We can’t get her back,” Clint stated.

“Wha—what?”

“It can’t be undone. It can’t.”

“I’m sorry,” Thor laughed dryly. “No offense, but you’re a very earthly being. Okay? And we’re talking about space magic. And ‘can’t’ seems very definitive, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, look, I know that I’m way outside my pay grade here, but she still isn’t here, is she?”

“No, that’s my point—”

“It can’t be undone!” Clint shouted. “Or that’s at least what the great floating guy had to say!”

“Maybe you want to go talk to him? Okay? Go grab your hammer, and you go fly and you talk to him!”

He took a deep, shaking breath and looked at both Steve and Tony. They both had silent tears streaming down their faces. Both scarily silent and still.

“It was supposed to be me. She sacrificed her life for that goddamned stone. She bet her life on it.”

“No, it should have been me,” Nat argued, shaking her head, her tears continuing. “Just anyone but her… Anyone but her…”

Bruce picked up a bench and threw it across the water in anger. “She’s not coming back. We have to make it worth it. We have to.”

“We will,” Steve stood up and said. “For Bailey.”

Tony silently stormed off, back towards the compound and into the lab. He began hitting things and throwing objects around, screaming and crying as he did so. As he threw something at his computer, a button was hit and a hologram of me appeared in the room.

“Hey, Dad,” the hologram began. “If you’re getting this… Well…” I chuckled dryly. “If you’re seeing this that means I was successful at sacrificing myself on Vormir… I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you the truth… The truth about how to obtain the Soul Stone and about my plan. I really am sorry, Dad… Oh gosh… I feel like I can already feel the pain I’ve put you all in… I’m sorry… I need you to know I did it to protect my family. Someone had to die in order to get the stone and I couldn’t let it be anyone else. I know that you’d do the same… I love you, so much Dad… Make sure Mom and Morgan know that I love them as well… I really didn’t want to hurt any of you like this… You can either show the others this or just tell them what I have to say…”

“Bruce, I’m so proud that you’ve finally found peace between yourself and the Hulk. You deserve it. Keep working towards loving every bit of yourself.”

“Thor, please stop blaming yourself for what happened. We all tried our best, you especially. Nothing that happened with Asgard or Thanos was your fault, and no one blames you but yourself. Please work on forgiving yourself.”

“Clint, I couldn’t let it be you. You have a wife and kids. I’m so sad that I really never got to hang out around them. Let them know that you did try to save the universe, but you were just too slow.” The video me winked.

“Rhodey, I never called you uncle. But know in my heart that you were, and my phone. I shouldn’t have to tell you this, but remember to take care of yourself as much as you take care of others. Especially my father.”

“Nat, my best friend, the older sister I always wanted. I know that you believed that you needed to do it. That it would clear the red on your ledger or something… But you didn’t. You’ve already cleared it. And, in my opinion, you never needed to worry about clearing it…You deserve to live on, Nat. Don’t forget to find someone and settle down. You pinky promised.”

“Steve… Oh my darling Steve… Know that I loved you until the very end. And…” The hologram me took a deep breath. “And that I know about your feelings for Peggy. I know that you never loved me like you loved her… I can only hope that you were truly okay with marrying me. I never wanted to get in your head to find out. We both deserved more than that… Go get her, Steve. Go get your girl. You deserve happiness too…”

“Dad… Please tell Morgan that I did this for her and that I loved— love her unconditionally. Make sure Mom knows that she is the best Mom ever and that I love her unconditionally as well… Please keep fighting, Dad. Get everyone back and then you can sink into your guilt-ridden, depressed state… But also please don’t do that. People need you… And if you’re successful at bringing everyone back, Peter will need you… Tell him that he will forever be my brother and I love him… I love you… And I’ll see you again someday.”

Tony sat on a stool, crying as he watched my hologram. He just wanted me back in the safety of his arms. Steve, Rhodey, and the others had quietly followed him into the lab and had also seen the hologram video I had sent. Steve had no idea that I knew about the love he still had for Peggy. But now, that he heard it from me, it didn’t surprise him that I knew. I was a mind reader after all. He just wanted to tell me that he really was serious about marrying me, until the very end. Seeing Peggy in the seventies actually helped with that. Rhodey walked over to Tony and Tony quickly hugged the man. It shocked Rhodey, and everyone who was watching, at first, but then he quickly returned the gesture.

“You need to call Pepper,” Rhodey told Tony.

Tony let go of Rhodey and wiped the tears from his face. “I know,” he answered.

The call to Pepper went as expected, a whole lot of sobbing and tears. Out of everyone on the team, I was the one they all thought would make it out of this.

next >

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opheliawritesxo · 3 years

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When In Paris

Prompt (in bold): 26 – “I call dibs.”

Pairing: 12 – STUCKY

Summary: After Bucky’s first mission back with the team, the quinjet breaks down so the Avengers have to spend the night in a hotel and of course the two boys from Brooklyn pair up; but there’s a problem. There’s only one bed which causes Steve to have a goddamn crisis and Bucky does what he always does, save the punk’s ass.

Warnings: pure fluff that it’ll rot your teeth, an extremely over used trope, implied smut (if you squint but read between the lines y’all), strong language

Word Count: 1.9k

A/N: This is day 1 of 30 prompts. The list is here if you wanna check it out (x) I’m hoping y’all will get smut by day thirty but even with eleven years of fan-fiction writing experience under my belt smut is something I’ve never tried so y’know have some fluff for now (which is a rarity in itself so count yourselves lucky). ALSO DID I REALLY MANAGE TO WRITE LESS THAN 2K I AM SHOOKETH

Sitting outside on the fire escape, Bucky relished in being back in Brooklyn after so long away. Once again sharing an apartment with Steve, it truly felt like being home again. Except instead of Bucky heading to the docks and Steve staying at home, their roles were switched. Bucky still wasn’t called out on missions, not yet anyway. He’d only recently passed his med and psych evaluation, but he knew Steve was wary about him being back in the field.

“Buck?” He heard the sleepy voice of his best friend call; it was only then that Bucky realised it was 3am and he should probably be in bed.

“Yeah?” He called back, pushing himself to his feet and heading towards the window.

“There’s a mission, kinda big.” Bucky raised an eyebrow at the towering blonde as he stood in front of him, half in his suit.

“You wanna bring me in?” Steve sighed, rubbing between his eyes.

“It’s a hydra base, we kinda need your expertise here but you don’t have to actively go inside. You could stay on the quinjet and just feed us information.” He rambled; Bucky couldn’t stop the small smile that was forming.

“Nah I don’t mind. S’not like they can put me under, all the words are gone, and I got the fancy new arm from Shuri. Is everyone going?”

“Uh yeah.. think so.”

“Well then punk, looks like my biggest worry is gonna be Stark.” Bucky grinned as he squeezed Steve’s shoulder, heading to pull on his uniform for the first time. It was safe to say he was nervous about what was going to happen, but he’d always had Steve’s six and he’d had his.

The mission itself went exactly to plan, a rarity but it did happen occasionally. The only thing that went wrong was the quinjet breaking down before they headed back causing them to have to stay at a hotel for the night whilst Tony sent for a replacement. They were in a beautiful hotel in the outskirts of Paris, the most romantic city in the world. Tony, as expected, took a room to himself with Bruce and Thor partnering up same with Natasha and Clint which left Steve and Bucky.

After being handed their keys, the two boys from Brooklyn headed upstairs. Their room was on the top floor with three floors between them and any of the other Avengers which Tony helpfully pointed out with a wink. Steve was used to Tony’s innuendos and just took the keys with a shake of his head, but Bucky was certainly confused at the implication. So, what if there were three floors between them and the others, what was the big deal? It wasn’t until they both walked into the room that Bucky’s brain finally decided to catch up with him.

“Tony, you son of a bitch.” Steve grumbled as he looked ahead of him. Bucky raised an eyebrow, peaking to the side of Steve to see what cause the ‘I’m-disappointed-in-you’ grumble; a staple for 30’s Steve. Mainly seen whenever Bucky would work longer at the docks without telling Steve.

There was only one bed.

“I call dibs.” Bucky helpfully called as he made a beeline for it, jumping on top of it and stretching himself it. He didn’t understand why Steve was so disgruntled by it, not like they shared a bed for their whole childhood and even before Bucky shipped out. Saved a lot of money on heating when they could just share body heat.

“I’ll take the floor.” Those words from Steve stopped Bucky in his tracks. Pushing himself up on his elbows.

“No, you won’t.” Bucky muttered as he looked over at the man. “C’mon Stevie, this bed is big enough for both of us. You’re gonna fuck up your back if you sleep down there.”

“Seriously Buck it’s fine.” Groaning, Bucky pushed himself to his feet. Grabbing pillows off the bed and placing them on the floor. “What ya doin’?”

“Well if you’re gonna be a dumbass and sleep on the floor then I am too. Either we both sleep in there,” He smirked, motioning to the bed. “Or neither of us do.” His hands were placed firmly on his hips, mimicking Steve’s most famous pose.

Groaning with his head in his hands, Steve rubbed at his face before throwing his hands in the air. “Fine! If we’re playing that game then I guess we’re both sleeping in the bed. You win jerk.” He mumbled.

“Always do punk.” Bucky’s cheshire cat grin slipping straight onto his face as if it hadn’t been dormant for seventy years. That only served to make Steve’s heart skip a beat. “Now c’mon, I’m beat.” Steve gulped and made for the bed still in his full uniform, but Bucky stopped him with just a look.

“What Buck?” He sighed.

“You’re not wearing your full tac gear in bed.” Steve felt a blush rise up his cheeks.

“I-“

“Stevie for fucks sake just take it off and get into bed. I’m going into the bathroom if it’s your modesty you’re worried about.” The former assassin grumbled as he made his way into the bathroom. Groaning Steve quickly pulled off his suit leaving him in just his undershirt and boxers. He chastised his past self for not wearing looser boxer briefs.

You see the problem here was that Steven Grant Rogers had been head over heels for one James Buchanan Barnes since he was fourteen. Now he’d never acted on it because he was in fact; a big ‘ole scaredy cat. With his myriad of health problems back pre-serum he never had to worry about sharing a bed with Bucky because at the time it was just sensible and any appendages that might take interest in snuggling into the most attractive man Steve had ever come across in his life, didn’t particularly work; see previous myriad of health problems. Then came war and they didn’t really get a chance to share a sleeping bag or even a tent for the short time they were together with the Howlies. Now in the 21st Century with actual honest to god proper heating that you could control at the touch of a button, there was no need to share a bed.

Steve made his way under the covers and buried himself in as far as he could go. As Bucky came back out he snorted at the mound under the covers.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothin’ m’just tired.” The man with the apparent plan let out an exaggerated yawn as if to say ‘look at me this is not suspicious at all no sir, nothing to see here.’

“Uh huh, whatever you say punk.” Unlike Steve, Bucky was quite happy to strip off his tac gear in plain view for Steve. Opting to go shirtless and in the tightest pair of tighty whities Steve had ever seen causing a very unmanly squeak to fire its way out of his throat. He was doomed.

Bucky just rolled his eyes, sauntering over and pulling at the covers so he could get in, since Steve had them in a white knuckled grip. Settling in, Steve moved himself right to the edge of the bed. Bucky had, had enough. This couldn’t go on any longer.

“Okay I’m sick of this. What the fucking hell is up with you!?” Bucky snapped. “Ever since I came back it’s as if I smell of shit! You can’t get far enough away from me. Gonna tell me what’s going through that idiotic mind of yours or are we gonna continue playing these games?”

Steve was both heartbroken and slightly turned on at Bucky’s tone. He hadn’t meant to have been that obvious in his avoidance but in Steve’s defence it was for Bucky’s own good. The 21st century might be more inclusive than it was back when they were bunking together in Brooklyn, but Steve was still Captain America. He still had a reputation to uphold.

“Buck.. I’m sorry.” Steve muttered as he scooted closer to the other man. “I didn’t mean to be a dick ‘bout it I just.. I’m.. well.. there’s things about me you’re not gonna like.”

“Stevie, I like everything about you. Try again.”

“You don’t get it Bucky! I-I’ve been keeping this secret since I was fourteen and I don’t- I’m scared alright?” He croaked, closing his eyes so he didn’t have to look at the eyes that gave him his last happy thought before he crashed the Valkyrie into the ice.

Bucky sighed, placing a soft hand over Steve’s which was lying in between them. “I’ve known you since you were seven punk. There ain’t no secret about you that I don’t already know.”

Steve scoffed, wishing he had the strength to pull his hand away. “So, you know I’m gay then?” He snapped.

“Yup.” Bucky replied, exaggerating the P at the end. “You’re not exactly subtle when you’re trying to check out my ass.” Steve’s heart stopped and he truly was a sixteen-year-old kid from Brooklyn again.

“W-What?”

“Oh, come on Steve, you’re smarter than this. Your sixteenth birthday in ’34, we talked ‘bout kissing remember?”

“Uh huh..”

“Remember I kissed you on the couch, told you we had to get practice in before we went out and got ourself some dames?” It was all coming back to Steve now. The looks Bucky used to give him, how Bucky always flirted with the girls but never took them home.

“So you-“

“Yip.”

“All this time?”

“Yes sir.”

“But.. how.. why..”

“’Cause I never found the right time to blurt out ‘hey stevie, see instead of practising kissing can we actually kiss for real ‘cause you’re my best guy and I wanna spend the rest of my life with ya even though we’ll probably get arrested but fuck it’.” Bucky exclaimed, grabbing Steve at the hips and pulling him forward, wrapping his arms around the blonde’s waist.

Steve couldn’t quite believe this was real. He was pretty sure he’d knocked himself out back at the base and this was all a fever dream. Bucky chuckled softly as he moved to cradle Steve’s face in his hands.

“You like me?” Steve squeaked causing Bucky to erupt in belly aching laughter.

“I think I a bit more than like ya punk. I love you Stevie. Have done ever since I was seventeen.” Steve closed the very small distance between them by practically launching himself at Bucky. Kissing him with every ounce of love and adoration he had to give; which was over seventy years’ worth of it.

“I love you too Bucky, have since I was fourteen.” He whispered, peppering kisses to the others jaw. Bucky was the one to initiate the kiss this time around. It was deeper and more passionate than the one Steve had initiated but it held no less love. The kisses didn’t stop there, there was seventy odd years of making up for lost time to do.

If they slept through their alarm in the morning and opted to stay in the hotel for a couple of days longer because, when in Paris; there would be nods of understandings and shouts of ‘have fun!’ from the others. In reality though, Natasha would find herself with a lot of favours to call in from the others since she’d been the one to ‘break’ the quinjet. Safe to say, everyone at SHIELD and in the Avengers were wholly aware of how much those two idiots needed to declare their love for each other and just bone for heaven’s sake.

#stucky #stucky fic #stucky fanfic #stucky fanfiction #Steve rogers #Bucky barnes #November prompts #Steve x bucky #Steve Rogers x bucky barnes

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randomvarious · 4 years

Audio

The Champs - “Tequila” Fetenhits: Oldies Song released in 1958. Compilation released in 1999. Frat Rock / Rock & Roll / Latin Rock

Though The Champs spawned a handful of hits in their improbable seven-year run, it was their first hit, the instrumental, “Tequila,” which was originally recorded as a throwaway b-side, that would make them an indispensable piece of both popular music and rock and roll history. But before getting into the band’s formation and the song itself, let’s do a little bit of scene setting.

From history-of-rock.com:

The year 1958 saw a dramatic increase in short-lived fad rock and roll instrumental combos. Not that Rock and roll instrumentals hadn't been around before or that they wouldn't be around later. It was just that the floodgates opened wide in 1958. A year earlier, the biggest selling instrumental was "Raunchy" by it's co-composer Bill Justis. By the end of 1959, there was Santo and Johnny, Johnny and the Hurricanes, Dave "Baby" Cortez, Duane Eddy, the Fireballs, the Virtues, the Wailers, Link Wray and His Ray Men, the Royaltones, the Rock-A-Teens, Sandy Nelson, Cozy Cole and Preston Epps. However the group that really created the demand was the Champs.

It’s The Champs, a loose collection of session musicians who officially formed as a band after “Tequila” was released, who are responsible for the most memorable rock and roll instrumental of all time. It’s not groups who dedicated themselves full-time to rock and roll instrumentals; it’s these guys, who, not long after they released their debut album and started to tour, became a revolving-door-band, and added people like Glen Campbell and the duo that would become Seals and Crofts to their ranks. A random session that was originally intended to be just a one-off to fill a b-side for a 45 ended up selling millions of records, rocketing up to #1 on the Billboard charts, and winning a Grammy. Go figure.

Now for the origin story of the band, with more from history-of-rock.com:

The story of the Champs began with Dave Burgess, who was born December 13, 1934, in Beverly Hills, CA. Burgess first recorded for Okeh Records, a subsidiary of Columbia that issued country, blues, and jazz records. Burgess was eighteen when he recorded his first two Okeh singles: "Don't Put A Dent In My Heart" and "Too Late For Tears." In 1955, he recorded two singles for Tampa Records "Don't Turn Your Back On Love" and "Five Foot Two, Eyes Of Blue." All were country and had no success.

In 1956, Burgess was recording for Top Records. Top would take unknown, but talented artists, have them cover the latest hits as closely as possible to the original, then issue them four-to-a-record for forty nine cents. Top's slogan was "twice the music at half the cost" and it was a bargain until the unsuspecting buyer got home and played the record. Burgess appeared on an unknown amount of records, but at least ten came out with his name in the credits.

Ethics aside, Burgess got a first hand education in recording and performing while at Top. In 1957, while working as a deejay in Lancaster, CA. to [pass] time he composed songs and sent them off to various music houses. Two became very successful that year" "I'm Available" in the "pop" field and "I'll Be There" in the country market. [The Champs would later record an instrumental version of “I’ll Be There” as a b-side for “Tequila” in 1958.]

His songwriting brought him to Challenge Records, a Los Angeles company founded in April, 1957 by Gene Autrey (sp.).. There he recorded as Dave Dupree, as well as under his own name. Four of Challenge's first singles were recorded by Burgess, who became a regular session guitarist for Challenge.

A couple days before Christmas in 1957, a session was arranged in Hollywood by Challenge to record Burgess’ next single, “Train to Nowhere,” due to be released in January, along with a b-side. Sitting in on the session with Burgess, who was on rhythm guitar, were, according to Wikipedia, “Cliff Hills on bass, the Flores Trio (Danny Flores on saxophone and keyboards, Gene Alden on drums, and lead guitarist Buddy Bruce), and Huelyn Duvall contributing backing vocals.” The group had recorded two other songs to consider for the b-side, “Night Beat” and “All Night Rock,” the latter of which has never been released. But at the tail-end of the session came an instrumental ditty.

history-of-rock.com has more:

With some studio time remaining, Burgess asked the other musicians to stay to help him come up with a B-side for a record he had previously recorded.One musician offered a Tex-Mex sax line, another a snappy guitar riff, the drummer played a backbeat on the bell of his cymbal and Burgess plucked the muted strings of his electric guitar.The song was called "Tequila" and was spoken after each bridge. In ten minutes they had a take.

And that was that. Sometimes a musician or a producer knows when they’ve got a hit on their hands...but this wasn’t one of those times. “Tequila” was a pure filler track. The seller was gonna be “Train to Nowhere”. Everyone at the session knew that. But then, sometime in January, some radio DJ in Cleveland got a hold of “Train to Nowhere” and decided he would spin the b-side instead. And three weeks later, “Tequila” was all of a sudden the #1 song in America. Wild.

“Tequila” is nothing without Danny Flores, the man who graces the track with his trademark “dirty” sax melodies and the intermittent gravelly murmur of the word “tequila.” At the time of the song’s recording, he was actually signed to another label, so he couldn’t use his actual name on the record. Instead, he went by Chuck Rio. It was because of “Tequila” though, that Flores was crowned as the godfather of Latin rock. And while that’s a really cool title to have bestowed upon yourself, one can’t help but think of all the money he missed out on from selling his American rights to the song for what’s been reported as a paltry amount of money. However, it wasn’t all bad. He still had the global rights to the song, which was said to have netted him about seventy grand a year up until his death in 2006. A lot more than probably any other 50s rocker can say they made in residuals off a single song.

“Tequila” has staying power, I think, because it pulls a bunch of different ideas from a bunch of different music styles. Its composition is simple, its melodies are catchy, and the fact that rock and roll instrumentals were popular at the time was definitely a contributing factor to its success, too. But this song also simultaneously carries that hip, 50s cocktail lounge kind of vibe with its cymbal taps and its mambo beat; it has hand claps and an upbeat rock and roll tempo for dancing and partying; its guitar strums are poppy; the chorus has a definite, escalatory big band jazz/swing feel to it; and Flores’ sax tone is very reminiscent of the jazz-brass-sleaze that had constantly complemented burlesque and striptease dance routines (it’s hard to imagine that strip joints used to have house bands, but they did) for years prior. In fact, something could even be said about how “Tequila” manages to combine an air of lounge-y sophistication with its beat, while supplying over-the-top, trashy amounts of sax melodies with its lead, representing a sort of convergence of two opposite styles of contemporaneous nightlife: artsy hipsterdom vs. raw, transparent transactionalism. It’s all in one track and all at the same time. A song by The Champs, made for both camps.

Without a doubt, “Tequila” is the most popular rock and roll instrumental ever recorded. Its success was totally unforeseen, so much so, that The Champs formed after the thought-to-be-a-one-off, just-before-Christmas recording session in 1957 that birthed the song. They weren’t even an official band; mostly just some session musicians recording a b-side and having a bit of innocent fun in the studio. But that fun was both evident and highly contagious, which ended up lending to the song’s overall immortality, landing it as a staple track for just about any classic party mix, and opening the door for an oncoming era of pre-garage-frat-rock behemoths like “Louie Louie,” “Surfin’ Bird” and “Shout”.

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alienspawnwrites · 4 years

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Laying Hands: Chapter 4

Read on AO3

Settling In

As far as transitions go, Althea's shift into living alongside the Avengers in Stark Tower was relatively smooth. Steve had upheld his promise to allow her time, and neither he nor the rest of the team pestered her about the circumstances surrounding her years as a captive of Hydra. Instead, they went about their days and routines as though she were simply a new, if not welcome, addition to their lives. Soon she began to feel almost at home amongst the group of particular individuals.

Steve made it a point to check in on her at least once a day, seeking her out if they hadn't crossed paths. Though no one had expressly confirmed her suspicions, she was now confident he was considered their leader. It wasn't difficult to understand why. He was a serious man by nature, focused and steadfast, but tempered with kindness and patience. He led by example, not by demand, and it was easy to see how he had earned the respect of the rest of the team.

One day, after another of Tony's referential jokes had gone over both their heads, Steve told her about how he had come to join the Avengers. He told her about the serum that had turned him into a super-soldier and created "Captain America", how he had first fought Hydra in the midst of World War II, and how he had awoken seventy years later to a new world with many of the same problems. His eyes were far away as he recounted his time serving with the military, and Althea felt overwhelming sympathy for this man out of time. His unwavering positivity and optimism after all that he had been through sparked in Althea a hope that she would be able to find a similar peace for herself.

She saw Tony much less often. At first, she had assumed he was busy running his namesake business, but she quickly learned that a majority of that work was done by his partner, Pepper. Instead, Tony busied himself with personal and experimental projects in his personal lab. Althea observed their relationship from a distance, admiring the young woman's ability to reign in the flighty, scattered genius. Their conversations were a dizzying display of witty jabs mixed with genuine affections. Althea couldn't imagine two people more perfectly suited for one another.

Despite being preoccupied with his work and personal life, Tony still made sure she was afforded every comfort during her time in his care. She didn't have to ask for new clothes; they simply appeared in her room after her first night in the tower, each piece simple but well made and perfectly tailored. A few days later a stylist had arrived unannounced to tend to Althea's hair, the end result being an effortless bob that ended just above her shoulders and emphasized her natural waves. She sought Tony out that evening to convey her gratitude, eventually finding him sipping brandy at the lounge bar. He waved off her thanks, claiming it was nothing and offered her a drink. She had never tasted alcohol, and her reaction to her first taste of the fiery liquid made Tony chuckle.

Bruce was equally hard to pin down, apparently spending just as much time in the lab as Stark. He was a nervous, quiet person and his unease made Althea feel a little less alone in her own. When she finally had the opportunity to ask him about what Tony had referred to as his "anger problem", he had been hesitant to elaborate. Eventually told her about his alter ego, the being known as "Hulk". She didn't know what to make of his revelation, or how to parse the idea that the timid genius before her could transform into a destructive, simple-minded beast. She tried not to dwell on the image, instead choosing to focus on the kind and compassionate man who spent his free time working diligently to help others.

Natasha and Clint spent most of their time training, usually in each other's company. They were the only two in the group without a superpower, if you counted Tony's immense wealth as a superpower, which Althea did. She wondered if their relative normalcy compared to the rest was behind their apparent closeness, or if they had a shared history she had yet to learn. Unlike Bruce, Althea didn't feel comfortable pressing either of them for details. While neither of them was unkind, they were both rather standoffish, obviously wary in her presence. She noticed how their conversations tailed off whenever she entered the room. She had yet to earn their trust, that much was clear. Clint was often gone, and in his absence, Natasha remained hard at work. If she had hobbies or interests outside crime-fighting and training, Althea never saw any evidence.

Thor was by far the friendliest among them. His easy smile and welcoming demeanor was an endearing contrast to his intimidating physique. Always eager to show off his awesome power, he asked her repeatedly to spectate his training sessions. Althea found she regretted finally giving in as she sat on the sidelines, watching him and Tony do their very best to beat the living shit out of one another. The blatant display of violence made her anxiety skyrocket, and she had spent the entire match on the edge of her seat, muscles tight and knuckles white with the stress of it all. They emerged from the skirmish spent, but smiling; Althea left exhausted and nervous. She had not returned to the training floor since.

She often ate alongside Thor, who seemed to enjoy eating just as much as he enjoyed fighting. Althea wondered if it was typical for beings from Asgard to eat four or five as much as a normal person or if Thor's appetite was considered immense on his world as well. He told her all about his home over their meals: of his people, the golden palace he called home, and the many battles he had fought alongside his friends. Often his tales would leave her in stitches. She had no idea what a Bilgesnipe was or why Thor and his warriors had been tasked with killing it, but the image of it cornering him with his pants down, literally, had made her laugh until tears ran down her cheeks.

His brother was another matter altogether. Althea had never met two people so diametrically opposed in appearance or demeanor. Whenever she encountered Loki he always excused himself immediately. Well, "excused" was putting it gently. Rather, he would quit the room without a word. Their interactions were made no less awkward by the fact that they seemed to run into each other all the time.

Althea spent most of her day systematically pouring through the vast library Tony had amassed in the lounge. She settled herself in one of the large window seats, basking in the warm sunlight and oscillating her attention between the written word and the expansive city skyline. After years without a single window, now she found herself unable to tear herself away from them.

It seemed Loki was similarly drawn to the same spot, turning around in exasperation when he found she had gotten there first, or getting up in a huff if he beat her and she tried to join him. At first, she had been offended. Soon though, it turned into a game of sorts. She always greeted him warmly, proferring a cheerful smile or casual remark about the weather. If he ever regarded her in turn, it was limited to an annoyed, haughty glance in her direction as he made his exit. Althea wasn't sure what her goal was with these interactions, but she knew she hadn't done anything to earn his attitude and therefore refused to simply lie down and take it.

He was an outsider, that much was clear. She wasn't the only one he avoided. Other than a few, tense interactions with his brother, she had never seen him so much as greet anyone, let alone converse with any of them. And as aloof as he acted, she could see the animosity was not one-sided. The others never attempted to connect with him either, not the way they did with her. When she questioned Thor about Loki, his answer was earnest but ambiguous.

"Loki has made his fair share of mistakes; mistakes that are not easily forgiven or forgotten. He has also been through his fair share of sorrow and loss... more than his fair share. Under it all, my brother has a good heart. I have seen it, and I believe the others will see it also, in time. Please do not judge him too quickly or harshly."

She trusted Thor. Besides a few embellished war stories, he seemed entirely incapable of lying. But if she was going to open up to these people, she had to trust all of them. That included Loki. Thor's endorsement was not enough. Until she knew more about him, she would keep her secrets to herself.

#loki fanfic #loki fic #loki #loki (marvel)#loki x oc #fanfiction #fanfic #fan fiction #loki x ofc #loki x original female character #marvel #MCU fic #mcu

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mandowh0re · 5 years

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Energies

Requested: @paradoxicalblueberry : Just a fluffy prompt that could work for both Bucky x reader or a Loki x reader, but you get into the elevator and it is very awkward because you're alone with one of them (and you don't *really* know them) and then the elevator gets stuck or the power goes out or something and the two of you get to know each other in the couple of hours they have together.

Fandom: Avengers MCU

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Mutant! Reader

Summary: You and Bucky get stuck in an elevator together. The problem? Bucky hates you... Doesn’t he?

Word Count: 1887

Warnings: Some swearing, make-out scene, description of a panic attack

Comments: I’m well aware this is kind of overdone but I love mutual pining where each side is completely oblivious. I’m also well aware that the elevator in Avengers Tower isn’t likely to breakdown but leave me alone.

Happy reading!

You closed your book and closed your eyes to mull over the story you just finished.

It was a quiet day in the tower. Everyone was out.

Or, mostly everyone.

Steve, Natasha, and Sam were on a recon mission to help rebuild Shield.

Wanda and Vision were out exploring the city.

Clint was with his family.

Thor was off world.

Rhodey was in another country for work.

Tony and Pepper were out on a business trip for SI.

And Peter was at Ned’s for the weekend.

The only people in the Tower, that wasn’t an SI employee, was you, Bruce, and Bucky.

Bucky hadn’t been cleared to go out on missions yet, so he kept to himself unless Steve was around.

And Bruce… Well he was probably down in his lab working himself to death.

Which reminded you, you needed to remind him to take a break so he wouldn’t be on edge and accidentally hulk-out.

You got up and headed to the elevator, dropping your book on the couch.

When you entered, you pressed the button for the floor where you believed Bruce to be.

A few seconds later the elevator stopped, and Bucky stepped on.

You offered him a small, polite smile. One which he did not return.

You sighed, not knowing how to get him to talk to you. He had come to the tower a few months ago after being treated in Wakanda to wipe his brainwashing. He talked to most everyone, if not everyone, and kept up small conversations with them.

Except for you.

You would be lying if you said it didn’t hurt. Because it did. Sure, you were used to people not liking you, but that was usually because you were a mutant.

You had no idea why Bucky ignored you.

As the elevator ascended you heard an unsettling noise and the elevator lights flickered as it came to a sharp halt, causing both of its occupants to nearly fall on the floor.

The main light of the elevator cut out, and an emergency light took its place.

“Fuck.” Bucky cursed under his breath, but you still heard it.

You watched as his entire demeanor changed from guarded to panicky. His hands balled into fists and his shoulders came up to his ears. His breath coming in short pants.

“Are you alright?” You asked.

He didn’t answer, but stumbled backwards, smacking into the back of the elevator, and fell to the ground. His fists were now tangled in his hair and his head was between his knees.

You became alarmed, unsure of what to do. You had seen some of the others panic. Hell, you frequently had panic attacks. But this was slightly different. You didn’t know much about him except that he was a war veteran and a victim of seventy plus years of torture and abuse.

You turned and backed against the door of the elevator to give him some space, but knelt down to his level.

“Bucky?” You asked softly.

He didn’t respond, and you noticed that he was now shaking.

Taking a small step forwards, you offered a hand to him.

“Hey, it’s okay. We’re okay. Look, I’m going to hit the alarm button to let someone know we’re in here, alright?”

He slowly lifted his head to look at you, and your heart broke at the tears that had gathered in his eyes.

Smiling softly, you turned and reached for the panic button, pressing it and making it light up.

“See? Now someone knows we’re here.” You took another step closer to him, making sure to keep your eyes on his and keeping your hands in plain sight. Steve had told you how to keep yourself safe if the Soldier ever did reappear, and you didn’t want to take any chances with Bucky’s current mental state. Especially in such a small enclosed space.

You reached up and raised your hand to his cheek, keeping your eyes locked on his, but you didn’t touch him yet.

“May I?” You asked.

He looked at you questioningly, but after a few seconds he nodded.

You laid your hand on his cheek, the now closed space beginning to glow, and let the energy flow through the connection of skin, pushing a calming energy into his body.

Soon his breathing had evened out, and he was sniffling and wiping away the tears roughly, like he was mad that they had even fallen in the first place.

“What did you do?” He asked.

“I changed your energies. I replaced the anxious with calm.”

He sniffled again, “Um, thanks. I guess.”

“Of course,” You smiled at him, when suddenly a voice came through the speaker in the wall.

“(Y/N)? Friday says you’re stuck in there.” It was Bruce.

“Yeah, me and Bucky.”

It was silent for a moment, probably because Bruce was shocked and slightly worried that you were both trapped together. He knew how Bucky had been ignoring you since he got there. You told Bruce everything, “How long have you been stuck?”

“A few minutes? I think.”

“Alright, I’ll have to get ahold of Tony because mechanics isn’t exactly my thing.”

“It’s okay, Bruce. Do what you need to do.”

“I’ll check in here in a bit.”

The speaker went silent and you turned to Bucky, “You okay?”

He nodded, but no longer looked at you.

You sighed, and figured you should get cozy because you’d probably be here for a while.

Sitting criss cross back against the door, you closed your eyes and tried to think happy thoughts.

Yeah, you were stuck in an elevator with a man you were sure hated you and was panicking because of it. Really, you wished you had your phone with you so that you could get ahold of Steve for advice.

But it could have been worse. Bucky could have reverted back into the Soldier, the speaker could have been broke, or Bruce could have been out of the Tower at that time.

When you opened your eyes you noticed Bucky was stock still, looking at the ground.

That’s when an idea popped into your head.

He had never seen your powers in action, besides a few minutes ago.

You outstretched your hand, palm upwards, and let the white energy radiate from it.

The sudden addition of light in the small space made Bucky’s head snap up towards you. He watched in awe as your fingers moved delicately, manipulating the light into different shapes and forms.

“How do you do that?” He asked when you created a lotus.

You smiled, proud of yourself for getting him to talk.

“I’m a mutant.” You replied simply.

He shook his head, “No, I know. But, how does that work? How are you doing that?”

You looked at him and raised an eyebrow, a smirk gracing your features as you saw he was enamored by your light.

“I’m not totally sure myself. Bruce and Tony believe I have the ability to manipulate and change the energy around me and combine it with my own. That’s why I can change its shape on a whim.”

He watched as the lotus became a ball, then looked at you tentatively.

“You can touch it, if you want.” You offered with a small smile.

He looked between you and your hand, before slowly pulling himself away from the wall and scooting himself closer.

He pulled a hand up, and slowly reached for the ball.

He grinned when his hand reached the inside of the light.

“It tingles.” He said.

You nodded, “That’s raw energy.” You said as you changed it into a rose.

He turned his hand, so that it cupped the top of the rose.

“Wanna see something cool?” You asked.

He looked at you with eyes full of wonder, and something else you couldn’t quite place, but you felt a wave of admiration rush over you.

But it hadn’t come from you. No, that admiration was Bucky’s. For you.

He nodded.

You took a deep breath, gathering all the energy you needed, subsequently pulling in the light that had been in between yours and Bucky’s hands.

There was a beat, and then another, and then a pulse of energy escaped your body, knocking Bucky backwards, as both of your palms opened.

Light radiated from both hands, but also danced in tendrils around the entire space of the elevator, surrounding you both.

“Holy shit.” Bucky cursed again, and you giggled, excited that you had impressed him.

He looked around like an excited child, reaching out and touching the light as it moved, twisted, and played in the air.

After a few minutes of watching him, the words just slipped from your mouth.

“Why do you hate me?”

Bucky stopped full force, and turned to you once again.

“What?”

You regretted the question, but there was no turning back now.

You looked at the ground, “It’s just… You’re always avoiding me, and never talk to me.”

You saw something flicker in his eyes, and had your energy not been encompassing the place you wouldn’t have known that it was sadness and regret.

“I, um,” He started, clearing his throat, “I don’t hate you.”

You cocked your head, “Then what have I done-“

“You haven’t done anything, doll.” He interrupted, and you felt yourself blush at the nickname, “I just, I’m not good at dealing with feelings. Not anymore.”

You weren’t sure if he knew that you could currently feel his emotions, and you kind of felt like you were intruding on his mind, but the fact that you felt love from him made it hard to stop.

“Bucky,” You whispered.

His eyes went back to yours, and his flesh hand ran through his hair.

You felt his nerves and his panic building.

Pulling back the energy back into you, you leaned forwards.

He watched you move closer and held his breath, not daring to move closer or farther.

You placed a hand on his face, thumb stroking his cheek.

“Kiss me.” You said, voice barely above a whisper.

And he needed no other prompting before his hands grabbed onto your face, pulling you to him and crushing your lips together.

Your hands moved to his thighs and squeezed gently.

He groaned, and his hands moved to your neck and tangled in your hair, tugging slightly, making you let out a small moan.

He took that opportunity to slip his tongue in to taste your own.

Your hands traveled up his torso, gripping onto his shirt and pulling on it, desperate to have him closer.

His metal hand came to your throat and he coaxed your head back with his thumb on your jaw, and began trailing his lips down your neck. He found your pulse point and bit down gently, making you moan louder.

His flesh hand snakes under your shirt, gripping onto your waist.

You fell backwards, pulling him with you.

Suddenly there was a jolt, forcing the two of you apart.

Then FRIDAY came over the intercom, “Dr. Banner has instructed me to tell you that the elevator is in now working order.”

You let out a breathy laugh, “Thanks, FRI.”

The two of you got up, and he took your hand in his.

“What do you say to dinner?”

You smiled up at him, “Sounds lovely.”

***

Bucky tag list: @tranquility-or-chaos

#Bucky Barnes #bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x mutant! reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barns imagine #bucky barnes x fic #mcu #mcu fic #mcu fanfic #MCU fanfiction #marvel #marvel fanfic #marvel fic #marvel fanfiction #bucky barnes fluff #energies

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ladywinchester1967 · 5 years

Text

Close Your Eyes:

The Sequel

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Fiona (OFC)

Warnings: ENDGAME SPOILERS, Tooth rotting fluff, implied smut.

A/N: CONTAINS ENDGAME SPOLIERS!!! This is the final installment of this mini series, hope you guys enjoyed it!!! As usual, unbeta’d, all mistakes are mine, pics are not.

Seeing this for the first time? Wanna catch up?

Part 1

The Prequel

It was an adjustment having Bucky in the house. Now that we had James, the dynamic had changed a little bit, sometimes it felt like I had two children as opposed to one.

One thing I'd left out of my fond memories were the nightmares Bucky had nightly. He would thrash and mumble in Romanian and wake up pouring sweat. Sometimes I could get him to settle back down by holding him tightly, other times he would get up and go for a walk. One night, Bucky had woken me up with a nightmare and James had woken up crying. I gathered James up into my arms and carried him into mine and Bucky's room.

“Looks like both my men need me.” I smiled wearily as I cradled both of them against me, trying to get some kind of sleep. The next day when I finally woke up, I was all alone. I sighed, wondering what they were up to when I heard the bedroom door swing open. When I opened my eyes, Bucky was carrying a cup of coffee while James held a plate of pancakes for me.

“Blueberry is still your favorite right?” Bucky asked as he handed me my coffee.

I looked at the plate and saw he'd stirred blueberries into the pancakes and I smiled.

“Yes, yes they are.” I said as I sat up.

That night, he put James to bed while I relaxed, trying not to fall asleep on the couch.

“Doll face, you're nodding off,” Bucky said, concerned, “Come on, let's get you to bed.”

“I'm fine,” I insisted as I yawned and fell against his chest “I just need five minutes.”

He chuckled and kissed the crown of my head.

“Bed, now.” He commanded and scooped me up. Once I was in bed I reached for him.

“Don't leave.” I quietly begged him “Please don't leave.”

“I'll be right back,” he assure me as he squeezed my hand “I promise.”

I sleepily nodded and after what felt like a few minutes, he finally came back and held me in his arms.

“Go to sleep,” He murmured in my ear “I'll be here when you wake up, I promise.”

I was too tired to argue, I nodded and squeezed him as I drifted off to sleep listening to the steady beat of his heart.

The next day, Bucky, James and I stood to the back of the pack as we watched Pepper and Morgan place a wreath with Tony’s ashes on it out into the lake. My heart hurt for them and for everyone on the team. Before Bucky and I had moved to the country, Tony and I had constantly butted heads. Call it two strong personalities clashing, but once everyone vanished, he and Pepper became not only my closest neighbors, but also my dearest friends. James and their daughter, Morgan, were around the same age and played wonderfully together. I often envied Pepper and Tony because they had each other while I didn’t have anyone. When Bucky vanished, he had taken half of my heart with him. Now that I had him back, Pepper didn’t have Tony and I ached for her and Morgan.

After the lovely service, James tugged at my skirt.

“I go play with Morgan now?” He asked.

“See if she wants to play,” I told him “and see if Nathaniel wants to play too.”

I watched as James wandered over to Morgan and talked to her. She looked hopefully up at Pepper who turned and looked at me. I nodded and then she and Morgan exchanged words. With a delighted squeal, I watched as James grabbed Morgan’s hand and they made their way over to Clint and his family. All three Barton children looked willing to play as I watched them come up behind James and Morgan.

Pepper made her way over to me and hugged me tightly.

“I’m so sorry Pepper.” I told her as I squeezed her.

“Thank you.” She said solemnly and pulled back, wiping tears from her eyes.

“Hey, we’re here okay?” I told her and squeezed her hands “I’m here for you and Morgan just like you guys were here for me.”

Pepper nodded and said

“We’ll make a play date once everything settles. I promise.”

“I know.” I told her as more people looked like they wanted to approach Pepper. “we’ll talk later okay?”

Pepper nodded and turned around, a stoic look on her face.

“Don’t do anything stupid until I get back.” Steve told Bucky.

Steve and Bruce had come up with the plan for Steve to time travel and return all of the Infinity Stones where and when they'd gotten them from in the first place.

“How can I when you’re taking all the stupid with you?” Bucky asked and the two embraced.

“He gives you any trouble,” Steve told me and nodded at Bucky “make sure to kick his ass.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna have A LOT of luck against a super solider.” I chided Steve, who laughed.

I watched as Steve held the briefcase containing all six Infinity Stones and shut it. He carried it up to the silver platform and I held Bucky’s flesh hand.

“For us it’ll be five seconds,” Bruce explained “but for him, it will be as long as he needs.”

“They’re sure it’s gonna work?” I asked

“It has to,” He said “that’s how they saved all of us.”

I nodded and watched Steve climb up on to the platform along with Bucky and Sam. I squeezed Bucky’s hand in mine and he kissed my temple.

“It’s gonna be okay doll face.” He told me “Steve’s got this.”

I nodded and Steve’s helmet snapped over his head. Within seconds, he was gone and when he failed to reappear in the same spot, Sam automatically freaked out.

“Bring him back!” He yelled at Bruce “Bring him the hell back!”

I felt Bucky turn and then he finally called Sam’s name. When I turned, I saw an older gentleman. He had to be in his seventies or eighties, judging by age spots and deep wrinkles on his skin.

“Go on.” Bucky encouraged Sam, so walked over the the older man. It turned out that he was the older version of the Steve Rodgers we knew and loved, and while he returned the Infinity Stones where they belonged, he’d gotten a life. Judging by the ring on his left hand, I guessed he had done okay for himself.

“Hang on to her,” he said, speaking to Bucky as he nodded to me “she’s a good one Buck.”

Bucky nodded and said

“I will.”

We got back to the house later than planned, the kids had worn themselves out playing and James was asleep in my arms as Bucky and I walked through the door of our house. I put James to bed and he stirred awake.

“Where’s Daddy?” He asked sleepily.

“Brushing his teeth,” I told him as I smoothed his dark hair out of his eyes “you’ll see him in the morning sweet boy.”

James nodded and yawned before going back to sleep.

I walked into mine and Bucky’s room where he was waiting in bed for me.

“How is he?” Bucky asked.

“Snug as a bug in a rug.” I told him as I took off my earrings and necklace and put them back in their proper spots. I climbed into bed with Bucky, settling next to him as his arms wrapped around me as I laid my hands over his.

“Was that how it was for you?” He asked “While I was gone?”

“No,” I told him “worse.”

Bucky pressed his forehead to mine and said

“That haunts my nightmares you know? Thinking about you and James all alone with no one around.”

“We had Steve and Natasha,” I reminded him “Tony, Pepper and Morgan too, but it wasn’t the same. I hate saying this, but I cried a lot.”

“Why?” He asked “Why do you hate saying that?”

“Because I know it makes you feel bad,” I told him “it’s not like we had any control over the situation.”

“Never again doll face.” He told me and I watched as he sat up and pulled me with him. He tugged me off the bed and held me in his arms. We stood like that for a long time before he finally pulled back and he dropped to one knee. He reached in his pocket and in his fingers he held the most beautiful engagement ring I'd ever seen.

“I know this is all out of order, but I want us to be together forever.” He said as I gasped.

“Bucky!” I breathed, clapping a hand over my mouth.

“Marry me?” He asked “Make me the luckiest son of bitch in the world?”

Tears welled my eyes as I nodded.

“Yes!” I exclaimed “Yes! I’ll absolutely marry you!”

He smiled and stood, hugging me tightly as we kissed. I could barely process all of it, in the space of a few days, I had almost everything I’d ever wanted in my life. My family was whole, my friends were back, everything felt right. For the first time in a long time, it felt like everything was happening like it was supposed to. I held Bucky’s face in my hands as we kissed over and over again. He pulled back and slipped the ring on my finger and admired it, smiling.

“You like it?” He asked as he kissed my temple.

“I love it.” I told him and looked up at him.

“I had this before,” he paused and took a deep breath “before everything. I wanted to give it to you long before now.”

“Really?” I asked and he nodded.

“I’m five years behind.” he said with a sad look on his face. I held his face in my hands and said

“Hey, we’re together now, we love each other and that’s what matters. Remember that okay?”

He sighed, nodded and kissed me as he pulled me close. He backed me up to the bed and set me down as he crawled on top of me. Our legs tangled together as he pinned me between him and the mattress. When we parted, I grinned at him and said

“Hold that thought for a second, I have to take my makeup off.”

“Later,” He rasped “I want you, now.”

Who was I to disobey my sergeant’s orders?

I nodded and we kissed hard, his fingers tangling in my hair.

“Bucky,” I sighed as he kissed my cheek, chin and neck, he bit the juncture between my neck and shoulder and followed that up with a a kiss that made my back arch “oh Bucky!” I moaned as I dug my fingers into his shoulders. He pulled me up into a sitting position and unzipped my dress down my back.

“You’re too hot to be in mourning in this dress.” He said in my ear as he pulled the straps down my shoulders. I wriggled out of the dress and tossed it aside, leaving me in just a strapless bra and my underwear.

“Doll face,” he murmured as he kissed me “you’re too damn gorgeous for your own good.”

“And it’s all for you,” I reminded him “Sergeant Barnes.”

He let out a feral growl and pinned me back to the bed, attacking my neck and collar bone with kisses.

“It’s fucking sinful the way you talk some times.” He told me.

“You love it,” I reminded him “every single second of it.”

“Yes I do.” He admitted as I took his shirt off of him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hope ya’ll enjoyed that!! Your kind feedback is so deeply appreciated and loved, don’t forget to like and share with your friends! All my boxes are open so if you wanna chat or submit something for me to write, go ahead and do that!!

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diinofayce · 5 years

Text

Shadows on the Horizon - 10

Pairing: Winter Soldier! Bucky Barnes x OFC! Layne Hardin | Word Count: 2.9k | Warnings: Layne vs Steve, no Layne and Bucky in this chapter, minor swearing| A/N: This is a sequel to my story Like a Whisper in the Night | Shadows on the Horizon Masterlist

“Do you know how long it took Shuri to put up those mental fortifications?”

“Well, I’m sure she’s very smart, but tell me how his trigger words got through if she was that thorough?”

“It probably had something to do with you tampering with his mind for the last year!”

“Oh, so chasing away nightmares and making sure he can get sleep and function is tampering now is it? I’m pretty sure not even a month ago you were telling how much I’ve done to help improve his life.”

“That was before all this went down, now who knows what you’ve been doing. For all we know you could be working for Hydra and have been planning this the whole time.”

“You have exactly ten seconds to take that back and apologize before I show you exactly what weakening someone’s mentality looks and feels like.”

Bucky stared up at the ceiling of his room while listening to his best friend and his girlfriend argue in angry whispers in the hall. He knew he should go out there and separate them, but it seemed like this was all going to come to a head eventually anyway so he might as well just let them get it out. Layne and Steve were too similar; headstrong, stubborn, and opinionated. It made it hard for the two of them to fully get along in harmony most of the time.

On top of the fact that he was still pushing back this pounding headache and swarm of memories. There was also the new emotions he had to work though; he felt angry, cold, and withdrawn. He knew that wasn’t fully him, though, or he supposed it was. It was the new him, the him that had always been there locked away tight in the darkness so he didn’t have to cope with it.

Bucky also couldn’t help but notice where before with his super soldier hearing that he could hear everything louder and clearer. The voices in the hall would have been heard but they would have been overlapped by the ticking second hand of the clock on the wall and the electric current of the power cables that were spiderwebbed throughout the tower walls. But all the background noise, the little things, were muted. They were there if he looked for them, but he could easily ignore them which allowed him to tune into the conversation in the hallway way easier. Bucky assumed this was Winter Soldier training which didn’t make him feel any better about it.

“The princess is on a mission with Queen Nakia and is unreachable for the foreseeable future, but I left a missive for King T’Challa,” Bruce’s voice cut across the arguing couple and Bucky could hear Steve’s heavy sigh.

“Steve, this had to happen. I know that it was nice having ‘your Bucky’ back, but the fact of the matter is he isn’t the same guy from 1940. He stopped being that guy when he got captured in Italy,” Layne pressed, her voice sounding much more like she was trying to soothe a toddler after a temper tantrum. “The Winter Soldier is literally half of his personality. All Hydra managed to do was figure out how to separate it and control the pieces that they wanted.”

Bucky brought his vibranium hand up to his eyes and pressed his knuckles into his eye sockets in attempt to alleviate the pressure behind his eyes. There were so many memories flooding back to him. Cache locations, safe houses, abandoned facilities, research centers, missions he hadn’t remembered - was he seriously responsible for a presidential assassination? - it was all coming to him so quickly he was starting to feel overloaded. Yet he still tried to focus on what was being said out in the hallway.

“But Bucky wouldn’t have done all those things,” Steve argued. Bucky knew Steve was thinking about all the arguments he went through with most of the team on his behalf. He was probably afraid it was a moot point now and everyone would go back to not trusting him. Hell, Bucky was afraid of that too.

“Maybe not the Bucky from Brooklyn who used to take care of skinny little Steve. But Bucky who was a soldier and a prisoner of war and tortured for years did what he had to so that he would survive to see another day.”

“No, Bucky would have taken a bullet before letting that happen.”

“That’s a pretty bold assumption coming from someone who hasn’t been there,” Layne scoffed, her tone dismissive.

“Oh, because you have?”

“Not only have I seen it, Captain, but I’ve also felt it. You wouldn’t believe the number of nights Bucky’s nightmares pulled me out of a dead sleep. How many I’ve lived through alongside him.”

Bucky’s heart skipped a beat. He hadn’t known that he knew of the ones she would wake him up from; inserting her image in his mind and pulling him from the dark memories with her soft eyes. But he had no idea that she had been pulled into his mind and his memories and made to watch from his point of view. He thought back to the experience they had just had in the common room where the Soldier had been placed behind Layne’s eyes and how everything from the weight of the pistol in her hands to the heat of being shot in between the eyes by Bucky’s gun was felt as if they were actually him instead. Regret and self-loathing pooled in the pit of his stomach, why didn’t she tell him that was happening?

“You guys, this arguing is helping no one. Cap, Layne hasn’t shown anyone a reason to not trust her and I think if anyone knows what they’re talking about it going to be her,” Bruce placated in his soft and patient voice and it even did a bit to calm Bucky’s racing heart.

“Right, right. Of course, she does,” Steve responded bitterly and Bucky could picture his face. The stubborn scowl that didn’t change even after the rest of him did.

“Is that what this is all about?” Layne asked with dawning realization. “You’re afraid you’re no longer the James Barnes expert?”

Steve’s silence spoke volumes and Layne just scoffed with disbelief. Bucky knew her well enough that she was ramping up to just lay into Steve, but FRIDAY managed to interject first.

“Agent Hardin, Director Fury has requested you to report to interrogation immediately. Doctor Banner, Doctor Cho is on hold for you.”

“Well, there you go Captain,” Layne sneered. “Better go take care of him.”

Sometimes, Bucky cursed his super soldier hearing. He would have just fine not knowing that Layne and Steve were basically in a pissing contest over him.

“For the record, Steve, I’m not trying to replace you. No one is going to replace you,” Layne added softly.

Steve sighed as Bucky sat up, trying to think of a way out without attracting all the attention that he knew he was going to get. Steve Rogers could be a mother hen, which was a power switch from back in the thirties. As Bucky’s feet hit the carpet the door to his room clicked open and closed and Steve rounded the corner to the bedroom.

“Oh, hey Buck. I didn’t get an update that you were awake,” Steve said with a crooked and rueful smile.

Bucky’s gaze roved his best friend. He was still wearing his UnderArmor shirt and basketball shorts. The bruise around his right eye was still a dark purple but the edges were already starting to lighten to a greenish-yellow hue.

“FRIDAY is probably busy with more important things,” Bucky grumbled scrubbing his face with his hands and resting his elbows on his thighs.

Steve crossed the room from the doorway and sat down on the bed next to him.

“You and Layne haven’t been getting along,” Bucky stated pointedly and Steve had the good grace to look a little chagrin.

“What she does to help you is just,” Steve tilted his head side to side trying to think of the appropriate word but coming up empty.

“Different?” Bucky supplied and Steve nodded.

“It’s hard to wrap my head around. How are you feeling?”

Bucky looked down at his hands on his lap, mentally assessing himself for a moment. “Okay, I guess. We…see things differently, hear things differently. That…part of me got the chance to get used to the serum and adapt to it while I simply lived with it. It’s taking some adjusting.”

When Bucky looked up at Steve, he could tell by Steve’s expression that he could see what Layne had been seeing this whole time; two halves of James Buchanan Barnes battling for control, to be seen. Steve scoffed a little, the right side of his mouth crooked up in disbelief as he looked away and rubbed the back of his neck anxiously.

Bucky watched his best friend, a small knot of nerves forming in his gut. “Stevie…,” he started, but Steve just shook his head.

“Don’t, Buck. It’s my fault. When the five of you came back from the mission it was just chaos. I don’t know what you remember, but you should be proud of your girl. Got me and Fury immediately on the link as soon as she had everything under control on the jet. Her team stood by her without question, she gave her report three times under that stare that Fury gets when he’s trying to be intimidating,” a wide smile cracked his face as he thought back to Layne; covered in blood and her hair wild, old tears had cleaned the dirt from her cheeks in streaks. But she stood strong, kept her shoulders squared and her chin level as she matched Fury’s stare and repeated her report, again and again, justified her decisions.

“She said I shouldn’t talk a big game because I took a seventy-year nap,” Steve laughed and Bucky smirked.

“Sounds like her,” he responded.

And while the last mission, being slammed away and separated and switched once again was still blurry to him, he knew he was safe and at the tower because of Layne. Because she knew immediately that something was wrong and had gone in after him.

Bucky’s brows furrowed as he tried to piece together anything from the last few days. A part of him felt a pang of nagging guilt and he couldn’t put his finger on it.

“The subbasement?” Bucky asked looking sideways at Steve.

Steve visibly winced and nodded. “Yeah, after she got done chewing me a new one she flew down to the subbasement where we were keeping you. She locked herself in with the Soldier before he recognized her.”

Bucky closed his eyes as the sudden memory came back to him. He clenched his vibranium fist as he remembered what if felt like to almost crush his girlfriend’s trachea. He could see the bruise on her throat blossoming in front of his eyes and the feeling of resentment burned in his chest. Steve’s hand clamping down on his shoulder brought him back to himself.

“Don’t do that to yourself, Buck. She didn’t blame you once.”

“Your face will be fine by tomorrow. It’ll take her a week.”

“She’s not worried and she’d eloquently cuss you out if she thought you were,” Steve laughed again.

Bucky sighed and smiled softly. Steve wasn’t wrong, she’d be so mad at him if he was blaming himself for something else - even if was his fault. But it’s not like any of that self-loathing went away easily, he kept it bottled down and hidden from her so she would feel like she’s helping and she was to some extent, but she couldn’t erase the past and the pain. And now, with the Soldier’s memories that he hadn’t realized had been locked away, there was a lot more pain and darkness that he had to atone for now than he did before.

~*~

Layne stepped off the elevator and made her way towards interrogation room six. She couldn’t help but hesitate in front of room five, she opened the door and peeked inside the empty space noting that it had long been put back to order and the blood scrubbed from the floor from her and Danny going at it. Shaking herself slightly she closed the door again and slid into the observation room of room six.

Danny was standing in front of the glass with his arms folded over his chest, he was wearing khaki colored skinny jeans and a denim button-up shirt. His brown curls were piled on top of his head, the tighter ringlets flopping down on his forehead. Stark had worked with Danny on upgrading the enhancers and the smaller, sleeker box reflected the dull light of the small television that was recording the interrogation going on in the adjoining room.

He turned his gaze away momentarily to see who joined him before going back to watching Natasha try to get information out of the girl they had brought back from the Hydra base.

“If you’re here, why did Fury call me? I was dealing with Bucky,” Layne groused. Her brother also had the same powers of persuasion that Layne had so she couldn’t help the tone of frustration that leaked into her voice.

“I don’t want you to talk to her, I want you to come to look at her,” Danny responded, his eyes never leaving the girl’s face. “Besides, I already tried to persuade her, her barrier blocks that.”

Layne stepped up to the glass with a sigh.

“I heard the alert for Rogers and Banner go out. Everything okay?” Danny asked finally looking at his baby sister fully.

Layne nodded as she tried to smooth her chocolate locks into a ponytail. She had popped into her room before heading down and changed from her pajamas to a pair of black jeans and a plain white v-neck shirt.

“Yeah. I finally got through to both of his sides and I think they broke the mental partition that was put up. Steve is furious and he’s demanding that Shuri come in from Wakanda and take a look.”

Danny pulled a face and rolled his eyes. “I’ve seen her inventions and was lucky enough to look over some of her blueprints. Hank and I were working with her on designs for a better jet back at the manor, but what the Sergeant has isn’t really something you can fix artificially. The princess is much more willing to listen and learn from outside sources than Rogers is, don’t worry.”

Layne hummed in acknowledgment as she finally took a chance to really look at the small girl in front of them. She had been allowed to bathe and was given a SHIELD shirt and a pair of black sweatpants to change into. Whether from emaciation or just being small in general, she looked like she was drowning in them. Her hair had been roughly shaved and micro-abrasions littered her scalp from where the clippers bit into her skin. She had chewed the skin from her bottom lip until it was cracked and bleeding and her wary eyes never left Natasha’s face even as she refused to answer any questions posed to her.

The girl couldn’t have been more than eighteen and despite the gaunt hollows of her cheeks and eyes, there was a niggling feeling of recognition in Layne’s gut. It was in the girl’s eyes, the deep warm caramel of them, how even though she was wary and on guard, there was still an angry fire blazing in them. As Layne’s own caramel eyes examined the girl’s face closer she noticed the soft slope of the bridge of her nose and the way her chin jutted out in indignation at a particularly unnecessary question from Nat.

“How old are Michael’s kids? His oldest? Madeline?” Layne whispered, realization and fear sitting heavy in her gut. The last time she had seen her niece and nephew was at her high school graduation party. Madeline had been five or six at the time which would put her right around this girl’s age.

“I don’t know,” Danny admitted. “I couldn’t even tell you his wife’s name.”

“Ex. Cheryl. She called me a couple years ago when she caught Michael fucking his TA.” Layne’s eyes never left the girl in the room even when Danny let out a sharp bark of surprised laughter. She called up her power to the surface in an attempt to get the girl to recognize them and got exactly what she was hoping for.

The small girl in the room caught a feeling of Layne’s power manifesting and immediately threw up a mental barrier, her caramel eyes lighting up with an amber flame that even had Natasha sitting back in her chair with realization. Natasha turned in her seat to look over her shoulder through the one-way glass. Danny reached forward and knocked on the glass once with trembling knuckles and Natasha nodded slightly.

Layne let out the breath she had been holding and let her powers fade back out. Natasha had exited the interview room and entered the observation room with the siblings.

“What do you guys want to do?” Natasha asked.

“I’ll make the calls,” Layne said, already pulling out her phone.

#bucky barnes x layne hardin #winter soldier x layne hardin #winter soldier #winter soldier fanfiction #bucky barnes #bucky barnes fanfiction #shadows on the horizon #marvel #marvel fanfiction #avengers #avengers fanfiction

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oldbluethings · 6 years

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So, I wrote the start of something because I am weak. (I was supposed to be grading exams but whatever.)

*warning for descriptions of injuries and blood*

Tony Stark had always known he would meet his end fighting against the creatures of night. He pictured dying in some epic battle, after a triumph over the dark, at some nebulous time in the far future. Hopefully, when he was old and had already done everything he wanted to do.

He just never thought it would happen so soon. And on a Wednesday, too.

The vampire on top of him was powerful—an elder of its kind, twisted so far beyond human by a millennium spent feeding off the blood of innocents that its body hardly obeyed the laws of physics. White and bloated like a grub, it should have been slow and fragile, but it was still stronger than his suit at maximum power. Even the protective runes drawn by his nanites on the metal had no effect against the creature. The vamp tore through them like they were made of tissue paper.

"Armor coverage at seventy percent. Power at fifteen percent. Deploying back up." Even Friday sounded concerned, Tony thought. As any A.I. worth her salt should be.

This was his fault, really. He’d been caught unaware on his nightly patrol. Maybe he'd grown complacent. He'd gone out tonight expecting to dispatch a few newly-turned bloodsuckers, maybe take out a ghoul or two. He'd never encountered such an old vampire so far from any known nest. Creatures that lived to this age rarely ventured above the ground.

And, yet, here it was, trying to rip his armor open and eat him.

So, yeah, Tony Stark was going to die. He'd just never expected it to happen on a fucking Wednesday, of all days.

He'd just decided to initiate the suit's self-destruct sequence, when a dark shape suddenly hurtled out of the darkness and slammed into the vampire, releasing a shower of orange sparks. A wolf, Tony realized, when his eyes had adjusted to the dark once again. A huge black wolf, as large as a man. A wolf that now had its jaws locked around the grub-like vampire's white neck. The two of them scrambled on the ground in a frantic struggle. The vampire let out a shriek that made Tony's ears ring and clawed at the furred body. Orange sparks crackled and hissed and formed sigils in the air.

Tony could only stare. Magic? What the hell?

The wolf thrashed, trying to rip the vampire's head off, Tony realized. But this bloodsucker was strong. Probably stronger than any were could ever be. More magic flashed bright and faded and the wolf let out a cry like a wounded dog. The vampire had managed to pull one of the wolf's front legs to its mouth and bite down. The wolf whimpered but its jaws stayed locked on the vamp.

Tony scrambled back. Fuck, if that vampire broke free, he was next...

He had to act before that happened. Not enough power left in the arc reactor to produce a photon blast, but his nanotech could still make a weapon. He staggered to his feet just as the long blade finished forming on his right gauntlet.

The wolf was in trouble now. He gave the vampire's neck another desperate shake, but Tony could tell he was weakening. Blood flew from the wound on the wolf's leg and spattered the dirt around them. The huge body was now covered in wounds, sides heaving. Whatever magical protection was on it had failed completely. The vampire's screams had turned into a high-pitched gurgle.

Tony approached the fight as close as he dared, blade ready. "Let go," he muttered.

Intelligent blue-green eyes turned toward him.

Tony nodded at the wolf. "Let go. I've got him."

The wolf leaped away just as the vampire surged up, shrieking.

Tony swung his sword as hard as he could and sent the vampire's head flying off into the bushes. Black ichor pulsed from the neck and the body slumped to the ground, shuddering in the dirt.

"Holy shit," Tony breathed. He sliced off a still-twitching arm and then a leg for good measure. The body finally lay still.

Fucking undead.

"Friday, damage report." He needed a few moments to get his breath back.

"Down to ten percent power, Boss. Nano particle population at sixty-seven percent. And you’ve suffered multiple contusions and a possible concussion. You should have that looked at."

Tony smiled. "Will do." It would be simple enough to ask Bruce to check him out when he got home. But the smile faded when he remembered he wasn't done here. Not yet. "Fuck," he muttered. He watched as nanites containing a silver-copper alloy streamed down and coated the blade. But he'd suddenly lost the stomach for killing.

"You all right, Boss?"

"Yeah, Fri. I'm fine. Which way did he go?"

"Tracking heat signature." The map appeared on his screen seconds later, blue line snaking erratically deeper into the forest.

The wolf hadn't gone far. And he wasn't a wolf anymore.

Tony found the naked man collapsed in a hollow formed by the roots of a tree, one hand wrapped around a terrible wound in his forearm, pale skin covered in blood and dirt. The man's eyes—blue-green and still sharp, but wet with pain—tracked Tony's movements warily as he approached.

With his black, silver-streaked hair and neatly-trimmed goatee, he looked more like a college professor than a man who had been an animal just a few minutes ago. Tony had never seen a were who looked so... controlled. He'd never met a were who could use magic. And he'd certainly never had a were save his life.

The man's eyes flicked down to the blade, then back up to Tony's face. He nodded, almost to himself. "Do it," he rasped. "Just"—he swallowed hard—"be quick. Please." He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the tree trunk, exposing his throat.

Tony raised the blade slowly. Werewolves were vermin, nothing more than dangerous animals. They served the dark. He'd sworn an oath to eradicate their kind. He'd killed dozens of them without a second thought. But tonight...

"Fuck," he muttered again. He tapped the nano housing unit and the blade receded. He wasn't in any danger. Not right now.

Tony considered the defenseless were before him. "Why did you save my life?"

The man opened his eyes again and his brows drew together in confusion. "I don't... I don't know," he mumbled. "I just... I wanted... to." His eyes started to slip closed.

"Shit." Tony grabbed for the man just as he slipped sideways. Now that his hand wasn't covering up that vampire bite, Tony could see it was bad. Dark blood seeped from the wound in slow pulses. "Friday? Vitals?"

"Heart rate at one-hundred sixty beats per minute. Respiration at forty breaths per minute. Blood pressure eighty over fifty-three and dropping fast. Dangerously low levels, even for a were. I also detect traces of vampire venom. That can be fatal to weres if left untreated."

For the second time that night, he didn't think, he just gathered the unconscious man in his arms and took off, clearing the tops of the trees and heading for home.

"Friday, estimated flight time to base?"

"Approximately seven minutes at your current speed." Friday actually hesitated before continuing. "May I ask, Boss? What do you plan to do with him once you get there?" It was highly illegal to harbor or aid a sub-natural creature like a were. And both he and his A.I. knew it.

Tony sighed. "I have no fucking clue."

#ironstrange #ironstrange advent calendar #werewolves #tony stark #stephen strange #prompt fic #mcu fanfiction #au

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