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#my challah keeps not turning out how i want it to and I'm not sure why...maybe I'm over-kneading it idk
audiovisualrecall · 2 years
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What should I bake today hmm
Rolls (dinner style or challah rolls)
Challah
Spritz cookies (plain sugar cookie or I could try my strawberry sugar cookie recipe this way mmmm)
Soft chewy sugar cookies
Muffins (blueberry)
Brownie bark
Hand-pies with cherries? (I have a lot of cherries that arent the tastiest as-is...might save this recipe for the week I'm off from work tho. Its an involved recipe bc i have to pit the cherries and cook em down first)
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hindahoney · 10 months
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I get a lot of questions about keeping kosher, and I've answered many questions about how to start, tips & tricks, etc, but I've never really discussed shabbat observance. So, if you're someone who is looking to introduce some more observances into your life and keeping some form of shabbat interests you, here's some advice from my own experiences of being a baal teshuva. If anyone wants to add things, feel free.
Obligatory I'm not a rabbi, this is just my experience and things I've picked up from trying to be more observant, and I highly advise speaking to a Rabbi before starting.
First, keeping Shabbat should ideally be a pleasant and relieving experience, not a chore or a burden. Shabbat is truly a gift, and I wish for every Jew that they are able to experience even a little bit of her beauty and serenity in their lives. Shabbat is a wonderful opportunity to elevate a day of the week, and spend it doing things you otherwise would feel you have little to no time for during the other busy days. It is a reminder of what's important: enjoying our lives where they are, being thankful for what we have, and spending it with those that we love. It's an opportunity to be reminded that we don't just exist to work, we are human beings who are here for a short time, and we deserve one day of peace and rest.
That being said, do not attempt every law all at once. You will inevitably get frustrated and quit. Many people who keep shabbat have done it their entire lives, so it's like second nature to them. Don't compare yourself to their level of observance if you're just starting out. I think you should also educate yourself on each of the laws of Shabbat, where they come from and why we observe them.
Start small by eliminating things one by one and lighting candles with the prayer. If you don't have it memorized, there is no shame in writing it down to have it in front of you (If you have a friend who is also interested in increasing their observance, you could go through these things together, or just invite people over for a meal!) You could start the first week by not checking emails, the next by not checking social media or texts, and slowly work your way up to not using your phone. Be sure to inform your friends, family, and if possible your work, that you will be unavailable for this day. Ditching a social media addiction is hard, it's hard to wean yourself off of constantly scrolling looking for a distraction, but it's also freeing to be able to take control again and set boundaries for yourself of when you'll be available to people and when you won't.
In addition to eliminating things, you should add activities that make you feel relaxed and happy. Focusing on your hobby or starting a new one, reading a book or the weekly parsha. Learn some shabbat songs or prayers. While I'm baking challah and preparing for the meal, I like to set the mood by having a playlist on the TV of shabbat songs. I also like to write in a journal before shabbat setting an intention for what I want to accomplish or get out of this week's observance, and once Shabbat is over I will write about what I managed to do, what I didn't manage to do, and ideas for how to make it better in the future.
Also, put tape on your light switches once you feel ready to not use electricity!! It is such a mindless thing that we do, you will turn them on and off unintentionally. Don't forget to do this on the inside of your fridge as well. It may be wise to invest in a shabbat lamp or shabbat counter-top food warmer, or timers for your light switches to avoid some problems in the future. Also, pre-tear toilet paper and paper towels or get a box of tissues, and prepare some food for the next day that doesn't need to be re-heated. It also isn't a bad idea to put a playlist on of shows or youtube videos you've been meaning to watch and keeping it running from before Shabbat, if you want that before you can eliminate it altogether.
I also advise doing something this day of the week that you don't do any other day of the week, to make it feel more special. It could be something small, like using a different tablecloth or your "special" cutlery/dishes, or giving tzedakah. Just something to make it unique from the other days.
Finally, I want to reiterate that you need to be patient with yourself. You will mess things up. You cannot "fail" at Shabbat. If you mess up, don't say "Well, I already did something wrong, I might as well not finish this week's and I'll just do it again next week." Stick with it, even if you mess up. Again, if anyone has tips for others looking to be more observant, feel free to leave them here!
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jewishconvertthings · 2 years
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hello, i just need to get this off my chest. i'm not a conversion student yet, but i have been angling towards that for a couple years now; i attend shabbat services as a guest as frequently as i can, i've done a lot of person research, etc. i'm just not in a place where it's possible for me to convert right now. while i know there's nothing wrong with waiting, that i'm not running out of time, i still feel a lot of impatience, because the desire to be jewish strikes me so strongly sometimes that it feels physically painful. i'll be cooking dinner and find myself wishing i was keeping kosher, or turning on my phone on a saturday and wishing i was observing shabbat instead, that sort of thing. i watched yom kippur services online this year and ached with how much i wanted to be there. i think about it almost once a day. it's just been a lot of waiting and yearning, and it'll be this way until at least august 2023, so i've been stewing in a lot of unfulfilled desires for a couple years now. looking forward to the day i can fulfill them; until then, i'll just keep doing what i can :)
Hi anon,
Oof, waiting is very challenging. It sounds like you're doing a lot of what you can do right now, but here are some other suggestions just in case, since it's pretty clear that you are wanting to be preparing to live a Jewish life.
Food/Kashrut:
Go vegetarian if you can, as this removes a lot of non-kosher food from your life without raising lots of awkward questions. If not, pescatarian is a good alternative, making sure to remove treif (non-kosher) fish and shellfish also if you can. Have to eat meat? Try to limit it to kosher animals, even if the meat itself isn't kosher.
Read up on the laws of kashrut.
Create a "hope chest" of kitchen supplies for your future kosher kitchen. You see a neat looking spatula or dishes? Buy them and put them aside for later! Transforming a kitchen to being kosher is a large and expensive project, so getting ahead of it can be a fun way of preparing while you're waiting. (Note: as much as I normally encourage thrifting, this is a situation where you will want to buy new since many items cannot be made kosher.)
Start learning about hechshers and checking them when you buy prepackaged food. Even if you have to buy something without a hechsher that needs one, you'll be able to notate that for the future.
Learn to cook traditional Jewish foods! There's nothing wrong with learning to make (for example) challah or matzo ball soup or blintzes.
Shabbat:
This is tricky, because gentiles aren't halachicly supposed to observe Shabbat fully. However, there is some wiggle room in that conversion students will oftentimes break Shabbat in a tiny, unnoticeable way (like carrying a penny in their pocket), but otherwise be keeping Shabbat.
That being the case, some recommendations I'd give you in the meantime are things that aren't keeping Shabbat, while still conditioning yourself to the rhythm of it in your life.
Keep track of when Shabbat starts and ends each week. You won't be lighting your own candles yet, but it will help accustom you to the practice to know when it starts and ends. You could even take a moment at candlelighting time to let go of the week that is past, take a deep breath, and have a moment of gratitude for the world as it is.
Try to do one relaxing thing each Shabbat, like reading a book for fun, taking a walk around your neighborhood, or taking a nap.
You could do a screen time/social media detox over Shabbat - even just a few hours can make a big difference.
Look at your area or the one you plan on converting in if different, and see if you/they are within an eruv. If so, you could consider what living options you might have in the future to live inside it.
In your conversion stockpile, put aside a couple plug-in timers for lights in your future Jewish home.
Prayer:
If you know what community you're joining, get a hold of a copy of the siddur (prayer book) they use, and don't use it for prayer but just read it. Really take in the instructions, the order of prayers, the meaning of the translations, the feel of reading a book right to left, the commentaries, etc. Notice the structure of the service, the portions that are repeated again and again, and those that aren't.
Pray on your own - there's literally nothing that says you can't free-form talk to Hashem whenever you want.
Notice when the halachic prayer times are, and consider taking even just a moment to be grateful for what you have, make a request, make an intention for the day, ask for protection overnight, etc.
Learning:
It sounds like you're doing great on learning on your own, but some things that are maybe non-obvious that I would recommend learning are listed here.
Learn the basics of Jewish history, as this will greatly help you to understand how our sacred texts and the holidays are shaped around this history.
This will also include learning a lot about antisemitism unfortunately, but it's critical to understand as soon as possible if you're thinking of converting.
Learn some Hebrew, even if it's just alef-bet and how to sight-read and sound out Hebrew words. This will help you to jump in a *lot* faster.
If you know what community you want to join, look up the Jewish history of the place and the community, and learn the names and locations of Jewish institutions there. This will help you follow casual conversations with other congregants better.
I hope that gives you and anyone else stuck in this situation some actionable things to think about and try out, and I wish you the best of luck on your Jewish journey!
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brightgnosis · 2 months
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We decided to do our meal planning last night, visit his mom at the Clinic, and then go do our shopping. Pretty happy with this week's meal plan again- even though I'm still carrying meals over from last week, ha.
Meatballs with Orzo, Spinach, and Tomatoes
Pulled Pork Burgers and French Fries
Steak and Lamb Gyros
Ginger-Sesame Pork over White Rice
Lasagna with Garlic Bread
And then for Shabbat tonight I picked out Chicken Eggplant Margherita with Kasha Varnishkes and Challah (obviously); Even picked out next week's Shabbat meal already, too: Fish in Peperonata Sauce.
I did mess up and buy Swai fillets for next week's Shabbat without checking to make sure it was Kosher first. It is not 🤦‍♀️ It's a type of Catfish, so it doesn't have scales. I should've googled it first, but I was thinking about what freezer space I had available and the other bagged fish were too big for what little freezer space I have left. I don't feel quite as weird eating a non-Kosher fish on Shabbat, though, compared to eating Pork. It feels more like a genuine "oops, just do better and remember to Google next time" rather than a blatant violation by eating something I know is definitively treif in every way.
I poked around after we got back and actually did manage to find my Meal Planning "chalkboard" a lot easier than I anticipated! Turns out I'd kind of just chucked it on top of the art pile in the corner of the Laundry Room and called it good, ha. It needed a really good clean when I pulled it out, though ... I can't remember the last time I actually cleaned the thing; probably never, if I'm being honest.
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Got it cleaned up ... And broke it in the process ... Got it ducktaped back together, then wrote up our meal plan for the week ... Kind of.
The board is very "standard American working calendar"- which is no longer how we do our grocery shopping. So it wound up working out a little wonky. I'm going to have to go back to grocery shopping late Saturday nights (after Havdalah) or early Sunday morning (before Church rush). It still worked out well enough, though, even if I'm missing 2 days for this week's plan we did last night.
I put both the Hebrew date and the Gregorian dates on it, and even looked up the times for next week's Shabbat and Havdalah. I'm hoping this'll help me remember to keep Shabbat 🤞
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It did take me an annoyingly long time to figure out where to actually put it, however. But I did want to re-do the wall next to my desk anyways, so I settled on putting it there. It took a bit, but I got it all rearranged eventually.
It should be easy enough to get up and down. Plus, it's right there where I spend most of my time when I'm not gardening or cleaning, so I should have an easier time being reminded that I need to do stuff like pull food out to defrost (which has been my largest hurdle to getting back into cooking full time again). Fingers crossed this works, ha.
This blog belongs to a «Multi-Neuroatypical + Multi-Disabled» «Queer» «Childless» «Jewish + Pagan» «NonTraditionalist» Homemaker. TradWives are unwelcome.
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leisurelypanda · 5 years
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i'm so mean to bucky but i honestly just need something with shrunkyclunks and bucky being mugged and then getting protective care later from steve, i'm evil i know sorry haha
You want angst? Okay! >:D
https://archiveofourown.org/works/18376730
Being Captain America’s boyfriend was never guaranteed to be easy. Despite the fact that both the Avengers’ public relations team, Tony Stark’s personal team, and all of Bucky’s friends had all told him not to google himself after their relationship became public, Bucky hadn’t been able to resist the temptation. It was everything that he could have predicted and more.
There were strong supporters and vocal detractors. Some people thirst tweeted him, others thirst tweeted Steve (which wasn’t new), and some thirst tweeted both of them. That part was fine, if a little… invasive. Other people claimed that Steve could do better. Bucky ignored those, because honestly, who cared? Steve thought he was sexy (a fact that still made Bucky feel a little giddy) and that was all that mattered.
The main issue was the religious nuts who had a collective aneurysm, as though the fact that Captain America was fucking a guy was a personal attack. Steve ignored them, but he was a little more experienced ignoring such people. Bucky was honestly a bit worried. There had been more than one conservative speaker who claimed that Bucky was an agent of the Devil who had corrupted the moral symbol of America, and by extension, the entire country as a whole.
If it had been something normal and simple such as, “The gays cause floods, wildfires, and tornados,” that would’ve been fine. Those made Bucky chuckle. Claiming that he personally was a danger and threat and seeing people agree with it so easily was a little more disturbing.
After about a month of that, Bucky started a total social media blackout. They were right, it wasn’t worth the worry. Steve started training him in combat skills, too. “You never know when you’ll need to defend yourself,” he said. Bucky laughed it off more to deflect from the fact that he was actually kinda worried.
About a month into his social media blackout, Bucky was minding his own business while walking towards his apartment. The Tower was nice, but it wasn’t Brooklyn and Bucky really did like having his own space. It wasn’t anything fancy, but for a guy who was working on a cupcake shop, it was everything he needed it to be: comfortable, warm, and within his ability to pay.
Brooklyn was beautiful. The fact that Bucky had grown up there made him biased, but also right. He loved how it seemed both old and new. Steve sometimes talked about how it used to look like, what people used to do there. He’d drawn pictures of tall buildings that were piles of shacks more than anything connected by rows of laundry hung out over the streets to dry.
It was amazing, both from an artistic sense and from a historical one. Now, Brooklyn was a place full of youth and vigor. It seemed full of art and possibilities and sometimes Bucky caught Steve’s eyes glaze over, as if he was imagining what life might’ve been like in this Brooklyn instead of the one he grew up in. Maybe he would’ve had a future instead of bleak prospects and a weak body.
Bucky turned the corner and continued walking towards his apartment like he always did. As he passed by the alley between a bar and a pizza joint, he was grabbed from behind. His yell was muffled as he was slammed against the brick wall behind him. The back of his head throbbed in pain.
“What the? Who the hell are you?!” he demanded. It came out more as a groan than a yell like he’d hoped for.
“Are you Bucky Barnes?” one of them asked. There were three of them. They each wore black ski masks like some cheesy movie trope, but at the moment, Bucky was actually legitimately terrified.
“Who wants to know?” Bucky replied. They looked at each other before one of them checked his back pockets until they found his wallet.
“It’s him,” they reported.
“Well then, Bucky,” the first mugger said. “We’re here to save the soul of Captain America.”
An icy sliver of dread passed through Bucky’s stomach as he caught the sliver of a knife while someone else produced a gun. His brief amount of combat training with Steve kicked in and he bashed his head against the nose of the mugger who held him against the wall. Bucky grabbed the blade that the mugger dropped and dropped into a defensive posture.
They couldn’t have all brought knives like normal psychopaths, could they? Bucky thought.
He attacked and managed to disarm the second one before he decided to make a run for it rather than try to fight his way out. As he was making his getaway, though, he heard a shot followed by the sudden stabbing of a gunshot strike like lightning in his leg. He didn’t have time. He dashed into the bar. He went straight into the bar, his leg throbbing in protest with every step.
“Call an ambulance,” Bucky said through clenched teeth. The bartender nodded and picked up the phone. Bucky barely registered what he said as he tried desperately to keep pressure on a wound he couldn’t see. When the bartender was done, he came around the bar with a rag and a length of twine.
“They’re on their way,” he said. “Where is it?”
“Thigh,” Bucky breathed. “Back. Can’t see.”
The bartender rolled him over on his side and pressed the rag to the wound. Bucky cried out in pain as the bartender secured the cloth to his leg with quick and brutal precision.
“What’s your name, son?” the bartender asked. “I’m Steven Goldberg.”
“Bu-Bucky Barnes,” he said. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” the bartender said. “The ambulance will be here soon. Tell me about yourself.”
“I—I make cupcakes,” he said. “Barnes’ Artisanal Bakery.”
“You just make cupcakes at your bakery?” Steven asked. Bucky chuckled and shook his head.
“No, they’re just… my specialty,” he said. “Make bread, too. Lots of challah. Grandma’s recipe.”
“You Jewish?” Steven asked. Bucky nodded. “Me, too. Great-grandma was saved by Captain America during the Holocaust. Named my granddad Steve after him. My ma named me after him.”
Bucky smiled. “He’s my… boyfriend,” Bucky said. “Ma was so proud… when she heard. Said it made up for… me eating bacon.”
Steven laughed at that. Bucky chuckled a bit at that, too. Then he closed his eyes. Steven shook him lightly.
“Stay with me, Bucky!” he said sternly. “Come on, tell me about your favorite cupcake recipe. How did you meet Steve Rogers?”
“Catered a… party… at the tower,” Bucky said. “Just tired…”
“Hey, hey, stay awake!” Steven said. He slapped Bucky’s face lightly. “The ambulance is almost here, gotta stay awake.”
Everything went dark.
Bucky heard people. He heard voices, but they were speaking like he was underwater or something. He couldn’t make anything out. Someone sounded stressed. It might’ve been Steve. He couldn’t tell. He wished they would be quiet. He was still so tired.
He became aware of some terrible, searing pain. It didn’t feel anything like the bullet. The bullet felt just fine in comparison to this, like he’d been hit with a stick. He felt like he was burning from the inside out. He might have screamed, maybe it was someone else. After a while, he passed out again.
When he next came to, he heard beeping by his bedside. He groaned softly and the next thing he knew, someone was holding his hand tightly.
“Buck?” someone said. It was Steve. Bucky grinned knowing that Steve was with him. “Come on, Bucky wake up for me, please.”
“Stevie,” Bucky replied. It was little more than a murmur. His voice was hoarse and his throat hurt like hell. It wasn’t a dream, then. He had screamed, but he didn’t know why.
“Oh, thank God,” Steve sighed with relief. “Can you open your eyes?”
Bucky slowly opened them. He looked up into a face that was both strange and familiar. It was Steve, his Steve, but he’d grown a beard at some point. That was weird. Steve never had facial hair. He definitely hadn’t had one the last time Bucky saw him. He looked amazing, though.
“Nice beard,” Bucky said. Steve grinned and laughed with relief. “Am I in a hospital?”
“Yeah, yeah you are,” Steve replied. He looked down with concern at Bucky’s face. “How… do you feel?”
Bucky thought for a moment. He felt… fine. Better than fine, actually. He wasn’t in any pain at all. After a gunshot wound, he figured he’d at least be a bit tender afterwards or have a lot of pain. Even his head felt clear, rather having than the dull throb and foggy senses that might have accompanied a concussion.
“What happened?” Bucky asked.
“You were attacked,” Steve said. His face was resolute, but Bucky could see the guilt and sadness underneath. The guy who called the ambulance said that he didn’t know who did it.
“I don’t, either,” Bucky said. “They just said they were trying to save your soul.”
Steve grimaced. “Anyway, after you were out of danger, you went into shock,” he said. “The doctors said that you had a mild concussion and you’d lost a lot of blood despite what Mr. Goldberg did.”
“He was named after ya, ya know,” Bucky said. “Said his great-grandma was saved by you during the Holocaust.”
“Really?” Steve said. “He didn’t say anything like that to me. I saved a lot of people from the camps whenever I found them.”
“Here I thought my folks were the only Jews who were crazy for ya,” Bucky said. “Clearly all of us love you. You should convert.”
Steve laughed at that. “Sure, Buck. I’ll get right on it,” he said. “Do you feel… strange, at all?”
Bucky frowned at him. “What do you mean, ‘strange’?” he asked.
Steve shrugged and Bucky could see his face blush a bit. “I don’t know… different,” he replied.
Bucky stared at him. “I have an inexplicable urge to run a marathon,” he said. “Does that count as strange?”
“Uh, it might.”
“Steve,” Bucky said sternly. “What did you do?”
Steve looked down sheepishly. “You lost a lot of blood,” Steve replied. “The paramedics didn’t have enough of your blood type, AB negative. Said it was pretty rare. I… offered mine. I apparently have the universal donor or something.”
Bucky blinked. “Okay,” he said. “What does that have to do with me feeling weirdly energetic?”
Steve ducked his head. “The… docs think that I might’ve passed on the serum to you.”
It took a minute for that little tidbit to seep in. Bucky smiled slowly, then all at once.
“They do?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Steve said. “The surgery to get the bullet out was just a few hours ago. They had difficulty keeping you sedated because of the change, actually.”
“How much blood did you give me?” Bucky asked.
“Enough, apparently,” Steve said sheepishly. “They want to monitor you, see if I really did pass everything on.”
“Fuck that!” Bucky cried. He took out the IV and jumped to his feet. He looked down at his body. What had once been skinny arms on a broad frame was now lined with thick muscle. The next thing he did was lift up his hospital gown and check his dick. He barely recognized it. His flaccid length was about as long as he’d used to be while hard. “Damn, look at that! Holy shit!”
“Buck, please, we’re in public,” Steve said with a blush.
“We’re alone in here,” Bucky said with a mischievous grin. “Pull the blinds, maybe we can get a quickie in before the doctor gets here.”
“Buck, I’m serious,” Steve said sternly.
“So am I!” Bucky replied. “It’s not every day you wake up in a brand new body. Come on, help me break this baby in.”
Steve’s blush grew. “Later, I promise,” he said.
Bucky stared at him before he dropped his gown. His dick, which had been working its way to hardness softened.
“Okay,” he said. “Later.”
The doctors cleared Bucky to leave as soon as they saw he was up and about. His ma cried from relief when she arrived and found him. Bucky hugged her tightly and realized that he probably had to be gentle when she groaned a bit more easily than he remembered. His very next thought was that he was gonna get her back for all the years of oppressively bone-crushing hugs she always gave him.
He went back with Steve to the tower where they proceeded to… do absolutely nothing. They didn’t go down to the gym or fuck or even watch tv. Steve just had Bucky sit down on the couch while he did everything. He brought Bucky the biggest sandwiches Bucky had ever seen, he put Bucky’s shoes away for him, he cleaned every visible surface of his apartment twice, he got Bucky everything he wanted, and was even waiting outside when Bucky emerged from the bathroom.
“Steve, come on, I’m fine,” Bucky said. He took Steve’s hand. “Come on, let’s do something fun if we have to stay here.”
“No, Bucky,” Steve said. He jerked his hand out of Bucky’s like it was burned and… Bucky definitely felt that. He scowled at Steve.
“Fine,” he growled. He walked around Steve towards the front door.
“Where are you going?” Steve demanded.
“Home,” Bucky said as he shoved his feet into his shoes. “I’ve got things to do.”
The sound the door made when he slammed it made him feel a little bit satisfied.
It wasn’t until late that evening when Bucky’s phone rang. He looked down at Steve’s number. He was still mad, though, so he let it go to voicemail.
In the hours that he’d been home, he’d cleaned up everything. There was a lot, considering that Bucky tended to not have time to clean things between running a bakery and dating a superhero. His newfound strength and energy, though, proved convenient. He picked up the couch with ease to clean under it and even the bed seemed light to him.
It didn’t seem to matter, though. Steve, for whatever reason, didn’t seem to think that Bucky’s new abilities were all that interesting. He’d backed away from his touch and even turned away when Bucky had tried to kiss him earlier.
What if he doesn’t like the way I look, now? Bucky thought. It made the icy feeling in his gut grow. He curled in on himself, picking his feet up and wrapping his arms around his ankles. It was true, he had been shorter and skinnier than Steve when they met, but surely Steve hadn’t just liked him for his body… right?
The thought wouldn’t leave, though. Bucky eventually ended up falling asleep on the couch with nothing but an old afghan.
His alarm went off the same time it did every morning. Bucky groaned as he pressed snooze. He was gonna take the day off. He’d use the excuse that he’d been shot to defend it if anyone asked. Yesterday had been stressful, after all, in more ways than one.
He did, however, look at Steve’s contact on his phone. His phone said that he had a message from him. There wasn’t anything else, though. It wasn’t like him to ignore Bucky like this, though. Finally, Bucky decided to press the voicemail notification.
Hey, Buck, the message began. I’m sorry for what happened to ya today. Sorry that… you got hurt because of me. If we weren’t together, this wouldn’t ever have happened.
There was a pause in the message and Bucky’s heart stopped. “Steve, don’t you fucking dare,” he grumbled.
I hate that you got hurt because of me, Buck. I couldn’t live with myself if it happened again. I… I think it’s best that we go our separate ways, now.
Bucky couldn’t breathe. His eyes filled with tears and he clutched his shirt over his heart. “No, Steve, stop!”
So… I guess this is goodbye, Buck. I hope you live a good life… End of message. To delete this message—
Bucky hung up. His mind swirled with a tempest of emotions. Grief, shock, denial, rage, hate, and the sharp, bitter sting of rejection all fought for dominance. Bucky fell to his knees on the floor. He looked back down at his phone only to see that he’d crushed it in his hand. He banged his other hand on the coffee table and it cracked.
“Dammit!” he shouted. He got up, still seething with anger as he washed his hand under the sink. Thankfully, no glass had gotten in the cut across his palm, but he still bandaged it up. He would probably be completely fine after a few hours.
The thought of that made him think of Steve, though. Steve did this, made him this way. His body was new and different and strange. He’d broken his phone and his coffee table already. He couldn’t afford to replace them either! And now… now there was no one around to teach him how to adjust.
His legs buckled and he fell to his knees in a corner of the kitchen. He sobbed. Yesterday he’d been mugged, shot, and woken up a different person. Today, he was more alone than he’d ever felt at any other time in his life.
He didn’t know how long he stayed like that. He cried until he couldn’t breathe and kept crying. It was the stupidest, dumbest, most Steve-like reason to break up. Protecting him… asshole.
When he looked up and cleaned himself off, he could hear a din of voices at his door. He walked over as quietly as he could and looked through the hole on his door. They had cameras and mics and Bucky groaned softly. This was the last thing he needed.
He turned around and started packing a bag. The first thing he’d need was to get to the tower. There was no fucking way he was letting Steve just break up with him over this. He took everything he was likely to need and packed it into a backpack before he snuck out the fire escape.
For some reason, there were no paparazzi at the bottom of the fire escape. Whether that was because they were leery about going into a strange alley or because they didn’t know about it, Bucky didn’t care. He jumped down from the bottom level and grinned triumphantly when his body only felt slightly uncomfortable at the landing. He’d need to work on that.
He marched towards the street and hailed a cab, which admittedly took him a few minutes, but it arrived before the press realized that he’d duped them.
“Avengers Tower,” he said as he climbed into the back seat.
The drive was as slow as he expected, honestly. Traffic was always bad in New York, but what mattered was that he wasn’t around a bunch of people that he could bump into and inadvertently send hurtling into oncoming traffic or onto the third rail at the subway or something.
Nearly an hour and a half later, Bucky arrived and paid the driver. He tried not to wince at how much it cost to get him there, but he didn’t care at the moment. He was totally getting Steve to pay for this shit.
Unfortunately, the press were here, too. As soon as he got out of the cab, they swarmed him like a school of piranha.
“Bucky Barnes, is it true that Captain America broke up with you?!”
“Mr. Barnes, can you confirm that you were kidnapped yesterday?!”
“Do the events that happened yesterday have anything to do with your new appearance?!”
“Was your whole relationship with Captain America a plot to steal the serum?!”
Bucky growled, but otherwise ignored them as he marched inside. Security guards let him through and held the reporters back. He sighed as he stepped inside.
“I guess you’re here to see Steve?” came a voice. Bucky turned to see Tony leaning on the front counter.
“What happened?” Bucky asked.
“You don’t know? You’re the one who became the world’s second super soldier,” Tony said. “Honestly, I’m surprised it took this long for people to try this. Steve having O negative blood and the serum being in it, it doesn’t exactly shock me that giving someone else his blood would pass the serum along.”
“I know about that,” Bucky said. “But everything else, no. I, uh, broke my phone.”
Tony glanced down at his hands and nodded knowingly. “I’ll hook you up with a Stark phone,” he said. “Had to make some that Steve could use after he kept breaking normal ones.”
“Thanks,” Bucky said. “So what’s happened?”
“It was about as dramatic an announcement as I’ve ever seen,” Tony said. “Steve told some press yesterday when they came here asking what happened and told them the two of you were no longer a thing. Next thing anyone knew, the Internet exploded. You’ve got fangirls crying about their OTP breaking up and everything.”
“Great,” Bucky said.
“So did you?” Tony asked.
“He left a message on my phone,” Bucky growled.
“Wait… he did?” Tony demanded, his eyes going wide. “That’s a dick move.”
“Yeah, so let me know where he is because he and I are gonna have words,” Bucky growled.
“He’s in the gym,” Tony said as Bucky got into the elevator. “Going to town on some punching bags, I’ll bet. I’ll take care of the press. Give him a good ole’ one two for me, all right?”
Bucky grinned savagely. “Sure thing.”
His heart was hammering in his chest and his body thrummed with nervous energy as the elevator moved. When it dinged and the doors opened, the only thing Bucky could hear was the sound of punching echoing through the room. He followed it until he saw Steve. In spite of the anger and sadness and hurt he felt, he took a moment to admire Steve’s form. Only a moment, though. He walked up until he was behind Steve.
“Hey, punk,” he said. Steve whipped around and before he could say anything, Bucky gave him a right hook, which nailed him square in the jaw. Steve stumbled back and Bucky grinned with satisfaction, knowing that he’d caught Steve off-guard.
“Bucky?! What—” Bucky interrupted him with a left punch, which Steve blocked easily. “Stop!”
“Stop?!” Bucky demanded. “Where do you get off telling me to stop?!”
He lunged at Steve and they tumbled to the floor. Bucky might not have any knowledge of fighting, but he was strong, strong enough that he was able to make Steve fight for his victory. He punched and kicked and shoved and even bit Steve before he ended up on the floor of the gym with his arms pinned above his head and Steve kneeling over him.
“Fuck you,” Bucky growled. “You’re a damn asshole, punk.”
Steve’s gaze softened. “I’m sorry.”
“I don’t want your damned apology!” Bucky yelled. “I want an explanation! I feel like I deserve that much!”
Steve sighed. “I know you’re angry—”
“No shit.”
“I just couldn’t stand to see you get hurt again!” Steve shouted. “You got hurt because of me! I did the only thing I could think of that could protect you!”
“You’re not protecting me,” Bucky said. Steve blinked above him. Bucky closed his eyes and willed himself not to cry. “You’re not protecting me.”
“Buck, what’s going on?” Steve asked.
“Everything, you fucking moron!” Bucky cried. “I broke my fucking phone, I broke my table, I twisted some ladder rails on my way out the door trying to avoid the paparazzi, I had to stop myself from slamming a cab door closed cause I can’t afford to break more shit. I can’t clock people for getting in my face cause I don’t wanna hurt anyone.
“You did this to me, you asshole. You saved my life and made me a super soldier and you’re the only one who knows what this shit is like and now you’re calling it quits? You’re abandoning me!”
Bucky realized that he had tears streaming down his face and sucked in a breath. “Shit,” he hissed.
“Bucky… I’m so sorry,” Steve said. He leaned down and wrapped his arms around Bucky’s body. Bucky burrowed his face in Steve’s chest and sobbed.
“I’m still mad at you,” Bucky said between sobs.
“I know,” Steve said. “You have every right to be. I regretted it the moment I hung up, but when I woke up, I couldn’t get ahold of you.”
“Why? Why did you do it?” Bucky asked.
“I was scared, baby,” Steve murmured. “I thought that the only thing I could do to keep you safe was break up because I couldn’t think of the fact that you could’ve died because I love you.”
Bucky closed his eyes and fisted a hand in Steve’s sweaty shirt. He sniffed and breathed in the scent of Steve’s musk. Even now, he found that he loved the smell and sight of Steve all sweaty.
“Damn fine way of showing it,” Bucky muttered. Steve shifted down until his face was hovering over Bucky’s. He kissed him tenderly. Bucky growled, though, and kissed him back with more fire and force. He flipped them over and Steve gasped as Bucky stared down at him. Bucky smirked triumphantly. “Huh, so that’s what it feels like.”
“You like the view?” Steve asked. Bucky chuckled and placed his hands on Steve’s shirt.
“It could be improved,” he said. He pulled and the shirt ripped to shreds with no more effort than if it were paper. Bucky looked down at Steve’s chest in satisfaction and not a small amount of pride. He kissed Steve hard, thrusting his tongue into Steve’s mouth and biting his lower lip hard enough to make it bleed. Steve groaned beneath him but Bucky kept him pinned to the floor.
“You’re mine,” Bucky growled. “And I’m yours. ‘Til the end of the line, ya fucking punk.”
Steve nodded. “‘Til the end of the line,” he agreed.
Bucky kissed him again before he rolled Steve onto his stomach. He rubbed his aching cock over the cleft of Steve’s ass. He was fucking huge, now. It was like one of those online fake porn ads that promised miracle pills to make your dick get bigger, except it was Steve’s blood that did it. His jeans were uncomfortably tight around his member and Bucky quickly shucked them to the floor and tossed them aside. As soon as they were off, he reached down and ripped Steve’s khakis off along the seam.
“Jesus, Buck, I gotta walk around when this is over,” Steve groaned.
“Shut up,” Bucky said. “You broke up with me. A few ripped clothes is the least you deserve.”
He grabbed a packet of lube from Steve’s inside pocket (because the man always had a plan, even after he dumped his boyfriend, apparently) and slicked up two of his fingers. He pressed one to Steve’s hole and pushed in. Steve hissed at the intrusion, but didn’t say anything. Bucky kept pressing in until the digit was fully seated inside him.
Bucky fucked him with that finger until Steve felt loose enough for another and pushed it in alongside the first. Steve moaned and pressed his face into the floor beneath him as he pushed back on Bucky’s hand.
“Buck,” Steve said.
“Yeah?”
“A little down and to the left,” Steve said. Bucky bent his fingers as requested and Steve moaned loudly as he rubbed over Steve’s prostate. Bucky added a third finger and stretched him with impatience. He wanted to fuck Steve and this was honestly taking a while.
“Buck, I’m ready, fuck me,” Steve moaned. Bucky didn’t argue. He tore open another lube packet and coated his now considerably large cock with lube. He had been somewhat surprised to find that in addition to becoming stronger, his foreskin had grown back. And it felt. AMAZING. The head of his dick was so much more sensitive. He pressed the head to Steve’s hole and moaned just at the feeling. He pushed in.
“Oh God, oh fuck,” Bucky groaned. “Fuck, this is amazing.”
Steve chuckled beneath him. “Go slow,” he moaned. “Gotta give me time to adjust, baby.”
“Shut up, I’m trying to enjoy this,” Bucky replied.
“Enjoying your first time topping, baby?” Steve asked.
“The foreskin helps,” Bucky said. He inched further inside Steve and groaned as Steve’s hot, tight hole squeezed around him. “Seriously, first I eat bacon, now I have a foreskin. I might as well be a Gentile now.”
Steve laughed at that. “I’m a corrupting influence, it seems,” he said.
“You have to convert, now,” Bucky said. “Gotta make up for leading me astray.”
“Okay, Buck,” Steve chuckled.
When Bucky finally bottomed out, it felt amazing. Steve’s ass clenched around his whole length. It was the second most amazing thing Bucky had ever felt, the first being Steve’s cock in him. He’d always be a slut for Steve’s cock. This was a very, very close second, though.
He began to roll his hips against Steve’s slowly. He moaned at the feeling, at Steve’s walls wrapped tight around him. Steve groaned and pushed back against Bucky, matching his shallow thrusts. Bucky reached down and gripped Steve’s hips as he began to pull out more. He thrust hard into Steve’s heat and Steve whined.
“God, you feel so fuckin’ good,” Bucky growled. He pushed Steve’s chest down and started fucking him into the floor. Steve moaned and writhed beneath him. “You like that? You like havin’ a man who can keep up with ya? Who can go all day with you and not feel tired?”
Steve moaned and nodded beneath him. Bucky quickened his pace. There was no finesse or grace in it. He was angry and hurt and Steve was the one who did it. He threw his head back and groaned as he began to slam into Steve’s ass. Steve whimpered and moaned beneath him and Bucky grinned with savage satisfaction.
“You should’ve known better,” Bucky growled. “Should’ve warned me. Should’ve helped me, ya punk.”
Steve groaned and nodded. “Harder, harder, Buck,” he moaned. “Give me all you got.”
Bucky groaned and fucked faster. His body moved like lightning streaking across the sky, faster and more powerful than it had ever been in his life. His hands were like iron around Steve’s hips, nails digging into his skin and drawing bits of blood. Still, Bucky went faster, harder. He wanted Steve to hurt, to feel everything he’d done to Bucky. Steve just groaned beneath him and took everything Bucky gave him.
“Fuck, Bucky, I’m gonna come,” Steve moaned. “Gonna come, keep going!”
Bucky did. He slammed into Steve’s prostate with every thrust and without mercy. A moment later, Steve’s ass was squeezing around him like a vice and Steve shouted as he came. Bucky felt his body writhe beneath him, shaking as he came onto the floor beneath them. A second later, he slammed his cock into Steve’s ass as deep as it would go and he came too, his come bursting from him. He came more than he ever had in his life. Every drop of it shot into Steve’s waiting ass.
When he was spent, he slumped with exhaustion. His cock slipped from Steve’s ass and he collapsed on the floor breathing like he’d just run 20 miles. He breathed deep, the sweetness of the air filling his burning lungs. Steve got up and laid down next to him.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “You were right, I abandoned you. I’m sorry for being afraid.”
Bucky nodded and held back more tears. “Just… promise me that if you ever want to break up with me in the future, you’ll do it person.”
“I didn’t want to break up with you,” Steve murmured. “Before yesterday, I…I thought that we would be together forever, actually. I never want anybody else, baby.”
“If you ask me to marry you naked on a gym floor, I swear to God I will walk the fuck out of here,” Bucky said. Steve laughed softly.
“Don’t worry,” he said.
“Good, cause I got standards. I want a real nice proposal, all romantic and shit,” Bucky said.
“Just so we’re clear,” Steve said. “You’re okay with me proposing at some later, undisclosed date.”
Bucky smiled against Steve’s chest. “Yeah, I’m really okay with that,” he said. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, baby,” Steve murmured. “You mind if we get up and put some clothes on?”
Bucky smiled mischievously. “Yes to the first,” he replied. “But no to the second. I really wanna see how long I can go, now.”
Steve’s eyes darkened and he kissed Bucky with heat and passion. Bucky moaned and yielded to him like putty in his hands. Steve knew exactly how to get him going.
“You got it,” Steve said.
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shiraglassman · 7 years
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Hey! I'm looking for queer Jewish fantasy or sci-fi (aside from your books which I've read!)
Great question! Here are some recs.
“Further Arguments in Support of Yudah Cohen’s Proposal to Bluma Zilberman” by Rebecca Fraimow - trans m/cis f paranormal romance/humor with a shtetl setting. Short and online free.
The Dyke and the Dybbuk by Ellen Galford (my review) - out of print but award winning and easy to find through interlibrary loan, this one’s a madcap comedy about a Jewish lesbian in the UK who, thanks to an old family curse, gets possessed by a demon (also a lesbian.) Since she’s already pretty avant-garde in her behavior, the demon decides she can’t make her act more zany, so instead she gives her a walloping crush on, of all people, an Orthodox woman.
The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness is a gentle, affectionate parody of paranormal YA and the main character’s best friend is Jewish, gay, and a cat god. (My review)
To Summon Nightmares by JK Pendragon (my review) stars a bi, Jewish trans guy living in Ireland who must confront his new (cis) boyfriend’s demon-summoning past.
“Three Partitions” by Bogi Takács - nonbinary sci-fi set in an Orthodox space colony, by a nonbinary author. Somewhat of a deconstruction of gendering in Orthodox communities by exploring how a nonbinary alien species fits into that gendered space. Short and online free.
“Seven Commentaries on an Imperfect Land” by Ruthanna Emrys - positions the Jewish diaspora as a portal fantasy. Includes f/f and solidarity with Muslims. Short and online free.
Riley Marigold and the Winged Lizards of Tel Aviv by Kayla Bashe @kayla-bird​ - f/f YA about kids trying to save genetically engineered lizard-dragons an animal shelter says it can’t afford to keep any longer  Short and online free, including in audio.
Hearts Alight by Elliot Cooper is m/m Chanukah romance novella. What do you do when you find out the sexy older man you’ve been crushing on is actually a golem? Written by a trans guy and has a trans guy supporting character, too.
Maybe some day we’ll get “Medic to the Hivemind” back once @kayla-bird finds a new publisher for it - that one has a Jewish lesbian astronaut who falls for the mysterious woman who talks her through trauma over the radio. I’ll be sure to let everyone know!
Speaking for Ourselves: Short Stories by Jewish Lesbians has one speculative piece: “The Woman who Lied” by Jano, which is adorably wtf. Two Jewish women are in bed when one, doing that thing I’m sure we’ve all done at some point, reacts positively to being touched in a way that actually just leaves her neutral, because she wants the other woman to feel good. Her lie causes her boobs to temporarily turn into bagels and challah because a dybbuk has a very strange sense of humor. Everything works out in the end so it’s basically a happy little fable about being sexually honest.
Incidentally there is an important Jewish side character in The Mystic Marriage by Heather Rose Jones, which is about 19th century lesbians creating magic rocks, but as far as we know she herself is straight.
In case this post gets reblogged beyond people who have heard of me, here’s the link to my books, fluffy Jewish high fantasy with a mostly LGBTQA+ cast.
When I run into more, I’ll reblog this post again and add things.
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