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#just another day being in love with roger waters
melina-louiz · 23 days
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royalsweetteaa · 2 months
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Title: Thinking about us all
Pairing: Steve Rogers x fem!reader x Bucky Barnes (Stucky)
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18+ ONLY | MINORS DNI
WARNING - The following story contains: Explicit smut, MMF threesome, petnames (doll, sweetheart), dom/sub/switch roles, establishing polyamory, stucky, bisexual!Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes, oral sex (M/F receiving), cum eating, anal sex, rimjob (M receiving), unprotected sex, P in V/P in A sex, creampie, spitroast, love confessions, fluff, aftercare.
Sequel to: ‘Thinking about her’
Summary: Steve and Bucky finally confess their feelings to their female secretary, and luckily everything goes in their favor.
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2nd person POV
It was another day at the Avengers Tower, and you were as per usual at your office handling the two super soldiers’ routine work such as letters and other paper work. Steve and Bucky had appointed a time in the afternoon to have a meeting with you.
While it was just a regular meeting of the week going over important future events they have to be prepared for, you always looked forward to those meetings.
You couldn’t help but thrive in the feelings the two men gave you as you sat alone all three, occasionally talking about personal things like the friends you had grown to be. It felt good, and you thought it was harmless to have a crush on them.
Okay, ‘crush’ could be an understatement, but it was still harmless if you kept it to yourself, right?
It wasn’t like you had expectations of them returning those feelings to you. You could tell what they had lied so deep, there was no way they would leave it for anyone else.
And you were completely fine with that. Seeing the two together made you believe soulmates for life was a real thing, and you looked forward to the day you would find your own.
But until then…
You kicked your feet giddily as you were waiting for the two men to arrive in the empty meeting room. A stack of files were in front of you and you kept a mantra in your head of all the topics you had to inform them about.
They finally came by the door minutes later, apologizing for their slight delay as they sat on each side, putting you in the middle.
You felt butterflies swirl in your stomach as they smiled at you ever so kindly, making small talk of asking how your day was and if you’ve eaten or drank enough water.
You respond saying you’re feeling just fine as you bring forward the folders, a copy for each to look at before you begin going through them.
It was much of the same schedule the super soldiers had followed for months, most importantly noted being that there was an international conference hosted by T’challa on Friday for them to attend to and a gathered Avengers meeting on the weekend.
As you rounded up the report of their upcoming schedule, you looked up at them, expecting that to be the end of the meeting as they thanked you for the report. But as you were about to stand up and conclude the meeting, they stopped you from rising up from your seat.
Bucky and Steve exchange each other confirming glances before they faced you again.
“Y/N, Bucky and I have something important we’d like to share with you…if you aren’t otherwise in a hurry to get home for the evening.” Steve begins.
You stared at him, your heart noticeably skipping a beat from the super soldiers’ ears as you say, “I’m not in a hurry…what’s up, boys?”
“We uh…”
“Well, you see…um…”
The men turn to each other again as if they are now realizing how difficult it is to lay out their confession of love to you compared to how they had imagined it in their heads. You all the meanwhile stared at them dumbfounded, not sure what was going on between them.
“…Is everything okay?” You ask with a hint of worry in your voice. “Has something happened that I should know about?”
“No, - I mean yes, everything is fine, it’s just…” Steve says. “We are a bit nervous to tell you, because…”
“…as it turns out…” Bucky slowly fills in.
“…we have feelings for you, Y/N. Both of us.”
“….Oh…wait, what?” You ask as you pull a double take when you let their words sink in. “How? - But -…aren’t you two together?” You ask the question with a confused frown. “I thought you had each other?”
“Well yes - of course we still love each other but, - we have kind of mutually developed feelings for you. And we aren’t just interested in you for ‘curious’ reasons - we genuinely like you, more like you’ve captivated us beyond just liking you, you know?”
Steve clears his throat as he speaks over Bucky, “What Bucky is trying to say is we both absolutely adore you, - how sweet and caring you are towards us in what feels like is something beyond just your job as a secretary and friend. It has come to us realizing we have more love to share, and we would like to share it with you. But we would also like to take you out on dates first as the three of us to explore our dynamic…with a romantic viewpoint.”
“That is…if you feel the same.” Bucky quickly adds. “Do you?”
You’re left in awe after everything they have told you, and you close your mouth as you try to gather your thoughts. “Wow, I…I’m in shock honestly. I didn’t expect this at all…” you say, causing Steve and Bucky to stiffen as fear starts to settle in on a possible rejection.
Had they read you wrong? Had they misunderstood your physical reactions for something else?
Steve shakes off the worries as he fills the paused silence with a thoughtful reminder, “You can think about it for as long as you’d like. We understand this might be all too overwhelming for you, so if you’d like for us to give you some space while you consider -!”
You shake your head as you dismiss Steve, “Wait, no…I…- truth is, I’ve had a huge crush on both of you for a while. But I never spoke or tried to make a move on any of you because I respect your relationship, and I would never, and I mean never try to ruin what you have. What you have is beautiful and I…” you sigh as your eyes get glossy. “I can’t believe you’re both interested in bringing someone like me into it. Like, do you truly mean that? Because I swear if you’re pulling a prank on me, I’m quitting today -!”
“We’re not!…we promise you that.” Bucky chuckles at your doubts, but also pulls a face of fondness. “And why would you think ‘someone like you’ wouldn’t be perfect for us? Sure, we are the super soldiers here but there’s only one of you in the entire world.”
“We have lived for a very long time and met all kinds of people. We know what we want.” Steve says. “We want you, as much as we want to be yours.”
“So what do you say?” Bucky asks as he gets closer to you, gently placing his hand on yours at the table. “Can you at least give it a chance?”
You bite the inside of your cheek as you know already the answer to that, but still you take a moment to give it to them. “I…yes. I absolutely want to give it a chance.” You answer with a bright smile, and you witness as they pull gleeful smiles of their own.
The two men pull you into an embrace, surrounding you with excitement. You chuckle as you welcome them, pulling them closer with your own arms.
“But, that doesn’t mean I’m jumping into bed with any of you on the first week.” You clarify in a playful manner. “I’m not that kind of girl, you know.”
Both men hum as Steve comments, “Of course, we don’t expect any less, doll. I don’t know about Buck but I can wait for as long as you want before doing any of that if it means you’ll be ours.”
Bucky bumps into Steve’s shoulder, huffing, “I can wait too just fine!”
Steve narrows an eyebrow and teasingly replies, “oh really? I seem to remember back on you being particularly needy one night and expressing how -!”
Bucky shoves his palm over Steve’s mouth, making him unable to finish his sentence. “Okay, that’s enough oversharing, Steve…”
Giggles erupt from you and the two men turn to you, smiling somewhat confused.
You shook your head, “Don’t you worry James, I’m not going to lead you on. Just work for it and you might get some of me soon enough. That includes you too, Steve.”
Both men nodded, saying in unison “Yes, ma’am” before they wrapped an arm around each of her side and left to the parking lot to drive off for some more spend together.
The next few weeks consisted of dates in romantic locations and dinners at each other’s places.
As true to the men’s word, they never pressured you into anything, - so much so that you had to engage in your first kisses with them. Kissing would develop into sweet long-drawn kisses, then eventually into full make out sessions.
While they were heated and breathless by the end of it, nothing went beyond of what you wanted and you continued your conversations like it was nothing, - except the noticeable big bulges between their legs said otherwise when they so easily dismissed it.
One night during the usual ‘at home’ dinner though, you felt you couldn’t hold yourself back any longer either from what you desired, and one thing led to another involving the new founded throuple relationship.
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You were on your knees, bare as the two men had gloried over your body earlier, seeing you bare for the first time. You had to stop them from taking it further as you were eager to please them first and have them reveal their naked selves too.
Before you knew it, they had unbuckled their belts and zipped down their trousers, revealing their huge semi hard cocks, twitching out of their restraints.
You took notice of how Bucky’s cock is thicker while Steve’s is longer, and even then your small hands struggle to fully wrap around both. You swallow as you ogle their lengths, licking your lips at the sight of them leaking pre-cum already. The men chuckled lowly, gesturing you to touch them any way you wanted to.
“Get closer to each other. My hands are too small to pleasure you both properly at the same time…” you pointed out with an undertone of nervousness.
Steve and Bucky could tell you were a bit anxious with the pressure on you as you were giving them pleasure by your own, so they encouraged you with tender strokes on your shoulder.
“You’re doing such a good job honey, don’t worry your pretty head…” Steve reassured.
“But don’t mind if we do get a little close...” Bucky added smugly as he got closely to Steve, letting you guide his cock to rub against Steve’s as you stroked them both in the same pace. You licked and sucked their cocks, taking turns as you swirled your tongue to have a taste of their pre-cum.
They grunted and held a hand on each side of your shoulder, encouraging you to keep going.
“Fuck, look at her…she’s more amazing than I imagined her to be..”
“Mmm, she’s perfect. You’re perfect, doll.” Steve redirected to you.
You looked up at them with doe eyes as you sucked their tips together, and the men thought they were loosing it at that moment.
“Oh fuck….Bucky…” Steve called after his lovers’ name to catch his attention before leaning in to kiss him, moans and whimpers leaving their mouths as you kept pleasuring them where it mattered.
You hummed around their cocks as you were sending down vibrations to their shaft, making them receive a shockwave of pleasure.
“Fuck! M’gonna cum, Y/N…milk us…take our cum…shit!” Bucky cursed as he felt his balls tightening. Steve followed suit too, releasing himself into your mouth.
“Fucking hell…” Steve groaned at the sight of you trying to swallow their loads, but ultimately spilling some down your chin.
“Language…” Bucky joked through a murmur, making Steve roll his eyes with a smile.
With the use of his thumb, Steve gathered what had spilled up from your chin to between your lips, having you suck his fingers clean lewdly.
Steve purred in delight, “What a good girl you are…taking us both like a champ.”
“Now you’re about to receive twice the reward, sweetheart…you sure you’re ready for it?”
You nodded eagerly, “oh fuck yes, don’t hold back on my account…”
The men smirked, knowing she was in for it all.
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“Holy shit!”
Bucky had a wicked grin as his tongue glided along your folds, not holding back with the way his tongue explored you as per your request.
Steve cooed, “Look at her cute little button…so puffy and sensitive, isn’t it?” He kept rubbing your clit with his thumb, making your whole body twitch in pleasure. Bucky hummed against you in response just then, not leaving his lips from your quivering heat.
He managed to mutter something in the lines of ‘tastes so good, doll’ while his tongue found the source of your wetness, lapping up every drop of pussy juice that threatened to leave for the mattress beneath you.
“I can’t - I don’t wanna cum before I have a dick inside of me..” you whined, and the men stopped as they grinned, looking at each other.
“Who’s dick do you want in you first, doll?” Steve then asked teasingly while stroking your cheek.
“…I don’t know…” you answered, suddenly pondering. “Do I really have to choose?…”
“Well you can’t have us both at the same time…you’re not ready for that.” Steve spoke, humored.
Bucky held his gaze at Steve, “I think…it’s best if you take her first, Stevie. You have better control than I do and I wouldn’t want to ruin the mood or hurt you, Y/N.” He then turns to look at you for a brief moment.
Your face falls at Bucky’s words and you’re about to open your mouth to speak but Steve beats you to it. “You couldn’t hurt her, Buck…but if you feel doubtful of yourself, I’ll take it into my own hands for now until you feel more sure. Does that sound good, doll?” Steve asks as he looks at you too.
You nod, agreeing to the solution as Bucky encourages it with a soft expression. “Sounds good.”
Steve sucks in his breath as he pushes his tip through your folds, holding your hips graciously with you on your back. “Gonna give it to you long and hard…you’ll never want for anything other than us, doll.”
A whimper escaped your lips as Steve impales you. “S-So big…you might split me in half..”
He chuckled at the underlying compliment and strokes your cheek gently. “I won’t move until you say so, love…take your time in getting used to my size, okay?” He says and strokes your clit gently.
You groan and nod in response, “mhm, just give me a minute…”
“We’ve got all the time in the world…” Bucky reassures as he gets behind Steve and caresses his body.
You groan at the sight, “Apart from the love between you two which I adore, - you look so hot together.”
“Yeah? You have always enjoyed watching us being intimate haven’t you?” Steve teased as he leans back a little more against Bucky. “Since the very beginning, we could smell it on you…”
Your face turned red as you realized, shit, of course they could tell when you were aroused. They are enhanced in everything to smell such things…
Bucky interrupted your overthinking with his chuckle, “don’t let it embarrass you, doll…your bodily reactions only ensured you felt the same…thanks to your honest body, we’re here together at all.”
“Now, while we wait for you to get ready, how about we give you a show?” Steve suggested with a seductive grin. You nodded feverishly as Steve turned his head behind to give Bucky a loving kiss, with Bucky’s hands wandering around Steve’s pecs and stomach. Steve then sneaked his hand below and stroke Bucky’s cock as Bucky stared down at you, mesmerized.
“Fuuck, seeing you buried inside Y/N makes me so fuckin’ horny…” at Bucky’s confession, you blush profusely.
“Yeah? Well, if you’re so needy and desperate, you know what you could do about it.”
Bucky’s eyes wandered down to Steve’s ass. “Oh, don’t I know it…” He reached for the lube on the nightstand and inserted some into Steve’s puckered hole with his metal finger, making Steve grunt with arousal. Bucky positioned himself, towering over Steve’s back.
“Just shove yourself in already…you know I can take-!” Steve’s sentence is cut out from a sharp hiss as Bucky slides home.
You witness before your very eyes as Steve closes his eyes tightly, a high pitched moan getting choked as he grits his teeth. His long drawn ‘fuuuuck~’ is the confirming evidence you gather that he’s feeling absolutely amazing.
You can’t help yourself and cover your mouth to hide how turned on you are by this very scenery. Your attempts are due to fail as you feel your core growing wetter and tighter. “…I’m…”
“Fuck, you’re hugging my cock even tighter than before…” Steve purred as he glanced at you through his lashes. “Mmh, does it turn you on to see me between you like this? - Shit…” Steve cursed as Bucky got himself fully seethed inside of him. Steve’s once self assured look was growing twitchy and fading into one of a bottom.
Steve’s cock pulsed inside of you, making you mewl, “Y-Yes! It’s so hot and - god, I need you to start moving, Steve. I’m so ready to be fucked…”
“You hear that? Our girl wants to have her sweet pussy fucked…let’s fulfill her needs, shall we?” Steve nodded and Bucky started to move, causing Steve’s hips to move with him, creating a thrust.
You bit back a loud moan, your breath growing shallow as Steve’s length drags through your tight channel.
Bucky smirked as he looked over Steve’s shoulder, his eyebrows knitted in pleasure, “damn, Stevie…look at what you’re doing to her…”
Steve moaned as he didn’t take his eyes off of you, seeing the way your face scrunches in pleasure for each thrust. “…don’t hold back any noises, love. We want to hear all of it…”
You nod and let a whimper escape you. Bucky starts to move faster just then, encouraging Steve to go along the rhythm as they stay connected. While Bucky leaves rough grunting noises, Steve and you left ones of whines and moans of various pitches.
The pleasure of being deep inside of you while having his prostate hit was overwhelming for Steve, “oh my…” is all he can mutter out as moans take over his speech.
“Steve…aahh!~” you moan as you feel Steve’s cock nudging against the deepest parts inside of you, and you become flushed from overwhelming amount of pleasure.
“Please, cum inside, Steve…I’m on the pill, it’s fine…mmmh~ need it…”
“A-Alright whatever you want, doll…- fuuuck!” Steve aches his back behind as he becomes overdriven, feeling his male lover’s cock continuously hitting his prostate which makes him all the more weak.
Bucky can only snicker from pride as he picks up the pace. “Found your sweet spot, huh? I always do…”
Steve could only groan in response as the sex gets more intense. He feels an overwhelming pleasure being between his two lovers, one piercing inside of him while he’s deep inside the other.
It feels absolutely ecstatic.
“Gonna dump my cum inside you any moment, Stevie…” Bucky suddenly announces while he grunts and pounds relentlessly into Steve’s ass until he reaches his climax through a loud gasp.
You gasp, “Oh shit, I’m going to…”
Steve whines just then, feeling you become close too as he shouts, “C-cumming!..” while biting his lip.
Steve spills deeply into you, coating your walls in hot sticky cum while Bucky does the same inside of him. It’s all too much for the three of you as you go through your highs, remaining still as you catch your breaths from your first round of mutual orgasms.
Bucky pulled out of Steve, making him whimper as his cock slips out of your oozing pussy, exposing what he had left behind. Bucky leaned in to kiss Steve’s shoulder, watching down on you at your post orgasmic expression. He chuckled when he caught your playful smirk, and he pulls up Steve with him to sit up before parting Steve’s legs a little.
“Look at that…” Bucky pointed out as he spread Steve’s ass cheeks, showing the sticky mess he had left behind. Bucky took notice of the way you licked your lips at the sight, and immediately suggested in his husky voice, “Would you like to clean him up? I’ll clean Stevie’s mess on you in the meantime…”
Steve turned around as he understood what Bucky was proposing and blushed, “You don’t need to do that, doll…it’s probably new to you and -!”
You shake your head, "No, I want to do it. Bring America’s ass over to me.” you interrupted, determination showing through your features as your lips form a smirk.
Steve blushes even more furiously at your confidence, not expecting to hear that at all. “Oh…well, since you’re offering and only if you want to…”
Bucky snorts as he nudges at Steve with his shoulder, “You’re catching Stevie off guard and it’s making him all flustered…been a while since I’ve seen him this red.” He comments, snickering as he pulls your lower body over to him and licks up Steve’s and yours mess between your legs, making you groan.
Steve simply huffs, and Bucky adds an order, “Get in front of her face, Steve. Our naughty girl said she wants a taste, so let her have it…” while he spread your thighs wide apart, his mouth eagerly meeting your pussy again and sucking out the cum dripping out of your cunt.
You moan from the pleasure Bucky provides you, but you stay composed to take care of the other big man beside you.
Steve helps you gain easy access as he spreads his ass cheeks apart, anticipation written all over his face as you inch closer to his hole, your nose nudging against his balls in the process while your tongue makes its way. He groans when he feels you licking around his rim where Bucky’s cum is dripping out, and he shivers when you hum against his sensitive skin from savoring the taste.
“Ahh…that’s it…” Steve speaks through a low rumble and he spreads his legs wider as you get closer to him. “Oohh, I’m so in love with you…”
You snicker as you tease him with your tongue techniques, but as you feel Bucky forcing his own wet muscle inside of you, you begin to crumble yourself. “J-James…”
Bucky coos at your whine, assuming you’re feeling overwhelmed. “It’s okay, sweetheart…m’just cleaning your insides, that’s all…won’t leave ya overstimulated…”
“N-No, that’s not it…” you whine once more while shaking your head, “I want you inside of me.”
Bucky’s eyes widen as he feels his cock harden by this very plead, but he still restrains himself, “Are you sure? Doll, you just had Steve and he’s no bigger than me…besides, I’m not sure I’d be able to hold back…”
“I don’t care.” You say, biting your lip at how needy you make yourself sound, but you’re desperate. “I need your cock…please, I need you to fuck me before we call it a night.”
Bucky glances at Steve who has a growing smirk on his face, “I think you should give our doll what she wants, Buck. You don’t want to deny her when she’s begging so nicely, do you?”
Bucky hums in thought before he shakes his head, “no…I don’t.” He rises up above you as he strokes his shaft, his cock pulsing with anticipation. “Turn around, sweetheart. I’m taking you doggy style.”
You grin seductively and do as he says, raising your ass up. A moan leaves your lips as you feel Bucky’s cool metal arm wrap around you while he uses his other hand to guide his cock to your heat.
“Fuck, I’ve been waiting for this for so long, doll…I’m going to savor every moment of taking this cunt…”
You mewl as Bucky takes a hold of your hips almost possessively while he guides for your bodies to meet. His tip intrudes against your entrance as he pushes forward, and before you know it, his whole length seeps in, making you cry out in pleasure.
Steve kneels in front of you as he takes in Bucky picking up a rhythm, his thrusts quickly going from gentle to desperate. He then turns his gaze at you and notices you’re looking up at him directly, as if you’re pleading for something. Steve caresses your chin with a smirk growing on his face, and he gives you what you want as he inches himself closer, his cock stiffening again when your lips meets it.
The room becomes filled with filthy moans, grunts and curses for the next moments as they engage in the spitroast.
“O-One thing for sure…I’m never gonna be needing that pussy pocket ever again.” Bucky breaks the silence from behind you as he stutters his hips desperately into you. You moan as it dawns over you what he was implying. They had fantasized about you before.
“Yeah, we won’t have to…you’re such a good girl for taking care of us…so, so proud of you…” Steve murmurs his praises as he takes in the sight of you sucking his balls before licking your way up to his tip again where you continue sucking him off.
Bucky clenches his teeth as he realizes he’s far too gone to hold it any longer, and he announces through a weakened whisper, “I’m about to bust…”
“Right behind you…want to be fed with my cum, doll?” Steve asks, his breath now shortening.
Your head bobs, giving an eager ‘yes’ as you swallow him inside your mouth some more. Steve guides you to take more of his cock down your throat, his hips bucking forward with neediness while he reaches his own climax.
Bucky fills you to the brim with a final thrust, emptying himself as he throws his head back. “Ah fuck!!” The senation Bucky provides makes your orgasm crash over you, having you quivering underneath him.
You roll your eyes to the back of your head as Steve’s cum spurts down your throat, what feels like buckets. You pull your mouth off of him and gasp for air as you swipe your tongue around your lips, gathering any drop that managed to escape. Steve leans down onto the bed to cool down, his cock finally softening after what felt like hours of sex.
Bucky brings you carefully with him to lie down too, his cock slipping out of your pussy as he softens, allowing his cum to escape and drip down between your legs.
As you catch your breath, you can’t help but laugh a little, making the super soldiers perk down at you curiously.
“You guys cum a lot…and it’s what, your third orgasm? How is that even possible? Never met guys who can do that.” You share as you chuckle, amused.
“We’re enhanced, sweetheart…we’re supposed to be above average in several aspects. That includes going for several rounds without tapping out.” Steve explains as he sends a wink your way.
You giggle at that while they bring you closer between them, nuzzling against you as you go into a session of aftercare.
“This has to be the best sex I’ve had in a long time…” you sigh with satisfaction, “I don’t think I could ever get enough of this…” the men simply hum, agreeing with your thought.
“Trust me, there’ll be more of where that came from….plenty of it, every day if it’s what you desire.” Bucky speaks in a teasing tone as he steals a kiss from you, holding his gaze at you ever so lovingly.
Steve hums in agreement as he adds, “or, even if you would only want it once in a while, we will to our best abilities make you crave more and more each time we do it…” he leans in to take a passionate kiss from you too, not being able to help himself from joining the soft intimacy.
You express fondness by your smile alone as you look in between them, and when Bucky and Steve reach for each other above you for a final sweet kiss, you’re settled in for a good night sleep, the three of you feeling so closely connected like never before.
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N/A: This turned out incredibly filthy…so I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. 🤭
Hearts + Reblogs are incredibly appreciated! <3
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dameronology · 2 months
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we can't be friends (steve rogers)
summary: based on we can't be friends by ariana grande
warnings: angst, swearing
sorry for being absent for six months. even more sorry that this is what i came back with. enjoy!
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Being loved by Steve Rogers was like sunlight on a stormy day. Peaking through the clouds, encouraging you to come out of whatever shelter you'd chosen; letting you smell the fresh rain on the pavement as the light finally came through, taking back the water until next time. It was warm on your skin, right through to your bones and your heart and to your very soul. You could have basked in it forever.
The mornings were your favourite, waking up to golden alabaster skin, carved into his muscles. They were slightly scarred, with jagged pink marks of stab wounds and bullet skims and far too many near misses for you to be comfortable. Of course, he healed faster than most but when you were as trigger happy as Steve Rogers was, barely a mission went by when he didn't come home with some minor wound or another. Still, him being there was the most important part. He'd let out a sleepy little yawn and subconsciously roll over to hold you, taking him in his arms and pulling you to his chest. That was where you felt safest.
No matter how busy he was or how demanding work became, Steve always showed up. Flowers waiting for you on the counter after a bad day; ordering take out when you were ill and always making sure your favourite show was recorded on the DVR. You never even had to ask. He'd buy you new roses before your old ones had even began to wilt; had your busiest work days recorded in your phone calendar so that he could step up, even when his own job was pulling him across the country. That was the thing about Steve Rogers: he always showed up.
Until he didn't.
Being loved by Steve Rogers was like sunlight on a rainy day, but waiting for him to love you back was a never-ending storm. Rain pelting down, hammering onto your clothes and seeping through to your skin and your bones and eventually drowning your heart. There was no dry escape. No shelter to hide from the rain. You always felt it - the wet, the cold, the shivering - no matter how hard you tried to escape. There was no getaway from the realisation that he no longer loved you back, or from the 19 miscalled waiting on his phone, or from the dead roses wilted on your kitchen windowsill.
Long conversations about your future had turned into silent, screaming pauses. The arguments felt pointless. You could only beat a dead horse so many times before you realised it wasn't coming back to life.
You sat on opposite ends of the sofa now. Slept on different sides of the bed. Watched your favourite show in silence whilst he tapped away at his laptop, barely even bothered by your presence. He'd sat too a high standard for himself. It was one he couldn't keep, but even the bare minimum was a golden standard compared to what he was giving you these days.
"I'm done."
You'd surprised yourself more than anyone with the words. Steve had come home from work late again. The fourth time that week, twelfth time that month and countless times overall. You'd made dinner. It was cold now, like the stony expression on his face and the watery one on yours.
"What?"
Steve glanced up from his phone, brow furrowed.
"I'm done," you said.
"With what?"
You sighed deeply, regathering yourself for a moment. Pushed down the lump in your throat, shoulders raised to try and show whatever tatters of your pride you had left.
"I'm leaving you," you said. "I can't...I don't want to sit around and wait for you to love me again."
Steve put his phone down, pausing for a moment. It looked like he was going to say something...maybe anything. Even though your mind was made up, part of you wanted him to beg. To get on his knees, take your hands and plead for your heart back. God knows that this time a year ago, he would have pleaded with you in person and with writing in the sky.
Instead, he just sniffed.
He sniffed, and you left. Keys to your shared apartment thrown into the dish on the side, never to be taken again. At least the Lego heart keys chain you had together would be together again - you know, when he was actually home.
Whatever time you had previously put into your relationship, you now put into yourself. Found a nice little loft on the other side of the river - it felt like the wrong side, but everything felt wrong without him - and decorated it with everything but photos of you together. There was a nice rug, and a beautiful sofa, and your marble counters were a nice welcome home.
Still, the bed felt cold. Not as cold as it had when he'd lovelessly laid beside you, but still. Cold. It felt strange only having one tooth brush in the holder, and only one bottle of shower gel on the edge of your bath. The toilet seat was always down now (Steve had had only one flaw, and that was it) and you always tripped over the shoes that you left by the door because he no longer tidied them away.
It felt like half your heart was missing, but eventually it grew back.
You forgot about Steve, and the Avengers, and that entire world until Natasha Romanoff texted you. It had been six months since your break-up by that point, and even though you missed them all dearly, it had been natural for Steve to get them in the break-up. You had your friends. He had his. But, it was nice that Natasha still thought of you.
Hey, hope you're doing well. I'm having my birthday party next week at my apartment. 7pm, same building as always. It would be nice if you came. Steve may or may not be but he's been annoying lately so I'd rather have you. Let me know <3
At first, it had been an immediate no. Then you thought about it some more, and it was a definitive no. Then, you found yourself calling Nat and talking for three hours straight.
Apparently Morgan was in her One Direction era, and had thrown an hour long tantrum when she found out they weren't together anymore. Pepper and Tony had tried to pay for a reunion, but they weren't interested. Bruce was doing an assignment in France and Clint and his family had moved a little closer to the city. Sam and Bucky were still working for the government and naturally, that had brought Natasha onto the subject of Steve.
Doing better. That's what she said. Apparently he wasn't working as late anymore and he'd cut down his hours. He was going to therapy, drinking less and working out more. She'd lingered on the last sentence, but ended it with he's more like your Steve again.
That made you want to go to the party even less, and yet the following weekend you found yourself stood outside Natasha's high-rise apartment building at 7:35PM. You'd put more effort into your appearance than usual; a more expensive fragrance, spent a little longer on your hair and worn the outfit Steve had always thought you looked best in. Maybe it was a calculated move, but you'd never been all that good at maths.
Your entrance was met with four or five hugs. Natasha looked amazing as ever, and Bucky was brighter now. Tony was elated to see you and you didn't ask about Pepper's little baby bump, but you could see it was there. Your mind was kept too occupied by all them to even think about Steve.
That - naturally - all came crashing down when you saw him across the room. He was leant against a pillar, hair longer now but fluffed up and a 5 o'clock shadow gathered on his chin. Not like the man with long hair and a beard that you'd left, but not quite the squeaky clean looking Steve you'd fallen in love with either. Still though, it was closer. He was showing through the cracks.
The question of whether or not you would approach him answered itself, because you blinked and suddenly he was stood in front of you.
"I owe you an apology."
Straight to the fucking chase.
You faltered slightly, but didn't let it show. "Yeah, I think you do."
Steve glanced around you at all your friends - naturally, they were all staring at you. They might have been superheroes but that didn't stop them being nosey fuckers.
"Let's go to the roof," he said. "I mean...if you want. You don't owe me anything."
You nodded your head. "Let's go to the roof."
The climb up the stairs to Natasha's terrace was awkward, but not as bad as the silence that quickly filled the cold air as soon as you got up there. Steve might have been one of the bravest men you'd ever met, but vulnerability scared the shit out of him. You suspected that was the case now.
"So?" you asked. "What could you possibly have to say?"
"I'll only say that I'm sorry once," Steve began. "So: I'm sorry. For pushing you out, for not trying, for letting work consume me. Even more for the fact I didn't even try to stop you leaving, because as soon as you shut the door, all I wanted to do was run after you, but I'm not stupid. I knew your mind was made up."
"Where are you going with this?"
"You leaving was like a bucket of cold water," he continued. "It made me realise a lot of things - about how much I'd left myself go, mostly. I've stopped drinking and started going to therapy, and I have my work hours capped."
You smiled. "Well done, Steve. That's really great."
"I'm better now. Not fully, but...I'm getting there," Steve replied. "I asked Natasha to invite you tonight. She wanted to anyways but it was sort of my idea."
"Why?"
"So I could apologise, but mostly because I want you back in my life," he explained. "As friends, as something more. Hell, I'll take you as my enemy if it means I get to see you again."
You sighed, eyes falling to the ground. What could you even say to that? Enemies sounded pretty good - and definitely well deserved - but you didn't hate Steve. You'd moved on, but that didn't mean you'd lost all capability to love him.
"How do I know you won't do it again?" you asked.
"You don't," he replied. "I don't know that either, but what if it doesn't happen again? What if...what if things were really good?"
You glanced away, eyes staring at the distant Manhattan skyline for a moment. It glittered and glimmered, mostly rebuilt after the 2012 incident. You could see Stark Tower as well. Steve had told you he loved you for the first time on that roof top. Now, here he was, begging for you back on another.
"Friends," you muttered. "We can be friends. I don't know after that. I've waited six fucking months for you to decide that you love me again-"
" - I never stopped -"
" - not the point, Steve!" you cut him off. "We'll start with friends, then go from there."
"I'll wait ten years if I have to," he said. His smile suggested he was joking, but you knew he wasn't.
With that, Steve pulled you into a hug. In your soul, you knew you couldn't be friends. Enemies was worst but strangers was horrible too. The answer was inevitable, but you just had to make him wait a little while.
maybe a part 2?
298 notes · View notes
badgerbl00d · 1 year
Note
omg can ypu write something with one bed trope with shanks, rayleigh, rosinante/corazon and (if you’re comfortable writing him) maybe doffy?
I’d love if it could be like mutual pining ish and not established relationships 🫶
i don’t have a preference for how it’s written (like headcanons, blurbs etc) so just however you like it! i love to read the things you write 🤩
only one bed trope with the one piece boys
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☆ characters: shanks, roger, benn, rayleigh
☆ up next: taking an aphrodisiac with them and seeing who gives in first w/ one piece boys
☆ a/n: absolutely loved this request! i'm still on marineford so i'm not super familiar with cora and doffy, but i promise i'll make up for their absence in this fic in the future ;3. enjoy!
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shanks
It was a calm day at sea, with steady winds and vibrant sunlight.
Being a Red-Haired pirate meant drinking, and fighting, and a lot of playing cards, and more drinking.
As time passed you’d grown somewhat envious of crews with women on them. You longed to spend your idle time with other women, painting your nails, gossiping, even just spending time together. 
Your crewmates tried as best they could, but there was only so much hair braiding grown men could tolerate. 
Shanks, out of all of them, was the most eager to help you feel more at home. He let you paint his nails- though you were limited to red and black polish. He let you teach him how to make sugar scrubs, and even sometimes, if he wanted to “relax and rejuvenate” himself, he’d do facemasks with you.
You’d always thought he was handsome, even before you’d joined the crew. And had more than once found yourself staring at his wanted posters. But to be on the seas with him was an entirely different experience. The friendship that accompanied piracy was unexpected, but an unbelievably close bond. 
You felt the same about all your crewmates, they were family and you knew you’d readily die for them. But you didn’t get the same butterflied around all of them that you got around Shanks.
When it was late at night and you were still outside completely unaware of the dropping temperatures and waning moonlight, he’d find himself making his way out of his cabin to find you and lead you back to bed, offering to braid your hair the way you taught him.
More often than not, you’d accept his offer, soaking in how gently he took your hair into his hands, his knuckles softly grazing the back of your neck. 
You’d been lounging outside on the deck where the sun shone brightest, taking advantage of the unusually pleasant weather.
 You laid out on a towel, the sun bathing you in that kind of pleasantly ebbing heat that makes you feel like it was coming from within. 
You could feel your skin tanning, glowing, and glistening as the ship gently rocked back and forth. 
Your bikini was tiny, a necessary measure to ensure that you got evenly bronzed, and you’d happily sauntered past your crewmates, unbothered by their playful whistles and cheers as you walked past them toward your spot. 
After a peaceful fifteen minutes of sunbathing, you were joined by your captain.
“Mind if I tan with you?”
“Not at all, Captain.”
Shanks smiled, you knew he liked when you called him that. 
He laid down next to you, your arms grazing one another. 
You felt yourself dozing off, before a loud bang! woke you up.
You and Shanks both shot up, running toward the source of the sound, along with the rest of the crew. 
A plug had gotten shot out of the hull of the ship and water had started flooding it. 
Fuck, you thought, my room’s gonna flood.
Shanks and Benn barked commands at the crew and you all started working towards plugging the source of the flooding. 
You were limited in your ability to help, given that you were still in a bikini and knew a lot less than your crewmates about plugging holes. 
Shanks laughed as you got soaked by the water and by the time the problem was solved, he was out of breath. 
You made your way back up to where you’d been, hoping to have caught some more sun before having to face your definitely flooded room. When you were greeted with the warm orange and purple hues of sunset, you headed to the kitchen for a beer. 
You sat on the counter and turned when a slight knock on the wall beckoned your attention.
“Hey, Shanks.”
“So,” he started, not wanting to upset you, “Your room got-”
“Flooded. Yeah, I figured.”
You sighed, there was nothing of significant importance in there, and you knew you could buy new things, but it was going to be a pain in the ass.
“Thanks for confirming, though. I’ll go and buy new stuff next time we dock. The lack of a bed kind of sucks though,” you polished off the beer in your hand. 
“Sleep with me,” he said.
“Ha. ha.” 
“What? I’m being serious!”
You paused to consider it. 
“Shanks, c’mon. I’ll take a bunk in the men’s quarters.”
“Not sure that’s any better.”
You laughed, “It’s definitely not.”
He got up and extended a hand toward you, which, after a moment of hesitation, you took. 
“You don’t even need to grab anything, I have a bunch of extra shirts.”
“And an extra toothbrush?”
He smiled at you, “We can share that too.”
“Ugh, gross.”
You waited until you were really tired to actually make your way over to his bedroom, hesitating before you finally knocked on the door. 
He opened it, and it was clear he’d made his best attempt to clean up his room for you. 
You sat on the poorly made bed and told him his room looked nice. 
“Good enough to sleep in?”
“Perfect.”
He smiled with pride. It was sort of adorable. 
He sat on the other edge of the bed, unexpectedly awkwardly. 
You decided to lay down and make yourself comfortable, you pulled the covers over yourself.
“Very soft,” you noted.
He lightly laughed and followed in suit, situating himself under the covers. 
You had your backs to one another- it felt too foreign like you didn’t know one another. 
You flipped over, “Shanks turn around.”
He happily obliged, turning with a goofy smile plastered on his face.
Reaching down, he pulled the covers up to cover your arms and the two of you talked about anything and everything. 
Neither of you remembered falling asleep. 
You woke up later than usual the next morning, the sun was already high and beaming through the Captain’s window. The soft duvet that covered you seemed as though it was trying to keep you in bed, and it had the generous aid of Shanks, who had a strong arm wrapped around your waist, pulling you closer to him. 
He was still asleep, it seemed, and was breathing gently. 
You should’ve been up hours ago to get all your chores and work done…  but you had a feeling that the Captain might let you off the hook this one time.
Sleep started to weigh down your eyelids again, and you let it wash over you, snuggling back into Shanks’ chest. You fell asleep quickly, but not before feeling him press a soft kiss 
to the back of your head. 
roger
The warm bath water, full of bubbles and essential oils, soaked into your skin, slowly sloshing back and forth and back and forth along with the steady lull of the ship.
The few moments you got to yourself were always cherished. They were rare, and when they did happen you always felt anxious, but you finally felt as though you could relax. 
You dipped your head below the water a few times, letting your hair soak, braiding it over your shoulder as you closed your eyes and let yourself let go of all the anxieties, and worries, and stresses that came with being a Roger pirate. 
The dim warmth from the candles paired perfectly with the bit of moonlight that made its way through the bathroom window.
And, like clockwork, when you’d allowed yourself to indulge in the moment and started to finally relax;
Knock. Knock.
You sat up, sighing.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
“Come in,” you arranged the bubbled around yourself as the door opened.
Roger walked his head in, and just as quickly covered his eyes when he saw you in the bath.
“Sorry, Y/n,” he laughed, “Didn’t know you were taking a bath!”
“Right. Because that definitely isn’t what bath-rooms are for.”
He sheepishly tugged at the collar of his shirt, his hand still resting on his face.
“So…” he started, clearly guilty of something.
“Just tell me what happened.”
“Right. Right, well, you see, Rayleigh and I thought we might work on getting the boys to bond a bit more.. Since they fight so much.”
You sat in the tub, watching as he struggled to tell you why he really interrupted your alone time, not saying anything.
“Companionship is the most important thing for good pirates. Establishing connections. There is no better greatness than being loved, than having a partner, someone to rely on. And well, the boys are so young and they bicker so much and fight day in and day out, and so we figured we’d try and start patching that up while they’re still just kids-”
“The point, Roger?”
“Yes-” he stumbled over his words, “Yes- the point. Alright, so Rayleigh suggests a friendly game of catch, seeing as they were in good spirits and they agreed and so we started, just with simple baseballs at first.”
He slowly took his hand off his eyes and searched your face for some kind of expression, anything.
You gave him nothing, but your impatience was evident.
He cleared his throat, “And the boys seemed to enjoy it so I- so we suggested using something more challenging and… R-rayleigh found a bowling ball.”
You’d tried to keep a completely neutral expression, to keep him on edge. But at this, your eyebrows failed you and furrowed. 
Still, you said nothing.
“And Shanks- strong boy, very adept and- and promising.. He, well, unintentionally of course-”
“Roger.”
He nodded and swallowed hard. “He threw it through your window. There’s glass everywhere. It broke the bedframe, there’s a dent in your wall. It-it’s a mess. That they’re cleaning.”
You remained silent. Wordlessly you stood up, earning an uneasy laugh from your Captain as he debated whether or not to cover his eyes again. He chose not to.
You walked toward him, reached past his shoulder, your nose grazing the tip of his, and grabbed your towel. 
You dried yourself off and wrapped the towel around yourself.
“So where am I sleeping tonight?”
Roger smiled.
“No.”
“Would you rather sleep with Rayleigh? Or share a bed with the boys?”
You huffed. 
You’d decided to take the right side of the bed, since it was closer to the door and, as you had so eloquently put it, “Get the hell out of here” in the morning. 
Roger had laughed when you’d said that and despite your best efforts to stay upset you smiled at him. 
The two of you lay down on your backs, facing the ceiling. 
“Comfortable?” he asked. “No.”
He shifted and brought two arms around your waist pulling you into him.
Your cheeks turned a violent shade of pink, you didn’t like not being in control.
“Roger!”
“Nuh-uh,” he said, “Captain’s orders.”
You sighed but obliged, letting him spoon you. 
His arms were strong and you could feel the muscles of his chest through the thin t-shirt he wore. 
“You’re hugging too tight!”
He relented, albeit slightly.
You pushed his arms out and crawled on top of him, laying down on his chest, resting your head on your hand which was propped up by your elbow.
He laced his hands together and brought his arms up behind his head, laying on the pillow and looking at you.
You liked this more, you were on top.
“Better?” he asked.
You nodded. 
“Do you ever worry about those two?”
He smiled one of his signature smiles at you, “No.”
You pinched his chest.
“Ok! Ok- yes,” he admitted, bringing a hand down to rub at the spot you pinched, “Christ, woman.”
You ignored him, “So do I. But it’s only because I know they’ll both be great. In one way or another.”
“Or another,” he laughed.
You woke up in the middle of the night, your arms wrapped around your Captain’s neck, head on his chest. His arms were around your waist and he was out cold, lightly snoring. 
You smiled and pressed kisses wherever you could reach.
In the morning, your anger would return and you’d give both him and the boys an earful. Rayleigh, too, if he wasn’t smart enough to wait out your temper. 
But for now? 
You’d sleep. 
When Roger woke up the next morning your side of his bed was empty. He groggily sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
When was the last time I slept that well? he thought to himself.
There was more sunlight entering his room than usual and he turned toward the source of it.
There, right in the center of his wall was a gaping hole, perfectly round. 
On the floor beneath it was a bowling ball. 
He stood up, contemplating the mess in his room. He looked through the whole to find you barking at Shanks and Buggy to continue mopping the floors. You had a ruler in your hands and Buggy was rubbing the back of his head. 
He laughed, loudly. 
‘I think I’m in love,’ he thought, before going out to join you in yelling at the two. 
benn
“I’d like to apologize in advance,” Shanks announced to the crew, earning several groans in return.
“Yes, yes,” he continued, “Well, as it would happen, I miscounted. Two people are going to have to share a bed.”
This time the crew responded with some cheers and whoops, and you heard more than one person mention your name. 
You sighed.
Hopefully, it was Lucky and Yasopp. They probably shared their bed anyway.
“To decide fairly, Benny here suggested we draw straws.”
More groans from the crew.
“Tough crowd,” Benn mused. 
Shanks held up a plastic cup with a bunch of wooden sticks in it like a child at an arts and crafts fair. 
He shuffled them around before drawing two. 
The air was hilariously tense. 
Who cares if they have to share a bed? you thought to yourself. 
“Benn! Haha!” he laughed, “And…. Y/n!”
The crew erupted into a cacophony of whoops and cheers. 
Your cheeks darkened and you nibbled at the inside of your cheek. 
Of course.
You made brief eye contact with Benn, who looked as cool and composed as ever. 
Noticed only by your Captain, was the slight blush that dusted his cheeks. 
The room was smaller than either of you had expected. 
And so was the bed. You’d have to practically be on top of each other. 
“I’m more than good on the floor, you take the bed. I only ask for a pillow.”
You gave him a look.
“I’m not gonna let you sleep on the floor Benn, and there’s only one pillow.”
You both sat in silence staring at the bed.
“I’m sure there’s a way… to work this out.”
You giggled, “In a 2-foot wide bed?”
Benn smiled. 
“It’s funny. We’d die for each other in battle but a bed is where things get awkward.”
“It’s only awkward ‘cause you’re so awkward.”
He looked down at you, a somewhat insulted expression resting on his face. 
“I’m fine sleeping with you!” 
He raised a brow.
“N-no! No! Not like that! I’d never- I just meant like…” you gestured broadly toward the bed
“You’d never, hm?”
“See what I meant about you making things awkward?”
He laughed.
Sitting on the bed made things less tense, you folded your legs, sat on your heels, and faced Benn who sat leaning against the wall with his legs hanging off the bed.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette, searching for a lighter. 
He came up empty-handed.
“I have one,” you said, reaching into the front pocket of your bag to grab your pink lighter.
“Cute,” he leaned forward, cigarette between his lips, lighting it. 
You flipped through some pages of a magazine as Benn read.
“Can I try it?”
“Be a little more specific, sweetheart.”
Your body warmed up at the nickname.
“Smoking.”
“Are you sure?”
You nodded eagerly, reaching for the cigarette that still resided between your vice-captain’s lips.
A large hand wrapped around your wrist before you could reach it. 
You blinked to look up at Benn, “Let me help.”
He took the cigarette from his lips and brought it to yours, which were already so obediently parted. 
You inhaled the smoke, your lips closing around the cigarette, gently brushing Beckman’s fingers. 
“Take it easy,” he said. 
You breathed in, tears pooling in the bottom of your eyes, and tried to hold it in, but found yourself stuck in a spasm of coughing. 
Benn laughed, and rubbed your back, before taking another puff himself. 
You scooted closer to him, emboldened by the burning heat in your lungs, and were practically on his lap.
“Let me try again,” you asked, “Guide me.”
“Okay.”
He held the cigarette to your lips, and you awaited instruction.
“Gently suck in the smoke- don’t inhale, just suck lightly.”
You obeyed, your lips softly closing around the soft paper, drawing in the smoke to the back of your throat.
“Good,” he praised, pulling the cig away from your lips, “Now hold it there for a moment, let it warm your mouth.”
You held it, turning to look up at him.
It took him a moment to find the words he was looking for, what with a majority of your ass on his lap, your hands resting on his chest, your eager doe eyes looking up at him- he was getting rather distracted.
“L-like that, yeah.”
“Mm-mmm?” What’s next?
He smiled, lightly laughing, “Now just inhale through your mouth as you normally would, but do it slowly.
Your lips formed a perfect ‘O’ as you inhaled the smoke, feeling a deeply satisfying burning sensation spreading through your lungs. 
Benn had opened the room’s main window earlier, and a cool breeze had found its way in. You got up, to Benn’s obvious disappointment, and closed it. 
This time when you sat back down, you inched yourself the rest of the way forward, making your way fully onto his lap. 
Maybe it was the smoke that had started filling the room or the fact that now you two were alone and touching there was no point in denying what you’d been feeling for one another, but this time, as he drew the cigarette from his mouth you leaned forward and placed your lips on his. 
His lips closed back around yours, slowly at first- not out of hesitation but indulgence. 
You felt his tongue lightly swipe your plump lower lip, teeth gently pressing down against it, and you released a staggered breath into his mouth.
Your heart was pounding against your chest as your mouth flooded with the flavors of tobacco and an unidentifiable clean taste, almost like lemon. 
His hands found the fat of your ass, and as he laid his back against the bedrest, now fully taking up the bed, he lifted you up so you were fully on his lap, your thighs straddling his hips. 
A strong arm trailed up your back, resting his hand against the base of your neck, gently pulling backward to give him access to your throat. 
He placed hot, open-mouthed kisses to your neck, his tongue swiping over every place he kissed. It made you incredibly sensitive and you started to softly squirm in his grip, moaning his name between kisses, holding half-lidded eye contact as strings of saliva connected your mouths. 
You didn’t sleep much, despite Benn’s sincere efforts to get you both to bed.  The last thing you vividly recalled before sleep outweighed your desire for more of him was how overwhelmingly sweet and sensitive his touch was on your body- how softly he handled you. His strong arms massaging your back and palming your tits. 
The next morning you both awoke to a violent knocking on your door.
“Vice Captain! The Captain is requesting your presence, immediately!”
You groaned as you slowly opened your eyes, the idea of leaving the intoxicating warmth of your bed making your head hurt. 
To your delight, Benn simply wrapped his arms tighter around you and flipped you both over to face away from the door. 
“Tell him to fuck off! I’m busy!”
You giggled, knowing that the crew would put two and two together. 
For a moment you worried about how they’d react- was this something that could potentially be dangerous? 
As though reading your thoughts Benn gave you another reassuring hug, his hands finding your boobs, lightly squeezing them. 
“Worry about it later, Sweetheart.”
And just like that, you fell back asleep. 
rayleigh
“Tired already?” Rayleigh teased, handing you the beer you’d sent him to grab.
“It’s ten past three, I should’ve been in bed hours ago.”
He laughed, rubbing your back.
“I figured you’d have gotten used to the late nights after a good expedition.”
You shrugged, “I guess, but I’m never more tired than when we’re done with an ‘expedition’.”
He smiled at your air quotes around his term. 
You popped open the can of beer he’d handed you and took a few big sips. 
The moon was full and the clear sky ahead meant perfect travel conditions for when the crew set sail tomorrow morning. 
The salty air smelled like home, and you took a few deep breaths. 
It was chilly out, but the fire in front of you more than made up for it, and you felt warm inside from the several beers you’d downed. 
The ship was still full of life, but it was now concentrated into small groups of partiers that were somehow still awake. 
Your captain was, of course, one of the main contributors.
You leant against Rayleigh as the both of you watched him and laughed. 
Your vision slowly blurred as you closed your eyes. 
A not-so-gentle tap on your shoulder woke you up. You blinked your eyes open, suddenly aware of how cold it was. 
A pair of strong arms were wrapped around your body, carrying you bridal style.
“What the hell?”
“Calm down,” Rayleigh replied, “You fell asleep and I figured I’d bring you to your room but it’s- uh, occupied.”
“What does that mean?”
You jumped out of Rayleigh’s arms and peeked into your room to see what was going on.
Shanks and Buggy were passed out on your bed, several alcohol bottles littering the floor. They were sleeping back to back like a pair of milk-drunk kittens. 
“I don’t wanna move them,” Rayleigh explained, “Or they won’t sleep for a week- what with all that alcohol in their system.”
You hated to agree but the two boys were energy houses if you’d ever seen one, it was best to let them sleep when they slept. 
“Okay, I’ll take one of their bunks then. Not ideal but if it keeps them out of the way…”
You walked into the room to grab your toothbrush and makeup remover and slipped past your vice-captain to head toward the men’s barracks. 
“Y/n, sweetheart,” he called out to you, “Hold on a sec, will ya?”
You turned, “Rayleigh, I’m tired and I haven’t showered yet- what do you want?”
He walked toward you, approaching you with his typical confidence, standing in front of you so as to block your path. 
“Why don’t you spend the night in my room, hm?”
You rolled your eyes, and pushed him to the side, too tired to entertain him. 
He grabbed your wrists as you tried to walk away, pulling you into his chest.
He stood you still, wrist still in hand, and bent down to talk in your ear, and for some reason you let him. 
“I’d like to use this opportunity to remind you that my room has its own private shower.”
You sighed.
“And a bath.”
Private bathroom… clean sheets…. Rayleigh. You thought about it for a second.  
“Okay, fine but only this once.”
His room was bigger than expected. You had half a mind to chew him out for living like this while half the crew was stuck sharing bathrooms and beds, but you supposed that was one of the perks of being vice-captain.
“What do you think?”
He winked at you.
“It’ll do, I guess. Where’s the shower?”
He laughed, and despite your best efforts to not inflate his ego, you also smiled.
He pointed toward the bathroom and you entered.
You stepped out of the shower and looked for a towel, failing to find one.
Fuck. 
“Rayleigh! Where are your towels?”
“Top drawer, sweetheart!”
Double fuck. 
You inhaled, “Rayleigh?”
“Hm?”
“I can’t… reach.”
You could practically hear the infuriating smile spreading over his face.
“Coming,” he said, his voice had a slight lilt to it. 
He knocked before he entered and you covered yourself as best you could. Not like he hadn’t seen this much before, right? You’d worn bikinis on board. 
Wrong. He walked in and was struggling to keep his eyes off of you, a light blush spreading across his cheeks.
This made you feel good- great, even. To have Silvers Rayleigh blushing at the sight of you? Scoundrel or not, you’d take it. 
He grabbed you a towel and eagerly turned around to hand it to you. 
“You know you’re gonna have to remove at least one hand to grab it right?”
“Which would you like me to remove?”
He seemed slightly taken aback at your sudden reciprocation of energy. 
“Surprise me.”
He looked down at you with an intensity that you almost recognized- but this was different. You’d seen how he looked at enemies, at pirates and warlords he was planning on killing, but this? This was full of desire and lust.
Surprise me, his words echoed in your head. 
He was so irritatingly arrogant. So self assured. You figured a lesson might be useful. 
Before he could register what was happening you landed a heavy slap to his face, and wrapped the towel around yourself.
He held his cheek in shock, watching you walk out.
“Pervert.”
You got into his bed, not bothering to put on any clothes. 
Extremely aware of his hawk-like watch on you, you sat up in bed and peeled the towel off. You faced away from him, to ensure he wouldn’t get the satisfaction of seeing anything. 
You slipped under the covers and turned off the lamp at your bedside. 
Within seconds you felt Rayleigh crawling into bed, wrapping an arm around your waist and pressing kisses to your neck.
“Pretty as you are, you give me a headache, you know that?”
“I know.”
Another kiss to your neck. 
He trailed a hand up and down your arm, lulling you to sleep. 
Yawning, you felt sleep start to settle into your body, feeling as though gravity was pulling you down further into the mattress. 
“This won’t happen again, Ray.”
“I know.”
Three weeks later, you woke up in your Vice Captain’s bedroom for the ninth time since that night. 
His hands were tangled on and around you and he was snoring loudly. 
You turned to face him, his arms stayed wrapped around you. 
“G’morning,” he yawned, “Sleep good?”
You kissed him, and then kissed him again, and again. 
“I did.”
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wood-white-writer · 26 days
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“Didn’t mean to make your heart Blue” ||[10/…]
— OPLA! Buggy x F!Reader
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"You're the one, You're all I ever wanted. I think I'll regret this."
— Mitski, "Your Best American Girl"
Pairing: Buggy the Clown (live action) x F!Reader
Parts: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9
Summary: You were an apprentice of Gol D. Roger’s crew in your youth, long before his eventual demise. Along with the Red-Haired Shanks and Buggy, you were a formidable trio; the embodiment of a new generation of pirates yet to come. But times changed, and so did you and your friends.
The past echoes behind you, as does the uncertain future that lies ahead. Where you go from this point on, you'll have to be quick about making your decision. There is unrest in the waters, and not everyone knows how to swim.
Warnings: fem!reader, LA!Verse, slight canon divergence, morally grey reader, mentions of violence and blood, Buggy being a simp, flashbacks
A/N: .... Half a year later, and an update. As I've mentioned several times already, I'm sorry for the delay. A lot of things have happened these past couple of months, work has been hella hectic, and I'm moving into a house next month. This chapter is not too long, but I hope it'll do until the finale. If you notice any grammar mistakes, no you didn't.
It's tough to have so much love in your heart but nowhere to put it. It festers in your body, churning until it sours and rots into something unspeakably ugly.
You try not to remember, but sometimes your mind possesses a will of its own; sadistic in nature, taunting you with images of events you wish would leave you be. 
You recall that day. You see images of it flash through the synapses in your brain on more than a few occasions; twisting and knotting until they form an enlarged image of what you have dubbed the day you were acquainted with true pain.
It was a rainy day, not even a month after Rogers departed from the world of the living. The winds were picking up, the ship was rocking like she intended to knock you off balance and leave you at the mercy of the waves. 
Even still, you refused to let go.
The tension between Shanks and Buggy was palpable through your fingertips for a while by then, the reasons behind which were entirely unknown to you. The way they looked at each other was vehemently acrimonious, yet you had no clue as to what had detonated this rift. 
Maybe you didn’t want to think about it?
Maybe you were so desperately naive as to believe that things would stay the same, even when it was plain to see that they wouldn’t.
Buggy and Shanks had always been … at odds with one another, but never in a way that struck you strange before. They were simply like that, for as long as you’d known them. Their rivalry was benevolent in nature, just boys being boys, pirates being pirates.
Not that day.
You had been talking to Shanks on deck, moments before it happened. The subject of your conversation has long since evaded your memory, but that’s all you did. Conversing.
Then, Buggy was there, only that he wasn’t there either. There was something different about the bright blue eyes you used to hold in such high regard. They were cold, inexplicably hostile. 
Foul.
There was rage in his irises, and that had been beyond the kind you were acquainted with. It was scorching, tenfold sharper than the kind you received from your foes. 
Only that he wasn’t one of your foes.
It was Buggy.
Your Buggy.
And you were on the receiving end.
“You’re going with him, aren’t you?!” He demanded in such a way that you felt like it wasn’t him at all. An impostor.
Whether it was the surprise or the shock that ensnared you, you didn’t answer at first.
“ANSWER ME, DAMNIT!”
“Buggy…” your voice was hushed, scarcely making your vocal cords vibrate with each syllable. “What are you—?”
“I saw it, so don’t bother denying it!” 
He stomped over to you, and it felt like the planks beneath his feet were about to break. “Just tell me! Tell me that’s what you’re going to do! Just get it over with!”
You tried to reach for him, intertwine his fingers with your own; a safety line amidst a storm. He never rejected the gesture before, but when your digits fell upon his soft skin, he yanked them off like your touch was molten lava.
His limbs were quivering, hands knotted to fists, burning with heat yet trembling with cold at the same time.
Then, he said three words. 
Three words that would come to haunt you for the next two decades to come.
“I hate you,” he snarled. “I wish we’d never even met. Be with him if that’s what you fucking want! What do I care?”
“Buggy—“
For a moment, you didn’t know how to breathe. 
How to blink. 
How to feel. 
You had been stabbed before. Burnt. Slapped. Stabbed. Whipped. Tortured. 
Long before Rogers brought you with him, you thought yourself well-acquainted with all the pain the world could provide. It marred your bones, painted your flesh, scarred your skin. The indents still stained your arms and legs, your face, yet nothing could compare to the agony that followed Buggy’s words.
Your heart felt hollow; submerged in neck-deep waters with no bottom in sight.
“Buggy,” the corners of your eyes were stinging, yet you could not recall if you were crying or not. The feeling was a foreign one, so much so that you had no way of recognizing the sensation. 
He left after that; turned his back and walked away, and it was the last time you ever saw him in the flesh.
The next couple of years following that incident were blurry, you can’t remember much of it. It was as though your brain decided to dismiss those memories in an act of self-preservation.
You remember staying with Shanks for a time, whether loyalty or self-preservation, it didn’t matter. You stayed until just the mere sight of him rendered your guts to stones. 
You had no reason to resent him. He was good, among the best, but he could not provide a cure for your affliction, so you decided to leave the Red-Haired Pirates.
Shanks never begrudged you.
After parting ways with him, it didn’t take you long enough to establish a crew of your own, and a name. “Cross-Hairs”, the moniker you replaced with your real one. It’s been so long since anyone acknowledged your actual one, it’s as if it never existed. 
Some people saw a strong woman with enough broken bones on her record to know she would ensure their survival just as much as she could guarantee their demise, yet they still placed their bets on it.
Thus, the Cross-Haired Pirates came to fruition. Escaped convicts, thieves, general rogues, but efficient people in their own rights.
They feared you as much as they respected you. Your crew was among the most loyal people you’ve ever met. 
If you told them to bark, they’d bite. 
If you commanded them to kill, they’d do so without question, but they’d still leave their lives in your hands. They were your pack of loyal hounds, but you were a wolf in their ranks. Your say was the last of theirs.
You don’t regret letting them go. You had nothing more to offer them after you’d found a reason to stay in Foosha Village. Whatever violence remained in the world; they could find it in your absence. 
Some of them chose to disagree with your decision, demand that you remain their Captain; their checks would never run empty, but they were silenced quickly enough with the swing of your blade.
You’re not proud of the person you were, yet you could credit your survival to her. 
Blood, bones, tears, and pain, it never mattered to you, yet it granted you a superior seat on the food chain.
You became the beast haunting everyone’s dreams. The shadow in their path.
Even so, the pain of other people could not relinquish your own. 
You burned every day and every second for twenty years, so you turned the world to ashes in kind.
———
Long ago, Cabaji found his captain on deck one night with a bottle nursed against his sternum, his back against the railing, and his knee propped up to rest his head on. He was drunk, and although it wasn’t an unusual occurrence on its own, it was still unnerving.
“Captain, you alright?”
“‘m fine,” Buggy answered tightly, lolling his head back and forth. It was dark outside, no moon, yet the first mate could spot the redness across the Captain’s cheeks. “What t- time is it?”
“Just past midnight.” Cabaji frowned at the pathetic display, and with some hesitance, crouched down so he could put a finger on the clown’s forehead. Holy shit, what a fever. “Captain… You’re burning.”
“Burning?!” Buggy wheezed, as if he’d been told the world’s funniest joke. He threw his arm out, bottle raised high, and repeated: “Burning? Oh, that’s just great! I never took you for a jester, Cabaji! That title’s usually reserved for yours flashy truly! You tryin’ to upstage your captain or something?”
“No, Captain.” His right-hand man lightly put his fingers on the clown’s forehead again, mindful of not letting them linger lest he wanted to lose them. “You’re seriously burning up. How long have you been out here?”
“Five minutes, an hour, fuck, twenty years perhaps!” Buggy took another sip of the half-empty bottle in his hold. He couldn’t tell what it was, but it did wonders for his mind. His troubled, asymmetrical library of a brain whose caretaker had long since abandoned their charge.
The jester leaned the back of his head against the hard surface of the railings, tipping the bottle carelessly to the side so that its content could spill onto the wooden floor without any concern. It stained his pants; he'd reek for days, but there was no urgency in ridding himself of the splotch. “How can I burn when there is no sun out, Cabaji? Answer me that.”
“I don’t understand… it’s the middle of the night, the sun will be back tomorrow.”
“MEH! WRONG!” He continued to laugh with no sense of humor. No joy. No nothing. Just hollow breaths meant to mimic his trademark sound. With no short amount of effort on his part, he almost tripped himself trying to get up to his feet. 
His next words almost struck the first mate as … hollow somehow.
“The sun stopped shining long ago.”
———
You can’t sleep, but it has nothing to do with the added weight on your abdomen. 
Buggy, even with his entity body stripped from him, feels heavy and sleeps soundly, and he snores. You can't help but marvel at the view, mindful of your movements as you do. 
He looks to be at peace, completely so. Content. You'd think that he'd be a bit more wary considering he's currently stuck on a ship with people who want nothing more than to throw him overboard, yet here he is.
He's here.
With gentle hands unbeknownst to you, you carefully pry him off of you and settle him back down once your body’s out of the hammock. 
He can rest, you think, and he does so like a newborn.
Even with your body no longer attached to him, you can’t help but marvel at the sight. His eyes are closed, breathing even, as though he’s completely at ease with the world. Light as a feather, you tug a strand of hair away from his eyes and resign yourself to a night of wandering to ease your nerves.
The air on deck is cold. You find Ussop leaned across the steering wheel, sound asleep. You have half a mind to scold him for his negligence, but the other half remind you that in essence, he’s still just a kid. He should rest as well.
So, you find a blanket and carefully pull it over him, hoping that the cold won’t catch him as easily as Arlong’s men probably will at one point.
The waters are calm as you lean over the railings to observe them. The moon isn’t full, but it still dons a soft light across the waters. You relish in the ambience the night sky grants, finding serenity in it all. 
“What’re you doing up?”
You snap your head down to find Buggy’s head poised next to your arms, having hopped over to you on the railing. He must’ve been uncharacteristically quiet, or maybe you had been uncharacteristically caught off-guard. 
He looks tired, but not disoriented as he props himself closer to you. If he’s moody from the lack of sleep, he doesn’t voice it.
“You’ll fall off,” you warn him.
“You can still swim, can’t you?” He points out. 
“What makes you think I’ll jump after you?”
“Won’t you?”
You glance back down at him, and you can vaguely spot an ounce of sincerity in his eyes; a genuine question that conceals the deep-rooted vulnerability underneath. It’s a rare look on him, or maybe it’s the hole of light in the sky playing tricks on your brain.
The two of you say nothing to each other for a while, but your eyes never shy away from each other. To be honest, you have no idea where this … this is headed. You’re not sure what to do about it either. Twenty years has left a gaping hole in your chest, akin to a supernova that swallows everything around it.
Turns out it will still consume any scraps of your youthful affection too, and you can’t tell if it fills the hole up or further deepens the void. You’re not sure you want to know.
“You should head back inside,” you finally say. “It’s cold outside.”
“So what?”
“Being a head surely leaves you at a disadvantage against the elements, does it not?”
If he had shoulders, he’d shrug, but he makes a pretty good imitation of it with just his head alone. “Dunno, but I don’t care.”
“You don’t want to catch pneumonia and die or something, do you?” I
t wasn’t meant as a joke at first, but the moment he hears it, a snnnrrrrrk develops into full-blown laughter that’s a hair width away from waking your crew members.
You don’t know what possesses you, but hearing him laugh like this, so genuinely, conjures a laugh of your own. It’s more hushed and subtle in comparison to your companion, but it’s there and it feels so strange to have it erupt from your chest. 
When was the last time you laughed? 
After a while, your combined laughter gradually quietens and when you look at Buggy next, you see him with eyes the size of plates, like he couldn’t believe what he just witnessed. Not in an alarming way, but in … adoration. Just unadulterated, complete awe.
For some reason, it pains you to have him look at you like this. After all this time. So, you turn your head back to the sea and let your gaze linger there again. You’re reminded that, like the waves, you can’t go back to how it used to be.
“When you’ve retrieved your body, you can go.”
Buggy freezes. "... What?"
"Once you get your body back, you can leave. I'll tell the crew you disappeared." 
It'll be easier for the both of you, you justify. He can get back to being Captain Buggy, and you can go back to being ... someone. 
You're no longer a captain, and you have no interest in playing the part again. He'll have his freedom, and you'll have your contentment in knowing that you have once more gotten to look him in the eyes.
It’ll hurt, but pain is an old friend.
He doesn't say anything for the longest time, but you can hear the cogs churning in his brain. "You mean ... You don't want to go with me, after all this time?"
You glance over your shoulder to the door to the kitchen area. "I ... Care much for the boy, and I know you tend to carry grudges. I don't intend to be involved with that."
"You don't have to be!" Buggy insists, almost urgently, like he's afraid you'll leave on the dot. "You can stay with me, and whatever business I have with the rubbery pri-... I- I mean, the kid, I'll keep it to myself."
You spend a second looking down at him, scrutinizing him of any signs that he's being false, before you avert your gaze back to the waves. Truth be told, you've never thought much of what to do once you left Luffy's crew. 
As far as you're concerned, you don't have anywhere to go back to. Maybe you'll return to Foosha village, pay Makino a visit, or maybe you'll become a wayward at sea. Make coin where you can, visit Shanks sometime?
But joining Buggy?
Now that's a thought you never believed would cross your head for a long time.
"I won't be a good circus performer," you admit.
He makes a pfsssssh sound, tongue waggling out of his mouth. "'Course you'd be! The strongest woman in all of East-Blue! People will bankrupt themselves just to see you in action! C'mon, just think about it!"
You bury the urge to remind him that if anyone will commit any bankrupting, it'll be him. Joining Buggy's crew, after so long? A part of you thinks that it can open a window of opportunity to provide closure. Grant him a chance to make up for his misdeeds.
Another part reminds you that the pain he once brought caused you two decades of misery, so why give him the opportunity to attempt the same once more? In all your life, only he’s ever possessed the power to render you so small. 
You might be among the strongest pirates across the seas, but someone always held you by a leash; dragged you, pulled you into every direction, and demanded your obedience. Rogers freed you from the leash altogether, but Buggy remains the only person you freely gave your leash to. You gave it to him, and he let it go.
Are you willing to hand it back to him, knowing what happened last time?
How does the saying go? 
Bite you once and twice, shame and all that.
"We should head back inside."
———
Coco Village, you think, is a lonely place; void of life; desolate. It reminds you of where you originally came from before Rogers brought you onto his crew all those years ago. A hollow replica of how it used to be.
A feeling of cold stretches across your skin at the memory of it all, like a layer of frost having come back to torment you. 
You glance around at the halfway-demolished huts, and you see its denizens with nothing behind their eyes. Whatever hope once resided in their hearts abandoned them long ago. It brings you no joy, but it doesn’t necessarily bring you any melancholy either.
It is not your sorrow to bear.
Nojiko’s cabin, on the other hand, seems like a pleasant reprieve. It’s not much, but judging by the delicate way she handles herself and her equipment, it’s a home.
A home hanging on a thread from Arlong’s pointy nose.
While Sanji’s helping Nojiko clean the plates, you’re seated across from Usopp, with Buggy’s head poised between you on top of the table. Wherever Luffy and Zoro are outside, you’re certain they’re concocting some sort of plan to get Nami out. 
It’ll be the first time he’ll have to make up a thorough plan, rather than making it up as he goes as he’s done so far.
You’re curious as to how it’ll go, though you’ll follow nonetheless. Your presence here with them depends on whether he’ll make it, and if he does, you’ll finally part ways.
You love Luffy, almost more than you’ve loved anyone else in your entire life. You were there to watch him grow, you were there to patch him up, to make sure he had food when Makino couldn’t afford to spare any. 
You love his hair, his eyes, the way his smile all but brightens up any dark corner in any room. You love him so much so that you’ll leave the moment you know he doesn’t need you anymore.
The thought, while maintaining a rooted spot in your brain, lessens your appetite and causes you to play with the food on your plate. It’s long since grown cold in your negligence.
Suddenly, a loud "BOOM!!" promptly snaps you out of your mindscape and back to reality. Buggy cackles, and although you're not the intended target of his joke, it still irks you to some limited extent.
"Can you just be quiet?"
"Aw, come on. Where's the fun in that?" There's a malicious glint in the clown's eye. "Do you really think your little toys can get through the skin of a fish-man?"
You have to commend Usopp for his resilience. "These are smoke bombs."
"Smoke. That's rich..." Trailing off, Buggy eyes your meal with the subtlety of a puppy looking for scraps, licking his chapped lips. "Makes me think of how long it's been since I've had any smoked fish." 
You spare him a wayward glance, fork ceasing its massacre of the flesh on your plate. Usopp notices the change almost instantaneously as he tinkers with his makeshift bomb.
The reply from the slingshot is quick. “Don’t give it to him.”
“As opposed to what?” You quirk an unbothered eyebrow. “Let Sanji’s meal go to waste?”
“Eat it yourself, then! You’ve hardly had any!”
“I’m not particularly hungry at the moment, and it’s either the trash or the clown.”
Usopp scoffs. “Like there’s a difference.”
“HEY! I’M RIGHT HERE, ASSHAT!”
Sanji perks up at the commotion and looks at you from over his shoulder, hands still wet from the washing. “I do hope you’re not discussing the possibility of discarding my food. Not when Nojiko has been so lenient as to lend us the necessary ingredients?”
Usopp shakes his head. “It’s worse! She wants to give it to the fucking clown!”
Sanji glances at you, and he speaks in that soft tone he primarily reserves for the women in his company. “Was my meal not to your satisfaction, Madam?” 
You incline your head to him in a way that’s meant to convey approval. “It was, make no mistake of it, but I’m afraid that my appetite is rather lacking at the moment.”
Buggy looks between the two of you, and his mood sours considerably. It’s as though a fire is burning in the back of the room, and the scorch threatens to incinerate the furniture and all the people inside. He halfway hopes it will, but although his Devil Fruit has granted him a plethora of powers people can only hope to dream of, prokinetics are evidently out of his reach.
No one notices, however.
Then, a minute goes by, and Sanji finally shrugs. “As much as I can’t condone Usopp’s anger, I can’t condone a good meal being wasted. Do with it as you please, my lady.”
Buggy guffaws while Usopp pales, but your face stays the way it’s always done. If anyone were to notice the way you discreetly inch the plate towards Buggy, they keep their opinions to themselves. 
If Buggy stares at you like you hung the moon and the sun in the sky, you keep your observations to yourself.
You don’t say a word, but you want to say a lot. 
You wish to say more than you've ever said before.
But you don’t.
———
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Breath of Life
Pairing: Joe Rantz x OC (Sadie)
Warnings: Drowning, Choking on Water, Passing out, Being unable to swim
Disclaimer: I've never actually drowned before, so if I've gotten some things wrong I apologize. Also, this is not intended to be read as the real person who was Joe Rantz.
Boys in the Boat Masterlist
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Joe's lungs were burning when Bobby finally yelled at them to ease up. Coach Ulbrickson signaled at them to head back to the docks when they were ready before speeding off in his boat ahead of them.
It was an unusually sunny day in Seattle. The water was calm and they had glided through the water easily all throughout practice. He was winded and tired, but in a remarkably good mood. The boys ahead and behind him were tilting their heads back toward the sun and running their fingers through the crisp water outside their boat.
Bobby let them all rest a moment before signaling with a shout to begin rowing back to the shell house. They rowed as if each passing second was a luxury. He and the rest of his shells crew were a well-oiled unit when they were all focused on keeping their heads in the boat and nowhere but in the boat.
They pulled up to the docks, pulled themselves out of the shell, and carried it out of the water into the shell house. Bobby, who was too short to be much of a help in carrying it, walked in front of them. He cleared the way and opened doors, making it easier for them to store it quickly.
Joe only felt the day catch up to him when they hit the showers and he felt the long, continuous stream of water falling softly against the skin of his back. He was hoping to see Sadie later in the day, she liked to study under a giant oak tree after her last lecture of the day and if he caught her in a good mood, he thought he might be able to convince her to study later and spend some time with him instead.
He wasn't the only guy in the boat with a girl he was eager to get to after practice. Roger had a date lined up with his Annie and Shorty had said something earlier about meeting up with a new girl that he'd met the previous night. Joe had never seen Don with a girl, but he was pretty sure that his stroke had plans to study with Bobby.
Joe toweled off and dressed himself quickly, his mind navigating the quickest path towards the oak tree that Sadie loved. He'd finished tying his shoes when the first desperate screams of a young woman echoed through the boathouse.
There was a brief moment, when the guys shared shocked looks with one another before they all burst into motion. Leaving through the locker room door and out into the main storage room of the shell house. Moving quickly, he was able to see the coaches also peaking their heads out of their office in alarm. Mr. Pocock appeared too, out of the workshop on the second story and holding a tool in his right hand.
To Joe's surprise he recognized the girl who was panicking desperately in the face of one of the freshman boys. It was Lily, one of Sadie's friends, who was pulling harshly at the boys arm trying to get him to follow her.
"Lily?" She turned toward him the second he called out her name in confusion. Her eyes were filled with tears that were pouring down her cheeks as she hurried over to him, grabbing his arm and pulling her with him. She was breathing so hard that it was hard to understand what she was saying outside of an obvious call for help. "What's wrong? What is it?"
He didn't like the look she was giving him. It was so full of not just fear, but blood curdling panic. It wasn't for her though, it seemed to be for someone else and at the way she was gripping his arm, turning it white with her strength, Joe had a stomach dropping feeling at who it might be for.
"It's Sadie, someone pushed her in the water."
~~~
Sadie tilted her head back, basking in the beautiful Seattle sunshine. It had been days, upon days of endless rainfall and when the clouds had parted to reveal the sun's golden rays shining through the windows in her lecture hall, she couldn't help but smile. Thankfully, her professor had also seen the rare sunshine and had released them early for the day, rushing his way out ahead of everyone else.
Following the rest of her classmates out into the warm air, Sadie saw the oak tree that normally pulled her to rest beneath it's offer of shade. Whether to study or to stare at a cloudy sky, she normally would take it up on it's offer of respite.
Sadie glanced down at the watch on her wrist, she'd gotten out of her lecture early enough that if she hurried, she might be able to catch Joe after practice. She missed him. He had been extremely busy between rowing, saving money up for his tuition, and his homework that it had been hard for them to find the time to spend together. She was determined to find the time to spend with him today.
She redirected her course and set out for the University of Washington's shell house. It was a little bit far from where her lecture was, but it was so nice out that Sadie found herself enjoying the walk. The breeze messed her hair but it also carried the scent of fresh water and sweet grass. She had to meander around groups of other students but it was so nice to see everyone smiling instead of rushing from building to building.
The ground grew steeper, sloping down towards the water's edge as she drew closer. From a distance, she could make out a group of tall, young men carrying their boats inside. She couldn't see Joe's crew but there wasn't anyone else out on the water either so she assumed that he was inside showering and resigned herself to waiting.
She had begun to look for a large tree to occupy her time under when she spotted a flickering hand in the air, waving back and forth to get her attention. Following the hand down, she was met with the dazzling white smile of Lily. She was smiling so hard that Sadie wondered if her cheeks were hurting, nevertheless, Sadie couldn't help but smile back at her, waving as she did.
"Come over here," Lily yelled, waving her over to where she rested on one of the floating docks. Sadie hesitated.
It shouldn't have been a big deal. Many of the other students liked to lay on the docks during nice weather to watch the rowing teams compete at the end of practice, but Sadie, who had never learned to swim had always found herself a bit uneasy on the docks. They had no railing and the water stretched endlessly down below them.
When Joe had taken her out to row she'd been nervous enough to distract herself from the uneasiness of being out on the open water. Plus, Joe had kept a steady hand on the small of her back, keeping her upright whenever she stumbled. Where Lily was on the docks, she'd have to navigate down a good portion of floating wood around some of the other students who were standing to leave now that practice was over and heading in the other direction.
Sadie glanced at the shell house, thinking over her own fears and looked back to where Lily was smiling brightly. It couldn't hurt, she guessed, and she wouldn't have to stay long. Once Joe came out she could quickly head back to the safety that was dry ground and spend the rest of her evening with her beau.
"Sadie!" Lily called again, laughing slightly in bewilderment at the stalled movement of her friend.
She forced a bright smile and placed a hesitant foot on the first slat of wood, "I'm coming!"
She kept one arm around her school books keeping them close to her chest as more of a comforting pressure than to keep them from falling in the water and she used her other arm, low as it was by her side, for stability. Sadie moved slowly, as courageous as she was trying to be, she could feel how hard her heart pounded and was perfectly fine with taking her time.
Moving quickly in the other direction, the last group of students on the docks walked by her and jostled the wood slightly as they did. She inhaled sharply at the movement then smiling politely as they tossed her concerned glances at the noise. She waited a moment for the dock to steady then continued on at her leisurely pace.
Sadie glanced up to measure the amount of distance remaining between herself and Lily. It wasn't too much further and then she could lower herself on the blue cotton blanket that Lily had spread out carefully to sit on. She'd already quirked a brow to begin saying something to Lily when the thud of rapid footsteps came up behind her. Sadie didn't have time to look to see who it was before they slammed into her shoulders and knocked her unsteady.
Her books slipped from their careful placement against her chest as her feet slid out from beneath her. She only had enough time to draw in a quick breath before she felt the water close around her head.
It was shockingly cold, she thought to herself. Distantly, she could make out the panicked voice of Lily calling out something above the water. Sadie knew enough about swimming to know that she needed to use her legs to propel herself up the surface of the water. Struggling, she kicked her legs, feeling her shoes slide off of her feet as she did. The water swished around her, moving her up before something tightened at her ankle pulling her back slightly, just as her outstretched finger broke the surface of the water.
She looked down to see a tangled strip of net caught around her ankle. Curling down, she did her best to loosen the net to free her foot from it's confines. Her lungs were burning with the desire to inhale and somewhere in the back of her mind, behind the panic that was building inside of her, she scolded herself for every other time in her life that she'd taken for granted the ability to breathe easily.
The water embraced her, keeping her in it's icy hold and caressing her hair as it floated all about her. It was beautiful, the way the sunlight trickled down through the surface of the water in golden rays. The sun was getting dimmer by the second and she wondered if she were sinking further down.
She couldn't hear Lily's voice anymore and but she hadn't caught the moment it had stopped. What she could hear was the hard pounding of her heart in her head, pounding just as hard as it had the first time she saw Joe smile.
In the next instant the water around her shook, moving her about in the water and bubbles danced along her skin. Rough, warm hands grabbed under her arms in an attempt to pull her up, halting only as the net pulled her back down. Sadie guessed it pulled her farther down this time as the sun's rays continued to disappear from her view.
The same rough hands grabbed her cheeks, shaking her gently and she forced her eyes open. The sun, she thought confused, was starting to look an awful lot like Joe. A very concerned and panicked Joe.
The urge to inhale was too strong for her to resist and her muscle began to work despite her telling it not too, forcing her to inhale a large lungful of icy water. Her body convulsed; hard.
The water shook again, moving further below her and she felt a vibrating sensation from the net around her ankle. She didn't have the energy to look down anymore though, instead, Sadie let her eyes fall closed.
The vibrating stopped after what could've been a moment and she felt herself being pulled through the water again. Rough hands were holding her close to a warm body and she let herself rest there as the world faded into nothing.
Distantly, in the part of her brain that was still working, Sadie was aware of many sets of hands pulling her out of the water and away from the warm chest she'd been resting on. In that same part of her brain, she could hear the panicked voices of Joe's crew as they scrambled around her.
It only took a moment for the familiar rough hands to come back to her, holding her cheeks tenderly for only a moment before she felt firm pressure on her chest. Those hands worked repeatedly against her chest for a moment before they parted her lips. Joe's lips slotted against hers, blowing warm breath into her mouth.
The hands stopped for a moment before picking back up, quicker and with more determination. Hands. Pressure. Lips and breath. Hands. Pressure. Lips and breath. Hands. Pressure. Lips and breath.
After a moment, her brain latched onto the repeated sound of Joe's voice in her ear.
"C'mon baby," he was saying, voice huffing as he worked. Joe's lips pressed against hers and as he breathed into her, she felt something begin to work its way up her lungs.
"Come back to me, Sweetheart," Joe sounded desperate, bordering on hysterical as he called out to her. His lips pressed against her's again, pushing the air into her lungs and this time Sadie forced her eyes open.
Joe knelt above her, blonde hair and a very pale face dripping with water. His eyes trained onto her every movement, while his face was twisted into a pained expression. His endlessly blue eyes were full of tears that he refused to let fall down his face as he concentrated on Sadie.
She gazed at him, unblinking. To her, he looked like the Greek gods of old with his wet, tan skin and shining gold hair. It could very well have been Poseidon or Apollo who had decided to bless her with their presence. Sadie couldn't understand though, why someone so beautiful would be crying and internally cursed whatever situation had put him through such anguish, to hell.
Sadie thought all of this in the split second between when she opened her eyes and when the water surged forward from her lungs back out through her mouth. It spilled over her lips and she felt herself being twisted onto her side as she coughed it out. A large hand rubbing her back as she did. She braced her weight on a shaking elbow so she could cough without hitting her head against the wood.
"There you go, Sadie," Joe encouraged, voice still strained. "Get it all out."
Every breath of air into her lungs caused more water to gush out, burning it's way out of her body. Sadie groaned, she had no idea that water could burn, had thought up until this moment in her life, that it was supposed to be fire's job to burn.
Around her, she could hear the sound of relieved murmuring voices that she had begun to recognize as Joe's crew. After a few agonizing breaths she forced herself to sit up, ignoring the voices telling her to lay down and slumped against Joe, who immediately wrapped her in his arms, supporting all of her weight.
She tucked her head into the darkness between his neck and his shoulder, listening to his heartbeat and listening to his breathing. Sadie forced the oxygen in her own lungs to mimic his rhythm and after a few breaths, Joe caught on to what she was doing.
He began exaggerating his breathing, forcing slow and steady breaths that she could replicate on her own. When she felt like she could breath at a normal rate without focusing all of her brain power to it, she pulled back to look around.
It couldn't have been too much longer since she went under. Lily's blanket was underneath her, the sun was still shining brightly, and the breeze was rustling the leaves of the trees around her. Don Hume was dripping wet, standing closest to them while six other crew members from Joe's boat stood closely behind him. Chuck Day with his arm around a crying Lily.
Joe gripped her cheek with one of his hands, drawing her attention back to him, "I'm going to carry you to the shell house, alright?" His voice trembled slightly but after she nodded her consent, he picked her up and held her securely against his chest. She rested her head against his shoulder, closed her eyes and let his steady rhythm of footfalls lull her away.
~~~
When Sadie gained consciousness, she was still in Joe's arms but they were not outside and they were not in the main room of the shell house. She was laying down on a small, twin mattress with her head resting on Joe's chest. His arms were holding her securely to him. He clung to her like she might slip away at any moment.
She recognized this room from when she'd been in it in passing. It was Joe's room, the one that he shared with Roger Davis, though Roger wasn't in it at present. Light shone through the closed blinds, but it was a soft pink of morning instead of the golden yellow of the afternoon.
As she looked around, she felt Joe stir against her. His eyes fluttered open, took in the fact that she was awake and that she was watching him. He seemed more relaxed now, though she made a mental note of the fact that he seemed unable to stop himself from touching her in some way.
"Hey there," his voice rumbled from deep in his chest, still rough with sleep. His eyes were soft and his thumb was rubbing small circles in the small of her back.
Sadie offered him a weak smile, "Hey."
His forehead was wrinkled with worry. "You gave me quite a scare," he confessed to her.
Sadie nodded, dropping her gaze from his. She brought her hand that was between them up to the center of his chest, drawing small shapes as she composed her thoughts.
Joe was quiet, content to lay with Sadie in his arms. She cleared her throat, "What happened?"
At her question, Joe began to sit up slightly and cradled her face in his hands as he studied her eyes and face. "You don't remember falling in the lake yesterday?"
Sadie reached up to hold one of his wrists in her hand, "I remember that part. I don't remember much else after slipping into the water."
"Lily came into the shell house, completely panicking," Joe started. "She said that you'd slipped into the water and hadn't come back out."
Joe stared at the wall as he recalled it to her. His eyes full of anguish and his grip on her tightened with the need to convince himself that she was beside him.
"We followed her out to where you'd fallen in and I jumped in to grab you out but you were stuck on something. Thankfully, Don noticed and jumped in after me. He had a pocket knife that he used to cut you free."
Sadie nodded, it all checked out to her. She could remember the vibrating sensation dancing up her foot while she was in the water.
"You couldn't have been in there for very long, but by the time we pulled you out, your lips were blue. You weren't breathing," Joe paused, breathing deeply. His eyes fell shut and he leaned his forehead against hers.
They rested like that for a short time while Joe tried to calm himself down, clutching to her like she was a lifeline. After a bit, Sadie pulled back and Joe opened his eyes to look at her. They were both sitting upright now but she rose up on her knees, hearing the mattress groan as she did.
She grabbed onto Joe's shoulders to steady herself and swung one of her legs across Joe's hips so that she was straddling him. His hands came up to rest on her hips, stabilizing her as she sat down on his thighs.
Sadie slid her hands from his shoulders and into his hair, caressing his blonde curls and massaging his scalp until his shoulders released the tension he was holding there.
Joe cleared his throat and looked at her, "You weren't breathing so we did CPR until you were. I carried you back to the shell house, Bobby had run to grab a Doctor while I went in after you so they checked you out."
"What did they say?" She asked, moving her thumbs up to smooth his temples. Joe leaning into her touch as she did.
"You were awake for that part," he hummed, "But, you feel back asleep pretty quickly after. Doc said you were fine and that you'd need to take it easy for the next couple of days. You were pretty out of it though, so I took you in here and we both fell asleep."
She shivered and Joe brought the quilt that was covering them both to wrap more tightly around her shoulders, while pulling her closer to him. "Thank you," she whispered.
He shook his head, "Please, don't ever do that again. I don't think I can handle it."
She laughed blankly, "I wasn't really trying to do it the first time either."
Joe nodded, "I know." He cupped her cheeks and brought her in for a slow, warm kiss that had her melting into his touch. It was a kiss that told her just how worried he had been and how glad he was to have her near him now.
Sadie responded in kind, gliding her hands across his skin and pouring all of her love for him into their kiss. Joe's hands flexed against her hips and turning his head, he deepened their kiss. His tongue parted her lips and he kissed her until all Sadie could taste, feel and hear was Joe Rantz.
A/N: Y'all I fell in love with this idea and was having such a fun time writing it up until the end. It sort of died there lol. Thanks for sticking it out til then and I'll do my best to keep writing for the boys.
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heaven4lostgirls · 8 months
Text
hope (S.R)
pairing: steve rogers x reader
warning: angst, a little bit of comfort.
summary: the aftermath of reader leaving steve gives him clarity and has them both realizing that he needs to work harder to gain his girl back.
word count: 1.6k
a/n: I am so sorry this took so long to come out, I’ve been swamped with uni work but I’m so happy you guys liked part 1, I will probably post a part 3 to this, which other characters do you ship reader with??? Steve is looking at some competition soon!
part 1 , part 2, part 3
tags: @nouk1998, @spngingerbread21, @blackhawkfanatic, @immyowndefender (if I wasn't able to tag you that means your tags don't work!)
Steve,
If you’re reading this, then you have realised I’m not staying in the tower anymore. Tony helped set me up in safe house for the next few weeks, I can’t stay here. You chose Sharon over me Steve and you must know that I can’t stay with someone who would choose another woman over me.
I need you to know that although it’s been hard for me to accept it, I understand. It’s not okay that you chose to leave without talking to me, but I understand if she is who you want okay? I am so grateful to have spent the last 3 years by your side, but I can no longer watch on from the sidelines as you look at her like how you used to look at me.
When I come back, hopefully I’ll be ready to talk, but I am asking you that if you ever held any form of love and respect for me, to give me this time to heal.
Thank you, Steve, for everything,
y/n.
Steve crumples your handwritten letter in his hand, the paper squashed in the palm of his hands as he throws back the bourbon in his glass. His eyes are red rimmed and his face unshaven. He has been a mess since you left a week ago, unable to move from his room, and spending his time rereading your letter hoping that he could find some small sign that you still loved him, still wanted him.
He was unaccustomed to this feeling of pain, when he got out of the ice, he assumed the pain of knowing that he had missed his time with Peggy was truly the worst form of torture but the agony of once having your love and affection and having it so brutally stripped from him, may just be at the top of his list.
He sighs as he uncrumples the paper to place it on his desk as he moves to lay back in his bed, he had been part of a repetitive cycle for the last week, working purely on survival mode before he’s interrupted by a soft knock on his door.
He knows better than to feel excited at the small hope of it being you however he knows that it’s Bucky and Sam checking up on him and bringing him food before they annoy him into getting into the shower. He can’t stand the look of pity in their eyes as they hand him his food, so he slams the door shut as soon as he gets it, placing it on his desk, he moves to the bathroom.
He turns the shower head all the way to cold, hoping it will bring some shock into his system, however because of his super soldier abilities, his immune system is fried and numb to the coldness of the water.
His eyes burn as tears roll down his face, sobs wrack his body as he pounds his fist into the wall in front of me which breaks at the force of his strength. He hears the door quietly open before he feels Bucky’s metal arm tugging him from under the water into a towel.
This has happened nearly everyday for the last 3 days, sometime on the first day, Steve had stopped acting like you abrupt leaving hadn’t affected him and broke down during his training session, to which Bucky had been helping him through his depressed state however all he ever really wanted was you.
“I want her back” Steve sobs into Bucky’s clothed shoulder as he feels his friend cooing and soothing him like a baby before he is gently placed on his bed. His body shakes with his painful sobbing as he feels Bucky rubbing his back. “I know Stevie, I know” Bucky sighs as he tucks Steve in after he exhausts himself from crying.
Meanwhile you haven’t been doing any better, your mental health slowly deteriorating at the acceptance of the end of your relationship with Steve. You had known somewhere deep down that throughout the past month whenever you had caught Steve looking at Sharon that this was the beginning of the end.
However now it was time for you to face the reality of the situation, you may have spent the last week crying your eyes out at sad romance films with ice-cream and chocolate  but you knew that enough was enough, you needed to talk with Steve and hear what he had wanted to say the day you left.
Running from your problems was not the best solution however you knew realistically you did not have the mental capacity to hear whatever Steve had to say and that it would only end up doing more harm than good considering how high strung you both were about the whole situation.
Now, as you step off the quinjet, you are greeted with Bucky’s genuine yet sorrowful smile. “Hi Buck” you greeted softly as you stood awkwardly, worrying if you could still hug him even though you knew he probably spent the last week comforting your ex-boyfriend. Not than you could blame him, they had been friends for far longer than the both of you.
Bucky just rolled his eyes before his smile widened as he pulled you into a tight hug, you breathed a sigh of relief and slumped into your friend. Your moment was interrupted by a loud voice chiming in from behind the both of you.
“Y/N!!!!” you and Bucky both separate, you with a look of amusement and Bucky with a look of annoyance. Peter’s joyful gaze found yours as he sprinted towards you. “I knew when you didn’t respond to the meme I sent you this morning, something was up!” he said excitedly as he spins you in a hug as a laugh bubbles out of you.
“Hey kid, yeah I was on a flight back from South Africa” you smile and separate from him before you see his joyful gaze darken at something behind you.
“Y/N.” you hear softly from behind you, and you freeze.
You turn around and place a polite smile on your face, not quite ready for the conversation ahead.
“Steve” you say and nod at him, he moves as though he’s going to hug you but thinks again and moves back and you’re somewhat grateful, you don’t think you’d be able to compose yourself.
You all stand in awkward silence for a bit before you break it, “I should uh” you gesture inside and he nods before he opens his mouth, “Can I help with your bags?” he asks nervously.
You were hoping to have a few minutes to compose yourself, but Steve is probably right to get the conversation out of the way.
As you both walk through the tower, you realise how quiet it is and make note to thank everyone for steering clear of the both of you.
As you both reached your old room since you had been sharing with Steve, you place you bag down before you turn to Steve who is standing sadly outside your room. “You can come in” you tease him and that snaps him out of his mood as he moves to sit at the desk in front of your bed and you sit on your bed.
“So” you both start before you motion to Steve to carry on.
“I love you y/n, I don’t want this to be the end, can we please work on this? I promise I’ll do better, and I won’t choose Sharon over you ever again.” He rushes out in what you assume is an attempt to stop the inevitable.
You smile at him in pity and before you can start talking you see him shaking his head as tears fill his eyes. “Steve, if you really wanted me as bad as you say you do, where was all this attention and affection this last month? Why did it take me leaving for you to realise how badly you fucked up?” you question and watch as he breaks in front of you.
The last week must have been hell for him, the same way the last month was for you.
“Please just let me try y/n, let me try please” he pleads as he moves from sitting in the small chair to kneeling before you as he grasps your hands.
You move your hands to grasp his face as you wipe his tears.
“Love, I will always love you but you need to realise how hard it was for me to sit here on standby every time you left me for Sharon, I need to choose myself for once” you confess and Steve sobs into your legs as you thread your hands through his hair as you try and calm him down.
You watch as Steve tries to compose himself in front of you before he looks into your eyes in determination. “I’m going to prove it to you” he says seriously, and you nod to placate him before he shakes his head in protest. “No, you don’t understand, I am going to prove to you how much you mean to me y/n” he says and some part of you is hopeful he tries as hard as he says he’s going to be this time.
“I’m not going to sit around and wait for you to make it up to me Steve, you’re going to have to work for it” you say, and he deflates but nonetheless nods in understanding, realistically he acknowledges that he deserved worse treatment. He just can’t stand the idea of you finding love and connection with someone that isn’t him.
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pahtoosh · 1 year
Text
apologies and kisses
Tumblr media
[image ID: pictures on a light purple background. there are five different baby blankets, a few different bottles of laundry detergent, and an image of chris evans as steve rogers looking smug and another of sebastian stan looking comedically distraught/.end ID]
masterlist
summer celebration masterlist
18+
wc: ~2200 words
warnings: having to do chores. baby is kind of dramatic in this(but justified!)
a/n: the movies moodboards are back. this is the first post of my summer celebration!!! also my first "and kisses" piece!!! "and kisses" just means there are lots of kisses and this is important because i love kisses :)
pairing: stucky x gn!little!reader (Dada = Steve, Baba = Bucky, Daddies = both Steve and Bucky)
summary: Steve leaves you and Bucky alone for a day and your Baba manages to make a mistake worthy of an apology and lots of kisses
⋆。゚☁︎。⋆。 ゚☾ ゚。⋆ ⋆。゚☁︎。⋆。 ゚☾ ゚。⋆ ⋆。゚☁︎。⋆。 ゚
“Okay, I’m leaving for my meeting now!” Steve called out. “Just making this announcement in case one of my loves wants to show me some love before I go!” 
Your dada would never leave without a proper goodbye unless it was an emergency, but he likes teasing you. You took the bait every time. 
“Dada! Dada wait!” You rushed to the door and “caught” Steve just as he was about to open the door. 
“Oh goodness! You just barely made it, pumpkin. I was practically out the door!” He set down his briefcase and gave you a hug and kiss. He looked over your shoulder for any sign of Bucky. “Hm. Only one of my loves came to say goodbye. I guess that’s it then. Bye sweetheart, I’ll see you later tonight.”
“No! No! Baba! Baba, come say bye bye to Dada, you have to!”
Bucky shook his head at your and Steve’s antics. He walked leisurely down the hallway before kissing Steve goodbye. 
“You sure took your time,” Dada teased. 
“I can’t be spoiling you now. Sometimes ya gotta play a lil’ hard to get.” Bucky winked. 
Steve laughed and muttered idiot before returning the kiss. “You two gonna be okay without me?”
“Yes, Steve. I’ve got the schedule and the chore chart and the MyPlate chart that you printed out for me. Twice. Relax, I’ve got this. They’re my baby too, you know.”
Your dada sighed. “I know, and I trust you but it’s been a while since we’ve been separated.”
Bucky rubbed his shoulders. “We’re gonna be fine, it’s only for a few hours-”
“Six hours.”
“And those six hours will be fun and productive thanks to the schedule you lovingly created for us. We’ll be okay, you can just focus on your meeting. Unless that’s why you’re acting like a mother hen right now.” Bucky raised an eyebrow. “Are you worrying about us so you don’t have to think about your meeting?”
Steve stood a little straighter and fixed his tie. “Steve Rogers doesn’t run away from his problems. But if he did, that’d be a pretty darn good reason.”
Bucky laughed. “Okay, Captain. Whatever you say, now go kick some ass.”
“Language.” He kissed you one more time. “Bye, sweetheart.” He kissed Bucky. “Be good.”
“Why am I being told to ‘be good’?”
“Because our sweet little angel is always good. You’re the trouble around here.” Steve smiled at you and walked out the door, closing it behind him before your baba could respond. 
“Unbelievable. Did you hear that, lovie? Dada’s talking as if he wasn’t the biggest troublemaker his whole life.” He stopped looking at the door to face you. “How ‘bout those chores? Should we get started on them?”
“Don’t wannaaaa,” you whined. 
“I know, me neither but we gotta show Dada how responsible I can be. Will you help me with that, baby?”
“Mmm. Okay. But then I don’t have to eat Dada’s veggie sprouts for dinner.”
Your baba threw his head back in laughter. “Trust me, angel. Baba wouldn’t make you eat that mess even if you were the naughtiest baby in the world.”
𓏲 ࣪₊♡
Two hours later, you and Bucky had finished watering the plants, cleaning your playroom, and doing the dishes. The only two chores left on Steve’s list were to dust all the shelves and lamps in the house and do the laundry. Bucky hated dusting, so he was saving that task for last. 
He stood a little straighter and used his sergeant voice to grab your attention. “Agent baby, I have a very important task for you.”
You copied his posture. “I’m listenin’, sargan’ baba!”
“I need you to round up all the blankies in the playroom and living room and escort them to the laundry room. And bring any loose socks you see on your way. Those tricky little guys have escaped us for the last time.”
“Yes, sargan’ baba!” You did as he said, gathering the lightweight blankets that collected on the back of the couch and in one of your playroom’s baskets. You carefully walked to the laundry room with your huge pile of blankets nearly blocking your whole face. 
“I gots dem, Baba!”
“That’s very impressive, baby! And in record time too,” Bucky praised. He took the blankets from your hands and placed them into the machine. “One, two, three, four, five, si- wait, we’re missing one. Where’s your blankie, lovie?”
You looked up innocently. “Bankie’s not dirty.”
“Now I know that’s not true. I can’t remember the last time we washed blankie.”
“But, but what if bankie don’ like the water?” You pouted and formed a crease between your brows. 
“Blankie will be fine, sweetheart. Blankets are meant to be washed! And don’t you want your blankie to be fresh and clean? Think about how you feel after a nice bath. Good, right?”
You looked down and played with the hem of your shirt. “Yah, feels good.”
“Okay, then can you get blankie for me? Or do you want sergeant baba to come with you?”
“No, I do it!” You straightened up and rushed to get your blankie, wanting to show Baba your independence. 
You carefully handed blankie to Bucky. 
“Thank you, doll. Now blankie’s gonna take a little trip with these other blankies and when they’re done they’re gonna be all clean! While I do this can you look for the feather duster in the closet? I’ll be back out in a minute.”
“Okay, Baba!”
Now alone with the washing machine, Bucky turned the knob to the correct settings and reached for the detergent. There were three different bottles on the shelf. Wait, which brand is used for blankets? How much are you supposed to use? And who needs three different kinds of laundry detergent?
Steve had been taking care of the laundry lately in exchange for Bucky cleaning the kitchen. Steve was also more particular about how fabrics felt after washing, explaining the need for different detergents. Bucky decided to put a little bit of each detergent in the machine and hope for the best. He pressed the start button and left to find you and the feather duster. 
𓏲 ࣪₊♡
Not too long later, every bookshelf and lampshade in the house was dust-free, Bucky put the blankets in the dryer, and you both ate lunch. By the time the dishes were cleaned, the dryer played a happy tune signaling that the blankets were dry. 
“Baba! Is blankie time!”
He gasped. “Blankie time? We gotta move fast! Hold on baby, Baba’s gonna get you there!” He lifted you off his lap and carried you to the laundry room, moving up and down while making airplane noises. 
“Wooosh! Wooosh! Wow, baby, look at how fast you’re going!”
You squealed and held onto Bucky’s Henley for dear life. “I’m zoomin! I go so high so fast!”
“Aaaand we’ve made it to blankieland!” He put on a voice and pretended to talk into a radio. “Passengers, we have just landed in blankieland. Please stay still while we take out the blankies and give your Babas a kiss for the ride.”
You giggled and kissed Bucky on the cheek before wiggling out of his arms. “Mwah! Down please!”
He set you down and opened the dryer, putting all the blankets into a clean basket so he could take out the dryer lint while you got your blankie. He closed the door and then turned to you. 
“So, how’s blankie? All clean and fresh?”
“B-Baba?” Your lip was trembling and your eyes were filling up with tears. 
“Oh, baby what’s wrong?” He crouched down to your level.
“My blankie! You ruined blankie!” You dropped blankie and ran to your room crying. 
Confused, Bucky picked up your blanket from the floor and a pant of guilt hit him. Blotches of the fabric were discolored. It made your blanket look like someone spilled Steve’s green juice on it. He inspected the other blankets and for some reason, only yours was affected. 
Baba felt so bad for ruining something that meant so much to you. He wanted to go comfort you, but sometimes you needed time alone after a conflict. 
While giving you some space, Bucky tried to fix his mistake. He thought about all the ways he could get the stains out. He tried a stain-removing pen, but there was no change. He got a small part wet and blotted it with a towel. Again, nothing happened. Surely putting it into the machine again wouldn’t fix things, that's how he got into this mess. And he was hesitant to try vinegar, the idea of your blanket being stained and smelly was too much. With no other solutions left to try, Bucky went to go check on you. 
Luckily, you left your door wide open. You were so distracted that you just ran straight toward crying into your pillow and stuffies. Bucky could hear your cries all around the house. He was concerned about how long you’d been crying for. How much time did he spend in that laundry room?
“Baby? Baby, I’m so sorry. Baba’s so sorry he ruined your blankie.” Bucky carefully sat down on your bed and rubbed your back in a soothing gesture. “I’ll buy you a new blankie, yeah? I’ll buy you as many as you want, as big as you want, as colorful as you want.”
He couldn’t be too sure, but he might’ve heard you sob the word “no” three times. 
“Angel, I’m so sorry. I just wanted you to have a clean blankie. When Dada gets back I’ll have him teach me how to clean blankie the correct way, okay? Maybe he can fix this.” Bucky actually wasn’t sure this was something that could be fixed, but he’d say anything to make you happy. “It was an honest mistake, angel. Can you forgive me?”
“I never forgive you, Baba! Never ever ever ever!” You smashed your face into a pillow and kept sobbing. 
Bucky sighed and held his head in his hands. He was hoping for an ounce of Steve’s patience right now. He thought about taking you over to the tower himself. You could see Steve sooner. Maybe some of the other Avengers would still be there and they could help cheer you up. Or maybe he could bribe you with treats, he did just go grocery shopping yesterday...
Luckily, your Dada was just about to park the car. He opened the door expecting to see either you running up to him or you and Bucky sleeping on the couch, exhausted from all the chores. He was not expecting to hear you crying. Steve quickly took off his shoes and found the two of you. 
“What’s going on?” It was an odd scene, you lying face down in the middle of the bed, sobbing while Bucky was perched on the edge about to pull his hair out. 
You turned over and reached out to Dada, still whimpering. He picked you up and reached for a tissue to clean your face. “What’s got my little sweetheart so worked up, hmm?”
“B-Baba wuined bankie.” You hid your face in Steve’s neck, too tired to do anything else. 
Dada looked over to Bucky with a raised brow. 
“I was doing the laundry and I messed up blankie.”
“Show me.”
Bucky left to get blankie while Steve sat on your bed with you in his lap. “Sweetheart, look at me.”
You whined and nuzzled deeper into Steve’s shoulder. 
He sighed and rubbed your back, beginning to talk anyway. “I know how much blankie means to you, baby. I’m sorry Baba ruined it. Did Baba say sorry to you?”
You sniffled. “Ya.”
“And did you forgive him?”
You didn’t answer. 
“Babyyy,” he said in a warning tone. Steve did not appreciate unanswered questions. 
“No. I say I never forgive him.”
He sucked in a breath. “That’s harsh, now why would you say that?”
“Because blankie!”
“I know, I know. But don’t you think Baba is a little more important than blankie? I bet Baba’s real sorry even without your crying.”
Bucky came into your room with blankie. Steve reached for it and inspected the damage. 
“You poured the detergent straight onto it instead of using the slot, didn’t you?”
“How did you know that?”
Steve grimaced. “I made that mistake too. With my own blanket, thankfully. This kind of fabric just soaks it up. And why are the splotches different colors? Which detergent did you use?”
Bucky scratched the back of his neck. “All of them?” Steve’s eyes widened. “I didn’t use a lot! Just a little of each. Why do we need three different kinds anyway?”
Steve laughed. “It’s okay, Buck. I’ll show you the ropes next time.” He turned to you. “See, baby? It was an accident. Baba was trying so hard to clean blankie that he used three whole different soaps!”
You giggled softly and snuck a peek at your daddies. Steve looked hopeful while Bucky still looked sad and a little embarrassed. You didn’t like seeing Baba so down. You reached out to him. 
He looked surprised. “You want me to hold you?” When you nodded, he reached out to pick you up. He pressed his forehead to yours, closing his eyes. “Again, I’m so sorry baby. Baba didn’t know.”
You held his face with both hands. “Is okay Baba. Sorry for being a meanie.”
He laughed. “You’re no meanie, angel.” He kissed you and then cuddled you, mouthing thank you to Steve over your shoulder. 
The next day, your daddies took you on a trip to buy a new blankie and Steve spent an hour showing Bucky how to do the laundry. He even took notes and laminated them to keep in the laundry room.
444 notes · View notes
nicoline1998enilocin · 11 months
Text
Misunderstanding
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PAIRING | Steve Rogers x Wife!Female!Reader
WORD COUNT | 1K
SUMMARY | You were working out when you got approached by a new agent. He wanted to ask you out on a date, but before he could, Steve suddenly appeared by your side. When the agent realizes you were already seeing him, he practically ran out of the gym.
WARNING(S) | None.
Likes and reblogs will be very much appreciated 💜
Main Masterlist | Steve Rogers Masterlist
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You were in the gym, just working out like you did every afternoon at the same time. The routine was the same every day, and it gave you some much-needed rest to know at least something would be the same every day, especially since you have been on more spontaneous missions lately. It's not like you mind when there is a sudden mission, but you're a person of habit, you take comfort in it. When you were in the middle of a set of lunges, you noticed an agent looking at you, and even though you didn't feel uncomfortable persé, you didn't exactly like the feeling of being watched. After a few minutes, he came up to you.
''Good afternoon, agent Y/L/N. I'm Agent Smith and I'm new around here,'' he said extending his hand. ''Uh, hi, nice to meet you,'' you say giving him a soft smile. Being an Avenger you were used to people coming up to you for all different sorts of reasons, so him introducing himself wasn't anything out of the ordinary for you. ''Did you want something to drink?'' he offers, but you hold up the water bottle in your hand. ''Already got some, but thank you anyway,'' you say, and you hear Bucky snicker behind you. ''Shut up, Barnes,'' you tell him and he couldn't help but laugh. ''Sorry doll, couldn't help myself,'' he said and he went to the other side of the gym, so he wouldn't bother the two of you anymore.
''I'm sorry for Sergeant Barnes' behavior, sometimes he acts like a small child,'' you say just loud enough for him to hear. ''You're not any better, Y/L/N!'' he remarks before shaking his head with a big smile and turning around to finally continue his workout. ''So, is there anything I can help you with? I assume you didn't just come up to me to introduce yourself?'' you ask and take a sip from your water bottle. ''Uh, yeah, no, I'm sorry. I was here to ask you if you would go out with me by any chance. I was hoping we could go to-'' but before he could finish, Steve walked into the gym. He walked in intending to talk to Bucky, but when he heard, he walked right up to you and the other agent. ''Sorry Agent Smith, but she's mine,'' he said and he startled the both of you, you didn't realize he walked in.
You once again heard Bucky laugh, and you sent daggers his way with your look, but he couldn't help himself. He made a gesture saying ''It's too funny,'' but you didn't think so. ''Oh… You and Captain Rogers are dating…?'' he asked, his voice suddenly becoming small, he looked up to Steve, and it was very noticeable. ''Actually, I'm his wife. We've been together for a total of 10 years, today is our anniversary,'' you say and you give Steve a loving look and a small peck on his lips. ''Oh god, I'm so sorry, I didn't know…'' the agent said and his face turned bright red at your admission. Steve had linked his hand with yours and you interlaced your fingers with his. He placed a small kiss on your temple and pulled you a little closer to him, his possessive side showing more each second.
''Really, it's fine. We try to keep it professional in common areas, and we don't exactly flaunt it for everyone to see, so it's just a misunderstanding. It happens,'' you say trying to calm him down. ''And besides that, you're also new here, so there's no way for you to know Steve and I are dating,'' you say with a soft smile on your face. You give Steve another loving look, and he looks at you with a look that's filled with absolute adoration. ''Get a room, you two!'' Bucky shouts from the other side of the gym, and you let go of Steve's hand to walk over to Bucky. ''You've gone too far now, Barnes!'' and stomp his way, but he's catching on quickly and running away. ''Gotta catch me first, doll!'' he says as he ran out of the gym and you quickly followed him.
''Not so fast, Barnes! You brought this upon yourself!'' you said as you ran after him. It's a good thing you're both super soldiers because that means you're able to catch up to him. You take one more leap and end on his back, he quickly catches you and you hold on. ''Ha, got you now!'' you say with a big smile and you wrap your arms around his neck to hold on. ''Honestly, I find it funny that guy even thought he had a chance,'' Bucky laughed as he walked back to the gym, dropping you off in front of the door. ''In his defense, we don't exactly tell every single person around here we're married, so you can't blame him!'' you said, softly slapping him against his chest. ''You're right doll, but the two of you still should get a room because it's disgusting to see how you look at one another,'' he joked. You walked back into the gym and said ''I don't know why we're friends with him, honestly,'' making Steve laugh and shrug his shoulders.
''I-, uh, I think I should be going now,'' the agent said, his face turning an even deeper shade of red, almost sharing the same complexion as a tomato now. ''Gotta make the most of my night…'' he mumbled before walking away and almost walking into the doors of the gym. ''God, I'll never get used to that,'' you tell Steve before wrapping your arms around his waist, and he places his on the sides of your face. ''As long as you'll still wake up next to me every single morning, I won't ever worry about it,'' he said before placing a soft, tender kiss on your lips which he slowly deepens. Bucky came back into the gym but regretted that immediately. ''I'll just go work out in my room, you two need to find someplace else to fuck…'' Bucky grumbled and both you and Steve laughed. ''I love you, Mrs. Rogers,'' he said. ''I love you more, Mr. Rogers,'' and you sealed with another kiss before walking out of the gym to your shared bedroom.
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buckgasms · 11 months
Text
Doctors Barnes and Rogers (Part 6)
So this is the final part of this official story, but I am absolutely open to writing little drabbles for them so please do send them in to me 🩷
Thank you for all the love and reblogs and comments throughout it! Love you all loads!
What a wild ride this has been 🤣
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This was the absolute most typical thing that could happen. Both of them had gone out, Bucky to work and Steve to get groceries and as you had gone to get yourself a drink.....
Your waters had broken.
You stood in the kitchen in a state of shock and nerves. It wasn't a total surprise given how huge you were and the fact the two doctors had been checking you out regularly and explaining each part of the journey in excellent detail.
It was just that you were alone and the fear of what the next day or two would hold, let alone the rest of your life, would be like.
Finally your brain caught up with the situation and you started scrambling to your phone and called Steve...
"Hey honey, did you ne-"
"Baby is coming!!!" You screeched down the phone, "water broke, it's coming you need to get home!"
He was silent for a beat before he chuckled and his calm voice filled your mind. "Ok pretty girl, it's all gonna be fine. Just relax, I'll be home before you know it." He pauses and you can picture him with a shy smile on his face. "Wow... Can't believe it's finally happening..."
You smile and he tells you he's on his way home. "Don't forget to get chocolate... I still want chocolate, baby or not!"
🍼
By the time Steve arrived home you had already called Bucky and he was zooming home from the office. Your contractions had also begun and although they were quite minor, they still felt really uncomfortable. Luckily Steve was fine with you squeezing his hand and did a really good job of helping you breathe through them.
Your serenity was interrupted by Bucky bursting through the door and storming into the living room. You can't help but giggle at how crazy he looks, your giggles becoming louder as he becomes indignant at yours and Steve's laughter.
"What?? You called me in a panic about water breaking and now you're laughing at me?" You peal into more giggles until another sharp contraction hits you. You can't help but whimper as Bucky grabs your free hand and sits down next to you.
"Sorry Bucky" you say between breaths but he just smiles and kisses your head. "It's ok sweetheart, anything to make you smile hmm?" As it passes you smile and press a kiss to his cheek, quickly providing one for Steve before he could complain about it.
🍼
After a few hours it was decided it was time go to hospital. It had been agreed between the three of you that that was the best place to be, and both Steve and Bucky could be there to support you and enjoy the moment, rather than work. Although you had no doubts they would try to take over as much as they could.
You sat in the back of Steve's car with Bucky as he held your hand and stroked your tummy. "You feeling ok darlin'?" he said, analysing you a little as you smiled tightly. "Yeah I'm ok, just feel nervous. What if something happens? Or what if I'm not cut out for being a mother?"
He smiled and leaned in to press a kiss to your lips. "You are amazing, everything you've done has just been incredible and we love you so much. Whatever happens we are in this together, we'll take care of you, and this one..."
You wiped your eyes and kissed him again, feeling better as you squeezed his hand. "Still think it's going to be a girl?" You said and he nodded, "1000%" Steve laughed from the front and shook his head. "That's how much you're gonna owe me when it's a boy" he said wiggling his eyebrows at you in the mirror, making you giggle and roll your eyes.
You were more interested in who the baby's daddy was. But you had never asked, afraid it would make one of them feel left out. But you just wanted to know... Blonde or Brunette.
🍼
Your contractions were coming thick and fast now you were settled in your hospital bed. You had been given gas and air which was delightful, but it was still so painful and you couldn't help let your groans loud in an attempt to relieve some of the pain.
Steve was rubbing your back as Bucky gripped your hand in his, both of them coaching you through it. Sadly they were doing it in quite contradictory ways.
"Deep breaths" said Steve, while Bucky suggested "breathe quickly through the contractions to help you manage it" and in an attempt to please them both you were doing short, deep, fast breaths until you felt dizzy.
After a while of this you finally flopped back on the bed and swatted at both of them. "You must stop" and they both looked shocked as you glared towards them. "I can't do both, just let me breath and if I need help I will ask you!" They looked sheepish and apologised before offering a hand each for you to grab, just in time for your next contraction.
🍼
It had been 12 hours. You were utterly exhausted and every bit of your body was either in agony or just aching. You had cried, cursed and yelled with no end in sight.
In a moment of calm you sat with Bucky as he pressed a cold flannel to your forehead and pressed a kiss to your hand. "Bucky I'm so tired" you croaked as a little tear slid down your face, he leaned in to kiss your cheek. "I know sweetheart, but you are doing so well. Steve and I are so proud of you..."
"But why won't he come out?" You said as your head flopped back on the pillow. "Ooh so you think it's a boy huh?" Bucky leans over and kisses your face, teasing as you can't help but huff out a laugh. "At this moment I don't care if it's bright green, just get it out of me..."
He chuckles as Steve leans in as well and strokes your hair. "You want us to have a word? See if we can move things along?" You giggled as he moves down to your tummy and taps gently.
"Hey buddy, Daddy here. Listen, you've been driving your momma crazy and we can't wait, so can you get a move on in there?" He presses a kiss to your tummy and you giggle again.
Just then the doctor comes in and gives you a commiserating look. "You've been doing so well, let's see if we can get you moving along now..."
She takes a seat at your bottom half and lifts your gown as Bucky moves to take a look. "Bucky don't be a backseat Doctor" you groan but he ignores you with a smile on his face as the Doctor checks your dilation.
"Well, I don't know what you said Dr Rogers but it's time... Baby's ready."
Your laugh turns into a whimper and turns back into a giggle. "Oh I don't think I can actually.... Maybe we can wait...?"
All three of them look at you with that annoying doctor face. "Honey, don't worry, we'll be with you the whole time, it's gonna be ok..."
"It's coming out of me! A baby! One of your babies, it's going to be huge! I can't do this. I won't..."
The doctor moves outside to give you a moment as they join you again, soft looks on their faces. Bucky strokes your cheek and rubs his nose against yours. "It's alright pretty girl. I know it's scary, but once it's done we'll have our baby. Our little baby who we can love and treasure and take care of... Let's go and do this now, she's ready and so are we sweetness..."
You nod after a shaky breath and finally you are wheeled into the delivery room.
🍼
After another hour or so you were back in your hospital room, but this time you had a little baby in your arms. It was so quiet compared to the screaming and beeping and talking in the delivery room.
Now it was just the two of you, a baby with a little pink cap softly gurgling and breathing deeply in your arms. She was so beautiful and smelled so heavenly, her warm little body felt like a little hot water bottle. She was so tiny, but your love for her was enormous.
Bucky and Steve joined you and settled on the bed next to you, making a lovely little sandwich of you and your baby girl.
"She's so perfect" you whisper before looking at them both. Bucky's fingers rub over the little pink hat and Steve brushes your hair and presses a kiss to your temple.
"You've done amazing sweetheart. We're so proud of you."
You smile and kiss them both, as your eyes flutter closed, the adrenaline finally running out and exhaustion taking over you.
"Sleep honey, we've got you... We've got you both..."
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mangekyuou · 2 years
Note
Tried to find the characters you write for but i couldn't. So, do you write for Roger? Or Roger pirates in general. If you do, then i would like to send the same request i saw earlier ✸  headcanons  %  when you pamper them in the bath. - ( all the same) with Roger, Rayleigh you can add whoever you want please.
If you don't write them, please respond and tell me
✸  headcanons  %  when you pamper them in the bath.
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✸    characters! . . .  roger, rayleigh, oden & gaban.
✸    cw(s)! . . .  light nsfw. mostly because they’re bathing, nothing really happening. no pronouns used. not proofread. minors dni.
✸    notes! . . .  the roger pirates my beloveds. oh how i would do anything for them <333 i actually don’t write for gaban...but i couldn’t just leave him hanging you know ?? these feels a bit all over the place lmaoo. thank you so much for requesting !!
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roger is very open about how he’s feeling. but he doesn’t want you to worry about him, knowing you have your own things to worry about
when you suggest a bath together to relieve some of his stress, he’s already cannonballing into the water, splashing it everywhere
but you love seeing him so excited
he is a simple man. he doesn’t need all the extra stuff. all he wants is you and some hot water that soothes his sore muscles
behind the pirate king's great curved mustache is you, who keeps it looking luxurious. you are his personal barber, you have an entire kit of oils, waxes, and combs. he pays you for your services in smooches
one thing that roger does not know is QUIET. he's gonna be talking the whole time about everything and nothing at the same as you wash the soap suds off of him
roger is very clingy, even more so in the bath. he can't seem to keep his hands and lips off of you. he'll forget that tonight is supposed to be about him because he's so enthralled with you
he's a big cuddler. he loves cuddling. usually, he is the big spoon. he's never thought about you being the big spoon
but when you shift behind him, letting him rest his back against your chest, he's wondering why you haven't done this before ?!
he loves being the little spoon !! :>
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rayleigh, like roger, is pretty open about how he’s feeling with you. he doesn’t see a reason to hide it. you’ll likely be able to tell anyway
all the stresses of that day seem to melt away when he’s in the tub, with your back pressed against his chest
peace and quiet is not something that happens a lot on the oro jackson. rayleigh is just WAITING for someone to knock on the door and ruin the moment with the news of someone falling into the sea
but that moment doesn’t come because you have already planned for that. tonight was supposed to be about him
rayleigh definitely does need much to be at ease, all he needs is you
BUT...he does appreciate the extra mile you have gone to take care of him
the bubbles, the scented candles, and drinks for the two of you on the side
it becomes less about bathing and more just about enjoying each other's company
he's a HUGE flirt, whether there are people around or not. however, when they aren't around he can say whatever he wants just to see how flustered you become
you can expect a lot of innuendos from him
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oden has an unintentional habit of hiding how he's feeling from you. he doesn't mean to do it on purpose, the lie that "i'm okay!" is so much easier to say than the truth
but you can see it in his eyes. he's running out of steam and he doesn't know how to slow down and take a break
you will likely have to grab him by the face and tell him that it's okay to relax sometimes
when you suggested a hot bath for the both of you to relax, he was immediately on board with the idea
oden is another person who doesn't particularly need all the different kinds of soaps, the bubbles, the romantic lighting...but it's definitely a plus in his book !!
even though he will likely keep messing with and ruining the romantic atmosphere
he is very still as you wash his body, only moving when you need him to. if you look up at him, you'll see that bright smile of his that you fell in love with
when he turns around to let you wash his back, to you it may seem small but to him, it means a lot. he knows that he can trust you and that you will always have his back
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dealing with the roger pirates ?? gaban is STRESSED STRESSED. we all know who is actually holding the reins when roger and rayleigh are off doing each other
and he's complaining and whining to you about it. how he's being overworked and he just needs a break from them to be with you, his sweet baby who he would do anything for, and falls into your lap dramatically
he definitely peeks above his sunglasses to see if it's working or not. it doesn't. but you think he's cute so you're on board anyway.
gaban would definitely be the one who suggests the bath
now he wants it all. the lighting, the candles, the bath bomb, the salts, and the oils. he even has a body scrub for after. he's got this all planned out already but he'll deny it
"what ?? how did all this stuff get in here ? is this yours ??"
most of the bath is just the two of you relaxing in each other's warm embrace in complete silence...since that doesn't happen too often around here
you always forget just how much hair he has until he takes down his ponytail and lets it fly. he loves when you help him with his hair
you think hair like just exists ?? NAH. he has an extensive haircare routine that can be tiresome. the washing, the detangling, the leave-in condition, the moisturizer, the oil, it's a whole process
but it doesn't feel as long and difficult when you help him out. especially after the bath after his hair had dried a little and you braid his hair, he could fall in love with you over and over again
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one-idea · 6 months
Text
Kuina, Zoro and the lookalike
Master post
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
You know what I’m not done talking about it.
Here’s another idea from my reverse strawhats/parallel dimension strawhats
So this is in the east blue. We’re going to loguetown.
So this is really weird to Ace. Being in the town his father was born, raised, and was executed in. Like what a mess of emotions for the dude.
(The crew won’t know about the Gol D. Roger connection until water 7 when Tom tells them stories about Gol D. Roger)
But that’s not who we are focusing on today.
Yes Kaya gets a weapon in Loguetown.
Yes Reiju gets in a cook off.
But again we’re not taking about them.
We are talking about Kuina and Zoro. Or Kuina and the face stealer that looks like Zoro.
I was thinking about it and it would be weird to have Tashigi in this as her whole thing is she looks like Kuina. And the whole thing doesn’t land if Kuina is alive. So switch it to a person who looks like Zoro.
(I found out that Kuina and Tashigi were both named after flightless birds and wanted to keep the name similars going. I looked up the meaning of Zoro and it was sky/moon soooooooo)
Kuina goes off on her own. Maybe looking for supplies to take care of Wado Ichimonji (I don’t think Kuina develops a three sword style. I think she’s still fighting with just the one) and while she’s at the sword store a young man walks in.
He can’t be older the 16. He has striking green hair, an athletic build and a cocky walk. He struts in asking about a sword. The owner of the store seems exasperated as the boy goes through swords quickly. The boy makes a joke about being too strong for regular blades.
His eye catch’s Wado and his interest is peaked.
When he goes to talk to the girl holding the sword she looks like she’s seen a ghost.
Kuina can’t wrap her head around what she’s seeing. The boy looks exactly like Zoro! But that can’t be. Zoro was dead. She was at his funeral. She had mourned him. How dare this stranger walk in wearing his face, having his attitude, this was a mockery of her best friend!
She leaves as quickly as possible but not before learning the man’s name is Tsukin. Even their names share meaning! (Zoro’s meaning sky/moon and Tsukin meaning moon)
Later on after getting her reckless captain out of trouble and running for their lives back to the Merry, Tsukin is there blocking their path. Because of course the lookalike is a marine. And of course he loves fighting.
She stops to duel him while Ace and Reiju race ahead. She beats him with ease. But as he lays there on the ground with both of his swords knocked out of his hands he starts to argue with her about how she needs to do the honor of killing him. And it’s so familiar. He never once questions her strength because she a girl, she was his equal from the moment he realized she knew how to wield her blade.
And it’s so achingly familiar.
She leaves after yelling at him to stop pretending to be Zoro. (A very confusing day for both of them to be honest)
Sailing away she’s quite upset. Ace is to, he just about died on the same scaffolding his father did. That’s when Reiju brings out the barrel for them all to announce their dreams before the grandline.
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artbychromo · 7 months
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so... ace-sabo roleswap AU? (I saw one too many ASL drawings of luffy & sabo laughing tearfully while a transparent ace smiles in ghostly benevolence. now I'm side-eyeing myself like, "...you good?")
au where ace goes missing when asl are kids (after picking a fight he shouldn't have) and is presumed dead... sabo doubles down on watching over luffy and sees him through to the day they both leave
I didn't really firm up anything about the AU, except I think it'd be interesting to see how the brothers' themes would change... like
maybe Sabo's story would explore freedom vs. isolation--all the years that sabo was looking after luffy on Goa and desperately avoiding capture by his parents, he was itching to run away... as much as he loves luffy, sometimes being on the same island as his parents made him feel like he couldn't breathe
his time with the RA gives him a taste of what real freedom is like. a part of him is still trying to reconcile his love for his brothers with how it burdened him at times; after all, threats against them were part of the reason he was captured when he was younger
the climactic moment at marineford;;; would be him finally seeing how it's all connected--how his dream and luffy's and ace's all fed into each other, how the love between them gave him the strength and passion to get up every day. akainu's taunting sabo that weakness and sentiment is all the revolutionaries/pirates know, and compared to the order and stability of the govt, no single one of them will ever stand a chance--"you're like a tiny drop of water against the flames of justice" as he goes after luffy
then sabo can loosely reference one of my favorite cloud atlas lines with "what's an ocean, but a multitude of drops?" as he saves luffy, knowing that this small act of love will billow out a millionfold and he finally feels both free and connected
i guess?????? i don't know
and then
ace's story would still focus on self-worth & love, but give way more emphasis to the idea of unconditional, inherent worth
in the fight that left him separated from L & S, he was trying to sacrifice himself protect them by rushing their attacker and throwing them both over a cliff into a stormy ocean. it knocks him around and nearly drowns him--he clings to a log to float but still winds up passing out from a blow to his head
after drifting ace is found... by the whitebeards? somehow? but when he wakes up, he doesn't remember much about himself. only a feeling like someone out there needs him to protect them, he just doesn't know who
the only thing he can really do about it is beg the WBs to help him get stronger... whitebeard's heart goes out to this kid, who apparently made his entire identity about his family
he tries to subtly teach ace the idea that he doesn't have to be needed by someone to deserve to live/be a part of their family, but it never quite gets through to ace, who's got some sort of allergy to acknowledging his own self-worth (it's really bc he has nightmares about all the terrible things he heard as roger's son)
and then... 8 years have gone by, and ace is looking at a familiar face in a newspaper. he's devastated as he remembers--he knows who needed him now, his family, and he's already failed them
he still feels the need to go find luffy, though, and with WB's blessing he tracks down the strawhats... sick to his stomach the whole time, wondering how luffy will react to such a worthless older brother
[insert the art at the top of the post :) ]
luffy's immediate, unwavering joy at seeing him and learning he's safe makes it all finally click for ace--that he's loved no matter what. or, to quote another fav story, "I'm loved now, but when I wasn't, it didn't mean I wasn't worthy of it."
UH anyway this is sappy and longer than planned. sending this out into the world acting like i don't care about it when in fact, now that i spent this much time on it, i care very much
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heartofjasmina · 7 months
Note
glad you like seeing me in your ask bc i like being here. ♡
another request for some soft x reader goodness. you write soft stuff so well and frankly i can’t get enough. i’ll let you pick a character this time, and as always, anything is fair game. i think we’ve read enough of each other’s writing to know i’ll like whatever you come up with. thanks so much.
<3 thanks so much bunny that means a lot! and I gotta go with my baby Bakugou <3
::
Katsuki spent Saturdays taking care of his baby, come hell or high water. He woke you up bright and early despite your sleepy (and adorable) protests, "'m tired Daddy."
"I know punkin, but its Saturday. You don't want to miss pancakes and cartoons do you?" He bit back a grin when you suddenly bolted upright out of your bed and started to head to the kitchen. "Brush your teeth first brat!"
"Yes Daddy!" You singsonged. Katsuki felt his heart settle into place like it always did in these moments, when he was reminded his best girl was also his most adorable baby who trusted him implicitly.
You two spent the day at home away from prying and judgemental eyes. Katsuki set up a picnic in the living room, with all your favorite stuffies in attendance, including Mr. Rogers the Rhinocerous and your Cinnamoroll. He helped you get dressed in your poofiest princess dress and even put on his only tuxedo to escort you.
"May I, my lady?" He offered you his arm and smiled at the shy giggle that left you as you took it.
"You may, Sir Daddy."
And even though he'd take this to the grave, he let you put your tiara on him when you were having your tea party with finger sandwiches, just to see you burst into a fit of laughter.
"Daddy's a princess!!" You crawled over to him and kissed him all over his face, loving him with truly your whole heart.
"Only for my baby." He grumbled but kissed you back regardless.
The whole day was a treasure for both of you, a memory too keep with you throughout the week when the real world demanded your attention. And that's why you both threw yourselves into your dynamic every weekend. It was the oasis in the desert that you drank from greedily each time.
By bed time you were as exhausted as Katsuki was, but bone deep happy. "Come on punkin, time for teeth brushing and bedtime."
"Okay, but you gotta carry me." You held up your arms and made grabby hands at him, knowing your pro hero husband could easily lift three times your weight.
Katsuki narrowed his eyes at you playfully before picking you up, murmuring as he rolled his eyes, "I'm in love with a little tyrant."
"Your tyrant, daddy!"
"My tyrant. Now brush." He helped you when you got too tired to brush yourself, then grabbed your paci.
When you got really tired you regressed even younger than normal, often not talking- instead using charades and noises to get what you wanted. Like pointing and whining for your paci which wasn't in your mouth fast enough.
"I know I know, here you go." Katsuki's voice gentled even further, knowing that you got even more sensitive like this. "My baby." He kissed your forehead and your nose, smiling when you ducked your head shyly.
He got you both settled in bed and cuddled you close, knowing that tomorrow you'd be yourself and Katsuki, not baby and Daddy anymore. So he soaked up this last moment, giving you a booty rub to relax you further and kissing your forehead and cheeks until you both fell asleep.
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copperbadge · 1 year
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“Breaking into a cemetery”? Sam, dish the tea, please! (And not into Boston Harbour, either). What sort of sightseeing exigency required burglarizing the marble orchard? And how did you evade the gendarmes? This sounds a bit “Leverage”. (Or something a young Steve Rogers might pull.)
Looking back, I'm gonna say like 70% was me being young and stupid and 30% was probably ADHD-fueled impulsivity.
Copp's Hill Burial Ground sits on the flat top of Copp's Hill, with walls all the way around and entrances on opposite sides. The other two sides have houses butted up against the cemetery on one, and a tall wall with a long drop down to the street on the other. Signs posted outside of it say that it opens at sunrise and closes at dusk.
When I got there, which was early but well after sunrise, the main entrance was still locked. I walked around, looking for another one, and on the opposing side (the Charter Street entrance) the gate was also locked, but the wall is very low and so is the fencing. If you look at it on Google Streetview you can see that for a reasonably athletic person it would be fairly easy to get up on the wall and vault the fence.
I thought, well, it's supposed to be open, so probably I won't get into trouble if I climb in. Ah, youth.
So I did, and I had a very nice time; I didn't disturb or vandalize anything, obviously, I just walked around and looked for the gravestones I'd wanted to find (Prince Hall, the Mathers, etc). I still have photos I took that day:
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[ID: A scanned film-camera photo of a cemetery, looking east towards the water, the sun barely touching the tops of the trees; the gravestones are laid out in irregular lines, cut through with brick-paved paths.]
Anyway, I spent a lovely hour or so amongst the stones, and then I happened to look up as a large SUV drove past the west entrance. It slowed down and I felt like it was...looking at me, very clearly visible as the only person in the cemetery. So I started strolling back towards the east entrance. Sure enough, not long after, a police car pulled up to the west entrance, lights going, and I took off running.
I cleared the fence pretty much in a single leap and darted down Charter Street, ducking into an alley where I pulled my coat off and stuffed it in my messenger bag, figuring that would make me harder to identify. The messenger bag converted to a backpack so I did that as well, pulling out the straps and shouldering it. I then strolled Incredibly Casually down the next cross-street to the Old North Church, which was open, and ducked inside just as the cop car rolled past again. I settled down in one of the high-walled pews for about half an hour, just to be safe, and I didn't hear the sirens come past again. It's quite a pretty little church anyway and I had a book, so it wasn't a hardship.
Should I have broken into the cemetery? While it was laughably easy and I had good intentions, probably not. But nobody was harmed, so while it's not a good example to set it's still a fun story to tell, especially in person (I do hand gestures).
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sarahowritesostucky · 3 months
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📖"The Taste of You"
Rating: Explicit
Pairing: Steve Rogers x Bucky Barnes
Tags: Fresh AU, dark rom-com, dark!Bucky, pre-serum Steve, cannibalism, kidnapping, yandere/basement wife, meet cute-ish, gay sex n' stuff, dub-con
Summary: Just when he's given up on ever finding Mr. Right, Steve meets the - seemingly - perfect guy at the grocery store.
A dark, cute, funny, fucked up, and very tasty love story.
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A.N.: It's not as murdery as it sounds 😅 But, as per usual: minors DNI. It's a Fresh AU. "If you can't handle the cannibalism, get out of the kitchen"--or something like that
1. Specialty Ingredients
Steve watches, mouth literally hanging open, as it happens again: his date is stomping away, mad.
He just called Steve a scrawny, cock-teasing twink for making out a little on the sidewalk, but then declining to go back to his place to hook up. The guy pressed the issue and Steve got frustrated and told him tersely that he wasn't interested because they just met, okay? That went over like a lead balloon.
Steve scowls as the jerk disappears around the corner at the end of the block. “Well fuck you too,” he mutters, feeling put out—and okay, a little hurt, too. He’s not a cocktease. He’s not scrawny.
Well, maybe that second one is kind of true, but Steve hates how guys will act like they’re into his small stature when they think he’s a sure thing, but then get all derogatory and mean about it once he tries to tell them he’s looking for more than a hookup and wants to take it slow—and not even hetero people slow; gay guy slow, which is super fast in comparison! Steve just wants to get to know a guy for once before sleeping with him. Is that really so bad?
He huffs and turns around, walking dejectedly back to his car. Another handsome asshole, another hope dashed, another pathetic date. He really does have the worst luck, and he’s getting plain sick of it. He checks his phone before he drives away.
Clint: Well???
Steve sighs. He types back a reply to his friend
Steve: another dud
Clint: dude …
Steve rolls his eyes and chucks the phone onto the passenger seat. He turns the key in the ignition, the radio coming on to an old eighties love ballad that just worsens his sense of dejection. “Fucking figures,” he mutters, putting the car into drive.
He leaves the song playing though, because sometimes wallowing is called for.
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The next morning, Steve wakes up in a glum mood. He tries to focus on his work for most of the day, rather than his horrible luck with dating, but as he paints the hours away he winds up pouting about it anyhow. He sinks further and further into a depressing pit of self-pity and despair.
Clint texts him, asking if he wants to go out and sing karaoke or something, and Steve knows he’s just trying to cheer him up and all, but he really can’t stand the thought of being cheerful right now.
Steve hates gay guys, he thinks, stomping over to the crappy small sink in his crappy small apartment’s kitchen. He runs the water and rinses off his brushes with a vengeance they don’t deserve. Gay guys suck. Steve hates how shallow they all are, how vapid and self-centered. All they want is to go clubbing and fuck around and that’s it. None of them want a real relationship, and they think Steve is boring for wanting to have a meaningful conversation instead of suck their dicks right away. He gets grumpier about it the more he thinks, and he even has the thought that at least if he were straight he could find someone with feelings, a desire for genuine connection. “Gay guys suck,” he mutters to his poor, abused paint brushes.
Nevermind that Steve himself is incontrovertibly homosexual and has no choice in the matter of what his dating pool consists of. After all: ‘Haters gonna hate, players gonna play’. “Gaays gonna gay, gay, gay, gay, gay.” Steve sings the tune under his breath. He just hates it, hates it all. He’s sick and tired of playing the game.
He sends Natalie a nastily self-deprecating text:
Steve: Know any of your girlfriends who might want to date a faggot?
It’s not nice, and he knows she won’t like him using that word in that context.
Natalie Potential Rich!! Buyer: another douche huh?
He sighs and texts back an apology with a huggy emoji.
Steve: Sorry 🤗 Just frustrated. All the good ones are taken and I’m not interested in the skanks who’re left over.
Natalie responds with the “Give that man a Snickers” Diva-meme, which makes Steve realize that he is, in fact, hungry. He needs to get something to eat. He needs to focus on himself for a change. Maybe it’s finally time to stop looking for Mr. Right and just enjoy Steve Rogers. Maybe he should join a gym, start a new hobby, anything to fill up his time with himself rather than another person. 
He goes into the kitchen, thinking that he’ll make something yummy and binge watch a new series off his Netflix list, but scowls at the barren interior that greets him when he opens the fridge door. Nothing good to eat. “Fuck,” he mutters. He’s got to go to the grocery store now before he can sit down with a meal and relax.
And it’s raining outside, too. Just his fucking luck.
His phone ‘pings’ and he looks over at where he’d set it on the counter. The screen is lit up with a new notification from Grindr:
Henry super liked you!
He picks up the phone and opens the app. Henry’s profile pic is only from the neck down, showing off his abs. Steve rolls his eyes. The next picture is his lower half, a pair of tighty-whities stretched over his erection making it lewd, but still within the app’s no dick pic rules. The third pic is of his bare ass in a jockstrap.
Steve spends a second more than he intends appreciating the guy’s backside, but then he growls and jabs his finger at the screen to reject the guy. He’s fucking fed up with this entire thing! On a sudden, right-feeling whim, he exits the app and holds his finger down on the screen until all the icons start wiggling with their little x’s. He quickly proceeds to delete Grindr, Scruff, and Hornet from his phone.
He’s fucking done with dating. He’s giving up. Steve is just not meant to find Mr. Right. Not this year, anyway. He feels lighter after deleting the apps, and he slides his unburdened phone into his pocket with a sense of accomplishment and a shiny new idea: He’s not going to date for a whole year. He’s going to make this The Year of Steve.
Fuck yeah.
He goes to the hall closet to grab his umbrella and rain boots.
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The walk to FreshMart is only four blocks from his apartment, but he still arrives at the grocery store a little damp from the gusting rain. He shakes off his umbrella by the door, grabs a basket, and directs himself towards the produce aisle. He’s added fingerling potatoes and some asparagus spears to his basket, and has just started perusing the meat section when he hears a man’s voice say, 
“Hey, have you ever had this?”
Steve looks over. The guy is holding up a package of bloody red … something. Steve blinks. “Um …”
The stranger twists his lips and shakes his head, looking at the meat. “It’s venison. I thought I’d freak my sister out with something a little different.”
“Your sister?” Steve asks, feeling very odd at being asked his opinion in the middle of the meat department. He looks between the package of raw meat and the stranger—He’s unusually handsome, tall and strong-jawed, brown hair styled in an effortlessly flattering cut. Steve licks his lips nervously. “Um, isn’t that like, deer meat?” He takes a step closer to peer down at the label. “Huh.” He didn’t know regular grocery stores sold that kind of thing. “That’s … exotic,” he says, for lack of a better word.
The stranger chuckles. “Yeah, well. I actually don’t eat animals, so …” he shrugs. “But her and her husband and kids are total carnivores. Thought I’d bring something other than my usual bottle of wine.”
“Oh.” Steve peers up at the man, trying to figure him out. The man smiles sheepishly and Steve winds up smiling, charmed, if somewhat baffled. He looks the man in the eyes and is taken by how pretty they are, how intense. Damn he’s good looking. “Well I, ah, couldn’t tell you what it tastes like. I’ve never had it.” He makes a face. “Like I said, it’s exotic.”
“Oh I love to cook with exotic ingredients. I’m kind of an amateur cuisinier. Or at least I try to be.”
“Oh. Right.” Steve gestures to the blood package. “But you ah … you don’t cook only vegetarian stuff?”
The man grins (and shoot, he’s got an unfairly attractive smile, too). “I guess I just like to satisfy other people’s appetites,” he says, lips parted enticingly. And then his tongue darts out in this totally casual, should-be-illegal sort of way. “I take it you’re a meat eater,” he says knowingly.
Is that a double entendre? Steve thinks it might be a double entendre. Yes! he wants to scream. Yes! He is 1000% a meat eater. He gulps as the guy’s eyes flick down and back up his body in a heated onceover, and Steve may not always be the brightest bulb in the box, but he can tell when he’s being considered. Is this guy really flirting with him? Here? In the freaking grocery store? Is that even a real thing that happens, anymore? Steve flushes and pulls his shopping basket up higher in front of himself, like a shield. “I–I see,” he stammers. “Well … um … yeah.” God, he’s hopeless.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Venison’ll probably be … different.” He nods at the stranger, awkward and aware that the other man isn’t moving away. “Well. Good luck.” He turns and vacantly peruses the meats, pretending that he’s more invested in searching out the perfect porkchop than he really is. He hears the guy’s footsteps moving away.
“Fuck it,” the man says, and turns right back around. He takes a deep breath. “I like your boots.”
“What?”
The guy nods downwards. “Your rain boots. They’re really cute.”
Steve looks down at his feet. His rubber boots are pink and printed with the golden girls’ faces. He looks back up at the stranger, stunned. No straight guy on planet Earth would ever say such a thing. “Um. Thanks.”
The guy holds out his hand, friendly, like he’s not aware he’s acting weird as shit. “I’m James.”
Steve probably stares too long at the offered hand, before he hurries to shove the handles of his shopping basket up onto his one arm so that he can take the guy’s—James’—hand and shake it. It’s pleasantly large over his own hand. “Steve.”
James smiles. He’s arrestingly handsome when he doesn’t smile and Steve feels like an even weaker creature when he does. “Sorry,” James says, looking down shyly. “I uh, I don’t usually do this.”
“Do what?” Steve asks, keenly aware that he may just be about to be propositioned. He winces at the idea of having to turn down another good-looking jerk.
James tilts his head. “Would you …” He hesitates, eyes flicking up and over as a woman passes them. She turns and goes down the soda aisle. He looks back to Steve, distracted. “I was gonna be crazy and ask for your number,” he says, flushing. Steve doesn’t even get a chance to say anything before James is scrubbing his hand over his embarrassed face. “Fuck, I’m sorry. You’re probably not even—” He looks back to the soda aisle where the woman had gone. “Sorry,” he mumbles again, and starts to walk away. “Human disaster in the meat aisle. Just ignore me, please.”
“Wait!” Steve blurts. James turns back around. “Why do you want my number? Were you gonna ask me out? Like on a date?” He uses the word purposefully.
“Well, yeah.” James looks apologetic. “Sorry. I know it’s weird.”
It is weird. But Steve is kind of charmed by the guy’s odd methods. He promptly pushes away his resolution of The Year of Steve. “James,” he says, taking a step closer. “Um, you can. Have my number.” He peeks up at him shyly. “If you want.”
James' happy-surprised-enthused smile is the best one yet. They exchange numbers.
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Clint: Wait, wat do you mean, the grocery store??
Steve: he came over and just started talking to me.
Clint: … that’s weird, man. That’s shady.
Steve: actually it was kind of cute. Kind of idk old fashioned.
Clint: Kind of weird. Whats his Insta?
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Steve doesn’t hear from James for almost three days. He alternates between finding it refreshing, and being disappointed. Maybe Clint’s right. Maybe the guy was just a weirdo.
Then, on the third day, Steve is leaving from his morning shift at Michaels when he hears his phone ‘ping’ with a notification. When he sees the name “Weird Meat Guy” on the screen, his face splits in a grin.
Weird Meat Guy: Been thinking about you since the other day.
Happy butterflies come to life in Steve’s stomach at the flirtatious tone of the text. His first instinct is to force himself to ignore it for at least thirty minutes, so that he doesn’t seem overeager. But then he thinks, fuck it, just like James had said in the grocery store before turning right back around to ask him out.
Steve types a reply.
Steve: hey stranger. Yeah I was wondering how that venison worked out for you. 😂What’s it taste like?
Weird Meat Guy: I don’t eat animals, not even for my sister’s Sunday dinners. But she said it was fine. Not as good as regular old cow, though🐄🥩
Steve: not surprising.
There’s a bit of a pause where he can see James is typing and deleting and typing again. Then,
Weird Meat Guy: Do you want to go out tonight? We could grab drinks or something?
Steve bites his lip, bad memories of “casual” meetups and “just grabbing drinks” dates and what they’ve always led to, in the past.
Steve: let’s go out to eat. At a restaurant or something. A real date.
James texts back almost immediately, and his answer makes Steve beam like a fool.
Weird Meat Guy: Hell yeah. What’s your favorite kind of food?
Steve can’t help it; he has a good-verging-on-great feeling about this guy. He tries to tuck away his expectations that this time it’ll be different. He can still do The Year of Steve if or when this goes wrong. He’ll just try this one last time though. Just once more before he swears off being a “meat eater” for the year.
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He tells James that he really likes Italian food, and the next thing he knows, James is sending him the link to a really nice and expensive Italian place in Brooklyn. Steve thrills at James' enthusiasm, and grimaces at the three dollar signs that Google has lined up beside the restaurant’s name.
He tells James okay, figures he’ll just tighten up his budget a bit for a few weeks after.
James meets him inside the restaurant, at the bar. He’s already got a drink in his hand. “It’s an old fashioned,” he tells him sheepishly. “Sorry to start without you.”
“No, it’s fine.”
“I just get a little nervous when I ask a cute guy out to dinner.”
Steve freezes, but then his mouth twitches. “Oh,” he says. “You, ah … you think I’m cute, huh?”
James grins and winks at him in a way that is devastating and should-not-be-allowed. “Yeah. I sure do.”
Steve is charmed.
The hostess seats them in a dark and cozy booth in the back of the restaurant. Steve settles in and looks around, impressed. “This is a really nice place,” he says, genuinely meaning it but also kind of anxious to open his menu and get a look at whatever prices garnered a $$$ on Google.
“Yeah it’s one of my favorites.” James is grinning at him from across the table. “I was so glad you picked Italian, cause then I knew I had the perfect place to bring you.”
Bring you. Steve looks down and tries not to smile too obviously at the words. “I like it so far,” he says, peeking up coyly at James so that he knows Steve doesn’t just mean the restaurant.
James seems to get it, if his expression is anything to go by.
They open their menus and Steve’s stomach drops at the forty dollar appetizers. Shit. He wishes he’d found a way to mention to James that he’s kind of a starving artist.
“Do you like mushrooms?” James asks, oblivious to Steve’s internal panic. He’s looking across the table at him with eager eyes. “They’ve got the best stuffed mushrooms I’ve ever had. I think they put crack in ‘em.”
Steve laughs despite himself, then decides ‘fuck it’ once again, and closes his menu with a nod. “Sure,” he says. “Let’s do it.” He’ll live frugally for a month if he has to.
James orders them the appetizer and an entire bottle of wine that he knows by its specific name and year. All Steve makes out is the “‘94 ” part of it, and his heart rate picks up. He’s about to really worry about how the hell much a place like this is going to charge for an entire bottle of wine that’s older than he is, but then when the server delivers it and pours for them, James shoots him a wink and tells him, “S’my treat.”
Oh. Steve’s heart flutters as much at the gentlemanly gesture as it does at the possibility that maybe James will pay for the whole meal. A guy can dream.
The mushrooms arrive and Steve gushes to James about how he was right: they are amazing. They get to talking, covering the standard ‘first date’ questions, and it’s stupid and awkward like it always is; but also it isn’t, because James seems to laugh about the awkwardness of it, too. And that makes it kind of fun.
James is thirty-seven to Steve’s twenty-seven (Daddy kink: activated). He has a place in Manhattan but his sister lives in Brooklyn, which is why he was shopping at the FreshMart in Steve’s neck of the woods the other day. He’s got one parent still living, grew up with a loving family but “pretty poor” in Jersey. He hasn’t been in a relationship or even been on a date in “a really long time.” He wants to travel more but he lets his work consume him too much. He doesn’t eat animals.
He’s also really good at making the whole first-date interrogation-phase go smoothly. It’s fun with him, Steve realizes, not awful and strained like it usually would be. Their conversation just seems to flow naturally and easily, both of them smiling almost continually as they chat and joke.
Steve is utterly charmed.
“Okay,” James says, as he pops another mushroom into his mouth and then talks around it. “I’ll do another boring one: what do you do for work?”
Steve gulps and delays answering by taking a sip of the wine—a red that downright tastes expensive. “Um, well my passion is my art. It’s what I went to school for.” He tucks his lips in and shrugs. “But, ya know, ‘starving artists,’ and all that. So I work part time at Michaels, too.”
James doesn’t look like he’s thinking that Steve’s a stereotype or a loser or anything like that. “That’s awesome!” he says, sounding like he genuinely means it. “What kind of art? Or like, what medium do you work with?”
Steve blinks. Nobody ever asks him good questions like this, like they actually care and want to dig deeper into who he really is. “Um, mostly acrylics. Some watercolors and pencil-charcoal sketching,” he says, flustering at the way that James pays such close attention to his answers. “I like to mix it up sometimes, but mostly it’s those three.” He shrugs. “I sell online. I have one really loyal patron—she keeps me afloat. S’nothing that special.”
“Sounds like you know your stuff,” James counters, not letting him insist on his own mediocrity. “If you went to school for it and all, then you must be pretty good. Don’t you have to, like, audition for art school?”
Steve blushes and looks away. “Well. Yeah.”
“And I bet you get all your supplies cheap with the side gig, huh?”
Steve stares at him. “Yeah,” he says, impressed. “Employee discount.”
James nods sagely, as if he’s ever had to worry in his life about the utility of an employee discount. He might’ve grown up poor, but he’s clearly well-off now. Steve can tell that the suit he’s wearing is a custom tailored deal, and the wine he’s ordered for the table has a bouquet of oak and dollar bills. “I think it’s really brave of you,” he’s telling Steve, looking like he admires him or something ridiculous like that. “That you’re following a passion like that? That you can just …” he makes a shaping gesture over the table with his hands, “make something with your own two hands and then sell it? That’s incredible.”
The more James talks, the more Steve gets his hopes up that he might actually be A Really Great Guy™️. Steve can hardly stand to take all the compliments, so he turns the question back around on James: “What about you? What do you do for work?”
James hesitates. “... I’m a surgeon.”
Steve’s eyes go wide and his mouth drops open, making him look like A Gold Digger™️, probably. He closes his mouth. “Oh. Wow, that’s … that’s neat. Medical school, then, huh?”
James smiles through a wince, as if being a freaking doctor is no big deal. “Yeah. It was rough for a few years, but I got through it. I’m in a good place now. It’s pretty smooth sailing.”
“So do you work at like a hospital or something?”
“Not exactly.” He stares at him for a long moment, then suddenly says, “Gosh, I’m just really attracted to you, Steve.” Steve blinks, taken-aback. He reaches for a hurried sip of his wine and tries to think of a response to the weird shift in conversation. “Sorry,” James hurries. “I just felt like I had to say it.” He gives Steve a tender look rather than a lecherous one, which is a welcome change from the usual script. “I think I might really like you.”
Steve flusters and averts his eyes to the tabletop, peeking back up at James a few times. The guy is totally focused on him. It’s intimidating, but not in a bad way. “Yeah,” Steve eventually manages to murmur. “Yeah I think you might be nice.”
James teases him about the ‘nice’, and they fall into easy banter again as they finish the mushrooms and open up their menus to choose their entrees. Steve’s once again fixated on the prices, and he immediately starts trying to see if there’s anything under sixty dollars …
“By the way,” James says casually, not looking up from where he’s reading his menu. “I know this place is fucking ridiculous: I got it covered.”
He says it all easy and nonchalant, like it’s no big deal that he’s treating Steve to what’s probably a three hundred dollar dinner, and Steve once again feels like he’s on a date with a hero, a real gentleman. “Kay,” he says smally, feeling delighted and hopeful as heck on the inside. 
He orders a seafood linguini, and James gets a spinach and cheese tortellini dish. “This is so good,” Steve practically moans around a mouthful of his food. 
James makes a noise of agreement, stuffing another tortellini shell in his mouth. “Mmph.”
“So you really don’t eat any meat?” Steve winds up asking. “Like, not even fish or chicken or anything?” Where does he get his protein? James looks like he keeps in good shape …
James chuckles. “Nope. Haven’t touched the stuff for … gosh, almost fifteen years.”
“Wow.” Steve spears up another shrimp from his pasta and wonders if it offends James. “So like, is it an ethical thing or just …”
“No, no. I just kind of had this epiphany one day—while I was tenderizing a thigh, mind you—that all the things I was eating were living creatures, that we’re animals just like they are.” He makes a thoughtful face as he considers it. “It’s not a moral viewpoint so much as it is a …” he trails off and his eyes return to Steve with an apologetic shrug. “I dunno. My viewpoint shifted that day. Couldn’t shift it back. I’ve tried so many other things now, animal meat just doesn’t taste the same anymore.”
“I can respect that.” Steve wiggles his fork that’s speared with a juicy scallop. “As long as you don’t mind this.” 
“No, no way. Don’t you remember where we met?”
Steve snickers. “Oh yeah, how could I forget. What was it you said? You like to ‘satisfy other people’s appetites’?” He chances a flirty look across the table. “Wasn’t that how you put it?”
James chews, smirking, and he winks at Steve again. Goddamn. “Yeah,” he says lowly. “Yeah. I sure do.”
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On the sidewalk outside the restaurant they stand close together, bundled in their jackets. Neither one of them seems to want to leave. “Thanks again,” Steve says. “For dinner. It was really nice.”
“My pleasure.” James takes a step closer, so that they’re almost toe to toe. “I was so excited to go out with you,” he says. He brings a hand up and traces the side of Steve’s face with the backs of his fingers, not looking at Steve’s eyes but rather where he’s touching his cheek. “You’re different,” he murmurs. "And I knew it the moment I met you."
Wow, what a fucking intense thing to say. Steve … doesn’t hate it. “I am?” he whispers, watching his breath swirl on the air between their faces.
“Mmhm. I can tell.” 
Steve shivers and fights the urge to press into James’ touch on his cheek. It feels unduly intimate, and they’re already so close. “I was excited for tonight, too,” he confides. “I’ve had a lot of bad luck with dating. Was getting sick of trying, to be honest.”
“But?” James asks softly, and Steve looks up at him, for once feeling open and honest enough to just admit,
“But I didn’t meet you on some app. And you liked my stupid Golden Girls boots.” James chuckles and Steve looks up, taking in his face up close: the dimple in his chin, the creases of age that’ve barely begun to collect at the corners of his eyes, that one tiny patch of grey in his beard. It makes him all the more insufferably handsome. “And you’re charming,” he whispers. “So there’s that.”
James smiles softly. “Aw, shucks.”
“I think you’re a really nice guy, James. I’d like to see you again.”
James' smile widens hopefully. “Yeah?” he says, leaning even closer.
“Yeah. I think, well … I just think …”
“What?” James touches his face again, this time palming his cheek. “Tell me.”
“Oh, it’s nothin’.” Steve finally lets his eyes slip closed, enjoying the feeling of James’ hand on his skin, the cologne he gets a whiff of when they’re standing this close. “You smell nice.”
“Thank you. Still haven’t told me what you were gonna say.”
Steve smiles sadly. “Oh, I’m just getting my hopes up about you, is all.” He’s still got his eyes closed when James kisses him. He inhales sharply through his nose, surprised. But he doesn’t pull away, and they just … keep kissing.
Eventually James cups his face with both hands and Steve moans, because the way James is kissing him feels so natural and good. He feels like he can taste James' good intentions as they make out softly, right there on the sidewalk.
When they part they’re both panting a little, heavy-lidded eyes flicking over one another, gauging, desire tinged with uncertainty. “That was …” James breathes.
“Yeah,” Steve says, and they both stare at each other for another long moment, before Steve says, “Fuck it,” and surges in to grab James by his jacket and kiss him again, this time harder. James whimpers needily into his mouth, and heat shoots through Steve’s belly at hearing it, arousal flaring to life faster than he can handle. Suddenly his pants feel a little tight, and he wants James so badly he can hardly stand it. “Oh man,” he groans, pulling away from the kiss, grimacing at himself for what he’s about to say. “I really, really never do this,” he promises against James' lips. “But … Do you want to go back to my place?”
James' eyes widen. “Yeah,” he breathes. “Fuck. Yeah, okay.”
They kiss eagerly one more time and then hurry off, giddy, hands clasped, and headed in the direction where James says he’s parked his car.
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