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ttalgi · 1 year

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cupid ꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱ diluc x fem!reader

:01 feeling lonely

synopsis: growing up a hopeless romantic, you always believed in cupid. however because of your social anxiety, you end up as a loner and start to lose hope,,until fate has you move nextdoor to diluc, the all-star bachelor of teyvat university

cw: small amount of depressing/depreciating thoughts; if there's more, please let me know

small smau + 2.7k written portion

Thirty-seven minutes have passed since you parked the moving truck into the residential parking space, and yet you haven't made an attempt to get out.

Actually, that's a lie.

You've been trying to mentally prepare yourself, but each time ends in failure because of thoughts like these.

‘What if when I try to move my mattress, it accidentally falls on top of me and I can't move and need help to get it off of me.' and 'I feel like there's so many people out and about right now. I know that they're going to see me alone and think that I'm a loser...'

In reality, only about four people have passed by in the time frame that you’ve been parked, but to you, four feels the equivalent to 100. Now having thought of your worries again you realize that yeah, a couple of more minutes before heading out couldn't hurt.

Slumping back into the cushioned driver’s seat, you let out a small giggle thinking of how the seat probably has a mold of your body indented into it. You start your mental timer of five minutes before an unnerving thought emerges and jumps to the front of your mind. What are you forgetting, what are you forgetting, what are you forgetting?!

You spend a good minute racking your brain until this particular sun ray angles itself to blind you momentarily an- ‘Oh my god, Lumi should be here any minute now.’

Hastily grabbing your phone, you go to the conversation between the two of you to look at the timestamps. If you take into account the six minute drive from campus to the Starbucks in front of Windwail Highlands, the seven minute wait in the drive thru line, and the one minute venture from the Starbucks to the building complex; you realize that your theory is correct.

At times you worry that Lumine is worried about you. Ever since meeting in your guys’ shared dorm room two years ago, she’s experienced just how disencouraging your social anxiety can be in your everyday life. Lumine never fails to be caring towards you, and sometimes she even reminds you of a mother hen. Wanting to show her that you can easily do simple tasks such as moving boxes in new settings, you defrost the actor in you and put on your performance called “showing Lumi that you can be semi confident doing things in public without being with someone that you're comfortable with.”

‘I should really work on my naming skills.’

Having found a new motivator, you unlock and open the weighted door to hop down from the raised truck onto the asphalt. You go to grab your phone and the rental truck keys to slip into each of your back jean pockets before turning to the back of the truck and closing the door behind you. Stepping up to the raised sidewalk, you reach up to unlock the back double doors of the truck and carefully swing the doors out to the sides.

It’s kind of amusing seeing as how you arranged all of your boxes like you were playing a game of Tetris; except the only pieces that you were given are the squares and a single line piece representing your mattress. This is making you remember that you really don’t have a lot of difficult items to haul, so the whole process shouldn't be too hard…right?

After carefully lowering the deck ramp, you grab the hand truck that’s sitting to the side and then start to maneuver some of the smaller and lighter boxes onto the dolly platform. Successfully loading on two boxes, you begin to slowly tilt the cart backward towards you; you walk down the ramp and continue until you’re about to enter the elevator doors when you notice a white sedan pulling up and parking a space over your rented U-haul.

Bea, also known by her full name Beatrice. Bea is Lumine and Aether’s shared car that they got as a present for their 18th birthday. The 2021 Toyota Camry, although still fairly new, has definitely seen some things; examples being when they drove their little sister Paimon to Klee’s birthday party. Lumine told you that since they’re great friends in their grade school classes, Paimon wanted to give a whole food platter because “food is the greatest gift.” However, things quickly went awry when Paimon “accidentally” opened the container and started to eat one of the sandwiches. Then when an unnoticed speed bump appeared, the entire platter ended up nestling into each crevice of Bea. On rare occasions, you swear that you can smell deli meat while being a passenger in Bea…

Anyways, while reminiscing about the story, you register that the driver side door has been opened and that a blonde head with its signature blue flower clip now starts to become visible above the top of the car. You automatically start to smile and call out to Lumine, who’s holding two iced lattes in her hands. "Lumi! My pookie bear! I’ve missed you so much!”

She starts to gleefully skip towards you, careful to not spill the drinks. "Y/n! My scrunkle! My pookie bear! I missed you so much while in our class today," finishes Lumine stopping in front of you with a pout on her face.

Returning it with your own pout when you say, “trust me when I say that missing Professor Ningguang's classes scare me. Like, I know attendance isn’t a part of the grade, but missing her classes?!…feels unnerving.” You start to shudder a bit just thinking about it. “Plus, starting early in the morning today was the only time that they would allow me to park and unload the U-Haul for some reason."

Lumine starts to tilt her head to the side. "Huh..that is weird not going to lie. But! I see that you've started already!” She uses her elbow to press the elevator button for the both of you. “Come on! Let's go and put these boxes inside your place already. Then we can finish our drinks real quick and move the rest of the boxes together.”

The doors open with a ‘ding!’, and you wheel the hand truck backward into the elevator with Lumi squeezing in beside you. Not being able to press the floor button yourself, you ask Lumine to push the ‘4’ button on the side panel. After pressing the switch, Lumine starts to give you a quick crash course lesson of what happened in your guys’ shared “Principles of Microeconomics” class today.

“And then Childe had the GALL to interrupt Miss Ningguang saying things that I couldn’t even bother to remember.”

You ponder for a second before asking who this Childe person is. You've never been the best with names or faces, especially since you tend to look down for most of the time. After learning that he’s tall with ginger hair and plain blue eyes, the elevator doors open and the two of you exit the metal box.

Walking down the corridor Lumine questions which number yours is, and you respond saying that it’s apartment 440D and that it should be right around, “A-ha! Here it is!”

Still holding onto the dolly, you ask Lumine to take the keys from your pocket and to open the door to your new place for the upcoming year. Walking through the door first, you set the cart to the side and spin back around to Lumine, amusing her with your impression of pretending to be on an episode of the show “MTV cribs.”

The two of you drink your lattes while you give Lumi a quick tour of your one bedroom apartment. With the beverages basically chugged down, Lumine begins to push her sleeves up with a determined look. "Alright, it's game time."

"WHEW! We…finally…hauled the mattress up…"

After a particularly rough shove of the mattress through the door, you kick the door shut and practically dive to the floor in exhaustion. You can’t stop heaving, feeling that there’s not enough air on the planet to bring your lungs back to normal. It’s at times like these where you think to finally accept Lumine’s invitations to join her at the gym.

You can tell that Lumine’s in a better state, due to being fit with her regular weightlifting sessions, but she ends up joining you on the floor to cool down beside you, allowing herself to take a break. Taking your hand in hers, she starts to shake it back and forth with joy on how the both of you finished the job. “I know that it only took two hours, but that sure was draining. I’m really proud of us, Y/n!”

The two of you stay on the solid hardwood floors and end up in small banter, not realizing another hour passing by.

“Oh yeah! I actually have a friend who lives in this complex as well. Though, I don’t know the exact unit since he switched when his old lease ended a couple of months ago.”

You were about to respond when your thought process was halted by feeling a twinge in your stomach, making you realize that it’s been a while since you ate in the morning. “Hey Lumi, are you hungry?” Continuing after you hear her hum of agreement, “Do you wanna head to the new sushi place with the revolving belt? Uyuu Restaurant. I saw that it just had its grand opening the other day."

Lumine stands up with a swiftness you didn’t know existed, and you swear that you could see visible sparkles around her figure. She picks you up from your lying position and your only thought at that moment was that this must be how her barbells feel.

After having a satisfying meal and successfully paying the entire bill as a way of thanks, Lumine drops you back at Windwail Highlands before needing to go back to campus and attend her club meet. Before Lumine drives away, she tells that the two of you should meet up for lunch on campus, and you agree while waving her goodbye.

It’s now the late afternoon and frankly all you want to do is spend the rest of your day indoors, but you still have the U-Haul truck to take back. Once again settling into the driver's seat, you set your phone GPS to the nearest location which, thankfully, was only a three minute drive from the complex. After completing the dreadful drop off process, you awkwardly power walk to get on the bus waiting at the entrance to the U-Haul lot.

A factor that you love about this area, is that the public transport is one of the best, with relatively frequent arrival/departure times and numerous locations, some being Teyvat University and Windwail Highlands. However, a factor that you hate is how public the public transportation is. Having to be surrounded by strangers is a complete nightmare that you can't wake up from.

You did have your own car that you used to commute with, your 2016 Honda Accord that you’ve named Franny, aka Frank. But since you moved to a walkable area with good transportation, your parents wanted you to leave him at their house so he could be used as an extra family car. Not having a choice, you reluctantly departed ways with Frank this morning. All you could wish for is that your siblings don’t completely ruin him.

The bus commute comes to a stop when it finally halts at the Windwail Highlands station bench. Wanting to escape the sea of people (there were six other people onboard, including the bus driver) and the abnormal October afternoon heat, you don’t hesitate to dart straight for Unit 440D.

Forgetting that you haven’t unpacked anything was a big hit to your hp meter, especially since you know that leaving it for tomorrow would completely knock you out. You start to make a list of the priorities to unpack, just so it doesn’t seem overwhelming to unpack everything today.

‘Let’s see. First I should move my mattress to the bedroom, then unpack my bathroom products, then all of my clothe- wait, my dresser hasn’t come yet…then some of my clothes with the hangers, then my snacks.'

Deeming your list as complete, you go to find your headphones so you don’t have to spend unpacking alone in silence.

The next hour was surprisingly productive, most likely from the OSTs fueling your imagination as being the main character for once. It was halted when you decided to snack for a bit to get a quick power up. Taking a moment to pause, you grasp that even with all of the full cardboard boxes surrounding you, you feel barren and alone.

'Like how it always is.'

Your first thought is to text Lumi and absorb yourself into a conversation with her, but the devil on your shoulder sometimes can't help but to indulge himself onto your thoughts.

'I said that I could do things myself, deal with things myself, didn't I.' You feel your heart heavy in your chest, tossing, turning and folding itself up. 'I know that I'm being too clingy anyways.'

Waiting to escape from these thoughts, you subconsciously put yourself in autopilot as you leave your unit and end up in front of the playground that sits across from your specific building. You allow yourself to drag your feet until you end up slumping onto one of the swing sets.

With a pathetic attempt of swinging, you only end up slightly jostling yourself before coming to a stop. You can't help but to reminisce of the times when your parents would push you since your legs couldn't reach the bottom. Kicking the ground with greater force, it gives you the momentum to start swinging your legs. You could perfectly swing yourself, but all that you could wish for at this moment would be to not have to push yourself on the swings. To have someone pushing your back. To have your back.

To have to not feel lonely anymore.

Deciding to stop swinging your legs, you let the momentum allow you to continue to ride the wind back and forth until you come to a gradual slow still. You take a moment to stare at your sneakers, the same pair that your parents once bought you as a gift for getting accepted into Teyvat University. The once pristine and creaseless kicks now appear dull and beat up, and you can’t help but think that your shoes remind you of yourself at this very moment.

‘But worn out shoes show that they're loved.’

The corner of your lip twitches upwards and you sharply exhale out of your nose realizing that even in your dim moments, Lumine’s words never fail to pierce through the shadows, illuminating themselves to be seen once again. With your head now feeling a bit clearer and lighter, you finally raise your head and notice that you’re not as alone as you once were.

Gazing from left to right, you spot a couple of teens playing basketball and/or skateboarding in the court beside you, as well as the handful of joggers on the sidewalks surrounding the area. You let yourself slip out of the rubber seat and let go of the metal chains holding the swing up. Reaching your hand into your hoodie’s front pocket for your phone, you start to panic when you don’t feel the familiar device. Your panic ends as quick as it started when you spot it on a pile of wood chips a bit to the side where the swing naturally rests.

Bending down to grab your phone, you feel your body start to ache. Now knowing that your moving endeavors from the day are catching up to you, you decide that you want to simply head straight to your apartment to rest up for the night. It should have been simple, just walking 20 meters without any incidents.

‘It never is for me.’

Your first mistake was having your headphones still connected and playing music, unknowing of the warning call directed your way. Your second mistake was paying attention to your phone rather than focusing on where you place each of your steps. Your right foot landed on a spare skateboard that rested on the edge of the sidewalk, and not thinking, you tried to take a step forwards with your left foot making you start to fall face first.

Everything happened so fast that it’s still complicated to process what happened. All you saw was a flash of red before feeling arms wrap around you and your face pressing against something firm before falling to the ground.

scrunkle: "used to describe something or someone cute" (as seen on urban dictionary; me and my friends started to use this and it just stuck with me)

the moving process could have definitely taken less than two hours,,if only you guys hadn't started talking about aespa's new album

since lumine/aether don't have canonical birth dates, i'll just say that their birthday is on 1/1, new years !!

prev • masterlist • next

notes: this chapter took so long to write,,maybe i was just too nervous to actually post it 乁₍ッ₎ㄏ

i feel like you could see where i derailed in the middle but anywho,,hope you guys enjoyed hehe

taglist: open! @whipped-for-fictionals @aisclosed @cieluna @freshlaundry

#cupid ꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱#genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #diluc x reader #diluc x you #genshin smau #ttalgi stans diluc #ttalgi writes

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cowardlychimera · 1 year

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Chimera I'm staring at u w my autistic eyes please share your theories w me

I love love Yume Nikki and Omori parallels I once read someone's comment saying "Black Space is a love letter written to Yume Nikki," which is so true to me!!!!! AGHH

ah okay!! fair warning though that this might just be me getting excited over a cool idea lol and might be wrong

okay so: 2 things I noticed that seem similar in both. windows and doors.

when someone hears the word daydreamer, the first thing they think of might be someone staring out a window, right?

and we know Madotsuki and Sunny both prefer their dreams over reality. so windows = inaction. observing, going with the flow.

this fits I think, since in omori, what's one very important window?

this.

Mari says Sunny's seen this before, when he almost drowned. he almost drowned because he gave in. he didn't believe he could do anything, so he didn't.

don't have much for yume nikki about windows tbh though, just that from what I remember Madotsuki's name might refer to windows (if there's anything I don't know of/forgot please share!)

okay now doors!! doors definitely tie these 2 games together! doors = action. choosing to do something instead of just letting things happen

Madotsuki refuses to open her door. she refuses to make the choice to leave, seeming to prefer her dreams over reality. Sunny can do the same. the front door that Kel knocks on, it's Sunny's last chance to fix things. he gets to choose.

and in white space and Madotsuki's dream room? they can leave whenever they want to, through a door! same thing with nexus/door room/whatever you wanna call it and black space! they get to choose what doors to open. they get to choose whether or not they want to accept reality. and even more in omori, the door to Basil's bedroom and his hospital room. he doesn't have to open those doors. whether he faces reality and tries to fix things is up to him. and the door to the roof too! once he walks through the door, he can't go back. he already made his choice.

and sliding glass doors? I'm not 100% about these yet, but sliding glass doors could represent a choice they might want to make, but are hesitant to for whatever reason. they're like a combination of windows and doors! in omori, they're shown in both reality and black space/after finding the photo where Sunny pushed Mari. they're Sunny's want and choice to face reality and accept it, attempting to fix things. but in yume nikki? Madotsuki wants to escape. there's 2 events (I've only triggered one of these 2 so far, so info on one might be incorrect!) where Madotsuki can fly away, and unfortunately fall, the witch event and the spaceship + spaceship event. one has her flying through the clouds, and falling from the sky, while the other has her flying through the stars, also falling from the sky (if you manage to trigger the event, that is). Madotsuki wants to fly away. the sliding door could represent her want, and her choice to escape reality.

okay okay I'm almost done lmao hang in there

now, closets! (once again, I haven't explored any closet stuff in yume nikki yet lol so I might be wrong about stuff) first, in omori! it's obvious Sunny doesn't want to acknowledge the closet is broken violin is hidden in, going far enough for it to even disappear for him! the closet represents something he's hiding. there is a phrase, "skeleton in the closet", that refers to a secret someone wants to hide. so this theory fits the closet in omori! it might also fit the closets found in yume nikki.

Madotsuki doesn't want to find herself.

(also final thing: these things probably do represent more than just this. this is just stuff I noticed seems connected to both games so far! also also I haven't finished yume nikki yet lol so once again feel free to correct me if anything's wrong)

#all photos are taken from the wikis!#anyways I hope this isn't too hard to read I got excited lol #not main tagging this because that sounds terrifying #get nervous about sharing my theories because I'm always worried someone will see em and think I'm stupid/wrong or something </3 #oh well take this anyways #I looove rambling about theories #one more time if anything here is wrong please feel free to correct me!! I'd be very glad!#okay okay I'll post this now #penny for a thought #chimera babbles

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beepboop358 · 3 years

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How Time Moves in the Upside Down

I've had this theory for awhile now but with all the increasing clock imagery in promos and since we know time is going to be a big theme in s4, I think it might finally be discussed**

I think the time theme in s4 could have 2 components:

The time theme will probably mainly be about the clocks representing memories and the characters will experience "time travel flashbacks", where they are essentially transported back to the time of the memory through the powers of the void/upside down.

** I think Time moves faster in the upside down, than it does in our dimension.

In s2, right before Will sees the shadow monster/mindflayer outside his front door, the camera pans over some things in his house.

The dining room, a dripping water faucet, and then a zoom in on the drips (water has significant in the show relating to the upside down/El's powers-maybe Will's too), and a clock, which is ticking abnormally fast.

Here's the clip: (sorry for the terrible quality I had to record my laptop screen with my phone because Netflix doesn't let you screen record)

When the front door of his house opens, Will sees a storm in the upside down. The camera focuses in on the goosebumps on the back of Will's neck, and he always gets goosebumps on the back his neck (and touches it) whenever the mindflayer is close in s3.

This is one of Will's seeing into the upside down dimension/splitting two worlds moments, like a "view master caught between two slides". Will is able to split between both our dimension and the upside down and inhabit both through his powers, and what everyone else calls " at first believes are "episodes" he is having, before they realize it's all real and not just in his head. Will isn't just having a vision of the upside down, he's really there (confirmed by the goosebumps on his neck and the vines on his house - and we also find out later in the season), which is how we know the clock in his house moving abnormally fast is a reference to how time moves in the upside down.

To confirm that the clock is actually moving faster, I timed the clip and estimated how fast the clock was moving to compare.

The clock clip begins with the secondhand just past 12, and ends with the secondhand in between 2 and 3:

Analog clocks like this one have 5 SECONDS between each hour-marking number. Here, the second hand moves through the 12 section, past the 1, past the 2, and on is way to 3, which is roughly 9-12 seconds, but the actual clip is only about 6.5 SECONDS long.

I tried to get a fairly accurate estimate of how many seconds pass in this clip by making second marks (but badly lol) and it looks like the clock's secondhand starts between the 1st and 2nd second (it's really hard to tell if it should be on the 1st or 2nd second because my lines are not 100% accurate so I'm saying its in the middle to be safe lol). The clip ends in the second image between the 1st and 2nd second, but it looks like it is almost on the 2nd second, so I'm going with that.

This estimate would put it at 10.5 seconds long, definitely faster than the real time clip length of 6.5 seconds. Will is in the upside down, splitting dimensions during this scene, so this proves time moves faster in the upside down.

And then because I'm insane I also tried to calculate the ratio to determine exactly how much faster time moves in the upside down than in our dimension to find out how long Will really was in the upside down in the way he experienced it. 10.5 divided by 6.5 comes out to 1.61538462. The ratio can also be calculated as 21:13, but still comes out to the same 1.61538462.

In conclusion, time moves 1.61538462 times faster in the upside down than it does in our dimension. (roughly)

Will was in the upside down for 7 days (a week) in our dimension’s time, but for Will he experienced that time as 11 days, because thats how much time passed in the dimension he was in. (7/11 reference)

Because time moves faster in the upside down, more time actually passes, not less. Like in the clock clip; 10.5 seconds pass in the upside down while 6.5 seconds pass in our dimension. Think interstellar vibes. The perception of time varies between worlds/dimensions. I haven't seen this concept explicitly in any 80's movies so please let me know if you have!

I won’t bore you all by just writing out math problems and conversions BUT if we apply this ratio to our time:

24 hours our time is actually 38 hours upside down time.

A week in the upside down is actually 11.20 days, compared to our week of 7 days.

One hour in upside down time is 1.615384619444 hours in our time.

So, Will was actually in the upside in the upside down for around 11 days.

Which further raises the question, how the heck did he survive 11 DAYS seemingly with no food or water, running from a supernatural monster in a dimension where the atmosphere is toxic, and everyone else who was taken died pretty much immediately after?! Idk I think the only possible solution for this is that Will has supernatural powers of some kind, or he is extremely special in some way.

All of those calculations are assuming that my 10.5 to 6.5 ratio is actually correct - I could have been off by half a second or so in estimating with the clock drawings, so the actual numbers could be slightly different, but the principle still stands.

Then I started thinking maybe the ratio isn't constant or fixed. We really don't know anything about the upside down and how it works or what it even is really, so maybe time there doesn't run at a constant speed, maybe its faster or slower in certain places, I have no idea, just something to think about. Personally, I kind of hope it is a fixed rate.

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crackheadgeminibby · 3 years

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you can't change the past

pairing: steve rogers x wilson!reader, bucky barnes x wilson!reader

warnings: angst, language, TW mentions of depression, suicidal thoughts and abortion

word count: 5.1k

a/n: i rewatched endgame and remembered how much steve leaving annoyed the shit out of me so there. also i 100% took that ripple quote from x-men so yeah, enjoy:)

i do not consent to my work being copied in any way, shape or form or reposted on any other platform

not my picture

You’re leaning on a tree next to your brother as you wait for Banner to finish calibrating the time machine. In the distance, you see Steve hugging Bucky before making his way towards you. You stand up as Steve gets to your level. He smiles softly before looking towards Sam,

“Hey, can you give us a second, please?”

Sam nods before walking towards Bucky and striking up a conversation with him. You smile up at Steve before stroking his cheek and asking,

“What’s up?”

Steve’s eyes flutter close as he leans into your palm before saying, barely above a whisper,

“I’m not coming back, sweetheart.”

Your hand falls from Steve’s face as a frown etches itself onto your face.

“What?”

Steve slowly opens his eyes, looking into yours, before replying,

“When Tony and I went to 1970 for the Tesseract and the Pym particles, I saw Peggy… I thought I had moved on but… We’re meant to be together.”

You feel a lump forming in your throat as you take a step back from Steve, hurt clear on your face.

“I thought we were?”, you ask, voice cracking at the end.

“So did I… But when I saw her again, it just felt like the universe was giving me a second chance and I can’t not take it.”

As tears start to fall down your face, the air around suddenly feels freezing as a shiver shakes your body. You look towards the ground, trying to find something, anything to say. You’re not sure how long you stay there but you’re pulled back to reality when Banner tells Steve that the machine is ready.

“Y/N… Please, say something.”

Your eyes stay fixated on the ground beneath your feet, “What does Bucky think about this?”

You hear Steve’s breath stop shortly before he exhales slowly, “I didn’t tell him.”

You scoff before shaking your head slowly and kicking a pebble.

“You know, Steve, there’s a theory in quantum physics that time is immutable. It’s like a river: you can throw a pebble in and create a ripple, but the current always corrects itself. No matter what you do the river just keeps flowing in the same direction.”

You look up at Steve, before finishing, “You can’t change the past, Steve. But thank you for making your feelings about me crystal clear.”

You turn around, practically running back to your car, driving back to the tower.

Through your tears and sobs, you don’t hear that someone has followed you back and has entered your room. A hand softly touches your back, startling you, as you turn around rapidly, whispering, hopeful, “Steve?”

“Sorry, doll. It’s just me…”, you hear Bucky’s soft voice answer.

You feel your sobs wracking through your body even harder than before as Bucky climbs into your bed, taking you into his arms. You cry into his chest, listening to his heartbeat until you eventually hear his breathing become ragged.

Through your teary vision, you look up at Bucky, now also crying, as he looks down at you,

“He left me too, you know.”

You wrap your arms around Bucky, trying to comfort him while also letting yourself cry.

As soon as Steve had returned all of the stones to their respective times and places, he had made a beeline for Peggy’s house. He had made sure to look up all the information he needed beforehand, so he didn’t have to wait a second before making his way to her.

Walking up to her front door, a bouquet of flowers in hand, he could feel the slightly chilly fall Washington air nipping at his cheeks with the sun setting in the distance.

Knocking on the door, Steve adjusts his tie, feeling the anticipation rise in his throat. After what seems like forever, the door to the Carter residence opens, Peggy herself standing on the threshold.

She is visibly shaken as her eyes widen immeasurably before she whispers, “Steve?”

Steve smiles back at her, replying, “Hey Peggy… I’m back.”

Peggy glances over her shoulder before pushing Steve farther away from the house, closing the door behind her. She crosses her arms over her chest before looking up at Steve,

“Steve, what are you doing here?”

Steve’s smile falters before stutters, “What do you mean? I came back… For you.”

Peggy shakes her head softly before answering, “Steve… I’m married. To a man I love. And I’m pregnant.”

Steve looks down at her and for the first time, he notices her inflated belly. She was not very far from giving birth.

“But, what about us?”

Peggy frowns, “Steve, we missed our chance… Gabe and I are happy.”

Steve lets his arms fall to his side, the bouquet of flowers now upside down, petals flying away in the wind. He opens and closes his mouth once, twice, three times, unable to find anything to say.

He looks at his feet before mumbling, “Can I just stay the night? I don’t have anywhere else to go. I’ll be gone tomorrow morning.”

Peggy sighs deeply before reluctantly nodding her head and opening the door, letting Steve into the house.

As Steve falls asleep that night, he only sees your face from the last time he saw you. Hurt and anger, maybe even disgust on your face. He thinks about the ways in which he will try to win you back, despite the amount of time he had been away. He wasn’t sure how long his one day spent in the past will have been in your life. But he hopes that not enough time has passed for you to have forgotten about him.

As it turns out, five years had passed since he had left. He was confused at first when he came back. The machine Banner had left in the woods behind the Avengers facility had been left there but it was full of dust. The facility, which had been destroyed when he left, was now completely rebuilt and vibrant with life. He had been discreet, walking through the woods to get back to the city without being seen.

From there, he had been able to find a disguise to do research on where you were now. He had learned that you had moved back to Louisiana with Sam and were currently residing there.

As soon as he found out, he rented a car and made his way to you. The road was long but no place on this Earth was too far for him to travel so he could see you again.

When he got to Louisiana, he only had to ask one person to be pointed in your direction. Apparently, the Wilson family was like royalty in these parts. So, he was surprised when he arrived at the house that was indicated to him to find the door widely open, seemingly no one in sight.

Steve walks up the steps leading to the house, hearing someone running towards the door. He is taken aback when he sees a small girl stop suddenly in front of the door. She stares at Steve with wide eyes; she couldn’t be more than 6 years old, with short curly hair secured into pigtails and soft amber eyes.

Still staring at him, the child opens her mouth, “Mommy, there’s a man at the door!”

He hears feet padding their way to the door before he hears, “Lizzie, baby, how many times have I told you not to go to the door a-”

You stop abruptly in your tracks as you see before you the man you thought you would never see again. Your breath hitches as a lump grows in your throat.

“Steve?”

Steve smiles softly, “Hey sweetheart.”

You feel the air thickening as your eyes start to sting. You hold your hand out towards your child, setting it on her shoulder, before saying, “Elizabeth, go see Uncle Sam on the dock, okay?”

Completely unbothered, the child responds, “Okay, mommy.”, turning around and running towards what seems to be the kitchen.

You stay rooted to your spot, unable to move or say a single word and staring at Steve like he’s going to vanish before your eyes.

He takes slow steps towards you as if he’s afraid that if he moves too quickly, you’ll run away like a wild animal. He stops when he’s in arms reach of you.

He smiles a little before saying, jokingly, “No welcome home hug for me?”

Before you can even register what happened, your hand has already hit Steve across the face. You feel the heat of the slap warming up your hand as you clench it into a fist at your side.

Steve looks at you again, understanding that this was clearly the wrong thing to say to you. He softly strokes his cheek.

“Guess I deserved that.”

You scoff, rolling your eyes before asking, “What the fuck are you doing here, Steve? I thought you were going back to Peggy?”

Steve shakes his head almost imperceptibly before saying, “That didn’t really work out…”

You scoff again, “So, what? Peggy rejects you and now you come back to get your second choice, is that it?” You shake your head, “You know, I almost didn’t mind being second-best to her all those years ago. But now? You can go to hell, Steve.”

He stares at you, almost like he’s not even listening to you, before asking, “Is she mine?” He bites his bottom lip, looking next to you where pictures of the child and you through the years adorn the walls.

“She seems about the right age, you know?”

You clench your fists, even tighter than before, which you didn’t know was possible. You can feel the blood gradually leaving your hands as you clench your jaw and look at Steve straight in the eyes, “No. She’s not. Not that it’s any of your business?”

Steve frowns in confusion, “Well then, who-”

He’s cut off as loud footsteps resonate through the walls of the house.

“Hey doll. Lizzie just came running down to the boat talking about how there’s a man in the house.”

Bucky’s voice, despite him being far enough away for you not to see him, travels perfectly to the spot in which you are still motionless. Bucky finally stops when he sees Steve standing on the porch.

He doesn’t hesitate for a single second before clenching his jaw and saying lowly, “Get out.”

Steve puts his hands up in surrender about to say something before Bucky screams, making you jump slightly, “Get out of my house! NOW!”

Steve looks between you and him, waiting for you to advocate on his behalf, but you had stopped doing that a long time ago. You stare back at Steve, almost challenging him to defy Bucky.

As Steve doesn’t move, Bucky walks heavily to the door, making you think that he is about to start a fight with Steve, you say, “Bucky, don’t.”

Bucky stops in front of Steve and takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself down before slamming the door in Steve’s face. When Bucky turns back to you, you let out a breath you hadn’t realized you were holding in.

Your vision starts to get blurry, and your ears feel clogged as you faintly hear Bucky still next to the door, cursing Steve out. Your lungs burn as if air seems to be unable to find its air through your body as your legs tremble. Your head starts to spin and before you can understand what’s happening, your legs give out making you crumple on the floor.

You distantly hear Bucky call your name, but your brain seems unable to focus on his voice trying to pull yourself out of your current state. You feel a pair of strong arms holding you to a hard chest followed by a pair of soft hands stroking your hair and face.

After what seems like forever trying to fight against your own body, you let go and everything turns black.

When your eyes flutter open, you’re lying on your bed and the room is pitch black. Multiple hours have visibly passed but the room is completely silent. You push yourself up to the headboard, looking around you before getting up. Your legs are still shaky, so you lean on your bed to help guide you to the door.

As you walk through the halls of the house, you start hearing hushed voices in the living room. Stopping on the threshold, you look at Sam, Sarah and Bucky sitting around the dining table.

“Hey. What happened?”, you croak out.

All their heads snap in your direction and Bucky almost immediately walks towards you, enveloping you in a hug.

“Oh doll, I didn’t know you were awake. How are you feeling? Are you okay?”

You tear yourself out of Bucky’s arms before looking at Sam and Sarah confusedly. They were looking at you like you just came back from the dead or something. Bucky stands next to you, also analyzing your face.

You frown, crossing your arms over your chest.

“Oh my God, what is it, guys? Stop looking at me like that!”

Sam gets up from his chair before gently stroking your arms.

“Do you remember anything from today?”

You frown again before slowly shaking your head. “Should I have something special to remember?”

Sam nods apprehensively before replying, “Steve was here today. Apparently, you guys talked for a while then Bucky got here, and you passed out.”

You rack your brain, trying to remember what he was talking about before you realize. Your body tenses up and you feel your breathing become ragged.

Bucky feels that and guides you to the dining table, making you sit down where he was before. He kneels in front of you and takes your hands in his.

“Doll, I want you to breathe with me, okay?”

You can feel your head start to spin and your vision becomes blurred, but you focus on Bucky’s voice.

“Deep breath in…”

He inhales deeply, making sure you’re following along.

“And out…”

He exhales deeply, looking into your eyes. You can feel your vision start to clarify.

“Again. In…” Inhale.

“Out…” Exhale. Your head stops spinning.

“One last time, in…” You inhale deeply through your nose.

“And, out…” You exhale through your mouth.

Bucky looks deeply into your eyes before stroking your cheeks. You shiver slightly from the difference in temperature of his hands that are both on your face. He gets up and sees your eyes sending him a panicked look.

“It’s okay… I’m just going to sit down here, okay?”

He sits down on the chair next to you before taking your hand in his. You look at Sarah and Sam, visibly trying to find something, anything to say.

After you all stay seated in silence for about 5 minutes, you look up at them.

“I want to see him.”

Sarah frowns, reaching for your hand that’s resting on the table.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea, Y/N? You didn’t… fare so well last time, you know?”, she says softly.

You nod, swallowing thickly.

“I know but he caught me by surprise. This time, I’ll know that I’ll see him so I can prepare myself.”

You can feel Bucky tensing up next to you. Sam clears his throat.

“Why do you want to see him? He knocked you up, broke your heart and left you for some 100-year-old woman he kissed once.”

“Sam!”, Sarah chastises.

“Can always count on you for the honesty.”, you say sourly, side-eyeing Sam.

“First of all, he didn’t know I was pregnant. Hell, I didn’t know I was pregnant until… the accident...”, you say silently.

You had been battling depression since your early teens, but it had never been that bad. Sam and Sarah had started to recognize the signs of your mental withdrawal almost immediately after Steve had left. About three weeks after Steve left, you had tried to take your own life by crashing your car in the lake behind the house. Bucky had found you just in time and brought you to the hospital.

The doctors had insisted on doing a complete medical check-up and had found that you were 2 months pregnant. You were ready to tell the doctor that you wanted to abort but Sam and Sarah had convinced you otherwise. They had told you that keeping the baby could be like a piece of Steve in your life and it could help you heal.

At first, you didn’t believe them, but they ended up being right. The baby saved you, giving your life purpose, something you thought you would never find again.

Bucky, Sam and Sarah had all pitched in to help but Bucky had realized that his desire to be there for you was more than guilt for his best friend leaving you. He had fallen in love with you. So, when he had asked you out, you had said yes. When he had proposed, you had also said yes.

Bucky was making you the happiest you had ever been in a long time. And you were now pregnant with your second child. You had learned about two weeks ago and you had announced it last weekend.

But you knew that, if you didn’t get closure from your time with Steve, you would never be able to be completely happy with Bucky.

You shake your head slightly, making yourself come back to your current situation.

“And second of all, I need to do it. For myself. But also, for my two children. I can’t be the mom they deserve if I don’t get some kind of closure from this whole… situation.”

Bucky huffs before getting up and walking quickly to your shared bedroom. You sigh, rubbing your forehead.

“Sam, can you try to track him down, please? I need to get this done soon.”

Sam looks at you for a couple of seconds before sighing and nodding his head.

“Thanks. Good night, guys.”

You walk to your bedroom, opening the door. When you walk in, you see that Bucky is laying down under the covers, his back to you. You walk slowly to the bed before kneeling down on it.

“Bucky.”

Nothing.

“Buck.”

He exhales loudly but doesn’t budge. You sigh deeply, stroking his back with one hand while the other turns him around.

“Bucky, baby, please, just listen to me.”

He rolls on his back but stares at the ceiling, avoiding your eyes. You sigh again before sitting down next to him, folding your hands in your lap.

“Look, Bucky, I understand that you’re upset. He hurt me but he also hurt you. He left us both and you’re allowed to be angry with him and deal with his return in whatever way you want but you can’t be mad at me for wanting to deal with it in the way that I want.”

Bucky doesn’t say anything, still staring at the ceiling. You exhale slowly, putting a hand on Bucky’s cheek.

“Bucky, come on. Say something.”

You sigh deeply, “Bucky, I-”

“I’m scared, okay?”, he says loudly, turning his head to look at you. You jump slightly, unprepared for a response from him, much less such a loud response.

You frown, tilting your head, “Scared of what?”

He turns his head back to stare at the ceiling.

“Bucky, you need to tell me.”

He puts his hands over his face, slightly muffling his answer, “I’m scared that you’re gonna see him and talk to him and fall back in love with him. And then, you’re gonna leave with Lizzie and then I’m gonna be left alone all over again…”,

You feel tears pooling in your eyes as you reach over to put your hands on his shoulders. You tug at him softly, indicating that you want him to get up. Bucky sits up, staring at your lap before you reach over and put a hand on his chin, lifting his head to look at you.

You stare into his eyes, also full of unshed tears, before saying,

“Bucky, I want you to listen to me very carefully, okay?”

He nods at you before whispering “okay.”

“First of all, Steve doesn’t know that Lizzie is his, okay? When he asked, I said no. And we’re going to keep it that way because you are her dad, Bucky, no one else. Second of all, it’s not like I’m going on a date with the man. I just want to talk to him so I can get closure. And third of all, in case you forgot, I’m wearing your ring on my finger, not his. And that’s how it’s gonna stay, okay?”

Bucky looks at you as tears start to fall down his face. He leans towards you, leaving a short but passionate kiss on your lips.

He lays back down on the bed before taking you in his arms as you listen to his steady heartbeat.

You look up at him, whispering, “I love you, Bucky Barnes.”

Bucky hums appreciatively before kissing the top of your head and answering, “I love you more.”

That night, you fall asleep with Bucky’s arm around your waist and his fingers intertwined with yours.

When you wake up the next morning, Bucky has already left the bed. You know that he’s either on a run or working on the boat with Sam.

You get up, brushing your teeth and getting ready before heading out to the dock. As you thought, you see Bucky and Sam working on the boat. They’re silent and you know it’s because you’re supposed to see Steve today.

“Hey Sam!”, you call out.

Sam turns towards you before meeting you halfway into the boat.

“Did you find him?”

He looks at you, raising an eyebrow before scoffing.

“Please. It took me less than 10 minutes. I told him to come at 11:30 so he should be here any minute.”

“Okay, thanks.” You look down at Bucky, still hard at work on the boat’s engine.

“Buck, can I talk to you for a second, please?” He drops the tool that was in his hand before walking up the stairs of the boat and stopping to sit down on the dock, not looking at you once.

You sit down next to him, before taking your hand in his.

“I’m just gonna talk to him, okay?” Bucky continues staring at his shoes but nods softly.

“I love you, you know that, right?”

He finally looks up at you and nods, murmuring, “I love you too.”

You smile at him, kissing his cheek.

“I-”

“Y/N, he’s here.”, you hear Sarah’s voice call out.

Bucky instantly tenses up and looks at you with panic in his eyes. You give a warm smile and whisper, “It’s gonna be okay, I promise. As soon as we’re done, I’m gonna come find you and then we can go do something fun together all day, okay?”

Bucky nods, sniffling softly, before heading back inside the boat.

You get up and follow Sarah to the backyard where Steve is sitting on a bench. As soon as he sees you, he gets up and adjusts his shirt. You feel the warm Louisiana air brushing against your skin as you take deep breaths, approaching him.

When you get to the bench, Sarah stops a couple of feet behind you. You look at her and nod, silently saying that you’re fine. Steve walks towards you and pulls out a bouquet of flowers, handing it to you.

You reluctantly take it and sit down at one end of the bench. Steve follows your actions and sits down on the other end.

“You look beautiful.”

Your breath hitches as you put the flowers on the bench between you.

“Look, Steve, I didn’t-”

You stop and frown as you see a purple bruise under his left eye. You instinctively reach up to touch it and he hisses as your warm hand touches his face.

“What happened?”

“Let’s just say that Sam was less than happy to see me.”

You chuckle softly. You should have known that he would have done something like that.

You put your hand back in your lap, trying to find the right words to express your feelings.

“I wanted to see you because I need closure for my family. That’s all.”

Steve looks at you longingly, “You always were one of the strongest women I knew. And beautiful, loving, caring, compass-”

“Look, Steve, I didn’t ask Sam to call you here so we could reminisce about old times. Why did you come back?”

Steve looks at the ground before clearing his throat, “When Peggy rejected me, it made me realize that I left the woman that I truly loved. And I thought that I could come back, and we could talk and-”

“I’m engaged”, you blurt out. You slap a hand over your mouth, shocked at yourself.

Steve looks at you and finally notices the diamond ring on your left hand.

“Oh… I, umm… Who is it?”

“Umm Bucky.”

Steve frowns, “You’re engaged to my best friend?”

You snort and mutter, “I don’t think he would call himself that anymore but sure.”

“But how?”

You scoff, “Well, when you get abandoned by the same person, you kinda find some things to bond about.”

“And it is… you know, serious?”, Steve asks, a hopeful glint in his eyes.

“Are you fucking serious right now? You leave me, abandon me- us, for some girl and then you ask if it’s serious?” You get up, now completely furious and screaming,

“You can’t just waltz in here after five fucking years, after destroying me so bad I almost killed our child and then ask me if I’m serious about the love of my life!”

Steve seems shocked as his mouth stays open, “Wait, I thought you said she wasn’t mine?”

You stare at him before groaning loudly, “Oh, fuck me!”

Steve gets up, a determined look on his face.

“I want to meet her.”

You exhale deeply, calming yourself down before looking at the lake and crossing your arms.

“No.”

Steve stares you down, “I deserve to meet her.”

Your head snaps towards him, “You don’t deserve jack shit, Steve.”

Your vision becomes blurry with tears as you start hitting his chest aimlessly, “You left! You abandoned me! You deserve nothing!”

You feel strong arms pulling you back as you thrash around. Bucky’s soft voice rings in your ears,

“It’s okay, doll, it’s me. Calm down.”

Bucky’s hands cup your face, and he wipes your tears away with his thumbs as you calm down. When you stop crying, he pulls you into a hug and you feel his chest vibrate as he speaks lowly, “It’s time for you to go, Steve.”

You hear Steve’s equally deep voice from behind you, “I’m not going anywhere until I meet my child.”

Bucky chuckles humorlessly as you let go of Bucky and turn towards Steve, “She is not your child. She is Y/N and I’s little girl, and she will not be anywhere near you.”

As if on cue, Lizzie comes running out of the house.

“Mommy!”

You pick up your little girl and wrap your arms around her. She tries, but fails, to whisper in your ear, “Mommy, why is the man from yesterday here again?”

You chuckle at her lack of discretion. You stroke her back as you reply,

“He’s one of Mommy and Daddy’s old friend. But he was just about to leave.” Lizzie detaches her arms from around you before sliding down to the ground and walking to Steve. He kneels down to be eye-level with her and she holds her hand out to him.

“Hi. My name is Elizabeth, but everyone calls me Lizzie.” Steve shakes her little hand and responds, “Hi Lizzie, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Steve.”

Lizzie frowns at Steve before saying, “Are the bad man Steve that hurt my mommy?”

A look of shock draws itself on Steve’s face as he stares at Lizzie.

Lizzie turns towards you and runs back before saying, “I want him to go!”

Bucky laughs under his breath before saying, “Okay, Lizzie, come on. Daddy’s gonna make you some lunch.”

Lizzie walks over to Bucky taking his large metal hand in her smaller one before walking rapidly towards the house.

Steve stands up, putting his hands in his pockets.

“Why did she say that?”

You scoff as you cross your arms and look at him, “Because she caught me crying my eyes out one day and she asked what was wrong with me. So, Sarah told her the story about the bad man Steve that hurt me and made me sad sometimes.”

Steve detaches his eyes from yours, guilt written all over his face.

“I’m sorry”, he whispers.

“I didn’t know how bad I hurt you when I left and I shouldn’t have come back here like everything was going to be like it was when I left.”

Steve looks back at you, tears in his eyes. “I’ll leave and never come back. And congratulations on the engagement. I’m sure that Bucky and you are going to be great together.”

Steve starts to walk back towards the front yard as you stay standing in front of the bench. You hear the motorcycle start and before you can stop yourself, your legs are running towards him to stop him from leaving.

He turns off the motorcycle when he sees you in front of him.

You take a deep breath, clenching and unclenching your fists a couple of times before you say, “I forgive you. And I’m sorry I lied about Lizzie not being yours, I just… I don’t know.”

Steve nods slightly and starts his motorcycle again before riding off towards the road. You let you a breath and walk to the house.

When you see Bucky and Lizzie in the kitchen, playfully preparing some lunch, you smile bigger than you have in what felt like forever.

Your mind and your heart were finally at peace.

hi @saiyanprincessswanie i would love it if you could check this out for your reading list, hope you enjoy🤍

#bucky barnes x black!reader #steve rogers x black!reader #bucky barnes #steve rogers #bucky barnes x black reader #steve rogers x black reader #bucky barnes fanfic #steve rogers fanfic #bucky barnes fanfiction #steve rogers fanfiction

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enmy-writes · 4 years

Text

Baby Avenger

Summary: (Y/N) is one of the youngest avenger members and some government officials repeatedly let her know of “her position.” So, she lets them know exactly what her position is.

Word Count: 2100

Fandom: MCU Avengers

Pairing: Avengers x Reader

Genre: Fluff, soft, slight angst and sadness, & family love.

Rated: 18+

Content Warnings: profanity, death, abandonment, bullying, this is my first ever post of any fanfiction ever so it’s probably bad

**** This is my first ever imagine that I have ever finished and published. Please give me feedback and let me know what else I should write! I’m very excited and nervous so please let me know if you enjoyed this :) I’m thinking of making this Y/N character into a little “Baby Avenger” one-shot series, so let me know your thoughts ****

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Baby Avenger.

Baby. Avenger.

In her head, her stomping can be heard throughout the whole Compound and all of its residents and guests can hear her anger. They know she’s going right to the meeting room; not the team meeting room, but the meeting room they use when they have special guests in for a meeting.

The new government officials who are now “in charge” of the Avengers since The Snap Part 2 were in for the day to go over the general plans that the Avengers have been coming up with. They’re nicer than those in charge of the group from the Accords, but in no way were they nice to majority of the group as a whole.

(Y/N) (L/N) happens to be the second to youngest member on the team coming in at an age of 18, second only to her best friend Peter Parker

(Y/N) is an orphan, the typical origin story of any superhero. Her parents spent their last minutes pushing her out of their burning house in rural Pennsylvania. Actually, it was her father who got her out of the flames and by their fishpond 100 meters from the house. Her mother was inside, trapped under a steal beam in the basement.

(Y/N)’s mother was a scientist who worked in secret in a little band of scientists who tried to accomplish their own small victories in testing the alterations and limits of humans. The goal of these scientists is to stay out of sight of the CIA, FBI, S.H.I.E.L.D., and other government agencies. Most of them are left alone and those who get found are either immediately sent to a high security prison or recruited to continue their experiments for a certain country/agency.

(Y/N)’s mother decided to give herself her treatment she was working on instead of potentially kidnapping someone in the everyone-knows-everything kind of town that they had been living in. Her experiment and life studies were all in trying to find a way to unlock the rest of the human brain so that more than that small percentage is being used at a time. It has been hypothesized that humans could do a lot if their brains just used itself more.

The only problem is when she gave the treatment to herself, she was unknowingly pregnant, and the treatment attached onto that small lifeform instead of her own. She created a super baby.

No one knew the exact answer to what is on the other side of that tunnel of science. No one knew what opening the mind could do, there were only theories to support ideas. Plenty of scientific evidence, but it meant nothing with no legit proof.

Well, turns out that those on the team of “you will gain the ability to read minds and shit unlike any human” were the correct guessers.

(Y/N) can read others’ minds, move things with her mind, slow down time in her mind to be able to successfully breakdown a situation and perform the best possible reaction to anything that comes her way. Oh, and the color spectrum is broader for her, allowing her to see a significantly more amount of colors than a normal human (including seeing the aura’s and heat that people give off. Very useful in the few missions she goes on.).

But her parents are dead.

After setting small (Y/N) down, her father ran back in to save the love of his life. Or, well, that’s what the towns’ people say to romanticize the situation. A brave man trying to save his family.

In the end, her father had shaken his head, laughing at the moment like a mad man with tears running down his face. He pulled (Y/N) in for the tightest hug that he had ever given the girl—which is tight considering how close the two really were. They were just like two peas in a pod, the light of each other’s lives, basically soulmates.

But love makes you do crazy things.

“You listen to me, (Y/N).” He gripped her face in a painful grip, cheeks sure to be bruised later. “I will always love you. Don’t doubt that, baby girl, okay? I love you so so so so much” By this time, tears are pouring off his face, the neon flames coming from the house reflecting off his wet face. “Mommy… mommy just needs me now, baby. I need mommy, too. We love you so much.”

It had confused her, his words. Nothing could prepare her to watch her father run back into the house, leaving her by the pond with nothing but a small bag of little family things like pictures, little stupid gifts, and a notebook she had stolen from her mom’s bookshelf one day.

Her mother’s grandfather had been friends with Howard Stark, both science men having been in the same circle of famous inventors since before WWII. While neither her mother nor father personally knew his son, Tony, he was still listed as the godfather to the child. With no close friends allowed in their secret circle, old bonds and pacts that her grandfather had with the older Stark led to a blind trust in the man.

Tony Stark had agreed to be the godfather during a one-week bender in his 30s, and when he was yelled at about it, he chose to just keep it there because “the chances of this happening is very slim.”

But here we are, Baby Avenger.

The officials who are here now actually were the same people that used to do check-ins and such with them pre-Accords, so they knew the team better than any government official save for the rare union that the team members may have with government officials. (Y/N) randomly has one with the Queen of England (she did a favor for Her Majesty once, and now they have tea every third Thursday of every month).

They knew that Tony suffered from panic attacks, and they knew Steve was going through a never ending loop of an existential crisis, and that Bucky will most likely always be having an identity crisis, and that Sam cries to sleep a lot around a certain time of year that renders him almost useless in his sleep deprived state he puts himself into. They know EVERYTHING vulnerable about the team.

So, that means they know how when she first got to the team and to Tony that she wouldn’t speak to anyone unless absolutely necessary. It took her almost a year to be able to speak more than a sentence to every person she was around. No one was too upset, though, Tony was trying to figure out how to save himself and rebrand his whole legacy and the Avengers weren’t really a family family yet like they are now. (Y/N)’s shyness made it much easier on the adults to figure out their stressful situations.

The officials, though, never got why she wouldn’t speak to them. They actually pushed her progress back more and more with taunts and comments such as “Oh, the baby can’t speak?” or a “Get your phone out! She’s about to say her first words!” every time she did go to say something.

Tony soon got fed up with it and filed a lawsuit against them which threatened their agency enough to pull them out and let a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent be a liaison for them. After their presence was rid of, (Y/N) grew exponentially with her new family. She was still home schooled, but now she had Peter Parker as a friend and world geniuses as her teachers. She was an only child, but now she’s a big sister to Morgan and has plenty of people on the team that are dubbed her siblings (since they don’t act their age majority of the time to be considered aunts and uncles).

While she’s trained to fight, (Y/N) doesn’t go out on the field much unless they need her brain or her extended vision. She likes to remain behind the computer screen and help that way. She’s invented a way to make prosthetics like Bucky’s become more available to the general public and has started a school/home that’s three miles from the Compound for orphaned kids, mutants, super kids, and those who aren’t accepted where they come from.

In conclusion, (Y/N) is 18 and not useless in any way, shape, or form.

So why, why, do these absolute short dick idiots decide that they can come into here, her home, and push her around like she hasn’t contributed more to the Earth and society in the short 18 years than their middle-aged asses?

Eyes narrowed and seeing red, she stomps her way down the last hall, shoving herself into the door of the meeting room and throwing it open.

The team stays unfazed, knowing she’d show up pissed at some point. The officials, though, jump in their seat and turn to look at her.

It wasn’t the biggest meeting, the original Avengers plus Bucky, Sam, and Wanda sit around the table. Though, Rocket and Groot are here sitting along the back wall, looking bored as hell. Thor must have drug them along.

Fists clenched, (Y/N) narrows her eyes more. She’s been here since the first attack. Sure, she didn’t fight since she was like, 8 or so, but she was in charge of her man-behind-the-computer work. She’s been a part of the team since the beginning, and these assholes are too big of pricks to acknowledge that.

That’s what’s pissing the girl off. This could have been a meeting for every one of the fighters of the team, which she wouldn’t go to because that’s not her role. This meeting, though, was scheduled as “Originals plus the newly appointed leaders only.” She’s an original.

SHE IS AN ORIGINAL.

SHE. IS. AN. OG.

AND YET, they remained in telling her she wasn’t invited because “The Baby Avenger doesn’t need to join big kid conversation.”

She locked eyes with her adopted father and her best friend, aka Peter Parker, aka the only reason she knew this meeting was still being held.

Poor, lovely Peter. He grew confused when his best friend wasn’t sitting in between Mr. Stark and him for the meeting, especially when the officials referred to the meeting as they did. He was just there to take notes for Mr. Stark, not that the man wouldn’t remember it all. Pepper thought it’d be a good idea if Tony had written evidence to anything said in these meetings so that he wouldn’t be pouring statements out of his ass without proof, and poor, lovely Peter got elected to take such notes.

When he noticed you weren’t there, he had sent you a text asking where you were and that your drink that he brought you was right next to him.

“(Y/N)! It is so great to see you, my wonderful flower.” Thick arms wrapped around her as a golden man squeezed her tight to him. Thor and (Y/N) had a special relationship. They’re always close and do the most innocent of tasks together like flower crowns, step-by-step painting classes, and making those Tik Tok crocheted blankets made with that big yarn. He even had taken her to Asgard (back when it was a planet) for a royal ball where she was the guest of honor. They’re just soft together.

Though, rage blocked that softness that normally occurs between the two. Pushing off of him, she points her finger at the men in the front. The officials look like they’ve seen the devil and all of Hell and (Y/N) can see the fear pouring off of them.

“Let’s get this clear,” she says as she slowly stalks her way up to them. “I am an Avenger. I am an original Avenger. I know about 3,000 ways to kill you in this room at this very moment with anything. I drink tea with the fucking Queen on Thursdays, and I’ve created a better orphanage/school system in 2 years than this country has in the 250 years it’s been around. Don’t you EVER call me a fucking baby again, you fucking hear me?”

By this point, she’s right up in their faces, her glare unwavering and them sweating. The silence in the room was great and seemed to go on forever. The team held their breaths, some trying not to laugh and some scared of backlash that might be trust upon the girl.

With one last eye narrow (you could blindfold her with toothpicks at this point), she whips around and walks back to Thor, placing herself sideways on his lap and relaxing into his hold. Peter passes her (Drink Order) down the table, and (Y/N) takes it.

Clint, Bucky, and Sam try and hide their laughter when the meeting starts again as they look at their long-time teammate cradled and curled up in Thor’s arms, head on his shoulder and under his chin as she sips her drink with an angry look in her eyes and a pout on her face.

All wrapped up like a baby.

135 notes · View notes

chris-evans-indian-fanfic · 4 years

Text

Love

One-Shot

Description: Asexual!Bucky thinks he is broken beyond repair, until you show him that he has been complete all this while.

Warnings: Angst, bad language, mention of sex toys, romance and fluff

@jtargaryen18 organised a writing challenge for reaching 4k followers and of course I have to participate multiple times! 😍 I am sorry this entry is a little late 🙈

My Main Masterlist

A/N: This is the first time I am writing an asexual character. Whatever I have written is based upon my knowledge that I have gathered by reading various articles and posts on asexuality. The reason I am writing this is because I want to have an equal amount of straight and LGBTQ+ stories in my masterlist, so that there's something for everyone to enjoy. Hence, if you are an asexual person or know someone who is, and you realise that anything in my story is incorrectly represented, then please let me know. I will immediately correct it, issue an apology and accept my mistake publicly.

I don’t consent to have any of my work published or featured on any third party app, website or translated. If you are seeing this fanfiction anywhere but Tumblr and AO3, it has been reposted without my permission. In that case, please do share the link and let me know.

…

"I cannot fucking believe this!" Karen shouted, "What are you like gay or something?"

Bucky winced at her venomous words. "You need to leave," he said in a quiet, respectful tone.

"Like hell I am going to leave. I want answers!" she placed her hands on her hips and stomped her foot. "What is it? Am I not sexy enough for you? Are you not attracted by this?!" she gestured towards the skimpy lingerie currently hugging her body.

Bucky met her eyes as he responded, "I do not want to have sex with you."

She huffed, clearly not convinced, "Why not? We have been going out for what, 3 months now? And you still don't want to have sex with me? What is the issue here? Is it-" she paused suddenly, her eyes traveling down his torso to his crotch, "You can't get it up can you?" she sneered.

Bucky shook his head, too exhausted to deal with her, "Karen, it's nothing like that. I just do not want to get physical with you. That's all."

"Oh! Ooooohh!" she bent backwards a bit, "So it was fine to hug me, cuddle with me and hold my hands. But when it comes to sex, you suddenly become a pious celibate saint! What the fuck Bucky?"

Bucky sighed, and handed Karen back her coat, "We are done. Please leave."

She laughed dryly, "Oh abso-fucking-lutely we are done. You know what I think?" she asked while wearing the coat, "I think that you are too old grandpa and that your tiny ass tortured gay dick cannot salute on its own. Because no man in his right mind would deny this," she again pointed to herself. "Super-soldier my ass," she muttered as she left.

The door to his apartment closed with a loud bang, leaving an echo in its wake. Bucky stood still, rooted to his spot. If it were not for the silent tears rolling down his cheeks, anybody could have mistaken him for a statue.

Slowly, he sat on the floor, his gentle sobs rocking his body as he hugged his knees.

Decades of torture by the hands of Hydra had left him crippled, physically, mentally and emotionally. When he had been saved by Steve, he had started to piece his life back together, bit by bit. Things such as books, movies, music became tiny jigsaw pieces that slowly filled the void in his life.

After the final galactic battle with Thanos, Bucky had been officially initiated to the Avengers team, or rather what was left of it. The team soon became an extended family, a family that Bucky was still getting used to. It was especially irksome when Sam and Scott decided to set him up on a date with Karen from Research & Development (R&D), despite his protests.

It wasn't that Bucky didn't desire a relationship. He wanted to be close to someone, experience romance, feel their heartbeat in a close embrace and place light kisses on their forehead.

But he didn't want to have sex.

At first, he thought he might not have met the right woman. So he searched for porn online, which did little to sway his feelings. He put the issue on a backburner, the safety of the people and the urgency of his missions steering the wheel of his life for a while.

But when Sam and Scott proudly announced their grand plans for Bucky's date, he remembered his "issue" again. He looked at Karen closely whenever they went on dates together. She looked perfect. Beautiful hair, soft glowing skin, curves in all the right places, all packed in a graceful, slender body.

Bucky liked being close to her, but he was still not getting aroused. Hence, he stopped her advancements everytime she tried to get physical. Karen tolerated it for a while, before her patience wore out tonight.

As the sun rose in the sky, Bucky was still seated on the floor, his cheeks now stained with tears that had stopped sometime in the night, though a sniff escaped from him every few minutes. He looked at the sunlight pouring in from the window, broken by the window-panes, landing at his feet in two rays with a comforting warmth. It was in that moment that Bucky realised, Hydra had truly broken him.

🏳️‍🌈

"We have various types of dildos available. There's The Classic, Textured, Long and Thin, Short and Thick, Vibrators, Transparent Plexiglass Dildos, Strap-Ons, G-Spot Dildos, Double-Ended, Squirting Dildos and ones that also come with a suction grip. Are you looking for yourself or are you looking for something to enjoy with your partner?" the helpful saleswoman asked you.

You stroked your chin in thought, "It's only for me. I already have a vibrator that I bought about a year back. The G-Spot ones have never really worked for me. I am looking to try something new. What is the suction grip one?"

The attendant handed you the dildo and showed you the suction grip at the end of it, "You can use this to place and stick it on any flat surface you want, whether it's the floor or the wall or the side of your desk. It guarantees a completely hands-free pleasurable experience."

You stuck it on the wall besides the showcase to test the theory. It worked. "Neat! I will take this one," you smiled as the attendant went to fetch a fresh piece.

You paid for your new sex toy and walked back to the Avengers compound with your small white shopping bag in tow.

When you reached your desk, you heard Karen bitching as usual about something to Jessica. At first, you blocked them out like you did almost everyday, but then a name in their conversation caught your attention.

"He's the Winter Soldier alright. He's completely frozen down there," Karen whispered loudly with disgust.

"Even that red sexy lingerie didn't do anything for him?" Jessica gasped dramatically.

"No!"

"That's crazy! That hot-red piece will convert even the most gayest of the guys! And it didn't do anything for him? Wow," Jessica responded.

Karen added, "You know something? I have always thought he was extremely weird. Like, dude, I know you were tortured by Hydra or whatever, but get over it man! It's been years since he was free. He should enjoy life and stop being such a wimp. I am 100% sure he is impotent."

"You know I was digging into him the other night," Jessica said in a hushed whisper, "and I saw a message board online which suggested that his penis has been completely cut by Hydra. This person knows all such secrets about these alleged superheros. You should follow him."

"What is his username?"

"Proud-Flat-Earther-MotherFuckers. Wait, I will send you the link," Jessica offered.

Having heard enough of their nonsense, you made your way towards the HR department. Maybe both Karen and Jessica had forgotten, but talking about the personal lives of Avengers was strictly against the rules and was considered as reason enough to fire employees.

You filed a complaint with the HR and within a few hours, both the women were fired on the spot. You savored the moment with relish, as their faces turned aghast at the realisation that their actions had consequences. You went up to them, watching the pair clean their desks, with unabashed glee.

"You know something Karen?" you asked her, "Just because a man refuses to have sex, it didn't mean that he's a wimp, or gay or an impotent. But if you do choose to think of him that way, then it surely makes you a sexiest and a homophobic person."

Karen looked at you furiously, "You bitch! I lost my job because you went and blabbed in front of the HR!"

You chuckled at her outburst, "Oh my dearest Karen. Yes I did go and rat you out to the HR. But that's not what got the two of you fired."

"Then what did?" Jessica asked as she joined the conversation.

You folded your hands for effect, "Your hateful comments and toxic views cost you your jobs. People like you think that just by using the latest iPhone or following the latest trends, you are a modern, 21st century person. But in reality, it is your open mindset which makes you a member of the modern society. If you would open your mind just as much as you open your legs, trust me, the two of you will be much better off."

You turned to leave, but stopped yourself, "Just a suggestion. Stop using words like gay and impotent as insults. It will help you retain your next job for a longer time." You winked at their speechless faces, and happily returned to your desk.

Your job in R&D was taxing and so, you always found yourself working late. Today was no exception either. As you left your office at around 8pm, you saw Bucky heading towards the elevator which led to his apartment. You always had a soft spot for the brunette super-soldier. For starters, you couldn't even begin to comprehend the tortures he must have endured in his past. And the fact that he was trying to piece his life back together again? It was truly commendable.

He always kept to himself, his eyes downcast and his body language unsure. And after what you had heard today, you felt even more sorry for the guy. Turning towards the cafeteria, you picked up a box of vanilla-strawberry French macarons for him, thanking the heavens above for the free food available at the Avengers compound. You held the white bag with macarons in your left hand, being mindful of not confusing it with the similar white bag in your right which contained your new sex toy.

A few moments later, you found yourself in front of his apartment. You had visited him twice before to adjust his vibranium arm or to sort out a few tweaks, but never before had you visited him so late in the evening.

You knocked, feeling a little hesitant as you did so. He was surprised to find you standing on the opposite of the door, however, he still greeted you courteously nonetheless.

Before you could state your reason for the visit, he said sincerely, "I heard what you did today. Thank you. I really appreciated it."

Now it was your turn to be surprised, "Oh. Ummm. It's okay really Mr Barnes. It was nothing. You don't need to-"

"No. It wasn't just nothing. You could have turned a deaf ear and ignored them. Yet you chose to stand-up for me. Thank you," a small smile laced his face and you melted on the spot.

You had a crush on Bucky. A BIG one. Could anyone blame you? This guy was a hot, sexy mess of an ice-cream sundae that left you hungry for more even on the coldest nights of the year.

You realised you were staring into his steel-blue eyes like a creep, and immediately cleared your throat. "What-what they did was wrong. Karen had no right to demean you for your desires or lack of them. I-," you sighed, "I am sorry for what she said. It was disrespectful and hurtful. So I brought you something that I hope will cheer you up."

You awkwardly raised your right hand, "I got you some vanilla-strawberry macarons from the cafeteria."

Bucky did cheer up a bit at the mention of his favourite food. He eagerly took the bag with a huge smile, "Thank you," he said once again as you shook your head. "Thank you for everything you do to keep us safe Mr Barnes. I must be on my way now. Goodnight," and with that you left, grinning like an idiot.

🏳️‍🌈

You took a bath, ate your dinner and slipped into comfortable pyjamas. Excited to try your new sex toy tonight, you unpacked the bag expecting to see the nondescript box of the dildo. Instead, 5 delicious macarons stared back at you with innocence.

You stumbled backwards in shock, the impact of your action settling like a dull, heavy weight in your stomach. "Oh no no no no," you whispered, horrified.

You immediately rushed to your window and pulled aside the curtain to look at Bucky's building, as if expecting to see him staring daggers at you. One of the privileges of working with the Avengers? You got to stay in a nice apartment within the compound itself. Your residential complex was a little further away from the main building, covered easily by 15 minutes of walking.

Feeling hyper, you frantically searched for a coat and almost ran out of your house. You rushed back in to keep the box in the bag and again, dashed towards the elevator.

Hoping that Bucky would have yet to open the box, you sent a silent prayer to all the gods and goddesses in the skies above, even Thor. Meh, you never know when an ex-Avenger could be of help.

You sprinted towards the other building, a multitude of thoughts clouding your mind- What if he was offended by it? Would he file a complaint against me? It would be sorta ironic if I was fired for this! Shit he would think my apology was false and I am probably mocking him.

You reached his apartment, a panting, huffing mess of a person. You knocked frantically, his door shaking with force at your desperation. However, you jumped as Bucky whispered your name from behind you, "Are you okay? What's going on?" he asked with concern as you turned around to face him.

"Did-did you op-open the bo-ox?" you questioned him while panting like a dog.

He furrowed his brows in response, "No I was planning to open it in a few minutes. Please tell me what's going on. Why do you look so scared?"

You bent over double, your stomach cramping thanks to your impromptu running, "Thi-this is your bag," you held up the package, "That ba-bag is mine."

"Okay," Bucky said slowly, still unsure of your behaviour, "Should I open the door to retrieve your bag?"

You nodded as he stepped aside, "Why are you not wearing any shoes?"

You looked down at your feet at his query, small blades of grass had stuck to your naked feet along with dirt. "I was in a hur-hurry to get to you," you managed to say between your breaths.

Bucky just nodded in response. It was then that you noticed the pack of paper tissues in his hand. He opened the door and stepped inside, beckoning you to follow him. He pointed to the white bag kept on the table while he looked at it with worry. "Will it explode?" he solicited.

"Uhh no," you replied awkwardly.

"Is it dangerous?" curiosity etched on Bucky's face as you swapped the bags.

"No, it's nothing like that," you looked down at your feet, feeling the heat rush to your cheeks with embarrassment.

He narrowed his eyes, "Then what is it?"

"I can't tell you," you quietly admitted, "but here are your macarons. I am really sorry for this. Didn't mean to disturb you from whatever you had planned," you pointed to the box of tissues still in his hand.

Bucky noticed the underlying question in your statement, "I was about to watch a movie. So needed these to clear the mess."

Your eyes went wide at his sincerity. While you had a crush on him, you definitely did not want to know about Bucky's late night masturbation adventures. Shaking your head, you raised your hands and started walking backwards, "I am sorry I disturbed your nightly… activities. I get out of your hair."

"Actually, would you like to join me for the movie?" Bucky asked hopefully, "We have the macarons and you seem like you need to calm your nerves."

You were surprised for the third time that day. Did Bucky just ask you to masturbate with him? Or have sex while eating the macarons? Or did he want to eat them after you guys have had sex? A flurry of questions swirled in your mind as you stared at him with a slightly open mouth.

Bucky interpreted your gaze and stumbled to clarify himself, "As friends! Would you like to watch a movie with me as a friend?"

You slowly nodded your affirmation, "Yeah okay. Which movie are we watching?"

"The Notebook," he revealed with a smile, "It's an extremely emotional movie. Ummm what's the term? Tear-jerker? Uhh yeah, it's a real tear-jerker of a movie."

"Oh so that's why…" you pointed at the tissues. "Yeah," he confirmed, "I tend to cry a lot while watching that movie. And… ummm… I am the kind of person who cries ugly. You know, all tears and snot. So yeah… I need the whole box."

"That's… that's actually sweet," you smiled, "Trust me you are not alone. I start crying as soon as the titles appear on the screen."

He got excited at your confession, "Yes! Exactly! It's because you know what's going to come and you are just mentally preparing yourself."

You chuckled with him in affirmation as he led you further into his apartment.

You freshened up a bit in his washroom, making sure to clean your feet and the residue on your face from the sweat.

Bucky was standing besides your bag when you entered the living room, "Now that we are friends," he intoned, "will you please tell me what's inside of this?"

You sighed, "Mr Barnes-."

"Bucky," he corrected you and you smiled.

"Will you promise me you will not take any offense or be insulted by it? I really did not mean to swap the bags."

"I trust you," Bucky said with assurance.

"It's…it is a sex toy," you mumbled quietly. Any normal human wouldn't have heard you, but Bucky's enhanced hearing caught your words flawlessly.

He took a moment to process your words, and finally, to your amazement, burst out laughing.

You sheepishly smiled at his reaction as your heart felt a little lighter. "That is embarrassing," he agreed with a wide grin.

The two of you settled on the couch as Bucky's chuckles lessened. He kept the box of macarons between you two, but hesitated to begin the movie.

You sensed his curiosity, and clarified, "I haven't been in a relationship in a very long time. It's been… 2 years I guess… since my last breakup." You took a deep breath, "And my job doesn't exactly leave a lot of time on my hands for dating or one-night-stands."

Bucky seemed to consider your words for what felt like a long time. Finally, he asked quietly, "What does it feel like? To… to want another person… sexually?"

You blinked your eyes, thinking you must have misheard him. But then, his gaze met yours, and you knew his question was sincere.

"It feels like…," you raked your mind in search for the appropriate words, "...like your entire body is on fire, and you need the touch of the other person to quench your thirst. Like, just for a few moments, you want to shut your mind, and let your body think for you."

Bucky nodded slowly as you finished, "But what if you feel that in your heart? And not for your body?"

You squint your eyes at his question, "What do you mean Bucky?"

He placed his head in his hands, "I just… I don't feel like that with anyone. I mean, I don't want to have sex. Trust me I have tried everything. Literally everything. Still I don't feel aroused… I am broken, aren't I? Because this is abnormal, right? No matter how hard I try I will never be normal."

Your heart shattered at his words. You had heard about his horrid nightmares, but to think that he was struggling to accept himself, thinking that he was broken, even when he had so much love to give, was depressing. You could not just stand by and watch.

Gently, you placed a hand on his shoulder, "Bucky, look at me." When he didn't comply, you urged him, "Bucky, you are not broken. It is completely normal to not have any sexual desires."

"No it's not," he scoffed.

"Yes it is," you coerced him, "Do you know what is asexuality? It is the complete absence of sexual desires. Many people-"

He interrupted you, "There is no such thing. You are making this up."

"I am not," you replied indignantly, "Research indicates that more than 1% of the American population is asexual. Also, experts believe that more people might be asexuals because they think that they "haven't found the right person yet"," you ended with air quotes.

With no reaction from him, you sighed and got up, "Do yourself a favour. Use the internet and learn about asexuality. It will help put your mind at ease." You left after giving that piece of advice.

Bucky stayed in the same position for a few moments after your departure. He nibbled on a macaron as he considered the movie playing in front of him. Unable to focus, he promptly shut it all and carried the box to his bed. The macarons disappeared into his mouth as he tossed and turned, feeling restless.

There was no way asexuality was a thing. If it was, then how come there were no movies, tv shows or even advertisements on asexuality? That's because it wasn't normal, right? Maybe you had just lied to him to make him feel better? Maybe you took pity on him?

He looked at his phone on the table near the tv set, your final words repeating in his head in a loop. The combination of tiredness and laziness encouraged him to take your advice in the morning.

🏳️‍🌈

You didn't see Bucky for 3 days after your fateful encounter with him. The fact that you still had your job at the Avengers Tower meant that he hadn't filed a complaint yet with the HR. And for that you were grateful. Friday came and you found yourself working late, again. It was around 10pm and you were still in your lab, almost done with the work. That's when you heard the small swoosh of the lab doors opening and closing.

You looked up from your table, and found Bucky staring intently at you with his blue eyes. He cleared his throat and tentatively took a step towards you. "You were right," he said slowly, "I researched online, read a few articles and spoke with the in-house therapist. I am an," he took a deep breath, "an asexual."

You closed your laptop and smiled at his confession, "How are you feeling now?"

"Honestly? A little bit better. I feel somewhat free," he admitted while gripping the white bag in his hand a little bit tighter.

"That's great! I am so proud of the progress you have made," you beamed at him, but sensed his hesitance as you neared him.

"What's wrong?" you gently inquired.

"You are… not… I mean… by any chance… asexual?" he winced at his own question.

You chuckled lightly, "No I am not."

"Ahh, then it's okay," he murmured and turned as if to leave.

You stopped him by placing a hand on his firm bicep, "What's going on?"

He shifted on his feet, visibly uncomfortable and anxious, "I was just… no nevermind it's stupid."

"Bucky," you said his name in a stern voice.

He sighed again, "I thought… I mean I owe you a movie because… of that night… and so… you know… would you like to watch it? The movie? But why would you? You deserve better… you are not an asexual. You are normal. Why would you want to go on a date with me?" he finally ended his mumbling.

You looked at him with squinted eyes, trying to decipher what he had muttered. "Did you just say you would like to go on a date with me? But it was stupid because you are an asexual and I am normal?" you blinked as he nodded.

"Who told you that you are not normal?" you asked him, a little irritated, "Bucky look at me." This time he complied, "You. Are. Normal. As normal as me, as the other Avengers or as anybody else in the world. Do not, for even one goddamn second, think that there's something wrong with you because there isn't. Are you listening to me? Am I clear?" you wagged your forefinger at him.

Amused at your outburst, he nodded with a sheepish grin. Clearing his throat, he asked you again, "Would you like to watch a movie with me tomorrow? As a date?"

You placed your hands on your waist, "Yes."

His grin widened as he asked you the next question, "Still mad at me?"

"Uh-huh."

"Maybe these cupcakes will help," he shyly held up the white bag in front of you, "I made sure they were cupcakes," he added with a smirk.

You graciously accepted the bag, "Cupcakes will always help."

"Great! It's a date then. Tomorrow… at 4pm? My apartment?" Bucky suggested.

You agreed, and he left with a goodbye. As soon as he was out of sight, you opened the box, expecting to see the usual cupcakes inside. Instead, you found that the sweet treats were decorated with cute messages such as "U R Cute" , "Be Mine?" , "So Sweet" and so on. Feeling mushy at his adorable gesture, you bit into the sweet treat as you headed back to your apartment.

The next day, you made sure to wear a purple dress, complete with black, grey and white accessories - the colours of the asexual flag. Bucky beamed at you as he welcomed you into his apartment. He had made a snack mix from popcorn, crispy pretzels, chips and nachos, the perfect accompaniment to any movie according to him, and you couldn't agree more.

The pair of you watched The Notebook in silence, except for a few sobs and sniffs here and there and the straight up bawling during the emotional parts of the movie.

After a while, the film ended but your date continued. The two of you talked about everything, right from the meaningful discussions about the government policies to random questions like "which mythical creature would you be and why?"

Soon, it was time for you to head back to your apartment. Bucky offered to walk you and you happily agreed. But before you left, he asked you nervously, "Would you like to have a second date?"

"I would love to," you beamed, "Which movie should we watch the next time?"

He ran his hand in his somewhat disheveled hair, "Uhh… I actually made a date jar. Wait, I will get it."

He brought over a glass jar, filled with tiny bits of folded paper, "I thought we could have dates that start from each English alphabet. We can pick and choose at random from the jar."

Tears pricked the corner of your eyes again at his thoughtful and romantic gesture. You gingerly picked one note from the jar, excited for the adventure that awaited the two of you.

🏳️‍🌈

It took more than 2 years for the pair of you to finish every date in the date jar, except for one. Whether it was jet-skiing in the ocean, taking classes for flamenco dance, him teaching you self-defense or going on a wildlife safari together, you and Bucky finally got through it all. Only the letter "P" was now left.

In these 2 years, any distance between the two of you had practically vanished. Bucky was comfortable in removing his bionic arm in front of you. Moreover, he had started sharing everything with you. Right from his darkest and disturbing nightmares to a pretty butterfly that he may have seen during his missions, Bucky made it a point to ensure that you were a part of his life, and you had absolutely no complaints.

The two of you had also discussed about your sexual desires, and Bucky had been comfortable with you using your sex toys as and when you wished.

Bucky was the perfect boyfriend anybody could ask for. He was considerate, thoughtful, a hardcore feminist and gave the best foot-rubs in the world. And so you were nervous. Nervous because the two of you had never actually sat down to talk about the nature of your relationship. And as the day of the last date loomed nearer, your anxiety increased. At first, you thought of making a second date jar, but he had quickly dismissed the idea, stating that he would be caught up with multiple things after the last date ended.

As you sat in the car that Bucky had sent for you, your apprehension grew. Bucky always picked you up, however this time, he had asked you to come alone in the car. Maybe he wanted to break up with you?

By the time you reached the park it was pitch black. You were sure Bucky had paid the guards to keep the gates of the park open just for you.

As soon as you entered, you saw the pathway lined with 25 lamp posts, leading you towards a breathtaking archway decorated with fairy lights and your favourite flowers.

On every lamp post, a photograph of the two of you - which were taken on your dates - was stuck along with a note. The notes described how he fell in love with you over and over again on every single date. Your progress was slow, as read each of his meticulously written words with tears in your eyes. You collected all of his notes and the photographs, and finally headed towards the lit archway.

When you entered it, the instrumental notes of the song "All of Me" by John Legend reached your ears.

You walked ahead and reached a bend. Upon crossing it, you were showered with rose petals as the live music grew louder. And at the end of the archway, your boyfriend, James Buchanan Barnes, was standing in a tuxedo, looking as sinfully good as the forbidden fruit. The entire area around him was lit with soft fairy lights that cascaded gracefully between tall lamp posts. Even on the ground, small wooden lamps illuminated the grass across the area. A live band was playing the music and your Bucky was standing with the most gorgeous bouquet of red roses that you had ever seen.

Your vision turned blurry as you started crying, and looking at your tears, he started sobbing as well. "No no no I can't cry now," he managed to say between his sobs while giving you his handkerchief, "I have to do this."

He got down on one knee and took your hand in his. You both laughed as you started crying harder. He took a deep breath and said your name, "These 2 years have been the most magical years of my life. You have accepted me as who I am, what I am, and never once tried to change me or make fun of me for it. I never thought I would be treated with the amount of respect that-" he started crying, unable to finish his sentence.

You sat beside him and handed him your kerchief. "Yes," you said with a tear-stained smile.

"Let me ask you first!" he exclaimed between his sobs.

You laughed and wiped your snot as he cleared his throat, "I love you so much. You are the only one I want to-" he started crying again.

"Yes!" you answered his unsaid question.

"I haven't asked you yet!" he exclaimed again as the two of you giggled between your sobs.

"Okay c'mon Bucky you can do this," he muttered to himself as you beamed at him. "Okay," he looked into your eyes and whispered your name, "Will you do me the honour of marrying me and becoming my wife?"

You choked up at finally hearing the words. Rendered speechless, you could only nod as fresh tears escaped your eyes.

"You have to say yes!" he almost shouted with excitement.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!!" you matched his enthusiasm as he slipped a ring onto your finger. His large arms then engulfed you in a bear hug, wrapping you in a safe and secure space for eternity to come.

Permanent tag: @donutloverxo @notyourtypicalrose @just-one-ordinary-fangirl

Bucky taglist: @loustan90

Taglist open! Just comment, send an ask or message!

#asexual #Bucky Barnes #bucky barnes angst #bucky barnes au #james bucky barnes #asexual!bucky barnes #asexual!Bucky #bucky x reader #Bucky barnes x Reader #winter soldier #lgbtqa #JTargaryen18s4K

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bucky-of-the-opera · 4 years

Text

Put a Little Boogie in It

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: A night out with friends leads to a horrible, wonderful mistake.

Warnings: language, alcohol

Word Count: 2,323

A/N: This is for @captain-rogers-beard follower milestone One Hit Wonder Challenge! My song is “Mickey” by Toni Basil

You were several episodes into a marathon binge of your latest Netflix show when you heard a knock at your door.

“One second!” you shouted as you struggled to unravel yourself from your cocoon of blankets. You opened your bedroom door to find Natasha fully dressed for a night out.

“What are you doing?” she asked coolly.

“Watching the new season of –”

“Not anymore,” she said, cutting you off. “We’re going out.”

“Where?”

“There’s a new bar opening tonight, and I need a designated driver.”

“Can’t you use one of Tony’s drivers?” you groaned.

She smiled sweetly at you. “But you’re much better company.”

You rolled your eyes. “Fine.”

“Great. Now put some pants on, and meet me in front of the elevator when you’re ready to go.”

You looked down at your exposed legs and tugged on your oversized sweatshirt as Natasha walked away.

“So much for a cozy night all to myself,” you muttered as you shut your door and started getting dressed.

A little while later you emerged from you room and found Natasha waiting by the elevator.

“Took you long enough,” she said as she pressed the down button. Seconds later the doors opened, revealing Bucky Barnes leaning against the back wall of the elevator. He looked surprised to see the two of you.

“Evening, Barnes,” Natasha said as she moved to stand next to him.

“Romanoff,” he responded.

She pressed the button for the garage level. As she did so, she noticed no other button was lit up.

You scuttled inside before the doors shut, standing on his other side. “Oh, hi Bucky!”

“Hi, Y/N.” He gave you a quick once-over, his gaze lingering on your outfit. He normally saw you in combat gear for missions or in comfortable clothes for exercising or lounging around on a day off. “You look…nice.” His cheeks blushed a bit as he continued. “Where are you two headed?”

“Nat’s dragging me to a bar.”

“I thought you were planning on watching some new show all night. I explicitly remember you telling Steve you were off duty for the foreseeable future until you finished it.”

“And now she’s helping a friend in need,” Natasha interrupted. “By the way, Barnes, it seems you forgot to select a floor.”

His cheeks grew even hotter. “Oh, uh, you’re right.”

Bucky pushed a random button and then shoved his hands in his jacket pockets.

The rest of the ride was endured in silence until the elevator stopped at Bucky’s floor. He walked through the doors as you called out to him. “Have a good bight, Nucky.

Natasha had to bite her lip to hold back from snickering.

Your eyes widened as you quickly corrected yourself. “I mean night! Have a good night, Bucky!”

Bucky smiled as he turned around to face you. “You have a good bight too, Y/N.”

The doors shut once more as you slammed your hand to your forehead.

“Interesting,” Natasha said.

“What is?” you asked, annoyed.

“Oh, you know. Just you and Barnes.”

“There is no ‘me and Barnes’.”

“If you say so,” she said, unconvinced.

You huffed in response and left the elevator when it reached the garage. The two of you had just started walking when you saw Maria Hill heading your way.

“Where are you off to, all dolled up?” Natasha asked.

Maria smoothed down the front of her blouse. “I was supposed to be meeting someone tonight. But the guy cancelled last minute. Again.”

“Why don’t you come out with us?” you asked.

“Well, I am already dressed for the occasion. Why not?”

“His loss is our gain,” Natasha added as she whipped out her phone. “Our driver will be here any minute.”

You turned to look at her. “I thought I was driving?”

“You were,” Natasha said. “But now it’s a party.”

***

“What are we drinking to?” Maria asked as she picked up her glass.

“To Tony, for sponsoring tonight’s event,” Natasha winked.

The three of you clinked your drinks together before sipping from your glasses.

“So,” Natasha began, “who’s this mystery man you were supposed to see tonight.”

“No one, really. We’ve only gone out twice,” Maria responded as she swirled her drink. “What about you two? Anyone new and exciting in your lives?”

“Not me, but…” Natasha trailed off as she glanced at you.

“Why are you looking at me like that? I’m not seeing anyone.”

“Are you sure?” she continued. “Not even a certain 100 year-old cyborg?”

“Of course not! And he’s not a cyborg.”

“Are you talking about Sergeant Barnes?” Maria asked. “I didn’t realize you two were –”

“We’re not! We’re just friends!” you exclaimed, cutting her off.

“But you want to be something, right?”

“Is this why you asked me to come out? So you could badger me about Bucky?”

“No, of course not,” Natasha paused, “well, maybe a little. I can’t help it; this whole will-they-or-won’t-they routine is killing me.”

“What are you talking about?” you asked, confused.

She sighed. “I’m talking about the way you’re dancing around your feelings for him. It’s blatantly obvious to every else that you’re infatuated with him.”

You turned to Maria. “Is that true? Does everyone think I…like Bucky?”

“I mean, I’m not around as much as Natasha and the others. But from what I’ve seen, it does seem like you, uh, care for him quite a bit…”

You groaned and buried your head in your folded arms. “I’m going into hibernation when we get back. No one will see me for the next few months.”

Natasha chuckled and patted your back. “There, there. Aunt Nat is here to make all your worries go away.”

You snuck a peek with one eye and saw her slowly push a shot glass toward you. You sighed before grabbing the drink, downing it, and slamming the glass back on the table.

“There you go,” Natasha smiled. “Nothing a little alcohol can’t help.”

“Alcohol is only a temporary fix. I’ll still have to live with the fact that everyone knows I like Bucky.”

“Don’t you think he likes you as well?” Maria asked.

You fiddled with a thread on your sleeve. “I’m not sure.”

Natasha leaned forward. “Well, lucky for you, I’m very observant.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, I see all. Including his pining for you.”

You scoffed. “I don’t believe you.”

“Take tonight, for instance. Bucky was coming to your room to confess his love for you.”

“Natasha,” you warned her.

“All right, I don’t know if that’s why he was coming, but he was definitely on his way to see you.” She took a sip of her drink, leaving you in suspense. “He was surprised to see you dressed up and leaving the compound.”

“That’s because I told Steve I was confining myself to my room to –”

“Let me finish,” Natasha said. “There was no button lit up besides the one I pushed.”

“He already said he forgot.”

“Or he had pushed the button for your floor and was heading for your room when we caught him on the elevator.”

You traced the rim of your glass with your finger. “Hmm, maybe.”

“Not to mention all the times I’ve caught him staring at you. Much like the times I’ve caught you staring at him,” she grinned.

You groaned. “Okay, that’s enough. I don’t wanna hear your theories anymore.” You lifted your empty glass. “Can you just get me another drink?”

“That, I can do.”

***

A few hours later, you and Natasha finally arrived back at the compound after Tony’s driver had dropped Maria off at her place. There was no way you were going to be able to make it back to your room by yourself, so you leaned on Natasha as she led the way.

She closed the bedroom door behind her when the two of you finally reached your bedroom. After carefully placing you on your bed, she searched your drawers for pajamas.

Meanwhile, you pulled out your phone and opened Pandora, scrolling until you found the 80s Pop station. The app buffered until a song finally started playing.

You gasped. “I love this song!”

“Really?” Natasha asked.

But you had already started singing along. “Oh Mickey, you're so fine. You're so fine you blow my mind, hey Mickey! Hey Mickey!”

Natasha rolled her eyes as you continued singing to the song. Halfway through however, you had a revelation.

“Natasha!”

“Y/N!”

“You can replace Mickey with Bucky, and the song still works!” You sang more to prove your point.

“Oh Bucky, what a pity you don't understand. You take me by the heart when you take me by the hand.”

Unbeknownst to you, Natasha was already recording your new rendition of “Mickey” as you danced on top of your bed.

“Oh Bucky, you're so pretty, can't you understand? It's guys like you Bucky! Oh, what you do Bucky, do Bucky! Don't break my heart, Bucky!”

After you had come down from your momentary high, Natasha left so you could finally sleep. But before you did, your phone dinged. Natasha sent you the video she had taken of you.

You watched a bit of it before deciding to send it to Maria, thinking she might find it funny as well. You turned the sound on your phone off before crawling under your covers and finally dozing off.

When you finally woke up, you felt like shit. I’ve gotta stop drinking with Natasha, you thought. You headed into your bathroom to freshen up.

Minutes later you came back to sit on your bed and checked your phone. You saw a text from Natasha asking if you were still alive. You also saw that you had apparently texted Bucky at almost four in the morning. When you opened the message your heart dropped. Apparently in your inebriated state, you had sent the video to Bucky by mistake.

Your first instinct was to call Natasha. The phone rang twice before she picked up.

“She’s alive!”

“I sent the video to Bucky!”

“What?”

“The video from last night! I accidentally sent it to him!”

You heard nothing for a few seconds, and then Natasha burst into laughter.

“This isn’t funny; I have to move now! Or fake my own death! I can’t face him. Please Nat, you have to do something.”

She exhaled to try and catch her breath. “I think this could actually be good for you. Expressing your feelings for someone can be hard; but luckily for you, your drunk self did it for you.”

“But I didn’t want to tell him!” You collapsed back onto your bed and mumbled into your phone, “I just wanted to watch my show.” You ended the call and pulled your blanket back over your head, eventually drifting off again.

A loud knocking on your door roused you from your slumber.

You groaned. “No one’s home; please leave a message!”

“It’s Bucky.”

Your breath caught in your throat. You rolled onto your side with your back facing the door as you pulled your knees closer to your chest.

“Y/N, can I come in? Please?”

“It’s unlocked,” you said softly.

The handle turned and Bucky slowly entered the room, closing the door behind him. He sat down on the edge of your bed, his back to you.

He sat in silence for a few moments before speaking. “I went on a jog with Sam earlier today. He told me a corny joke that I think you would’ve appreciated.” Bucky glanced over his shoulder at you, but you were still facing away from him. “How do you make a tissue dance?”

Several seconds passed until you finally answered, your voice muffled by the blanket. “You put a little boogie in it.”

He smiled. “So you’ve heard that one? How about this one: What do you call a fake noodle?”

“An impasta.”

Bucky shook his head. “I swear, you and Sam have the same sense of humor.”

“We have the best sense of humor.” You rolled onto your back to look at him, the blanket resting just below your chin. “Did you come up here just to tell me some jokes?”

Bucky adjusted himself so he could face you. “Yes. But also because I missed your face.”

You failed at trying to hide your smile. “I missed your face too.” You sat up, letting the blanket drop to your lap. “I’m sorry about the video. I blame alcohol.”

He chuckled. “I never knew you were such a good singer.”

“Can we just forget about this whole thing, please? It’s embarrassing.”

Bucky moved so he was sitting next to you, his arm pressed against yours. “I won’t bring it up, but I want to keep the video.”

“Why?!”

“Because it makes me laugh. And because you called me pretty.”

You crossed your arms and pouted. “I didn’t call you pretty. My drunk alter ego called you pretty.”

“But you think I’m pretty too, right?” He nudged you with his elbow.

“You’re gorgeous,” you said in a flat tone, making him laugh. You sighed. “If you promise not to show the video to anyone else, you can keep it.”

He crossed his heart. “Promise.”

“I need a real promise,” you said, holding your pinkie out to him.

He squinted at it before locking his pinkie with yours. “I promise.”

“Thank you.”

His eyes met yours. “Ya know, I think you’re pretty too.”

You tried to pull your hand away but even the grip from his pinkie was too strong to break free of.

Bucky moved his face closer to yours, making your heart race. He stopped just mere inches from you, giving you a chance to pull your head back if you wanted. But instead you moved forward as well, your lips meeting his for the briefest moment. When you pulled away, you saw him grinning at you. You smiled back at him before burying your head in his shoulder.

Don’t break my heart, Bucky.

#mimi's one hit wonder challenge #bucky barnes #bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader

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glacecakes · 4 years

Text

Ocean Waves and Glittering Sand

The gang decides to take a beach day in between trials.

No warnings! This is pure 100% fluff. I wrote this for @honeyxmonkey thank you so much for the other fic ilysm QAQ I hope I did your prompt justice!!

Read more on AO3

“Run that by me again. We’re doing what now?” Varian asked.

“We’re going to the beach!” Yong said, scuttling around as he prepared his bag. “You know, it’s got sand, and water, and sun?”

“I know what the beach is. Just… why are we going to the beach?”

Varian had just woken up, expecting to find himself the first one awake. With any luck, he could get a kick start on reading his mother’s journal and messing with some theories. The sun had just barely risen, the dew already evaporating. Today was going to be bright and hot, he could feel it in his bones.

Varian stepped out of his tent, mind booting up for the day, only to find everyone else awake and packing bags. Not emergency “We’ve been compromised we have to leave now” bags, no no no. That would make sense. Instead Nuru had thrown a swimsuit and shirt at Varian and told him to get changed.

Nuru looked up from where she was folding up her towel. “Why not?” She responded, shouldering her bag. “We’ve been working really hard, we could use a break.”

That was true. They’d just completed the 4th trial and were heading towards the Dark Kingdom, a good three months away. From what Rapunzel told him, this stretch of their quest would not be easy. So it made sense they wanted an easy day before things got hectic again.

Still… Varian’s idea of an easy day seemed wildly different from theirs. He looked to Hugo for help. Surely he’d understand that Varian wanted to work today.

“What do you have against the beach, goggles?” Hugo asked, walking up and dumping a sunhat on Varian’s head. “I know you hate the sun like every other vampire, but it could do you some good.”

The betrayal was unreal.

“Screw off,” The younger alchemist muttered good naturedly. “I don’t hate the beach, but…”

Hugo raised an eyebrow. “But?”

This was a losing battle, it seemed. Varian let out a sigh of defeat. “But nothing,” he grumbled. “I guess we’re going to the beach.” The other three let out a collective cheer.

The sun beat down on sandy shores and crystalline water, and Varian wondered why he ever complained in the first place.

The beach was gorgeous, he had to give props to the others for finding it. Even though it was still early a good number of people seemed to have had the same idea.

“Last one in the water has to bathe Ruddiger!” Yong called, preparing to rush into the water. He was stopped when Varian grabbed his arm.

“Sunscreen first, Yong. Then last one in the water can bathe Ruddiger.” Yong pouted, but didn’t complain as he covered himself. Varian did the same, watching amused as Yong shot into the water like a rocket.

“Hey, Hugo, can you come get my back?” Varian asked, turning to where he and Nuru were setting up the towels. Hugo smirked and sauntered over, and Varian regretted it instantly.

“No pictures on my back.” He warned. “Or I will kill you.”

“Oh please, like you would even try.”

“Spite is a powerful motivator.”

Hugo rolled his eyes but said nothing. “There, go chase Yong or whatever.”

“It’s too early to get in the water.” Varian responded, walking over to their setup. Nuru had gone to follow Yong, so it was just him. He plopped down on his stomach, grabbing his mom’s journal and placing it in front of him. He still wanted to get a little work done.

To his left, Hugo had also decided to stay out of the water, but instead of working decided to build a sand castle. Varian couldn’t help himself, he kept straying from the book, instead watching Hugo work out of the corner of his eye. He stared as Hugo stuck out his tongue in concentration, using the wetter sand as mortar as the castle grew an impressive amount.

For a while, they stayed like this, silently enjoying each other’s presence as they did their own thing. It was a stark contrast to their usual arguments, but not unwelcome. We should do this kind of stuff more often, Varian thought. It’s a hell of a way to the next trial, so it’s not like we can’t have a little fun.

His musings were cut short when a large teen, burly and brash, ran straight through Hugo’s hard work. His feet collided with the sand, sending it everywhere, including into Hugo’s face. He gagged as sand entered his mouth.

“Watch it!” He yelled, and the teen turned back to give Hugo the finger before bolting off.

The annoyed look on his face was too much. Varian fought to hide his snickers behind his book. Hugo sent him a glare.

“Oh you think that’s funny, do you?” He hissed, no actual bite behind his words. His eyes flashed with mirth, but his lips were pressed into an over exaggerated pout.

Varian let a laugh escape him. “Yes, very much so,” He teased. He sat up. “Need some help rebuilding it?”

“Yea, and I got an idea.”

Varian raised his eyebrow with a challenging smirk.

The next hour was not nearly as quiet as the previous, instead filled with laughter and banter as they tried to rebuild the castle. Or rather, Hugo kept trying to rebuild it, Varian was trying to sabotage it.

“I think you had a little door here,” Varian poked a hole in one of the castle walls. Hugo swatted his hand away.

“It’s my castle I say what goes where!”

“Man, I’d hate to live with you. You’re a terrible architect.”

“Well I’m sorry not all of us can reverse engineer ancient automatons at 14 years old. Some of us had better things to do.”

Nuru and Yong had yet to come back, and while Varian liked to be the voice of reason, the example, Hugo just made it so easy to let loose. No arguments over which way to go, or why Hugo shouldn’t steal their supplies. Today, they were just teenagers with a desire for mischief and a hint of vengeance.

“You’re lucky I always bring this stuff with me. Otherwise this wouldn’t work as well,” Varian muttered.

Hugo snorted. “We could have just used a rock, but you were all like no, we gotta do this the right way, I’m an ex-villain and I don’t get to use what I learned often enough. ” He joked. Varian stuck his tongue out at that.

Finally, Varian wiped the sweat off his brow. It was starting to heat up, and he wouldn’t lie if he said the water was looking really nice right about now.

“Are we done?” He asked, and Hugo scooted back. He put his hands on his hips and admired their work.

“Looks good to me.”

Varian eyed it warily. “Shame it’s gonna get destroyed.”

“ If it gets destroyed, it’ll be for a good cause.” Hugo corrected, wrapping an arm around Varian. The younger tried not to blush as his head brushed against Hugo’s shirtless chest.

Sure enough, as Hugo let go, the same guy from before came back around. The two alchemists stepped back as he sized up the castle. The teen smirked, and charged right for their hard work…

In a flash of pink smoke, the teen stopped dead in his tracks. “Hey! What the…” He glanced down to see his feet trapped in goo. “The heck is this shit?” He yelled, glaring at the two.

“Why you don’t mess with alchemists!” Varian responded, ducking as the burly teen tried to swipe at him. “Relax, it’ll wear off in an hour. Enjoy the free sunburn!” With that, Hugo tugged at Varian’s arm and the two ran towards the water. The teen’s screams of anger faded from their ears as they splashed into the ocean.

“That…” Hugo wheezed, choking on laughter. “Was great.”

Varian’s own laughter died as he looked at the taller teen. The sunlight glanced off his glasses, bathing him in a warm light as his laughter continued. His warm smile sent shockwaves into Varian’s heart, which gave a weak tha-thump . If Varian could stare at this forever, he gladly would.

Hugo’s laughter finally died, and he saw Varian standing still, cheeks red and eyes ajar. “Earth to googles? Hello?” Varian blinked the stars out of his eyes. “Sorry. Sorry.”

The water lapped at their legs. The silence stretched on.

At least until Hugo reached down and splashed water at Varian. He snickered as Varian cried out in alarm and reeled back.

“Oh, is that how you wanna do things? After everything we’ve been through, you’re gonna betray me like that?”

Hugo’s chest tightened at how lighthearted those words were.

He didn’t let it show on his face. “Yup.” He popped the p. “Your face was so red, I thought you were gonna catch on fire.”

If anything Varian’s face turned even redder at that. He opened his mouth to speak but Hugo shoved more water his way.

His shirt was now soaked through. “It is on .” He crouched down low, and Hugo prepared for water but instead Varian leaped at him, sending them both tumbling into the water.

Hugo coughed as water entered his mouth. “Not cool!” He yelled, pushing Varian off. “This is war!”

He jumped at Varian, but the skinny alchemist scooted out of the way. He was far more graceful in water than he had any right to be, and took full advantage. With Hugo off balance, Varian jumped onto his back, shouting like a madman as Hugo crumpled into the water.

The blond grabbed Varian’s legs and threw back his back, sending Varian’s upper half into the water. He resurfaced with a shriek.

What a sight they must have been, screaming and laughing as they tried to murder one another. At some point Nuru and Yong swam over to see the ruckus, and cheered them on.

“Go Varian! Take him down!” Nuru cupped her hands over her cheeks.

Yong pumped his fist in the air. “Nah! Go Hugo! Fight! Fight! Fight!”

At this point, Varian had freed himself from Hugo’s back, and the two were circling each other like a dance.

“Give up now, hairstripe.” Hugo grinned. “You’re so tiny, all I gotta do is walk out a bit farther and I win.”

“You forget I’m the stronger one. I can just yank your legs out from under you.”

“Mhm, sure you are. Hey, what’s that on your back?”

Varian frowned. “What?” He turned around, trying to get a glimpse. It was hard to make out, but he could see an H written in paler skin. “Oh my god. You didn’t.”

“I totally did.”

“I thought I said no pictures!”

Hugo laughed. “My name isn’t a picture, it’s a word! Oooh, do you still read picture books, is that why you got it confused?”

That was it. Varian lunged at Hugo with a yell, but Hugo backed up deeper into the water, and sure enough, Varian fell in. He couldn’t get his balance without going underwater, and he coughed and sputtered. His shirt rode up, floating in the water.

Hugo looked almost bored. “So, you wanna give in?”

Varian sighed. “Alright, fine…” He dipped underwater, letting his toes touch the ocean floor. Using it as a springboard, he leapt out of the water, grabbing onto Hugo’s shoulders and dunking him under.

The younger watched as Hugo surfaced, coughing. “Now I’m done.” He grinned.

A few hours later, they had all crawled out of the water, sopping wet and laughing. They all agreed to stay just one more hour, dry off in the sun before heading back to camp. Nuru and Yong took the last hour to build their own sandcastle, now worry free.

The setting sun warmed Varian’s skin, settling over him like a blanket. It wasn’t too humid, and the breeze from the sea kept him cool enough. Varian stared at the book in front of him, seeing the words but not comprehending them. His eyes fell in and out of focus as he started to drift off. He lowered his head with a pleased hum, and distantly recognized the feeling of someone massaging his scalp. The book slid out from under him, and Varian watched with hazy eyes as a freckled hand placed it by his side.

“This is nice,” Varian murmured. Hugo hummed in agreement, staring ahead at the ocean waves. His hand never left Varian’s scalp.

“Yea, we should take the next leg of the trip easy.” Hugo responded.

“No,” Varian said. “This. Just the two of us, not fighting, just hanging out. Just being ourselves.” He stretched out like a cat.

Hugo’s eyes softened, chancing a glance down at Varian. Varian’s hair ruffled in the wind, a serene smile across his face.

Hugo felt his heart skip a beat. “Sounds perfect.” He said.

They lapsed back into silence, the rushing of the waves more than enough.

#tangled #tangled the series #varian and the seven kingdoms #varian and the seven kingdoms au #varian #tts #tts varian #hugo the human #varigo

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whattodowithace · 3 years

Text

I Hate You Part II (Byeongkwan)

Title: I Hate You Part II

Pairing: Byeongkwan (A.C.E) x Reader

Genre: Spice

Word Count: 2.2K Words

Writer: Whattodowithkpop

*****

I sigh nervously as I stand at the entrance, adjusting the scarf I had secured around my neck, covering up the evidence from the previous day. I close my eyes, hoping to avoid him as much as possible, pushing the doors open and being engulfed by loud conversations from the students that frequented the halls.

I walk with my head down, focusing on the tiles that lay before me as I make each step carefully, hoping not to bump into anyone. I hear my name suddenly, my head raising at the familiarity of Chan’s voice. As I look up, I see Him. Panic rises within me as I see his red hair flash against my sight. I quickly notice the black turtleneck he wore, covering his neck all the way to his jaw, showing no evidence either. He turns his head, feeling my eyes on him. I glare at him instinctively as I approach where he was talking with his friends. Instead of a glare, he lips turn up to a smirk as he looks down to my scarf, giving me a quick wink. My eyes widen, not expecting that reaction from him at all. I nearly run into Chan as my quickened heartbeat clouds my mind.

“Can you two please, get along once?” Chan laughs, not knowing of the events that had transpired less than a day before. “Also, why are you wearing that scarf, it’s so hot in here!”

“It’s a fashion statement.” I grumble at him, walking next to him as we make our way to our first class.

I knew he would also be there, but I push that into the back of my thoughts, focusing on Chan’s conversation.

I watch the door nervously, hoping he wouldn’t walk through and that he would hopefully moved schools, but alas, he strolls into the room immediately looking up to me as he finds his desk, his eyes not leaving mine until he has to face the front.

“What was that?” Chan asks in a shocked tone.

“What was what?” I turn to him, raising an eyebrow at his question.

“That was a longing gaze right there.” Chan giggles like a school boy as he gently pushes my shoulder.

“Chan, you are seeing things.” I roll my eyes, focusing on the paper in front of me.

I hear nothing else from the boy next to me, but I know he is smiling excitedly at his theory of ‘sexual tension’ being correct.

The rest of the morning classes go over without incident. Byeongkwan wasn’t in any of the classes, giving my mind a break to actually focus on school. I was thankful for the lunch period, being able to eat with Chan and Chan alone bringing me relief over my tense body. I had told Chan to go ahead of me, him having to buy his lunch while I just needed to retrieve mine from my locker. I waited for the halls to die down before braving them, the foot traffic much lighter after everyone had made their way to the cafeteria.

I walk to empty halls, traveling slowly to bask in the quietness.

I hear footsteps approaching me, turning to face the owner of said footsteps. I stagger backwards as I see Byeongkwan approaching.

“No.” I tell him, turning back around to continue walking away from him. His footsteps continue to follow me as I reach my locker, opening it in the hopes that the door would block me from him.

“Nice scarf.” He says, a smirk clearly evident in his voice.

“Nice turtle neck.” I retort back with monotone, not looking up at him as I close my door having retrieved my lunch.

“Dont you think the artist would like to see his work?” He asks, pulling at the scarf gently.

“Byeongkwan.” I warn, stepping back from him.

He leans closer to me, his mouth leaning down to my ear, his hot breath causing a shiver to run up my spine.

“I want everyone to see.” He whispers, one of his hands resting on my waist. His closeness causes me to freeze, not being able to stop his hand that reaches for my scarf, unwrapping ti from my neck to let the marks be on display.

He steps back from me, the scarf hanging from his hand as a smirk appears on his face. I blush, bringing my hands to my neck in an attempt to mask all the marks.

“Give it back.” I growl as I make an attempt to grab the scarf.

“No, I prefer you without it.” He bites his lip, running off in the other direction with my scarf in hand. I groan out angrily, feeling my body heat up from anger.

I enter the cafeteria, looking for Chan as I cover my neck with both hands, hiding the majority of the dark bruises. I find Chan sitting at a table, eating his food by himself as his backpack saves a seat next to him. I walk quickly towards him, my head down so as not to draw any attention to myself. I hear Chan call my name as I approach him, looking into his eyes.

“Chan, I need your jacket.” I tell him, only keeping eye contact with him as I sit next to him.

“My jacket?” He asks confused. “Why?”

I squeeze my eyes shut as I sigh out in defeat. I face him directly, blocking the view for everyone else as I slowly uncover my hands to reveal my neck.

Chan gasps loudly. “Who gave you hickeys?” His voice was loud, catching some other students attention, making me shush him loudly.

“I just need your jacket.” I plead him. His eyes dart behind me, looking past my shoulder before his eyes widen.

“BK is wearing a turtleneck…” Chan states, the pieces connecting in his mind.

"BK gave you hickeys…” His eyes focused on what I assume to be Byeongkwan behind me.

“And you gave him hickeys…”

“Chan, please.” I whine, covering my neck again.

Chan shakes his head, handing me his jacket with a smirk on his face.

“So, there was sexual tension.” Chan notes as he goes back to his food.

“Chan, I will hit you.”

“I hate to tell you this…” Chan trails off as he stares at my neck as I put his jacket on. “That jacket cant cover everything.”

I sigh out as I zip the jacket as much as I could, the top of my neck still visible, but nothing my hair couldn’t cover.

“Are they hidden?”

Chan furrows his eyebrows. “If you don’t look too closely.”

“I’ll take it.” I huff, finally ready to start eating.

When I look up I see Byeongkwan in my sight, him and his friends sitting at the table just across from Chan and I’s.

His jaw was clenched as he looked at my attire, clearly frustrated I had covered my neck again. His eyes connect with mine as he glares. I smirk back at him, feeling proud.

Byeongkwan reaches up the the collar of his turtle neck, looping his fingers to the inside. He holds my eye contact as he gently folds the fabric down a few times, revealing light red marks on the upper part of his neck. I glare at him, turning back to my food to ignore him.

I avoided Byeongkwan for the majority of the day. I avoided his eyes and side stepped his advances as best I could. Chan’s jacket covered my neck, but it wasn’t full proof, many other students saw the marks, staring at them once they realized what they were.

The one class I had to interact with Byeongkwan was biology. We had to finish taking notes on our dissection project.

I had been taking notes quietly, telling Byeongkwan to make his own notes since he didn’t help me with the dissection in the first place. I was doing okay, until I felt him breath on my neck as he looked over my shoulder to copy my notes. I felt a wave of nervousness as my body heated up as my mind drifted to yesterday, making me anxious.

I quickly stood up from my chair, asking the teacher if I could be excused to the bathroom, which she granted.

I walk to the hall quickly, rushing to the bathroom so I could splash cold water on my face. AS I look into the mirror, I can see the hickeys darkening in color. I gently run my finger over my collarbone, feeling a twinge of pain at the contact. I huff out in annoyance, trying to cover them back over with my hair.

“I hate him.” I tell myself in the mirror, glaring at the thought of him. I shake my thoughts, focusing back to the dissection and the class, hoping to finish it without anymore distractions. I make my way out of the bathroom, immediately spotting Byeongkwan resting against the wall.

“They never let two students go at the same time.” I glare at him, the heat coming back through my body.

“I have my ways.” He smiles, pushing off the wall to make his way over to me. “Im sad you covered up.” He feigns a frown, flicking the zipper of Chan’s jacket as his eyes focus on his handiwork.

“You look real broken up about it.” I roll my eyes, pushing past him to walk back to class.

Before I make it too far, Byeongkwan grabs my wrist dragging me past our classroom.

“What are you doing?” I ask him in irritation, being dragged into a dark room that I recognized to be the third music room that no one seemed to use.

“You have been avoiding me all day.” Byeongkwan remarks, releasing my wrist to face me fully.

“I wonder why?” I glare at him.

“You were 100% willing yesterday, in fact, you started it.” Byeongkwan lets out, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “I just…” He sighs out, looking me in the eye. “I don’t care how, I just want you attention.”

My eyes widen, not sure if I understood his words.

“If you want to go back to screaming at me fine, just please give me something.” He admits, his eyes never leaving mine.

I stay silent awhile, trying to process his words in my mind. I open my mouth to say something but no words come out, making me look down at the floor.

He sighs again, his voice sharp as he speaks again. “God, you’re so annoying.”

“I’m annoying?” I scoff at him as I unzip Chan's jacket. “Do you know how annoying it to have marks this dark? Im going to get in trouble by the teachers!” Byeongkwan’s lips turn up into a small smile making me realize he had said those words to get a reaction from me. I glare at him as he walks closer to me, his fingers reach up to his collar.

“You haven’t seen your work have you?” He asks darkly, slowing pulling down the neck of his sweater past his collarbones and part of his chest. Dark purple bruises cover his chest and collarbones, making my breath catch in my throat as I realize I had made those marks and that I was the one that marked him. I gulp nervously as he steps closer to me, our bodies nearly flush by his close proximity.

I reach my fingers out, running them gently along his chest, making him wince in pain. I suck in a breath as I watch his body react to me, making me feel hot again. I trace my fingers up his neck, watching his skin tense under my fingertips until I reach the back of his neck, my hand wrapping around it to pull him down. My lips meet his as I run my fingers through his hair and his move to my waist. He deepens the kiss, forcing his tongue into my mouth as it dances with mine. I breath through my nose as I wrap my arms full around his neck, standing on my tip toes to reach more of him. He pulls away, quickly pushing the jacket off my body as he begins to kiss the tender skin of my neck.

I gasp from the twinge of pain. “Byeongkwan.”

He hums against my jaw, starting another mark below it.

“We are going to get in trouble.” I whisper to him as I push his head to my skin, keeping him on my neck.

“I don’t think you care.” He pushes, trailing kisses up to my ear.

His hands travels down my waist, leaning down slight to grip my thighs. “I- I do care.” I stutter out weakly, helping him wrap my legs around his waist.

“Then tell me to stop.” He challenges, kissing along my jawline as he awaits my answer.

I strain my neck backwards, giving Byeongkwan more access to my neck. He breathes against my neck causing goosebumps to rise on my skin.

“Byeongkwan.” I pant, digging my fingers into his shoulders. “We should go back.”

He kisses the bruises over my neck. “I don’t want to.”

I pull his hair to look into my eyes. “I would rather make out with you in a more secluded place.”

He groans out. “Meet me after school in this room.”

I bite my lip as I smile. “Okay.”

Previous Part ~ Next Part

MASTERLIST

#kdiarynet #ace #ace imagines #ace fanfictions #ace byeongkwan #ace byeongkwan x reader #x reader #byeongkwan #a.c.e #a.c.e imagines #a.c.e fanfictions #a.c.e byeongkwan #a.c.e byeongkwan x reader #kpop #kpop fanfictions #kpop x reader #spice #whattodowithkpop writings

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girlobsessed21 · 4 years

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My thoughts on The 100 7x05

Hey, guys,

Sorry for not doing any comments on the last two episodes. I’ve been a little busy and I struggled to connect to the show, so it hindered my enjoyment, but it’s all better now. Liked episode 4 and 5 was even better, jampacked with info and it answered a lot of questions.

Welcome to Bardo

Badass Octavia is da bomb (people don’t say that anymore, right?). When she was captured in episode two, I thought she had lost her fighting spirit, but it’s back, bitches. Well, until she runs into an invisible wall trying to escape. She’s captured and transported to M-cap (whatever that means). Then we get a welcome little flashback to Lincoln but it’s obvious that Bellamy would be the hand reaching out. He’s her rock, like she’s expressed many times.

Unlike John Murphy who is not quite a friend, or family and definitely not a lover. Introducing so many new characters in the final season of a show is never a good idea, because this is the time to wrap up all the stories of the existing ones, but come on, who cannot love Levitt. Even when he first meets Octavia, he doesn’t want to hurt her. Jason, you better not harm one hair on this precious little puppy’s head!

As he binges The 100 through Octavia’s eyes, he starts rooting for her, and he actually gives a damn, unlike most people on this show. He understands her strengths and weaknesses and he makes her see it too. “You’re a warrior to be sure, but your heart is pure.” Wow, what an honest and beautiful line. (Scroll down for my shipping comments.)

So is O and Hope’s fleeting little reunion. It’s amazing to experience this deep loving side of Octavia after her darkness. She’s truly one of the most diverse and developed characters on the series. Now Hope and her resilience is quickly making it to the top as well.

While Hope is trying to send her back home, we learn that memory loss is due to the time dilation. One quick note on this, it’s not linear, there’s no easy equation to calculate it unless you’re Stephen Hawking or Einstein. I don’t think it’s constant either. 10 years on Skyring = 11 days on Bardo = a few minutes on Sanctum. In the current time, 5 years on Skyring = 1 day on Sanctum = 7 days on Bardo. So, it’s clear that the planets are moving, and other factors are playing into the phenomenon. It’s more important to understand the time relative to each planet.

Levitt was the one who tattooed Hope’s code onto O’s back, also the one who planted the note into Hope’s arm. Indeed the kind of man you want on the inside, he even accepts a blow to the face as thank you.

Sheep-ish?

Thirty minutes on the clock and the trio gets led to a congregation to praise the shepherd. I never thought it was Anders, I do, however think it might be Cadogan. The Bordoan’s built the underground forest because they destroyed their planet. Ugh, what’s new? The shepherd herded his sheep from earth to Bardo via the stone. Cadogan and his second dawn cult?

Back to Clarke. So, after last episode I thought ‘the key to winning the last war’ line was an artifice for luring Clarke to disciples, but now it’s clearly true. They’ve located the key and they will win the last war. Levitt was interested in Clarke surviving the City of Light with the flame in her head, they probably assume she still has it. Cadogan burned Becca alive. Could it be because of the flame? Is this all because of that damn little chip that can’t seem to die?

Bellamy is not dead, I repeat, Bellamy is not dead! I believe that memory could be staged or implanted for a reason. Also, there’s no body, he jumped through the bridge. In the promo photos, he wears a ring but his actions towards Octavia seem a little cold and generic. On first watch, I thought it was bad acting but if he was programmed to do this, it makes sense.

Note the sequence of events. Octavia returned 7 days ago and was asked to talk her brother down, but we don’t see the actual scene. Instead we’re shown a memory. They could have implanted it to make her vulnerable and perhaps more susceptible to the procedure. I don’t know, but this theory could lead to Robot-sheep!Bellamy on Nakara, where he’ll encounter Clarke and the gang.

I have to be honest, I really don’t like this character arc for Bellamy. It’s unoriginal and a mime of Peeta’s storyline in Mockingjay. Sorry, but so far it feels like the writers were so over the show, they just wanted to get it done. And that attitude really bleeds into one’s creative concepts. I could be completely wrong, in fact, I hope I am.

Echo spins a Finn

My word, I lost the love of my life once, but I sure didn’t kill anyone. When Echo received that vision of Roan, I was hoping for some progression on her individual arc, they’ve made me care about her, and now we get the opposite. Why? One thing I have to admit, a killer performance from Tasya Teles! No pun intended.

Look, this show hasn’t explored Bellamy and Echo’s relationship enough to make her murder believable. It was the exact same thing with Finn. I wasn’t invested in Finn and Clarke’s connection, so his actions of killing a grounder tribe was more repulsive than understandable. Sure, Echo loves Bellamy and her sole purpose is to save him, but I’ve never truly witnessed their love for each other. They had one or two intimate scenes which cannot compel a deed like this. And in the process, she screwed Hope and Diyoza.

Anyway, I don’t think there’s any coming back from it. She murdered an innocent person in cold blood. That’s sure to open a door to the dark side. Just look at Octavia after killing Pike and her actions were justified by jus drein jus daun.

Say Sanctum three times slowly and it sounds like… Sanctum

Blind faith

Look, I’m just gonna come out and say this song is getting old. Every episode featuring Sanctum is the exact same thing with different lines. Can we please move on from it, already? Yes, we know the COG want Russel dead, and the adjusters will go to extreme lengths to free Russel and the prisoners are background noise.

I did appreciate Nelson stepping in to try and save the girl, though. Still doesn’t save the fact that it’s repetitive. The Sanctum plotline is really struggling to take shape and I hope it happens soon. Dramatic eyeroll.

At least in the drought of a desert, you can always count on Murphy. “…I say we live and let die.” Typical cockroach line, right, but it’s ironic when he’s the one to step up, even if it is for Emori. Under the magnifying glass it’s the exact same plot as episode 1 and 3. He hesitates to take action, and eventually becomes the hero.

I mean, he saved that poor kid from being burned alive. Can you imagine sacrificing your own child in such a horrific away? Cults are beyond whacked, and, unfortunately, it’s reality that cult members are so blinded by their faith that they do not see rhyme or reason.

How did Murphy fail that test? I didn’t. When Trey named the four pillars, I thought, isn’t rejoice one of them? Surely, a cockroach would have smelled that trap a mile away.

Indra the great

Can we just give a massive round of applause to Adina Porter!!! That powerhouse walk vibrates strength and majesty, damn, she should be a false god, I wouldn’t dare threaten her with or without an army.

Three little words was all it took for her to recognize evil. “There’s a spider on your shoulder.” Smooth. Too bad she can’t kill him. Why not, how many of the faithful are left to cause an uproar? Wonkru doesn’t know it’s Sheidheda, they won’t care, the COG will fall in line and the prisoners will be happy as long as they get their compound. Sorry, I don’t get it and I don’t understand why she doesn’t tell anyone. Someone please explain?

Granted, JR Bourne as Russel is way better, but I still don’t understand his actions. I hope they explore and explain him more, because he still feels flat unless he knows something of this final war. I’m hoping these two storylines align soon since it’s really driving a wedge between me and my love for the show.

Shipwreck

I’ll start with the easy stuff, Murphy, Emori and the perfect dress gets a heart eye emoji from me. They are so damn cute this season, can they please live happily ever after in the palace?

Octabriel vs Levittavia

Now, I enjoy Levitt fangirling over Octavia. I feel like he has a deep sense of her through her memories. If I have to root for an underdeveloped relationship, it will have to be one where the characters share thoughts and experiences even if it is through a sick, sci-fi procedure.

On the other hand, Gabriel and Octavia have immense chemistry, two seconds of them together bends my mouth into an “Aah, cute” pout. This will also add some approval and representation for mixed racial relationships.

I really don’t mind either way as long as they make me care through showing and not telling.

Bellarke

So, if my theory is correct, and Bellamy does end up on Nakara, Bellarke will encounter each other quite soon. Bellamy won’t be himself though, but he might pretend to be Bellamy to win Clarke’s co-operation. Is there hope for Bellarke yet?

Echo is now trotting a dangerous path and Bellamy might be pledged to a cause, so I doubt there will be a happy ending for Becho. Since 7x01 I’ve been thinking that the writers might want to develop something between Clarke and Gaia but if they are separated, is there enough time? Guess we’ll see.

This monster of a review is finally done… If you read through everything, you deserve a gold star! Let me know what you think, till we meet again…

#The 100 #the100 7x05 #the100 season 7 #octavia blake #levitt the 100 #hope diyoza #bellamy blake #echo #john murphy #indra kom trikru #gabriel #bellarke #sheidheda

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queenmylovely · 5 years

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Friendly Competition

Summary: Joe mazzello x fem!reader. A day at the Farmstead turns into a night at the corn maze.

Word Count: 4.8k

Warnings: cussing, some slight innuendo

A/N: This is my entry for @forever-rogue Patricia’s Halloween Challenge! It was so fun to write! Thank you again to @musicgirlyy for beta-reading!! Also, if this is enjoyed, I could be persuaded to write more... I hope you all enjoy, and any feedback including likes, replies, reblogs, messages, and asks are greatly appreciated! Especially replies, messages, and asks are super helpful for my writing ‘cause I get to hear what you think!

Masterlist

(pretend it’s apple cider)

19. “Let’s split up.” “Let’s not.”

46. “OH MY GOSH SHUT UP THEY’RE GOING TO KILL US!”

66. “How did you manage to get us lost in a corn maze?”

🎃🎃🎃

Crisp fall days were the way you always really felt yourself getting into the holiday season. It was hard to get into the Halloween spirit when it was 75 degrees and still humid. So, when the temperature first dropped down to the high 50s in New York and there was a slight breeze in the air, you hit up your friends to head out of the city for a Saturday. There was a perfect fall place that you knew of called the Farmstead that had a pumpkin patch, sunflower fields, hot apple cider, hay rides, and corn mazes (of both the scary and non scary variety).

Everyone replied in the group chat that they’d be able to make it: Rami, Lucy, Ben, Gwilym, and Joe. You rolled your eyes when you saw the dumb pun that Joe sent to the group.

Joe: Hell yeah I’m down, the group that spooks together stays together #SquadGhouls!

Y/N: Save it for the Instagram post Mazzello

It wasn’t that you disliked Joe, he was just… annoying a lot of the time. Plus, the two of you brought out each other’s competitive sides, which led to a lot of heated moments. Rami and Gwil thought you two hated each other and were always surprised when the two of you made sure to include each other in the group plans, going as far as to make sure that it worked for the other’s work schedule. Lucy and Ben thought you should just fuck and get it over with.

Day of, Joe came around to pick everyone up since he was the one with the SUV that could hold all six of you. He was picking you up last since your place was the furthest along the way there. When he pulled up to the curb, you were surprised to see that the passenger seat was still open. You assumed that Gwil or Ben would’ve been sitting there.

As you got in and said hi to everyone, Joe explained the reasoning, “I figured you should sit in the front since you’re the one that knows where we’re going. Plus you have the least weird taste in music out of any of the others.”

All four of the others protested, but you talked over them, “I’ll take that sad excuse of a compliment. And hush up all of you, you know it’s true. Ben and Gwil, you guys always try to play that weird euro-techno stuff, and Rami and Lucy, no one else likes the death metal.”

Joe laughed, Lucy and Ben flipped you off, Gwil made a shocked face, but Rami just drawled, “What can I say? She converted me.”

That set all of you off, and Joe started driving in the direction of the destination as everyone caught their breath.

It was about an hour and a half drive and you all amused yourselves with catching up, recountings of old stories, and a song guessing game. Ben was in the lead when you were in charge of the music, but that was because neither you nor Joe were playing. When the two of you kept heckling the others however, Ben grabbed the phone from you and had you and Joe face off. Rami and Gwil had wide eyes full of concern that something drastic would happen like you grabbing the steering wheel to throw Joe off or Joe screaming at you about the answer instead of looking at the road. Lucy saw where Ben’s thought process was going and egged the two of you on.

Luckily for everyone’s safety, you and Joe were able to keep civilized; he focused his eyes on the road and you didn’t distract him as the two of you fought for the answers. It was a game of back and forth, though. Joe would get an answer first, and on the next song you would. Then you would remember the title of a song but not the band and Joe would have the opposite predicament. After about half an hour of the score volleying, you arrived at the destination, but neither of you would let anyone get out of the car until the tie was decided.

Ben conferred with Lucy for a second, leaning over the back of his shared bench seat with Gwilym before describing the rules, “It’s sudden death, you can listen to the first thirty seconds of the song and then tell us the song, artist, and album. The one who gets the most elements wins.”

They played the song, and you knew it with just the first two seconds. Joe looked confident too as they stopped the song. You bit your lip in anticipation and noticed Joe look at your lips and wet his own in what you assumed was the same nervousness.

“Okay, driver first. What’s your guess Joe?” Ben asked, and everyone leaned forward to hear him.

He cleared his throat and then said with conviction, “Queen, ‘Sheer Heart Attack,’ from the album of the same name.”

Ben’s face did not change at all, and neither did Rami or Gwil’s (though their lack of change was more from a lack of knowledge than remaining impartial). You saw Lucy’s eyes widen ever so slightly and were unable to keep the smirk off of your face.

“Okay, Y/N, what about you?” Ben asked.

“Queen, ‘Sheer Heart Attack,’ and News of the World,” you replied with 100% confidence.

“Fuck,” Joe said under his breath as Rami and Gwil gasped at the difference in answers.

“Y/N is correct. ‘Sheer Heart Attack’ was originally written for the same album, but it was not published until News of the World,” Ben said in a stoic voice and the others erupted into a chorus of “ohhhs.”

Joe stuck his hand out to shake yours and said, “Good game, Y/N.”

“You too. Although I am a little surprised at you. A bit of an amateur move, Joey,” you replied in a teasing voice. Joe’s grip tightened around your hand and his eyes darkened, but you didn’t know whether it was out of anger or something else.

You shivered under his intense gaze and he noticed, “Cold already? We haven’t even gotten out of the car.” He didn’t let you make up an excuse before he let go of your hand and turned off the car, quickly opening the door and getting out.

Shaking whatever that feeling was from your head, you grabbed your gloves and scarf and joined the others in climbing out of the car. The six of you made your way over to the entrance and paid the fee that would allow you to go anywhere and do anything. They stamped the back of your hands with a cute little jack-o-lantern stamp and you continued onto the property.

The afternoon was spent picking out pumpkins and then carving them at the station they had already set up. Rami and Lucy worked together on a giant one that they carved into a spooky graveyard scene, you did a traditional jack-o-lantern face, Gwil made his into a cat, Joe did a creepier type of jack-o-lantern with sharp teeth, and Ben didn’t let anyone see his until he was done.

Ben turned it around with a, “tah-dah!” and revealed an incredibly intricate forest scene with delicately carved trees, an owl, and a glowing moon. All of you gasped softly in response.

“Ben, I never knew you were so good at pumpkin carving!” Lucy exclaimed as you all took a closer look.

“What can I say? I’m a bit of an artíste,” he said with a smirk, causing everyone to laugh. Travelling in a group, you all took your pumpkins back to the car, stashing them in the trunk before heading back into the Farmstead.

For the next hour or so, you all took turns taking pictures with different pumpkins, in the sunflower field, and with an array of scarecrows. When the sun was just starting to sink in the sky, you decided to go on a hayride before it was too dark. It was a big old tractor pulling a trailer that was lined with hay bales along the sides and the back. You and Joe climbed in first, each planning to sit at the end of either side. However, as you were sitting down across from each other, Lucy grabbed you and Ben grabbed Joe, both roughly pushing you to sit down at the head of the trailer, squished in next to each other.

Then Lucy sat diagonally to you on the side, as did Ben with Joe, Rami and Gwil sitting on the other side of them. Effectively, you and Joe were trapped sitting next to each other. Joe shot Ben a puzzled look which he ignored, and you rolled your eyes at Lucy who just winked at you. Two more couples got on, filling up the four empty seats.

The person who would be driving the tractor climbed up, holding five medium sized flannel blankets. It had cooled down considerably since the afternoon, and it would be especially cold sitting still. They tossed a blanket to each pair then climbed down and went to get in the tractor and start the ride.

“Here, you can have the blanket,” Joe told you, handing you the folded up blanket he caught.

You took it from him, but replied, “Oh please, it’s freezing, literally freezing, and this blanket is plenty big for the two of us. Just scoot closer.”

Joe moved like two inches closer to you, but the gap between you was still about 6 inches across. You rolled your eyes at his hesitancy.

“Like this,” you said, moving until your thigh was firmly pressed against his. “I won’t bite.”

You watched his adam’s apple bob as he swallowed, though you couldn’t tell whether it was because of your closeness or your words. You ignored the implication that either way it was because of you.

Draping the blanket over your legs, you smoothed it out, brushing your hands across both of your laps. It was mostly an innocent touch, but you were also testing out your theory. Although he tried to hide it, his breath hitched when you got a little further up his lap, but you kept your hand from going anywhere that would make what you were doing obvious. You smiled to yourself triumphantly, but put a pleasant smile on your face as the hay ride started.

The hay ride was fun, and you all took more pictures. It did get pretty cold, and you had to huddle closer to Joe, for purely warmth reasons. You all chatted, but also took time to just enjoy each other’s company in silence.

When the hay ride ended, you all decided to grab a snack before choosing the next activity. There was a little shack of a café that sold caramel apples, apple cider, soups, and hot sandwiches. Everyone got something to fill their stomachs and warm up a little. Once everyone was done, there was talk about what to do next. Lucy and Rami wanted to go to the scary maze, since it was finally dark enough to be good, but Gwil and Ben seemed a little scared of doing so. You weren’t so scared, but you did want to go through the regular maze because you wanted to solve it, and you convinced Gwil and Ben to come with you. Joe seemed like he was leaning towards the scary maze, but you could tell that Lucy wanted some time with just Rami (or maybe she just wanted you and Joe to go together, who knows?).

“Joe, why don’t you come with us? Bet I’d be better at solving the maze than you are,” you said, making it interesting for him.

“Oh, you’re so on,” he said, moving to join where the three of you were standing.

“Okay, perfect. Meet back at the shack by 11:00?” Rami asked and everyone agreed. He and Lucy headed off towards the scary maze hand-in-hand, already giggling in excitement.

“Aw, aren’t they just the cutest?” you said aloud, and then turned to see the three boys watching them walk away with the same adoration in their eyes as they nodded.

“Alright, come on, boys,” you said, linking arms with Joe and Ben who were closest to you. Gwil linked arms with Ben on his other side and the four of you headed off to the entrance of the maze.

“Look at us, we’re like The Wizard of Oz,” Joe said cheerfully and you all laughed.

“Wait, then who’s who?” Ben asked curiously.

“Well, I think it fits that I’m Dorothy, especially since I’m the one that’ll be leading this quest,” you started.

“I resent that,” Joe interrupted.

You shot him a look and continued, “Gwil is definitely the Cowardly Lion because he was the first to say no to the scary maze.”

Gwil shrugged and said, “I’ll own up to that. I don’t like being scared.”

“Then Ben is the Scarecrow,” you started, and Ben made a sound of disapproval. “Just because your blonde hair matches the straw, Benny,” you added, ruffling his hair.

“Y/N, not the hair,” he complained, dropping your arm to fix it.

Taking advantage of you not being attached to Ben anymore, Joe tightened his arm around yours and tugged you to the side.

“What’s next, you gonna call Gwil ‘Gwilly’? And what, I’m the Tin Man ‘cause I’m heartless?” Joe practically growled in your ear.

Frowning in confusion at his first question, you wondered what about you calling Ben ‘Benny’ would have made him mad. Nevertheless, you couldn’t stop the shiver that took over your body at his closeness, but tried to return to a neutral face, “It’s the only one left, and it’s not a perfect metaphor. You’re the one who brought it up, anyway. Plus, if you’d ever read the book, you’d know he has quite the love story.”

Joe’s arm relaxed around yours slightly at your words, and the frown on his face changed from annoyed to confused. To your surprise, though, he didn’t release your arm and you stayed linked as you continued walking. Not that you necessarily wanted to get away.

The four of you reached the entrance, and Ben and Gwil took maps, but you and Joe refused to look at them. You dropped Joe’s arm once you were all inside the entrance and turned back to face everyone.

“Let’s split up,” you said plainly.

“Let’s not,” Gwil and Ben said in unison.

“I’m not prepared to face anything in this maze with any less than three other people,” Gwil said, unrelenting.

“But Gwil it’s not even the scary maze. There’s nothing in there that will jump out at you,” Joe tried to reason with him.

“That’s exactly what they want you to think,” Ben said, shifting his gaze from side to side as if he were a conspiracy theorist trying not to let on that he knew a secret.

“Yeah,” Gwil agreed.

“Oh come on, how are Joe and I supposed to compete if we’re in the same group?” you asked them and Joe made a sound of agreement.

“Ummm…” Ben hesitated, but Gwil had been looking at one of the maps and spoke up.

“Ah ha! It says here that the fastest anyone’s ever gotten out was in 36 minutes. Why don’t you two just work together to beat that time?”

You and Joe looked at each other and sized up what the other was thinking. Coming to the same conclusion, you said simultaneously, “Okay.”

“I’ll go tell the people at the entrance that we want to be timed, and then we’ll get a move on it,” Joe told you and you nodded before he jogged off to tell them. He was back in a second, and you started right away.

“Okay, if we stick to one side the entire time, it’s a surefire way to get out,” Joe told you.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking. Left side? Let’s go,” you confirmed, and the two of you took off purposefully, leaving Gwil and Ben hurrying to keep up.

It was a pretty simple way to solve a maze, but it worked way better than just wandering around and hoping for the best. Every so often, your group would come across what looked like a real path, but you weren’t sure. One time, you were about to head down one of them when you stopped the others.

“Wait, this isn’t a real path. All of the others have been about four feet across, and I’d say this one is only about three and a half. Also, you can see where some of the stalks have been trampled down instead of cut,” you pointed out, matter-of-factly.

“You’re right. Good catch,” Joe said seriously and the two of you moved to the next real path.

“They’re like fucking bloodhounds,” Ben said in disbelief.

“Yeah,” Gwil laughed with him. The laugh died in their throats though when you and Joe rounded a corner and they couldn’t see you anymore. They basically ran to catch up to you, and you and Joe both laughed at their harriedness.

“Real talk, guys, if you ever do lose us, just go southwest and you’ll find the exit. Even if you have to make some new paths, you’ll get there,” Joe informed them.

“And how exactly are we supposed to know which way is southwest?” Gwil asked incredulously.

“The sky, duh,” Joe replied.

“Are you sure you weren’t a soldier in a past life or something?” Ben said in confusion.

“No, I just played one on TV,” Joe joked and you laughed, lightly touching his arm. He laughed along with you, looking at you cheerfully.

“That’s fine, don’t tell us. We’ll just die out here when you ditch us because you have to win,” Gwil said grumpily, though you knew it was more to make you feel bad than him actually being worried.

“Aw Gwil-” you stopped yourself from saying Gwilly, remembering what Joe had said earlier. You shot a glance his way to see him looking relieved that you hadn’t and then continued, “We would never desert you guys.”

Gwil looked satisfied with your reply, and so you hit your hands together and said, “Let’s get to it, then!”

The rest of the maze was going well, and by your own timing, it had only been 25 minutes and you could tell you were close to the end. That is until the two of you let Ben and Gwil take the lead for a minute since they said they had figured out how the system worked.

You and Joe were walking behind them and chatting when you noticed a similar pile of corn cobs as you had seen before. You pointed to them and asked, “Haven’t we seen those before?”

Joe looked at them closer and replied in exasperation, “Yes, we absolutely have.”

“Ben, Gwil, How did you manage to get us lost in a corn maze?” you asked them, bringing your hand to the bridge of your nose.

“Um…” Ben was at a loss for words again.

“Isn’t that the whole point of a corn maze?” Gwil asked sheepishly.

“Not when you’re trying to beat the best time!” Joe insisted.

“You guys said you knew what you were doing,” you reminded them.

“Oh come on, we can’t be trusted to do this kind of stuff. It’s on you guys for believing us in the first place. You should be mad at yourselves,” Ben said, pointing an accusatory finger at you both.

“Believe me, we are,” you said, giving up on being mad at them. Ben was right, they were always getting lost, and they were too cute to stay mad at anyways.

“If we hurry, we can still do this. We didn’t pass this place the first time too long ago,” Joe encouraged you and you agreed.

Staying in front this time, you and Joe set off a faster pace to make up for having to retrace your path. Gwil and Ben trailed a little, not far enough to lose sight of you, but far enough that they could complain under their breath for their perceived mistreatment.

“I can’t believe they’re blaming us for that,” Ben complained to Gwil.

“I know, it’s not like we tried to get lost,” Gwil grumbled.

They were silent for a couple seconds and then there was a rustle of corn stalks somewhere behind them.

“Shhhh,” Gwil told Ben.

“What are you shushing, I haven’t said anything,” Ben pointed out.

“Can you hear that? Something’s moving behind us,” Gwil whispered and Ben listened with him. Sure enough, they were more sounds of movement, and they were creeping closer and closer to the boys faster and faster.

Looking at each other with fear in their eyes, they screamed, starting to run to catch up to you and Joe.

Startled by their screams, you and Joe turned back to see what was happening. Joe saw what was coming first and pulled you to the side with him to keep you from getting hit. You were just in time to see a blur of long limbs and shorter, more powerful ones running past you and hear Gwil yell, “OH MY GOSH THEY’RE GOING TO KILL US!”

The two of you tried to yell “wait” after them, but they just kept going. Luckily for them, you and Joe had only been about 200 feet from the exit, and they were able to run straight out of the maze.

You and Joe looked at each other in confusion and then looked behind where you were standing to see two kids jogging towards you. They didn’t slow down, instead just calling out an explanation, “We’re trying to beat the record, excuse us.”

Realizing that your friends had been scared out of their wits by two twelve year old kids made you and Joe crack up. The two of you laughed, leaning on each other to stay upright as you lost your breath and wiped tears of laughter from your eyes.

“Oh my- oh my gosh, I can’t believe they were so scared-” you got out between heaves of breath before you dissolved into another fit of giggles.

“I know, I didn’t think- didn’t think either of them could run that fast. You know, Ben’s not really a cardio guy, and Gwil hates to run,” Joe said, which just sent you two into another full on laugh-attack.

After a little while, the laughs died down and the two of you were left standing incredibly close, breathing heavily in the same proximity so that you were sharing the same breath. The smiles died from your faces as you continually stared into each other’s eyes, searching for a sign that you should do exactly what you were both thinking about.

You didn’t even know what you were going to say next, but you started with, “Joey-” and that was his sign. He closed the distance between you and crashed his lips against yours, taking what was left of your breath in a searing kiss.

Moaning into it, your mouth opened slightly and Joe took the chance to run his tongue just along the inside of your bottom lip. You followed his tongue with yours and wrapped your arms around his neck, keeping him unbelievably close.

His arms went to your waist, and even through the layers of your coat, sweater, and undershirt, you could feel the warm pressure of his hands on you that made your skin burn for more.

Before the kiss could go anywhere else, you heard laughter coming from around the corner and broke apart, smiling at each other for a second before you started walking towards the entrance. You didn’t say anything, but Joe linked your arm through his again and you leaned into him.

As you exited the maze, you found Ben and Gwil standing together, looking pretty embarrassed.

“Hey guys, you doing okay?” Joe asked in mock concern.

“Yeah, or do we have a couple of twelve year olds to give a stern talking to?” you said in the same tone.

“Very funny,” Gwil said sarcastically.

“Yeah, by the way, those twelve year olds just beat the record and you two are two minutes too late,” Ben taunted, trying to get the mocking off of him and Gwil.

“I’m okay with that,” you said calmly.

“Yeah me too,” Joe agreed.

“Who even are you?” Gwil questioned, looking at you two suspiciously as if you were about to go off and blame the two of them for losing the contest. Ben on the other hand saw the way your arms were linked and noticed the flush of Joe’s cheeks that hadn’t been there earlier, even from the cold, and came to his own conclusion.

Before Ben could say anything, you spoke up, “Shouldn’t we head to the shack? It’s almost 11:00.”

“I s’pose,” Ben conceded, and the four of you linked up again, though this time Gwil was next to you and Ben was on the other side of Joe. Someone started skipping and soon you all joined in, so you arrived, out of breath and cheery to find Lucy and Rami sipping on some hot apple cider outside the shack.

They laughed at the sight of you and Lucy asked, “So, how did it go?”

“Pretty well, until Gwil and Ben literally ran screaming out of it because two kids had been walking behind them,” you explained as everyone dropped their arms, Joe hesitating for a second before dropping his from yours too. Lucy caught it, but didn’t say anything, instead she just stood there with a thoughtful look on her face.

“Guys, I know you don’t have that much experience with kids, but trust me, they’re not that scary,” Rami said, and everyone but Ben and Gwil laughed.

“Whatever, I’m going to go get some cider,” Gwil said and turned on his heel to head inside.

“Yeah, uh, me too,” Ben said, following him in there.

Joe leaned in and said to you, “I’ll be right back.”

Lucy, again, noticed it and gave you a knowing look, “So, Y/N, anything else happen in the corn maze? Anything Ben will be excited to tell me about?”

“Well, Joe and I were trying to beat the time for solving it, but when Ben and Gwil distracted us, we decided to let those kids win instead,” you replied, being purposefully obtuse.

“Haven’t you said before that nothing could distract you from winning? Seems like something as trivial as the boys being scared or some kids wouldn’t stop you,” Lucy pointed out, trying to get you to admit that something had transpired between you and Joe.

You didn’t want to give her the satisfaction and were about to give a counter argument when Joe, Ben, and Gwil all emerged from the shack.

Joe was carrying two cups of cider and handed one to you, “Careful, it’s hot.”

Taking it from him with a smile, you leaned in and whispered, “Thank you, Joey.”

He wavered for a second, nearly dropping his cup before he regained his composure. That was certainly one experiment you had discovered the solution for: call him Joey more.

“You’re welcome,” he managed, voice cracking on the second word.

You giggled softly and then turned to see the whole group watching the two of you. As soon as they were caught, they all turned to each other and started their own conversations, extremely obviously trying to cover up.

Making eye contact with Joe, you rolled your eyes and he did the same, before taking the lead in walking back to the car. Everyone piled in, careful of their cider, and Joe had the car on with the heat blasting as soon as he could.

You put on some soft music à la Fleetwood Mac and James Taylor. With the heat and the music to lull them, soon everyone but you and Joe had conked out. Looking back, you chuckled at how Gwil and Ben were more cuddled up than Rami and Lucy were.

When he saw in the rearview mirror that everyone was asleep, Joe sucked in a breath and said, “So…”

“So…?” you asked.

“So I had a really good time tonight. Working with you to win a game, for a change,” he went on.

“Yeah, I did too. Maybe we should try more of it in the future,” you suggested, moving your hand to touch his where it was resting on the middle console.

He intertwined his fingers with yours and squeezed your hand in his, “Yes, we definitely should.”

Neither of you knew it, but Lucy had woken briefly when Joe started talking and saw the two of you holding hands. She smiled happily to herself before snuggling closer to Rami and closing her eyes again to fall back asleep.

🎃🎃🎃

Permanent taglist: @riseetothesun @caborhapch @drowseoftaylor

If you would like to be added to a taglist, just send me a message or ask!

Reminder that my requests are open! If you would like something in a sort of one shot format/length or blurb, etc. send it in! Who knows, it might end up a miniseries too! I’ll write for any of the Borhap or Queen boys (Freddie platonically), Lucy, Patrick Murray, Gardner Langway and adult!Tim Murphy or possibly any of the other characters these people have played if I know enough about them!

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39hystericalqueens · 5 years

Text

It’s A Hard Life (Brian May x Reader) Chapter 1

This series was written alongside a companion playlist. Each song on the playlist is related to a certain scene or moment within the story and while this fic can 100% be read without the playlist, it adds so much to the story to listen along as you read. Throughout this series, you will see numbers in parentheses within the text. Each number corresponds to a track on the playlist. For example, if you saw: (1), this would mean play the first track on the playlist before continuing on reading. Some of the songs serve to set the mood, some correspond with a song that is actually playing in the story, and some tell part of the story better than I can and so they help to drive the plot. I will say again that you don’t need the playlist to understand and enjoy this fic but I strongly recommend at least checking it out.

MASTERLIST

Chapter 1

Warnings: Some swearing

A/N: It’s finally here! The first chapter of my Brian May x Reader fic, It’s A Hard Life. I worked really hard on this so I hope you all enjoy! Additionally, I don’t have a taglist yet so if you like what you read please message me and I’ll be sure to tag you in all future installments.

Word Count: 4.8k (she’s a long first chapter)

October 1969

*beep beep beep*

It never ceased to amaze you how jarring the sound of your alarm clock could be. Loud and unrelenting, it was especially obnoxious this morning because it signaled one thing: the beginning of the week. Grudgingly, you rolled over to check the time.

6:45 AM

Ugh. In an hour you’d have to be in class, and not just any class. Professor Wesham’s Intermediate Music Theory course was taught at 8am sharp every morning five days a week. Professor Wesham was a rather vile man with a love for discipline, trick questions, and embarrassing his students in front of the rest of the class. He had no interest in being a professor and mentioned that at any moment he saw fit. Rather, he believed that music theory was a subject that very few could teach correctly, and so it was his duty as a musician to impart those teachings upon young students, no matter how much he hated it. If you could have you would have dropped his class after the first week, but for a degree in music performance, all levels of theory were required.

You looked over at the clock again.

7:02 AM

C’mon Y/N, gonna have to get up sooner or later.

With quite a bit of effort, you finally pulled yourself up and out of bed and into the first pair of jeans you saw lying on the floor.

(1)

____

“...so when we’re looking to find a mode of a scale we can look to the intervals for the answers. Each mode has its own unique combination of whole tones and semitones, so if you know the patterns you can accurately alter the scale…”

As expected, class that morning was hellish. A thirty-minute lecture on the basics of modes followed by another twenty minutes of history and you found yourself slowly drifting back to sleep. Your thoughts were soon taken over by memories of being curled up in bed this morning and fantasies of what you would be eating for lunch in a few hours.

Maybe spaghetti? Or soup? I could really go for soup today. With luck they’ll have that creamy tomato one that I love down at the cafe...

“Miss Y/L/N?!” Professor Wesham’s voice rang out through the lecture hall

Shit.

“Miss Y/L/N I asked you a question, but it appears as though you can’t be bothered to pay attention to what I’m saying this morning. Have you heard a word of what I’ve said?”

You opened your mouth to protest, but nothing came out.

“That’s what I thought. Can anyone else answer my question? Anyone at all? Or are you all just going to sit there and stare at me like a bunch of deadbeats?!”

Silence filled the hall and for a moment it seemed as though he was about to give up and move on when suddenly he yelled,

“Susie! What is the C Mixolydian scale?”

From the back of the hall, a faint voice answered,

“It’s the 5th mode of the F major scale, it follows the Mixolydian interval pattern of whole whole semi whole whole semi whole, and the notes are C D E F G A and B flat.”

“Correct.”

And with that, he moved on forward with the lesson.

I could have answered that, you thought to yourself, all the bastard needed to do was repeat himself.

You sighed and silently took notes for the rest of the period.

When class let out you made a beeline for the door, hurrying out of the building and down towards the green commons in front. You didn’t stop walking until you saw the sign for The Cafe. Located right in the center of the music department, The Cafe was your go-to spot. Coffee and pastries in the mornings, sandwiches and soup for lunch, and full-on dinner seven nights a week. Although technically open to the general public, the music students at Ealing had claimed the place for themselves long ago, and you had never seen it empty in your entire time at the college. Today was no exception. You pushed your way in and headed straight for the counter to order.

“One creamy tomato soup please,” you said to the woman at the counter, and with your table number in hand, you found a small booth in the corner and collapsed into it.

It had been a particularly difficult week for you. The new term just started a few weeks ago and already your professors were piling on work. Theory worksheets, composition assignments, and three new solos had all been handed to you in the past few weeks, and it wouldn’t have been so bad if you didn’t also have a job that demanded long shifts late at night. You worked at Selmer’s, the music store in town and, due to your schedule, almost exclusively worked the night shifts from 6 until closing at midnight. It wasn’t a bad gig by any means, in fact you really liked working there. You never knew who would walk through the door. One moment it would be a broke uni student popping in to buy new guitar strings and the next it could be a famous musician like Pete Townshend. Okay so maybe not Pete Townshend, but you had once sold Jim McCarty a set of drumsticks. It was your one claim to fame.

As you ate your soup you enjoyably became lost in your own thoughts, so much so that you didn’t notice when someone sat down across from you.

“Hello? Earth to Y/N?”

The voice of your best friend Freddie interrupted your quiet contemplation. You loved him to death but sometimes he really had the worst timing.

The story of how you two met was actually quite funny. It was back in September of last year, the beginning of your first year of uni. The night before classes were set to start you had gone to a party and somehow ended up right in the middle of a game of truth or dare, only the rules had been altered slightly so that anyone who chose truth also had to take a shot. Being the relatively shy person that you were, you hadn’t taken many dares and as a result found yourself to be rather drunk.

“Alright c’mon Y/N,” said a guy named Greg (he was in your year and studying music as well) “you can’t pick truth forever.”

“Ok fine, dare”

“I dare you,” Greg continued, “to make out with Freddie.” He gestured to a man who appeared to be just as drunk as you were sitting across the circle. He laughed and said,

“Whenever you’re ready darling, I’ll just be over here waiting.” With a roll of your eyes toward Greg, you had crawled your way across the circle, straddled Freddie’s lap, and started to viciously make out with him to the best of your abilities in your drunken state.

The next morning you had woken up wickedly hungover and as you walked down the street to find something for breakfast you had bumped into none other than Freddie from the night before. He had laughed at the state of both of you (“we need to make sure that neither one of us ever drinks that much again!”) and offered to take you out to breakfast and the rest was history. It was definitely an odd way to start a friendship, but you two found that you just clicked together. His outspoken nature balanced out your tendencies to sink back into the shadows, and your level-headedness counteracted his love of making decisions on a whim. It really was, at least you two thought so, the perfect friendship.

“Hello? Y/N? Is anyone home in there?” Freddie continued as you looked up from your food.

“Hey Fred,” you said, coming to terms with the fact that your time for quiet contemplation was over. “What brings you down here? I thought you had a class way at the other end of campus this morning.”

“I did. And then I decided that I was feeling a bit peckish and could go for a bowl of The Cafe’s famous tomato soup, even if it is all the way on the other side of school. But this worked out perfectly, me running into you here, because I have something important to tell you!”

He dramatically reached his hands out and motioned for you to take them in yours.

“You know I have been following this band called Smile around for ages.”

You nodded.

“And you know I’ve been begging you to come out and see one of their shows with me”

Once again you nodded. At least once a month (if not more) Freddie would try and drag you along to one of their shows despite your efforts to tell him that rock concerts really weren’t your thing.

“Well recently I’ve started to hang around with them properly, them being the band, and we’ve become rather close. You and I both know Tim of course but it’s the other band members that I’ve really started to click with. We’re even talking about getting a flat together. They still won’t let me sing in the band, but that’s an issue for another day. What I need to tell you is that they’re playing a free gig tomorrow night right here at Ealing and you and I are both going!”

You opened your mouth to protest but Freddie kept talking.

“And don’t even try to get out of this one. I know for a fact that on Tuesdays you only work until 7, and I also know that you don’t have plans afterward because yesterday on the phone you expressed to me just how boring your week was going to be. So unless within the last 24 hours you have made plans to go out late on a Tuesday night after work, you have no excuse not to go with me to this.”

You stared back at him in disbelief.

“Alright Fred, you got me fair and square. I will go with you tomorrow,”

“Excellent!” he exclaimed, “I’ll be at Selmer’s to pick you up from work at 7 PM sharp tomorrow. Oh, this is going to be so fun!”

“Sounds like a plan,” and then you added, “And just because I’m going this time it doesn’t mean you’ll get me to go next time.”

“Fair enough,” Freddie said, “but you’re going to have so much fun tomorrow night that I won’t even have to ask you to go with me again.”

And with that he sprung up and made his way over to the counter to order some food, leaving you alone to wonder what on earth you had gotten yourself into.

——

The store was surprisingly slow for a Tuesday evening. Two hours into your shift and only three people had come in, and all within ten minutes of each other. To kill time you had started reorganizing the reed display, but quickly lost interest and for the past hour and a half you had simply been sitting behind the counter, listening to the old rock n roll music that played in the background, and thinking about nothing in particular.

(2)

🎵Without her I will be in misery (oh oh oh)

In misery (ooh ooh ooh)

My misery (la la la la la la) 🎵

As the song came to a close you heard the bell over the door jingle, alerting you that someone had just walked through the door. You craned your neck around the counter to see a guy with long dirty blond hair looking around frantically as though he had lost something.

“Hi,” you said, “Welcome to Selmer’s, can I help you find anyth-“

“Guitar strings!” he nearly shouted, “I need guitar strings!”

“Okay,” you said slowly, “do you have any idea as to which type of strings?”

“Oh shit...uh, I don’t know. The normal kind I guess? I just need strings!” he once again looked around frantically, eyes finally settling on the clock on the wall behind you. “Shit! I’m so going to be late!”

“Ok slow down a second,” you said calmly, “what’s all the hurry about? What, are you about to go onstage any second now?” You had meant it as a joke but to your surprise, he screamed,

“Yes!”

“Oh shit sorry I didn’t actually think you were- ok, um, so you don’t know the type of string but do you know what model the guitar is?”

“It’s uh...oh dammit I don’t know.”

“I don’t mean to be rude, but what kind of guitarist doesn’t know the kind of guitar they play?”

“I’m not the guitarist,” he said, “I’m the drummer. Our guitarist broke a string like ten minutes ago so I ran out to grab him more while he helped the rest of our band keep setting up.”

“Ah, I see,” you said. “Well since you don’t know which kinds of strings he uses I’ll just give you some Fender 12 gauges. They’re pretty standard, I’ve got a lot of people who use them so hopefully that should be ok.”

“Yeah, those should be alright.”

You rang up the package and handed it to him.

“Thank you so much, you just saved our show.”

“My pleasure,” you said as you handed him the strings, “I hope these will work out for you guys tonight, and if not, well then you didn’t buy them here.”

He laughed at your comment.

“You’re funny,” he said. “Normally I would stay around and chat, maybe ask for your number, but I do kind of have to be going or else my bandmates will have my head on a spike. But it was great to meet you…uh….”

“Y/N,” you answered his unspoken question.

“Great to meet you Y/N, I’m Roger.” Is all he said before turning on his heel and sauntering out through the doorway. You could tell he was trying to maintain a cool, laid back composure despite having burst through your door in a panic not ten minutes prior. You laughed to yourself, wondering if you would ever see him again.

Looking at the clock you saw that it was eight till 7. Freddie would be here any minute. You got right to work closing up the store for the night. You were right in the middle of locking the window display cases when once again you heard the bell over the door ring.

“Hello darling I hope you’re ready for a concert!” Freddie’s melodious voice sang out.

“Hey Fred, just give me two more minutes and I’ll be ready to go,” you replied.

“I have been absolutely restless all day today thinking about tonight,” Freddie continued, “We are going to have so much fun!”

He made his way over to the counter and leaned against it, facing your back. “I really think you’re going to like their music,” he continued, “they’ve got a very real sound, none of that formulaic clean-cut bullshit.”

“I told you, Freddie,” you said, turning around to face him, “I make no promises as to whether or not I’ll like them. But they do sound quite lovely from the way you describe them.”

With that, you shut off all the lights, lock up the doors, and the two of you were on your way.

____

The concert was being held in the student center at Ealing, right in the middle of the campus. On a normal day the large open room was typically used for fundraisers, game nights, and a variety of other student-run activities, but every now and then the school would allow bands to put on shows. As you walked through the door you were immediately overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people packed into the room. All the tables and chairs had been pushed to the sides making it so it was barely possible to sit down, though there were a few people who had managed to squeeze themselves into a seat. You were about to follow their lead, your eyes fixed on an empty table close to the back, but Freddie grabbed you by the arm and pulled you both up to the very front.

“Do we really have to be this close, Fred? I can hear just as well from back there,” you said, gesturing towards the table you had so lovingly had your eye on.

“Darling we’re seeing a rock concert, not the symphony, it’s not just about being able to hear them. Watching them play and being right up in the middle of things is all part of the experience.”

You looked at him rather quizzically.

“Alright, but if I get my ears blown out tonight it’s your fault.”

“That’s the spirit! Now I’m going to go and get us both something to drink. I’ll be right back.”

As you watched your friend disappear into the crowd of students you turned to focus your attention on the stage in front of you. They had taken the small stage that permanently stayed in the back of the student center and never usually saw anything more exciting than experimental theater pieces put on by the drama students, and had completely transformed it into something out of a whimsical fever dream. Brightly colored metallic fabrics had been draped over the dingy, dust-filled curtain that hung behind the stage. In the center of the stage sat a drum kit with a giant red-lipped smile on the bass drum. To the side, there were two guitars on stands, a pretty standard bass guitar, which you recognized as Tim’s, and a guitar which you had never seen the likes of before. It was a bright cherry red color with a black pickguard and it was oddly round in shape. You had been working at a well-stocked music store for nearly two years now and had never seen any guitar that remotely resembled it before. To top it all off you saw that they had covered the lights facing the stage with different colored translucent films, further adding to the whimsical ambiance.

You know, this actually seems like it’s going to be a lot of fun. Dammit, Fred, why’d you have to be right.

You shook your head to yourself and began to look around to see if you could see Freddie anywhere when suddenly everyone started clapping.

The band was making its way onstage. On bass, there was Tim Staffell. He went to Ealing, studying graphic design, and was a good friend of Freddie’s. The three of you often went out together for drinks. You then looked over to see the man behind the drum kit and couldn’t believe what you saw. Sitting there was Roger, the guy you had sold guitar strings to mere hours ago.

“Ha!” You said aloud.

“What’s so funny?” Interjected Freddie, who had just appeared next to you holding two beers.

“I know the drummer,” you said.

“You know Roger?”

“Yeah,” you continue, chuckling, “I sold him guitar strings a few hours ago. He was in a right panic about it. Apparently, their guitarist broke one earlier and didn’t have any extras on hand.”

“Brian didn’t have any extra strings on him? That must have really caused a panic, I don’t think Brian has ever forgotten anything in his entire life.”

“I’m assuming Brian is the guitarist?”

“Yeah, and he’s bloody brilliant at it. There he is right there.” Freddie pointed to the man standing on the right of the stage. He was incredibly tall and lanky, with a head full of unruly curly brown hair and deep brown eyes. He was wearing black pinstriped trousers and a white top which he had accessorized with the most interesting looking fuzzy vest. He exuded the most peculiar combination of confidence and recluse, and as he stood there fiddling with his guitar you couldn’t help but think he was the most beautiful person you had ever seen.

You turned to say something to Freddie, but before you could get any words out Tim had started talking into the microphone.

“Hello Ealing!” He shouted. He was met with a resounding chorus of cheers and whoops from the crowd. “We are Smile!” More cheers. “You all know me, I’m Tim Staffell, over there on guitar we have Brian May, and back there on the drums is Roger Taylor. We’ve got a good set for you tonight, all originals except for a few, and we’re going to start with a song called Step On Me.”

At once they struck up an upbeat tune and it didn’t take long for the audience to start dancing and singing along with them.

(3)

🎵Know what I said when I saw you crying

Hang on that’s folly

I was weak in the head out to meet your lying

You’re just a bad memory

My life was going to be better

My why did I never ever see she’d step on me🎵

As you listened to them sing you couldn’t help but nod and dance along with the rest of the audience. Fred was right again, they really did have a sound the likes of which you had never heard before. Not only were their harmonies perfectly in tune, but they had an almost angelic quality to them that pulled you in, wanting to hear more.

“Well now look who’s actually having a good time,” Freddie said to you as they finished their first song. I knew you would like them.

“They really are something else,” you said, “although I would probably like them even more if I weren’t surrounded by so many people right now.”

Freddie laughed.

“I guess I’ll have to talk to Tim about getting you a private show then.”

They went from song to song, each one more enjoyable than the last, and while you tried to keep your attention from wavering, you kept finding yourself drawn to Brian the guitarist. Freddie hadn’t been lying when he said that Brian was bloody brilliant at what he did. You watched him easily play his way through several guitar solos, making them sound effortless, though with your musical knowledge (and by the look on his face) you could tell that they were anything but that. He played with a look of concentration on his face, never wavering except for the few times he looked up and out into the crowd. It was then, you noticed, that a small smile would cross his face.

All too soon Tim was at the microphone again, announcing that this would be their last song. You felt as if you could continue to listen to their music for hours and wished to yourself that the show wasn’t over yet.

“You all have been such a great crowd tonight,” Tim went on, “and so to finish we’re going to be bringing you everyone’s favorite: Doing Alright!”

If you thought you had liked the songs they had played the rest of the night, then you loved this one. It started out with a slow ballad, complete with more complex guitar work, but as it went on it morphed into hard rock with grit and feeling. You thought the juxtaposition of the two styles was a daring choice seeing as it would be easy to mess up, but they did it with such grace and style so that it completely worked. When the song finally came to a close and the band took their bows you joined in with the thunderous applause and cheering.

“Fred, I’ve got to say it: I really did enjoy myself tonight. It was a little loud and crowded for my liking but I think the music and the show were able to make up for it, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll come with you again.”

“Oh that’s wonderful darling! I knew tonight was going to be a success. But it’s not quite over yet.”

“No?”

“Of course not! You didn’t think you were going to get away without meeting the band, also known as my new friends. C’mon, they’re probably around somewhere outside packing up.”

You and Freddie fought your way through the crowds of students to get to the door and out into the night air. As Freddie had said, you found Tim and Roger sitting on the back of a van which you could see was full up of their equipment. Brian was nowhere in sight.

“Freddie! So glad you could make it!” Exclaimed Roger, standing up. “And,” he turned to you, “I don’t believe it. Y/N from the music store, why on earth didn’t you tell me you were coming to the show tonight?”

“Mostly because I had no idea this was your band,” you replied, laughing. “Freddie here has been after me to see and meet you guys for ages.”

“And,” said Roger, “what do you think?”

“Coming from someone who doesn’t tend to enjoy rock concerts, I thought you guys were wonderful. I did not expect to enjoy myself tonight as much as I did. I think you’ve really got something special here.”

“You flatter us too much,” said Tim, “if you keep talking like that we’re all gonna get big heads. And Roger’s is big enough as is.”

“Hey!” said Roger, but he smiled.

“So,” you continue, “Freddie said you guys are thinking about getting a flat together?”

“Yeah, Brian and I found this place up the road a little, Brian’s our guitarist by the way,” said Roger.

At the mention of his name, you could feel your heart flutter slightly in your chest.

“Freddie mentioned him,” you said, “Did the strings end up working out for him?”

“I thought they were fine, but Bri gets particular about these things. I guess they were the wrong brand or gauge or something like that. He kept going on about how he was going to sound awful tonight and his sound was going to be too abrasive.”

“Well yes, different strings are going to give you different sounds and I don’t know what he usually uses, but you guys sounded just great to me.”

Part of you desperately wanted to ask where he was right now, but you decided against it.

Against your better judgment, you had let Freddie convince you to stay around and talk with him, Tim, and Roger for a while longer. In that time you learned that Roger was studying to be a dentist at London Hospital Medical School, and Brian was over at the Imperial College studying, as Roger put it, “some sort of space physics.”

“He’s real into all that,” Roger continued, “but I can’t say the same for myself. I get good marks and all that, professors think I have a lot of ‘promise’, whatever that means, but a dentist for the rest of my life? I’m not sure I could handle that. Nah, I’m hoping to stay in rock n roll for as long as I can. What about you? You’re over at Ealing with Fred and Tim, right? Are you another graphic design nerd like these guys?”

“No, music actually. Nothing like what you guys do,” you added, seeing Roger’s face light up, “classical repertoire mostly. I play the flute.”

“You any good?”

“I suppose that’s a matter of opinion. Personally, I tend to think I’m shit, but you ask any music student and they’ll tell you the same thing.”

“Oh don’t be like that, Y/N,” interjected Freddie, “she’s bloody marvelous. She can play you Bach like you’ve never heard before, although Roger I don’t think you have ever heard it before.”

“Oh come off it, I’ve heard my fair share of the classical stuff.”

“Yes, next time you go to the symphony be sure to refer to it as ‘the classical stuff’ I’m sure you won’t get any funny looks at all.”

You and Tim howled with laughter at Freddie’s comment while Roger gave him a good punch in the shoulder.

“Dear god, look at the time,” you said a moment later after having glanced at your watch. “Is it really two thirty in the morning?!”

“I suppose it is,” said Tim, “sure hasn’t felt that long.”

“I’ve really got to be going then,” you said.

“Aw c’mon stay out for a little longer with us,” said Tim, “Fred and I hardly get to see you anymore.”

“I know, and I wish that I could, but I’ve got class at 8 tomorrow morning and I should at least try to get some sleep.”

“Oh alright go on, we know you’re right,” said Freddie, “I should probably be going myself, I am quite exhausted.”

“See ya later Fred,” said Roger, “great to see you again, Y/N. You should come round to the flat once we get it, we’d all love to see you again and you can meet Brian as well.”

The flutter was back.

“I definitely will,” you replied before giving them all a wave and starting back to your own flat.

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storiesandgarbage · 5 years

Text

Sleep for Bucky

Pairings: Bucky Barnes x reader

Style: One-Shot

Word Count: ~3k

Warnings: Mentions of insomnia, veterans and PTSD, talk of Bucky in Siberia, Steve being a jealous boy, Bucky being a sweet boy, SO MUCH FLUFF, it’s sickening really,

Summary: Since Bucky moved in with you, Steve, and Wanda you guys have become great friends. For months you have been trying to assist him with his insomnia but there hasn’t been much of progress as of yet. Can you help Bucky? Based on my favorite ever prompt: “Is that my shirt?”

A/N: Hi my lovielies! As a little Christmas gift and to celebrate reaching 100 followers, I finally got this one-shot finished! I’ve been struggling but I’m super excited for you all to read this one! As per the usual please don’t be afraid to leave feedback in the asks. My taglist and requests are open!

*Links aren’t working in my posts but you can go to my profile and find my masterlist if you’re interested!

“Is that my shirt?” A deep voice rang out from the other side of the dark living room you had just crept into.

“Jesus Buck, why are you sitting in the dark?” As your heart rate began to slow you took in the form of your roommate. He sat on the floor with legs covered in sweatpants but a bare torso. From the street light shining in through the window you could see the dull shimmer of metal moving to push hair away from a face you knew held the devilish grin of someone who thoroughly enjoyed startling you. He sat facing the doorway that you had just walked through, as if he had been waiting for you to come through it.

“Bed’s too soft, I couldn’t sleep.”

You sighed as you tiptoed through the space, “Bucky we bought you the hardest mattress we could find.” You whispered to him and took your spot on the floor. His body shifted away from you instinctively and though he corrected himself, shaking his head, you had to hide the disappointment that bubbled over at the action. Your friend is a stranger to touch, to love, to everything that you have to offer him for comfort. Including a proper mattress.

“I know, it just doesn’t feel right.” He ran his hand through his hair again, you could feel his nervous energy, “It’s too big, too warm. I sweat under that thing, the uh- what do you call it?”

“The duvet,” you smiled to yourself as you lay back on the carpeted floor, at least he’s moved in here instead of the kitchen floor, you thought to yourself. You patted the space next to you and Bucky quickly imitated your motions, sprawling out in the space between two couches. Your shoulders brushed as he situated himself and this time, he didn’t pull away.

“You didn’t answer my question,” despite the fact that you were only inches away, his voice was barely audible.

“What question?” He turned his head toward you and crossed his arm over his own body to place cool vibranium fingers under the sleeve of the shirt you wore to pick up the fabric, forcing you to remember.

“Is this my shirt?” Your mouth twisted just enough to reveal a dimple in your cheek as he felt the fabric in his hand briefly before releasing it and settling his arm across his torso, fingers still close enough that you got goosebumps from the chill.

“I don’t recall that being the case.” You felt him still staring at you, willing you to admit the truth. “Okay fine, you caught me, but it smells like you,” more quietly you added, “and I missed you.”

Bucky chuckled at you and returned to staring at the ceiling.

Many of your nights had been like this since he moved into the house with you, Steve, and Wanda. You often woke up out of a dead sleep after hearing his bedroom door open just down the hall from your own. The first few weeks you found him outside at all hours of the night, sitting and staring up at the sky. So you stayed with him, usually sitting in silence until the sun rose over the yard. It wasn’t long after that you found Bucky on accident, stepping on him on your way through the kitchen. After you got over the initial shock and he got over pain of having a foot kicked into his side, he opened up to you.

“It’s great, really, and I appreciate everything you and Steve offered me when I moved in, but,” he paused, not wanting to hurt your feelings but you just nodded at him over your tea mug and he continued, “the mattress is too soft.”

He told you about his time in Siberia, about how if he wasn’t in cyro, he was on missions, rarely resting at all. If he did sleep it was on hard floors or army style cots. He also mentioned the nightmares that plagued him when his mind did rest, even back then the nightmares were the one part of him they couldn’t seem to brainwash. In his dreams, he was Bucky from Brooklyn and he was always fighting to get out. Something about hearing him say it aloud, the way he couldn’t meet your eyes until he had gotten it all out, how his metal fingers picked relentlessly at the hardwood floor in the kitchen as he spoke, it all made you want to protect him from the memories. But when you reached your hand out to pat his leg, he pulled away as if your touch would burn and you knew comfort would have to come in another form for Bucky.

The next day you had started searching for firmer mattresses, continuously trying different beds for Bucky, dragging him through shops and checking online. As a result of many trials and errors, it had been months since that first night in the kitchen. The mattress currently in Bucky’s room was your most recent find, it had only been there for about four days and when you tried it out for yourself you thought it was worse than the kitchen floor. But it wasn’t working for Bucky.

That’s how you ended up here. On the nights Bucky abandoned his too soft mattresses he found solace in the common areas of the house and you would join him. A great majority of the time the two of you stayed up talking and sharing in the company of one another; you taught Bucky about tea and the literature you enjoyed and he shared the research he had been doing on service and emotional support animals, he was toying with the idea of training them himself. One night in the kitchen you had laid down as you spoke about the book you were in the middle of and he followed suit. It wasn’t more than 20 minutes later, as you were droning on about the plot twist you had just come across that you heard it.

Bucky was snoring, peacefully sleeping next to you on the cold hard wood floor. It was all you could do to not get up to get a blanket for yourself but the thought of accidentally waking him kept you glued to the spot. The next morning Steve found the two of you when he was getting ready to leave for his morning run, both of you sleeping. He draped a blanket over your shivering form before he left. Since then your ritual had changed a bit. When you found Bucky you almost immediately laid down, and he would do the same. Some nights you still didn’t actually sleep, but the majority of the time you were able to lull Bucky into unconsciousness for the night with a good retelling of a novel you had read.

In the present, you could feel Bucky picking at his arm and you knew he had to be pretty tired already. The action was a dead tell that he was fighting sleep.

“How long have you been waiting?” You whispered into the room.

“Not long I guess, I tried for longer than usual to sleep in the bed.” He cleared his throat, “I don’t think I can do it without you.” You turned your head to look at him and he looked back at you. Even in the dark you could see his discomfort at his admission.

“Maybe it’s just the noise,” you thought out loud, “you always fall asleep while I’m talking to you.”

“It’s not just noise, I tried sleeping with the TV on, with music, those ridiculous wave crashing sound tracks, anything you can think of. None of those work. It’s you, Y/N.”

“Ah so I’m just spectacularly boring,” you scrunched your nose, pretending to be hurt.

“No,” the grin on his face faded quickly as he geared up for his admission, “you’re comforting. I feel at ease with you.”

You pondered his words for a while in the darkness and his fidgeting continued until he spoke again.

“I’m sorry, that was probably weird, I don’t want you to be uncomfortable around me.” You laughed and Bucky whipped his head to look at you.

“Buck, you didn’t make me uncomfortable. I’m just brainstorming how to recreate the feeling you get when you’re with me.”

“You could have said that instead of leaving me hangin’ doll.” He grumbled and turned his body away from you, leaving your side cold in his absence. You had to hold back another bout of laughter at his temper tantrum.

“What can I say? I’m sleepy,” You rolled and gently placed your chin on his shoulder to look down at him. He was fighting a smile creeping up, “and I didn’t bring a blanket, so you have to come back or else I’ll freeze to death.” At your comment he was unable to hide his smile any longer and rolled back into you, opening his arm for you to crawl underneath it and cuddle into his side.

The intimacy of the action was not lost on either of you, but you told yourself that it didn’t have to mean anything. You brought him comfort so that he could sleep; he kept you warm on more nights than one, but there wasn’t anything more. The friendship between you two was enough. Because as you told Steve once before, friends could wake up spooning on the kitchen floor and never speak of it again and no it wasn’t weird. Why do you ask?

“So,” you whispered again, brushing your hair away from Bucky’s face, “which book were we on last?”

“Five.” Bucky’s voice was sleepy and the steady, even breaths he took could lull even the most stubborn baby to sleep.

Quickly you jumped into explaining in explicit detail the story line of the book to Bucky. He wasn’t much for reading himself but he did find the story lines fascinating and he always let you throw in your own personal theories while you spoke about them, even if it meant you went off on a hour long tangent. That was a quality difficult to find in anyone and it was one of your favorite things about him, even if he didn’t know it. You only got through explaining a single chapter before Bucky was snoring, the noise rattling his chest. You blinked and before you knew it, sunlight was creeping into the living room window to wake the pair of you up.

“If we ever figure out how to get you to sleep in a bed,” your voice was groggy and you looked up into his eyes, “we have to work on your snoring next.” Bucky laughed at you as he untangled himself from your frame. In his sleep he had rolled to his side and completely enveloped you in his arms.

“My snoring is not that bad,” he stood from the floor and offered you his hand.

“Chainsaw, Barnes,” your whining only further fueled the good mood he had woken up with, “I’m not ready to get up, leave me here to die,” a dramatized hand flew up to cover your face and at your resistance he leaned down and scooped you up, throwing you over his shoulder to carry you to the kitchen where he sat you on the counter and began making coffee and getting food out to cook breakfast.

When the coffee was ready he poured some into your favorite mug and your held out your hands like a child waiting for a treat until he gave it to you. You took in the sight of him moving around the kitchen. His shoulders were relaxed, there was a persistent smile on his face that was unwilling to leave, and he was humming old show tunes, you smiled at the sight before you with not much thought until a voice caught you by surprise.

“Is that Bucky’s shirt?” You whipped your head around and caught sight of Steve coming through the doorway into the kitchen. You peeked at Bucky, who was turning red, before turning to look at Steve.

“So what if it is?” You retorted, arms crossed over your chest.

“Well doll,” Steve placed his elbows on the counter top and leaned into a comfortable position, “you’re wearing Barnes’ shirt, and he’s not wearing one at all. You do the math.” The smirk on Steve’s face only seemed to grow with his next question, “Just where exactly did the two of you sleep last night?”

You fought the pink rising to your cheeks as you handed Wanda, who had just stumbled into the room a mug; she could barely acknowledge anyone’s existence before she had some caffeine in her. Steve was right, if anyone else were caught in this situation it would be much, much different, but Bucky actually got some sleep last night. He was in a good mood and Steve was potentially ruining it with his teasing. You tried to be quick on your feet.

“Steven, if you’re jealous, you can just say so.” You flipped your hair over your shoulder and took another sip of coffee, carefully watching Bucky’s body language as he stood over the stove, seemingly ignoring the entire interaction.

“‘Course I’m jealous, that’s my Bucky.” You laughed at his antics and hopped down from the counter. You walked over to Bucky who was smiling now as well and took a risk in the name of having fun at Steve’s expense and wrapped your arms around him from behind.

“My Bucky.” You stated softly and pressed your face into the man’s back, you felt his muscles relax at the action. The smile on your face grew even wider at Steve’s exaggerated scoff.

“Come on Buck, tell her!” His drama queen antics were a bit much for pre-breakfast shenanigans but Bucky surprised both of you with his response.

“Sorry Stevie, if it’s a contest between you and a pretty dame who does in fact look good in my t-shirt, the dame wins.” Steve’s hand flew to his chest in mock hurt, causing both you and Bucky to laugh. The blush on your cheeks in response to Bucky’s compliment well covered by your laughter.

“It’s too early for this,” Wanda finally spoke up, her accent was heavy in the mornings when sleep still coated her throat, “you all make me sick.” She poured a second cup of coffee and left the kitchen only causing the three of you remaining to burst into laughter after she had gone.

Your day passed without incident but the longer you lay in bed that night the more your mind wanted to race. Sleep wasn’t coming for you and you hadn’t heard Bucky leave his room so you were alone. Reaching for your laptop you began looking for more ideas for sleep therapies for Bucky, you had read up on veteran’s sleep and PTSD there were lots of cases you had read about in which the patients in question slept on the floor of their homes permanently. A trade-off you figured, for a good night’s sleep which you seemed to only get when you slept with Bucky.

Frustrated by the lack of new knowledge, you closed the lid to the laptop and got out of your bed. You immediately marched down the hall and cracked open Bucky’s door. He was laying on his new mattress, covers tossed to the side. His arm was behind his neck, supporting his head and he only looked half surprised to see you standing in his doorway, wearing his hoodie which was far too large. It came down to your mid thigh and he didn’t say it but he was in love with the sight of you looking like that.

“Couldn’t sleep?” He smiled at you and motioned for you to join him on the bed. You obliged and immediately grabbed the duvet which smelled like him despite his affliction against it and covering up with it causing a laugh to escape from Bucky’s throat.

“I couldn’t.” You spoke softly, “I did come up with an idea though, to help you sleep.”

“Oh yeah?” Bucky turned to his side and propped his head up, the way he stared over you made you want to blush but you shook it off.

“See, you said that I brought you comfort,” Bucky nodded, “so while I try to find a way simulate my so called comfort, I think we should just do it this way.”

“Sleep together?” Bucky’s dimple showed even though he tried to hide his smile from you.

“Don’t be weird,” you giggled and pushed his shoulder. He fell dramatically against the mattress and wrapped you in his arm, bringing you with him. “But yes, we can try it, if you can sleep on the mattress with me then maybe eventually you could sleep on it without me.”

“It’s good logic doll, I say we give it a shot. But you still owe me the rest of book 5.”

You gave the man what he asked for, and even though Bucky was mercilessly fiddling with the cuff of his hoodie and your fingers to try and stay awake to listen to your voice, he was snoring next to you in no time at all. Leaving you to drift off and dream a dream of Bucky.

#Bucky Barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky imagine #bucky x reader #bucky x you #marvel #marvel fanfiction #marvel imagine #imagine marvel #fluff #Winter Soldier #oneshot #fanfiction #steve rogers #wanda maximoff #is that my shirt #bucky fanfic

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