Pretense
(Requested)
Masterlist
Pairing - Bucky Barnes x f!reader , platonic Avengers x reader
Summary - You have been with orverprotective parents your whole life, and it never bothered you as much. You know they mean well. Until they spew lies in front of your friends and ruin everything for you, including your chance at love.
Warnings - shitty parents, angst, fluff, misunderstandings, a lot of crying, slight language. not proofread
Word count - 7k (I need to be stopped)
a/n - This was requested by the lovely @caritobbg. I thought it would be a short one shot but it instead turned out to be the longest fic I have ever written. I tried to do the idea justice, hope you lile it, girl.
"Yeah, dad. I am at the tower."
"What do you mean why? I live AND work here."
"Yeah, I am taking care of myself, mom."
"No, they don't fight each other all the time."
"No, Tony hasn't filled the tower with deadly robots."
"No, Steve doesn't conduct history lessons here."
You sighed as your parents asked you for the 10th time this week if you were being kept hostage at the Avengers compound.
Your dad spoke from the other side of the phone. "You know we worry about you, princess. We just don't trust those superheroes."
You smiled a little at the nickname your dad had always called you since you were a little girl. "Yeah, dad, I understand that you worry about me but they are my friends and I trust them. I really wish you could trust them too."
Your parents had always been a little too protective of you. Being an only child, you were the object of their affection more often than not. It had never bothered you as much. You know they meant well.
But it had gotten much worse now.
About a year ago, Tony Stark himself offered you a job to work with the avengers considering your skills and obviously, you said yes. It was an opportunity of a lifetime and you had found a family in the team too.
You hadn't told your parents about your new job for 6 months because you were afraid of their reaction. As you had anticipated, they didn't take their little girl working for superheroes very well.
Okay, that was an understatement. Your parents didn't trust the Avengers and they surely didn't trust them enough to be able to protect you. They took any chance they got to convince you to leave the job.
All you wanted was for both of your families to get along. Maybe it was too much to ask for.
"Dad, we are friends. We look out for each other. We have each others' backs. Give them a chance, please. Why can't you try to trust them?"
"Hmm. Let me see. Your 'friends' consist of ex-assassins, a witch who used to work for Hydra, a "genius" and his scientist friend who created a robot that wanted to kill the whole of humanity. Oh, and the scientist also has huge anger issues. Like he literally turns into a monster when he is angry. Your best friend has killed more people than she can count. And this group of yours almost broke up once when the best friend of one killed the parents of another. Oh, and that soldier of yours has also reportedly killed a president. You are right. What's there to not trust?"
"Dad, he was brainwashed!!"
"Doesn't make him any less unstable."
You sighed. These arguments with your parents were a dead end. You knew you weren't going to get anywhere.
"Alright, mom, dad. I gotta go."
"Okay, sweetheart. Just take care of yourself. At least until we come to meet you next month."
You smiled at that. "Can't wait. I want to introduce you to everybody. Love you, guys. See you soon, Bye"
"We love you too, princess."
Your smile dropped as you hung up the phone and realization struck you. Your parents were going to visit and as much as you wanted them to meet everybody, you were scared. You could never be sure about how your parents would react. They were too unpredictable.
You were so lost in your thoughts that you didn't hear footsteps approaching.
"You okay, doll?"
The voice startled you as you turned back to be met by the beautiful blue of Bucky's eyes. You kept a hand on your chest to calm your breathing. "God, you scared me, Buck."
Bucky just chuckled as he looked at you, eyes filled with concern. "Well, maybe you should be careful who sneaks up on you, doll. This is not really the safest place on Earth."
"The only person who sneaks up on me is you, Bucky." You replied with a smile of your own, as you felt your concerns slipping away.
"Exactly my point. I am not really the most trustworthy person either."
"Then why do I trust you with my life?" The words slipped before you could think about how they would sound. Your cheeks turn little red as you look down at your feet.
"You are too good for your own good," Bucky replied with a slight blush of his own and he meant it with everything he had. You were too pure and too trusting for this world. He would never know how he got to even call you his friend.
His eyes squinted as he noticed something. "Doll, there's something in your hair."
Before you could react, he took a step towards you and with gentle hands removed a piece of confetti out of your hair.
You ran your hands through your hair before looking up to thank him when you realized how close the both of you were standing. You were pretty sure he could hear how fast your heart was beating.
The both of you stood there staring into each other's eyes until Bucky took a step back, red color creeping up to his cheeks. He rubbed his neck, flustered, before finally speaking, "Um, I should - I should go."
You nodded your head, trying desperately to get your heart to beat normally. "Yeah, yeah. I'll see you around."
As Bucky walked away, you couldn't wipe off the smile from your face when suddenly your conversation with your parents hit you again.
God, it was going to be a long month.
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"And if you need anything, you can also ask Jarvis." You explained to your parents with the widest grin on your face.
"God, I can't believe you guys are finally here."
Your parents smiled at you before your mom engulfed you in a hug, 7th in the past 1 hour.
"Okay, guys. You know I love you both so much, but we are going to go in now and meet everybody. Can you please, please be nice?"
Your mom put her hand on her chest with a dramatic expression, "You don't trust us?"
You chuckled at how dramatic your mother could sometimes be. "I do, You know I do. But I also know as a matter of fact that both of you aren't very fond of my friends. And all I am asking is that you give them a chance. They are great people, mom. They are really really great and I care a lot about all of them. So, I just need you to be a little open-minded about them. That's all I am asking. Can you do that for me?"
"Of course, we will, princess. We hate these inept superheroes but not as much as we love you."
Your parents then looked at each other a too long, which you didn't think much of, too excited at the prospect of your parents and friends getting along.
You took them inside the compound as they looked around in what you hoped was awe.
"Good morning, J.A.R.V.I.S" You greeted the AI just like you did every day.
"Good morning, Ms l/n"
Your parents looked around in shock trying to figure out where that voice came from when you chuckled. "Mom, dad, I told you, you need anything, just ask J.A.R.V.I.S"
Your dad narrowed his eyes at you. "Where is this JARVIS of yours?"
You giggled before replying, "Everywhere and nowhere." Troubling your parents never got old.
"Stop putting forward riddles, we are not in a fantasy adventure movie." Your mom complained.
"Sorry. Sorry Mom, dad, meet J.A.R.V.I.S. He is an AI that operates the whole tower, literally. If you want to know anything, just ask him. Tony created him. That man is such a genius."
Your dad almost rolled his eyes. "Why couldn't he just hire a human to work for him, just like normal people do?"
You sighed, just hoping that the day goes smoothly.
You couldn't be more wrong.
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"And this room is the briefing room." You opened the door to let your parents in but they just looked around from the doorway.
You had just started showing your parents around the compound, readying yourself for the inevitable. The whole team was pretty excited about meeting your parents and you knew sooner than later that someone will run into you.
The inevitable happened as soon as you stepped into the dining room.
Tony was standing there, getting his morning cup of coffee and his face told you he hadn't slept very well last night. Ever since he picked up the mission to update the compound's security system last month, he had hardly been sleeping. You were worried about him.
"Tony?" You said in a soft voice so as to not startle him.
"Oh, hey, kiddo. Awake a little too early today?" He said with a tired smile on his face, taking a jab at the fact that you were definitely not a morning person.
"Are you okay, Tony?"
"Hmm, yeah. Totally." He then looked at your parents who were standing beside you with a scowl on their faces. "Won't you introduce us?"
"Oh, right." A wide grin spread on your face as you turned towards your parents. "Mom, dad. This is Tony. Kind of the co-leader of the group. Tony, these are my parents."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr and Mrs l/n. You have a great daughter."
Your cheeks turned red until your parents began speaking.
"So, he is the guy who has his head so up his arse that he doesn't care about anyone besides himself?" Your dad with a scowl on his face.
You gasped as Tony's eyes widened. "Dad, what are you talking about?"
"He is Stark, right? That's what you said about him after the first day you worked here."
Your eyes widened as your mouth fell open. What was happening? You hadn't even told your parents about your job for the first 6 months. Why were they -
Your eyes frantically searched for Tony's and you felt a slight pain in your chest when you saw how hard he was trying to feign the hurt in his eyes. You needed to set this right. "Tony - "
"Oh, and could you please stop annoying our daughter with all the science and tech talk? That stuff bores the shit out of her." Your mother interrupted you before you could even say anything.
You looked at Tony, desperately trying to explain to him that it wasn't true. You had told your parents how much you loved listening to Tony rambling about his latest creation. You loved how passionate he was about his work. You couldn't imagine your parents using that against you like this.
Before you could say something, Tony spoke, "Oh, I am sorry, I didn't know me talking about what essentially pays your salary irritated you so much." He said with a snarl in his voice that he had never used with you before. Even though the both of you weren't that apart in age, he was like a dad to you and you would never hurt him.
"Tony, it's not what you think." You said, desperately asking him to give you a chance to explain yourself when some more people walked through the door.
You watched as Nat and Wanda entered the kitchen, engrossed in their talk, smiling when they see you.
"Heya, girl"
You internally panic. You didn't know what your parents were up to but this couldn't be nice. You just wanted to take them away from here.
Tony speaks up before you can do anything, "Her parents are here. And they have something very interesting to say. Turns out our goody two shoes has some very different thoughts about us."
"Tony, no. It's not like that. I don't know why - "
"Hey, let me guess who are these two." Your mother exclaimed, conveniently shutting you up.
Wanda looked between you and Tony in confusion before smiling at your parents. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Y/n talks a lot about you."
Your mom looked her up and down before saying with disdain in her voice, "Redhead. A pretty face. You must be the witch."
Wanda's smile wavered but she didn't let her discomfort show.
"You're the one who is so desperate for love that she is dating a toaster."
Wanda gasped as her smile fell. She looked at you, confused and hurt.
"Mom, what are you - "
"That's what you told us, princess. That she is dating a toaster. What's its name again? Vi - Vis.."
"Vision. His name is Vision and he is NOT a toaster." Wanda then looked dead into your eyes. "But it's good to know that that's what you think, y/n."
You shook your head frantically. "No, no, Wan. It's not like that. You know that's not true. I would never say that."
Wanda's eyes didn't waver and dread filled you. Your friends were not trusting you.
"What does she say about me?" Nat spoke up. She asked as if she couldn't care less but being her best friend for almost a year now, you could read it in her eyes that she was almost as afraid of the answer as you were.
"You're the black widow, right?" Your father questioned.
Your mother spoke up without waiting for a reply, "You are the useless one. No, like, really, the three of us always wonder, why are you even a part of the group? There are supersoldiers in here, witches and literal gods, what do you do? Throw some punches? Kicks?"
"Gods. That reminds me, where are the self-proclaimed gods/aliens of yours?" Your dad snickered, amused.
"Which one?" Your mom questioned in reply. "The doofus or the monster which can never be trusted?"
You had had enough. You exclaimed, "Okay, guys. Enough. Stop talking."
Your dad smirked. The audacity. "Come on, princess. Aren't you tired of pretending? Don't you want your friends to know what you actually think about them?"
You opened your mouth to tell them that whatever they were saying was as far from the truth as it could get when everybody in the kitchen heard footsteps approaching.
You heard Steve before you saw him, "Who thinks about what?" He asked, genuinely curious.
Your heart started beating frantically when you realized he wasn't alone. Sam and Bucky had entered the kitchen with him. But unlike the other times, your heart was beating with fear. This couldn't be happening. No, no.
"Y/n's parents are here. They were telling us all the great stuff she says about us to them." Wanda said with pure disgust in her voice. You had never seen her this mad.
"Guys, trust me. It's not - "
"Come on, y/n. Let them speak." Sam said before turning towards your parents. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Mr and Mrs l/n."
Your father rolled his eyes before saying, "You're the one who got kicked out of the Air Force and then kissed Captain America's arse for a job."
Sam's jaw dropped but before he could say anything your mom replied, "No, honey. Y/n told us it was that Ant-man."
Your dad shook his head. "No, no. Antman is the one who went to jail. He is Falcon."
You were seeing red now. You knew that your parents were a little too overprotective of you and hence didn't like you taking this job. But you thought meeting your friends and realizing how caring and nice everybody was would change their minds. You never thought that they would ever do this to you.
You desperately wanted to explain yourself. To tell your friends that this was all a lie but you couldn't. You could see it in their eyes that they already hated you. And with your parents standing right there, you knew it would be impossible to give them. Maybe you could talk to them after your parents left. You just hoped they would give you a chance to explain yourself.
When your dad's eyes landed on Bucky, panic swelled inside you. Nononono.
"Oh, and you must be the winter soldier. That metal arm makes it pretty obvious though." Your dad said as he pointed towards Bucky's left side with pure disgust in his eyes as if it was the most horrifying thing he had ever seen.
Tears welled in your eyes as you saw how Bucky pulled his sleeves to cover more of his arm and blocked it from view.
"Do you have any idea how difficult you make it for people to work in this compound? Y/n complains to us how she has to walk on eggshells around you, scared that anytime you would get back to being the assassin that you have always been." Your mother uttered the words with a permanent frown on her face.
"But can you blame her though? You can not just kill hundreds of people and live freely, pretending to be a hero."
"Enough." You shouted. You couldn't take it anymore and your parents had gone too far.
You looked at Bucky, about to explain to him that none of it was true. That you were never scared of him. Not even for a second. Because you loved him. Since the day you had met him, your heart had held nothing but love for him.
But the look that you saw in his eyes made you stop in your tracks. He wasn't looking at you with hate or anger. No, it was much worse. He looked hurt. As if someone had pulled his heart out of his chest and stomped on it. You couldn't help but notice that his eyes held a little bit of understanding too as if he didn't blame you for thinking that way.
Your chest hurt and you wanted nothing more than to reach out to him.
"Wow. That - that was." Steve broke the silence, but it was the first time you had seen him out of words. "Is that really what you think about us, y/n?"
"No, no, Steve, None of it is true."
"Come on, princess. You don't have to put up a facade anymore. No more pretense."
"Stop it." You shouted at your parents. This was the first time you had ever raised your voice at them, but you couldn't care less. They were ruining everything.
"Guys, you need to trust me. Please." You looked at everybody, begging them with your eyes and words to just trust you.
"I don't understand. Why did you pretend to be our friend for so long? Why pretend to care when that's what you really think?" Wanda spoke, bewildered.
"No, no. That's not - " You spoke, tears at the brim of your eyes. This couldn't be happening.
"For the money, of course. Come on, why would someone live in the most dangerous place on earth if not for a buttload of money?" Your dad said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"No, no, no, please. You guys have to trust me, please." You looked around at everybody, frantically searching for even a hint that everything was not ever. That they could trust you. But all you got was hurt faces and built-up walls.
"Why are you doing this to me?" You shout at your parents. You were extremely close to sliding on the floor and crying your heart out.
"We are trying to help you, princess. We are freeing you." Your mom said with a smug expression.
"You don't have to do that anymore," Tony spoke and all the eyes in the room looked at him. Hope swelled in your chest.
"You don't have to stay here and pretend to like us. I really really want to fire you but you know too much and your statistical skills are too good to be wasted. So, you will be transferred. Somewhere far from us where we don't ever have to see your face." Tony spoke with a sense of finality in his voice and your heart broke into a hundred pieces.
You looked at your feet and swallowed the lump in your throat before looking at him and whispering, "You don't have to do that." You then turned and looked into the blues of Bucky's eyes which you were so familiar with and all you could do was whisper, "I am sorry."
You didn't wait for anybody's response before walking out and towards your room.
There was nothing that you could do anymore.
You were not going to take that transfer.
This job was never about money to you. You had found a family here, and you loved them with everything you had. But it still wasn't enough for them to trust you.
You cried and cried and cried till you had no more tears to let go before getting up and packing your bag.
You had to leave. You couldn't face them again.
There was only one thing left to do.
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The compound was silent.
It was as if nobody even lived here anymore.
Everybody sat at the dining table staring at the food in front of them, nobody taking a bite.
It was as if a part of them was missing. As if the one thread that had bound them together was somehow suddenly torn apart.
There was an unspoken agreement between them. Nobody would talk about what had happened earlier that day. The wound was too fresh to be confronted.
Nobody knew where you were right now. But everybody just assumed that you were in your room.
Steve was very close to barging into your room and bringing you to the dining table. He couldn't count the number of times he had told you that you shouldn't talk while eating and even after choking on your food twice, you hadn't listened to him and Steve was glad. There was nothing he wouldn't give right now to bring back the lively chatter that had always surrounded the dining table. But he had to remind himself that everything he had thought was a lie, a pretense.
Tony was angry. He was seething. He had cared for you like you were his own daughter and you had thrown all of that into a drain.
Wanda just wanted to know how you were so good at acting. How you could pretend to be her best friend when you hated her all along?
But Bucky just wanted to know one thing - why. He didn't blame you for thinking that way about him. You weren't the only one who did. But he wanted to know why you would pretend to be his friend, to care about him when you thought him to be a monster. Why did you comfort him after all those panic attacks and nightmares telling him it wasn't his fault when you blamed him for every single thing? Why had you let him fall in love with you if you couldn't even stand him? You had to know that it would leave him devastated. He didn't blame you for hating him, but how was he supposed to live without your light now? Especially when he knew it was never for him?
Nat couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't just let everyone swallow themselves in silence for a person who never even cared about them in the first place. She harshly got up before walking towards the living room for a bottle of wine.
She shook her head when the memories of all of you hanging out at the same place plagued her mind.
As she walked past the bookshelf, she noticed something which had never been there before.
She frowned as she walked towards it to realize that it was a pen drive. She slowly picked it up to find a note attached to it which just read, "Sorry".
She was so engrossed that she didn't hear footsteps approaching until a hand took the pen drive from her. She looked up to realize Tony was looking at the drive intently as if scanning it with his eyes.
"What's this?" He asked, confused.
"No idea. Found it on the bookshelf."
Tony read the note and recognized the handwriting almost instantly. "It's y/n's."
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Everybody sat in the living room staring intently at the screen before them.
Tony had assembled everybody and they had all agreed to watch the pen drive once. Maybe it would answer their questions. Maybe it was just an old pen drive and had to do nothing with what had happened today but they had to know.
The system finally finished scanning the drive after what felt like a lifetime and your face flashed on the screen.
Your tears-stained cheeks and red, swollen eyes, told them that the video was indeed today's.
"Hey, guys." You sounded broken and defeated.
"I am not even sure that you are going to watch this." You let out a sad chuckle.
"But I just needed to say this 'cause it feels like if I don't, it will swallow me whole. And you guys deserve to know the truth, too."
"I just - I want you all to know that all that you heard today, none of it was true. Not even a single word of it. And I need you guys to know this." You looked directly into the camera as if begging them to trust you and nobody dared to move.
"I - I don't know why my parents did what they did. I have no idea. I can tell myself that they were trying to protect me, but who am I trying to convince? 'Cause, you don't protect someone by taking away the best thing that ever happened to them." You sniffled, rubbing your palms on your face to wipe off the tears.
"And that is what this team was for me. This job, this team, was the best thing that ever happened to me. And it was never because of the money or the luxuries of living in the tower, it was you guys. You were a family I found in a city I knew nothing about. And that was what mattered to me."
Tony wanted to shut the video off, to tell everybody that maybe you were lying here too, pretending, but he knew it wasn't true. Your eyes shone with guilt and desperation and eyes never lie.
The video continued. "And maybe you are not even watching this video. Maybe you will never know how I actually felt and will hate me forever, but if there is even a slight chance that you are watching this, and there is a small part of you that can trust me, I want you to know what I actually think about you.
Tony, you were like a dad to me. You always looked out for me and were so damn concerned about me the whole time and I can't thank you enough. Thank you for always looking out for me and I never for a second got annoyed by you talking about tech, you might not know this but your eyes shine brighter when you are talking about your creations and I would never get tired of that. The only complaint I had for you is that you need to take care of yourself more. Stop sleeping in your lab and eating shawarma all the time in the name of food, it's not healthy. Take care of yourself, Tony, 'cause there are some people who will always need you."
Tony looked away, blinking hard so as to not let the tears roll down his cheeks. All the times when you brought him food in his lab because he hadn't left his spot for hours and then you forced him to finish it all, you didn't do it as a pretense, you did it because you genuinely cared about him.
"Nat, you're the bravest and the most badass person I know. Don't tell anyone, but you are my favorite fighter. I admire you so damn much. Who cares that you can't lift things with your mind or fly? You can kick people's asses without blinking an eye. You inspire me so much."
"Wanda, you and Nat are my best friends and I am so proud of you. After everything you've lost, gathering the courage to love again is the most courageous thing I've ever seen. You and Vis make me believe in love. Hell, I even had a speech ready for your wedding as your bridesmaid." You had a small smile on your face as if remembering something, "Now that I am not going to be there anymore, Nat, I am going to ask you to give a great speech from my side too. I know you are not a very emotion-oriented person, but please try. 'Cause Wanda deserves nothing but the best."
Wanda sniffed audibly and Nat kept a hand on her shoulder.
"Thor, prince of Asgard, Son of Odin." You said in the voice that Thor had taught you to intimate a long time ago and chuckled. "I know you are the one who stole all my pop tarts." As Thor's eyes widened, the video continued, "Don't act surprised. Why do you think I never changed the place of keeping my pop tarts even after they went missing every single week? I am not upset, nope. I don't even like those that much. I just need you to know that I won't be there to keep those tarts there. Ask J.A.R.V.I.S., he knows where I brought them from. He will tell you."
"Sam." Sam looked up from his spot as he heard his name. "I am a little upset with you. You never let me use red wig." You pouted and Sam chuckled. "But you do know that you are the funniest, smartest, and one of the most deserving people to be on the team, right? Hell, bringing you to the team was the best decision Steve ever made."
You stopped for a moment looking down at your feet, when you breathed, "Bucky." Your voice was much softer now as if his name was a prayer.
Bucky looked up into the camera, his heart beating a mile per minute. If this was all a lie too, he didn't want to know what you had to say. Even if it was actually how you felt, he wasn't sure he was ready for what you were going to say.
"I - " You stopped and took a deep breath. You looked vulnerable as if you were apart to lay your soul bare in front of you. "Bucky, I just - Whatever you heard today, it is not true. None of it. Since the day I met you, I have never been scared of you. Not for a single second. You know I don't blame you for anything that Hydra did, you have to know. I don't think you were a monster. I think you are the sweetest, kindest and bravest person I know. I wasn't lying when I told you that I trusted you with my life. I trust you, I care about you, and I - "
Bucky's breath hitched in his throat as you suddenly stopped.
"Well, there is a major chance that you're not even watching this, so .. why not? It's not like I am ever going to get a chance to say it to you. So, here it is -
I love you, Bucky. I am in love with you. I have been for a very long time now. I could tell myself that it was just a small crush and it would go away sooner or later, but who am I kidding? I want to spend every single moment of my day with you. You're the first thought that comes to my mind when I wake up and my last memory before I fall asleep. When you are around, I can't stop looking at you and when you are not, all I want to do is look at you. I know that you might never feel this way about me, especially after today, but I just had to say it once."
You took a deep breath before speaking with finality in your voice, "I just hope that one day you guys will know that it wasn't a pretense. That this team was everything to me. I found a family, a place to call home, I found love. I hope that one day you will be able to forgive me."
The video stopped and everybody bowed their heads down while Bucky just stared at the screen desperately, as if you would walk out of it.
You loved him.
You wanted to be with him and god if that thought alone wasn't the best thing that had ever happened to him. He didn't think you could love him. He had accepted the fact that he was destined to love you from afar, a love that you would never know about.
But you felt the same. He didn't have to watch you fall in love with someone else and get your happily ever after, because you wanted that to be him.
You could be his happily ever after.
Before he could let himself be hopeful, realization struck him and left him breathless.
You had said that you would never get the chance to say it to him personally. The things that you had said, the finality in your voice, it had all sounded like a ... goodbye.
He stood up abruptly, only to realize that all the eyes were on him.
Some were filled with tears, others were trying really hard to keep their emotions in check. No, no, this couldn't be. How was he supposed to live without you now that he knew that you loved him too?
Without muttering a word to anybody, he rushed out of the room, through the corridor, and towards your room. You couldn't have gone yet. No, no, he would beg you to stay, get on his knees and ask you to forgive him.
He stood outside your door for a moment, taking a deep breath, mentally preparing himself.
He brought his hand to knock on your door, only to realize that it wasn't locked.
With bated breath, he pushed the door open.
It was vacant. Everything that you had put in to make it a home, was gone.
You were gone.
✧༝┉˚*❋ ❋*˚┉༝✧✧༝┉˚*❋ ❋*˚┉༝✧✧༝┉˚*❋ ❋*˚┉༝✧✧༝┉˚*❋ ❋*˚┉༝✧✧༝┉˚*
The whole team stood in the living room, waiting.
Bucky walked in, his head shaking and arms trembling.
Nobody uttered a word as they waited for him to give words to the inevitable. He looked up, tears brimming his eyes as he whispered, "She is gone."
Everybody gasped as guilt filled them.
Only if they had trusted you.
"No, no. We cannot give up. We need to find her. I am going to find her. We cannot give up this easily." Bucky said, praying that he was right, that not everything was lost. There was still hope. There had to be.
"He is right. We can't just let her go." Wanda said, tears straining her cheeks.
"There has to be a way." Sam agreed.
Tony suddenly lightened up as he took out his tablet. "We can track her. If she hasn't switched off her phone, we can find her exact location." He had enabled a tracking sensor in everyone's phone some time ago. He remembered the way you had pouted and teased him that it was an invasion of privacy, but had finally let him install it nonetheless.
He let out a sigh of relief when he realized he could still check the location of his phone. "She is heading towards the airport."
Dread filled everybody as Tony's words sank in. You were leaving. Forever.
"She is in a cab right now. I can figure out its number, but it might be too late."
"I have to go," Bucky exclaimed. "I am not going to let her go. No. I need to find her." He looked around, ready to fight anyone who came in his way.
But everybody just gave him a reassuring look as Steve whispered, "Go, get the girl, Buck."
✧༝┉˚*❋ ❋*˚┉༝✧✧༝┉˚*❋ ❋*˚┉༝✧✧༝┉˚*❋ ❋*˚┉༝✧✧༝┉˚*❋ ❋*˚┉༝✧✧༝┉˚*
You looked through the window as the city lights bristled by.
Your cheeks were still stained with tears as you left behind the place you had called home.
But there was no other option. Your parents had left you with no other choice.
It hurt that they had actually been successful in their mind games, but there was nothing you could do. Your parents had taken from you, the best part of your life.
You were going to miss the city, the team, and your friends, but there was one person you were going to miss the most.
Leaving him was like leaving a part of your behind and you knew that Bucky Barnes was always going to have a piece of your heart, even if he didn't know about it.
You swallowed the lump in your throat as the cab came to an abrupt, sudden stop.
The cab driver looked back at you before asking, "Ma'am, are you okay."
You nodded your head before asking, "Are you?" After he nodded, you continued, "What happened?"
"A man just rushed his bike past us, way beyond the speeding limit, and then stopped it right before us, in the middle of the bridge."
You frowned as you looked in front of the cab.
Your breath hitched in your throat as you recognized the bike and the man getting down from it.
"Bucky." You breathed before opening the cab door, against the driver's protests, your legs on autopilot.
When your eyes met Bucky's, you could see him visibly relaxing with relief.
"Bucky, what are you - " You exclaimed against the sound of the wind.
He got down from his bike and started walking towards you quickly. "Doll, how could you?"
Your heart skipped a beat at the nickname before you lowered your head. Of course, he hated you after what had happened. He didn't trust you.
You looked up to realize that he was a couple of feet distance from you now. You opened your mouth, apologies about to come tumbling from your lips when you were cut off by him.
You gasped in shock as Bucky closed the little distance between the both of you, pressing his lips to yours, in a gentle, yet desperate kiss, as if he was drowning and only the feeling of your lips could bring him back to the shore.
When the surprise finally washed off, you brought your hands to his chest as his led down to your waist, and you kissed him back. You didn't understand what was happening. But if it was goodbye, you wanted it to last forever.
When the necessity to breathe arose, Bucky pulled back but stood close.
He leaned in and touched your forehead with his before closing his eyes.
You breathed him in. He smelled of fresh coffee and pine. He smelled like home.
"How could you leave me, doll? Without even saying anything. Not even a goodbye?" He tried to be upset with you. But who was he kidding? You could stab him through his chest and he would still thank you.
Tears brimmed your eyes as you took in a deep breath, you wanted to savor this moment. "Buck, I - I am sorry. Whatever my parents said today, it was a lie. A huge lie. I wanted to tell you, but - "
"It's okay, doll. I trust you. But, I - I need to ask you something." He took a deep breath, already dreading your answer to the question he was about to ask. "Did you mean it?"
"Of course, I didn't. None of it. I don't blame you for anything, Bucky. I am not scared of you. I have never been."
"That's not." Bucky closed his eyes shut, praying that he could word his feelings correctly. "We - we saw the video."
Your eyes widened as realization struck you. He knew.
You had stupidly confessed all your feelings on a video. What were you thinking? He would be so embarrassed right now but you couldn't back out now.
"Buck, I - I do love you. That is the truth. But you don't have to say anything. I understand if you don't - "
Before you could finish your sentence, Bucky brought his fingers under your chin to make you look up at him before leaning in to press his lips against yours once again.
Hope swelled in your chest as you brought your arms to encircle his neck and kissed him back.
He pulled away a little too quickly to look up at you with a small smile on his face. The look in his eyes made butterflies erupt in your tummy with a ferocity you had never felt before.
"I love you too, doll. I do. With everything that I have. I love you and I am so so sorry that I didn't give you a chance to explain. I am so sorry that I didn't trust you.
I never told you this because I - I am not good enough for you, doll. I don't deserve you."
You shook your head, about to correct him, when he continued, "And I think I still don't. Being with you puts you in so much danger too, maybe I shouldn't even be with you. But I am tired of pretending that I don't want to. I am tired of pretending like I don't want to spend every single moment for the rest of my life with you. So, if you'll allow me, doll, I'll spend the rest of my life, trying to be the man you can proudly call yours 'cause I love you so damn much."
Tears were now flowing down your cheeks for a completely different reason. You leaned in to kiss him again when the both of you were interrupted by the cab driver shouting from the cab, growing impatient, "Madam, do you want to go or not?"
Bucky looked at you with hopeful eyes and you turned back to yell to the driver, "Never"
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Fourth MLM Ship Bracket Propaganda Submissions
Below you will find all of the submitted and approved ships for the Fourth MLM Ship Bracket Tournament along with the form to submit further propaganda at the bottom
This is another opportunity to submit propaganda for your favorite ships. Wether you were unable to submit propaganda for them in the initial form or you spot your favorite ship who has no propaganda submitted. Ships with a strikethrough have propaganda submitted, I will continue to update this post as propaganda is submitted. I will accept further propaganda for ships with already submitted propaganda but please prioritize those with out.
The goal is to have propaganda for all ships but I understand that may not be possible. Therefore I will be leaving the form open for a few weeks to see if we receive propaganda for at least half the ships.
Note: Please reach out to me if you spot any mistakes in character or fandom names, even if it is only formatting or spelling issues.
Monkey D. Luffy/Roronoa Zoro (One Piece)
Kyojuro Rengoku/Akaza (Demon Slayer)
Mikhail”Misha” [Heavy]/Dr. Ludwig [Medic] (Team Fortress 2)
Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas (Homestuck)
Chu Shuzhi/Guo Changcheng (Guardian, 2018)
Oliver Marks/James Farrow (If We Were Villains)
David Starsky/Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson (Starsky & Hutch)
Tinn/Gun (My School President)
Loki Odinson/Mobius M. Mobius (Loki)
Jaime Reyes/Bart Allen (DC Comics)
Levi Schmitt/Nico Kim (Grey's Anatomy)
Ren Amamiya or Akira Kurusu/Goro Akechi (Persona 5)
Wallace Price/ Hugo Freeman (Under the Whispering Door)
Daffy Duck/Bugs Bunny (Looney Toons)
Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan (Guardian, 2018)
Isak Valtersen/Even Bech Næsheim (SKAM)
Henry "Monty" Montague/Percy Newton (Montague Siblings)
Nico di Angelo/Will Solace (Camp Half-Blood Chronicles)
Argos/Mr. Plant (The World of Mr. Plant)
Richard St Vier/Alec Campion (Swordspoint Universe)
Klaus Hargreeves/Dave Katz (The Umbrella Academy)
Woody/Buzz Lightyear (Toy Story)
Victor Lawson/Hap (In the Lives of Puppets
Charlie/Babe (Pit Babe The Series)
Fred/Shaggy (Scooby-Doo)
Simon Snow/Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Grimm-Pitch (Carry On)
Gaius Octavius/Jedediah Smith (Night at the Museum)
Sound/Win (My School President)
Pat/Pran (Bad Buddy)
Mike Wazowski/James "Sulley" P. Sullivan (Monsters, Inc.)
Nicholas “Nick” Bell/ Seth Gray (The Extraordinaries)
Evan 'Buck' Buckley/Edmundo 'Eddie' Diaz (9-1-1)
Sean/White (Not Me: The Series)
Vegas Theerapanyakun/Pete Saengtham (Kinnporsche: The Series)
Runaan/Ethari (The Dragon Prince)
Larry Daley/Ahkmenrah (Night at the Museum)
Tintin/Captain Archibald Haddock (Tintin comics)
Bai Lang/Jin Xun An (My Tooth Your Love)
Napoleon Solo/Illya Kuryakin (The Man from U.N.C.L.E)
Wario/Waluigi (Mario franchise)
Peter Parker/Miguel O'Hará (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse)
Steve Rogers/Anthony "Tony" Stark (Marvel Comics)
Dave Miller/Jack "Old sport" Kennedy (Dayshift at Freddy's)
Boston/Nick (Only Friends)
Kinn Theerapanyakun/Porsche Kittisawasd (Kinnporsche: The Series)
Satoru Gojo/Suguru Geto (Jujutsu Kaisen)
Craig Cuttlefish/Octavio Takowasa (Splatoon)
Tulio/Miguel (The Road to El Dorado)
Sun Wukong/Neptune Vasilias (RWBY)
Zachary Ezra Rawlins/Dorian (The Starless Sea)
Fox Mulder/Alex Krycek (The X-Files)
Thomas/Newt (The Maze Runner)
Fulgrim/Ferrus Manus (Warhammer 40k)
Kim Theerapanyakun/Porchay Kittisawasd (Kinnporsche: The Series)
Alec Lightwood/Magnus Bane (The Mortal Instruments)
Tan/Bun (Manner of Death)
Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi (RWBY)
Rhy Maresh/Alucard Emery (Shades of Magic)
Yashiro Isana/Kuroh Yatogami (K Project)
Jaskier/Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher)
Dustfinger/Mortimer "Mo" Folchart (Inkworld series)
Brandon/Sky (Winx Club)
Phineas Taylor “P. T.” Barnum/Phillip Carlyle (The Greatest Showman)
Alfred Hillinghead/Henry Ashe (Bodies TV Show)
Baal/Inanna (The Wicked + the Divine)
Timothy "Tim" Drake/Bernard Dowd (DC Comics)
Vash the Stampede/Nicholas D. Wolfwood (Trigun Stampede)
Anthony Lockwood/Quill Kipps (Lockwood and Co)
Henry Winter/Francis Abernathy (The Secret History)
Crowley/Aziraphale (Good Omens)
Dainix/Falst (Aurora Comic)
Prince Rupert/Prince Amir (The Two Princes)
Finn/Poe Dameron (Star Wars)
Jean Luc Picard/Q (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Will Stronghold/Warren Peace (Sky High)
Heart/Li Ming (Moonlight Chicken)
Wallace Wells/Todd Ingram (Scott Pilgrim Takes Off)
Sunai/Veyadi Lut (The Archive Undying)
Linus Baker/Arthur Parnassus (The House in the Cerulean Sea)
Aaron Slaughter/Jace Boucher (House of Slaughter)
Hercule Poirot/Captain Arthur Hastings (Hercule Poirot)
Phaya/Tharn (The Sign)
Hercules/Iolaus (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys)
Todd/Black (Not Me: The Series)
Julio "Rictor" Esteban Richter/Shatterstar (Marvel Comics)
Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu (Word of Honor)
Siffrin/Isabeau (In Stars and time)
Kendall Knight/Logan Mitchell (Big Time Rush TV Show)
Yuichiro Hiyakuya/Mikaela Hyakuya (Owari no Seraph/Seraph of the End)
Palm/Nuengdiao (Never Let Me Go)
Khatha/Dome (Midnight Museum)
Asterix/Obelix (Asterix Comics)
Bowser/Luigi (Mario Franchise)
Lucien "Luc" O'Donnell/Oliver Blackwood (London Calling)
Kazuki Kurusu/Rei Suwa (Buddy Daddies)
Benjamin “Ben” Tennyson/Kevin Ethan Levin (Ben 10: Alien Force)
Lumière/Cogsworth (Beauty and the Beast)
Damian Wayne/Jon Kent (DC Comics)
Spy/Dell Conagher [Engineer] (Team Fortress 2)
Shanks/Buggy (One Piece)
Jesper Fahey/Wylan Van Ecks (Six of Crows)
Harold Finch/John Reese (Person of Interest)
Ulrich Stern/Odd Della Robbia (Code Lyoko)
Vincent Freeman/Jerome Morrow (Gattaca)
Eustass Kid/Killer (One Piece)
Christopher Hitchcock/Jalil Sherman (Everworld)
Frodo Baggins/Samwise Gamgee (Lord of the Rings)
Edgin Darvis/Xenk Yendar (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves)
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