#Steve saw a magazine with love languages and really went for it

[artiststarme]

Oblivious Eddie

This is kind of the opposite of @ladykailitha's current story. It turned out a lot longer than I anticipated lol. Featuring the screaming match that you guys voted on! I hope you guys like it and please share your thoughts in the comments!

~*~*~*~

Steve was at his wit’s end. Things were now back to normal in the summer after the supernatural happenings of the Upside Down in the spring. The older teens had graduated from high school (Eddie included), the younger kids were off at camp or work or rehab respectively, and Steve was working his usual shift at Family Video. 

He was alone today since Keith was out of town on vacation and Robin was touring the campus at Indiana State. He was bored out of his mind. The entire day, he’d had a mere four customers with plenty of time to rewind the returned tapes, organize the shelves in a way Robin would hate, and take a variety of magazine quizzes. He now knew that his spirit animal was a golden retriever, Tom Cruise would date him for his personality, and that his zodiac sign would find fortune in the next month. 

However, if something interesting didn’t happen in the next ten minutes, he was going to do something drastic like pull his hair out or something. As the minutes ticked on, he started getting worried. Steve prided himself on being a man of his word and he made a decision which meant he had to stick to it. But did it count if it was a thought to himself? Would he have to pull his hair out by the clump to prove a point to his own brain? Maybe he-

His spiral was cut off by the jingle of the door’s bell. Steve let out a sigh of relief, “Welcome to Family Video, is there anythi- Eddie! Hey man, what’s up?”

Eddie had gotten a part-time job at Thatcher Tire and was trying to bring in some money from work of the legal variety. He said it was time to make money like an honest man and develop the good habits of the working class. Steve thinks that Hopper threatened him about the drug dealing and Eddie had no choice but to abide by his rules because he was the one who cleared his name in the media and with the cops. Either way, Eddie should be at work but instead he was walking straight towards Steve with a swish to his hips. 

“Heya Big Boy, guess what.”

“What?” Steve asked in curiosity. He didn’t know what would make Eddie so happy but his face was nearly splitting with the force of his beaming grin. 

“I got a call from a concert venue in Indy and they want Corroded Coffin to perform! They said that my notoriety from Spring Break could work as publicity and bring in more people. They want us to play this weekend!” Eddie was practically jumping up and down in excitement. 

Steve hopped the counter in order to envelop Eddie in a hug, “congratulations man! What did the kids say? Are they excited for you too?”

Eddie pulled back slightly, just enough to place his hand on Steve’s shoulder and look him in the eye whilst pulling a strand of hair from its position stuck in his mouth. “The kids? I don’t know, I came directly here to tell you.”

The comment in Eddie’s earnest tone caused butterflies to flutter in Steve’s stomach. He wanted to tell him first? That’s so sweet. Then he shook his head, it wasn’t sweet. It was just a dude telling his bro some exciting news. That’s all. 

“They’re going to be thrilled, Eds! You’re going to do great, I wish I could see it.” 

“That’s kinda why I’m here. Would you, Steve Harrington, do me the honor of watching me perform the most metal concert ever in a dingy venue in Indy this weekend? I’ll be honest with you, I’m a little nervous and having you there would make me really happy.” Eddie looked at him with the biggest puppy dog eyes he could muster, trying to persuade Steve to go. And honestly, he didn’t even have to. As soon as he had told Steve about the gig, his mind started thinking over blackmail he could use to get Keith to cover his shift. 

But, as he looked into Eddie’s pleading eyes and pouty lips, all he could think about was how much he wanted to kiss him. Which… what the fuck?! Steve wasn’t gay, he liked boobies! He still liked boobies! But now he thinks he liked the picture of Tom Cruise in the magazine from earlier and maybe Matthew Broderick on the movie poster over there and definitely Eddie, fuck. Steve needed to have a mental breakdown, STAT. 

“Fine, yes, I would be honored to go with you. Now, get out of here and tell the kids. They’re going to be thrilled,” Steve said as quickly and nonchalantly as he could muster in the face of his fast-approaching sexuality crisis. 

“Yay! Thanks Stevie, I swear you’re going to love it. I’ll see you tomorrow for movies and beer at mine, right?” Eddie asked over his shoulder while walking to the door. 

Steve felt like he was being strangled as he watched Eddie’s ass walking away, “yep, I’ll be there. See you later, Alligator!”

The second Eddie’s van drove out of the lot, Steve was rushing to lock the door and turn the closed sign. He needed to have a breakdown in peace. He slid down the wall of the disgusting Family Video bathroom and let the pent up sobs explode out of him. He knew he was freaking out over nothing but he couldn’t help it. It felt like in the few minutes it took for Steve to realize he liked guys, his entire world had changed. He was an outsider now, a queer, a freak. Deep down, he knew there was nothing wrong with being gay. Love is love. But why him?

Honestly, this wasn’t the worst thing he’d gone through. Yeah, he couldn’t be open with his love for another dude without being targeted which sucked. But he fought literal monsters with a bat and came out of it relatively unscathed. So this obviously wasn’t the end of the world. 

Steve tried to think of what Robin would say in this moment but couldn’t come up with anything. He felt a rush of irrational anger at her because of it. Why did she choose to tour a college campus now? She was already planning on leaving him behind and now she missed his crisis when she was supposed to be there with him? Ridiculous, some platonic soulmate she was. 

After another several minutes of freaking out, he started to calm down. This wasn’t an awful thing despite his initial thoughts. He knew Eddie was gay after one two many beers and a miniature freak out on Eddie’s part. And he knew his friends should be okay with it. And Eddie was amazing, they went through the same things, and they’ve bonded over their matching bat scars. Looking back, maybe that’s why Steve hasn’t been able to get a girlfriend in months… because he like-likes Eddie!

A plan started to form in Steve’s mind. He was going to woo Eddie and show him what it would be like to have the full ‘Steve Harrington Dating Experience’. He’d flirt, take him on dates, the whole shebang. And when Eddie inevitably fell for him, they could be boyfriends. With the plan in mind and the crisis averted, Steve left the bathroom, opened the door to the shop, and continued plotting for the rest of his shift. 

This would be a piece of cake. 

~*~*~*~

This was much harder than Steve had originally anticipated. He did not consider how utterly unobservant Eddie was or how oblivious Eddie would be to his affections. Steve had been flirting with this fucking guy for a month now and he was no closer to making him his boyfriend. 

He’d started smooth the night after his breakdown when he and Eddie watched movies and smoked weed in his trailer. Steve had given Eddie a compliment on his outfit, brought beers, and rested his arm on his shoulder during one of the scarier movies. What did Eddie do? Nothing! Steve thought he might’ve seen the barest hint of a blush when he wrapped his arm around him but it was gone before he could check to make sure. So he vowed to spend more quality time with him to be more obvious. 

The next time was at Eddie’s concert. Steve drove Eddie’s van with Eddie and the rest of the van the entire way to Indy. During the drive. They kept up conversation about metal music, summer plans, and the kids. At one point of the drive, Steve straight up grabbed Eddie’s hand and intertwined their fingers. Eddie didn’t even break his train of thought and continued speaking, rubbing his thumb along Steve’s knuckles. Steve couldn’t even focus on listening as if Eddie’s thumb rubbing circles didn’t make Steve want to stick his fingers in his mouth. Physical touch was also not affecting his guy. 

He tried words of affirmation next and those didn’t work either. His flirts initially started small. He would compliment Eddie’s clothes, his hair, or the things he liked. Then they escalated to comment on his character, his personality, and ‘how adorable he was’. Yesterday, Steve literally told him that his ass looked great in his black jeans but would look better out of them. That statement made Eddie’s jaw drop and he let out a loud guffaw before continuing his conversation like Steve hadn’t just implied that he wanted to see his bare ass. Son of a bitch. 

He was trying out acts of service when Eddie called him out. Steve had been doing the dishes at the Munson trailer while he waited for Eddie’s shift to end when he came in. And he came in hot. He slammed the door behind him and waved his hands around in flailing outrage. 

“Harrington, what the actual fuck! What are you even doing? You’re so fucking confusing!” He screamed as he saw Steve scrubbing at a stain on a white cutting board. 

Steve whipped around to look at him and narrowed his eyes. He was the confusing one? He’d been flirting with this dumbass nearly every day for a month and getting nowhere. “I’m confusing? That’s rich coming from you.”

Eddie blinked in shock before his lips pulled back in a snarl. “First of all, nothing about me is rich. Second of all, yes it’s you that’s confusing! You’ve been fucking flirting with me for weeks and no you’re doing my uncle’s dishes! That’s confusing.”

“Why is it confusing? I’m doing the dishes because you weren’t home yet and I needed something to do. I’m flirting with you because I like you. What’s confusing?” Steve was legitimately confused at this line of questioning and he really didn’t understand why Eddie was yelling. 

“You like me? Newsflash- you’re straight. You’re the straightest person that I have ever met. I don’t know why you keep flirting with me or what angle you’re trying to play here but I’m not interested in being your experiment, Harrington.” Eddie yelled at him, his finger pointing at Steve accusingly before moving to hug himself in self-comfort.   

Steve saw his discomfort but elected to act defensively and yell back at him. “I’m not straight, I never said I was and you never asked! I like both and it’s really shitty of you to try and tell me who I like when you have no idea what’s going on!”

Eddie opened his mouth to talk but Steve plowed on, “your whole schtick is nonconformity and sticking it to the fucking man but you draw the line at me liking guys and girls? Maybe I don’t like you as much as I thought I did. You’re obviously just as rude and judgmental as everyone else. And you’re welcome for the dishes, fucker.”

Eddie grabbed his arms as he went to move past. “Harrington, Steve, Stevie. I’m sorry, please just listen to me. Steve!”

Steve jerked his head to the side to glare at him. “What?”

“Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you or not be appreciative of you washing our fucking dishes. I just, I didn’t know you liked both and I was losing my mind the past few weeks because I couldn’t figure out if you were flirting with me or if it was just you being a good friend or if you were playing a prank or something. I’m sorry and I do appreciate you,” Eddie was biting his lips nervously and his hand was still wrapped around Steve’s upper arm. He looked earnest and like he genuinely regretted his actions. 

Steve sighed, “I’m sorry too, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable-”

“I’m not uncomfortable! I was just really confused and I didn’t know what was happening. But uh, I like you too.”

Steve’s eyes met Eddie’s. “You do?”

“Hell yeah, man. You were my gay awakening in middle school. That’s why I’ve been so frustrated this past month. I didn’t know if I was imagining it or if I actually had a shot,” Eddie chuckled. 

Steve stepped closer to him and put his hand on the back of Eddie’s neck. “You definitely have a shot.”

And then, Steve pulled Eddie’s face closer to his own and their lips smashed in a kiss. Eddie groaned as their teeth gnashed in the bruising kiss. When they finally pulled apart, they pressed their foreheads together and breathed in the same air. Steve whispered, “you were my gay awakening too.”

Eddie’s answering cackles were so loud, Max came over to tell them to shut the hell up. She got a free front-row seat to their liplock and let out a scream so high-pitched that the window glass quivered before running back to her trailer. On the bright side, they wouldn’t have to come out to the kids.

@doubleb11 @nburkhardt @zerokrox-blog @newtstabber @i-less-than-three-you @carlyv @straight4joekeery @trippypancakes @pyrohonk

#Steve saw a magazine with love languages and really went for it #Robin comes back from touring colleges and visiting family to Steve with a boyfriend #Max absolutely squeals to the kids and everyone is surprised besides Will because of course all of Hopper's kids are gay #stranger things #steddie #fanfic #steve harrington #eddie munson #max mayfield

[ihatepeanutss]

cause when you know, you know

everyone had realized that steve was hopelessly in love with you and you with him, you were simply the two fools in love in not realizing it

warnings: fem reader! steve’s love language is acts of service, fluff, inspire on lana song’s margaret bcs when you know you know ♡ reader being steve’s girl

the first person to notice was eleven, according to his words he had never seen steve so attentive to someone, not since nancy.

they had organized a small meeting to be able to watch movies on the great harrington television, nancy had attended and jonathan too, practically all were there.

“steve will come in a moment” robin entered the room with a bowl of pop corn and cans of coca cola, his gaze went to you and pointed to the kitchen with his head “ask that if you want iced or unfrozen coca cola, ice apart-“

“uhm, it doesn’t matter” you answered from your place, the individual sofa that steve had made Eddie give you as soon as you get home after work, with a book on your lap you watched Robin nod

robin walked to the kitchen and saw the small bowls full of sweets, steve was not someone sweet, he liked peanuts, pringles and pretzels, clearly this was not for him but he knew your favorite sweets.

m&m, only the yellow and green ones, sugary gummies that only sold in family video and some licorice cut in half, sweets that the children would not pay attention to if steve had made two different types of popcorn.

robin took out two more cans and noticed a fourth, fifth and sixth can of a different color... sugar-free coke, it was silver and different from the regular one

“something else?” the redhead raised her eyebrows towards her best friend and he denied

“no, i just wanted you to take that and take it” steve extended the potatoes and some pretzels “the beers are outside, max has his sandwiches and-“ steve interrupted himself before taking out the can of coke zero, a glass and in another ice to put them on the wooden tray next to the candies.

eleven was an observer, she liked to look, read people, analyze and then judge alone or with someone, lately she was max, the freckled redhead who was recovering from her last most recent injury, her broken wrist thanks to skateboarding.

“steve spends a lot of time in the kitchen whenever we come here” Max murmured taking a handful of popcorn, it was his conversation with him, soft and safe.

“steve wants to impress y/n” eleven replied without looking up at the magazine he had on his lap and heard Max laugh softly “he was serious, max”

max looked up and watched you carefully, you were reading one of your favorite books while you bit your fingers, steve had picked you up at work. the book store that they had opened a few months ago and you had taken care of being there since its inauguration.

max watched steve come out of the kitchen with the tray and with robin behind with more food, the tray full of sweets, different sweets that she would not eat in her life, maybe dustin if they gave her money but in her life they would touch a licorice, a coke zero. ice but with ice in a glass.

“you don’t eat licorice, dustin hates the m&m, dobin hates the reese and no one eats those,” eleven murmured as he let out a sigh before laughing.

they heard you thank steve and max let out a loud sigh to look at lucas “why aren’t you like that?”

robin watched eddie and eddie watched robin before letting out a laugh at the same time while still seeing steve eating from his pretzel while he was looking at a magazine you had brought for him.

robin was really the first to realize it, but nancy and jonathan were officially the second to notice it.

you work was not so far from the newspaper from where she worked together with jonathan, it was close to the center but far from where you lived and where you spent the most time, steve’s house and the byers.

you had a car but you used your bike mostly in your morning and afternoon shifts but Steve hated you to use your white bike at night, especially when he knew your shortcuts to get there, the forest or the road.

“isn’t that steve?” jonathan pointed to steve’s car parked and completely turned off, in front of your work. “well, his car”

nancy nodded as she began to walk with jonathan, Will and Eleven towards the book store, with the “CLOSED” sign on the glass and the lights on she could see you on the floor with books around while steve moved some boxes

“what is he doing?” will questioned before he felt steps next to him

“helping her with the inventory” robin responded looking at them with bags in his hands, food to take away “and y/n she has to do the inventory at least twice a week and steve comes to help her”

“i didn’t even make the inventory in family video or at dinner” nancy spoke raising her eyebrow and Robin nodded

“i know, steve hates doing the inventory but y/n? she loves it” robin replied looking at the four curious people waiting for more answers “....while she makes the inventory she makes three rows, the ones she wants to buy, the ones she will read between shifts and the ones that steve and i may like”

“steve’s reads?” jonathan joked and robin laugh

“no, he doesn’t but for her she does” the redhead laughed as she began to walk towards the door “see you on friday, guys”

when she disappeared from their views, eleven looked at nancy and will a jonathan, they had talked about it, but it was a very on the table to joke.

“i can’t believe it...steve is in love,” jonathan murmured, “he’s in love with a girl who seems to easily reject him if she want it ”

“i know” eleven murmured raising her shoulders and nancy laughed

eddie was the one who made dustin notice it, it wasn’t really much work

“why are we going to steve’s house at this time? we should be on our way to the record store, eddie” dustim complained as he let out a really frustrated sigh

“i have to take my toolbox to Harrington, he called me before leaving and he has saved my ass many times” eddie replied looking at the road “i wonder why i needed it”

“fix something, genius” dustin spoke in an obvious tone before receiving a blow to the back of his neck “ouch”

when he arrived at the Harrington house, Eddie left and Dustin’s curiosity followed him until he ended up in his yard, your white bicycle was lying on the floor while steve rebuilt his light brown artificial straw basket.

“there you are” eddie took his toolbox and put it on the floor looking at the bicycle on the floor “what happened here?”

“i’m fixing y/n’s bike, she mentioned that it had no maintenance and i’m checking it” steve responded calmly by repairing the bicycle

“and...why don’t you take her to the store? eddie pue-“ dustin was going to continue but his gaze landed on you, sitting on the glass patio table under the umbrella with a flower dress, glasses, a coke with ice and reading a book “hey y/n!”

“hello dustin!” you smiled raising your gaze “hello eddie” showing your teeth you smiled again and steve looked at the boys finishing the basket he had made

“thank you for the eddie tools; I owe you one” steve smiled slightly before looking at the tires of the bicycle “I will stop by the store to inflate the tires, will it be wayne ?”

“the old man lives in that place since we opened it” eddie joked before hitting dustin “we’re leaving, enjoy your evening, guys”

“that was-“ dustin began to talk and Eddie nodded.

“every two or three weeks” eddie raised his shoulders as if nothing “yes, it’s not the bicycle, he carries the y/n car and makes us crash it four or five times”

“but y/n doesn’t have a driver’s license” dustin spoke by opening the passenger seat “ah- ouuh I understand”

“how could you notice that about steve?” eddie questioned by turning on the car

“steve cares about everyone, even you,” dustin simply replied, “seeing him do this is normal”

“uhm as if i had ever brought you a source exclusively of sweets on movie night” eddie annoyed dustin

max, lucas, joyce and hopper were the next, four to realize.

“does anyone know when steve will arrive? i need him to show us the way to be able to go quietly in joyce’s car with the children” hopper approached jonathan and he gently denied

joyce told every human being that she would go, max, lucas, dustin, will, mike érica, and eleven check, robin, nancy, jonathan and eddie check, y/n and steve, no check.

“two of all of them here are missing, and one of them owns the place,” joyce reported as she watched everyone deny

“y/n works today” max spoke while eating his chips “afternoon shift”

as if it were magic, steve’s car was parked on the sidewalk of the hoppers as he went out and opened the back seat and you left the co-driver’s seat to open the trunk.

“i’m sorry for the late, i couldn’t close the door and steve had to help” you apologized by taking the suitcases of max, érica, dustin and lucas to put them away to approach joyce and give her a hug.

“steve went to work for you?” hopper question and you nodded

“i didn’t take my bike, it was going to take up a lot of space in the trunk and no suitcase was going to fit,” you replied receiving the drink that steve extended to you, “are we going?”

both joyce and hopper always had a small space for steve, who had given his body, strength and sacrifice in addition to sweat and blood for those children without control. this was new news for joyce, who kept in touch with steve weekly

“don’t say anything, we know,” jonathan responded by looking at you getting into the car with the help of steve, closing the co-pilot’s door before getting in the car and asking the boys something.

max and lucas were the ones who noticed the tension, steve was the one who guided the road, three stops to go to the bathroom and in all of them he went to the store to buy you something, anything but he came out with a bag and if he remembered something for them too, a stop at a hamburger restaurant and he was the one who asked for your order and paid.

small actions that showed great feelings was what max in the middle of the road while you were sleeping and steve had turned down the music.

you used to be very reserved in the group, you joined thanks to your closeness with dustin but you never knew what happened until max was the one who called you to go to the byers’ house because they needed help with a problem.

the problem was steve harrington beaten by billy, from there you started to frequent and now you were the center of the universe for steve.

it didn’t matter who wanted to go out with steve, him was watching you.

the moon wanted the attention of the sun but the sun was very focused on the earth.

♡.

who spilled the drop of the vessel was érica, she was the youngest of the group but the most daring, fast and intelligent, she had the ability to put things in their place and make people uncomfortable if she wanted to.

like now, great barbecue, excellent attention, you hated the sun and although steve convinced you to go out you decided to stay close to joyce and hopper while you read a book and talked with joyce and from time to time with robin when you put a blocker on his face.

eddie took the hot dog that steve asked him for and érica watched him, he watched you while you were talking to joyce but steve was focusing on you.

“when will you tell her that you’re dying for her?” erica spoke making even nancy stop doing what she was doing from where she was not far from the pool, steve under her sunglasses and observed érica “what?”

“what about what? what are you talking about, girl? i’m not in love with y/n” steve bit his hot dog “we’re just friends”

“you do things for her” érica rubbed her in the face

“i do things for everyone” steve defended himself foolishly

“can you fix my bike?” dustin looked at steve and he denied

“of course not, take her to eddie’s store, he can see her,” steve replied rolling his eyes and everyone looked at him... he fixed and checked your bike biblically every two weeks “oh come on, i’ll do more things for everyone”

“we worked two years in family video and a summer in scoops today, you never made the inventory,” robin pointed out, judging him

“you’ve never removed the nuts from my deliveries and I’m allergic to them” dustin did the same

“or you’ve never almost run out of a place when we call you and ask for a pull to any side” lucas continued

“since i met you, the only time you told me a candy was by mistake,” eleven said.

“here the important thing is that steve reads for that girl” jonathan murmured still surprised at what he hear

“do you want to hear something more cheesy?” robin looked defiantly at steve and then at Jonathan when the seat “he bought her the row of books that she made that night from the inventory”

steve let out a sigh and looked at everyone giving them good points about the fact that he was in love with you and went crazy about your existence, they were right but he was afraid of a very internal one that he didn’t want to admit.

“well, i like her,” steve acknowledged, “but not because i like her, i taake care of her, she is practically alone here and-“ steve was going to continue but eddie interrupted him

“shhhh- hey and/n what’s going on?” eddie looked at your heels, because you liked those beach heels and they were beautiful and pink, also a gift from steve

“joyce and i will go for something and i need the keys, sir” you went to steve and he nodded getting up from the floor starting to walk with you towards his jacket “all right?

“yes, so-....uhm, can we talk later? when everyone is in their rooms” the chestnut asked as he handed out the keys to you and you nodded

“when will you tell him that you are in love with him?” joyce questioned you as soon as they left the house and got in the car “hey, don’t look at me like that”

your relationship with the people who were your family was not satisfactory enough for you and joyce was the closest thing to a maternal figure.

“i’m not in love with steve” you murmured looking at steve’s car, every night shift steve went to your work in pajamas, red checkered pants or his gray divers and a black t-shirt to pick you up and leave you at home safe and sound, he didn’t care that your bike dirtyed its trunk upholstery “….well maybe”

“honey , you can lie to me or try, i, joyce maldonado i can assure you that you have to do it now” joyce spoke while driving “i met hopps when i was approximately twelve years old, in high school I fell in love with him and when i rejected him for my children’s father we didn’t meet again until after 20 years old” she expressed vaguely

“if your point was to encourage me, you’re not neuron successful”

“my point is... don’t stay where i stay, maybe my destiny was to have my two wonderful children but hopper was the one who was closer to them than his own father, i never gave myself the opportunity to look at him with other eyes of ‘it’s just a friend’s just a friend’t takes you at two in the morning because of cravings or because of your contractions he takes you to the hospital” Joyce river softly “when you know, you know, honey”

“steve is the only person i have here” you acknowledged “recognizing that i like it is uhm. betray what i told myself when i met him and saved me from that crack when the mall happened. i couldn’t afford to be alone again”

“and i know that now i have eddie and robin but no one like steve, steve- steve is very sweet to me, even when we were at school, everyone was too kind to me even when i was only with Jonathan” you continued and joyce nodded

“just remember it, honey, when you know you know”

when you know, you know.

steve kept his word when he said he wanted to talk to you when no one was around.

the country house belonged to his parents but he had obtained permission to take it for a few days and the yard was his favorite place in the house, later there was a small wooden kazeebo and that’s where you were waiting for him, biting your lips and nails from anxiety.

“hey, i’m sorry for make you wait” steve smiled showing the moderately large paper bag “i had to go for this without anyone seeing it”

you nodded nervously, you felt that you were going to pee in your pants and that you would have to sink into the bathtub in the bathroom in your room, because steve gave you his room in the house.

“steve, we have to talk well- i, i have to talk” you moved your gaze towards steve before playing with your hands “joyce is right”

“hopper is right,” steve murmured back.

“to let my feelings eat me is a good idea for my mental and emotional health, the last thing I want is to lose you because you are my best friend and probably the only one i can count on because Eddie never answers calls and- god verbal vomiting, i’m sorry, steve harrington i like you”

you expected a ‘i only see you as friends’ ‘but you are a little sister to me’ never expecting for

“i feel exactly the same for you,” steve replied, looking at you open your eyes in surprise, making him laugh, “all right?”

“pffff of course....no” you laughed nervously while you let out a laugh again “now what do you do?”

“i haven’t been in a relationship since I was seventeen” steve responded by raising his shoulders getting closer to you and wrapping your arm around your shoulder attracting you towards the “but i brought this”

“did you bring my dignity?” normally those were your jokes and he was very aware of them but he denied

“i bringed sweets and something for you, i would usually have given it to you in front of robin or the boys but there is something they can’t see” steve murmured as you let out a laugh and took the paper bag

in addition to sweets there was a small detail in a pink invitation, valentine’s day was approaching and you were thinking of sleeping all day but steve’s plans were different.

“Dinner for two. 19 PM. formal clothes”

you laugh before kissing steve’s cheek and taking a pack of reese and taking a bite.

“i hated the plans you told me you would do on valentine’s day and if this didn’t happen i planned to force you to leave the house” steve commented taking the reede pedrizo that you gave him “do you accept?”

“i accept to be your valentine’s day, harrington,” you answered by getting closer to him, steve took your legs by placing them on his lap and your body on his arm.

“how?” steve asked softly, “what did you talk to joyce?”

steve also talked to hopper, in fact he was forced by him while you weren’t with joyce and the boys had already had fun bothering him

“rather know you who talked to hopps” you murmured softly and he raised his shoulders

“about knowing when you know it perfectly and you don’t want to admit it” steve murmured about your syen and leaving a soft kiss to hug you again.

#steve harrington #stranger things #steve harrington x shy!reader #steve harrington x fem!reader #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington imagines #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington x bookworm reader #steve harrington smut #steve harrington x fem #steve harrington x reader fluff #steve harrington thoughts #joe keery #⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ bambi’s fics

[waitimcomingtoo]

Dummy

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Synopsis: Peter is the only one of the Avengers who doesn’t tease you for being a little slow 

Masterlist

Now you weren’t exactly dumb.

You were just a little slow.

When you joined the Avengers last year, the team learned pretty quickly that your mind moved at a different pace than everyone else. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing and it didn’t keep you from doing your job, it just meant you were the butt of most of the jokes. Every time one of your blunders happened, your intelligence would be mocked in some way. You knew it was all in good fun, but it hurt to it feelings every now and then. The only person who never poked fun at you was Peter. And for that reason, he was your favorite on the team.

“How are there 23 minutes left in this movie and I still don’t know any of the characters names?” Steve wondered as you all sat in the couch in Stark Towers, watching a movie on a particularly rainy afternoon.

“I think the main kids name is Phoenix. That’s all I got though.” Sam shook his head, just as confused as Steve.

“The dogs name is Benson.” Bucky mumbled quietly.

“Who names their kid Phoenix?” Peter wondered out loud as he shoveled popcorn into his mouth. The two of you were tucked into the corner of the couch, sharing a blanket and bowl of popcorn. You looked at him like he was crazy when you heard his question.

“Ummm, Joaquin Phoenix’s parents.” You scoffed and rolled your eyes. You turned your attention back to the movie as a silence settled in the room. You felt everyone’s eyes on you after a minute and looked around to see everyone staring at you with a dumbfounded expression.

“What?” You asked shyly, shrinking down a little in your seat in discomfort.

“That’s his last name.” Sam stated, chuckling a little under his breath. You realized your mistake and felt your face heat up.

“Oh.” You mumbled, your voice getting drowned out as the rest of the Avengers laughed at your expense.

“Did she really just say that?” Nat looked at the group with a playful smile. Everyone, excluding Peter, nodded as their laughter died down.

“Oh my God.” Steve chuckled. “That’s so stupid.”

There was that word again.

He didn’t mean it maliciously. Steve was the kinda of guy who ushered spiders into a magazine so he could let them outside. And yet, it still stung when he said that word.

Stupid.

You smiled sheepishly and tried to focus on the movie, snuggling closer to Peters side until it ended. You were fully aware that he was the only one who didn’t laugh, and you loved him that.

And maybe you loved him for a few other reasons too.

~

“Alright. Who has money for the subway?” Sam asked the group as he patted his empty pockets. You were on another late night trip to get cookies from a specific shop in Times Square, leaving without Tony’s knowledge. Everyones hands went to their pockets and collectively made a face.

“Not me.” Rhodey shrugged.

“I don’t have any.” Bruce added.

“I don’t even have pockets.” Nat realized.

“I have gum.” Peter proudly produced a silver wrapper from his pocket. “Oh wait, it’s just a wrapper.”

“You’re telling me we’re earth’s mightiest heroes and we’re broke?” Sam shook his head is disdain.

“I gave my last dollar to a guy in the subway for playing music.” Peter defended himself.

“What was he playing?” You asked him as you tiredly leaned against his arm.

“A mandolin.” Peter answered, making your face scrunch up.

“That’s a language.” You laughed at him slightly, feeling empowered by having the upper hand. Everyone looked at you and a few of them snorted.

“Mandarin is a language.” Bruce said gently, not wanting to embarrass you further. “Not mandolin.” 

“What?” You blinked in confusion and looked to Peter for answers.

“A mandolin is an instrument, dummy.” Sam chortled. You smiled tightly as the group laughed at your mistake, looking down to hide your blush.

“Oh. Sorry. My bad.” You laughed shyly as you tucked your hair behind your ear and pretending to read a nearby sign.

“That’s okay.” Peter spoke up in your defense. “They sound really similar. Plus like, French, French Horn. Who knows what’s going on?”

“Yeah.” Bucky said softly. “Or like, bra’s aren’t pointy anymore.”

Bruce nodded like it made perfect sense and Sam just shook his head as he texted.

“What?” You whispered to Peter, not knowing what he meant.

“He’s from the 1920s. He’s still adjusting.” Peter whispered to you out of the corner of his mouth before looking at Bucky. “That’s the spirit. Kind of.”

“FRIDAY is sending a car.” Sam informed the group. “This is never happening again. The cookies aren’t that good.”

“They’re pretty good.” Rhodey shrugged, but wanting the late Nate tradition to end. Sam looked at him for a moment before breaking into a smile.

“Hell yeah they are. Let’s do this again tomorrow.”

~

Bruce found you in the lab the next day with a pin between your teeth and a pencil behind your ear. Papers with drawings of suits were scattered around the table as you measured a piece of black fabric.

“What are you doing?” Bruce wondered as he took a seat across from you. You glanced up at him before marking a dot on the fabric.

“Mr. Stark asked me to help him with the new suits. I’m trying to make a fabric template for Nat’s gloves.” You told him as you smoothed the fabric out.

“Is it hard?” He asked, watching you intently as you worked.

“Not really.” You shrugged and took a step back to examine your work. “Okay. How many holes do we need? 1,2,3,4,5.” You counted your fingers. “Okay. Five holes.”

You sat back down and put five dots where her fingers would be to mark where you had to cut. You heard a slight chuckle from Bruce and looked up at him curiously.

“Did you just count your fingers?” He asked slowly, wanting to make sure he saw what he thought he had. “To know how many fingers Nat has?”

Your face burned when you realized how dumb you looked, in front of a scientific genius no less.

“Oh, Uh, yeah.” You stammered, feeling very insecure with him watching you now. You moved slower than before and second guessed moves you’d already made a hundred times. Bruce sensed your discomfort and got out of his seat, tapping the table twice as he thought.

“Have you ever heard the expression “the lights are on but nobody’s home’?” He asked you and you were grateful he changed the subject.

“Yeah, I think I have.” You smiled, proud of yourself for knowing something.

“It reminds me of you.” Bruce said so politely that you didn’t realize it was an insult at first. He left the lab to find Tony, leaving you feeling embarrassed and a little hurt. Everyone knew Bruce could hurt you ten times worse with his words than the Hulk could with his fists, you’d just never been his target before. You slumped down in your seat and continued making the gloves, your mood significantly dampened from before he came in the room.

~

You walked into the kitchen the next morning, sleepily rubbing your eyes. You pressed a chaste kiss on Peters shoulder as you passed him, also more affectionate to your best friend when you were half asleep. You smiled at Rhodey, who was seated at the bar and skimming through a newspaper.

“Did you eat yet?” You asked him through a yawn as you got out yogurt and fruit for yourself.

“No. I needed my coffee first.” He smiled sleepily at you and held up his mug.

“Oh, you mean your sugar with a spoonful of coffee?” You teased him. “Yeah, it’s good you got that out of the way.”

“I prefer it this way. The sugar wakes me up.” Peter defended his drink as he took a sip.

“That’s what the caffeine is supposed to do, mi amor.” You laughed as you ruffled his bed head ridden hair. He was about to make a comeback when his stomach rumbles loudly.

“Someone’s hungry.” You remarked. “Do you want eggs?”

“No thanks.” Peter shook his head. “I can’t eat eggs alone.”

“Well I’m here. And Rhodey’s right there, so you’re not alone.” You told him. “And I can grab Steve and Bucky. They’re just in the other room.”

Rhodey looked up from his newspaper with raised eyebrows and looked at Peter. Peter set his mug down and made a face at Rhodey that told him not to say anything. You looked between the two of them in confusion as you wondered what was going on.

“I meant alone as in without toast, sweetness.” Peter said gently, not wanting you to feel dumb for misunderstanding. “But I am glad you’re here.”

“Oh.” You faked a smile and shrugged like it was no big deal. Peter had handled the situation with ease and you didn’t feel as embarrassed as you normally would. That is until…

“You know, Y/n, it’s a good thing you’re pretty.” Rhodey nodded before going back to his newspaper. You froze with your spoonful of yogurt midway to your mouth and looked at him. He didn’t actually call you dumb, but it was implied. You looked at Peter to see if he was thinking the same thing, but his face had nothing but kindness on it.

“You are pretty.” He agreed with Rhodey. “But you’re a lot of other things too.”

You cracked a smile and rubbed his back for a moment in appreciation.

“Thanks Peter.” You said softly and went back to your breakfast. Not wanting to worry him, you ignored the way Rhodey’s comment made you feel and tried to push it from your mind. But no hard you tried to focus on other things, you had one thought prodding at the back of your head.

You were dumb.

~

A week went by without anyone poking fun at your intelligence. You had a sneaking suspicion Peter had something to do with the lack of comments, but you said nothing. It was nice to have a break from all the teasing and it made hanging out with the team more enjoyable. You all lingered around the kitchen one day, eating all different kinds of lunch when Tony came in the room.

“Eat up, funky bunch.” He clapped his hands. “We have a mission in Alaska to train for and I need all hands on deck. Cap, do you think you can teach Peter that spinny thingy you do?”

“I can try.” Steve looked at Peter and nodded.

“Great. I’m getting a manicure. I’ll be back around noon.” Tony informed you all.

“Wait, I thought you said all hands on deck.” You tilted your head at him.

“I did. Which I why I have to make sure my hands look the best.” Tony waved flirtatiously, wiggling his fingers around like a teenage girl. He smirked as his action was met with some eye rolls and a few chuckles before leaving the room.

“I can’t believe we’re going to Alaska.” Peter nudged you excitedly and you smiled with glee.

“Is Alaska the same as the North Pole? Or am I thinking of Antarctica?” Sam wondered out loud.

“No. The North Pole is all the way at the top. Alaska is below California. Like by Texas.” You said confidently, proud that you knew information that someone else didn’t. Your pride quickly dissipated when you saw the teams faces twist in amusement.

“Wait a minute.” Steve looked at you like you were joking. You shrugged, letting him know you weren’t. Sam burst out laughing and clapped his hands as the rest of the team began to laugh.

“Absolutely not.” Sam grinned as he wiped a tear from his eye.

“Yes it is.” You insisted. “Look at any US map. It’s on the bottom by Hawaii.”

You were getting angry now. You knew you were right this time and they were still teasing you.

“No.” Bucky shook his head is dismissal. “No.”

“Alaska is below California on every map I’ve ever seen. You’re telling me I’m wrong?” You our your hand on your hip and stared at them.

“100%. I am 100% telling you you’re wrong.” Sam said between his laughter. Peter came to your side and showed you a picture of a map on his phone.

“Alaska is US territory but it’s not connected to the rest of the states. They just put it below California on maps to show it’s a part of the US. Thats not actually where it’s located.” He said quietly. You looked at the map for a few seconds before you realized he was right. And if he was right…

You were wrong.

“Oh.” You smiled apologetically and averted your eyes. “Oops.”

You turned around and pretending to clean up the kitchen to hide your searing blush. Your fingers clenched around your sponge when you heard the teasing laughter from behind you.

“Sometimes I wonder how you made it out of high school.” Steve joked as he threw out the crusts of his sandwich. The comment stung you and you began to scrub the counter faster so you could leave the room sooner. Peter could see your shoulders tense and put a reassuring hand on your back. You gave him a tight lipped smiled before putting your dish in the sink.

“I’m still wondering how she made it out of first grade.” Nat teased you and she poked your side.

“I can’t believe she made it out of the womb in the first place with nobody telling her where to go.” Sam said, making everyone laugh loudly. You abruptly threw a dish in the sink, making everyone go silent. You tuned around slowly and faked a smile.

“Haha. Yeah.” You forced a laugh. “I’ll catch you guys later.”

You swiftly left the room before anyone could catch your tears. You felt stupid for even getting upset over it, but their words hurt. Feeling like you were always the dumbest person in the room was taking a toll on you, especially when you weren’t the only one who felt that way. Peter watched you leave with sympathetic eyes, feeling his own frustration bubble at the sound of the team laughing at you. He thought they had listened the first time he told them to stop making fun of you, but they clearly hadn’t. After seeing the pained look on your face, Peter made a decision.

It was never going to happen again.

~

“Ugh. I’m never gonna get this right.” Peter groaned as he messed up the move Steve was trying to teach him once again.

“You’re getting too much inside your head. Just let it happen naturally.” Steve instructed as he resumed his stance. Peter tried the move again, wiping out and landing on his side with a thud. You watched him out of the corner of your eye as you spared with Nat.

“I can’t.” Peter got up and rubbed his arm. “I can’t do it.”

Steve nodded, like he was accepting Peters defeat. You stopped sparing and looked at Peter.

“Yes you can. Come on, Peter.” You encouraged him. “Everyone told Van Gogh that he couldn’t be an artist because he only had one ear but he did it anyway.”

The room feel silent, as it often did when you spoke, and everyone looked down.

“Oh dear Lord.” Rhodey sighed and hung his head and he snickered. You could see everyone else fighting back laughter or cracking a smile, yet saying nothing.

“What?” You crossed your arms in annoyance, looming to Peter for help.

“He chopped his ear off after becoming an artist.” Peter said kindly. “He wasn’t born without one.”

You opened your mouth to speak, but Tony beat you to it.

“Speaking of ears, do you think of you shone a light in one of Y/n’s ears, it would come out the other ear?” Tony quipped, making everyone laugh. The tips of your ears burned as that feeling of stupidity sunk in again. You undid the Velcro on your boxing gloves and pretended to wipe sweat from your face as you rushed to the bin where the gloves went. You kept your back to the group and pretending to be putting your gloves away when you were really concealing your pained expression.

“Yes.” Nat jeered. “Yes I do.”

Your shoulders slumped with exhaustion as you turned around, making every effort to keep your face neutral. Your face didn’t give away any signs of sadness, but your knuckles turning white from how hard you were gripping the bin gave your true feelings away. Peter noticed this and felt his jaw clench. If you weren’t gonna tell them to stop, he was.

“Leave her alone, guys.” He commanded the crowd before looking at you. “Thanks for the encouragement, Y/n. I’m gonna keep trying.”

“It’s fine.” You nodded curtly. “I’m gonna hit the showers. I’ll see you guys at dinner.”

You walked out of the gym, pausing in place when you heard Sams voice.

“Hit the showers?” He laughed. “We just started.”

“Shhh. Don’t confuse the poor girl any further.” Bruce joked back. You looked back at the gym with your eyebrows knit together, taking a quiet step closer to hear what they were saying about you without you there.

“She’s probably like, ‘whats this magic closet that makes rain?’” Rhodey imitated your voice, making you sound as dense as possible.

“Knock it off guys. It’s not funny.” Peter snapped, but the teasing continued.

“Or like, ‘this shampoo says it adds volume, but I used it and I can’t hear any louder than before’.” Tony mocked you, skipping around a little like a child. Your face contorted in misery as they made fun of you. You knew who they really were, and they were good people. They didn’t intend to hurt your feelings, they were only joking around like they did with everyone. Steve was teased all the time for his old fashioned dialect and no one lets Tony live down the kimono incident. Still, all their insults and mockery cut you like a knife.

“Ahh, I love that girl.” Nat shook her head with a smile. “She’s so dumb.”

“She may be slow, but she’s entertaining as hell.” Sam nodded in agreement.

“I said knock it off.” Peter repeated, getting a reaction this time.

“Aw. Peters mad because we’re teasing his girlfriend.” Nat pouted and pinched Peters cheek. She quickly realized how wholesome she was being and punched Bucky in the face to maintain her lethal assassin persona.

“She’s not my girlfriend.” Peter grumbled. Now that you were out of the room, he was the next target.

“He’s right. Hey, maybe that’s why you guys haven’t gotten together yet.” Rhodey shrugged. “She’s too stupid to realize you’re in love with her.”

That was all you had to hear. You ran towards your with tears running down your face. Thanks to Peters advanced heating, he heard every heavy footstep.

“Okay. Maybe she is a little slow.” Peter shook his head in disdain at the team. “But you guys are idiots.”

~

You were quiet the entire way to Alaska, keeping to yourself and silently looking out the window. Peter attempted to talk to you once or twice, but he could tell you wanted to be alone. The Avengers completed the mission within a few hours with minor damage to the area. Peter focused on his job but found himself looking for you every now and then, being as you usually stayed together during missions. He didn’t see you anywhere and assumed you were doing your own thing on the other side of the field. He heart rest assured when he saw you boarding the jet, still looking reserved and aloof from the rest of the team. You took a seat by the window and rested your chin on your hand, looking out at the bleak landscape in front of you as the jet took off. Peter didn’t engage in small talk with the rest of the team and wistfully stared at you instead, silently willing you to cheer up.

“I think that went pretty well.” Rhodey nodded and the team agreed. “But where were you the whole time, Y/n? Picking daisies?”

Peter held his breath as you slowly turned around. You gave Rhodey a frigid smile and shook your head.

“We came during a blizzard so I used my powers to create a heated force field around the area we were in to prevent frostbite and give you guys and easier time seeing in the snow. We were also at a higher altitude than any of us are used to so I kept the air pressure to sea level standard.” You said simply. “And I assumed there would be smoke from the battle so I rounded up the nearby animals and made a separate for field around them to protect their lungs.”

The room went silent, something you were used to at this point. But instead of everyone falling silent because they were laughing at you, they were impressed.

“Oh.” Rhodey blinked in surprise, not expecting the answer he was given.

“I also picked this flower.” You smiled proudly as you produced a Forget Me Not from your lap. Peter couldn’t keep the grin from breaking through on his face. You were the center of attention once again, but in a good way this time. Everyone was pleasantly surprised with what you had done and it showed.

“I didn’t think about the altitude.” Nat realized.

“I had no idea there was a blizzard.” Steve added, looking dumbfounded.

“Because I kept you from knowing.” You shrugged. “I wanted you guys to focus on the mission.”

“I mean, I knew. I just didn’t tell you guys because I was so distracted by my buffed and polished nails.” Tony twiddled his fingers again, showing off his freshly manicured nails. You all laughed, breaking the tension in the jet.

“Well look at that.” Sam looked impressed. “Y/n knew something we didn’t.”

It was almost a compliment, but it still made you feel insecure. You didn’t want it to be this mind boggling every time you did something useful.

“Thanks, Y/n. That was really smart.” Peter said softly as he patted your knee. You put your hand over his and squeezed it. It was the first time someone called your smart, and it made you feel good.

“It was really smart.” Sam said skeptically. He stared at you for a moment before poking your side.

“What are you doing?” You swatted his hand away.

“Just making sure you’re still in there.” He eyed you suspiciously. Peter could sense the attention was making you uncomfortable and changed the subject.

“Are we almost home?” He asked Tony before peering out the window. The flight was a little over 7 hours on a normal plane, but the Stark jet was much quicker. The flight would only take a few hours, but Peter was not known for being patient.

“Yes, Peter. We are almost back at the tower. You can get your diaper changed and your bottle as soon as we get back.” Tony sassed him, making him shrink in his seat. Your body language had completely changed and your were now sitting straight, facing the group. Peter was glad you were feeling better and didn’t even mind Tony’s comment.

“Guys, let’s be civil. We’re all tired. We all want to get home.” You said calmly. “Let’s just focus on how pretty the sky looks tonight. Isn’t is pretty, Peter?”

He gazed at your profile as you looked out the window at the stars, admiring how pretty you looked from the side.

“Yeah. It’s beautiful.” He conceded without ever taking his eyes off you. You shot him a smile before looking straight ahead at the dashboard.

“Wow, the moon is huge!” You pointed time a large yellow crescent that could be seen through the window.

“That’s literally the reflection of my banana on the windshield.” Tony deadpanned. He may have been right, but it still looked pretty.

“Should we make a wish?” You asked Peter, ignoring Tony’s comment.

“On the banana?” He asked.

“Yes.” You nodded. “On the banana.”

“Why?” Rhodey asked. “It’s not like people wish on the moon.”

“It feels like we should.” You said with confidence.

“Yep. She’s still in there.” Sam chuckled. And just like that, your confidence receded.

“I hate it here.” Bucky sighed heavily and tuned out of the conversation.

“It must be so peaceful being you, Y/n.” Tony remarked.

“Why do you say that?” You wondered.

“Because instead of thinking about your problems and mistrials, you simply don’t think at all.” Tony said suavely. In only a better for minutes, you’d gone from being the hero to the laughing stock of the group. The sly comments and taunting laughter made you feel like you should stop opening your mouth entirely. You faked a smile and turned back towards the window, tuning out the rest of the way home. Peter chewed his lip as he stared at you, feeling useless to helping you out. The team just wouldn’t let up, no matter how many times he told them to stop. Knowing you weren’t in the mood to talk, he scooted closer to you and put a comforting hand on your back. You smiled warmly at him and rested your head on his shoulder, listening to him point out the constellations the whole way home.

~

The next day, you and Peter were sitting in the balcony, working on some new gadgets for Mr. Stark when Peter made a startling discovery.

“Where’s my right web shooter?” Peter stood up in a panic when he realized it was missing. “I left it right here.”

“Maybe a bird carried it off.” You shrugged as you twisted a tiny screw into Peters left web shooter.

“I’m being serious, Y/n.” Peter stated. “Mr. Stark is going to kill me and turn me into a decorative rug if I lost it.”

“I’m being serious too. We live in New York and I see birds around here all the time.” You told him as you continued your work. “And you know the pigeons here are feral. A bird probably stole it to pay for his child support.”

Peter usually entertained your antics and joined in with his own batch of sarcasm, but he wasn’t in the mood. His web shooter was missing and their were actual stakes involved. Without his web shooter, he couldn’t be Spiderman. And without Spider-Man, he couldn’t be an Avenger.

“Can you be serious for once?“ Peter whined, picking up everything on the table to look under it.

“I’m just saying it’s possible, Peter. You never know.” You insisted as you put your screw driver down to help him look. You began looking in the flower pots on the windowsill that you and Peter had planted. Peter stopped his search for a moment, growing angry with you for wasting time. He didn’t know if you were joking around or genuine believed his web shooter was in the flower pots, but it made him frustrated nonetheless. A combination of his lack of sleep and stress over losing the webshooter manifested into a moment of unchecked rage.

“No, it’s not possible.” He snapped. “A bird didn’t steal my web shooter. God, do you have to be so stupid?” 

 The word hung in the air for a moment, settling in to the both of you. Peters eyes immediately softened, feeling instant regret for what he had said. You stopped trifling through the plants and slowly turned around.

“What?” You asked quietly. Peter tightened his lips into a line and tried to justify what he had said.

“I try to defend you but you make it so hard. Can you help me out a little here and not be so…” He trailed off when he realized he had only made it worse. Your face hardened and you looked disappointed in Peter, which killed him. He would have preferred anger or even sadness, but the disappointment killed him.

“So what?” You shrugged. “Finish your sentence Peter.”

“I didn’t mean that.”

“No, really, go ahead.” You stated coldly. “You got this far. So what, Peter?”

He looked at you for a moment, getting that feeling of wishing you could turn back time just a few seconds to fix a mistake.

“So dumb all the time.” He finished his sentence with an unsteady voice. Your face scrunched up in a pained expression as you sucked in and let out a shaky breath.

“You were the only one who never called me that.” You whimpered before moving past him and going inside. Peter watched you through the open balcony doors as you disappeared into the hallway with a heavy heart. His mouth was open to apologize, but you were long gone. He’d seen you being ridiculed so many times already, and now he was the one doing it. All that talk about it never happening again, only for him to be the reason it happened. Peter couldn’t live with himself for another minute without you knowing how sorry he was. He took a step towards the doorway until he heard a pigeon land on the table. He watched it curiously for a moment as it pecked at the screwdriver you had been using before picking it up with its beak. It flew over to the edge and began to walk along the railing, still keeping the screwdriver in his mouth. Peter followed the pigeon, walking all the way down the balcony to find a large nest in the corner. He watched as it dropped the screwdriver into its nest, right next to his web shooter.

“Holy shit. A bird stole my web shooter.” Peter said in disbelief. Peter watched as baby pigeons poked out from inside the web shooter to greet the other pigeon.

“Holy shit. A bird stole my web shooter for his kids.” Peters eyes widened even more than they already were. Realized struck him and his shoulders slumped.

“She was right.” He mumbled, angry at himself more than ever. “I yelled at her and she was right.”

Peter wasted no time in rescuing his web shooter from the birds, offering them a nice biodegradable coffee cup in its place, and ran to the kitchen to make you a peace offering. He knocked softly on your door and didn’t wait for an answer before going in.

“I made you this cup of tea as an apology.” Peter stiffly held out a mug with an awkward smile on his face. You looked at Peter from your bed, eyes puffy like you had been crying. You stared at each other for a long time, you with a death glare and Peter with his awkward smile. Neither of you said a word as Peter continued to hold out the mug. After two full minute of silence, a bead of sweat ran down Peters face as he looked around nervously, never breaking his smile. You let out an angry sigh and decided to throw him a bone, crossing the room to accept his mug. You looked into the cup for a moment before looking back at Peter.

“This is empty.” You deadpanned.

“I don’t know how to make tea.” Peter whispered, never breaking eye contact.

“I’ve seen you make it.” You snapped.

“I forgot how to do it.” Peters eyes shifted nervously to the side.

“Bucky was in the kitchen, wasn’t he?”

“I know he hates me.” Peter talked over you as you groaned. “I know he does.”

“Just go away.” You tried to close the door but he kept it open.

“No.” Peter said firmly. “I came in here to apologize.”

“You see this?” You held up the mug for a Peter to see. “It’s my cup of care. And look at that” ,you dumped the cup over, “it’s empty.”

Peter stared at your demonstration with raised eyebrows, surprised that you were still able to be sarcastic when he hurt you. Peter took the mug from your hands and set it on the ground before slowly looking up at your face.

“You’re not stupid.” He said softly with all the sincerity his heart could give. You scoffed and folded your arms, looking to the side when you felt tears sting your eyes.

“Yes I am.” You said like you fully believed it, which was Peters worse fear. “Everyone says so. Even you.”

It hit Peter like a sheet of glass when you looked at him like that.

Like he was someone you didn’t want around.

“I didn’t mean to say that.” Peter apologized. “That is not how I feel. At all.”

“Don’t act like you’ve never thought about saying that before.” You laughed sadly. “Everyone on the team calls me dumb. It was only a matter of time before you did it too.”

“I didn’t mean it.” Peter repeated. “I don’t think you’re stupid.”

“Bullshit.” You snapped. “You’re so full of bullshit.”

“I’m not full of bullshit.” He whined like a child and gave you puppy dog eyes. “I’m full of regret.”

You chewed the inside of your cheek as he gave you his best pout, willing you to forgive him. Finally, you caved and cracked a smile.

“I hate you.” You stamped your foot and hung your head, frustrated with yourself for not being able to stay mad at him. Peter opened his arms and you walked into them, arms still folded angrily. You bumped your forehead against his shoulder before moving to rest your chin on it as he wrapped his arms around you. Peter nestled against your hair and sighed, happy that you had forgiven him but still saddened that he had hurt you in the first place. He could see the pile of used tissues on your bed and it killed him to know he made you cry.

“I didn’t mean to call you that. I really didn’t.” He said softly. “I’m the one who’s been trying to stop people from saying that.”

“But they still do it.” You sniffled. “Everyday I get called dumb or stupid or scalene.”

“I think it’s obtuse, not scalene.” Peter reluctantly corrected you. You pulled away and little and let Peter wipe the tears from your face.

“Maybe they’re right.” You shrugged and looked Peter in the eyes. “Maybe I am dumb.”

Peter kept your face between his hands, staring at you for a moment before sighing.

“I once sneezed so many times in a row that I peed my pants.” Peter deadpanned. “I was 17.”

“What?” You chuckled as you wiped your nose.

“I saw Bucky try to take a piece of toast out of the toaster with his metal arm and electrocute himself.” He continued. “And I constantly see Tony bumping into glass doors.”

“I don’t understand.” You squinted your eyes, but sure what point he was trying to make.

“Steve still picks up the phone and asks for the operator. Nat leaves her curling iron plugged in all the time. I do not think Sam knows the address of where we live and I’m pretty sure Rhodey can’t do laundry. He gets all his stuff dry cleaned, even his socks.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?” You asked.

“Because were all dumb.” Peter concluded. “We all do and say dumb things. You don’t know where Alaska is and no one in this tower can read analog clocks. If we’re all dumb, then maybe none of us are dumb. Or we all are. Who cares?” Peter shrugged, making you laugh. “And you were right. A bird did carry off my web shooter. So no, you’re no dumb. Or stupid. Or obtuse. You’re, uh, you- you…” Peter looked down at he fumbled over his words.

“I’m what?” You raised an eyebrow. You could finish his sentence last time, but this time you were lost.

“You’re…” Peter tampered off again, staring at your confused expression for a moment before pulling you into a kiss. Your hands clenched into a fist and slowly uncurled as you relaxed into the kiss. Peter pulled away too soon and let his eyes flutter open. They met yours and you shared a moment of hesitation, not knowing what happened rest next.

“I’m gonna be honest lovey, I didn’t really have an ending to that sentence.” Peter chris joes softly, his breath fanning your face. “That was mainly improv.”

“You’re pretty good at improv, Parker.” You cracked a smile and wrapped your arms around his neck.

“I did a little bit of theater in high school.” He shrugged smugly, making you giggle.

“Mmm. I severely don’t want to hear about that.” You teased before kissing him again.

“Oh, I think you do.” Peter remarked. “Because I once went to the bathroom during intermission with my mic still on and the entire audience heard me peeing.”

“Oh my God.” You laughed. “You’re so stupid.”

Tag List 🏷

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#peter parker x reader #peter parker fanfiction #peter parker x you #peter parker x y/n #peter parker fluff #peter parker angst #avengers x you #avengers x reader #marvel #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland x y/n #tom holland x reader

[sergeantbuckybarnes]

fearless // bucky barnes

Summary: You ask Bucky to go to your high school former reunion with you, but when you see your ex-boyfriend there, things don’t go well.

Pairing: Chubby!Bucky x Reader

Word count: 1.3k

Warnings: undefined age gap, people are assholes to bucky, insecure bucky, protective reader, mentions of sex, angst, fluff

A/N: As always, remember English is not my first language. Also, thanks to @amandalove​ for proofreading this!

A/N 2: Hope this made justice to the idea you send me @extraordinarygirl1214​, and tagging @buckys-estrella​ because you asked me to!

main masterlist

Your high school reunion was approaching and you asked your boyfriend to go with you. It had been so many years since you saw some of your friends, you wanted to know about their lives now, how much had they changed, and you wanted to share with them how happy you were to have found an incredible man like Bucky.

He was reluctant at first, you had told him about your high school days, you were popular, you were the captain of the cheerleaders, you were prom queen and you dated the captain of the football team. It was obvious your friends expected you to end up with a fit man with a six-pack that was the cover of some magazine. He knew you deserved someone like that, but instead you chose him, an overweight, unattractive man who was older than you.

He knew you were too good for him, and he was waiting for the moment when you realized it and kicked his ass.

You never liked the way Bucky saw himself, you reassured him a thousand times that you loved him and that he was perfect to you. He made you happy. None of your former boyfriends had made you feel as loved as Bucky did. You knew that you wanted to spend the rest of your life with him.

Bucky would do anything for you. You had him wrapped around your finger. His friends often joked about how whipped he was, not that he minded it, because he knew it was true. He would give you the moon if you asked him to. That’s why he was in your former high school, hand intertwined with yours.

You spotted your friends and smiled, walking towards them with your boyfriend beside you. They seemed so happy to see you, but when their gazes fell on the blue-eyed guy their faces changed.

“Who’s that?”

“Chelsea, Chloe, this is James, my boyfriend.” The excitement for them to finally meet the guy that had stolen your heart was plastered on your face.

“You’re joking, right?”

You frowned, not understanding the reaction your friends had. Bucky, on other hand, understood it perfectly. He knew it would happen. It was what always happened.

“Y/N, my dear, are you telling me that you are sleeping with that every night?” The repulsion on your friend’s voice made Bucky’s stomach switch.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Your voice was not cheerful anymore. There weren’t many times when you got angry, but you wouldn’t stand there and hear them bring your boyfriend down.

“What’s going on in here?” You sighed exasperatedly when you heard his voice. John Walker. Your ex-boyfriend. He looked at your friends, then at you, and then his gaze shifted to your boyfriend, asking who he was.

“Y/N’s boyfriend,” Chloe answered, making your boyfriend laugh like the woman had just told him a bad joke.

“Seriously, Y/N? It was obvious you wouldn’t find anyone better than me, but this?” Bucky was starting to feel more self-conscious and insecure than ever. He dropped your hand and turned to leave. This was too embarrassing.

“Listen to me,” your voice made Bucky stop in his tracks, “That man is a million times better than you and your tiny dick.”  Your loud voice started to get the attention of the other people in the room. “He treats me like I’m his entire world, and when he looks at me there’s actually love and adoration in his eyes. The only reason you dated me was for the sex.”

“And why do you think he’s dating you? Look at him!”

“Seriously, Y/N. I thought you were smarter than this.” This time it was Chelsea who spoke. “Besides, how old is he? He looks like my dad.”

“Can he even get you off?” John mocked.

“Yeah, he can. He can give me multiple orgasms, something you never could,” you replied with no hesitation. You wouldn’t stay quiet while he degraded your boyfriend like that.

“C’mon, Y/L/N. That lard-ass can’t please anybody.” That was the last straw. You walked to your ex-boyfriend, a smug look plastered on his face. So you did the thing you never thought you would do. You spit on his face. Shocked expressions appeared on both of your friends and your boyfriend, who was still behind you.

He wiped his cheek, “You bitch.” He raised his hand to hit you but your boyfriend stopped him, grabbing his wrist before he could touch you.

“Don’t even think about it.”

“Never thought you’d have these low expectations about men,” Chloe intervened. “Look at him, he’s so violent.”

Did she really?

“Alright, that’s enough. You all can fuck off. Because you know what? You all are a bunch of superficial assholes and that’s why you are gonna end up alone, while I’m gonna marry the most amazing man on earth and build a family with him.” You grabbed Bucky’s hand and exited the gym before anyone could say anything else.

“I’m sorry,” you apologized once you arrived to the parking lot. “You didn’t deserve to hear those things.”

“Why are you apologizing for something that wasn’t your fault?”

“Because you didn’t wanna come, and I know you did it for me, to make me happy.” If you hadn’t insisted on him coming with you, none of this would have happened, and Bucky would be happy having his usual Friday night with Steve and Sam. Instead he had to go through hell and hear things that only increased his insecurities. Just for you.

“I came because I wanted to. It’s not your fault your friends think like that.”

“You’re really wonderful, did you know that?” You caressed his cheek, looking deep into his eyes. There wasn’t anger or resentment towards you. Only love.  You pulled him in, claiming his mouth. Bucky’s hand instantly wrapped around your frame. You could only focus on how soft his lips felt against you. He was so addictive, you couldn’t ever get enough of him. Every time you kissed him, time stopped and your knees went weak.

“Did you mean it?” Bucky asked when you pulled away, yet his arms were still wrapped around your waist and your faces so close that your noses were touching and your breaths were mixing. “About building a family with me.”

“Every word,” you said with no hesitation or doubt in your voice. “Do you?” You looked up to him.

Your boyfriend nodded. “There’s nothing I want more.”

“So… Will you marry me?” Bucky’s eyes widened at your question, not believing the words that left your mouth.

“D-did you… Did you just ask me to marry you?”

“I did. And I’m waiting for an answer.” Bucky took a moment to contemplate you, see if you were joking, but he only saw sincerity and love in your eyes. You were being serious. You wanted to build a family with him. You wanted him to be the father of your children. You wanted to grow old with him. You wanted to spend the rest of your life with him. You wanted to marry him.

You actually proposed to him. You proposed to him. In the parking lot of your former high school, after defending him in front of your ex-classmates and your ex-boyfriend. You had stood up for him. Just like you always did. Because you loved him. You loved him more than you ever loved someone.

“Yes!” he yelled, he picked you up and spun you around “Yes! Yes!” He didn’t remember the last time he had been this happy, but he did know that all the days to come were going to be memorable. He already could picture how gorgeous you were gonna look in your wedding dress, the excitement was rushing through his veins, he couldn’t wait to share the rest of his life with you.

#chubby!bucky #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes one shot #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barnes fanfiction #sebastian stan #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian stan imagine

[dreamwritesimagines]

Burn The Witch 8 - Rookie Mistake [Bucky Barnes x Reader]

A.N: Thank you so much for your wonderful support and feedback my loves ! ❤ Here’s the next chapter, I hope you like it as well and please let me know what you think! ❤ Thank you! ❤❤❤

Warnings: Enemies to lovers, fake dating, mentions of blood, sex, violence, death, manipulation, language, guns, knives.

Summary: Every agent makes mistakes.

Series Masterlist

You had no idea what you’d done for karma to hunt you down like this, but it was very clear that at some part in your life, you had messed up.

Maybe it was because you never bought recyclable giftwraps for Christmas even if everyone told you to.

Maybe it was because you still used too much sugar in your coffee.

Maybe it was because of all the targets you had killed.

A mystery, that one.

You groaned, pressing your forehead on the window of the car as you massaged your temples.

“Do I have a tracker on me or something?” you whined, “Is that it? What are the chances I run into my fake boyfriend twice while on a mission? It’s a huge city, it’s not supposed to be possible!”

“I don’t know about you but I’m shaking,” Keith reached out to wave his hand in front of your eyes while Chloe checked you both in the rear mirror, “I’m— my hands are all sweaty look—“

“Don’t touch me with your sweaty hands!” you batted his hands away when he tried to touch your face, “How did this happen? How is this possible? Chloe? Chloe answer me, how is this fucking possible?”

“Okay, let’s all take a breath and focus on the bright side of the situation,” she managed to say, keeping her eyes on the road, “Your cover wasn’t blown, he still has no idea you’re…well, you. And everyone is alive, yay!”

“I was on the same rooftop as the world’s most dangerous assassin,” Keith let out a breath, “He was right there when I got there, he was just…. That guy could kill us all!”

“Shrike, just give the order and we will—“

“Everyone stay where you are,” you touched your earpiece, “It’s under control.”

“Let me guess,” Bucky said as he took a step towards you, “Another member of HYDRA and you got here before me.”

“Are you following me or something?” you asked and he scoffed.

“Maybe you’re not the only person going after HYDRA.”

“Maybe I should be,” you said, “Don’t get me wrong, I kind of dig the whole vigilante vibe but my superiors have more…planned strategies for things like these.”

“And who do you work for, exactly?”

You let out a small laugh, “Every girl has her secrets,” you stated, “Why are you here?”

“Why are you?”

“Because I’m getting paid for it,” you said, “You’re not. Surely a handsome guy like you could fill his nighttime with different activities rather than doing….this.”

Even in the dark, you could tell that he shifted his weight uncomfortably.

“Aw, not a huge fan of flirting?”

“Not with you.”

You couldn’t help but scoff a laugh at the irony, “Why, you got a girl at home?”

The door slammed open and one of the agents –Keith, you assumed— stepped out, his rifle pointed at Bucky while he heaved a sigh, shaking his head slightly.

“Your friend has a scarf wrapped over his face to keep his identity hidden and you call me a vigilante?”

Keith almost looked like Daredevil with Chloe’s red scarf covering half of his face.

“Mystery is kind of our deal.” you said and motioned at Keith, “Put the gun down, he’s not going to hurt me. In fact, he’s going to let me walk away.”

Bucky tilted his head, “You think so?”

“I know so. I’d hate to mess up that beautiful face during combat.”

“You sound very sure of yourself.”

“I am.” you shrugged your shoulders and walked past him.

“Who are you?” he asked and you turned around to look at him.

“Come on, you know better than that.” You said and saluted him in a mocking manner before walking to the door, “Until next time, soldier.”

“I’m serious, feel my hands—“ you were pulled out of your thoughts when Keith reached out for you and you made a face, slapping his hand away once again.

“He told me he would stay at home tonight!” you exclaimed. “I can’t believe this, how dare—“

“It’s not like he said he was going to bed and ended up going to a club behind your back,” Chloe said, “Just saying, that happens a lot in some relationships.”

“Chloe, it’s not a real relationship!” you reminded her “What, my options were him having a one night stand and him going after the same target I was going to kill? By all means, he can go and get laid then!”

“But that would count as cheating!” Chloe said, “Besides, you know what they say. Targets over...ladies.”

“No one in the whole human history has ever said that honey.” Keith said helpfully and you looked out the window.

“Wait, where are we going?”

“The base.” Chloe said as if she was apologizing, “Dad wants to see you.”

You threw your head back and slipped a little on the leather seat.

“Great,” you muttered, “Tonight is getting better and better.”

                                    ***

Thankfully, General decided to let you go home after an hour of briefing. He had asked you whether you would like to be pulled out of other missions and instead just focus on Bucky but ignoring Keith’s glances, you had said no.

You had to prove yourself if you wanted to be a handler.

Thankfully it was Saturday so you could sleep until late and when you woke up, instead of going over the plans and rushing to the milkshake shop and coming up with strategy after strategy.

For some reason, you felt almost excited for your second date with Bucky. Maybe Chloe had a point, maybe you had to be extra careful not to lose yourself in your own cover. Just because you hadn’t had that problem before didn’t mean you could take it for granted.

You weren’t used to this kind of a mission. Not this long anyway, tricking a target was fine, it was expected but actually forming a relationship with them was much more complicated than a couple of lies here and there.

You clicked your tongue and tilted your head, looking in the mirror. You already knew Bucky would show up on his motorcycle, so you ditched the dresses and instead picked jeans and a nice blouse. When Chloe had first recreated your whole wardrobe for this mission, you whined for days but now you were slowly getting used to it.

Even though you were pretty sure you would never get used to the uniform.

Your phone started vibrating on the nightstand and you checked the caller I.D. before answering it.

“Hi!” you said, “Are you here?”

“Yes ma’am,” You could almost hear Bucky’s grin, “You ready?”

“Don’t go anywhere, I’ll be right there,” you said and hung up, then took a last look at your gun and put it beneath your pillow. Pushing your hair behind your ear, you locked the door behind you and made your way downstairs.

“Oh my goodness you were serious!” you said when you saw him leaning against a motorcycle and he looked you up and down, his face lighting up with a smile.

“Hi beautiful.”  

Your stomach did a pleasant flip and you didn’t even have to fake mirroring his smile, “Hi,” you murmured and pointed at the motorcycle, “You were serious about that.”

“I was, but—“ he turned around to grab something from the top case on the motorcycle, then turned to you, holding a bouquet of flowers. You gasped and reached out to take them from him.

“As promised,” he joked as you buried your nose into the bouquet.

“Thank you,” you said, looking up at him before heaving a dramatic sigh. “Well, we had a deal. I’ll have to get on this deathtrap huh?”

“Oh if you’re the type to break deals, you don’t have to,” he taunted and you scrunched up your nose. “But where we’re going is a little away from here, just so you know.”

“Where are we going?”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to explore the city?”

You nodded and stole a look at the motorcycle standing behind him, making him chuckle.

“You laugh now but if you drop me on the way—“

“I’m not going to drop you on the way.”

“Or if I die, I’m haunting you.” You pointed at him, “For the rest of your life.”

He nodded in a very solemn manner, “Deal.”

You placed the bouquet into the top case carefully and turned to him so that he could put the helmet over your head. The fond light in his eyes was impossible to miss as he fixed it and lifted the shield.

“Comfortable?” he asked, his hands still cradling the helmet and you grinned.

“Mm hm.” You said and got on the motorcycle after him, then wrapped your arms around his torso. The scent of his cologne mixed with the faint aftershave filled your nostrils, making you inhale and you adjusted your grip.

“Ready to do this?”

“Nope,” you said, making him laugh, “Let’s do it anyways.”

                                        ***

You had never been so good at dates. You always thought it was awkward and to be frank most of the time you felt like it was an unnecessary step to getting to know this person when you could just look them up or ask Chloe to do it for you.

Besides, the last time you had gone on a date it had ended up in what spies could get as close to a relationship as possible.

But now, much to your surprise you were actually enjoying yourself.

“Brooklyn!” you said, looking around, “Oh my God, I’ve wanted to come here for a while!”

“Have you?”

“Yeah!” you said, “Since I moved to New York. I saw it on um— I saw it on Gossip Girl.”

“Is that a magazine?”

“TV show.”

“Ah.”

“You grew up here right?” you asked and he nodded.

“Yeah! Yeah I grew up very close to this neighborhood actually.”

“Do I get to see it?”

He tilted his head, “Do you want to?”

“Yes!” you said, “It’d be fun, don’t you think?”

He hesitated only for a moment, “Right this way then,” he said and held out his hand. You bit down and smile and took it, then started walking beside him.

“There used to be a movie theatre there,” he motioned at one of the shops, “I was actually— I came around here right before I was shipped off.”

“Really?”

“Mm hm. We went to this Stark Exhibition, me and—“ he stopped talking and you looked up at him before it dawned on you.

Steve Rogers.

Of course. Figures.

You cleared your throat, desperate to pull him out of his own mind.

“I can actually see you growing up here,” you said, “And for some reason you’re wearing short pants and you have a cap? And you’re like running around with a newspaper under your— am I describing a movie? I think I’m describing a movie.”

“Weirdly enough, you’re actually right.”

Your jaw dropped, “Wait, are you serious?”

“Yeah I had short pants and a couple of caps while I was growing up,” he said, making you gasp.

“Aww!”

“No, don’t.”

“That’s such a cute mental image!”

“Stop imagining it.”

“Tiny baby Bucky Barnes with his tiny little hat—“ you started but he pulled you closer to cover your mouth while still walking, making you let out a muffled laugh.

“Hey you should see my baby pictures, they’re a mess,” you said, “I have this picture with strawberry jam covering my face and my hair— oh, I’ve heard about this shop before! They make these famous bagels, do you want to take a look?”

“Sure, why not?” he said and followed you into the shop.

“Oh come on…” he muttered as he took a look at the menu board “Why does everyone put everything in food nowadays?”

You stifled a laugh and turned to the woman behind the counter, “I’ll get a cereal rainbow bagel and he will get something….classic.”

“We have plain bagel with cheese?”

“That sounds good. When exactly did people start eating lavender?” he asked you and you shrugged,

“Pretty recently I think,” you said and reached for your wallet but Bucky shot you a look.

“Don’t even think about it,” he quoted you and paid for the food, then you both grabbed the small paper plates and sat down on the small bar stools. You crossed your legs, turning to look at him better.

“I could let you try mine?” you taunted him and he chuckled.

“No thank you.” He eyed your bagel as if it was going to come alive any time. “I like the smell but…”

You tore a part of your bagel and put it on his plate. “Live a little Bucky Barnes.”

He held up the piece as if toasting you and you held up your bagel to touch his, giggling.

“So,” you said, “Could you rest last night? At least a little?”

His gaze lingered on you for a moment, as if trying to decide what to say.

“Yeah,” he said eventually, “I did.”

Right.

Of course he would lie, it wasn’t as if he could tell you—

“I just had to go outside for an hour but it was fine.”

Your eyes snapped up to his and you blinked a couple of times, taken by surprise at his honesty. It would’ve been so easy for him to flat out tell you a lie, but for some reason he chose against it. You knew he wouldn’t tell you the whole thing but the fact that he hadn’t brushed you off somehow made you feel all warm.

“Oh?” you asked, “Is—is everything okay? You were safe right?”

“Of course.”

You raised your brows, “Bucky.”

“There’s just this…crazy person I keep running into but it’s fine, no worries.”

Crazy person?!

You stared at him but you managed to pull yourself together and sat up straighter, picking at the cereal on top of the bagel.

“As long as you rested just a little, I still take that as a win,” you pointed out, making him smile.

“How about you?” he asked, “How was your night?”

I ran into you right after assassinating another member of HYDRA.

“It wasn’t as exciting as yours,” you took a bite of your bagel, “Surprising isn’t it? Here I thought I was the dangerously adventurous one.”

                                ***

You were one hundred percent sure you were somehow doing this whole mission wrong. In fact scratch the mission, you were doing this date thing wrong.

You weren’t supposed to like it this much.

You had never enjoyed any of your earlier dates with other people this much. By the time you decided to go back, it was the middle of the night and you had spent the whole day together without even realizing it. It didn’t feel like it was a mission you had been put on, it almost—

It almost felt real.

You frowned at yourself, reminding yourself to keep your head in the game and got off the motorcycle when it stopped in front of the building your apartment was in. As soon as you took off your helmet, you started fixing your hair while he watched you with a smile on his face.

“I have a confession to make,” you said as you handed him the helmet for him to put it on the motorcycle.

“What is it?”

“There’s a slight possibility,” you said, bringing your thumb and pointer together close, “Very slight possibility that you may have been right about the motorcycle.”

“Oh was I now?” he asked, feigning surprise and you let out a giggle.

“Maybe,” you said, “I mean I didn’t die, that’s something.”

“That was an expectation?”

“That was a possibility,” you corrected him, “But I got on a motorcycle and you tried a weird bagel. As far as putting ourselves in dangerous situations on a second date, I’d say we’re even.”

“You know, thank you for acknowledging it,” he played along, “It was really intimidating at first, but I’d like to believe I pulled through in the end.”

“You did,” you said, “So proud of you. Maybe the next time you visit me at the shop, you can finally try Unicorn Cotton Candy.”

“We’ll see about that,” he said and shifted your weight, taking a deep breath.

“Thank you for today. I don’t remember the last time I had this much fun.”

“I’m glad,” he said with a smile, “Same here, aside from your quite disgusting taste in bagels, it was—”

“You didn’t like it?” you exclaimed and waved your hands in the air, “You know what, it’s fine. I have this strategy and you’ll—you’ll get there. We’re going to find something that is both completely modern and you like very much.”

“I think we already have,” he stated, his gaze locked in yours and you couldn’t help but smile at that.

“I’d hope so,” you replied, “Really.”

A silence fell upon you and you pushed your hair behind your ear.

“I should probably get going,” you pointed at the building with your thumb, “I have this very curious elderly neighbor, and trust me, she wouldn’t even wait for the morning to ask me about you if she saw us.”

“Oh we can’t have that, can we?” he said and you nodded your head, then gasped.

“Wait—Bucky, my flowers!” you said, “Give me my flowers.”

“Right,” he snapped his fingers and turned around to grab the bouquet from the top case, then paused.

“What?” you asked and he looked at you over his shoulder.

“Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to keep them in a very hot box whole day?” he asked and pulled out the bouquet, making you let out a whine at the sight. The flowers looked nearly withered and you took them from him, pressing your lips together.

“Okay, it’s not so bad,” you said as if trying to convince yourself, “It’s alright, I can fix this.”

“Darling I don’t think—“

“I can!” you insisted, “I’m gonna put them in water tonight or—or find some solution. I’m gonna google something, I’m pretty sure there are ways to save them.”

“Or I can just get you new ones.”

“That’s not how it works,” you pointed out, still holding the bouquet carefully over your chest as you assessed the damage, then looked up to find his eyes fixed on you.

“I’m—I should go now.”

“Okay.”

Neither of you moved for a moment before you took a deep breath, your heart slamming against your chest. You knew what your cover would or wouldn’t do, but somehow you had this urge that told you the situation probably called for your decisions, not your cover’s.

“Oh screw this,” you muttered as you stepped closer to him to stand on your tiptoes and pull him into a kiss.

Well, for you or your cover that felt like the best decision you had ever made on this mission.

He pressed you closer to his body, his hand cradling the back of your head and as if on cue, your stomach did a pleasant flip, giddiness filling your whole system. You rested a hand over his chest, feeling his fast heartbeat under your palm and let yourself get lost in the kiss until he pulled back slowly. A small giggle escaped from you as his arm around you got tighter, a smile lighting up his face.

“Well, you weren’t going to do it,” you commented, making him chuckle.

“I was waiting for the third date actually.”

“Oh how I’m glad the times have changed,” you said and caught the sight of the bouquet currently crushed between you two. You took a step back, tilting your head.

“Gosh, I don’t think I can fix this.”

“Yeah I’m pretty sure we just murdered them,” Bucky stated and you heaved a dramatic sigh.

“Worth it,” you grinned, “You win some you lose some.”

“New flowers next date, got it.”

A look of mischief crossed your face, “Deal. Good night Bucky.”

“Good night darling.”

You bit down a smile and made your way to the building, then hopped on the steps to get to your floor, somehow way too excited to get in the elevator and wait. As soon as you got into your apartment you leaned back to the door, closing your eyes.

Just your cover. You knew you had to act like your cover and that was why your heart was beating this fast, no other reason.

You pushed yourself off the door and stepped into the living room, still holding the flowers tight in your arms. You knew what you were supposed to do, back at the academy when you were being educated on seduction of the enemy, they always told you to draw the line between yourself and your cover. One of the easiest ways to do it was getting rid of every single thing your target would give you as a gift, keeping these gifts posed the danger of making you hesitant when it was time to bring the target in.

You couldn’t keep anything. You knew that.

It would be a rookie mistake.

You lingered on your steps, then approached the dinner table to touch the vase Chloe had put fake flowers in. You grabbed the fake flowers and pulled them out of the vase to throw them into the trashcan, then filled the vase to the brim with water and carefully placed the bouquet into it before putting it on the table again.

You were a professional spy. Keeping something as simple as flowers only for this one instance wouldn’t hurt anyone after all.

You were sure it would be fine.

You stepped back to take a look at the vase and shrugged your shoulders.

“My cover likes flowers,” you muttered to yourself and made your way to your bedroom.

Chapter 9

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #the falcon and the winter soldier #tfatws #falcon and the winter soldier #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes imagines #fatws #bucky barnes x you #marvel #burn the witch

[xwing-baby]

Impulse: Remedy (Javier Peña x Reader)

Summary: Top of your class, the DEA have sent you to Colombia to be the poster child for their new ‘placement program’. You’re thrown in at the deep end into the drug war. With Agent Peña as your mentor, what could possibly go wrong?

Warnings: Rookie has really terrible coping mechanisms. Drug use, alcohol, swearing, derogatory language, smoking, mentions of murder(?)

Word Count: 3.5k

A/N: Sorry for the delay lads, for some reason this chapter did not want to be written! As always don’t sleep with your boss and don’t do drugs unless their prescription :P

<-- Previous Chapter  // Masterlist //  Next Chapter -->

-- 

You were exhausted. You hadn’t slept for more than an hour after leaving Javier’s apartment. Not for lack of trying, you thought your previous activities would have worn you out. But no. You were too scared to sleep, not wanting to deal with any nightmares that might occur so you sat on your dusty old couch, drank a vat of coffee and waited until the rest of the city woke up. 

You cursed under your breath when you saw Steve’s truck had already gone by the time you got downstairs. It was Connie’s volunteering day at the hospital, he always took her early. You had to go with Javi. You sat on the wall outside the apartment, smoking a cigarette and waiting for Javier to come outside. You had no idea what you were supposed to say to him, how were you supposed to act. You couldn’t really pretend like nothing had happened, sleeping with him like that was not something you could brush under the rug. But you didn’t want to talk to him about it, that would make it real. A real action with real consequences. If anyone found out that would be the end of your time here, and quite possibly the end of your time in the DEA entirely. 

Eventually Javier came outside, spotted you on the wall and waved. You got up, chucked the packet of cigarettes in your hand to him before you stubbed out your own and got into the truck. 

“So, do you want to talk about last night?” He asked as he lit a new cigarette.

“Not particularly. There isn’t really much to say is there?” 

“Not really,” He shrugged, “You’re not in love with me now, right?” 

“In your fucking dreams Peña. You weren’t that good,” You laughed at his audacity. You were lying, he was very good at it. But you weren’t in love with him. No, you couldn’t allow yourself even if you were. 

“You bitch,” He tried to be serious but your laugh was contagious. 

Javi immediately felt relieved, he’d spent all night worrying about you. He really didn’t want the sex to ruin everything you had going as a team. He was a little scared he had scared you off entirely but now you were laughing in his passenger seat as if nothing had ever happened all his worries were laid to rest. 

“It happened and that’s it. We don’t need to make it a thing,” You said.

“Agreed,” 

“Awesome, let’s go to work then,” 

And just like that, it was like nothing had ever happened. Back to piles of paperwork, chasing up lazy cops for their reports and trying desperately to avoid Carrillo. It was going to take time to get over what you had seen him do. You didn’t want to see him, let alone be left alone with him. You’d pushed all responsibility for anything related to him onto Javier, who in return passed you more of his paperwork. It was a fair trade off. 

At your desk, hummin away to yourself you could almost convince yourself you were fine. Thanks to the never ending cup of coffee and the sugar doughnuts you found for lunch, your energy levels were back up high. All reminders of the night before were out of sight and you were so consumed in work you didn’t notice as the day came to a close. 

“Good night last night?” Steve asked across the desk.

“Huh?” You looked up from your work. Steve motioned to his neck, and you immediately cringed. You had forgotten about the hickey. “Oh, um yeah I guess,” You pulled your jacket back on, despite the heat, as the collar would cover the mark again. 

“I thought you and Peña were out in the jungle for that lead. You would have got back super late,” Steve said. 

“Everyone’s got their vices, Murphy,” Javier reappeared, jumping to your aid. Steve looked suspiciously between you and Javi. 

“Guess you two are becoming more similar by the day,” He chuckled to himself, shaking any ideas from his mind. 

“Guess so,” You agreed. You and Javi shared a glance while Steve looked away, both of you well aware of the shit storm that would kick up if Steve found out. He loved you and Javi a lot, but there is no way he would just skip over such an event. You flashed a smile, silently thanking Javi for stepping in for you, before he went back to work again. 

To avoid any further questioning, you kept your jacket on for the remainder of the day, rather enduring the heat and cursing Javier for leaving a mark, than having anymore prying questions from Steve. When you finally gave up struggling with your mountain of paperwork, Steve offered you a ride home which you took gladly.

“You and Javi slept together last night, huh?” Steve asked as you rolled out of the embassy. Startled, you immediately went on the defense and laughed.

“Wh-what no!” You spluttered.

“I’m not an idiot, Rookie,” Steve raised an eyebrow at you. You didn’t know what to say, so shook your head and shrugged, “So Javi was talking out of his ass earlier?” He said. Your stomach immediately dropped. 

“Who’s he been talking to?” All laughter was gone from your voice. If Javi had said something that was it. Why on earth would he say anything? 

“So something did happen?” Steve exclaimed, happy that his hunch was right.

“Steve,” You sighed heavily. Relieved for only a moment before more dread piled on. 

“I can’t believe you two,” He said shaking his head, “I mean I was kind of expecting it with Javi’s reputation but I thought you had some standards at least,” 

“You weren’t there, you don’t get it. It wasn’t anything meaningful just- things happen sometimes,” You sighed, “Did he actually say anything to you?” 

“No,” He spoke more sympathetically now, “but I figured something was up, you’ve been acting weird all morning,” 

“That’s more to do with the lack of sleep,” You explained, “Yesterday got a bit… dark. I don’t think I slept at all,” 

“Carrillo?” Steve asked. You nodded solemnly, “You’ll get used to it,” 

You didn’t get used to it. That night haunted you. You couldn’t sleep, every time you shut your eyes the tortured man's face stared back at you. You were practically intolerable come the end of the week. You’d fallen asleep at your desk on multiple occasions, snapped at everyone in the office, and drank enough coffee to fill an Olympic swimming pool. You made a secretary cry by snapping at her over some missing evidence and, had broken the phone on your desk. 

As bad as your week had ended up being you still had to go out at the end of it. Instead of curling up with a movie and takeout you had to attend María’s family’s party. You didn’t know why you were invited but you definitely couldn’t back out of it. You’d hoped by now you would have cheered up, that you would be excited to let loose but you were miserable.

The party itself was gorgeous. Set out in the countryside, an hour from Medellin, the hills made for a beautiful backdrop. The Parreño’s summer house was exactly as you had expected, lavish and decadent. Courtyards filled with marble statues and paintings by various famous artists covered the walls. Lights were strung up around the garden between the pool house and a gazebo creating a colourful glow out onto the golden sky. 

The air was full of conversation and music. Even though you were surrounded by people who would kill you if they found out who you really were, somehow with a drink in your hand you felt a little more relaxed. María had leant you a dress, a simple little black number, and fixed your makeup in the car ride here while excitedly telling you about her cousin from Argentina she was going to set you up with. You were at the very least, on the way to being happy. 

María dragged you around introducing you to so many people you couldn’t remember their names. You gave up trying after ten different people María introduced as her auntie. You smiled and politely complimented their outfit or their hair and moved on. That was until you finally recognised someone. Senator Parreño, a regular face in your life. You prayed he wouldn’t recognise you, you had only met him once, sitting in the back of the ambassador's office while they spoke about something. Like most people, he ignored you that day and hopefully he wouldn’t have a clue now.

“Dad this is my friend, Isabela,” María introduced you. You were taken back for a moment. You knew her family was rich, but a senator for a father made them powerful too. Far more influence and scandal with their new link to Escobar too. 

“Nice to meet you,” You smiled and shook his hand. The senator looked puzzled.

“Do I know you from somewhere?” He asked. Your heart skipped a beat. 

“Oh stop it Dad I talk about her all the time, she’s been to our house a lot,”

“No, no it’s from somewhere else,” He squinted at you, looking you up and down. You could feel yourself sweating as you nervously took a big gulp of the cocktail in your hand.

“Isabela works at the American embassy papa, maybe you’ve just seen her there,” María said.

“I am a secretary,” You added quickly, “Usually running around the place, you probably saw me then,” You laughed nervously. Outwardly, you knew you looked normal but inside you were panicking massively.

“Ah I see,” He nodded, not entirely convinced. Luckily before he could interrogate you further or work out who you actually were, María linked arms with you and pulled your attention away.

“Come on, I just spotted Carlos. You will love him,” 

--

Three things you had learnt about Carlos. One, he could and should be in a magazine. He was stunningly handsome in a shirt with far too many buttons undone you were practically drooling over him. Two, he was smart. An engineer. A very upstanding career especially compared to the occupation of most of the people at the party. And three, he really liked cocaine. That part did let him down quite a bit.

Hidden away from the prying eyes of parents and older generations, María, Diego, Carlos and multiple others you did not remember the names of, sat around listening to Carlos rave about the new recipe his friend had told him about. You listened carefully, if your hangover didn’t delete this information in the morning it would be great. Could finally have something to show for your weeks with María. 

Carlos pulled out a pack of the new cocaine and poured out a good pile. You watched them all take a line. Part of you was interested in seeing what it was like. It must be good if everyone was so addicted to the stuff. You handled some much of the powder on a daily basis but you’d never even tried it. Seemed almost ridiculous. Maybe it was what you needed to finally relax a little, the alcohol wasn’t hitting the spot. One line wouldn’t kill you.

“Want some?” María offered, wiping her nose of residue. You shook your head. 

“I’m going to the bathroom,” You announced, standing up from your seat on the couch. You climbed over María out of the circle of people. You could use their distraction to your advantage now. Now María wasn’t holding on to you you could actually go and investigate. Now with two Narcos connected attendees at least and the revelation that Senator Parreño was María’s father, any information you could find giving a definite link would be huge. 

“Don’t be a pussy Isabela!” Diego hollered. 

“Oh leave her alone, she’s only going for a moment,” María shoved her boyfriend playfully, “She’ll do it later,” 

“Pacing myself,” You agreed with a smile. 

“Miss you already!” María called after you before dissolving into fits of giggles.

Inside, the house was quiet. Only a couple of people sat in the living room downstairs and they paid no attention to you as you walked inside. 

You walked up a set of elegant marble stairs, deciding upstairs may be your best option so not to get caught. Two long corridors led off the stairs, with doors leading off each side. You were looking for an office, that would be the place any paperwork would be kept. You would need letters, or meeting schedules. Something to prove a link. 

You turned left, and hit the jackpot with the first try. Senator Parreño’s home office.You pushed the door open slowly, checking nobody had followed you before going inside. The office was immaculate, just as grand as the rest of the house. A large portrait of Maria’s family hung over the back of the desk, all of their eyes watching you as you searched through the room. 

The room was full of things. One wall taken up by a set of shelves full of books and photographs and different trinkets of different sides. A leather couch sat in the window overlooking the gardens. 

You came to the desk last. The top was clear of anything bar a photo of his wife, a line of pens and a rolodex. You flicked through it, found nothing of interest. 

You stood up to find something you could use to pick the locks when you heard heavy footsteps from outside the door. You stood still for a moment, hoping to hear the footsteps go in the opposite direction down the hall. They got closer. 

Before you were caught red handed, you made your escape. Racing to the door, you hoped you would have enough time to slip out without being caught. Quietly as possible, you opened the door.

“Isabela,” María’s father’s voice came from behind you as you shut the door. You turned around quickly, smiling innocently.

“Hi Mr Parreño!” You exclaimed, “Do you know where the bathroom is? I can’t find it?” 

“It’s not in there,” He looked at your hand on the door, which you quickly removed and stepped away from.

“You’re house is just huge. I can’t ever seem to remember where I am going here,” You laughed nervously, “I’ll try down the hall,” You turned around and began to walk away, your 

“I’d learn to be more careful, Agent,” The senator said after you. Your heart stopped. Slowly, you turned back around to face him again, “I guess you are here for my daughter’s stupid boyfriend?” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” You said slowly, your mouth slow to catch up with your brain which was already working out the multiple ways to get out of the house safely. 

“You can quit your act, I won’t say anything,” He laughed dryly. 

“No act,” You shook your head, “I didn’t lie, I really don’t know what you are talking about. I am not here investigating Diego. María invited me” 

“I remembered where I saw you. You were with those DEA agents,” 

“I work with them sometimes, we’re friends,” You shrugged. 

“You’ve got an answer for everything, don’t you?” He was on to you

“I’m sorry but I really do need the bathroom, if you could direct me there that would be great. I’ve had far too much to drink,” 

“Down there, fourth on the right,” 

“Thank you,” You walked away quickly, heart thumping against your ribcage at an alarming rate. He knew who you were! He knew exactly who you were! 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” You cursed under your breath. 

You quickly spiralled, thinking off all the worst possible things that could happen now. Parreño would tell someone else who you were, maybe he would do something now. You were alone, neither Peña or Murphy knew where you were, out in the middle of nowhere it would be pretty simple to get rid of your body. You didn’t even find any evidence, you reasoned with yourself and he wouldn’t want any suspicion to his name. He probably wouldn’t kill you. 

Taking another deep breath as you tried to calm your rattling heart. Your hands gripped the cold porcelain of the sink and slowly you relaxed again. You couldn’t go back out looking like you were scared, that would give you up entirely. You looked at your face in the mirror, at least outwardly you didn’t look too bad. Your makeup had shifted a little but you still looked ok. You were fine. 

After another round of deep breaths and a pep talk to yourself, you stepped out of the bathroom and put a game face on. 

“Isabela! You’re back!” María exclaimed as you returned to the group. “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah,” Your voice was not convincing as you watched the senator walk past. He looked at your briefly, a knowing glint in his eye as he clocked you. “Can I have some?” You nodded to the coke on the table as an impulsive and reckless idea came into your head. There was no way he could continue to think you were DEA if you did this. Either that or he would just think you were an idiot and not press you again. 

“Finally you stop being a complete baby! Come here!” María cheered. 

You stood up and stepped over to where María was knelt. You joined her on the floor, watching carefully as she lined the powder up with a card from the table. She presented it to you with a flourish, laughing again. 

Surprisingly, you were not scared. The adrenaline of the close call was pacing through your veins. Your mind was so full of fear and anxiety, the idea of finally getting some relief was enticing.

You felt calm, no anxiety in your body holding you back anymore you took the drug from the table. You made a face of discomfort and spluttered a bit when it hit the back of your throat. The people around you laughed, but you didn’t feel embarrassed. It took a moment, but soon you felt the effects. All inhibition and anxiety left your body, you felt lighter and buzzing with energy. 

“See, it’s good right?” Maria smiled. You nodded enthusiastically. 

--

You woke up the next morning, tired and hungover. You couldn’t remember much of the night, but turning over to see Carlos naked next to you gave you a good idea of what had happened. He drove you back to Medellin a few hours later, his sports car was a very nice change from the cars you usually drove in. He was a sweet guy and you talked the entire journey home.

“Will I see you again?” He asked as he pulled up a little way from your apartment. You pretended to think about it for a moment, before breaking into a smile and nodding. “Perfect,” He smiled. You got out of the car, the happy smile not leaving your face as you waved and walked away. 

You watched his car pull away before turning in the direction of your apartment. You still had an identity to hide afterall, even if he was nice you couldn’t let him see where you actually lived. There was still a threat of Parreño exposing you, if Carlos knew where  you lived too it was only a matter of time before everyone would be in danger too.

“So that’s where you were,” Javier called out to you across the street as you approached. He sat on the steps of the apartment building, enjoying the sunshine, smoking and drinking a beer. “Getting laid,”

“Not jealous are you, Javi?” You smirked. 

“No! You’re an adult you can do what you want,” He said with a laugh. A jealous twinge in his chest caught him off guard but he couldn’t let you know that, “You look nice by the way, it’s a cute dress,” 

“Thanks,” You blushed a little. He shuffled out the way to let you pass him and climb the stairs. “I’ll be upstairs if you need me,”

“Sure,” You shut the door behind you leaving Javi alone again. He sighed heavily, blowing out his smoke. He never got jealous, but you had done something to him.  He initially put the feeling down the worry. He was concerned for you, going undercover was not something you should be doing at all and from the small amounts you had told him it could be more dangerous than you had first thought. But seeing you step out of that car, seeing you kiss the driver, he knew it was jealousy. 

He wanted to have you close all the time, to protect you. You were perfectly capable of protecting yourself, and had shown that on many occasions but the idea of someone else holding you the way he had made him feel sick. That feeling in turn made him angry. He shouldn’t be feeling any type of way towards you, you were a team mate. He was your mentor. 

He’d brought it all on himself, he shouldn’t have ever invited you in that night. He would have to suffer through the feeling until it went away, you could never know.

--

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[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch 2. The Contest.

Summary: Life at SHIELD isn’t always missions and seriousness, as a good natured shooting contest between Katie and Clint shows. The questions is, as the two dead-shots face off, who will be the winner? Steve has utter faith in his best friend, so much so he’s willing to bet money on her. But is this just another ten bucks he’s gonna lose?

Either way, both are left contemplating their feelings towards one another and fast come to the realisation that they run deeper than they want to admit

Pairing: Steve Rogers X OFC Katie Stark

Warnings: Language!!

A/N: A huge thank you to @angrybirdcr​ for her lovely little edit below of Katie and Clint. She’s kingly agreed to pull a few edits together for me in honour of my relaunch so keep your eyes peeled…

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 1

 Katie had no idea why she’d agreed to any of this. Actually, that was a lie, she knew exactly why she’d agreed to this, it was all down to Evans who had decided that STRIKE were long overdue a competition of sorts and had organised a shooting-slash-obstacle course tournament. Eight members had entered, going into random draws and competing against one another over the past week. Out of those eight, two now remained. Her and Clint.

A shooting contest between two Avengers was always going to draw big attention, so it was hardly surprising, therefore, that the SHIELD agents were running a book. Clint was odds on favourite to win, but Steve had so far refused to take part, that is until ten minutes or so before the contest was supposed to start. He was stood outside the shooting range, eyes focussed on Katie and Clint as they both stood checking their equipment, a crowd steadily gathering behind him.

“I know she’s good, but she really doesn’t stand a chance.” Natasha drawled as she stood at his side. Her matter-of-fact tone caused something in his chest to stir, the lack of faith everyone bar Evans and Lawson from the lab seemed to be displaying in Katie over Clint riled him and he turned to Natasha, a smirk flickering over his face as he repeated the words Katie had said to him the first night they’d met.

“Ten bucks says you’re wrong.” He stuck his hand out.

Natasha raised an eyebrow at him, before shaking his hand “Alright Rogers, you’re on.”

His hands returned to his belt buckle and both Katie and Clint signalled they were ready.

Evans went into the room, it was soundproof unless you pushed the button to listen in, which Rumlow did, of course.

“Okay you both no the rules but I’m gonna repeat ‘em just in case. No pushing or shoving of your opponent because that’s just a shitty thing to do.” Evans said, his Texan drawl loud as his hand scratched at his ginger beard. “Perfect kill shots are an extra half-point. Twenty minute time limit is in force. If you’re tied on score then we’ll go to the number of kill shots made.” Evans looked at them and they both nodded, Katie licking her lips. “Now. To your starting lines. You may go when the barriers open.” Evans nodded and held his right hand up, three fingers extended “May the odds be ever in your favour…”

Steve had no idea what that was a reference too, but he heard the rest of the people around him snigger. Katie threw her head back in a laugh as Clint mimicked Evan’s hand gesture as the other Sniper left the room.

The two opponents both looked out over the room from their starting positions at the obstacles which were constructed out of crates and various other objects. Katie cracked her neck side to side as Clint raised his pistol again, looking down the barrel before he turned his head to meet Katie’s gaze. She put her gun back into its thigh holster and turned to her old SO.

“May the best woman win.” she smirked, as she felt the blood pounding in her ears. Then, with a loud klaxon, the barriers opened in front of them and they both shot forward.

It might have been a friendly competition, but Katie wasn’t someone who liked losing so she was playing to win, and that was obvious from the determination written all over her face. Steve felt a surge of pride as he watched her leaping from obstacle to obstacle, landing shot after shot. After she hit her fourth target head easily and ahead of Clint, Steve heard Natasha hiss through her teeth.

“Ok, so maybe she has a little chance…”

He didn’t reply, simply watched, silently willing her on.

As the minutes ticked on, the two continued, both making leaps, dropping into rolls, and ducking behind corners. Katie took another shot, and paused for a split second, if she was counting correctly there were two more to go and five minutes left on the clock. She looked up for her next target and saw Clint was blocking her way, knelt down, aiming at his own. Katie knew the sensible thing to do would be to wait, but then she was a Stark, being sensible wasn’t one of her main attributes. With a smirk she re-holstered her gun and sprinted as fast as she could, launching herself forward into a perfect front flip, catapulting right over the top of Clint before she immediately slid onto a knee and brought the handgun back up, aiming at the target.

Outside the room there was a lot of cheering and cat calls at her display of acrobatics.

Katie moved to her final target, back against a large crate, aimed but then missed and Steve closed his eyes- that would cost her.

“Shit!” She exclaimed, doubling over to catch her breath as at that point the klaxon sounded again to say they were out of time. She stood up, cocking the safety on her pistol before stowing it away as Clint walked over to her, pulling her into a hug.

“Sharp shooting, Nova!” He grinned, ruffling at her hair. Both of them turned as the doors open and a few agents walked in, back slapping them both as Evans collected the targets and went to tally up the points.

“That was impressive!” Steve smiled as he crossed the room. “Both of you.”

“Yeah, not bad Stark.” Nat added, appraisingly

“Thanks.” Katie nodded, taking a drink of the bottle of water Clint handed to her. She was red faced, sweating but absolutely thrilled, pumped full of adrenaline. She placed her hands on her hips and took a deep breath

“And we have the results!” Evans said and Clint threw his arm round Katie as hers slid round his waist. “Stark you missed one giving you nine and three kill shots, taking you to ten point five.” Cheers rang around at the pretty damned good score and Katie grinned as Evans waited until the applause died down before he continued. “However, Barton hit each target, giving him ten plus four kill shots, taking him to twelve over all meaning he is the winner of this year’s STRIKE Shoot Off!”

“Damned it!” Katie groaned, shaking Clint’s hand as various cheers and complaints went up and people started to cash in their bets.

“You’re fired.” Steve heard a familiar voice say. Spinning round, he saw Fury handing over a fifty to an agent whose name escaped him and Steve bit back a smile. The Director had bet on Katie. That one mistake had been costly.

“Cough up Rogers.” Nat held out her hand and he turned to her, sighing and fished in his pocket for a note, handing it to her.

“You bet on me?” Katie looked at him, surprised.

“Course I did, Doll.” he said immediately.

 “Yeah I didn’t, sorry Stark.” Nat took the ten-note off him “Clint’s never lost a challenge yet.”

“He nearly did.” Steve looked at Katie proudly before he glanced back at Natasha. “Was worth the bet to see you get so twitchy Romanoff.”

“Seriously?”  Clint turned to Natasha. “You got twitchy?”

“I’ll admit at one point I thought Stark might have just shaded it.” Nat narrowed her eyes at Steve who simply shrugged, hands dropping to the front of his belt buckle.

“To be fair, there was one point where I thought that too.” Clint smiled, and Katie felt a surge of pride in her chest as he pulled the magazine out of his pistol. “Did good Nova, I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks Clint.” she smiled at him.

“So, who fancies a drink?” Barton looked around, clapping his hands together.

“I’m game.” Katie nodded as she stripped down her weapon.

Natasha hummed in agreement and then Steve realised they were all looking at him. He hesitated, he really did need to train as he hadn’t had a decent run that morning and he’d be restless all evening otherwise, but after that…why not?

"I gotta work out first but if you tell me where you’re going I’ll join you when I’m done.”

“Take a day off!” Nat drawled, examining her nails. Steve was about to reply but Katie got there first.

“If he doesn’t work out he’s a right crank! And no one likes a Cranky Cap.”

“You know what Stark?” Steve started but she simply stuck her tongue out at him causing him to roll his eyes, fighting to keep the smile off his face.

“Why don’t we try the new sports bar on the high-street, what’s it called again?” Clint suggested.

“Home Run?” Nat asked.

“Yeah that’s it.” he nodded “Couple of doors down from the Burger joint.”

“I’ll find it.” Steve said as Clint nodded, making for the door, Natasha following.  Katie turned to Steve, smiling at him as he surveyed the room.

"You did a good job,” he nodded to the obstacle course “Did it take you back to fighting Aliens?”

“Not quite the same, you know? No returning gunfire… no life-or-death stakes… no Captain America cushioning my fall when we got blown out of a bank window,” she teased. He laughed, as she started to back up towards the door. “I won’t take up your workout time. See you at the bar?”

“You never take up my time, Honey.” He smiled back, honestly, before he felt the flush rise up his neck. What a dumbass thing to say. “See you later.” He nodded.

With that she took her leave, tugging her hair out the ponytail as she left, allowing the gentle waves to cascade down her back.

********

Half an hour or so later, after Katie had showered and changed, the three Avengers were making the twenty minute or so walk to the bar downtown.

“You know I still can’t believe I got to within a point and a half of you.” Katie nudged Clint.

“Me neither actually.” Natasha mused. “I thought it was gonna be a whitewash.”

“Nice to know you have so much faith in me, Widow.” Katie scoffed and Nat snorted.

“Tell you who did have faith, other than Rogers… Fury.” She looked at Katie who grinned from ear to ear.

“Hang on…the boss bet against me?” Clint stopped. With a heavy sigh he shook his head. “Damned, that hurts.”

“Don’t take it personally.” Katie shrugged as they reached the bar. With a loud snort, Clint opened the door to let the girls step in first and then he joined them, looking around at the new surroundings. It was low lit but piled with sports memorabilia held in various glass cases around the room and on the walls. They took the time to look at most of it on their way to the bar where Clint bought the first round. Drinks in hand, they headed to a plush, leather seated booth and settled down.

The three friends fell into an easy chat, and then the inevitable teasing about Rumlow fancying Katie started up and she groaned. Clint and Nat enjoyed ribbing her about him and she had to admit, he wasn’t subtle to be fair. He’d asked her out three times now and she’d politely declined but it didn’t stop her friends from enjoying teasing her about it. Clint and Nat took turns in trying to highlight Rumlow’s more endearing qualities. They managed a sum total of three when Clint leaned back in his chair and shrugged.

“Yeah, that’s all I got. I’m out.” He grinned as Katie laughed, raising her glass to her mouth to drain the last of her beer.

“Yeah, he’s not relationship materiel.” Nat shrugged

“But you could just fuck him, get what you need and kick him out before breakfast.” Clint suggested causing Katie to choke down her mouthful of European lager and pick up the beer mat nearest her.

Steve chose that exact moment to walk into the bar. He watched as the beer mat hit Clint straight between the eyes, and Katie threw her head back in pure, unadulterated laughter. Something in the Captain’s chest stirred as he watched her, that wonderful smile and laugh filling her face.

“Hey.” He greeted them as they all looked up. “You guys need another drink?”

“Cheers Cap, three beers.” Clint motioned round the table and Steve headed off to the bar. Katie watched him go, eye trained on his ass which looked remarkably fine in those dark denims, then, realising what she was doing and who she was with, she let out silent groan as she turned back to see Clint and Nat exchanging a glance, a glance between two people who had just discovered the best secret ever.

“What?” she shrugged, trying to keep her face as straight as possible. “Girl can look, right?”

“Nova, you ain’t just looking, you’re practically drooling.” Clint grinned. “You soft on Cap?”

“No, I just happen to…” She hesitated as she stumbled for the words “…appreciate what my father had a hand in producing, that’s all.”

“Bullshit!” Natasha snorted as Clint roared with laughter. “You’re hot for Rogers.”

“No, I’m…”

“You know, considering you’re a secret agent your poker face is really shit!” Clint pointed at her

“Oh fuck off, the both of you.” She spluttered and the pair of them continued to chuckle, exchanging looks in that infuriating way they did, until Steve returned, setting down the four pints which he easily held in his hands and slid into the spare seat next to Katie.

Thankfully, Natasha and Clint decided to leave their teasing alone and the four of them struck up a conversation talking about everything and anything. A few more pints were drunk and when it came back to Clint’s turn to buy he came back from the bar, a wicked grin on his face.

“Oh, no I know that look!” Katie pointed at him and Clint shrugged, placing her pint down in front of her before he sat down.

“Yeah, she’s right.” Natasha eyed him. “What you up to?”

“I’m just in the mood for another challenge.” Clint leaned forward, his eyebrows raising up and down as he spoke.

“Like what?” Katie folded her arms

“Which one of you…” he said, waving his finger between her and Nat, “…can down a pint fastest?”

“Is that really wise?” Steve asked and Katie smirked.

“Not for Nat, no.”

The red head quirked an eyebrow, “I’m game if you are.”

Katie shrugged as Clint chuckled and pounded his hand on the table. “Alright then, Ladies! On your marks…”

As soon as Clint had done counting down Katie raised the glass to her mouth and chugged, draining it in four seconds flat before turning it upside down on top of her head. Natasha wasn’t even half way through hers before she groaned and set it down, trying to supress a burp.

Steve couldn’t help but look at Katie, his mouth falling open.

"What?” she laughed, shrugging as the Captain exchanged a look with Clint. “I spent three years at University, drinking with boys.”

“Yeah well I’ll stick to Vodka.” Nat shook her head “Fancy that as a challenge?”

“Not a chance.” Katie scoffed, “Although Cap could.”

“He could, but he won’t” Steve sternly shot her a look “Because it wouldn’t be fair.”

Katie rolled her eyes pouting.

“You do know I’m Russian, right. Well, I was.” Nat leaned back on the bench. “I was practically weaned on the stuff.”

“Yes, I know that, but I can’t get drunk.” Steve shrugged. “My metabolism burns it off too fast.”

“Cap,” Clint sighed, shaking his head, “that might just be the saddest thing I have ever heard.”

“Even sadder than when you heard you were shipping off to guard Thor’s hammer?” Nat asked. Clint considered her point for a moment, and shrugged.

“Hmmmm. Maybe the same level of sadness at learning I was about to head to Butt-fuck America for an undefined amount of time, yes.”

Steve choked into his beer. Besides him Katie laughed and as Steve looked at Clint, the archer snorted and shook his head.

“Cap. I’m serious. It was legit in the middle of the fucking desert. Nothing for miles.”

“Hey, what happened to that one eyed puppy we found?” Katie asked suddenly.

“Err, I took him to some friends.” Clint answered after a slight pause. “Their kids love him, he’s living the best life.”

Katie and Natasha shared a smile, both understood friends to mean his family and his own kids.

“Still eating Pizza?” Katie asked.

“Pizza?” Steve asked, frowning. “Who feeds a dog pizza?”

“Well he was a bit like you in that respect. Do anything for a double pepperoni with extra cheese.” Katie nudged him with her elbow

“As long as its New York style.” Steve drained his glass, matter of factly.

“Admit it, you enjoyed it when it took you to Second City” Katie eyed him.

“You been to Seconds?” Clint asked. “Thought you swore you wouldn’t go back after that waiter said he wanted to give you a real slice of Chicago to talk about?”

“He did not!” Natasha giggled.

Katie groaned “He did.”

“Now, I wish I’d seen that.”  Nat grinned as Clint let out a loud snort.

“She went full Supernova in three seconds flat. Dragged him over the counter and everything.”

“You didn’t?” Steve glanced at her, although he knew the answer from the look on her face as she groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Look… we had just got back from a week’s stake out in Saudi Arabia…” she sighed, shrugging as Clint and Natasha laughed “I was tired and fending off the advances of some greasy, 40 something year old man politely really wasn’t top of my list.”

“Why not? You do it every day to Rumlow” Nat smirked.

At the mention of his name Steve felt his eyes narrow. He hated the way the STRIKE leader blatantly eyed Katie up at every given chance. It was disrespectful.

“Don’t start that again” Katie rolled her eyes.

“He’s not a bad looking guy.” Nat persisted. “You could do worse.”

“You like him so much you fuck him!” Katie’s voice was snappy. Romanoff leaned back in her chair, eyeing her over half full glass, smirking.

“Touched a nerve, Stark?”

“No, you’re just talking crap, as usual.” she shot back, standing up. “My round.”

Steve moved so that she could get out from the booth and watched her head to the bar.

“Think we need to lay off the whole Rumlow thing.” Clint snorted, turning Nat. “She’s clearly not interested.”

“She’s obviously looking for someone a little less…” Nat pondered and Clint cut in.

“Of an ass hat?”

Steve snorted and Natasha shrugged.

“I was gonna say a little more of a gentleman but…if the cap fits…” Her eyes flashed to Steve and he looked at her, his eyebrows pulling together as he felt the heat flushing to his neck. She simply shrugged, in her usual nonchalant way before she changed the subject.

****

A few hours later Clint and Nat decided they’d had enough and left to grab a taxi. When Clint was in town he always stayed with Nat, prompting Steve to wonder if there was anything going on beyond the platonic friendship. He pondered it for a moment, deciding to just ask the question.

 “Is there something between them?” he nodded to the pair as they left.

“No.” Katie shook her head “Absolutely not.”

“How are you so sure?”

“Okay, I’ll tell you, but don’t be pissed I haven’t told you before…” she said, pausing “Clint…he’s married, has two kids.”

“What?” Steve choked on his beer.

“They have a place, somewhere, I don’t know exactly but it’s off SHIELD’s books and no one knows bar me, Nat and Fury.”

“Huh.” Steve pondered the information for a moment and Katie took a deep breath.

“Look, sorry I didn’t tell you but…”

“It’s okay.” Steve smiled. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t feel a little bit disappointed she hadn’t told him before, but he understood, she was loyal to a fault. “I get it, he’s your friend.”

“Yeah I know but he’s not my best friend.” she batted her eyelids at him.

“Hmmm, stop buttering me up.”

“Has it worked?”

“Yes.” He deadpanned, draining his glass and she grinned “Same again?”

They had a couple more before Katie decided she was one pint away from being drunk and Steve found himself a little bit disappointed she wanted to leave. He was enjoying spending the time with her. It felt different to their usual trips out, she’d been more relaxed than he had seen her in a long time, enjoying the gentle touches she made to his arm and leg when she was teasing him.

His mind flicked back to Natasha’s little comment before and he found himself wondering if the red head knew something he didn’t. Was there something there on Katie’s part too? As he studied her for a moment as she pulled on her jacket, talking to him, he shook himself out of it. No, why would someone like her look twice at someone like him.

He managed to tune back into what she was saying, telling her no way was he giving her a lift home on the back of his bike without a helmet, causing her to pout and bat her lashes at him in an outrageously over the top manner causing him to snort.

“That ain’t gonna work either.” He shook his head and she shrugged.

“Worth a shot.” She chuckled as they made their way to the door. “And speaking of shots, you really shouldn’t have told Nat you can’t get drunk and whooped her ass at a vodka necking contest.” Her arm linked into his as they walked, and she leaned into him a little, her head laying against his upper bicep.

“Now that would have been dishonest. “Steve smirked. “Surely you’re not saying I should use my enhancement to my advantage in such a situation?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” she nodded.

Steve laughed, sticking his arm out to hail a cab for her.

“But then you’re a very honest kinda guy.”

“I have my moments.” He turned to face her

“Moments? Nah ah, you can’t lie for shit!” she grinned at him.

“No, I can’t lie to you for shit, Sweetheart” He rolled his eyes “You know me too well.”

“Hmmm, true.” she nodded in agreement as the car stopped at the curb and Steve opened the door for her.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Steve asked, not particularly happy she was cabbing back alone, it was times like this he wished he had a car. “I can walk back for my bike.”

“I can handle myself, I’m a trained killer remember?” she raised her hands and made gun signs at him with her fingers. He shook his head, smiling.

“You’re an idiot.” He snorted a laugh.

“But you love me!” She grinned, standing on her toes to give him a peck on the cheek. “G’night, Soldier.”

“Call me when you’re home.” He instructed “And if I ain’t heard from you in twenty…” he raised his voice so the cab driver could hear.

She shook her head, smiling as she climbed into the taxi and waved as it pulled off.

It wasn’t long before she was home and once she made her way into her bedroom, Katie kicked off her boots, flopped down onto her bed and pulled out her phone, better do as Captain Badass instructed or knowing him he’d turn up and kick the door in.

“So I’m home Old timer…” she said, when he answered and from his sigh she knew he would be rolling his eyes.

“Less of the old” he retorted, the clinking of cutlery and plates rattling in the background.

“What you doing?” she asked.

“Making food.”

“You can’t cook.”

“Yes I can.”

“So why have you never cooked for me?” she asked indignantly, feeling somewhat annoyed that she always did the cooking for the two of them.

“Because you’re better at it.” He replied, simply. “And I’ve made you grilled cheese before. And soup. Now drink some water and go to sleep.”

“God you’re so bossy.” she grumbled.

“Someone has to be, you’re a law unto yourself.”

“If I say it will you do what I said?”

“Maybe, probably, definitely maybe” she shrugged to herself.

“Then you’re awesome. Goodnight, Doll.”

“Night Stevie.”

****

Steve cut the call, placing his phone down on the counter as he thought back over the day, waiting for his food to heat up. For the first time in a long time he actually felt completely at ease. Ease with his life both in and out of SHIELD.

Up until a few weeks ago it had still felt slightly confusing, and it still did with the STRIKE team sometimes. At first he had been tentative, not trying to step on Rumlow’s toes but that had quickly settled and the two of them had fallen into a pretty good working relationship. As much as Rumlow could rile him, Steve knew that the man was good at his job, and Steve was equally good at his. He was the tactician, Rumlow organised the troops. But sometimes, well, he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Sometimes he felt interest, but it was often coloured by the lingering disillusionment that his team were merely humouring him as the blue eyed all American hero he had been painted to be.

But never once had he felt like that with Katie.

And then his apartment seemed to blur in front of him, causing him to realise this went way beyond some daft crush. He was really falling in deep. The heat travelled up his chest into his neck and he felt his palms become sweaty. He dropped his arms to wipe them on his jeans as the fizzy feeling left his body, but stayed by him, swirling around until he could practically hear it. This really, really wouldn’t do. She was his best friend, a work colleague, the daughter of one of his friends from the forties…and then there was Peggy.

Not for the first time Steve delved into the reasons he’d been drawn to Katie, comparing her to Peggy. Both women had strong personalities, an unwavering sense of justice and ethics, a deep well of compassion, loyalty, and the air of authority that put more than one man in his place, including himself. They were both incredibly beautiful, filled with passion, devotion and ambition…

Abandoning his food, his appetite lost completely, he threw the remains into the bin and headed into his bedroom, intending to do what he did best when it came to women. 

Stick his head in the sand and hope to God it all went away.

****

Once she’d cleaned her face of make-up and pulled on a pair of pyjamas, Katie collapsed into her pillow, thinking about what a good day it had been. She hadn’t disgraced herself at the contest, had a good evening in the pub afterwards, and to top it off Fury and Steve had actually backed her in said contest.

At the thought of Steve, it reminded her she needed some water. Heading to the kitchen she grabbed a glass, filled it, and then made her way back to bed, this time snuggling down under the covers as she smiled to herself.

It was kind of nice to have Steve looking out for her, even if he was a bossy bastard about drinking water. It showed he cared. And it wasn’t just that, it was the way he was so comfortable with her. The gentle touches to her arm and lower back, the fact he called her doll or sweetheart. The smile that he flashed her that could light up his entire face, and those eyes, those god damned beautiful eyes that could drown her in seconds.

Her stomach was suddenly crawling with those damned butterflies, the same ones she had been feeling on or off around him now since Thanksgiving. And they fluttered from her stomach to her chest

“You’re hot for Rogers…”

Natasha and Clint had both hit the nail on the head, and that nail was getting harder and harder to ignore. She had feelings for Captain fucking America. Her dad’s friend, her best friend.

Groaning, she rolled over and shoved her head into the pillows. “I’m so fucked.”

**** Chapter 3

**Original Posting**

#stark spangled banner #steve rogers #katie stark #steve rogers x ofc #steve rogers x original female character #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers fic

[mrsbarnes99]

The meaning of age and time

Pairing: Modern!CEO!Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: You and Bucky are in a happy relationship but the comments of others about your agepap get to him and he starts wondering if you two are really suited for each other.

Warnings: Angst, big agegap (Reader is 23 and Bucky is 40)

Word Count: 1853 words

A/N: Here's a little one shot I came up with. I hope you like it. This is my first try at writing something and English is not my first language so please be kind.

You and Bucky had been together for almost a year and you‘ve never been happier in your life. He was the kind of boyfriend every girl hoped for: loving, charming, caring, funny and a bit dorky. But although you two were very in love and had been living together for a few months, there was one aspect that seemed to cause more and more problems. At first you never thought much about your agegap because you didn‘t deem it a problem in any way. But there had been situations in which you felt like Bucky was having some issues with the fact that you are significantly younger than him.

You first noticed it a couple of weeks ago when you two went out for some coffee in the afternoon.

Eversince the new cupcake shop down the street from your apartment had opened you wanted to try it out. So one Sunday you convinced Bucky - by convincing you mean giving your boyfriend a serious case of puppy dog eyes - to go there after taking a walk together. Bucky had always loved these little dates the two of you would go on practically all the time as Sam would say. This time though you noticed that Bucky was uncomfortable and kept glancing at everyone around you. Almost as if he was checking if they were looking at you two.

"Buck, if you don‘t want to stay we can take some cupcakes back home."

You were very surprised about the relief on Buckys face after telling him this but you figured that he was just exhausted and wanted to relax at home after a grueling week at work. Especially because everything seemed fine again once you had left the shop.

The second time that Bucky was all of a sudden in a bad mood was when Sam kept teasing Bucky with his "old age". Normally Bucky would just roll his eyes and start making jokes about Sam as well. Sometimes they would get so competitive that it almost seemed like a match. But this time Bucky just blew up.

"Y/N, grandpa here is really turning you into a homebody. When was the last time you went to a club with us?"

"I canceled one t-" "What is your problem Birdbrain!? Can‘t you just mind your own damn business for once?" You were shocked at how angry Bucky was and that he‘d just interrupt you like that.

"Cool it, Buckaroo or you might have a heart attack." Sam kept mocking. While glaring at him Bucky got up from his chair and then just stomped out of the café and back to his office. You and Sam just looked at each other confused. Neither of you understood why this would bring such a reaction out of him. After giving Bucky some time to calm down you went looking for him but he didn‘t go back to his office as you had presumed. So you went to his assistant and asked her where Bucky went to. "He left to see Mr. Rogers in his office to go over some contracts, Ms. Y/L/N."

You weren‘t sure if you should go up to Steve‘s office or not but decided to just knock and see if they were almost done. As you were standing infront of Steve‘s door you heard Bucky‘s voice "You don‘t understand Steve! I just don‘t know how to ignore it!" What was Bucky talking about? Ignore what? You were curious and kept on listening to their conversation.

"It was never a problem before. What changed?" "You just don‘t get it, Steve! Do you know how weird it is to feel how everyone around is watching you thinking what does he want with her? Can‘t he find someone his age? That poor girl he‘s probably just using her to feel young again. Why are they together they have nothing in common?" You felt a tear slide down your cheek. Why didn‘t Bucky tell you about his feelings concerning the agegap the two of you have? You decided it was better to go back to Bucky‘s office and wait there until he comes back to talk about everything. You didn‘t have to wait long. Bucky was back half an hour later and seemed to be in a better mood but once he saw your sad face he got concerned. "What happened, doll? Have you been crying?" "No. Actually, yes a bit." "Why?" Bucky sat down beside you and pulled you towards himself hugging you. "Ms. Romanoff told me you were with Steve so I went to his office and I overheard you guys talking. When were you going to tell me that my age bothered you so much?" You could see that Bucky was struggling thinking about how best to answer your question.

"Look, doll. I have always known that our relationship would raise some brows but that never bothered me until I heard some women talk about us." "When was that?" "That day at the cupcake shop." "So that‘s why you wanted to leave. But why does it bother you when someone you don‘t even know thinks it‘s ok to judge us?" "I didn‘t want it to bother me this much but I couldn‘t help but keep thinking about it. They did have some points..." "Such as?" You asked annoyed. "For example the fact that you‘re at an age where you like to go out an party on the weekends instead of chilling at home. Or that I‘m at an age where you settle down and start a family whereas that’s still in the far future for you. We‘re just in two very different places." "So do you feel this way too or have you just started thinking about this after hearing someone make these stupid remarks about us?" Bucky looked you deeply in the eyes, sighed and then kissed you on your forehead. "I‘m sorry, doll. I guess I just got too in my head with all this. I don‘t think that we‘re a bad match or not suited for each other just based on our age. I love you and I‘m very happy that you're my girl." "I love you too Buck. But promise me that you‘ll talk to me if something like this happens again ok?" "I promise, doll. What do you say to a movie and some Pizza tonight? So we can leave this all behind and spent some time together." You smiled at Bucky and gave him a kiss before grabbing your back and making your way back to the little clothing store you had started with Y/F/N a couple of years ago.

Now looking back at these two small incidents you wonder if you missed the signs which led to the big fallout you and Bucky had yesterday. When you came back to the apartment after work you were exhausted. Today just hadn‘t been your day. It started with an unfriendly customer and ended with a fashion magazine describing your stores latest clothes as boring and nothing new or exciting. You couldn‘t wait to just snuggle up to your boyfriend and forget about everything. But upon unlocking the door to your shared apartment it was like you entered an alternate dimension. There was a suitcase next to the door and you heard your boyfriend rummaging in the bedroom.

"Do you have to leave for a business meeting?" You asked confused, wondering if you forgot about something he mentioned. Bucky looked at you with an unreadable expression on his face. "Buck, what is going on? Did I forget about something?" You were starting to feel very agitated and uncomfortable like you already knew something bad was about to happen. "Look, Y/N, I think we‘ve been living in our own little world all this time but we just can‘t ignore the real world forever." "What do you mean?" You were shocked and heartbroken. Was Bucky really breaking up with you? And since when did he call you by your name? Normally he would refer to you by cute nicknames, mostly he would call you doll so much that his friends at first thought that that was your name. "It‘s just... you‘re too young for me. You're practically still a kid wanting to live their dream by trying to create a fashion brand with an itty bitty store. Whereas I‘m a cofounder of a well established firm who wants to start a family. We‘re in two different places in life and it‘s just not working. I mean your only 23 and I‘m in my forties. I need someone my age who I can marry and start a life with and you still have a lot to experience before you‘re able to settle down. You‘ll just resent me later on if I force you to grow up faster than you‘re supposed to." You were feeling numb. Too shocked to do or say anything. You only realized that you were crying once you saw the teardrops hitting your jacket that was folded over your arm.

"You can stay in the apartment as long as you need to find another place to stay. I‘m flying out to a conference and once I get back I‘ll move into my old condo." "So that‘s it. You suddenly decided to end it all over some comments other people you don‘t even know made? Don‘t I mean anything to you? I thought you loved me. How can you just throw it all away?" Bucky looked you in the eyes but you couldn‘t recognize the man you‘d fallen for anymore. His eyes were cold and detached like you were some nasty insect he wanted to get rid of. "Don‘t make this any harder on yourself. The faster you come to the realization that we never would have worked anyway the better. If you would be so nice as to let me leave now, I have a flight to catch that I can‘t miss because of your childish behavior. In the next couple of days someone is coming by to get the rest of my clothes. Oh and before I forget, here take this back it must have been expensive and you need the money more than I do." With that he gave you back the Rolex you had gifted him to his 40th birthday. You‘ve never felt so insulted „Really!? Is breaking my heart not enough for you? Do you have to insult me as well!? You can keep it. What should I do with it? I can‘t return it...remember it‘s engraved you egoistic, conceited asshole!" With that you shoved the watch back in his hand and ran off to the guestroom and looked it. A few minutes later you heard Bucky leaving the apartment and you.

Sitting on the floor you cried your eyes out. You‘ve never felt heartbreak like this before. Bucky had been everything you ever wanted but he just tossed you away like yesterday‘s trash. And the worst is that despite everything he just did and said to you, you‘re still not able to hate him. He still has your heart, sadly he doesn‘t want it no more.

#bucky angst #bucky barnes x you #modern!bucky #ceo!bucky barnes x reader #marvel fanfiction #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x younger!reader #steve rogers #sam wilson #natasha romanoff

[extremelyblackandwhite]

the light in the piazza

pairing: bucky barnes x reader

warnings: love at first sight trope

summary: sergeant james barnes of the 107th meets a woman in while stationing in florence. inspired by the song the light in the piazza 

I don’t see a miracle shining from the stars, I’m no good at statues and stories, I try. That’s not what I think about, that’s not what I see, I know what the sunlight can be ...

Wishing, wishing is a funny thing. When you wish for something you always think of the end goal of your wish, you never wonder how the universe will grant you your wish, in what conditions. It is not like you wish upon a star with a whole essay and plan of how your wish should be given, you just wish for it. Some wish for love, some wish for fame, for glory and riches, but no one wishes for something in a specific way that won’t guarantee the bittersweet hand of the universe. 

James had been the most recent victim of wishing carelessly. In this case, James wanted to travel, wanted to leave Brooklyn and see those places that were somehow always plastered in the highly stylised adverts stuck of the walls of his dead beat neighbourhood. He left Brooklyn, he had travelled. He had seen England, Ireland, Scotland and most recently Italy. The consequence? War. Suddenly, all those dreams of becoming the man in the airplane drinking expensive champagne and travelling to European dream lands were misshaped into flying in army airplanes and going to camps where hope was something that had begun to disappear.

The Italian base camp was no different. The soldiers were tired, those with wives and families only mumbled their names at times, the single ones had began to get tired of the nurses and girls that would come to entertain and help the tropes and those who had someone waiting for them back home had started to believe it was time to say goodbye. Hope was running low, but not for the Howling Commandos. No. Their motto was ‘as long as there’s a bar and you get to sleep another night, there’s hope’, but James was starting to lose hope. 

Today however was the day James lived by. Free day. They got to do whatever they pleased, whenever they pleased. James used this day to go sight-seeing, grab some postcards from his sister and try and rejoice in the twisted wish that had been granted. Florence was no different, he was walking around the piazza del duomo, looking at the view and how stunning it was. He stopped by a small shop, looking at the painted small postcards, offering the clerk some money and turning to face the middle of the piazza to return to the camp until he saw a small straw hat with a green ribbon wrapped around it fly aimlessly in the wind. James carelessly grabbed it from the mid air, wondering where the owner was. The owner of the hat wasn’t far as he saw a girl rush through the crowd dressed in a fancy outfit. He had seen something similar in the fashion magazines his sister would bring home. The new look, if he remembered. Hers was a shade of sunny yellow with green accents which matched the ribbon on her hat. 

She stopped in front of him, a look of uneasiness yet relief on her face. He finally could get a good look at her, along with the fancy and expensive dress, she had white gloves on adorned by a pearl bracelet on her right wrist with matching white lower pumps. Her hair was pinned back, showing the pearls on her ears and the camera hanging from a tan piece of fabric. 

      - Penso che ... uhm, I, how do you say ... cosa di testa? - James Barnes was a hundred per cent that he completely butchered the Italian language. Head thing? What was he thinking? 

      - You’re American? - the woman asked, noticing the slight Brooklyn accent in the middle of what was the worse Italian pronunciation she’d ever heard in her whole life. 

      - Oh god, you speak English. I have your hat. - he was nervous. Why? He did not know. He did not know why he was tongue tied in both Italian and English in front of the most polished woman he’d ever seen. She couldn’t be older than him, he actually thought she was even younger considering the lack of an engagement ring on her finger. 

     - Thank you so much. - she gave him the sunniest smile, sunnier than the dress she was wearing. James handed her the hat which she held with both hands in front of her abdomen. - My mother would kill me if I lost another hat. 

     - God thing I was here then. - god James sounded like Steve. That’s it, his power did not work outside of Brooklyn. 

     - I’m Y/N, by the way. - she extended one of her gloved hands and James wondered if his hands were good enough to hold what looked like the most softest piece of fabric he’d seen. 

     - James Barnes. - he shook her hand, a bit hypnotised with her. She had to be the prettiest woman he’d ever seen and he had some many women before.

     - Are you a soldier? - she noticed the mossy green suit he was wearing.

     - Sergeant, actually. We’re stationing here for a few days. 

     - Me and my mum are visiting. My dad is here on a business affairs and we thought to come and say hi. 

     - That’s a nice camera you got there. - suddenly he realised he was staring to intensely at her chest where her camera was resting. God, was he spastic? She pulled the tan string over her head, holding the camera with the hand he had just shook. - I, me and my friend Steve have this jar we put quarters in every single day to try and buy one of those. 

     - Do you wanna take a picture? Maybe to send home?

     - Really? - his eyes lit up like a child during Christmas. - No, I don’t want you to waste your film on me.

     - Well, you did save my hat so the least I can do is give you a free picture.

     - No, I don’t even know how use it. 

     - It’s easy. - she handed him the camera, standing by her side. - You look at this little window and find something you wanna take a picture off, spool the window and press the silver button. 

     - Are you sure it’s okay? - he asked, looking at the scenery through the small window of the camera. He slightly shifted the camera to face her, catching her staring at the church in front of them and clicked the silver button, she flash making her slightly turn her face to the ground. - That’s a heavy piece of machinery. 

     - Dad says it’s the future of fil ...

     - Y/N! - a much older woman dressed in a more fitted burgundy dress with a matching burgundy hat rushing towards them. - I’ve told you several times not to run off, what if someone kidnapped you? Or worse, robbed you?

    - Mum, this is Sergeant Barnes, he saved my hat. This is my mother, Margaret.

    - Oh thank you so much. Unfortunately, we have an appointment, I’m sorry we have to ...

    - What appointment? - Y/N interrupted, returning the camera to its resting place against her chest while placing her hat on top of her perfectly brushed and pushed hair.  

    - Let’s go, Y/N. - her mother turned on her back, walking straight ahead expecting her daughter to follow. Y/N gave him an apologetic look, knowing how her mother was when her plans got ruined and when she talked with someone she did not deem worth their time and attention. 

    - Wait, Y/N ... - James carefully grabbed her wrist, as not to alarm her mother who was walking with a might. - Where are you staying? I’d love to take you for dinner. 

    - I’m staying at the Grand Hotel. Go through the back. - she smiled at him before rushing to follow her mother wherever she was going, an ever so slight blush settling on the apples of her cheeks. 

Night couldn’t come earlier, the hours that once seemed like seconds took years to pass by but night eventually came and he found himself standing at the back of the Grand Hotel. It was a huge contrast to the front of the hotel, mostly filled with employees smoking or making out with the daughters of their clients. Speaking of which, he saw her come through the back door wearing a dress in the same shape as the yellow one except in a floral pattern, with a pink ribbon wrapped around her waist. 

    - Y/N. - he raised his hand calling for her attention. - You look beautiful. 

    - Thank you. We have two hours until my mother wakes up and realises I’m gone. 

    - I only need a hour ... Oh god why did I say that?

    - I have your picture by the way. - she opened her little bag, searching through it to hand him a black and white slightly sepia coloured photo. He smiled at it for a few seconds, realising he was now one of those army soldiers who had a picture of a lady in their pockets the whole time. - Where are we going?

    - I have no idea. - he started to walk the beautifully lit streets that made him forget they were in the middle of a war period. - So, Y/N, where do you live?

    - Well, right now we’re in London but next year we’re in New York. It always depends on where dad has business. 

    - Hey, I’m in Brooklyn, maybe you could come and visit me. My mum makes the perfect Sunday dinner and my sister can be less annoying than she normally is when there’s guests.

    - I’ve never had a Sunday dinner.

    - What? No way, doll. Do rich people not eat dinner? Is that why you’re all so very rich?

    - No, we normally have a very late supper with some hors d'oeuvres and wines. 

   - Well, you don’t know what you’re missing.

   - I guess I’ll have to take you on that offer then.

   - And you can meet Steve. He’s pretty scrawny but he has some fight left in him, probably would win the war if they allowed him. 

                                         PRESENT DAY (ENDGAME)

Bucky stood on the sidelines as he watched the funeral go through. He felt dirty, he shouldn’t be here, he shouldn’t be watching the funeral of the person he caused the most pain to. The worse however was Steve, he knew what he was about to do, he knew what he was about to go to. Sam was a great guy but Sam was not enough to make Bucky want to stay.

His hands went to his pocket, taking the worn out picture he had gotten from the museum, the picture of her. The picture had grown old, so had him and so had she, but he could still remember it like it was yesterday. No one could steal that memory, the memory of her kissing his cheek goodbye before she got back to hotel, the memory of the sun hitting his skin when he took that picture. 

   - It’s been 80 years, Buck. Wanna tell me about her? - Steve patted him on the shoulder. Bucky just smirked, turning his head slightly to stare at him.

   - No, I don’t think I will. - he used the same sentence Steve normally used when speaking about Peggy which always drove him off the wall.

   - You should come. 

   - I don’t think the James that she’s expecting is me anymore. 

   - If it doesn’t work, you can always return. What else do you have to lose?

He stepped with Steve onto what he thought looked like something out of a sci-fi movie, his eyes still on her picture as they stood in New York. He knew where she lived, she had wrote to him a few times during the war so he knew where to find her. Steve gave him a sympathetic smile, hugging his friend before they went their way. He wondered what she’d think or how he was going to explain the metal arm or the hair. 

James found himself standing in front of her home, fist coming to knock on the door. A slight commotion could be heard outside the door as the slight sound of heels was heard from inside the house. He thought about leaving, this was a bad idea, no, this was a terrible idea. As he was about to leave, the door opened. He saw her standing there, a blue dress on, hair free from any tight hair dos. 

   - James? - she questioned, recognising that face anywhere. 

   - Hi. - he didn’t know exactly what to tell her or how to say hi after all those years. The person he saw in his dreams at night was standing in front of him.

   - You know, it’s extremely rude to leave a lady waiting so long. - she leaned against her door. 

   - My apologies. - just like that he was that hopeless soldier in Florence. 

   - Y/N, who is it? - a man dressed in a dapper suit joined her by the door.

   - Oh, daddy, this is Sergeant Barnes, the soldier I spoke about. 

   - Oh, the hat guy. Come in, we’re having brunch and there’s always space for another one. 

He took her hand, walking into her home. 

Sometimes the universe puts you through one hell of a ride, but it eventually grants you your wish.

#sebastian stan #bucky barnes #sebastian stan x reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes/reader #sebastian stan/reader #sebastian stan imagine #bucky barnes imagine #sebastian stan drabble #bucky barnes drabble #bucky barnes fanfic

[stylesnews]

Harry in Conversation with Steve Lacy for Man About Town Magazine

Steve Lacy is a rare creative talent. Having been nominated for a Grammy in his teens for his work with his genre-defying band The Internet, and on the back of a critical acclaimed album — Apollo XXI — this year, the young star takes time out of his tour to chat with Harry Styles.

HS: Hey Steve!

SL: What’s up, Harry?

HS: I’m good, man. How are you?

SL: I’m good. I’m in bed, in my tour bus.

HS: [Laughs] Oh, yeah? Where are you on the way to?

SL: We’re our way to Boston.

HS: I like Boston! Boston’s like, not trying to be… it’s just… Boston. And it’s great. How’s your tour been so far?

SL: It’s been really good. It’s a big learning experience I guess, doing it by myself. But it’s been sick.

HS: What do you find is the biggest difference for you? I mean obviously being on stage by yourself, or the touring part? Travelling, the off-time…

SL: I think it’s probably just as easy, because as far as travelling and everything, we have the same team. I have the same tour manager and the same techs, so that’s easy. And then being on my stage is super easy, because I didn’t find another band — it’s just a DJ and me. So I kind of treat it like a rapper, who plays an instrument and sings melodies to people. Because I really want it to be as easy as possible, or else I’m just going to cancel. I really didn’t want to leave my house after I came back from the other tour with The Internet [laughs], so my tour had to be at ease for me to leave!

HS: What do you usually do between shows and stuff?

SL: I’m usually sleeping. Or I’m walking around. Like yesterday, I walked around a little bit, and I shopped. I ran into this guy that was a fan — this Korean dude — and I ended up getting food with him [laughs]. Then we went to Balenciaga and played dress up for like an hour. My days off are pretty spontaneous! I might make some music; I write. But yeah, it’s pretty cool to hang out with everyone.

HS: [Laughing] How was the dress up?

SL: It was good! I always throw on at least 8-10 looks in there. Throw on some dresses...it’s real nice.

HS: How do you find you relationship between fashion and music? Do you feel like one usually influences the other, or do you feel like they both end up influencing each other? And how much do you find it to be an important part of performing and being on stage, and being in music in general?

SL: I feel like they flow from the same river. They come from the same place of self-expression. I’ve always admired style, so, yeah, I think I appreciate it just as much. I don’t know if one inspires me more than the other, but I think they come from the same place. They kind of just mesh. But it’s definitely important for me to appear a certain way to perform. I don’t know, I just like to feel… I guess like characters. So I like to separate the stage presence from the person off stage. It’s like a little mind game I play with myself. But it makes me feel more like a... star.

HS: You put your suit on and do your thing, right?

SL: Exactly. And then take it off. I love it. I think it’s good to separate the two.

HS: Yeah, totally. Like Prince. How much are you inspired by him with fashion, with music; does he play a big part? Is it seeing people like him do stuff like that that’s played a part in it, do you think?

SL: I think a little bit, yeah. He inspired me more musically than fashion-wise, I think. He did have a couple of fashion looks that I liked and am yet to explore. But it was a look he did for… do you know the Dirty Mind Tour? Have you ever seen the concert clips from that?

HS: Yeah!

SL: Well he had like, this thong/panty thing. With these long socks that go up to his thigh, like right under where his panties were. With these boots. And a trench-coat. That’s a look I’ve yet to explore, but I’m definitely inspired by that one. And the music inspired me after he died, actually. I didn’t grow up listening to him. But the guy who taught me how to play guitar, some years back — I guess right after Prince died — he asked me [if I] was listening to Prince. And I was like: ‘’No, not really.’’ He was just one of those people that knew was a legend, but I didn’t question why, or try to figure out why. I was just like: ‘’Yeah. He’s a legend’’ [laughs]. He told me to listen to the first album. And then, from there I was like: ‘’Oh shit. Yeah.’’ He just made sense to me, and a lot of things connected. Because, you know, he was a Gemini man, who produced everything, worked on [his first demo] when he was like 15 or 16, something like that. It came out when he 19. So, yeah. It was special to me when I found it.

HS: Growing up, were your family musical, or was it something that you found on your own? When did you realise, “Oh, I want to do that”?

SL: I was kind of desensitized to music from my family. My family sings; I guess I should start there. My whole family sings, from my grandma, to my cousins, to my aunt, to my... you know. Everything. We all sing. So, I didn’t really have thought of creating, it was just like: “Oh yeah, Music is cool, everyone sings. Cool.” I didn’t really get inspired to start making it until I saw people making music, and that was when I was 15 or 16. When I met the band. That’s when I saw music happening, and I though, “Oh cool, I think I can do this”.

HS: You were still in high school when you were nominated for a Grammy. How was it to go back to school and be like: “Sup, I’m kind of doing this now, and I’m, like, good at it”, you know?

SL: [Laughing] It was sick. I was really low key though. I didn’t want people to think I was some celebrity kid, because I didn’t want people to treat me weird. So I just told my closest friend and my teachers. But I didn’t, like, run around school yelling “Hey everybody! I’ve been nominated!”, because I was still in school, you know? Like, no-one really cares. But it was definitely cool. Well I guess not even ‘cool’ is the word, it was... What’s the word I’m looking for... I guess super assuring that I was in the right place, essentially.

HS: With The Internet, the’d obviously put out a couple albums before you joined them. Were you a big fan of them before, or was it just something that you ended up finding yourself being a part of?

SL: I just found myself a part of them. I didn’t hear anything about them, before I joined. They were just complete strangers to me — which is pretty cool. I got to see them as people first, so it was really nice, you know? Just feeling that personal connection, and then making my own way into the music somehow.

HS: Nice. I want to talk about ‘Apollo XXI’, I’m sure you do as well. It’s such a blend of so many things: there’s R&B, and hip-hop, and lots of other stuff. How do you think genre really holds up now, compared to solidly things used to be labelled before? Do you think we’re getting to a time where it’s becoming redundant, and more just 'good music’ and 'bad music’? Because I know a lot of the time, especially with newer stuff, when people are asking me what kind of music I make, I don’t necessarily know how to call it. Do you think the times of ‘you’re this, you’re that’ are going, or do you think it’s still very much the same?

SL: Yeah, I think it’s definitely getting redundant as far as the artist is concerned. I think genre is put there to make the music like a business plan. And that’s the part that I hate about it, and why I might not put out another album for a long time, until it’s figured out. Because I hate looking at music and thinking about songs like a fucking iPhone 5 that I have to sell. And then I have another version, the 5s coming out next week, with a different feature, that’s gonna project ‘this many’ sales. I really hate looking at music like that man, so I’ll be happy when it’s figured out. I guess at the end of the day it is a business that I signed up for, but I think when art and business collide, it’s this weird mushy language that you have to, kind of, dance between. So, yeah, I guess I’m still figuring out what to call it to this day. It was definitely a big learning experience releasing my first album. For me, I put ‘Pop’ on it, because albums like the James Brown shit and the Prince shit — those were all ‘Pop’, right? And the had all types of shit on there. So I did that, because I didn’t see it as being anything else. However, what’s considered ‘Pop’ these days, is far from what my album was, you know? It’s super... I guess I can call it white. If you’re black you’re in, like, R&B, or ‘Urban Contemporary’. You’re not ‘Pop’. So, I kind of wanted to challenge artist and no-one gives a fuck. [Laughs] But, still.

HS: No, they do. I think the waves have changed, coming from people who are just doing it differently. I don’t think that’s necessarily defined on the side of the artist. People like you end up influencing people who love you, and who realise “Oh I want to make shit that sounds like that”. I think it makes a bigger impact than you maybe think it does. With the album, there’s so much of you in it; you’re pouring so much of yourself into it. Is there any point to even making music for you if you’re not just being honest, writing the truth, and being vulnerable and stuff? I know for me, there’s not really anything that appeals to me about just writing songs, just to have them be ‘good’ songs. I need them to mean something to me, you know? SL: Right, one hundred percent.

HS: From the album, I’m assuming you feel the same way? It’s so personal…

SL: Oh yeah, oh yeah. it’s been cool for me, to see it, because I don’t look for acclaim. So when people ask me how the album’s doing, I’m like “I don’t know”; I’ve got to see people react to it for me to know. But the tour’s been showing me that it’s been doing what it’s supposed to be.

HS: You put [architect and designer] Verner Panton’s Living Tower as the cover… What was it that made you go: “I want this to be the cover of my record”?

SL: I think I found his rooms online, and I really loved his builds, and his architecture. How he would do these rooms — the colour palette. Then my friend got me his book for Christmas, and I look at that and was like: “Fuck. I probably can’t find any of these rooms, but i can probably get that chair!” So, we managed to get one, and we shot with it.

HS: Do you still have it?

SL: Yeah, it’s in my house now. It’s in my room, by the window. And it’s really nice.

HS: And why did you want to call it Apollo XXI?

SL: I wanted the number 21 in there, because it was coming out on my 21st birthday. And then I was just thinking of words that could go in front of the 21. I couldn’t just do 21 because, you know, Adele, she already ran that one. So I was just being a little brazen there. I was just thinking of little phrases, something I could just put in front of it. And “Apollo” popped up in my head. Someone told me to look up Apollo, and the Greek god popped up. I connected a lot with that, and I just ran with it. It sounded good together.

HS: In terms of the subject, how — especially being in America right now — does the politics influence you when you’re writing? Do you ever feel like you should be being political, or do you feel completely opposite, that you shouldn’t, or you just don’t want to be political? How does it affect you in terms of what you’re making?

SL: I think there’s different ways to be political.

HS: Yeah, I would have to agree with that.

SL: I don’t think you have to necessarily be an activist to be political. […] I think me being my free self is a political statement.

HS: Yeah. Especially coming out of a collective and then going on your own, I think people then want to know what you think, rather than knowing what a band thought. What are some of the props and cons of moving more into the solo stuff from working on band albums? Obviously the creative process is way different, then the touring is way different. It's almost like a whole different job in a lot of ways. What’s your favourite thing about it, and what’s something you don’t like about it as much?

SL: Um… I think my favourite thing about it is that I’m in full control. I guess I had to ease into that, because I got super used to being the guy in the back, you know? And that was cool — I got used to that. But learning to be a boss is pretty fun, I think [laughs]. When you’re in a band, everyone compromises for whoever, for each other, for everybody. So I guess my favourite part is not having that compromise, and doing all the crazy shit, and funny stuff I want to do. Yeah. I think that’s the best part.

HS:  want to ask you about a couple other people for a second. You’ve got Kari faux and Alima Lee [on tour]; Alima filmed a bunch of stuff with me in the studio.

SL: Oh really!?

HS: Yeah, she’s so great.

SL: Oh shit — that’s crazy! I love her. Wow. Small world. That’s insane.

HS: What about them made you choose them? Did you know them beforehand? How did it come about?

SL: Yeah, I knew them before. Alima’s one of my favourite DJ’s, and I didn’t want a band for this tour. So I asked Alima, like: “Hey, I got a proposal, would you be down?” And then we started rehearsing, and out chemistry was great. She kind of saved the tour, to be honest [laughs]. And then Kari, she’s just one of my best friends. I wanted to bring her with me. It’s been great. We have such a good team, and it feels so good. Everyone’s having a good time, and yeah. It’s a really nice tour, man.

HS: And how was it working with Solange on When I Get Home?

SL: Oh, that was cool. She’s cool. Real big sister vibe. I came in as a stranger, and we spoke about music, and then just found our friendship from there. And yeah, it’s been cool ever since. She’s very nice.

HS: How do you find it working in someone else’s realm? In some ways, does it feel like a band thing, when you’re working on someone else’s thing?

SL: Kind of, yeah. It’s like you’re starting a new band with someone every time. I think that’s how it feels the most comfortable. I was talking to [producer] Raphael Saadiq about that, and he told me a line that he says to people when he’s producing is “I’m in your band now.” He says it helps people feel comfortable. Yeah. I like that one-liner.

HS: That’s a good one. How was working with Ravyn?

SL: Ravyn? Oh, sick! She’s like a little young, fairy goddess when it comes to singing. It’s crazy. I brought her out in Chicago with me, because that’s her hometown. I was like: “Yo, we have to perform these songs here.”

HS: How did you guys meet?

SL: We met on the internet. A couple of people had been telling me to mess with her. And then one day, I went driving, and I played her EP — at the time it was called Midnight Moonlight. I thought: “Holy shit”; her vocal production really flipped me out. And I hit up immediately like: “Hey. We have to do something together.” Initially I wanted to start a dup with her, but her label situation is interesting, so it had to be her project.

HS: Right. What are you listening to right now? What are three things you love?

SL: Okay, I can give you some songs. This song I’ve been loving is “You’re A Runaway” by The Bucketheads. It’s a really nice little house track. “She Live” by Maxo Kream with Megan Thee Stallion [laughs] — that’s a good one. A lot of my new demos I’ve been listening to... Oh! “Terrorize My Heart (Disco Dub)” by 795. That’s a good one. Was that three?

HS: Yeah! And then, a book that you’ve read anytime recently that you would recommend to anyone?

SL: Oh, yes! I left it in the hotel room. It’s a Murakami book, I’m trying to get them to ship it to my next hotel room. I think it’s... A Wild Sheep Chase?

HS: Oh yep. It is! Have you read any more Murakami things?

SL: No, I haven’t. My friends gave it to me before I left.

HS: He’s one of my favourites.

SL: Yeah I’m trying to get into it. My attention span is shorter than my haircut right now.

HS: He did one called What I Talk About When I Talk about Running, which is kind of short and fun — wether you like running or not. It’s just so good. And then Norwegian Wood is my favourite. That was like, the book that got me into reading. That made me enjoy it the most.

SL: Woah. Okay, cool.

HS: Anyway, just to add mate, I love the album. And I listen to it a lot. It’s wonderful to listen to someone doing something so great. Everyone loves it, and it’s really interesting, and dynamic, and deep, and true. It’s amazing art, man. It’s very cool to listen to people just doing what they want to do. And you can tell that you love it, and you’ve obviously put so much into it. So thanks for making it.

SL: Oh, thank you! I appreciate it. I’m glad it got to you, man.

HS: I’m glad to do this, it’s fun. My final question is, what makes a good loafer?

SL: What makes a good loafer?

HS: What makes a good loafer.

SL: Are you saying “loafer”, or “lover”?

HS: Loafer. I mean, you can tell me what makes a good lover as well, but loafer. That’s the question. I always ask this because I know everyone’s answer will be slightly different, and I know you like a loafer.

SL: Loafer…. I think a good loafer is about… the shape. The shape of the loafer, for one. And then I think the sole is very important too. I don’t like a loafer with too thin of a sole. But I like a nice loafer that’s not too sharp at the tip. It’s kinda square, but it’s kinda round, as it’s square.

HS: What about the tassel?

SL: Um. I haven't eased into the tassel. I think that's too much of an uncle zone for me. I'm already an uncle as it is, so I keep the tassel to the other dudes.

HS: I'm not an uncle, and I do the tassel.

SL:  Okay! l love the tassel, but I'm not ready for that.

HS: It's so good, man. It's fun. It's definitely fun. You should try it.

SL: When you're dancing, do you, like, kick out and it moves?

HS: Yeah, it moves. It flaps. It adds a whole new dimension to the shoe.

SL: That’s pretty sick.

HS: Yeah, it is [laughs]. oKAY, SO. A thick sole, squared at the top, not too sharp on the tip. That’s your go-to loafer. You heard it here first: Man About Town.

SL: And the colour too. The colour’s great.

HS: Of course. Thanks, man. Thanks for having me. And I’ll see you.. somewhere down the road. I’ll see you in LA or something.

SL: Yeah! I’ll hit you.

HS: Take care.

#interviewerharry #harry styles #steve lacy #nov19 #quote

[bucky-of-the-opera]

Keep on Loving You

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Reader

Summary: Steve gets some TLC after the battle at Starcourt Mall.

Warnings: language, angst, fluff, slight smut (sfw), nudity (non-explicit)

Word Count: 3,202

A/N: Apparently, it’s become a regular thing for Steve to take a beating, so I felt obligated to write a fic where someone takes care of him for once. Steve “The Hair” Harrington deserves it.

As you entered Scoops Ahoy for what must have been the thousandth time that summer, you spotted your boyfriend, Steve. He was currently talking to his coworker, Robin. His sailor uniform always brought a smile to your face, even if he hated it.

Steve’s back was facing you, so Robin brought his attention to you in her usual pleasant fashion. “Hey dingus,” she said coolly, “your girlfriend — who is way out of your league by the way — is waiting at the counter.”

He rolled his eyes at her and then spun around to greet you, his face lighting up as his eyes fell on you. “Ahoy, Y/N! Here for your usual?” he asked, resting both hands on the counter.

“Not today,” you responded. “I was actually coming to tell you that I’ll be out of town for a few days; my parents and I are leaving tomorrow to help my grandma move and get settled into her new place.”

“Gee, thanks for the heads up,” he said, dropping his head into his hands. He looked like a disheartened child who was just told that he couldn’t have dessert until he finished his vegetables.

“I’m sorry it’s such short notice. My aunt was supposed to help her move, but she had to pick up an extra shift at work.”

Steve groaned. “First Henderson leaves me, and now my girlfriend’s leaving me too.” He picked up a discarded straw wrapper and twirled it around his fingers. “When will you be back?”

“Probably really late on the third so we can be back for the Fourth of July festival.”

“Can I come over tonight after my shift?” he asked.

You scratched the back of your neck, trying to avoid his eyes. “I don’t know. I still have a lot of stuff I have to get done before I leave, and I haven’t even started packing.” You glanced at his face, which was a mistake; he was giving you the most pathetic puppy dog eyes and pout combination you’d ever seen. How could you say no to that face?

“Fine,” you sighed. “But I seriously have to finish all of my packing tonight.” You pointed your finger at him. “That means no distractions from you.”

He gave you a Cheshire Cat-like grin as he crossed his fingers behind his back. “No distractions. I promise.”

“Uh-huh. I’m sure you do,” you said, as you leaned forward to press a kiss to his cheek. “I’ll see you tonight, Steve.” You waved a quick goodbye to Robin and then walked out of the ice cream shop.

Steve’s eyes followed you until you had completely left his field of view. He momentarily forgot that he was still at work and nearly jumped out of his skin when Robin shouted at him. “Earth to Harrington! You have another customer!”

He muttered an apology as he tended to the next person in line, counting down the hours until he could see you again.

***

Later that night, you were in your room throwing together some outfits to put into your suitcase. Your radio was playing an REO Speedwagon song which you started dancing along to. You spun around and unexpectantly came face to face with your boyfriend.

“Shit! You can’t sneak up on me like that Steve!” You clutched your chest, waiting for your heart rate to return to normal.

He laughed and placed both of his hands on your waist before pressing a quick kiss to your forehead. “I’m sorry. Your mom let me up, and I didn’t want to interrupt your dance party.”

You huffed and folded your arms, which made Steve pull you closer. He leaned his head down and spoke softly into your ear. “Don’t be mad sweetheart. I thought we could have some fun before you leave tomorrow.” His words sent a shiver down your spine.

Your hands found their way around the back of Steve’s neck, and your fingers started their normal routine of playing with his hair. He never let anyone but you touch his hair; it was an intimate moment shared between the two of you. Steve lowered his head to where your neck and shoulder meet, while you moved one of your hands upward to lightly scratch his scalp. You gave his hair a slight tug, making him moan. He retaliated by nipping and swirling his tongue against the curve of your neck, causing you to gasp.

“Steve…” you groaned, trying to muster up the will power to push him away. “I told you earlier: no distractions. I haven’t finished packing yet.”

Steve reluctantly detached himself from you. Too soon for your liking, if you were being honest. He looked around your room and spotted the pile of clothes on your bed. Then he grabbed several pairs of shorts and a few tops and tossed them into your suitcase.

“There,” he said triumphantly, “all done.”

“So, I’ll be walking around barefoot, wearing no bra and no underwear?”

He smirked at you. “Sounds good to me.”

You shook your head and began folding all the clothes he had tossed into your suitcase. “You are no help at all Steve Harrington. Go sit down and wait for me to finish.”

“Fine,” Steve groaned, collapsing backwards onto your bed.

You chuckled and went back to your packing, singing along to a new song that had started playing.

Steve watched you as you worked, wondering how the hell he was going to survive the next few days without you.

***

“All done,” you announced after you had finished packing. You looked up to see Steve sitting on your bed propped up against your pillows. He had picked up one of your magazines and seemed very enthralled by whatever article he was reading. You rolled your eyes and walked over to the bed, tugging the magazine out of his grasp to set it on your nightstand.

“I was reading that,” he said, glancing up at you.

You climbed on top of him, placing one leg on each side of his lap. Your fingers found their way back into his hair as you began playing with his long locks once more. “I know you were, but I thought we could have some fun before I leave tomorrow,” you said, reiterating what he suggested earlier.

Steve didn’t have to be told twice. He launched himself forward, crashing his lips against yours. You smiled into the kiss as he wrapped his hands around your waist once more to pull you closer. He traced your bottom lip with his tongue before taking it between his teeth. When he moved one of his hands downward to graze your thigh with his fingers, you had to stifle a giggle. Steve trailed kisses across your jaw and down your neck, but you couldn’t hold in your laughter any longer.

He pulled his head back to look at you and chuckled as well. “Why are you laughing?!”

“I can’t help it! I’m ticklish!”

“Well, I’m trying to put the moves on you, but you’re making it a little difficult to be honest.”

You giggled again and cupped his face with your hands. Steve felt his heart skip a beat every time he heard your laughter. You smiled at him as your thumbs brushed his cheeks. “I’m sorry, Stevie.”

God, he loved when you called him that. He rested his forehead against yours and sighed. “I’m gonna miss you so much.”

“I’ll be gone for less than a week,” you responded. He groaned and dropped his head onto your shoulder. You left one hand tangled in his hair and ran the other one up and down his back. “Do you have to work on the Fourth of July?”

“Yeah. It sucks, but they’re letting me out a few hours early since it’s a holiday.”

“My family and I are going to the festival to see the fireworks. Do you wanna meet me there after work?”

His hands squeezed your waist. “Absolutely. I’ll even win you a giant teddy bear,” he said, smiling against your shoulder.

“Promise?” you asked.

Steve pulled his head back to look at you before leaning in and pressing a soft kiss to your lips. “I promise.”

***

Steve hadn’t answered any of your phone calls after the first night that you had called him from your grandma’s house. You tried to come up with a rationalize reason as to why your boyfriend had been dodging your calls, but your brain was psyching you out. A million different scenarios were running through your head: he wasn’t home when you called, he was in the hospital, or he was going to break up with you.

By the time you got home, it was too late to call Steve. You waited until morning when the mall was open to drive over, and ran straight to Scoops Ahoy. When you reached the store you stopped dead in your tracks: the gate was down. Every other place in the mall was open except for Scoops Ahoy. Maybe both Steve and Robin were sick and called off, leaving no one able to run the store. If he was sick, then he was at home. So you got back into your car and drove over to his house. You banged on his door for a full minute, but no one answered. Even when you started chucking rocks at Steve’s bedroom window there was no answer. You were dumbfounded; you didn’t know what to do or where else to look, so you drove back home.

A few hours later, your parents were about to leave for the festival. Your mother came into your room where you were lying on your bed, staring at the phone.

“Are you going out dressed in your pajamas?” she asked.

You glanced towards her and then back at the phone, willing it to ring. “I’m not going. I’m not in a very festive mood.”

Your mother knew not to push you when you were in a bad mood. She kissed the top of your head and told you she would keep an eye out for Steve before leaving your bedroom.

When the sun had finally set, you decided to go outside and watch the fireworks from your driveway. Watching them seemed more appealing than waiting for your phone to ring, anyway. You hopped onto the hood of your car and waited for the display to start. Lately, it seemed like all you were doing was waiting.

***

The fireworks distracted you for a while, but they weren’t able to lighten your mood. You started to make your way back inside just as a helicopter flew overhead. When you looked up, you saw at least a dozen more. It seemed like they were flying towards the Starcourt Mall. You were out of ideas, so you hopped into your car and followed them.

Your suspicion was right; the helicopters landed in the mall parking lot. The sight before you left you awestruck: the mall was on fire. The very mall that you had spent your whole summer shopping at; the mall where your boyfriend worked. What if he was trapped inside when the fire started? You felt sick. You needed to find Steve; you needed to know that he was ok.

Stepping out of your car, you took everything in: the flashing lights and sirens on the emergency vehicles and the soldiers swarming towards the mall. When you looked over at the ambulances, you saw some familiar faces: Mike, Eleven, Will, and his mother. Even Nancy and Johnathan were huddled in the back of an ambulance. But there was someone else standing in front of that ambulance. You knew immediately as you saw the mane of brown hair. He didn’t even need to be in a sailor uniform for you to notice him: it was Steve.

You took off, running as fast as your legs could carry you. “STEVE!” you shouted as you got closer. He spun around and locked eyes with you.

“Y/N!” He ran to meet you halfway. The blanket that had been wrapped around his shoulders fell to the ground. When you finally reached each other, you jumped into his arms, causing him to stumble backwards. You clutched the back of his uniform, holding him as tight as you could.

Only when he started to tremble did you finally pull back to examine his face. His left eye was badly swollen, and he had a gash on his lip. You placed your hand on the right side of his face. He leaned into your touch as a tear slipped down his cheek.

“Stevie, what happened to you?” you cooed.

Steve cleared his throat. “You know, the usual. Attacked by a monster from another dimension and kidnapped by Russians who had a secret base underneath the mall.” He tried to laugh it off until he saw the worried look on your face. “It’s all over now, Y/N. I’m fine.”

You looked into his eyes, tears threatening to spill from your own. “Are you sure?”

“I’m… I—” he swallowed. His grip tightened on your waist. “No. I’m not okay. I’m not…” he trailed off, unable to hold back the sobs that came.

“Oh, Stevie.” You wiped away the tears that had begun to fall down his cheek. “Let me take you home,” you whispered. He nodded, and you took him by the hand to lead him to your car.

***

On the drive over you tried to coax more out of him, but he wouldn’t go into any more detail of what had happened to him. He had told you a few weeks after you two started dating that he had fought off a creature that Dustin had called a Demodog. Maybe another one of those had gotten loose in the mall? The so-called “Russian invasion” was still a mystery to you, but you knew Steve would talk about it when he was ready.

“Why don’t you go shower, and I’ll get you some clean clothes,” you said to him when you walked inside his house. His parents were still out of town on a business trip, so you two had the place to yourselves.

Steve’s hand was holding yours, and when you tried to walk away, he only held on tighter. You looked back at him, but he was staring at the ground.

“Stay with me,” he whispered, switching his gaze to you.

“Always,” you said as the both of you walked hand in hand to the bathroom.

You turned the shower on and spun around to see Steve undressing. Your breath caught in your throat when you saw his torso: it was covered in purple and blue bruises. He glanced over at you and saw you staring at them, so he turned to examine himself in the mirror.

“They’re not as bad as they look. I mean, they hurt like hell,” he shrugged. “But it could be worse.” You looked down at your feet as he finished undressing; in all the months that you had been together you still hadn’t seen each other completely bare. “I don’t mind,” he said when he saw your trepidation. “I’ve been informed that I’m very easy on the eyes,” he smirked.

You giggled and walked up to him, kissing him sweetly on the lips. “You are, indeed, Mr. Harrington.” He smiled down at you. “Now get in there,” you nodded at the shower. “You stink.”

Steve stepped inside and gave you a wink before closing the curtain. You leaned against the sink and stared at the shower. You could have so easily lost him tonight; you didn’t want to waste any more time stressing over trivial things.

Releasing a breath that you didn’t realize you’d been holding, you stripped yourself of your clothing and peeled back the curtain to join Steve. He was in the middle of lathering his hair with shampoo when he froze, seeing you fully exposed to him. His eyes widened as you stepped closer. You brought your hands to his hair, working through the rest of the shampoo. Steve moaned in appreciation, closing his eyes to savor the feeling of your fingers massaging his scalp. He brought his hands to your backside, cupping your ass and squeezing gently. You gasped at his touch, making him chuckle. When you finished scrubbing his hair, you tilted his head backwards so you could rinse out the shampoo. While his eyes were still closed, you leaned forward to kiss him again. You dragged your tongue along his lower lip, being mindful of the cut.

“Steve…” you whispered against his lips. You felt tears pricking your eyes.

He pulled you closer so that there was no space left between you both. Steve lowered his head to press soft kisses from your jaw down to your shoulder. When he started to head towards you chest, you stopped him.

“Stevie.”

He pulled back to look at your face and saw the tears falling down your cheeks. Steve leaned his forehead against yours and held you close while the water cascaded over your bodies.

“You look so tired,” you said after getting a good look at the dark circles under his eyes. “Let me finish washing your hair so you can get some sleep.” He didn’t argue, just stood still for you as you conditioned his hair and rinsed it out once more.

While you were drying off, you heard Steve’s stomach growl. “When was the last time you ate?” you asked.

“I don’t remember.”

You frowned and wrapped the towel tightly around yourself. “Go put something comfortable on. I’ll get you some food.”

You went down to the kitchen to make him a sandwich while he got dressed. When you came back upstairs, you found Steve nodding off. He was half dressed as he sat on his bed with his shirt in his hands. You set the plate on his nightstand next to a glass of water and walked over to him. Taking the shirt from him, you woke him gently so he could help you get his arms through it.

“Eat your food and drink some water. Then you can sleep,” you said to him.

Steve took the sandwich and scarfed it down while you rummaged through his drawers. You took out one of his shirts and pulled it over your head.

After Steve placed the plate on his nightstand next to the now empty glass, he climbed under the covers. He motioned for you to join him, so you laid down beside him. Steve adjusted himself so that his head was lying on your chest and his leg was strewn across both of yours. You stroked his damp hair, and he sighed deeply.

“Thank you for taking care of me,” he mumbled against your chest. “I love you Y/N.”

“I love you too, Stevie,” you responded softly as he drifted off to the sound of your heart beating. You smiled to yourself. It was the first time both of you had said the L word to each other. You weren’t sure how much Steve would remember in the morning, but you promised yourself that from now on, you would always remind him of how much you loved him.

#steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #stranger things #steve harrington fic #stranger things fic

[nekoannie-chan]

Fool

Pairing: Steve Rogers X Female Reader

Word count: 1212 words.

Summary: Steve is in love with a girl, and he’s super nervous but he’s trying not to show how nervous he is so he acts overly confident and just repeatedly makes a fool of himself.

Warnings: None.

A/N: The magazine I referred really existed, was very popular when I was a teenager.

This is a request by @what-just-happened-bro​, in this ask. Sorry for taking me so long, I hope you like it.

My native language is Spanish so I wanna improve my writing skills in English if you notice any mistake please let me know and I will correct it.

I don’t give any kind of permission that my fics be posted in other platforms or languages (I translate myself my work) or the use of my graphics (my dividers are included in this), I did them exclusively for my fics, please respect my work and don’t steal it. There are some people here who make dividers that anyone can use, mine is not this type, please look for the other’s people. The only exception is the ones I gifted ‘cuz now belong to someone else. If you find any of my works on a different platform and is not one of my accounts, please let me know. Reblogs and comments are always welcome.

DISCLAIMER: I don’t own Marvel’s characters (unfortunately), except for the original characters and the story.

My other media where I publish: Wattpad, Ao3, ffnet.

If you like it please vote, comment, and give me feedback to improve my skills and reblog. 

Steve got up from the bench, didn't understand anything, he'd been in the park for a while watching the couples, everything was very different from his time, he didn't know what to do.  

He liked you, he'd met you when Fury introduced him to the STRIKE team, immediately you caught his attention, you seemed beautiful.  

He had a hard time accepting his feelings when she woke up at this time he didn't think she might like someone different from Peggy until he met you.  

For him everything was very confusing, how were women courted now?  

He had analyzed Tony's behavior of women, but he didn't think it was very appropriate, he didn't even think he was capable of doing something like that.  

The advice Natasha had given his was too bold. It just looked like no one could help him.  

He also didn't feel like it was a good idea to just come in and say: ‘I'm Captain America, do you want to have a date with me?’

Along the way, he went through a newsstand, he stops when a cover of one of the teen magazines caught his eye.  

 "CONQUER THE GIRL OF YOUR DREAMS", that said one of the headlines on the cover, he has no hesitated in buying it.  

 He started reading the article, he could do what was indicated there, he had already decided, would start the next day, although he could not even sleep on his nerves.  

 ‘GIRLS LIKE STRONG AND CONFIDENT MEN.’  

 That meant he shouldn't be nervous in front of you, he had to act very safely and pretend he wasn't dying of nerves.

That day the training was on the outside, a slightly wooded area near the Triskelion.  

You and Natasha were warming up together, Steve thought it was a good time to put the plan in place.  

He started exaggeratedly doing the exercises in front of you.  

"What is he supposed to do?” You asked Natasha in a murmur.  

"I'm…not…sure…”

“He looks very confident, but ...”

“Maybe he wants to get our attention? Natasha remarked.  

"Well... he looks... ridiculous...”

“What the hell are you doing, Rogers?” Brock asked.  

"N-Nothing.”

Steve was more concerned with trying to impress you then paying attention to training, you were supposed to be teaching the recruits hand-to-hand combat, Brock launched an attack, which of course Steve didn't realize and ended up falling sharply into the mud as a result of the blow.  

You put your hand on your mouth to try not to laugh. You and Natasha took a look at each other.  

Unfortunately, the training ended in a fight between Steve and Brock. Although Steve thought the first step had been successful.

 ‘COOK A SPECIAL DISH FOR HER, PREFERENCE HER FAVORITE’, was the next tip.

 Steve was trying to remember if at some point you had commented on what your favorite food was, but you didn't make it, maybe you had never done it, he was walking down the aisles looking for you, it would be best to ask you while making your muscles noticeable again, he was convinced that would work.

Suddenly he heard your voice and Natasha's, he hid to hear you, although it was a little difficult to understand what you were saying.  

"I don't know if it's a good idea, it's that tomorrow," Natasha said.

“... Birthday...”

Steve opened his eyes, deduced that the next day it would be your birthday, he immediately went back to his office and started looking for recipes, coming out bought everything he needed, decided it would be strawberry because the woman in the video tutorial had said that strawberries liked girls.  

Never before in his life, Steve had cooked, the bread of the cake burned, but he thought it was ok, and the decoration seemed worse than if it had been made by a five-year-old, had he even tried to draw a unicorn with whipped cream even though he looked more like a run-down dog.  

The next day he convinced that his cake would enchant you even though he was nervous about the taste, he waited for you to stop by his office, as soon as he saw you, and he called you.  

“Happy birthday do... Y/N!” He congratulated you on coming in.

"Thank you? But Steve... today is not my birthday," you replied mistaking by mentally asking you where he had come up with that idea.  

"No? Isn’t it?”  

"No, it's Clint's, Natasha, and I, we are planning a party for him... “

“Are you and Clint something?” He interrupted you.  

"Friends, though I can't say the same about him and Natasha.”  

You knew about Clint's family, but you and Natasha loved to feed that rumor.

"Oh... Well, I did this for you," he said a little disappointed.

Steve cut a slice and gave it to you on the plate.

"Thank you, let’s gonna eat it... “

You zoomed in on the plate to see it better... the cake was burned and had something else.  

"What is this Steve?” You questioned pointing out what appeared to be a burnt fruit.  

"Strawberries, the woman in the video says girls like them... “

"Oh... Steve...”

“Is there a problem?”  

"I'm allergic to strawberries... “

Steve opened his eyes big and was stunned.  

"I-I'm sorry... I didn't know...”

At Clint's party, Steve couldn't help but feel bad about the cake, he even left early.  

He took the magazine, didn't understand why things didn't go well, decided to jump the third to the ninth council, and read the last one.  

 "WRITE HER NOTES EXPRESSING YOUR FEELINGS FOR HER."  

 That was going to take him a few days, he started looking on the internet and found many examples, in many sticky notes he wrote everything down, the day he had everything ready, he arrived early and started to hit them in what he believed was your office, once he finished, he saw the time on the clock, just in time, in less than fifteen minutes would come, he went to the parking lot to wait for you, breathed deeply several times so that his nerves would not be evident.

"Good morning, Steve,” you greeted him.

"Hello," he reciprocated with a smile.  

"Is something wrong?” You asked when you saw that he was still on your side.

"Go to your office," he asked.  

You walked to where he told you, he was next to you, and you stopped four doors before the office Steve had decorated and opened it, when you walked in, it was just like you left it the day before.  

“Steve... there's nothing here.”  

"Is this your office?” Steve asked dumbfounded.

So who belonged to the office where you put the notes?  

"Yes, why?”  

"I thought...”

“CLINT BARTON!” Natasha shouted as she opened her office and saw all the notes.

"Oh no...”

"Whatever you wanted to do, I think you were wrong," you said.  

Steve looked sorry, he didn't know what to do.

"Steve, have all the weird things you've done in the last few weeks been for me?” You questioned.  

"Yes, it's just that...”

"I like you too, you just had to come and tell me," you confessed.

"I... everything in this time is confusing...”

“Do you want to go to the movies on Saturday?”  

"I'd love to," Steve agreed.

#Steve Rogers #steve rogers fic #steve rogers one shot #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers x y/n #steve rogers x you #captain america #captain america fic #captain america fanfiction #captain america x you #captain america one shot #captain america x y/n

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Stark Spangled Banner Ch 28: Crossbones

Summary: The Avengers uncover the identity of the mysterious Crossbones and mount a mission to apprehend him in Lagos.

Warnings: Bad Language words. A bit of light smut. No under 18s please!)

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist  

Hit me with an ask for a Tag/Request

(also for this one, I’ve played a little bit with the official MCU timeline for Ant Man’s appearance here but let me have some creative license!)

 January 2016

“Are you sure this isn’t a team call?” Katie asked Steve, watching as he picked up his SHIELD.

“No.” he said firmly, as they walked down the corridor.  “We don’t even know if he will be there.”

“But…”

“Katie, stop it.” he chuckled, pushing the door open to enter the hangar. “We’ll be fine. This is intelligence gathering, I’ve no intention of heading straight off after this guy, not until we find out what his play is.”

“His play is arms trading.” Nat interjected dryly as she appeared at the side of the jet.

“Which we are going to gather intelligence on.” Steve looked at her sternly “Nothing more.”

Katie bit her lip, she wasn’t convinced.

“We’ll be fine.” Steve continued, putting both his hands on her shoulders before he deftly changed the subject. “Don’t you have an interview to be getting ready for?”

He watched as the gentle smile spread across her face, a surge of pride flooding his system. She’d recently found out that the author of one of the books SIP had published last year had worked their way onto the Pulitzer Nominee list for fiction. The book itself held a plot centred around a War Veteran and the letters he wrote to his girl back home, and she’d roped Steve into helping the author keep it as factually correct as possible, something he had found strangely nostalgic yet enjoyable. Upon publishing it had flown off the shelves, the original 500 copies went within 3 hours causing a mad scramble for a second run and downloads had been off the scale. Other than the Thrombey book they had published, it was their biggest seller to date, shifting almost half a million copies in a month, and with a foreword from Steve Rogers, critics had raved about how poignant it was. It hadn’t won the prize, but simply being a nominee Katie had explained was an honour in itself. The Publicists at SIP had arranged for the author to be interviewed in a few newspapers and magazines along with one of them also requesting Katie, to discuss the launch of her new Foundation. This was going to work alongside the September Foundation Tony was launching, but instead of focusing on inventors and science she was focussing on authors and the arts. After a lot of deliberation and brain storming with Steve she’d called it the March Foundation. A play on words to honour both the War Based fiction that had inspired it and the man who had saved her life as March was the month of Bucky’s birth. A decision that had really touched Steve.

“Just be careful…” she sighed as she eyed Natasha heading up the ramp into the jet.

“I’m always careful.” Steve kissed her gently.

“Now that’s just an out and out lie…” she mumbled against his lips. He grinned and pulled back, pecking her mouth once more before he started up the ramp. He paused at the top and turned to face her. “We’ll be back late tonight. Don’t wait up.”

“I won’t!” she teased.

He flashed her another grin and then he hit the button and the ramp started to close. A loud siren told Katie that the hangar door was opening and that was her cue to leave. She headed back over to the steps at the side, leading up to the mezzanine and as she reached the top she saw the jet fly out of the side and over the frosty compound grounds. It was up and gone before she had reached the double doors at the top.

The base was a hive of activity already, despite it being little after 7am. Katie was heading for an hour or so in the gym before her day began properly. She stuck her Bluetooth headphones in, selected the usual work out play-list and began to run on the treadmill, slowly at first to ease herself in- she was a little bit stiff and sore from her sparring session with Natasha yesterday. Nat had really upped the ante on Katie over the last month or so, which was good as Katie was now pretty much on a par with her when it came hand to hand, something Steve had been completely astonished to see after walking in on the two women just as his wife floored Natasha with a well-placed leg swipe the red head didn’t see coming. 

40 minutes later, Katie swapped to the rower to finish off, and was approximately half way through the 3k distance when her music cut off and the screen to the right of the machine switched over from the play-list to Rhodey.

"Hey Kiddo," he smiled as she stopped rowing to look at him. "Sorry to interrupt, but we’ve had a sensor trip on the outer perimeter of the facility."

"You send someone out there?" she frowned, catching her breath as she picked up the bottle of water that was to her right.

"Yeah, Sam is currently out there looking for it, just thought, well seeing as Cap and Nat are out, you’re technically the one in charge so…”  

She let out a snort. Being 3rd in command was something she didn’t really care for, knowing full well it was Steve’s way giving her some kind of authority over simply being the Captain’s Wife, but she’d accepted the gesture simply because he’d been so excited when he had asked her she couldn’t refuse.

"Thanks Rhodey.” she said, already halfway out of the gym “I’ll be right there."

She moved quickly to the armoury, grabbed a gun and a fleece jacket before quickly making her way outside.

"What's going on up there, Sam?" Rhodey spoke in her ear as she walked into the cold air, spotting Sam circling above.

"I'm at the location of the sensor trip, but I'm not seeing anything" he said, “oh, hang on…”

“What is it?” Katie asked, watching him as he circled above her.

“Roof top…”

“Gimme a lift?” 

Sam swooped down from the clear, winter sky and she grabbed his arm as he effortlessly pulled her up, dropping them both onto the flat roof of one of the buildings.

"I can see you." Sam called out loudly as they landed.

Katie frowned, as she didn't know what Sam was talking about until out of nowhere a man in a red and silver suit, with an insect like helmet suddenly appeared. Katie cocked her gun and aimed it at him.

"Who the hell are you?" she questioned. As they watched the man started to awkwardly introduce himself to Sam, his mask lifted to reveal a shaky smile as he waved.

"Hi, I'm Scott. I know who you are, obviously, you’re Katie Stark, I mean Rogers…” Scott started trying to hold back his enthusiasm and motioning towards Sam and Katie with a chuckle, "I'm a big fan.”

"Appreciate it. But like the lady asked, who the hell are you?" Sam echoed Katie’s earlier sentiments.

"I'm Ant-Man." Scott or Ant-Man answered confidently. Sam and Katie shared an incredulous look and Katie mouthed the name back to him and he shrugged. Katie lowered her gun slightly.

"Wanna tell me what you want?" Katie questioned Ant-Man as the man tried to explain why the 2 Avengers hadn’t heard of him.

Scott pointed towards a building to their left, maintaining eye contact with Katie as he spoke "I was hoping I could grab a piece of technology. Just for a few days, then I'd return it. I need it to, uh, save the world- you know how that is."

"Yeah, we know exactly how that is," Sam said to Scott and Katie felt her mouth twitching into a grin.

“What piece of technology, and what do you mean saving the world?” she asked.

“I’d love to tell you but Hank Pym said never to trust a Stark.” The man called Scott, or Ant-Man was almost apologetic. “Even though you’re technically a Rogers now.”

Katie frowned, she’d never heard of a Hank Pym before, but that was irrelevant now. Sam gave a sigh besides her and stepped forwards.

“We’ve located the breach.” he spoke “Bringing him in…”

"I'm really sorry about this." Scott rushed out and as Sam reached out to him he vanished.

“What the…” Katie spun round and felt something hit her, hard in the back. She fell forward onto the gravelled surface of the roof before rolling onto her back, gun raised again just in time to see Sam flying backwards off the edge, tumbling through the air and grappling with something whilst flying over the lawns of the facility.

Katie could do nothing but stand and watch from her vantage point as Sam continued to wrestle with, then shoot at the man who could shrink and grow seemingly at will. And if she was completely honest, it was kind of entertaining to watch.

“This guy would actually be pretty useful.” Katie mused into the coms, trying but failing to hide the amusement in her voice “Are you recording this? For future, recruitment purposes obviously.”

"All over it." Rhodey responded, a slight chuckle punctuating his confirmation.

It was when the two men crashed into the storage unit that Ant-Man had wanted to break into in the first place that she started to get concerned.

"Err do we have cameras in there?" she questioned Rhodey.

"Uh… negative." Rhodey answered after a short pause.

“Shit.” Running to the side of the roof she scaled down the metal ladder at the side, dropping the last 8 feet or so, landing gently before she ran towards the storage building. At that point Sam came crashing backwards through the metal door and she flung her arms up to shield her face from the debris before glancing up. Sam’s flight pattern was jerky and off and he was gripping at his pack on his back.

"He's in my pack!" Sam shouted before he landed hard in the dirt and with a groan, pulled himself into a standing position, yanking off his goggles.

“You ok?” Katie asked as she got over to him.

Sam sighed. "It's really important to me that Cap never finds out about this."

The pair of them scouted around but to no avail, there was no sign of Ant-Man, or Scott. Katie instructed Rhodey to get the door fixed and lock it down again and said she would speak to Tony to find out what was in there. Sam was luckily not hurt, just a slight bruising to his pride so Katie left him at the lab with Lawson to look at making the repairs to his pack before she headed off to get changed.

*****

Steve and Natasha landed in Sadove, Crimea and were instantly greeted by the man who was leading the investigation into the raid on the local police station. The last 3 out of 6 hits the guy had made had been on small, local outfits with less resistance than the other places he had hit but that was hardly surprising. The former SHIELD base he had hit in Mexico had been heavily guarded, which made Steve think that he had perhaps suffered losses to his team which was making him rethink his strategy. As Natasha chatted to the man in his local language, Steve hung back before the man nodded to Natasha and strode towards him.

“Captain Rogers.” he said, English thick with accent “Inspector Chernov.”

Steve shook the man’s hand “Pleasure to meet you in person Inspector.”

“So you are interested in the man who raided our local station…” “He’s been on our radar for a while.” Steve said, choosing his words carefully “But we don’t have much to go on.” “Well, I’m not sure we can help but I can take you down there and you can see for yourself.” Steve nodded. “That would be great, thanks.”

It wasn’t a long drive, and once they arrived Steve and Natasha were allowed to wander round the scene undisturbed, providing they didn’t interfere with the police and teams already swamping the area. Their search showed them nothing new and they moved to watching the CCTV which the Authorities had refused to send them. They could have hacked into it, but Steve was keen to keep the tentatively growing communication lines with Crimea and Russia as amicable as possible, especially in the light of Sokovia. The Avengers were not a political party, so by remaining respectful of their requests to meet only in person he hoped it went someway to proving they were here to help and had no ulterior motives.

As such they sat in the mobile control centre, scanning the CCTV. Steve watched the footage and sighed.

“This isn’t Hydra.” Nat said.

“I know, it’s not their MO. This guy is too haphazard.” Steve pondered “Just wondering why, considering how well organised he is, he is leaving so much devastation behind.”

“Minimum effort leaving maximum casualties.” Natasha said, watching the footage “He simply doesn’t care who he takes out.” “Well he’s hardly gonna care about that if he’s dealing black market arms.” Steve sighed.

They watched the footage, and Steve held his hand up to Natasha to play it at normal speed when they reached the bit where the key perps were on screen.

“What’s he doing?” he frowned, looking at Crossbones. The man was stood in the middle of the room, looking around.

“He’s scanning for Cameras.” Nat answered as they both watched. 

There was something familiar about the way the man walked and held himself, but Steve couldn’t quite place it. As they continued the footage, Crossbones located the camera they were watching through and looked directly up at it, pulling his mask up to reveal his mouth, clearly saying something.

“Can you enhance that?” Steve asked. Natasha tapped at it.

It zoomed in on the man and Natasha spoke “looks like something about it being personal…”

She held her phone up to the footage and then pressed something, and the phone spoke to her in a robotic voice.

“Big Guy…I just want you to know, this aint personal…” Steve’s gut clenched. The last time he had heard those words were in an elevator in the Triskelion.

“Rogers?” Natasha looked at him, noticing the nerve which was twitching in his jaw “What is it? Does that mean something to you?”

“In a fashion.” he turned to face her. “It’s Rumlow.”

****** The interviews went well and once the photos etc were done Katie and Tony retreated to the living area of the Tower for a well-earned drink as they put the final touches of their tour together. They were to start visiting various Universities across the US to roll out their foundation grants. To ease them both in gently, the first University they were going to was Columbia, so not far from home. Tony and Pepper would be presenting and discussing to students within the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Katie in the School of the Arts for Students on the Writing Programme.

Their chatter moved from work to Tony asking how the Compound was going, and Katie remembered the events of that morning.

“You ever heard of a bloke called Hank Pym?” she asked suddenly.

Tony paused for a moment, frowning at her sudden change of subject, but something stirred in his mind. “The name rings a bell, hang on…FRIDAY, search all files reference Hank Pym.” He instructed, tapping at something on his tablet.

After a few seconds something flashed up in the corner of the screen.

“Yeah, here you go.” He pressed another button causing the image to reflect in front of them as a hologram. “He worked with Dad and SHIELD on a programme called Project GOLIATH.”

“What the hell was that?” Katie asked, taking a pull from her bottle.

“A research programme into some kind of Nano particle.” Tony said as the pair of them simultaneously ran through the information on the screen.

“Ahhhh.” Katie nodded, “makes sense…” “What does?”

Katie explained about the encounter with Scott and Tony gave a hum of agreement. 

“That could actually be kinda useful.”

“I know.” she agreed “But he vanished after he got whatever he wanted. Any thoughts on what it could be?”

“That facility holds a load of crap that was Dad’s” Tony said simply “Could be anything.”

“Well, nothing we could see was missing, but it might be worth you taking a look.” she suggested.

He shrugged “I can do, but there was nothing remotely dangerous in there. Was just a load of old signal jammers and code breakers we don’t really need anymore.”

“Well, I did try and ask what him what it was he wanted, you know, on account of him saying he was saving the world, maybe we could have helped with that, being the Avengers and all, but he simply turned round and said ‘Hank Pym told me never to trust a Stark’.”

She drained her bottle of beer as Tony did the same and he stood up, taking the empties to retrieve 2 more from the fridge.

“Clearly one of many in the long line of people dad pissed off.” Tony rolled his eyes as he popped the lids, before he sighed “I’m actually surprised no one tried to kill him before, you know…”

Katie looked at her brother and swallowed. Tony had no idea how close to the truth he was, that their parents had been assassinated by Hydra, who had made their car crash look like an accident.

“Sorry.” he slid the beer across the bar, mistaking her guilty silence for one of upset “That was out of order.”

“For all his faults I don’t think Dad wasn’t a bad man.” Katie spoke quietly “And he did love us.”

“I know.” Tony nodded, squeezing her hand.

She stayed for another drink and then headed home. She had checked in with Sam before heading back to their apartment and she was settled on the couch with a glass of wine when Steve called.

“Hey Soldier.” she said, smiling at the screen as she flicked the phone to project the image in front of her, muting the TV.

“Hey gorgeous.” He smiled back

“So, how was it?” she asked

“We got the intel.” 

“Solid?”

“Pretty solid yeah.” Natasha spoke, appearing by his side. “We think we know who he is anyway.” “Who?”

Steve sighed “Rumlow.” “What?” Katie spluttered into her wine glass. “Are you sure?”

“Oh pretty sure.” Steve said, “He left me a clear message.”

“Steve recognised him on the Video so I ran a crosscheck.” Nat said “ Turns out he was listed as severely injured and was taken to the hospital. After that, our trail runs cold.” 

“Until now.” Katie sighed.

“We’ve also got a list of his associates, some known faces he’s been seen with.” Steve shrugged “So we’re putting out an alert.”

“Doesn’t give us much to go on though.” Katie rubbed at her temples.

“When have we ever had much to go on?” Natasha asked and Katie shrugged

“Fair point.” she conceded as Natasha moved off out of sight.

“So how has your day been?” Katie looked back at Steve as he spoke.

“Not bad actually.” she said, “Interviews went well, oh, and we had a bit of an incident at base before.” “Incident?” he frowned, “What kind of incident?”

“Attempted break in, nothing major.”

“Everyone ok?”

“Yeah, honestly it was no biggie, I’ll fill you in on when you get home. For the rest of the day once the interviews were done Tony and I drank beer.”

“Sounds pretty productive.” he raised an eyebrow

“Beer is always productive.” Katie informed him and he chuckled.

“We’ll be airborne in 30 minutes and then we should be home in about 4 to 5 hours.” He said, as Katie looked at her watch. It was almost 8:30 pm. 

“Alright, I’ll see you soon.”

“Love you.”

“And you.” she cut the call with a yawn. She was tired. Really tired, so she headed off for a bath. After soaking and listening to music for 40 minutes she dried off and shoved on one of Steve’s T-shirts before climbing into bed and lay there for a moment, flicking through the TV channels. She settled on an episode of Family Guy and snuggled down into the large bed, wrapping herself in the soft covers. It always felt odd sleeping without Steve being there. Sometimes she quite enjoyed being able to starfish in the middle of the Emperor sized bed but tonight she wasn’t enjoying being alone.

****

Steve was whacked when they arrived home. Bidding good night to Natasha he headed back and let himself into their quarters. Crossing the hallway he made his way into the bedroom and paused, a gentle smile spreading on his face. Illuminated in the light from the hallway he could see Katie was curled up in the middle of the bed, using his pillow as a hugging buddy. He quietly crossed the room and perched on the bed, stripping off his boots and uniform top. He paused slightly as Katie stirred and he turned to look at her, gently brushing her hair of her face. He glanced down at the freckles he knew by memory, long thick lashes, soft pink lips…she looked so peaceful asleep.

She stirred again, and the her nose wrinkled in that adorable way it did when she was waking up and she cracked an eye open before her face split into a smile at the sight of her husband.

“Hey.”

“Hey baby doll.” he smiled, his hand cupping her cheek  “Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you”

“It’s ok.” she yawned, leaning into his touch.

"Did I tell you how beautiful you are?" he asked, and through the tiny sliver of light coming from the hallway Katie could see his eyes were full of their usual warmth.

"I don't think you did today, no."

"Well you are" he dropped a soft kiss on her head. “I’m gonna take a shower and then I’ll be right with you.”

She watched him appreciatively as he stood up and pulled his compression-shirt over his head, heading into the en-suite. For a moment she was tempted to join him, but then decided against it, laying back onto her side, dozing.

It wasn’t long before the bed dipped and she felt him slide under the covers next to her. She turned over to snuggle up into the crook of his shoulder, her head laying on his chest.

“So, you wanna tell what the incident was today?” he asked, his right hand reaching up to play with the strands of her hair that fell over her shoulder.

“Oh yeah.” she grinned before she launched into an explanation about Scott-slash-Ant Man. He fell silent for a moment but in the end came to the same conclusion as Tony had, there was nothing in there that was dangerous so they just needed to remain vigilant.

“Yeah, well Sam seemed to be taking vigilant to the extreme as he’s already been on the phone to numerous contracts, trying to track him down.” she said “I think he’s a bit annoyed the guy basically kicked his ass. Rhodey caught it all on video but Sam told me never to tell you about it. He’s taken it quite personally.” “I’m not surprised, he had his ass kicked.” Steve sniggered. “Where do I get a copy of the CCTV?”

Katie grinned, “I have it on my phone, Rhodey sent it to me.”

“Play it.” he instructed.

“What now?” “Yes, right now.” he nodded, moving so he was sat up, jolting her off his chest.

“No Sam will kill me!” she laughed, propping herself up on her elbow

“Screw Sam!” he snorted “He plays those damned Phys Ed videos every chance he gets.”

“That’s true.” Katie pondered “Ok, hang on…”

She turned, reaching over for the phone and the TV remote. Blinking at the sudden light, once her eyes were accustomed to the change she pressed a few buttons on her phone and beamed the footage to the TV on the wall. She had to admit, it looked even funnier from the video play back than it had when she had been there.

Steve let out a huge, genuine laugh, his head thrown back, banging against the headboard, arm clutched across his chest as he laughed, and laughed.

“I’m so showing that at our next briefing.” he said, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes.

“You can’t…” “Oh, I can!”

****

The next morning the pair of them made their way to the briefing room both munching on a piece of toast and each carrying a mug of coffee. It was early, before 8, but Steve wanted the team to be prepared. Everyone filed into the room along with some good humoured grumbling about the time before they dropped into their preferred seats and looked to the front of the room.

“I know it’s early and I’m sorry…” Steve said, holding his hands up, looking round at the team assembled in front of him “But this is important.”

“More important than sleep?” Sam yawned.

Steve ignored him. “Alright, here's what we already know," Steve began to explain how they believed Rumlow to be Crossbones, the masked man who had been causing a whole lot of chaos in the wake of what happened at the Triskelion. Katie knew he was annoyed at himself for not realising he had survived sooner, but even if they had, they’d so much going on, not to mention Ultron had been a much bigger threat in the immediate future

"He's been targeting former SHIELD labs and police stations all over the country and selling products on the black market.” Natasha spoke.

“Police stations?” Katie asked.

“We think he suffered heavy losses at the raid prior to the last three, so he’s going for easier targets whilst he regroups.” Natasha answered.

“Still no intel on who his buyers are?” Wanda asked.

“No.” Steve shook his head, “He seems to have become an independent terrorist, and doesn’t appear to be working for anyone”

“Our recon yesterday told us that Rumlow seems to be operating with this guy.” Natasha explained as the photos flashed up “He’s known as the Black Mamba…” “Black Mamba?” Wanda deadpanned. “Cross Bones and Black Mamba?”

“NATO has every available pair of eyes out looking for them.”  Steve ignored Wanda and looked at Rhodey.

“Soon as they break cover, we’ll know.” Rhodey nodded

“So then what?” Sam frowned

“More recon?” Katie asked

Steve looked at his wife and nodded. “Possibly, but for now we need to let intelligence do their job. But be prepared, when we get a lead I want to be ready to go.”

There were mumbles around the room and Steve let the team lead the discussion. Sam commented on the crap code names again, causing Wanda to laugh. Katie suggested they should compile a detailed profile on Rumlow, see if they could find a pattern to his behaviour, nodding to Vision. the AI had a knack for it as did Katie, so Steve and Natasha nodded, both agreeing it was a good idea.

“We need to be vigilant.” Steve said, “Keep our eyes open for anything that’s out of the ordinary.” He caught Katie’s eye, a wicked smirk crossed his face and she shook her head smiling as he continued “Speaking of which…FRIDAY, play the video”

“Certainly Captain Rogers.” The pictures of Rumlow and Black Mamba disappeared from the screen and suddenly the footage of Sam spiralling through the air started to play. The room started to snigger as Sam looked at Katie who held her hands up in an “it wasn’t me!” gesture.

“Oh come on Man!” he groaned as the room gleefully watched the film, laughter ringing round the room.

******

The next 4 months ticked by with no further information on Rumlow. They pulled together a potted history which tracked the hospital he had been in, when he had escaped (the local authorities had been searching for him for ages since he threatened his nurse upon waking before violently breaking out) his movements since (ones they knew about and some they hadn’t) but it didn’t give them anything new.

Katie and Tony were buried deeply in their Foundation work, which was taking up a lot of Katie’s time so she wasn’t as close to the investigations as she could have been. Steve was fine with that though, the further away she was from Rumlow frankly the better, but he still made sure she was involved with what they had found and she attended the briefings as best she could when she wasn’t travelling the country. Steve’s chest burst with pride every time he saw his girl on the news, in papers, as the press seemed to be lavishing praise upon the siblings for what they were doing. 

Then, one day in the middle of May, they struck gold when one of the Facial Recognition Alerts they had set up pinged to Black Mamba being spotted in a Lagos, Nigeria. As a result Steve had scrambled them all to attention as soon as he could, which was 4 am. But there were no complaints about the time, not when they knew this could be their chance to bring him in. They all pitched round the screen as Steve and Natasha identified the local police station that they suspected of him hitting, given where the FR had pinged several times.

“We think they are scoping this area.” Nat said, drawing a red circle round a part of the town.

Katie moved the screen with her fingers, enlarging the aerial shots as she looked at them, her analytical brain going ten to the dozen.

“Layout looks pretty standard.” she said, scanning the map, frowning slightly. Something was nagging at her. And as she looked, she realised what it was.

“What is it?” Steve asked, recognising the tone of her voice and frown on her face.

“The Science Institute.” she said, nodding towards the screen. “Big white building at the end of the road.”

“Biological weapons are big on the black market.” Sam cottoned on, nodding slightly.

“Yeah but his recent previous hits and our pattern analysis don’t give us any reason to believe that’s what he’s going to be aiming for.” Nat suggested

“You said yourself that you suspected he was going for easier targets whilst he regrouped.” Katie said “What if he has?”

“We have to assume Rumlow will go for the police station, it’s the best intel we have.” Steve said, and he noticed the look on Katie’s face as she crossed her arms and opened her mouth to argue. “But we should be vigilant, keep alert.”

She exchanged a glance with Sam, who simply shrugged

“We do this with stealth.” Steve continued, “I want us on the ground and out of sight, we need to catch him with as little fuss or danger to civilians as possible”

"Yeah, and with that in mind Viz you may need to sit this one out." Nat tossed out and Vision nodded deprecatingly

"We're still working on him blending in." Wanda added.

"Same for you too Rhodey.” Steve looked at him “We need someone back here, we could be gone a few days.”

Rhodey nodded. “No problem Cap.” “Get what you need. Wheels up in twenty." Steve dismissed everyone who immediately went their separate ways to prepare for the upcoming mission leaving Katie, Natasha and Steve alone

“You think she’s ready?” Natasha looked at Steve, nodding to Wanda. He took a deep breath, staring at the door through which she had just left with Vision.

“You say she’s been training hard…” he said after a moments pause, looking at Nat.

“Yeah, she has but…her powers are still largely impacted by her emotions.”

“Aren’t everyone’s?” Katie asked. “I mean I’m angry or upset I fight harder…” “Yeah but,” Nat sighed “It isn’t the same, she can do a lot of damage.”

“We have the bare bones of a team as it is.” Steve shook his head and Katie looked down, feeling slightly guilty. She had discussed this with Steve, she wasn’t going. The Stark Foundation Tour had another few visits to Universities this week. Steve spotted the look on her face and he gently nudged her arm “That’s not a criticism honey…” “I know…” she bit her lip. Maybe she should postpone…

“Throw in the fact that this is the first full team mission we’ve had since Ultron and I don’t see any choice but to take Wanda” Steve shrugged, ending the conversation.

Nat took a deep breath and nodded “You’re right. And maybe being in an actual mission environment might help her gain some control, I mean practice makes perfect.”

“You trying to convince me or yourself?” he asked, eyeing her

“Both.” she drawled, heading out of the door.

Katie took a deep breath as Steve turned to her. “You best go.” she said softly. He bit his lip before he pulled her into an embrace, kissing her softly.

“I’ll call as soon as I can.” he promised, pressing his forehead to hers.

“Stay safe, please.” she sighed as he kissed the tip of her nose and hurried out of the door.

Once he was gone Katie sank onto a chair, her head in her hands. She was torn, really torn. For the last year or so, post Ultron, they’d had a pretty quiet time of it, mopping up any stray Hydra operatives that strolled into their patch. But this, this was big. Was the Foundation really more important than heading off whatever shitty plan Rumlow was trying to pull off? She was still an Avenger…she’d never quit that, and would never quit that.

“You’ll always be Iron Man, Tone…” the words she had stated to Tony when he had decided to quit active service echoed round her head. And then she realised, she’d always be Supernova, whether she wanted to be or not.

“I’m gonna regret this.” She groaned to herself as she jumped up, and headed after Steve.

*****

Steve, at first, had tried to argue against her coming but when Natasha had pointed out they could do with the support he had relented and the team had been bolstered by Supernova’s return to active duty.

Their support staff had done a great job on such a short time, and rented the group a 4 bedroomed apartment overlooking the street the Police Station was on. It wasn’t fancy, but it was the last place anyone would think would house Avengers. Over the first 24 hours they set up a command centre, with coms links back to base and the next morning they began their recon.

The first 2 days were completely uneventful. No sign of Rumlow or any of his associates. Nat was the expert at covert ops and so she took the lead, directing them to all the right places coaching Wanda along the way and Steve was pleasantly surprised to see how well the younger girl took to the task, blending in with the locals. Katie took to observing from up high with Sam, and she was focussing on the Biological Institute, unable to shake the nagging feeling she had about the place. She hadn’t mentioned it since their brief a few days ago, but Steve knew when she had an idea in her head she wouldn’t rest so he left her to it. Between them they had the area covered, which was good enough.

On the evening of the 4th day Wanda, Sam and Natasha headed out for a little undercover work in the bars at night, “So you guys can have a little undercover activity of your own” Sam teasingly stated, patting Steve on the back as he left, drawing an exasperated sigh from the soldier. Nevertheless, the door had hardly shut before Steve had his wife pinned up against a wall, hands wandering all over her body, lips and teeth clashing, her hand fisting in the slightly longer strands of hair at the top of his head as they’d furiously taken advantage of their first time alone in days.

The next morning Katie woke at about 5:45 and rolled over only to find the bed empty besides her. Steve could never rest when they were in the middle of a case like this. The clothes they had shed the night before were now neatly folded and placed on top of the dresser, and she had to smile. Even now he was a total neat freak. Knowing full well where he would be she climbed out of the bed, pulled on Steve’s T-shirt and a pair of shorts before making her way into the dark corridor. She stopped in the doorway of the small dining room which was functioning as a makeshift office and sure enough, there he was, the lamp softly illuminated his handsome face as he flicked through a file, crease evident between his brows.

“Soldier, you’re up so early?” she said gently. Steve had heard her coming of course. Smiling softly, as he was always pleased to see her, he turned to face her as she crossed the room.

“Yeah, sorry, I woke about half an hour ago and couldn’t get back to sleep.”

“You know, I get that you’re fed up of just waiting but sitting here re-reading all this isn’t going to help you know.” Katie said, taking the file off him and dropping it onto the wooden table, before she perched on the edge.

“I know, it’s just so goddamned frustrating.” Steve ran his hand over his face. After pondering for a moment Katie stood up and walked behind the chair and placed her hands on his shoulders. He let out a groan of satisfaction and leaned back in his seat as she kneaded the muscles with her hands. She found a particularly bad spot just under his shoulder blade and began to push harder with her thumb. Steve couldn’t decide if it was pleasurable or painful and made a little noise, which was half way between the two.

"God your shoulders are so knotty." She mused and he left out a breath through his nose moving his head to the side.

“Yeah well, I did a lot of exercise last night.” He quipped back as her hands continued to work at his shoulders.

“I’ll say.” She grinned. “You know that thing you did with your mouth last night is actually illegal in several countries.” “Good job we live in the land of the free.” He said, voice low as he fully relaxed under her touch.  Katie carried on working at his muscles in silence for a moment, happy to let him bliss out. 

"So… answer me a question?" She spoke after a short while, rousing him a little, and he hummed, unable to bring himself to be bothered to talk.

"If you couldn’t sleep why didn’t you wake me to help you?” Her voice was loaded as she leaned forward to wind her arms around his neck, running her hands up and down his chest from behind. Steve loved it when she touched him like that which was why he pouted slightly when she pulled away, but the pout didn’t last long and a smirk crossed his face as Katie walked round to the front of his chair

“And how, exactly, would you have done that?" His hands moved to rest on her hips as she lowered herself so that she was straddling him. She slid one of her hands around the back of his head to tangle in his hair the other settling on his chest.

“Reckon I can think of a few ways.”  she smirked slyly before using her hand in his hair to pull him forward and connect their lips. Steve kissed her back immediately as one hand crept up the back of her top, the other on the side of her thigh, sliding up her shorts.

“Sleepy yet?” She murmured.

“Not exactly the word I would use.” Steve raised an eyebrow.

She grinned and then began to rock her hips on top of him grinding down on his growing hardness and he sighed slightly, kissing her harder as she pushed down again. With an automatic reaction he raised his hips, rocking up to meet her and this time she groaned as she could feel the friction of their clothes grinding against her spot. His hands were now firmly holding her hips underneath her, no, his top, and he sat forward so his mouth could cover the spot under her ear that drove her wild. With a soft sigh she titled her head to the side as he trailed kisses across her jaw until his mouth met her lips again. His hands reached down to grasp the hem of her top and he had just begun to slide it upwards when they were interrupted by a raspy voice.

"I thought all the making out fully clothed supposedly stopped when you reached the age of 17." Natasha scoffed from the doorway. Katie looked up over Steve’s shoulder as he sighed, dropping his head onto her chest.

“Don’t you know how to knock?” Katie sighed.

“Don’t you know how to lock a door?” she replied, dryly.

“I take it this isn’t a social call?” Steve’s voice was muffled as he spoke into his wife’s chest.

“Half and half.” Natasha arched an eyebrow, “Unsociable hour it maybe but Wanda’s already up and wants breakfast, she was going to head out to the local bakery but I thought it might be an idea to start the re-con early.”

Steve’s head looked up to Katie’s as she shifted off his lap and straightened out her clothing and hair. Steve glanced down at his crotch and Katie raised an eyebrow slightly as he stood up and adjusted his sweats in an attempt to hide his slowly ebbing arousal before he turned to face the red head.

“Well, you’re the expert in this covert stuff.” He said, looking at Natasha. “What have you got in mind?”

*****

“All right, what do you see?” Steve was coaxing Wanda, as ever, to observe her surroundings, see and hear everything, on the job training he supposed you could call it.

Meanwhile, Katie glanced down from the rooftop on which Sam and her were currently stood, her scanners doing their usual work. No weapons spotted yet.

“Standard beat cops. Small station. Quiet street. It’s a good target” Wanda’s voice came through the ear piece Steve was wearing.

“There’s an ATM in the South Corner.” he replied “which means….”

“Cameras” Wanda said instantly.

“Both cross streets are one way.” He carried on

“So, compromised escape routes.”

“Means our guy doesn't care about being seen, he isn't afraid to make a mess on the way out.” Steve concluded. “You see that Range Rover halfway up the block?”

“Yeah, the red one? It’s cute”

“It's also bulletproof,” Katie cut in as FRIDAY completed a scan on the vehicle “Which means private security…”

“Which means more guns, which means more headaches for somebody. Probably us” Nat finished

“You guys know I can move things with my mind, right? “ Wanda replied

“Looking over your shoulder needs to become second nature.” Natasha continued

“Anybody ever tell you you're a little paranoid?” Sam asked and Katie turned to look at him, retracting her face plate to give him a grin.

“Not to my face. Why? Did you hear something?” the exchange continued.

“Eyes on target, folks” Steve said with an air of authority, bringing them back to the job in hand. This is the best lead we've had on Rumlow in six months. I don't want to lose him.”

If he’s here, of course

“If he sees us coming that won't be a problem. He kind of hates us.” Sam replied

As Steve watched he noticed that a garbage truck was slowly pushing its way through traffic, with no regard to pedestrians or other vehicles. He frowned and kept his eyes on it as it continued to gather momentum as it went.  

“Sam…see that garbage truck?” he said “Tag it.”

Sam’s small drone launched, swooping down to scan the garbage truck as Katie instructed Friday to do the same.

“Give me X-ray.” Sam spoke.

“That truck’s loaded for max weight.” he replied “And the driver’s armed.” Sam added.

And in the second that it dawned on Steve what was going on. The raid was going down, but Katie had been right all along, a fact she cottoned on to as well.

“It’s a battering ram” she said as realisation flooded her body.

“Go, now!” Steve yelled. “There not hitting the station…” “The institute…” Sam looked at Katie, and she nodded as the two of us took off after the truck.  ***** So, we head into Civil War... I’m not sure I’m ready!!!

Tags

@the-omni-princess​

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@geekofmanythings16​

@angelofhell-666​

@thewackywriter​

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#stark spangled banner #steve rogers x original female character #steve rogers x oc #steve rogers #captain america #natasha romanoff #black widow #wanda maximoff #the scarlet witch #sam wilson #falcon #vision #tony stark #iron man #brock rumlow #crossbones #mcu #mcu fanfiction #marvel #marvel fanfiction #avengers #avengers fanfiction #james rhodes #war machine #fanfic #fancfiction

[the-weeping-author]

Hate To Love chapter 1

A/N: This is my first series thank you guys so much for liking my last three fics, I hope you guys enjoy this series.

This series will include: bullying, angst, fighting/arguing, fluff, smut. There will be a Steve vs Joyce show down.

Parings: Steve Harrington x Sara Byers

Trigger warnings: none in this chapter maybe not feeling loved??

Tag list: @ahoy-stevieboy @thehair-ington @galactic-kitten-nonsense @linkispink1995 @theworldisugly-22 @harringtown @phoebethepheebs @spiritsent

(Please don’t copy my fics as your own also I don’t own anything about the stranger tings franchise.)

Please enjoy 😌

Saturday November 5th, 1983

I’ve been home one day, I’ve already got all of my stuff unpacked into the spots I wanted my stuff to go then I decided to go look at the town I once knew like it was apart of me but now with my recent weight loss it feels like it’s foreign to me.

People looked at me like they didn’t know me anymore. Like I wasn’t Sara Byers anymore. I had to remake myself from the person I used to be, I had told my mother about what Lonnie had said about me to that woman over the phone.

I had to stop her from calling and giving him a piece of her mind, I was out and about so I could start putting in applications at any job that would take me. I took a deep breath, walked into a gas station that had a help wanted sign in the window.

I put the biggest smile on my face I could manage walking up to the person behind the register.

“Hi I’m here to apply for the position that y’all need to fill.”

The lady with curly hair smiled at me then popped her gum.

“Okay honey are you good with people?”

I smile shrugging.

“I’d like to think I am.”

She looked at me then at the door when someone came in.

“Alright when can you start?”

I looked at her while my eyes widened, excitement washing over my body.

“I can start right now if you need me too.”

She nodded, telling me to come behind the counter so she could show me how everything worked.

After she showed me everything she took down the help wanted sign then assured me she’d be back.

After she left it was kinda slow, I was behind the counter reading a magazine when a customer put the stuff they planned on but on the counter.

I started to ring them up when I heard my best friends familiar voice.

“Sara?”

My head snatched up to see my best friend in middle school barb.

“Oh hey barb how have you been?”

She smiled at me.

“I’ve been great did you lose weight I barely recognized you?”

I smiled at her, started playing with my hair.

“U-Uh yeah I did do I look bad?”

She quickly shook her head at me.

“Hell no girl you look fantastic I can already tell hearts are going to be broken, I don’t mind seeing them as long as one of them aren’t mine.”

I let out a loud laugh which made her laugh.

“Barb you know I could never stop being your friend.”

She smiled at me while I gave her her total.

“I know Sara and that’s why you’re the best.”

I smiled and I flipped my hair.

“Yeah I know.”

She gasped at me.

“Who is this confident teenager in front of me? What have you done with my Sara?”

I smiled at her then let out a giggle.

“The old Sara has gone out of business. This is the new and improved Sara.”

She laughed at me then hugged me over the counter.

“Well Sara I guess I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

I smiled then nodded at her.

“Alright barb.”

I thought having the friend reunion was over until Tina walked in around six thirtyish. She had grabbed some snacks which I assumed was for some party that was either going on or she was throwing. She walked up to the register and smiled.

“Oh my god Sara? As in Sara Byers?”

I looked up at her then smiled at her.

“It is I, in the flesh Tina.”

She shook her head at me then looked me up and down.

“Damn girl you’ve gotten hot, I mean you’ve always been hot shit but damn this brings it to a new level.”

I laughed at her as I scanned her items.

“Alright Tina your total is $10.27.”

She smiled at me while she put a twenty dollar bill on the counter.

“Alright honey your change is $9.73.”

She walked away, gasping immediately stopping in her tracks.

“Oh by the way Sara there’s a party going on tonight at my house, I know, I know you don’t do parties but you should show the boys at Hawkins high what they are going to be seeing a lot of this year.”

I shook my head at her.

“No way Tina, I don’t want anyone to see what I look like yet, I want them to see that Humpty Dumpty got a makeover.”

She simply just shrugged at me.

“Okay fine but you owe me.”

I smiled at her.

“Yeah, yeah tell who you want that I’ve had a makeover I’m pretty sure they won’t believe you anyways.”

She shook her head as she walked out of the gas station, I went back to reading my magazine. The rest of the day went by really fast, the woman I soon learned was named Emily came back around 7 to show me how to close. That is when I would close the gas station.

I got in the car my grandma had left me in her will, I drove home. When I got there I saw the lights on and Jonathan's car.

“Great.”

I thought to myself while I got out the car, I walked to the front door and took a deep breath unknowing what could happen behind this door. I knew Johnathan was pissed and hurt at me leaving but I was back, he had no right feeling how he did towards me.

I took a deep breath then walked into the house, immediately I was pulled into a hug by Will.

“Hey little dude I’ve missed you.”

He buried his face into my neck when he pulled away his eyes were watery.

“I thought I’d never see you again.”

I shook my head as a stray tear went on his cheek, I quickly wiped it away.

“No buddy what would make you feel that way?”

He looked up at me and bit his bottom lip and took a shakeup breath.

“Cause you left with dad, since he doesn’t ever come around why would you?”

I felt my stomach drop at his words they stung, but I knew he didn’t mean to hurt my feelings but he did. He was my little brother and I’m supposed to be here for him and I left him.

My mother was next to bring me into a hug, she rubbed my back then she kissed my forehead.

“I knew you’d be back, I just knew it.”

I smiled at her then she pulled away.

“Did I ever say that I’m sorry for what you overheard Lonnie saying, I know I can’t control what he said but I can make you feel better?”

She smiled at me while I raised my eyebrow amused at her.

“What’s that momma?”

She put her thumb under my chin and gently rubbed it with her thumb.

“Well since I gotta work tonight why don’t we eat ice cream while Johnathan, you and I watch a scary movie?”

I smiled at her until she mentioned Johnathan.

“Yeah I don’t think Johnathan would like that idea.”

She furrowed her eyebrows at me confusion evident on her face.

“Why would you think that Sara?”

I sighed looking at my hands.

“Well because he hasn’t spoken to me since I got back.”

She smiled at me while she rubbed my shoulders.

“Oh honey he’ll get over it he’s just hurt and being stubborn right now.”

“Who’s stubborn?” Johnathan asked As he entered the living room.

“Oh no one.” She turned towards me and made some dramatic face causing me to giggle.

“Hey Johnathan I’m working late tomorrow night so can you please watch Will?”

He sighed but agreed as he walked into the kitchen I decided to show our mother what I was talking about.

“Hey Johnathan.”

Not only did he not speak back but he didn’t even look my way, I turned to look at my mom.

“See what I’m talking about?”

My mother smiled Sympathetically at me while he walked back to his room.

“Honey just give him time y’all are twins y’all will come together again.”

*Time skip*

I was laying in bed listening to some Cyndi lauper record when I heard a knock on my door.

“It’s open.”

Johnathan quickly walked into my room, I got off my bed and turned my record down.

“Hey so Sara I need to ask a favor.”

I raised an eyebrow at him as I sat back down on my bed.

“Oh okay what’s up?”

He took in a breath then sat on the edge of my bed.

“I need you to watch Will tomorrow night while I pick up a shift.”

I looked at him blankly.

“Excuse me?”

He looked at me like I was speaking another language.

“I said can you watch Will-“

“I heard what you said Johnathan but why talk to me now? You’ve had the last day to talk to me, now that you want something I’m your best friend?”

He opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water gasping for breath.

“You know what Johnathan I don’t mind watching him tomorrow night, all I’m going to say to you is don’t just talk to me when you want something.”

He nodded mumbling a sorry then walking out my room without another word.

I sighed and decided to pick out my outfit for Monday. I knew it was only Saturday, I wanted to make sure I looked my best for Monday.

After I picked the outfit I was cleaning the house when Will had come rushing out of his room, he threw on his coat but as soon as he opened the door I stopped him.

“Hey little bro what’s the rush?”

He stopped in a halt turning to look at me flashing me a smile.

“Oh just over to mike wheelers, mom knows I’ll be back before ten okay?”

I looked at him and raised a brow then decided to pretend hurt.

“Oh okay I guess I’m too lame to hang out with now.”

Panic was written all over his face as he shook his head no at me.

“N-no not at all it’s just we have a DND campaign we started, the guys wouldn’t understand because we all promised we wouldn’t miss a campaign.

“Alright well did you let Johnathan know cause I have to work so I’ll see you later okay?”

He smiled then nodded at me.

“Yes Sara Johnathan knows I love you, I’ll see you later.”

I smiled then gasped.

“Will wait.”

He turned around halfway out the door, raised his eyebrow at me.

“Yes Sara?”

“You forgot our brother sister handshake.”

He quickly ran over to me then, put out his hand then I slapped his palm, we both put our hands in front of us like we were holding wants to hop around in a circle then hooked both of our pinkies together then kissed the side of our hand then he ran out the door.

“Love you Sara.”

I smiled after him leaving out the front door whispering to myself.

“Love you too nerd.”

A/N: sorry this took so long I was trying to make it perfect even though I feel like it’s not please let me know if you’d like to be added to my tag list request are open thanks. ~Destiny ❤️

#steve harrington au #steve harrington #steve harrington x oc #joe keery #stranger things #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington x imagine #steve harrington fic

[dididrawsblog]

Mr. Perfect // slow burn

Part V

Summary: Steve Harrington was the coolest guy at school and now he’s working with you at the rental store. Very complicated story about complicated feelings.

Pairing: Steve Harrington/ You

Warning: language

A/N: IM ALIVE! Yeah..This chapter is big so make some tea and prepare yourself. Btw, if you guys have any suggestions about the plot you can write them in the comments.

Sunday 1 am. You were sitting on the ground with your back placed to a cold wall of an old building. Your knees were covered with scratches and blood and the hem of your dress was torn. It was a cold night. The light of the sign ‘Family video’ painted your face red. You were barely crying and you didn’t even know why. Was it because of knee pain or because of Steve? You shivered because of wind and pulled your knees to chest. You felt betrayed. Betrayed and lonely. You picked up a bottle of tequila and took a big swallow. You’d been drinking the whole way here and now the bottle was half empty. Or half full. You giggled. Hot tears went down your cheek.

Let’s get back to the start.

Saturday evening; 7pm.

You were helping a very annoying man who didn’t know what he wanted. You had been standing in front of shelves with movies for thirty minutes. He touched his unshaved chin and looked at your exhausted face one more time.

“So, will you help me or not?” He asked you with that disdainful and haughty expression. His enormous belly was falling over the edge of his pants, he had a greasy spot on his t-shirt and yellow teeth. Jesus. He smelled like shit.

“Sure. Let’s repeat. What kind of film do you want?” You said with your teeth clenched.

“Jesus Christ. It’s very simple! I need a horror movie with a complicated romantic relationship and sprinkles of comedy”

“And?”

“Right! It’s very important - NUNS!” Like he forgot about that long discussion.

“Sir” You took a deep breath. “I’m telling you one more time: we don’t have movies like that. We either have horrors with shitty love story or comedies with shitty love story AND none of them have NUNS” You didn’t know what was wrong with that man but he pissed you out. You look at his red face that matched his t-shirt and suddenly caught Steve’s eyes behind him. Harrington was standing five feet away from you.

“Listen to me-“ Red face made a step to you and almost grabbed your hand. He was furious about a fucking movie. Man, get a life! You were getting not just exhausted but mad as hell. Before any word came out of your mouth, Steve placed his hand on mans’s shoulder.

“What about ‘Sister Gertrude’? It’s a horror with a nun and it is hilarious sometimes. I mean have you ever seen a possessed nun?” Steve gave him a tape and winked at you. You smiled unconsciously.

“But what about love line?” The man kept looking at the tape, he wasn’t that red anymore.

“It’s hard not to fall in love with Gertrude, isn’t it?” Steve’s gaze was still fixed on you and you rolled your eyes. The man thanked Steve for his help and went to the counter. Right. Thanks, Steve.

“Asshole.” Said Steve and came closer.

“Did you see his huge hairy wart on his neck?” He laughed.

“No...but I can see it from here. God” He brushed his hair with a hand, looking at Robin. “Do you- I mean... If you want... of course..”

“What? Did you forget how to use words?” That was a bit harsh. Sometimes you say something but you don’t really mean it. You made a small cough and looked away.

“I’m having a party this Sunday which is tomorrow. So, I’m asking you if you wanna come.” He rubbed his neck awkwardly. Sun went down behind him and the sunlight turned his hair gold. He is a tall and well built guy. Like a statue in a museum. Steve was looking at his hands waiting for an answer. “Robin will be there too”

“Yeah...um. Okay” that’s all you could say.

“Really?” He smiled widely. Such a child.

“Of course. Why not?”

“Okay. Cool...ugh. See you tomorrow then” He started to back up still looking in your eyes. He accidentally hit a rack with films and it fell down covering the floor with romcoms. You heard Robin laughing hard and you joined her.

“Dingus!” She said to him. “Clean everything up and come to me. I need to tell you something”

You came to the poor boy and sit next to him grabbing a pale of movies. You were so close you almost hear him breathing. His hair brushed your cheek and your shoulders touched. You quickly stood up and went to the storage room. You just needed to hide your rose face. You are too overeating. Like, it’s just Steve Harrington. Calm down.

Next day you spent with your mom watching movies and doing nothing. You were relaxing after a hard day at work. You couldn’t stop thinking about the party though. You were too concerned about it. At eight pm you took a shower and waited for Robin to come. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d been preparing for the party with a friend. All those dresses and shoes and rock music and talks about getting drunk tonight.

Robin came to you fully prepared. She looked stunning and bitchin at the same time. She helped you to choose a dress and did you a makeover. You felt so great spending that time with Robin. She was so funny and supportive and cool. Like you have a real friend. Maybe she is your friend.

You were standing in front of wooden doors of Harrington house. It was a large two-storey building with a brown roof. You felt exited standing next to the blue-eyed girl who knocked on the door. Five minutes later the party boy opened to you. He was standing right in front of you holding a red cup with liquid. Just like the last time you’d visited his house. There was a difference though. Now he was looking at you. He noticed you. He knew you are here. And he smiled.

“Hello, ladies. I’m glad you’re here” he grabbed both of you and pulled in. House was full of teens and booze. You saw some people from high school but they weren’t there at the first party. They were ghost at school just like you. Then you realised that most of them was Robin’s friends. The crowd of people tugged you into the living room. Right to the dance floor. You couldn’t find Steve or Robin in that mess so you just danced. You had a chat with some classmates, moved your body a little and as party went by you realised you didn’t drink yet.

You went to the kitchen to grab something . Nobody was there. Just a table with snacks and a bowl with cherry punch. You didn’t bother about finding Robin anymore. You lost her as you came in. The wave of people devoured her. You were wondering was she having fun out there or looking for you? Guess she just forgot about you. Standing there drinking sweet-n-sour drink you listened to the sounds of music from the next room. You just needed a second to relax when Steve came. There was a bottle in his hand and he was rather tipsy.

“Here’s Y/N! How ar ya?” He sat on the couch in front of the table.

“I’m good. Yeah, it’s a pretty nice party” you came to him with a cup of punch, taking a bottle from him and adding some alcohol there. It wasn’t a nice party. You felt forgotten. Again. But now he’s here right?

“Jesus, I’m so happy you’re here. C’mon. Sit next to me” he pulled you closer on the sofa and placed his head on your shoulder. He’s not just tipsy. He’s drunk. You can smell it now.

“I can’t find Robin out there. She’s just disappeared” you looked in your cup and then at Steve. He was so close now. His eyes was fixed on you, his soft hair tickled your cheek and god... You liked it. You made a sip and burning liquid went down your throat.

“What?” You finally asked that dork who kept looking at you.

“What ‘what’?”

“You are an idiot, Steve Harrington” You smiled softly taking another drink.

“And you are beautiful, Y/N Y/L/N” your cheeks turned red and you turned your head away.

Robin with a couple of people interrupted your moment of awkwardness. There she is. She seemed busy talking and laughing and drinking. You stood up and went to the bathroom to fresh up as fast as you could. Your face were burning when you washed it with cold water. No, no, no. Not Harrington. Anyway, he didn’t mean it. He is drunk. You sat down on the corner of the bathtub and took a deep breath. This party sucks. Steve and Robin...That’s so messed up. You fixed your makeup a little bit and looked at yourself in the mirror. You never considered yourself as ‘beautiful’. Pretty, funny, smart but not...beautiful. To be logical, you didn’t have the perfect body from magazines and your hair and face. It just didn’t make any sense.

Sound of breaking glass pulled you out of your thoughts. Your opened the door and heard screaming. It was scary. The loud and angry voice cut the air. Sounded like a fight. Probably a serious one. The only thing you could think about now was to find a weapon. Yeah..weird. But it wasn’t your first party-fight. You came out of the bathroom and went into the closest room you saw. Presumably Steve’s room. You hadn’t got enough time to examine it so you just grabbed the barbed bat near his bed. By the time you went downstairs right into the living room, Steve was already fighting with...Um, you couldn’t see through the crowd. You jumped but still nothing. BAM! The crowd dispersed and you saw Harrington on the ground. His back was placed to the coffee table. Blood was dripping down from the corner of his mouth and from the scratch on the cheek. Tommy H. stood in front of him. He wanted to attack again.

“GET AWAY FROM HIM!” You screamed and hit the floor with the bat. Tommy turned around and looked at you. Actually, everyone was looking at you. The girl who nobody knew was standing in a small dress and a big bat in front of the king of assholes.

“Hey, look who’s here. Sorry, I don’t remember your name. Steve, do you- No, I don’t think you remember her” Tommy smiled at you and you almost threw up. He took a step closer. This jerk knows who are you.

“One more step and I’ll beat the shit out of you” he didn’t listen. He just came closer when you hit the floor with the bat again. It was very close to his feet. He jumped back.

“Bitch” Tommy slowly turned around and went away. You dropped the bat and came to Steve.

“Jesus, Harrington. Why did you invite him?” Robin brought up a wet towel and placed it to his cheek.

“He didn’t” she looked at you. Where was she by the way? “I..um. I’ve invited his sister” Robin looked sad and disappointed. Steve couldn’t think or do anything cause he was drunk and beaten. His head was lying on her lap.

“And why did you do that?” You asked her as calm as you could. You actually wanted to shout at her.

“I didn’t know she’ll bring her brother and...boyfriend” It didn’t make any sense. It wasn’t even an answer to your question.

“Robin, what the hell? I came here because of you and I thought we could have some good time. And you just left me for an asshole’s sister. You left me all alone in the house full of strangers” She looked away.

“Sorry, but you won’t understand” she whispered.

“Clearly, I don’t understand anything” you stood up. “What’s wrong with you?” Robin looked scared and ashamed. You suddenly felt bad for your words. There was something you didn’t know. Something very bad.

Steve opened his eyes...well an eye actually. He looked at Robin who was barely crying and you. Furious.

“Out” he whispered.

“What?” You finally noticed him.

“I said get the hell out of my house” he said it so simple. Like he wasn’t throwing you out. Like it was a small talk about weather. But it hit you hard.

You left. With no words. You just grabbed a bottle from the ground near the exit and left. While you were coming down the stairs, you tripped and fell, tearing your tights. It was painful but you stood up, took down your shoes and leaded down the street.

And now we are here.

You wiped your tears and pressed your head to the wall. Your eyes were closed. Silence. Sounds of footsteps.

“Hey” said very familiar voice.

Taglist:

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#stranger things robin #stranger thing imagine #imagine stranger things #imagine steve harrington #stranger things steve #steve harrington slowburn #steve x reader #imagine steve #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington #stranger things #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington x y/n

[linkispink1995]

Better as friends (16) A date?

Previously

Series Masterlist

Chapter warnings :language , fluff with a bit of angst and Steve losing his mind , minor mentions of smut

~~~~~~

It was early Saturday morning when I was getting Jackson ready as well as myself since after dropping Jackson off I would be headed towards the wedding of my two dear friends Alex and Paige. The wedding was supposed to be set last fall but Paiges mother fell I'll which was absolutely devastating to Paige and everyone since Ms. Bryant raised paige alone. After looking at the clock I knew that I would have to drop him off in the dress I would be wearing since I was running a but late (as always) and I knew that what I was wearing would spark conversation and the dress was anything but casual and hells and makeup weren't serving a 'this is a casual outfit'. The most awkward part was I knew Steve wasn't invited and I knew that because of Steve practically torchering Paige , Alex and my other best friend Stewart. Who's was going to be my to my date for the wedding , that was the other thing chewing at me having to look at Steve and not tell him about the wedding. My thoughts were interrupted by my five year old who was sitting on my bed saying "are you ready yet" I shook my head saying "give me two minutes I just got to find this other earring amd your still in your pajamas so go get dressed please". He sighed before leaving his room to enter mine , when he came back dressed he spoke again saying "hey momma" I nodded while continuing to search my jewelry box before he added "I like the picture on the fridge" I turned to him saying. "What picture sweet pea" had rolled his eyes , my five year old son just rolled his eyes at my oh my god was he already turning into his father. Jackson then grabbed my hand before guiding us to the kitchen and there on refrigerator was the picture if him and Steve crammed in that little tub. I sighed saying "damnit Robin" I then looked at the clock realizing we were no longer a little late we were really late.

I knocked on the door of his apartment still trying to think of how to explain why I looked like this and not sound like a complete idiot and hoping , more like praying that Steve opened the door and not Alison. Luck must've been on my side since Steve opened the door with a shock face before saying "hi" I responded saying "hi". I then pecked Jackson cheek before having to lick my thumb to wipe the smudge off pink lipstick. Steve spoke again saying "you look nice" I nodded saying "thanks" before I could say my goodbyes and leave Steve added. "Where are you off too" crap what was I going to say but I didn't have to say anything because Jackson did "Aunt Paige and Uncle Alex are getting married". I sighed before seeing Steve's face turn from shock to sadness from not being invited "oh" he said "where's that at" I responded saying "at Alex's grandmother's house , it's outside so-" he cut me off saying. "Do you have a sweater or something cause it'll get cold at night" I shook my head saying "no I'm fine I-" Steve again cut me off saying "well do you at least know where your going" I nodded as he added "and you have gas in your car" I again nodded before he asked "so are you going to be okay going alone" before I could respond Jackson again took the liberty of doing so saying "mommy's going with Uncle Stewart , didn't you know that". Steve's face turned into a mixture of red and pink before saying "no , no son I didn't he then squealed "Stewart wow that's wow , good that , that is good wow" I nodded as he added "what's he been up to". I answered his question this time saying "he writes the comics for the newspaper" Steve again nodded before nervously chuckling saying "wow yeah" I then noticed that he had the look of someone was going to be sick. I then looked at Jackson before saying "okay I'm gonna go you be good he nodded before I could walkd down to my car Steve spoke saying "Y/n" I nodded as he added "your only wearing one earring" I huffed before walking back down to my car.

I arrived to the house with minutes to spare before taking a seat next to Robin before she said "hey where have you been" I responded saying "I got busy talking to Steve and lost track of time". She nodded saying "well your boyfriends in the bathroom" I scoffed saying "Stewart isn't my boyfriend" Robin shook her head saying "sure but isn't this like date number five" I rolled my eyes before saying "you look nice". Robin sighed saying "thanks I couldn't talk Paige into letting me wear Jean's though and this was a nice pair Y/n I mean there were less rips in these". I shook my head before feeling a kiss on my cheek , I then turned to see Stewart whom I returned the gesture to by kissing his cheek saying hi" he responded saying "hi" he then kissed my exposed shoulder before saying "you look beautiful" I nodded as the music started up and we were all to stand before I looked to see Robin making these awful vomiting facial expressions. Causing me to elbow her , as we returned to sitting down Stewart spoke again saying "are you okay" I nodded as he added "you sure" I nodded again before leaning my head on his shoulder. When Pauge and Alex were announced husband and wife we entered the house for the reception. Before we entered Robin ditched Stewart and I to look for Helen who was practically her girlfriend but Robin liked to say that she was better than labels. As Stewart and I began talking about various things like work and Jackson (mostly Jackson) I felt my feet leave the ground before turning to see it was Alex. I sighed before giving him a hug and congratulating him before Paige walked over as well I again congratulated her before she spoke saying "where's Jackson" I sighed saying "he's with Steve" she then added "oh and hows everything with him is he still with Dracula" I responded saying "yes Paige he is still with Alison" she sighed before saying "hey you guys made it". I turned to see Matt and Coleen who was now five months pregnant and starting to show and recently announced that they would be having a girl. After greeting Matt and Coleen I felt Stewart's arm tug onto mine before leading me on the dance floor. As we started to sway I couldn't help but think about what a perfect day this had been and how I felt more hopeful and more joy than I usually did and I knew why that was it was Stewart.

Steve's P.o.v

It was hours after Y/n left and I couldn't help but pace around the dinning room table thinking about how the hell Y/n and Stewart made sense. The little asshat who used to be my best friend until I got on the basketball team and became popular. Stewart Graham I couldn't belive that Stewart Graham does that , she's the love of my oh my god what am I saying. So I have Alison and Y/n has you know I can't even finish that sentence and I can't even think about Alex and Paige not invited me to there wedding I mean sure I was kind of awful to them but will still used to be friends and I introduced them to each other well I mean it was Y/n's idea but- my thoughts were disturbed by Alison clapping her hands at me saying "Steven" I looked up saying "what" she responded saying "are you okay" I nodded saying "fine yeah but , nevermind". Alison huffed saying "what have I told you about saying that" I nodded saying "fine okay I just can't believe she's going out with Stewart on a date I mean" Alkson sighed saying "okay I'm lost who are you talking about" I responded saying "I had these friends Alex and Paige and uh they hot married today-" I was then interrupted by Alison saying "why didn't we go" I sighed saying. "I'm not really friends with them anymore anyways I had this other friend Stewart and now Y/n went to the wedding as his date which doesn't make since cause we've known each other since we were in kindergarten and he's never once show interest in her". Alison rolled her eyes saying "who cares and besides he probably did and you were in the way" I sighed before she added "and besides how come you never take me out" I responded saying "I do I-" Alison cut me of saying "no you used to and maybe Y/n's better off with someone like him instead of a never mind".

I was lying in bed that night while Alison who was besides me was sitting up and reading ome of her books for school when I spoke saying. "Do you think she got home safe" Alison shrugged saying "who" I responded saying "Y/n" she then slammed her book before saying "yes Steve she's probably fine". I then added "but do you think I should call her and make sure" Alison rolled her eyes before saying "I doubt she's home" I shrugged saying "what do you mean" she sighed saying. "Oh Steve your not that dumb she's probably saying with Stewart tonight" she then started laughing to herself before I spo,e saying "that's not funny Alison" she continued saying "they way you described her talking about him sounds like she was drooling plus he sounds pretty cute". I rolled my eyes before she leaned over to her nightstand saying "or I could just see for my self" my jaw fell when I saw her holding one of my highschool yearbooks. I shook my head saying "where did you find that" she responded saying "underneath your bed with a stack dirty magazines which will talk about later and some rusty old baseball bat covered in nails" I shook my head again saying "and what were you even looking for". She responded saying "a red pen you are a grown man who dosen't own a red pen" I rolled my eyes as she added "I bet Y/n dosen't run into these kinda problems with Stewart" I could feel my blood boil at those words but I shrugged it aside knowing it was one date and then I'd never have to hear the name Stewart again , right...

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