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literarytrashcollection · 5 years

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The New Recruit (3/?)

AN: Some major plot reveals in this one. Also, a touch of Brand New Winter Soldier. Let me know what y’all think of it!

I felt sick sitting in front of the same people in the same conference room. Natasha looked almost smug as I wrung my hands anxiously.

“So, why are we here again?” Tony asked, tossing a stress ball in the air and catching it again. The sound of the soft rubber slapping against his palm started getting annoying after the twenty-seventh catch.

“Y/N has something that she would like to share with the group.” Bucky announced, his face split in half with the Cheshire cat’s smile. I wanted to punch him then and there more than I ever had before. How dare he act like a child, getting another in trouble?

“Does this have anything to do with the information you gave us when we first interviewed you?” Steve asked, bouncing a pen on a notepad in front of him. Everyone’s little tics were going to drive me insane. I wanted to make them all hold still. I wished I could suck all of the sound out of the room.

“Yes,” I whispered, my voice caught around the lump in my throat. I cleared my throat, once, twice, three times before I finally felt brave enough to speak again. “I never technically lied to any of you.” I started out. “It was more an omission of truth.”

Tony sat forward a little, his face sinking from the bored look into a more serious one. Everyone seemed to be staring at me with some level of distrust or anger, like predators surrounding prey. The kindest set of eyes were Thor’s. He sat in his chair, sprawled back with hands folded over his chest, lips turned up in a slight smile.

“I was born in the late 1870’s.” I blurted after a long time. “December 7th, 1876.”

If Natasha was any more smug, she would have shoved out of her chair and yelled “A-ha!” She didn’t though, thankfully. No one around the table said anything for a long time, each analyzing me with varying levels of distrust, interest and ridicule.

Finally, after centuries of waiting, “So, you’re older than the Cap and Tin-Man put together?” Sam asked, fingers drumming on the table as he did the math. “Maybe not the number of years they’ve been on this Earth, but their physical age? Actually, no, you are older than all of their years put together.”

I laughed a little, a hysterical burst of crazed laughing that ended as abruptly as it started. “Something like that, yeah.” I nodded. I could feel sweat dripping through my scalp and pooling in my pits. My hands were slick with it. I wanted nothing more than a long shower. It had been decades since I had admitted my true age. I was comfortable without acknowledging my age. This was foreign, a sickly feeling that left me feeling hollow and threadbare.

“You’re 143 years old?” Wanda asked, voice tinged with almost awe that I quickly dismissed as her accent.

I nodded again, cringing a little at the number. “I’ve stayed in the shadows. Maintained the opposite of a notable human life. Unless you count the time I spent fighting during World War Two.”

“You told us that HYDRA killed your family,” Steve interjected, voice clipped with barely contained anger. He’d been asking these questions for how long now?

“They did. My last remaining relatives, grand-nieces and grand-nephews who knew me as this eccentric aunt who traveled around a lot.” I met his eyes without flinching. I remembered Cap as the leader of the Howlies. The Avengers were just the upgrade. The modernized version. Same war, different year.

He chewed the inside of his lip and gave me a curt nod. “You destroyed… massive weapons depots. Sometimes we’d be riding up just as you dispatched the last soldier.”

“And I always gave you all of the credit.”

“Why?”

“I never wanted to be another Captain America. If I gave you the credit, then at least the destruction was believable and I could remain safely out of anyone’s cross hairs.”

“SHIELD knew about you, back then at least.” He countered. “What’s to say they haven’t still been monitoring you?”

I flicked a glance over at Natasha. “She’d have blown the whistle the second I walked in.”

Natasha’s face fell slightly. “I’ve read files on you, from Cap’s era. They made it seem like you died sometime in the late sixties.”

“Y/N Y/L/N died in the sixties. I could no longer use the name and have the face I had. My age just wouldn’t match up anymore. I couldn’t play it off anymore.

“So, new identity, for the second time. The first time was in the thirties, just before I got active in the war. All of them homemade, of course. I watched the technological evolution so learning it wasn’t hard, figuring out how to do that for myself wasn’t hard. I couldn’t have any paper trail that anyone could follow. That identity died in the early 2000’s. I changed back to same name from the sixties. Who’s gonna match the names up, the face, the prints, any of it? If I just keep my head down, stick to a menial job, who cares about little ol’ me?”

“Then why join the Avengers if you’re trying to stay out of the limelight?” Tony asked, giving me a nauseating feeling of déjà vu.

“There’s finally a time where my differences will be appreciated, my powers make me useful and looked up to, rather made into a science project or looked at like a freak.” I shrugged, folding my hands together in front of me.

“Why not back during the war? You would have been worshiped the way Steve was.” Bucky’s devilish smile was gone, replaced by a deep set frown and genuine interest.

I looked over at him and felt my skin start to heat up. “Because HYDRA came after me. Or they would. And what do you know? You did. I can count eight different times you were wiped and sent after me after Steve went into the ice. Not to kill, but you almost did two different times.”

Eyes around the room seemed to flick over to Bucky, my comment a reminder of the sheer lack of stability he had from all the fucking around in his head HYDRA did. Tony’s eyes lingered on him the longest, the pain in his eyes clear and deep.

“That wasn’t me,” Bucky said gently.

“I know it wasn’t. It was the Winter Soldier. He just had your face. You always looked so surprised when I told you that we had met before. As soon as I found that you were on my tail, I had to disappear. I already lived a bare life, your constant stalking just made me that much more of a ghost.”

“Did you ever get the chance to have a family of your own?” Wanda asked, voice definitely sad this time.

“No,” I met her wide eyes and saw the empathy in them. “I run cold. It’s like my body is literally frozen in time. Too cold to house human life. Too frozen to even conceive. So I keep my distance from everyone. The Winter Solider was my first partner, in the early fifties.” I said it without hesitation. Bucky’s face turned bright red and I saw Sam physically restraining himself from clapping his buddy on the shoulder.

“Y/N, listen,” Tony took a deep breath and sighed heavily. He looked tired. The fighting had aged him, made his body wary. “We knew you were lying. We wanted to see the honesty, and now we have it. We’re obviously not going to kick you out or anything. Your powers are… incredible. And terrifying. No more secrets, yeah?”

I nodded enthusiastically, my eyes continuing to roll in their sockets for a moment after I stopped. “No more secrets.”

“Good, dismissed.” He waved us all out, everyone getting up and filing out slowly. I stayed in my seat, staring out the window as I urged my heartbeat to slow.

“Lady Y/N, I believe that I might have the answer to some questions I feel you’ve been asking for many years,” Thor said gently from across the room, still lounged in his chair.

“Oh?”

“My brother, Loki, he spoke of time on Midgard during the time frame you say you were born. He told me of a woman of extraordinary power, more power than any mere mortal, and the time he spent with her. It is possible that you are the production of his time on this Earth.”

My eyes widened slightly. “You mean, I’m Loki’s daughter?”

“No,” he chuckled, face split in a smile like a loyal dog. “You’re no demi-god. But, it’s possible that he tested the mixture of some percentage of his DNA injected into yours. It’s possible he transfused some of his blood into your body and that’s what’s causing these extraordinary powers. Your lack of aging could be similar to our extended aging.”

I stared at him for a long time. “Uncle Thor?”

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. “If that’s the title you wish to use, you may. But Loki is not your biological father.”

I shrugged. “It’s been 130 years since I’ve seen my real father. At this point, I don’t have one.”

West Berlin, 1952

I sat outside a small café, sipping the honeyed tea I’d been given as I watched passersby. I relished in my time in the cosmopolitan surrounded by war and passive-aggressive Cold War penis measuring.

I kept my sunglasses high, the scarf wrapped around my hair hid the majority of my features well. I’d long stopped fighting HYDRA, leaving the work to SHIELD and their agents. I’d moved into a tiny apartment near the trains. I only used my powers within the confines of my home.

“Y/N,” called a familiar voice, in a distinctly American accent. A rock seemed to settle in my stomach and I felt heat begin to crawl across my fingers. I ignored the call, taking another measured sip of tea. “Y/N!” The voice was closer now, memories of dark cement holding cells dredged up with the baritone sound.

I continued to ignore it, letting my eyes wander across the faces in the immediate crowd, trying to pick out a familiar one. I hadn’t made any friends since my move. I’d rarely spoken to my neighbors, the landlord, the waitress tending me. I kept my face down, my voice low. I shouldn’t have known anyone.

The man that slid into the seat next to me made my fingers literally tremble. The barely contained fire burning under my skin seemed to sky rocket from mildly uncomfortable to horribly painful. “No. No. You’re dead,” I shook my head, peering into the ice blue eyes that had once seemed so innocent, another boyish lad sent to a war that he had no business fighting.

“Do we know each other?” Bucky asked. His hair was longer now, tied neatly at the base of his skull. He wore a polished suit of black with a cream shirt beneath it. He was different, in more ways than one. The blankness in his eyes was gut-wrenching, but the glittering metal hand that folded with his flesh one on the table made me nauseous.

“I mourned you with the rest of America when you died.” I hissed.

“I think you’re mistaking me,” he murmured. “I can’t say we’ve met before. I was asked by my superiors to talk to you about a job position we think you’d be perfect for.”

I blinked at him, not that he could tell behind the sunglasses.

“We know about your powers,” he whispered, leaning across the table. “We need a woman of your strength.”

“Do you know that Steve is gone?” I asked. “Are you taking over for him as Captain America? What about the Howling Commandos?”

He barked a laugh that didn’t touch his eyes. “What are you going on about, darlin’?”

That’s when I realized what was wrong with him. Nothing touched his eyes. He’d filled out, much more than he’d been when we’d last met. Not naturally either. I’d seen how much Steve changed after the super solider serum. Bucky’s changed seemed the same. But SHIELD wouldn’t be doing testing like that anymore.

“Who do you work for?”

“A very special deep science-slash-military faction for the government.” He answered, cool as you please. “Your blood would help us create more like you, make your abilities normalized so you could flourish, instead of hide. We could also use your strength in the field.”

“Which government?” I demanded. My skin was prickling. My gut said run.

“We’re the good guys, I can assure you,” he smiled so brightly that I almost believed it. “Let me take you for a drink, we can talk about it more.”

I shook my head. “I’m not interested.” I started to stand but the glittering hand snatched my wrist. He jerked me back and I landed in his lap. A few customers around looked at us, scandalized by our display, but quickly looked away when he pressed a scorching kiss to my lips.

When he broke away, his fingers all but crushing my jaw as he held me close. “It wasn’t an option.” He snarled, voice rough like gravel beneath bare feet, the sound scraping against my nerves.

I gripped his wrist, letting my hand heat up until he released me, growling in pain. “Guess you’ll have to get me first.” I snapped and started running, all care for the people staring after me gone as the Winter Solider chased after me.

Let me know if you’d like to be tagged!

Tags (if it’s crossed out, it means I can’t tag you): @jsmith509 @xvoezx @almostpsyche @33rie33 @sarillee @bucktitybarnes

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alfenmeri · 5 years

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Ending in Madness

A Hetalia fanfiction I started many, many, many years ago!!! Like this is sooo old!!

I want to upload it now after all this time because it’s never going to be done! And I’m like re-reading all of it again after all this time and it’s so bad...

Was inspired to create this after reading The Looking Glass Wars, so I wanted to use cardverse hetalia and a bit of my own craziness sprinkled to it.

Once upon a time in Wonderland the kingdom of Clubs ruled all the land and no one dared went against them, or their feared King; King Winter of Clubs was very feared in wonderland and no one ever questioned his rule. During his rule King Winter wanted to insure that no one will ever defy him and wanted to possess the most powerful army in all of wonderland, so he created the Mad Hatters. But creating Mad Hatters, one must place another through horrid torture until the mind is broken, and from then they are molded to become Mad Hatters, by force. Once the other kingdoms received word of the King of Clubs’ experiments for a stronger army and how he wanted to obtain it; they decided to wage war against the Kingdom of Clubs.

When war had begun against the King of Clubs all 3 kingdoms have had mass casualties due to the King's new soldiers, King Winter has given them the option to surrender and be spared or continue and die, deciding to surrender, the 3 kingdoms held a meeting to make the decision final. All 3 kings, the King of Hearts, the King of Diamonds, and the King of Spades have come to the agreement that they had no choice but surrender. But in came the Queen of Spades making her way through the doors with a walk and posture that held such authority, “YOU CAN NOT JUST SURRENDER I WILL NOT ALLOW IT!” she yelled with a commanding tone.

“We have no choice, we are losing men left and right if we keep this up there won't be anyone left!” said the King of Hearts

“If we surrender he will spare the people and our families as well” said the King of Diamonds

“Honey please we cannot keep this war going any longer” said the King of Spades

“If that is the case why not allow me to lead your armies” The queen of spades proposed, “A woman leading an army, well that sounds laughable” laughed both the King of Hearts and the King of Diamonds. “Honey don’t do this, I can’t risk losing you” pleaded the King of Spades, ignoring her husband's words the queen said, “well if it’s so laughable allow me to prove you wrong, in one day I shall have the King of Clubs army pushed back to the mountains, allow me this request and if I succeed allow me to take over all your military”.

“What? You can’t be serious that is impossible, we have been fighting for a year now and we have not been able to make any progress. What makes you think that you can do any better than us?” questioned the King of Hearts “As I said allow me one day, just one to prove that I a ‘woman’ can and shall win this war, unless you fear that a woman can best you.” challenged the queen.

“Nonsense! One day is all you wish correct?” said the King of Hearts

“Yes, that is all I wish to prove myself to all”

All three kings proclaimed that it shall be granted

It was very busy within the Queendom of Spades for today was a very special day, it was prince Alfred’s 12th birthday a very special day indeed for our young prince of Wonderland. It was as busy within the Queendom as it was within the palace. Servants within were in quite a hurry getting all the necessary preparations ready, and to prepare everything for the guests from the other three kingdoms.

On this glorious day all the attention was pointed towards the prince. He was within his room playing with his friend Tony. “Tony, today is going to be great! Everybody is coming from all over wonderland to celebrate my birthday.” he said to Tony. “Yes Alfred it sure is a special day for you indeed. Well I do have to take my leave so that you may dress yourself for this glorious day.” said Tony “Tony stop talking like that you know you can talk to me like a person, I hate it when you do that” Alfred pouted “Isn’t that the point” smirked Tony “I’ll see you when you get out then,” “ok see you!” After Tony had left he let out a sigh and said,”I hope that I’m allowed outside the castle for once, now that I’m 12, Oh what I would give just to be outside the castle.”

Knock. Knock

There was a knocking at the door, “ya?”, said Alfred as he turned to face the direction of his bedroom door. That’s when entered his mother the fair Queen of Spades, Queen Amelia,”Hey sweetie ready for your big day?” she said while closing the door. “Yes mom, but mom I want to ask you something” he began, “well what would you like to ask me sweetie”, responded his mother.

“Why is my 12th birthday so special, we never had huge parties on my 10th or 9th birthday like this. Why this one?” questioned Alfred,” Oh Alfred, have you been sleeping during your studies?”

“Ah no…..maybe” Alfred responded sheepishly

“Alfred, oh well it can’t be helped” she sighed and began walking over to the bed to sit, and patted the spot next to her signaling Alfred to do the same.

Alfred complied, " well you see ever since the beginning of time the number twelve has always been seen as a complete rotation."

"A complete rotation?" Questioned Alfred

“A complete rotation around the clock, signaling the end of an era to make room for something new” explained the Queen. “The other kingdoms have done the same within their own domain as well, it’s quite an important occasion for all royals, but mostly for the one ruling wonderland. Which will soon be you once my own time is done.”

“Mom how do you know when time is up, what does that even mean?” asked Alfred curiously cocking his head to the side.“Well in due time you will know. But everyone’s time ends in one form or another, whether it be a happy ending or a tragic one. But we all keep going to see where and how it ends, that is where wonder takes over to give us the strength to move forward and reach our goals.”

"Well enough chit chat we have a birthday to celebrate, come on we must get you ready."

"Okay ma" Alfred answered as he got up and followed his mother.

★★★

Within the Spadian military training camps were the new recruits that would soon be joining the card soldiers. Clanging of swords were heard outside followed by grunts and the barking of orders.

“Come on put your back into it!” one of the commanders barked.

“Is that all you got?!” yelled one of the trainees towards his opponent.

As the loud sounds rang through the air from swords, one trainee stood out from the rest, a teenage boy no older than 14 years of age, was only studying the other trainees around him, his face showing deep concentration.

“Studying your opponents Kevin?”, came a voice from behind, that was when the young trainee turned his head to see who had interrupted his train of thought. It was a young teen similar to him no older than he was with gray silvered short hair and very abnormally red eyes that seem as though had no life to them, no pupils were present. He dressed very nicely, wearing black pants with a white button down shirt underneath a royal blue waistcoat that had the symbol of the Spadian Royal Guardian.

“Ah, it’s only you Tony” replied Kevin. “And yes I am studying, I do want to gain the upper hand once we do get into real battle you know”

“Indeed I do know, I had to go through the same to gain my position as the Spade Royal Guardian and plus some” said Tony as he went to sit next to Kevin.

"So why did you want to be a Royal Guardian?"

"Well I didn't really, I was just chosen and I just said sure"

"Oh, I see well you are one of the best and besides that you also have to teach AL too. How's that goin for ya? He must be quite a handful." laughed Kevin

“Well he tries, but he’s more of an ‘inventive’ individual than a fighter.”

“inventive?”, questioned Kevin

“Well he loves to think, imagine, dream, or wonder as I would put it. But that is also why he’s so interesting as well.”, answered Tony

“Ya, I wonder where he gets that from”, questioned Kevin

“Well besides that, are you ready for his birthday today?” asked Tony

“what do you mean by that?” asked Kevin

“I mean are you ready to dance with him” said Tony with a smile

“WHAT!!! YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS!! WHY ME!!!”

“Well don’t get mad ok, I know you like him and it has become more obvious lately”

“What, really?”

“Ya, I think it’s pretty cute and I just want to let you know that I approve” said Tony

“I DON’T NEED YOUR STINKIN APPROVAL!!” blushed Kevin

“Ya ya, keep telling yourself that Kevin”, teased Tony

★★★

‘I don't think i can ever rule wonderland’

It's not like I'm scared, i just don't want to

I hate titles

I hate the formalities

I hate that i can't be outside

What is a king even?

Just someone that is just like everyone else but treated differently.

‘I hate the idea of king’

“I really do dislike the idea” i whispered to myself as i began closing and hiding my journal “can't let anyone find this…”

“Alfred what are you doing sweetie?”

“Oh sorry i was just doing my….uh….homework, ya”

“Well you don't have to do that today you know especially on your day”

(Add later after Hatters become a big part of the story for Audience) Important Characters:

Alfred Spades (Alfred F. Jones)

Queen Amelia of Spades (Amelia F. Jones)

Hatter Jameson (Morro Kevin Jameson (Molossia))

Francis Ace of Spades (Francis Bonnefoy)

King Ivan of Clubs (Ivan Braginsky)

Ex-King Winter of Clubs (General Winter)

Mad Hatter Kirkland (Arthur Kirkland)

Matthew Spades (Matthew Williams)

Hatter Arc The Ace’s Wife (Joan of Arc)

Tony the Gray Rabbit (Tony the alien)

Gilbert Ace of Clubs (Gilbert Beilschmidt)

Questions on The Hatters:

What is a Hatter?

A Hatter is an elite soldier, a soldier that endures much more difficult training than the card soldiers. Once you're a Hatter it's for life.

How does someone become a Hatter?

Well in Wonderland, you must strive become a Hatter and endure the training that comes with becoming a Hatter. They must not be selfish, must show respect, and be gentle to the people they must protect. But besides these required traits, a Hatter must endure physical and mental training to build up their endurance. Excel in their studies, and must help others throughout wonderland. Hatters are the elite soldiers of wonderland they bring justice and smiles upon the people they help and interact with.

What is a Mad Hatter?

A Mad Hatter is like a Hatter but instead of the normal training that becoming a Hatter is required, they endure torture and take training beyond what it was meant to be taken. Due to this process, people go mad and lose their capability to ever have their sanity back ever again. Mad Hatters are extremely dangerous and must be avoided at all cost, even though they’ve gone mad it doesn’t mean they’ve lost their knowledge and just attack. No they are intelligent but lose their morals, which makes them twices much more dangerous to be near them.

Why do the Hatters only have their last names with them?

When a Hatter or a Mad Hatter completes their training they give up their identity and accept their rank as Hatter or Mad Hatter. When this happens the name of a Hatter is forgotten from the memories of others and only the Hatter knows their own name, and it's their choice whether they would tell you their name or not. But Hatters do not reveal their names unless they would be vulnerable, that's why they only reveal their name to one that is trusted, so trusted they trust them with their very life.

Why does a Hatter become vulnerable when one speaks their name?

Once a Hatter's true name is spoken they freeze in mid action and are then overwhelmed with the desire of protecting the one who has spoken their name. And will do anything to protect them even give their lives.

When a Hatter's name is spoken it is immediately forgotten by the ones who overhear, and only the ones who the Hatter revealed their name to are the ones to remember.

Summery:

All is well in Wonderland, until the once ex-king of Clubs made a return to bring madness and destruction over Wonderland. Will anyone escape his vengeful wrath, and save Wonderland from Madness?

Ideas:

Mad Hatter Kirkland (Arthur or MHK) Story:

Started very young

lived near the mountain with parents

family killed by a mad hatter

was 15 years old at the time

was lost in the mountains

Tried to find the killer

got lost

was found and captured

from then was turned into one of the most strongest mad hatters

was sent to kill AL

Tony the gray rabbit

joined military to make something of himself

was made fun of for being half rabbit

was shunned by mostly everyone

came from a far away place

has the ability to change into a rabbit

doesn’t have family

out-did every other soldiers

became one of the best

He was going to try to become a Hatter

But later was offered to become a guardian for the royal child

He agreed once he actually met AL

they became friends

but Tony only shows himself to AL as a rabbit (optional)

became close friends

teaches Alfred how to fight

teaches him academics

Alfred of Spades

very young

very creative

is a dreamer

sleeps too :)

loves the wonder

loves to explore and learn

as to why the story cont.

isn’t so great at fighting (he is because of Tony)

not interested in it

fakes it when others are around

tries to act all high and mighty

is an inventor

Kind

isn’t interested in becoming the next ruler

believes that there shouldn’t be a single ruler

create a system where the people have a say in Gov.

he does not like to have a monarchy

one problem: the people cannot function with this change

has been attempted before but was rejected by the people

people in wonderland want a royal leader

The other world

have a gov. where the people have a say

steampunk theme?

very involved in technology

very opened

very peaceful

“Normal”

Al is lost here and cannot remember who he is at all

Relationships

Arthur is sent to other world to kill Al

Arthur has seen a brief picture of AL wearing a royal blue cloak

Al has amnesia

Al changes clothes in the time he arrives

He has had to cover 1 eye (future idea purposes (optional))

Al appears different

Darker hair

covered eye

clothes of a commoner

has been in world for 12 years

24 yr features

is inventive and loves to think

has no special abilities

and makes friends easy

is referred to as Lowell Faye

Arthur tries finding Al but to no avail

so he begins to search AL over the world

finds boy named Lowell

doesn’t kill

he and Lowell begin traveling together (maybe)

Arthur is slowly becoming more human

begins feeling emotions and understanding them

begins trusting

#Alfen's stories #hetalia #fanfiction idea #Unfinished Works #cardverse #APH #America aph

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wadwafesaf · 3 years

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For her life she could not have said where she had gotten it

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Black Widow: Could Red Guardian Have Fought Captain America?

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains Black Widow spoilers.

When we finally catch up with Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour) in the Russian prison where he’s been idling for years, he’s reliving his glory days in the midst of dealing with a string of arm wrestling contenders. Marvel’s Black Widow has already shown us just how strong Alexei is during its long, Ohio-set opening, so we know that the man who was once Russia’s answer to Captain America is going to win every single one of these bouts.

As Red Guardian, Alexei even had his own action figure, and although he’s now pretty out of shape the super soldier is more than a match for any of the younger and more ripped inmates who hope to challenge him. While a collection of men excitedly watch Alexei peacock his strength, he even brags about the time he beat Captain America.

“So,” Alexei teases. “I have the nuclear code, but there he is. Captain America! Finally, the Red Guardian’s time has come. I grab hold of his shield and, face to face, it’s a test of strength. The shield that he carries with him like a precious baby blanket? I use it to my advantage. I take it, I push him out the window, I make my escape.”

The beefy inmate he’s currently grappling with calls bullshit on the tall tale by getting Alexei to date his face-off with Cap at around 1983 or 1984 – a time when Steve Rogers was still in the ice.

“Are you calling me a liar?” Alexei rages, snapping the poor man’s wrist until it’s as floppy as a glove. Yikes.

But, hey, he’s just annoyed about being called out. There’s no way Cap and Red Guardian battled in the ’80s, right? It’s just not possible. Well, probably not. Unless you start thinking too hard about the events of Avengers: Endgame, the different ways that the writers and directors of the blockbuster view Steve Rogers’ fate, and the appalling way America treated Cap’s legacy, as revealed in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Let’s look at the possibilities…

Replacement Captain America

A fascinating but deeply upsetting thing we learned in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was that Steve Rogers wasn’t the only super soldier fighting for America.

In the 1950s, Isaiah Bradley was one of many unwilling human subjects that the United States military tested their super soldier serum on, and as far as we know the only one who made it through those trials. During the Korean War, Isaiah fought Bucky Barnes when he was locked in Winter Soldier mode, and managed to destroy half of his metal arm in the heat of battle. The government started to worry about news of an African-American super soldier going public, and imprisoned Isaiah for three decades. He was freed in the 1980s and his death was later faked so he could live a normal life.

We’re pretty sure Alexei could tell the difference between Steve and Isaiah, but we guess it’s possible that the US military could have had other super soldiers posing as Cap between the period when Isaiah was active and Steve made his return from the ice. For example, in the comics, there were several men who stood in for Steve after Cap had been frozen, because the government didn’t want the world to know that Captain America was gone. One in particular, William Burnside, even went so far as to get plastic surgery to resemble Rogers and really took the whole thing too far (it didn’t end well, but that’s another story). Could Alexei’s tall tale be the first way the MCU nods to replacement Captain Americas beyond Isaiah Bradley?

It’s pretty unlikely that Alexei fought anyone other than MCU Steve Rogers, though. He knows that Steve Rogers is Captain America. Hell, everyone does! Rogers is a “war criminal” on the run in Black Widow, which is set between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, and he wouldn’t ask Natasha if Cap had mentioned him otherwise, so we should probably assume that when Alexei is talking about his bouts with Cap he means Steve and only Steve.

Old Captain America

In the months following Avengers: Endgame’s release, the film’s directors and writers held court on the details of Steve Rogers’ mission to return the Infinity Stones and the long life that he subsequently chose to live with his WWII sweetheart, Peggy Carter. As you may recall, after Steve finished popping the stones back to their rightful places to avoid any of the chaotic branch timelines that The Ancient One warned Bruce Banner about, Steve and Peggy grew old together, and Old Cap then re-emerged on the very day he’d first left to pass his iconic shield over to Sam Wilson – an incident followed up in Marvel’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

But fans weren’t entirely sure whether the life Steve and Peggy lived would have caused its own branch timeline, a matter that directing team Joe and Anthony Russo were happy to clear up.

“Based on everything that happened, he would have been in a branch reality and then had to have shifted over to this, so jumped from one to the other and handed the shield off,” they said. “One thing that’s clear that Anthony and I have discussed, I don’t know that we’ve discussed this publicly at all, Cap would have had to have traveled back to the main timeline. That’s something that, yes, he would have been in a branch reality, but he would have to travel back to the main timeline to give that shield to Sam Wilson.”

A branch timeline, guys? Really? Loki, Mobius and everyone else at the TVA want a word.

Avengers: Endgame writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely had a totally different view of how Steve managed to show up where he did at the end of the film – he never left.

“That is our theory,” explained Markus. “We are not experts on time travel, but the Ancient One specifically states that when you take an Infinity Stone out of a timeline it creates a new timeline. So Steve going back and just being there would not create a new timeline. So I reject the “Steve is in an alternate reality” theory. I do believe that there is simply a period in world history from about ’48 to now where there are two Steve Rogers. And anyway, for a large chunk of that one of them is frozen in ice. So it’s not like they’d be running into each other.”

Yes, according to Markus and McFeely, there were two versions of Steve Rogers around in the seven decades that followed Captain America: The First Avenger, and the older version was just off living his life with Peggy while the younger one was in the ice. The confusion was palpable, with many fans refusing to believe that Steve would have hidden in the shadows instead of deciding to do something about all the horrible things that may have been happening in history’s relentless geopolitical conflicts.

The time travel rules of Avengers: Endgame – arguably nonsense – don’t leave much room for Markus and McFeely to be right – Banner tells the team that they can’t change the past because the past will become their future. But Markus and McFeely later doubled down on their comments, claiming that Old Cap was even at Peggy’s funeral during Civil War.

“I would like to believe that through some sort of bullshit time loop paradox–throw in the words you use when you’re bullshitting science in a movie: ‘some sort of quantum paradox’–that there are indeed two Captain Americas in the MCU timeline. That Steve Rogers who looped back into time has therefore always been there, and that he is living somewhere else in the movies you’re watching….And what I really like to believe is that there’s an old man sitting in back at Peggy’s funeral in Civil War, and that’s old Steve Rogers, watching young Steve Rogers, carry old Steve Rogers’s wife up to the front of the church. Can I explain it scientifically? Not really, no.”

Weirdly, it’s Black Widow’s throwaway moments with Alexei that could support the writers’ take here. Maybe the Steve who was with Peggy didn’t stay out of the fight all those years. Maybe he did try to stop Red Guardian from stealing the nuclear codes. And maybe this wasn’t the only time he and Alexei came to blows during the Cold War era. Sure, Cap would have technically been in his ’60s, but he ages slowly and Alexei is proof that the super soldier serum still very much has a kick to it as the years fly by.

Straight Up Lying For Clout

Alexei could have fictionalized his interactions with Captain America for clout, and he comes across as the kind of person who would do so, but let’s look at the second time he brings up Captain America with his “daughter” Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow. He couldn’t be any more proud that she became an Avenger, even if she defected to fight for the other side. Instead of reconnecting with her properly, however, the first thing he talks to her about privately is in the interest of boosting his own ego.

“Natasha come here, I want to ask you something, its important,” Alexei insists. “Did he talk to you about me? You know, trading war stories.”

“Who?” Natasha asks.

“Captain America! My great adversary in this theater of geopolitical conflict. Not so much a nemesis, more like a contemporary, co-equal. I always thought there was a great deal of mutual respect,” he says genuinely.

Natasha doesn’t confirm or deny that Red Guardian got a mention in her conversations with Steve. She’s too annoyed that Alexei is harping on about himself again after they’ve spent so many years apart, but it may leave a tantalizing Captain America mystery lingering on the MCU timeline. Why would Alexei take an obvious lie this far, to someone with first-hand knowledge who would absolutely be in a position to call him out on it if he didn’t at least believe it was true?

For what it’s worth, Harbour told Inverse that Red Guardian’s Cap stories are “absolutely true, 100 percent,” but also went on to add “There’s a thing, confabulation, where people actually just believe their lies to such a degree that even when confronted with reality, they can’t process it. It doesn’t make sense [to them]. I think Alexei is very much the same way. He lives this reality completely independent of what other people have seen or heard.”

Whether any of this is ever canonically confirmed or not, the MCU is known for its breadcrumbs and callbacks, so don’t count out more Cap vs. Red Guardian hints just yet.

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fanfiction-fanfriction · 6 years

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The History Textbooks (Will Write About Our Love)

Pairing: Stucky, Background Relationships Rating: E Words: 10716 Summary: Bucky was a smart guy, he got into SHIELD College after all, and scholarship nonetheless. In his second year there he decided to take an American History class as part of the breadth requirement. He should know American history, he is American. He was expecting the cut and dry method of history, so dry that it could probably preserve meat for the winter. But, he wasn’t expecting a blonde with a contagious laugh, the habit of rambling about things he is passionate about, and that looked so amazing in blue button ups. His name is Steve Rogers, new professor of American history and Bucky is so fucked.

A/N: Shout out to @stevestuckyonbucky who spent like three days with me planning this monster of a fic out! I want to apologize for anyone who reads this on Tumblr, I send my condolences.

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(please leave comments, I live for them)

Bucky was a smart guy, after all he did get into SHIELD College on a scholarship, and for mechanical engineering nonetheless. That’s no small feat even for a smart guy like Bucky.

It was his second year, it was a warm September when he stepped into the small classroom in the back of one of the Humanities Wing of the school.

He had to take a course outside of his degree, what they call a ‘breadth requirement’, it forces students to go out and ‘try new things’ as an overly excited grad student put it during orientation. Bucky put off on it until Sam told him that if he did all of those requirements in his last year, it would probably sink his GPA.

So he took his luck with an American history course that focused on eighteen seventy-seven to present day, he knew enough about America, he is American after all. He was expecting for it to be dry, dated, important figures and events.

But, he wasn’t expecting this.

He walked into class to find a blonde man at the front, wearing thick rimmed glasses and a navy blue button up shirt. His hair looked tousled like he had been running his hand through it just moments prior.

He was writing on the large chalkboard, a long line of white chalk cut horizontally through the board with dates being listed in blue chalk and the important events written in pink. Overtop of it was various drawings. From the far right was muskets, the hat of a union soldier and chains being broken. This trend of iconography through the most important events including a sign that read, “I Am A Man” during the Civil Rights Era to the ribbon associated with the AIDS epidemic of the eighties (done in pink chalk as that looked like all that was available), and then at the far end, a drawing of the American flag with the question, “Where do we go from here?”.

“Wow.”

The man looked up, “Hi, I’m Steve Rogers. I’m your professor for the semester.” His gaze wandered to the clock close by, “You’re a bit early, but you can take a seat.”

“Did you draw this?” Bucky asked as he took another step inside.

Steve wiped his brow with the palm of his head, leaving behind some chalk residue, “It’s no big deal.”

“It looks like a big deal.” He looked back at Steve, “Oh you have a little something.” He gestured to his forehead.

“Oh shit.” Steve wiped his forehead with his clean hand, “Thanks Mr?”

“Barnes, James Barnes. You can call me Bucky, everyone does.”

“Alright there Bucky, take any seat you like, your classmates should be showing up soon.” He smiled, it made Buck's face suddenly feel warm.

This was going to be fun.

A few girls walked in and said hi to Bucky, their flirty skirts and seductive eyes didn’t stray the young man from looking at Steve with his own glances. He gave them a slight wave and a “hey” that resembled more a sigh than anything.

The class started soon after and Steve went through the syllabus.

“Alright, there will not be a midterm.” There was a collective sigh in the class, “But three times this semester I will do a notebook check which will count for your participation marks, and two quizzes that’ll make up part of the mark that would have gone to a mid term plus two papers.” Then there was a groan.

“I know, I know, but it'll be spread out. I won’t be that professor who pushes everything till the last minute. My office hours and listed on the syllabus and you can always send me an email. That includes sending me rough drafts of you papers.” He wrote his email on the board ‘[email protected]’, “I’ll try to get back to you within twenty four hours.”

Bucky quickly wrote it down despite it being on the sheet in front of him. He couldn’t wrap his head around how this professor made him feel. He wasn’t like the cranky, bitter, old professors that are only here because of tenure, he was excited with a smallest tint of nervousness.

He didn’t know how confident Steve could have gotten until he opened his mouth to recap the Civil war. It was if what he was teaching was in his veins instead of blood, able to pull up maps, artistic renditions and charts. Everything was so organized because he knew this content so well, and he looked amazing doing it. The ripple of muscles under that blue button up, how his eyes were framed by those glasses and his smile that shined through while he spoke.

Before Bucky could blink the two hours were over, and Steve said, “Alright, please remember to pick up Eric Foner’s book. It’s one of the best contemporary history textbooks out there and it’s on seventy dollars so it’s a steal.” The blonde gave a small laugh, he looked a bit more nervous now, as if he used all his confidence in his two hours lecture.

Everyone piled out, but Bucky took his time packing away his belongings, he maintained eye contact with Steve.

“Mr. Barnes, what can I help you with?”

Bucky shrugged, “Nope, just getting my things, you know you can call me Bucky.”

Steve looked away for a moment to turn off the computer, “You’ve been staring at me since class ended, do you have a question about the syllabus?”

“Just curious.”

“About what?”

“About you, you spent most of the lesson going on about how art was depicted in the Civil War, isn’t the first class supposed to be an introduction, that’s why my friend, Sam isn’t here.”

Steve shook his head, “The best way to enjoy history is to just jump right in. It’s like looking at a painting, there is no preface for it, any language to describe it is an after thought. That’s why I’m here almost every day, to allow students to have those afterthoughts with me.” He looked up, “Also, tell your friend Sam that he should be coming to every class.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell him anything on the syllabus, tell him to find it on his own.” Bucky packed away the rest of his belongings and laughed, “Do we have to call you Steve? Isn’t that a little informal?”

Steve chuckled, “Well, I don’t have a Doctorate and Mr. Rogers makes me sound much older than I am, as you can see I don’t wear sweater vests and asked you to be my neighbour.”

The laugh warmed Bucky, “I guess that makes sense.” He took one last look at Steve’s form, how the first few buttons of the man’s shirt was undone, exposing just the tiniest bit of muscle.

He walked out of class, closed the door behind him. He wanted Steve Rogers.

Shit.

He ended up not giving Sam the syllabus, keeping to his promise. He chose to wear a tighter shirt to class the following week.When the two walked in the following week, Sam muttered, “I can see why you keep talking him up like he is some sort of god.” Which earned him a jab in the side from Bucky and forced to sit in the front with his friend.

Steve gave Bucky a once over look, his cheeks stung a little red before he began the class, “Alright, class. Last week was just a warm up. If you want to focus on the Civil War, please next semester take the class with professor Stark, I know, the man is in the sciences, but he can tell you all about the Civil War and everything that lead up to it. He likes to give different perspectives and playing devil’s advocate, but it’s a good learning experience. There’s debates and group projects, everything. However if you do take part in the debate, people have fought in the parking lot over it.” Steve finished writing on the board the course code.

Steve turned around, “Last week we discussed the beginnings of reconstruction and looked at Eric Foner’s book which I hope you had the chance to pick up. We will be discussing America’s Gilded Age. Now can anyone tell me where this term comes from?”

Bucky shot up his hand, “Mark Twain’s work.”

Steve nodded his head before he took down the screen and started up the computer to project the lecture slides, “Yes, it came from Mark Twain, I am going to assume you know who he is.” The first slide of the power point is the infamous portrait of him.

Steve continued, “But today we will be focusing more on what the gilded Age really meant in terms of American society rather than through the lens of a man who really loved cats.” The class gave a small laugh, “I don’t dislike Twain, but if you want to talk about him more there are enough English classes to give you that.”

Sam poked Buck's arm, “Hey man, should we be taking notes?”

Bucky nodded his head, “He does notebook checks.”

Sam gave him a confused look, “We are adults.”

“Does it look like anyone in this twelve person class is really going to be participating in a ten a.m. lecture?”

“Shit.” Sam grumbled before taking out his notebook and a pen from the bottom of his bag.

“This age last from the last eighteen seventies to around nineteen hundred and is often characterized by its corruption and the growth of capitalist greed, as we see in this depiction.” He clicked to the next slide with a satirical comic highlight the greed of factory owners by depicted tired workers carrying their bosses onto the shore.

“However in the more quote unquote ‘art world’ it was overlapping with the impressionist movement, both started around the same time. We get artists like James Abbott McNeill Whistler and his painting ‘The Yellow Room’. Art does hold an important role in American society, that without it we would not have the basis of the traditional sense of culture. Impressionism was and still is the same across all borders, it was a bold approach to capture the emotion of a scene. It was characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities. It was often accentuating the effects of the passage of time. It focused on ordinary subject matter, inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience, and unusual visual angles.” He took a moment to scan the class, before he rolled up his sleeves. He gave a small cough, “Sorry. Anyway back on topic. I won’t be testing you on the role of art in american history, but I find it helpful to view it through a visual lens and how what we perceive as American culture is actually a mix bag of many different cultures, art, ways of life, and so on. And that’s good thing.”

Bucky kept staring at him with complete fascination. He watched the blonde wield the same power as he began to describe how the impressionist movement affected American culture and rounded back to the historical significance of the gilded age.

He was broken from his thoughts when Sam leaned over and whispered, “Do you think he’s off topic.”

Bucky shrugged, “Don’t know, he’s the professional here.”

After class, Sam asked a few questions about what happened last week, using the “I wasn’t feeling too well” excuse while Bucky stood close by.

When Sam finished, he watched Bucky talk with Steve.

“I found that really interesting, how the laws targeted immigrants from very specific countries. I also really liked how you used those illustrations to really highlight those issues and the feelings at the time. ” Bucky got a little closer, “I guess public school is really good at hiding that.”

“Well, I guess that’s my job then. I- um- well I find it important to document the impact of immigrants, my mother was one and I find it helpful for students to have a connection to the stories and facts they are reading. I tend to look at an immigrant narrative and think of my mother, how given the right opportunity she was able to thrive.”

“Where was your mom from?”

“Ireland.”

“So I guess you can hold your liquor then.” Bucky winked.

Sam knew Buck's tactics like the back of his hand, he knew how he’d go in and sweet talk, but this wasn’t some guy at the bar, it was their professor.

“Bucky, we have to meet up with Nat, remember we have to be guinea pigs for her psychology assignment.”

“See you later, sir.” Bucky gave Steve a smile before he was practically dragged out of the room by his annoyed friend.

Once outside the class, Bucky made a noise that could be compared to a disappointed dog, “Oh come on, Sam.”

“No, bad Bucky, bad. No flirting with the professor.”

“Can I a little bit?”

“No, Bucky, this is a professor, a man who went to school to teach.”

Bucky stopped him right there, “He was in the army and got this job soon after being discharged.”

Sam gave him a concerned look, “How do you know this? How much trouble did you get into last week?”

Bucky shrugged as they went down the stairs to the main quad, “Nat knows a guy, who knows a guy, who once knew a guy.”

That was code for Natasha got into the system files again. Sam wondered how much Bucky paid Natasha to do that, or what he offered in return, probably some of that nice vodka that they sell in that fancy store off campus.

They found her sitting with her textbook by the steps that lead from the main quad to the science wing.

“Hey Nat!” Sam called which caused her to look up.

“Hey!” She called back before she shut her book and stood up.

They met in the middle of the quad and Bucky handed her the bottle of the nice vodka from that fancy store off campus. Sam was right in his assumption and was proud of that.

“You’re taking bribes now?”

“When wasn’t I taking bribes?” Natasha responded as she put the bottle in her knapsack, “Now come on you two, I have to ask you a bunch of questions about stress during the early months of the semester.”

After they ran through the questions they all got beers at the bar down the road, called “Fossil”. It was a bit grimey around the corners especially around the windows, not the kind of place someone would take a date, but it was cheap and usually had pints on the cheap.

“So about this Steve Rogers guy.” Natasha stated.

Sam rolled his eyes, “He’s like a love sick puppy.”

“I’m trying to play it cool.” Bucky argued as he playfully punched his friend in the arm.

“So try to make a move, he can’t fail you if you hit on him. Plus, it’s a little cute.” Natasha suggested a smile played at his lips.

“Nat, stop encouraging him.”

“Sam, come on, let the guy dream. Who knows maybe you’ll be the number one bachelor on campus if he gets Mr. Hot For Teacher.”

Bucky hid his face, “Don’t call him that.”

“How about Mr. America?” Nat suggested, “Anyway, Sam you’ll be the most eligible bachelor on campus, that title should bring some people willing to throw bird seed in the park with you.”

Sam pointed out, “We all know I got my sights on one person, so it isn’t that most of the female and a large percent of the male population wants him that is the problem.”

Bucky and Nat said in unison, “T’Challa.”

Sam rolled his eyes, “Thank for telling everyone in the bar about it.” He gestured over his shoulder to the about four people in the bar, “It’s just, why can’t you go for the people who want you?”

Bucky shrugged his shoulders, “He’s fascinating, I want to know everything. I want to know him and I want him to know me. I like spending time with him and I want to know how far down that blush goes.”

“So, you wanna get him naked and show him a good time?” Natasha asked.

“No there would be cuddling afterwards.”

Natasha nudged him in the side, “You’re getting soft.”

“Shut up.” Bucky drank his beer and tried to come up with a plan to make a move.

Bucky made his first move the week after, after he convinced Sam to let him flirt with Steve and ask questions after class.

In exchange Bucky would help Sam gain the courage to talk to T’Challa. Sam couldn’t get a good understanding of him hence it made him nervous, but not nervous enough to ask for Natasha’s hacking assistance, unlike some people.

After class, Sam shot Bucky a look as he left the classroom. He wasn’t entirely happy, but this was the happiest Bucky had looked in a long time. He just didn’t want his best friend to get in trouble, but he had to remind himself that he doesn’t have to take the wheel. If Bucky wanted to fuck Steve that badly, that’s his choice.

“I assume you have more questions, Bucky.” Steve said as he packed his belongings away. He made quick eye contact with Bucky before he turned off his laptop.

“Well, just a few. I know that the next class has to get in here, so let me walk you to your office.” Bucky grinned as he picked up his bag. He must have sounded like a high schooler asking a girl to walk her to her locker, but he couldn’t help it.

“Yeah sure.” Steve pushed up his glasses and put his bag over his shoulder, “So what questions do you have?”

They both exited the classroom and Bucky began to ask, “Well why exactly was the city such a central element in progressive America? Also how did labour and women’s movements challenge the nineteenth century meanings of American freedom?”

“Getting ready for the first paper.” Steve chuckled, “Well.” He began to give an explanation, citing the textbook as a good source to narrow down the idea.

Bucky watched his talk, the way his mouth moved. How he smiled when he cracked a small joke or referenced an art movement during this time period. He watched how his cheeks got warm and moved his glasses back up his face every once in awhile.

He was so enamoured that he didn’t even notice the girls that walked the opposite direction greeting him, he only noticed because Steve gave them a small wave, but Bucky didn’t mind with them.

He nodded along to what Steve had to say and piped in when he could, he did do all the readings after all. He enjoyed hearing what his professor had to say, he looked so happy and in turn that made Bucky happy. It was a warmth that blossomed in his chest and melted through his veins like syrup.

When they got to his office, Steve looked at his watch and his eyes went wide, “Oh shit.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’d let you stay, but I have to go to a meeting. I realize that emails won’t cut it, here’s my cell number.” Steve quickly got out a shred of paper and a pen from his pocket. He quickly wrote down my phone number, “If you have any questions or concerns or if you’re having issues in general let me know. You’re a good guy, Bucky and college can be hard for everyone.” He gave Bucky a smile

Bucky dubbed the ‘All American Smile’, it was pure, innocent and made him want to salute it. The other man nodded his head, “Yeah, sure, of course. Holy shit, thank you.” He grabbed the piece of paper from Steve.

“Have a good rest of your week, I hope to see the outline of your paper. Remember to tell Wilson that the first notebook check is coming up at the end of the month.” Then walked away from Bucky to the faculty wing of the building.

Buck couldn’t help but have a little pep in his step. He raced back to meet up with Sam at the library to show him what got from Steve, a ten digit phone number that allowed him to talk to Steve anytime. It couldn’t get better than this.

He of course texted Steve that night.

To Steve: [7:05 pm] Hey, it’s me, Bucky. I was wondering how you were doing

He got a response almost instantly.

To Bucky: [7:05 pm] Enjoying the last little bit of time I have before assignments get handed in

To Bucky: [7:06 pm] The football game on television, The New York Giants are playing.

Bucky smiled to himself as he turned on the radio in his dorm to find the sports channel, he wasn’t able to have a television as the room was too cramped, but he made do with the small battery powered radio that he bought at a garage sale before moving in.

To Steve: [7:07 pm] Fox Sports right?

To Bucky: [7:08 pm] Why, are you watching?

To Steve: [7:08 pm] Yeah, New England just got a touchdown.

To Bucky: [7:08 pm] Don’t remind me :(

Bucky laughed as he put the radio closer to him and took out his textbooks from under the bed. They continued to text one another throughout the game, most of the time not even talking about the game unless the Giants got a touchdown, while Bucky sat on his bed with his textbooks scattered across it as he began to do his assignments for his other classes. Once he got through his work and the game ended, he was going to call Sam about this.

They continued to talk long after the game ended, small casual things about home, interests, the sci-fi novel that Bucky was attempting to get through but had to stop due to school work.

To Bucky: [1:04 am] Goodnight, good luck on your project for that engineering class, I hope the work for my class isn’t interfering with your other assignments, and I don’t mean those old garage sale pulp books, haha.

To Steve: [1:04 am] Don’t worry, I’m a student, I could bullshit my way out of a paper bag.

To Bucky [1:04 am] That’s not very assuring, I am an educator, specifically your educator, remember?

To Steve [1:04 am] Don’t worry, I never bullshit your class. You make it too interesting to bullshit :)

On the other end of the line, in a small apartment close to campus. Steve lied in bed with the small television blaring in front of the bed, turned to his side and faced his phone while his golden retriever, Scamp, get comfortable on the other side.

Steve blushed at the recent text, the compliment that was propped up as a joke made his face feel warm and his heart stagger in pace, a small uptick for a moment.

He thought about the last text when he put his phone down and turned to face the other direction, “Hey Scamp.”

The dog’s ears perked up at the mention of his name.

“That student, Bucky, he wouldn’t have a crush on me, would he?”

Scamp made a noise and curled up onto the bed. Steve rolled over his back and stared up at the ceiling for a moment. He felt a twitch under his skin, in his fingers to reach for his phone again and send one last text, to be the last text Bucky read before bed.

Did he want Bucky to have feelings for him? Was he really that gone for the student with the long hair and the stunning grey eyes. The realization began to bubble up in his chest, that Bucky wasn’t being nice, he wanted Steve. But Steve was questioning if he wanted to be with the other man and if so, how badly?

Steve reached down and petted along Scamp’s fur before he laid back down and fell asleep.

Bucky felt so close to Steve's body, his arms were loosely around Steve’s waist as he kissed up along his back. The kisses were soft, wet marks across the other man’s pale shoulders and the muscular expanse of his back.

It made Steve shiver and his cock jolt to full mass. Steve sighed dreamily, “Bucky.”

“Yeah, that’s me. Don’t wear it out.” There was another kiss placed on the junction between his shoulder and neck, a sweet spot that always made the blonde squirm.

The mess of hands along his skin made Steve’s head feel full of a hazy lust, how they felt sliding up his chest, down his back, along the junction of his thighs, even as it brushed up against more sensitive areas, the places that gave him goosebumps.

“You ready?” Steve questioned as he looked over his shoulder.

“I don’t know, are you ready?” Bucky smiled, that charming smile that made Steve want to groan but also kiss him silly.

He got a good look at Bucky and saw the toned muscle that poorly hid under those tight shirts he wore to every class, how he’d bend over and pick things up once in awhile that drove Steve up the wall out of pure want and need for the other man.

“I’ve been ready for this for a while now.” The words tumbled out of Steve’s mouth as he buried his face deeper into his pillow. The soft cotton of the case felt good against his hot skin.

Bucky knew how to push his buttons. Wind him up like a toy and send him off, with those cute smiles and informed questions. He knew that he was just taking this course for a requirement, but he cared so much and even asked questions about the rambles Steve went on about art movements and their importance. Even to smaller points like brushstrokes and angles. He was so damn charming that the feeling of his hands along Steve’s skin sent his brain into overdrive as it clouded with lust. Like a fan trying to get rid of fog from a fog machine only to fail and become consumed by it.

“That’s good to hear.”, Bucky slowly slid into Steve and kept a steady hand on the bottom of Steve’s back. He gave it a soft pat as he fully inserted himself into the blonde.

Steve’s hole clenched around Bucky’s cock, it felt like heaven with every nerve ending coming alive, his whole body buzzed with want.

“I think I love you.” Bucky’s voice was close to Steve’s ear. Hot breath against hotter skin, the blonde was so flushed by their intimacy.

Bucky’s hand trailed down and brushed along his cock before he took a full grasp of it.

“You’re beautiful. I’m love with you.”

“I think I love you too.” Steve whispered.

Steve quickly woke up, the t-shirt he wore stuck to his body along with the blonde hair to his forehead. He felt painfully hard and it didn’t go away as he laid back down. He groaned and rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand. Everything felt so real and so good.

Fuck, he really was gone for James “Bucky” Barnes.

After class two weeks later, Bucky walked with Steve to his office again. Steve was reluctant at first, but realized that Bucky had some interesting questions and preferred to have the discussion in his own office where he wasn’t interrupting another class getting in. Steve thanked him for carrying his bag and took it from the other man. He took a look at how Buck's shirt fit across his chest, how nicely the fabric pulled across it.

“Hey, I was wondering if I could stick around. It’s been hard to find quiet places to work and I want to get started on this assignment.”

Steve unlocked the door to his office and said, “Fine by me, but you can’t look at the upcoming quiz, got it?” He attempted to give Bucky a stern look.

“Don’t worry, I won’t cheat.” Bucky flashed him a blinding smile before he followed Steve into the office.

Inside the office was rather spacious, with books that lined the bookshelf and canvases that rested against the wall.

“You’ve got some nice art there.”

Steve smiled, as he gave a quick look at Buck's ass before trailing up to the other man’s back, “I painted them myself, I haven’t had the time to hang them up yet. The first two are from my apartment window and the other two are from the park. I used to paint a lot more, but I’m just content with sketching now.”

“I’d love to see more of your work one day.” Bucky smiled as he put the canvases back in their proper place.

Steve blushed and put his bags by the door then closed the door behind him. He took out his folder labeled “Quiz #1” and placed it on the desk along with his laptop. He yawned before sitting down.

“So what are you studying anyway?”

“Engineering.” Bucky shrugged.

“And you’re taking a history class?” Steve looked away from his laptop to the student sitting in the chair across from him.

“I like you, you’re a really good professor.”

Steve looked down as he felt a blush forming on his face, “Oh, thank you.” He had to be professional about this.

After a half an hour passed of small chit-chat before there was a knock on the door, Steve got up and answered it. On the other side was Dr. Bruce Banner from the chemistry department.

“Oh, hey Bruce.” Steve smiled as he exited the office.

Bucky looked away from his textbook to overhear their conversation, the door was open so it wasn’t private.

“How is your first few weeks going?”

“Better than expected, I didn’t realize the classes were so small, printed out a hundred outlines before I even for my class list.” He chuckled.

“Well, if you don’t change anything you’ll eventually use all of them.” Bruce responded with a chuckle of his own, “Am I keeping you from anything?”

“I have a student in my office, I was thinking of maybe trying to see if I could get some lunch.”

Bucky leaned a little closer.

“I forgot it at home and I don’t want to take the time away from him, he’s a good student and I don’t want to deprive him of that.”

Bruce made a soft noise, “I can’t advise that considering-”

Steve shrugged, “Teaching is more important, these kids paid good money.”

“Kids? You’re not that much older than some of them.”

Steve rolled his eyes, “You know what I mean, why is tuition so expensive.”

“Not all of us got our education thanks to the military and grants.” Bruce responded, “Just take care of yourself Steve, I don’t want to find you in the clinic because you passed out.” He looked over Steve’s shoulder to Bucky, who quickly looked back down to his book, “Well, I’ll leave it to you, remember Steve, you might be strong, but some of those illnesses are still there.”

Steve returned and closed the door behind him, he sat back down at his desk and continued to go through the quiz questions.

Bucky needed to do something about that, he can’t let Steve starve like that! He felt this urge deep in his gut to provide for Steve, take care of him.

“Hey, Steve.” Bucky started.

Steve looked up, “Yeah.”

“Is it cool if I grab some lunch real quick?”

Steve nodded his head, “Go right ahead.” He gave Bucky a smile that made the other man’s heart leap.

When Bucky left, Steve covered his head with his hands. He had to be professional, he had an inkling that Bucky was hitting on him.

He knew the reputation that Bucky had, many people wanted him. They thought he was handsome, smart and a little mysterious, and Steve couldn’t disagree with that. Despite been nervous about having Bucky around, he actually enjoyed it. He was a straight A student that asked the right questions.

He realized that the sharp smiles, nice gestures and complimentary words were getting to Steve’s head, but the thing is that Steve didn’t mind, at least the emotional, irrational side of him didn’t.

Buck soon returned with not one burrito, but two in hand along with a drink and a small salad.

Steve looked at the food back to Bucky, “You sure do eat a lot, well I guess you must work out like what, eight times a day.” He chuckled. He swallowed hard for a moment when he got a good look at the curl of Bucky’s arm as he carried the food.

“Oh, this isn’t all for me. I got something for you, I didn’t know what you’d like so I stayed away from the spicy stuff.” He placed one of the burritos on the desk along with the bottle drink, “I overheard what you said to Doctor Banner about you forgetting lunch.”

Steve smiled and gave a nod of his head, “Thank you, I may have changed a lot since my time in the army, but I’m still in a few ways sick, so I appreciate this.”

Bucy acted surprised, “You were in the army?”

“I got discharged and ended up finishing my masters in history, Doctor Banner is the reason why I got the job, thought I’d make a good change for the faculty, considering I think most of the other history professors saw the German invasion of France.” He chuckled as he unwrapped the tin foil from the burrito.

Bucky chuckled along with him before he took a huge bite into the burrito, he kept an eye on Steve.

“Have you begun studying for you quiz yet, and made sure your notes are in order. They’re both next week.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve already started, it’s covering everything before world war one right?”

“Yeah, we will be spending a few weeks on those two wars. Those were my specialties in school.” Steve looked away, slightly flustered.

“You know you sound really confident when you talk about.

“It’s like I forget how nervous I am, it’s like when blowing up a balloon, but eventually I deflate and I enjoy just having one on one conversations with students.” He shrugged before he bit into the burrito.

“Well, you’re doing a good job. Best class I have this semester.”

“Thank you, Bucky.” Steve blushed and it really made Bucky want to know how far that blush went down.

When they finished lunch, Bucky said he had to get ready to go to work.

“Thank you visiting me, Bucky. I hope to hear from you soon.” Steve held up his phone, “I don’t think anyone has ever texted you as much as you have.”

Bucky broke out into a grin, “Well, I hope to continue my record.” Then walked away.

Steve closed his office door behind him, he think he might just be gone for Bucky.

Bucky found Natasha in the library without Sam.

“Where’s Sam?”

She looked up from her textbook, “Finally got the courage to talk to T’Challa after class, two of them are grabbing lunch.”

Bucky sat down beside Natasha, “I think I should ask Steve out.”

“You know Sam said that exact same thing to me, I’m glad you are all figuring your shit out.”

“I mean it.”

“Then what’s stopping you.”

“I’ve gone in too deep, I spend practically every office hours with him and it’s not even like we’re talking about history, he’s this artist, like he paints and draws and does all kinds of amazing work. And, it’s not like he’s hard on the eyes either, it’s like I want to congratulate him on his face.”

“Then take a chance, figure out your battle strategy and then congratulate him on his face.”

Bucky chuckled, “Thanks for the pep talk.” then sat across from Natasha and began to text Steve about next week’s office hours.

To Steve: [3:30 pm] You have office hours next week?

To Bucky: [3:31 pm] Yep, same time, same place. See you then :)

The following Monday came by and everyone handed in their notebooks for marks and were handed the quiz in return.

Bucky spent the last week coming up with his ‘battle strategy’ and decided to be bold about it, it wasn’t like him to beat around the bush so why do it when asking Steve out.

He finished his quiz quite quickly, but remained at his seat. He began to doodle along the edges of the page. He couldn’t get how beautiful Steve’s artwork was, beautiful work for a beautiful man Bucky thought. When he took notes in class he’d have his own little sketches, he was a bit hesitant at first to hand in his notebook, but he managed to incorporate it into plan.

Steve sat up at the front, making quick work to go through each of these notebooks. Anyone who had more than one page of writing would get a student full marks.

For a moment he realized that he didn’t have to really go through Bucky’s notebook, but for appearances sake went through it anyway. He noticed that one of the pages had a pretty well done sketch of himself, even getting the details of his hair and glasses right.

Bucky did have feelings for him! He closed the notebook quickly and gave him the extra marks. He looked up to the other man to find those grey eyes staring back at him. He gave him a smile as he felt his pulse racing under his skin.

Once he went through the books he had some time, he took out his own sketchbook and began to do his own doodling once he saw Bucky not looking at him.

They kept up the routine of Bucky going to his office. Steve brought in leftover Chinese food for the two of them as a way to thank him for last week. He only mentioned it after the quiz so Bucky could keep focused on the task.

He’d was now keenly aware of the feelings that Bucky had for him, and he knows his own feelings for the other man. But, he wasn’t expecting for it to be brought up so quickly.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go out on a date with me?” Bucky asked trying to capture a casual tone.

Steve took a forkful of the greasy noodles and sighed, “Bucky, I can’t say yes.”

“But why, we make such a good team, we have fun together, I’ll take you somewhere nice.” Bucky gave his award winning grin. It made Steve’s knees a little weak, but he had to be firm on this.

He didn’t want to Bucky’s academic success riding on the fact that they were together and he didn’t want to lose his job.

He gestured the fork to Bucky, “How about this, you ace the second quiz and the finals and I’ll take you out to dinner.”

Bucky leaned a little closer, “You mean it?”

Steve nodded his head, “It’s good to give students a little motivation.” He was totally gone for James Barnes, and honestly if they can make it through the rest of the semester he’ll be okay with being with him. That didn’t discount any teasing. They couldn’t make out on campus, but he could give Bucky a little nudge to do well.

And thus began the devilish streak that Bucky would have never suspected this hot blonde of a history professor to have.

To Bucky: [11:45 am] Two weeks till finals. You nervous?

To Steve [11:47 am] Nope, just busy.

To Bucky [11:47 am] Can I send you something?

To Steve [11:47 am] Sure

To Bucky [11:50 am] (Photo attachment sent)

This had been going on for a few weeks, Bucky was so used to the timid, blushing professor he wasn’t expecting the little devil that was inside of him. It started out with cute little text messages, giving him motivation to do well on his papers, assignments, quizzes and everything. Usually countdowns made him nervous, but they were always attached with a photo, the closer time came, the more suggestive they were.

Bucky quickly opened the message to find a photo of Steve, lounging on his couch on his stomach, wearing just his boxers, the shot showed his half smile, bareback and, covered ass.

Bucky was so fucked.

He never thought he could masturbate or study as hard and as frequently as he did.

He quickly got another photo, this time Steve stood in his underwear, in the full length mirror in his apartment. He can see every muscle on Steve’s body, how good the blonde looked.

Bucky remembered when Steve was nervous about sending photos, until Bucky sent some of himself with the text, ‘if we go down, we go down together. I’d rather lose my scholarship then lose out on dating you’, and ever since then it had been nothing but teasing from Steve.

To Steve [12:00 pm] I think I’ve created a monster

To Bucky [12:00 pm] What do you mean?

To Steve [12:01 pm] I mean that I thought you were some cute professor, I didn’t know you were some kinky fucker

To Bucky [12:01 pm] Well, I can’t wait to take you out somewhere nice, to see you again. As you said, if we go down, we go together. I think that was the last straw.

To Bucky [12:01 pm] I really like you, and I want you. I Haven’t been with anyone in a long time.

To Bucky [12:02 pm] (Photo attachment Sent) I want you, Bucky, and I can’t wait to say that to your face.

The photo wasn’t one in a sexual nature, it was of Steve sitting at his desk, chewing on the edge of a pen with his glasses on, he looked like he was working now. Yet, the photo was still arousing to Bucky as he laid out on his shitty bed, cock hard in his sweatpants. He pulled down the sweatpants and quickly took a picture of his hard cock with the caption, ‘two more weeks until I ruin you with this, then you can tell me how much you love me to my face.’

To Bucky [12:05 pm] Can’t wait till the final exam, I hope you can ace it ;)

The day of the final exam came, end of the semester. Somehow, someway Bucky had been able to pull of doing well not only in Steve’s class, but also in all of his others. Sam joked that he did have a habit of thinking with his cock.

He wanted Steve so badly, the teasing and the texts, along with the photos were driving him up the wall, he had two folders on his computer filled with photos that Steve sent him. He was still surprised by how once Steve got into it, he really got into it.

“Alright, class. I am so thankful for having you this semester and I hope you continue your journey in the humanities or whatever field you are in. I am proud of you and I know you’ll do great on the exam. You’ll have two hours to complete it, starting… Now.” He hit the time for two hours and every began to frantically write on the paper.

Within the first hour a few people had already began to hand in their exams and file out, the look on their faces told them that they had given up, but Bucky wasn’t giving up just yet. He had this, it’s just that getting an A on an exam takes time.

Bucky couldn't help but let his mind wander when he’d occasionally look up at Steve. Last night he sent Bucky a picture of him in a jockstrap and Bucky thought he’d never orgasm again after how hard he finished when he masturbated to that photo.

Bucky swallowed hard and scratched at his collar as he circled another multiple choice answer that asked him about the main social movements of the nineteen sixties.

He knew he had to focus, but he couldn’t help it. Steve looked so good even with his head buried in his phone. How soft his hair looked, how kissable his lips were, how easily he could wrap his arms around the blonde's waist. He was a dream come true and he could only make it a reality if he aces the exam. But he knew he was getting a treat after he finished the exam, just a little taste of the blonde and that gave him motivation to finish a little faster.

He finished in an hour and forty minutes. A grin plastered on his face as he wrote down the last sentence.

Bucky slammed the test down on the front desk loud enough that most of the students looked up. He gave Steve a stern look, he mouthed, “Your office.” Before he went back to his seat to grab his pencil and school ID. He picked up his bag from the front and left to Steve’s office.

Steve felt flustered as he went back to mindlessly examining his papers, Bucky really didn’t mean that right?

When he walked into his office after the exam was finished, he found Bucky in tight red and black briefs and socks. His feet propped up on top of his desk as he gazed down at leatherbound book. He looked up and smiled, “Hello, sir.”

“Bucky, why do you have no clothes on. I thought you were joking.”

“Nope, I’m here to finally take you.” Bucky said nonchalantly as he turned the page, attention back on the book.

“Bucky, you should probably buy me a drink first.” He gave a slight tease, still surprised by seeing his very attractive student with such little clothes on. He quickly closed the door and locked it.

Bucky reached down, his gaze back on the book, and held up a bottle of wine from the corner store.

Steve rolled his eyes, “Are my lines really that predictable.”

“Not really, things like this took me off guard.” Bucky turned the book to face Steve.

It was Steve’s sketchbook.

“You’ve been thinking about me.” Bucky smirked as he dragged a finger across one of the sketches of himself that littered the page.

Steve blushed, it ran down his neck and across his chest, Bucky could only imagine how far it spread. The blonde teacher stammered, “It’s not like…” He sighed, “Yes I have been thinking about you, I’m pretty sure the hundreds of text messages made that clear. But, I’d like to wine and dine with you before I get in your pants.”

“Oh come on, sir, you promised.”

“I promised a date, not sex.” Steve put his belongings down by the floor.

Bucky put the bottle back down on the floor and got up, “You’ve been teasing me for weeks now. We both want it, why not live a little.” He rounded the desk and backed Steve up against it.

“Fine, but I’m in charge.” Steve tried to establish.

Bucky ignored him and pressed a filthy kiss against his lips, caging the blonde against the desk.

Steve trembled with desire and from holding back for so long. He tried again as he gazed down at Bucky’s wet lips, “I’m… I’m in charge.”

Bucky chuckled and grabbed a hold of Steve’s blue shirt and pulled him into another kiss. Bucky was in charge this afternoon.

Steve whimpered and melted, he was immediately ready to give up any chance at dominating the situation. He was putty in Bucky’s strong, calloused, amazing hands. The kind of hands that were an artist’s wet dream and thankfully for Steve he was an artist.

“Up on the desk, Steve.” Bucky purred.

Steve made quick work of getting things off of the desk so he could lean over it.

Bucky licked his lips at the display of Steve’s ass.How round it looked in this tight dress pants, he had taken a liking to the look of the blonde’s ass, he had seen it enough times clothed or partially clothed to develop a taste for it and wanted to see more.

“Pants off, baby.” Bucky went to his bag and dug around for the lube and condom he put in there, thank you on health services.

Steve groaned at the nickname, it had been a long while since someone called him that with such affection. He made quick work of his belt, tossed it onto his chair, and kept his underwear and dress pants on one ankle. He spread his legs out and looked over his shoulder.

“Shirt too, I want to see how far that blush goes.” Bucky chuckled as he pulled off his underwear. He lubed up his fingers

Steve groaned as he stood up and slowly unbuttoned his shirt before he folded it neatly and placed it on the chair. He bent once again over the desk and wiggled his ass for effect.

“Now you’re just teasing me.” Bucky groaned at the sight before him.

Steve rolled his eyes, “Guess you’re not so cocky anymore, maybe I should top.”

Bucky chuckled, “Not today, I’ve been having fantasies about this ass for the longest time. It’s just amazing.”

Steve blushed and buried his face in his arms.

“There’s that blush.” Bucky smiled, he saw how is trailed all the way down the blonde’s neck and chest, “Wow, it really does go far down.”

Bucky slowly lubed up his fingers before at an equal pace pushed into Steve, he earned himself a muffled groan and the sight of the blonde’s arched back. Like an angel out of a renaissance painting.

“Ever done this before?”

Steve nodded his head, “Just not in here.”

“Well, I’m honoured then to be your first and hopefully your only.” He began to move his fingers quickly, they didn’t have all the time in the world. Even though the university was next to dead, someone could come in.

And that turned Bucky on even more.

Bucky continued to finger him, slowly opening up his hole until Steve was whining under him. He inserted a third finger which caused the blonde to buck his hips up in the hopes of getting more of the sensation that was crawling all over his body.

“You’re so tight, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to fit my cock in here. But, I think I might stand a chance considering how well you’re opening up for me.”

“More, more. Please, Buck.”

Bucky added a fourth finger, moving at a quick pace this time, but kept aware if Steve started to show any discomfort.

“Bucky, fuck you feel so good. I don’t think I’ve ever been fingered like that.” Steve groaned.

Bucky chuckled, slowing down his pace just slightly to earn a moan from Steve, “Aw, don’t inflate my ego like that.”

Steve opened an eye at Bucky, “I wouldn’t bet on it.” But let out another moan as Bucky picked up his pace once more. Little jolts of pleasure shot up his spine with every thrust of Bucky’s fingers, they were like a work of art.

Steve could paint Bucky like this and never get it right. The passion that Bucky held in his eyes as he continued to finger him, the careful precision as he stretched Steve to accommodate his cock. Don’t get him started on how his cock looked, Steve had seen his fair share of the male form both in school, in the army and being on the internet, but never had he wanted to sketch, paint, examine and showcase how amazing Bucky’s cock looked in art. It sounded cheesy, but his mind was slowly getting dragged into the warm of pleasure.

“You ready for me, Steve?” Bucky’s voice brought him back as he slowly took out his fingers.

Steve groaned at the sudden loss, “Yeah, come on, fuck.”

Bucky chuckled, “Have I ever heard you swear before? I don’t think so.”

“Don’t tease me.” Steve arched his back.

“It’s only fair considering that you teased me.” Bucky gripped onto Steve’s ass and gave it a tight squeeze. He rounded the man to get a good look at his face.

“That was all fun and games, plus we don’t have much time. We really shouldn’t be doing it here.” Deep down Steve wanted to do it in his desk.

Bucky kissed Steve’s cheek, “Don’t worry, I’m going to fuck you so hard that you’ll feel like time is slowing down.”

“Oh, stop that.” Steve buried his face in his arms in an attempt to hide the darker blush that was growing across his face.

“Words like that get to you.” Bucky smirked.

“Shut up.”

Bucky licked his lips at the sight of the blush, it growing darker the longer the two of them spent like this. He slowly stoked his cock as he covered it with lube.

“You look amazing.” He sighed out as he continued to rub his cock.

“You tease.” Steve mumbled into his arms.

Bucky stopped and got back behind the blonde. He slowly pushed his cock inside of Steve, the tight feeling around his cock made him harder. It was a feeling he had never felt before, he’s been with guys and girls alike, but the situation and the build up had lead up to this and it felt so damn good.

“We shouldn’t be doing this here.” Steve groaned as he was being pushed up against the desk even more only to be dragged away immediately after, keeping in pace with Bucky’s thrusts. His self preservation was almost gone as he felt himself grow harder at the sensation, at the feeling of Bucky completely dominating him.

“Yet, we’re here. You’re all nice and bent over and I’m fucking you right into the wood.”

Steve responded, “Next time, I top.”

Bucky gave Steve a nice swat on the ass, “Alright, baby, whatever you say.” Then gave a hard thrust, his cock nudged against Steve’s prostate. Steve scrambled to cover his mouth as he let out a sultry moan. It felt so good and sparked this small fire in his stomach, to do something wrong and inappropriate. After spending so much time in the military maybe he needed to something on the wrong side of ethics, not illegal just frowned upon. At least with the semester over he was able to do more of this, except maybe in the comfort of his own bed and not the hard wood of the desk.

“If you top next time, you’ll still be making those same noises you’re holding back now.” Bucky purred, his voice was hot against Steve’s already burning ears.

“Shut up.” Steve squeaked out, his voice was a little too high pitched from his liking, thanks to another brush of Bucky’s cock against his sweet spot.

Bucky smirked and began to thrust harder, “You like that?”

Steve felt his knees begin to shake as he nodded his head, not confident in his ability to pronounce words.

Bucky dipped his head and began to kiss at Steve’s skin, it felt sweaty against his lips, but it didn’t matter to him. After months of pining over this man, he was finally getting what he wanted, to just have Steve Rogers close to him.

“You’re so beautiful.” He groaned as he nipped at the skin.

“Shit, Bucky, please.” Steve croaked out. He felt his body tense up as he got closer to orgasming. He didn’t want Bucky to stop, his head felt clouded with lust and a need for the other man.

He never thought he’d ever get this far with him, he was too skittish for a while, but those beautiful eyes, soft hair and shining smile had him weak in the knees, and it wasn’t like this kid was dull. Cracking jokes, flirty gazes and always asked the right questions. After being on his own with Scamp for some time, it was everything Steve needed in a companion, a partner… A boyfriend.

“You’re amazing, you feel so good.” Bucky groaned.

Bucky thrusted, his hands planted against the smooth, pale flesh of Steve’s hips. His eyes casted down to how the blonde’s ass looked as he fucked him harder. The slight jiggle of his ass with every thrust caused an electric feeling to run down his spine.

Fuck, he was perfect.

He picked up the pace, going fast enough that he knew that Steve’s beautiful thighs and hips were going to be bruised tomorrow morning due to how hard he was being pushed up against the hardwood. The desk moved ever so slightly forward with each thrust.

Steve began to feel the pleasure washing over him in larger waves, ready to pull him under and make him orgasm. He was surprised by how well Bucky knew how to maneuver him, how to make him feel so good. Maybe Steve was a simple man with simple ways to get off, but his mind wasn’t to that. It was instead focused on the orgasm he was chasing.

“Buck, Buck.” He groaned out as quiet as he could like a mantra.

“Yeah, baby, I’m here. I’m going to make you feel so good.” Bucky said as he took a tighter hold of Steve’s hips. He loved how smooth the skin felt under his touch, how pale it looked as it was always hidden under tight fitting dress pants.

“Bucky, I’m gonna, I’m gonna come real soon.” Steve groaned out, his socked toes curled as Bucky’s cock brushed against his sweet spot again.

Bucky grinned, the slight desperation in his voice only encouraged him to fuck Steve hard, making sure to aim for the sweet spot just to give Steve that edge he needed. He could imagine himself doing this more often. To bare witness to how beautiful Steve looked when he let his professionalism down and acted a bit on the risky side. Only he got to strip away the edges of the blonde, beautiful history professor and see the tease that haunted his dreams since the day they first met.

“Fuck, you’re beautiful.” Bucky kissed along the shell of the other man’s ear, he felt how hot and red it was against his lips. How the blush he always fantasized about went as high on his body as it did low. It only added to the undeniable charm that Steve had, even if he never noticed it, “I’ve never seen someone as beautiful as you.”

“No I’m not.” Steve gave a feeble response.

Bucky gave an extremely hard thrust, it caught Steve off guard, “You’re beautiful and don’t forget it.”

Steve only responded in a groan, wrapped up in his goal to achieve orgasm.

Steve quickly covered his mouth with his hand, gritted his teeth as he jerked his hips to get him over the edge, to reach his climax. He let out a strained moan as pleasure washed over him and he came all over his stomach and the desk.

He brain felt fried, his cock sensitive and his body was still shaking. Fuck, he was wrecked.

“That’s it, that’s it, baby. I’m close behind you.” Bucky sighed into Steve’s neck as he continued to thrust his hips. Steve felt so laxed against him, but yet his hole still clenched around him.

Bucky kissed along Steve’s neck, tasting the salt on his sweaty skin. He felt heavenly, better than any fantasy he could ever come up with. With a few more hard thrust of his hips, he lets out a low groan before biting Steve’s neck, leaving a nice red hickey just above where the neck and collarbone meet.

“Bucky.”

“Yeah, baby.”

Steve turned his head as much as he could as smiled, his expression looked so blissed out. With his eyes shut and breathing that came out is hard pants along with the mess on his abdomen.

“Oh baby, fuck yeah.” He groaned out as he felt a shiver crawl up his spine and his orgasm caused his head to swirl.

Steve let out a blissed out sigh and mumbled, “Fuck that felt good.”

“You could say that again.” Bucky responded as he wiped the sweat away from his forehead.

“I’m keeping you that’s for sure.” Steve chuckled, “I think you’re stuck with me for good.”

“Sounds like a plan.”, Bucky slowly pulled out, feeling the stickiness of the lube and his own cum coat his cock. He was still feeling the after shivers of orgasm. He peeled off the condom and wrapped it in tissues.

Steve panted as he grabs some tissues off the desk, “I never, ever want you to take a class with me again.” He wiped away the cum on his stomach and off the desk. That desk was going to smell like cum for the next semester, even if it doesn’t Steve would still it does.

Bucky looked a bit disappointed, he felt as if his heart had begun to break. Did Steve only want him for this one time? Was all the lead up to this and that was it?

“I don’t mean it like that.” He reached out for one of the papers on the stack still on the desk. It’s an academic map, he handed it to Bucky, “If you want or do take anymore history courses here’s what you can take. If you don’t take a class from me you’ll graduate faster and then we won’t have to hide this.” He sat up on the desk, “I don’t want to do that to you.”

Bucky broke out into a grin, “I knew you were into me, but that was really bad post-sex talk.” before he leaned over and pressed another filthy kiss on Steve’s lips which made the blonde moan.

“Sorry about that, but hey, you got me.” Steve smiled finally catching his breath.He reached for his sweater put it back on, “So, how does seven o’clock next Thursday at the McGilligan's pub sound? All the students will be back home by then.”

“Sounds great! So what are you doing for the holidays?”

Steve shrugged, “Home with my dog, my folks are long gone by now. What about you?”

Bucky pulled on his red henley and zipped up his hoodie, “Not on the best terms with my family so I’ll be in my dorm.”

Steve thought about it for a moment, “When the semester is done and we had our first date, would you want to maybe spend the holidays with me? You don’t have to say yes, I know you have some friends who you’d probably wanting to hang out with.”

Bucky shook his head, “Sam’s out in DC to see his parents. Nat is going back to Russia to see her mom, Clint is going with her and we all have bets to see if he’s going to come back alive.” He lightly chuckled, “So I’m pretty much by myself with enough hot ramen and plums.”

“Plums?” Steve chuckled.

“They were at the last farmer’s market in the quad, they taste good okay.”

Steve pulled up his pants and walked over to Bucky, there was a slight limp in his step. He kissed Bucky on the lips and wrapped his arms around his waist, “Well, bring whatever you need, I’ll be taking care of you this holiday season.”

“I like the sound of that.” Bucky smiled, he was a little smug at Steve’s slight limp, knowing that he alone caused that. He snaked a hand down Steve’s back and groped his ass, “Christmas morning there better be a bow around this.”

Steve rolled his eyes, “Still snarky.”

“And you’re still so gone for me.”

Maybe history wasn’t as dry as Bucky originally thought, especially when he got the bright red “A” a few weeks later and the directions to get to Steve’s apartment.

#stucky #wintershield #stevebucky #stucky fanfiction #stucky fanfic rec #steve x bucky #Steve Rogers #Bucky Barnes #captain america #Winter Solider #fan fiction #marvel fanfiction #10k words

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newstfionline · 7 years

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Inside The World’s Largest Walnut Forest

By Peter Ford, Roads & Kingdoms, July 2017

ARSLANBOB, Kyrgyzstan--Nestled in a lush valley of Kyrgyzstan’s Chatkal mountain range lies the village of Arslanbob, home to both the world’s largest natural walnut forest and a legend, the truth of which is harder to crack than the nut itself.

“This is a secret,” said Roma Tohtarov, a guide with the village’s Community Based Tourism (CBT) organization, before continuing: “During the Soviet times, Red Army soldiers came with saws and cut down a large number of walnut trees and sent them to Rolls-Royce in England to be used to decorate the inside of their cars. Mr. Churchill had seen a piece of wood from here before the war, and asked Stalin for some wood in exchange for weapons.”

Verification of the story proves elusive; the luxury car manufacturer did not reply to questions and the story does not appear in any public records.

But it is an example of the kind of legend that villagers have passed on through the generations about the forest. Such is the central importance that walnut trees play in Arslanbob.

Hugging the 6,500-foot-high slopes in the shadow of the Babash-Ata mountains, the sprawling, ethnically Uzbek village is home to 16,000 people, most of whom have livelihoods that revolve around the annual harvest of the walnuts.

Families spend the long winters extracting the nuts from their soft outer covers and cracking the hard shells. Pretty much everyone, old and young, is involved in the process.

“Full nuts we sell, broken ones are made into oil--we rub it on our skin in winter to keep warm,” explained Tohtarov. “Of course, we also eat them,” he added, “but by the end of autumn everyone has eaten too many and are sick of them.”

Fortunately, there is a wide international market for walnuts not consumed locally. According to the United Nation’s trade statistics database UN Comtrade, 1,200 tons of walnuts were exported by Kyrgyzstan in 2016, worth $2 million.

They come from a forest that spreads east and west of Arslanbob in a confusing network of trails that weave through the dark green of the forest, punctured by patches of grass pasture and blossoming wild apple trees.

As you enter the forest, the smell of wood and coal fires near the village gives way to an earthy richness, as the muddy ebony paths crisscross over and around undulating hills. Tire tracks from Lada Niva cars-- the tank-like 4x4s ubiquitous across former Soviet states--mingle with horse and donkey hooves, churning the cloying mud into an even thicker mess, greatly slowing attempts to walk.

Recent nursery-grown walnut trees line up in regimental rows, while the older trees stand alone. In some of the deeper sections, trees are 500 years old, according to Tohtarov. Walnuts from these trees are prized for their superior flavor.

“October 2 is the beginning of the walnut season officially, but in September people start to collect from the trees closest to town, to stop the kids from getting them and trading for ice cream,” he said.

During the harvest season, hordes decamp to the forest, setting up makeshift shelters to allow for easier walnut collection, and the whole event has a carnival feel, with people sharing food and gathering around campfires to sing and share stories.

Story telling is an important part of Arslanbob culture, leading to various explanations over how the walnut trees came to be in the valley.

“There are two similar stories involving Alexander the Great, and at least two others saying important Islamic men brought the seeds from paradise to plant here,” Tohtarov explained.

“I don’t believe the Alexander stories, but about the Farsi or Arabic visitor bringing the seeds, yes, it must be true. Someone had to bring the seeds for the trees, as how else did they come here?” he asked as he slipped and slid up the forest track still muddy from the morning’s downpour, occasionally panting for breath, a result, he joked, of spending the winter months eating walnuts and getting fat.

Zahid Ubayidullaev, a former guide who now devotes his time to running one of the homestay options for visitors, explained the Alexander stories over hot black tea and walnuts at the single-story house built by his grandfather.

“When Alexander and his army was crossing the area, some of the soldiers got sick. Alexander sought the help of the local people, who gave them some of the walnuts to eat, and the men all got better. In gratitude Alexander did not attack them, and they accepted him as their king and built the village here,” he said.

“The other version says that after fighting nearby, some of Alexander’s men were injured and couldn’t travel with his army as it continued its journey. So they were left behind in this valley and expected to die. They ate some of the walnuts and recovered and decided to live here, which is why some people have blue eyes and light curly hair,” he said, repeating the somewhat common idea that classically European features sometimes exhibited across Central Asia can be traced back to Alexander’s rovings.

The forest has played an increasingly important role in the village since the fall of the Soviet Union. In the Soviet-era, everyone had a basic income and guaranteed work, with potato farming the primary occupation. Collecting the forest’s bounty was simply an additional source of food and income. But upon independence in 1991, Kyrgyzstan lost the financial support that Russia provided. Lacking the petrochemical resources of fellow -stans Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, citizens found it increasingly difficult to make ends meet. In Arslanbob, residents quickly looked to the forest to provide their needs.

The village’s economic fortunes now rise and fall on the strength of the walnut harvest. This year, for the second year in a row, residents are concerned that the walnut yield will be disappointing.

On a recent visit, vigorous spring showers had added to the muddy remnants of a late dump of snow that blanketed the valley in up to a foot of snow. Drifts of what at first glance looked like a plague of fat green caterpillars turned out to be a carpet of dead walnut flowers, discarded by the trees after the frosts that accompanied the snow.

The seasonal nature of the harvest has led to efforts to diversify employment options in Arslanbob, primarily in the form of tourism. Efforts to bring in outside visitors to experience the natural beauty of the area have been decades in the making.

Speaking at a 1995 conference in Arslanbob convened to explore ways to preserve the forest, then-forestry minister T.M. Musuraliev waxed lyrical: “The walnut forests of southern Kyrgyzstan represent a great recreational asset for the population. The pure air, with the fragrance of trees and flowers, healthy, clear water, hundreds of picturesque gorges, mountain waterfalls and lakes attract thousands of tourists yearly from other Central Asian countries.”

Visitors have generally been welcomed by the community since.

“The rise in tourism has been broadly accepted by the community. Some of the older and more religious men do not like the tattoos or shorty-shorts on show, but that is about it,” explained Hayat Tarikov, Arslanbob CBT manager and a former forest ranger.

Speaking from his photo-festooned office near the village square, he added: “Its life. We have to change.”

The CBT network has proved an increasingly source of employment in the village, Hayat explained. In 2001 there were seven people working at the Arslanbob CBT. In 2016, that figure had risen to 162, with locals employed as guides, cooks, porters, homestay hosts, and drivers.

In concert with the growing tourism industry has been government-led efforts to protect the forests from overuse and exploitation.

“There is now a tree nursery where new walnut trees are grown and later transplanted to the forest. Cutting the living trees for firewood is banned; instead, the forest rangers identify the dead trees and branches that people can use instead,” said Hayat.

The 1995 conservation conference identified key areas that were threatening the forest, which at some 74,000 acres is a shadow of the former 1.5 million acres that the forest of wild walnut, apple, pistachio, plum, almond, and pear use to cover. Prior to 1917, logging was unchecked. In 1945, the forest received protected status, which limited the felling of trees, but not the damage caused to the forest’s ability to grow and replenish old trees from overgrazing by domestic animals, fuelwood collections, haymaking, and the almost 100 percent collection of fruit and nuts.

High fences of dead branches and barbed wire now partition the forest areas closest to the village. Locals can rent land from the forest ranger, in exchange for a percentage of their harvest.

Tohtarov said outside visitors had begun to influence how people in the region care for the forest, encouraging a culture of not littering during excursions.

It is also helping reintegrate the Arslanbob community into Kyrgyz life, after it recoiled following anti-Uzbek violence across the south of the country in 2010.

That year, a vacuum of power in the wake of the country’s second revolution in five years saw violent clashes between the country’s Tajik and ethnic Uzbek populations, resulting in the deaths of at least 200 people--mostly Uzbeks--and causing large numbers briefly fleeing over the border for safety.

“There were no problems in Arslanbob thankfully, but there was a big drop in tourists that year,” Tohtarov said.

Further strengthening the tourism industry and ensuring the health of the forest is the best course of action in safeguarding Arslanbob’s economy and culture, the local guides believe.

“In the future, I know that the forest will be bigger than it is now, with bigger older trees. The roads in town will be asphalted, the road to town will be bigger, and the Internet will be better,” said Tohtarov, explaining his vision for developing the village.

“I hope that a factory or industry will open here to give people jobs, maybe making t-shirts or shoes, and some apartment buildings so that the urban sprawl will stop. I hope that people here will better understand nature and not throw trash everywhere, inshallah.”

For former ranger Tarikov, the preservation of the ancient forest is the key.

“If I had a million dollars, I would make a wall around the forest with checkpoints, great rangers with good salaries, and really encourage the wildlife to return,” he said.

“Do you have a million dollars?” he asked, somewhat hopefully.

#Kyrgyzstan #Arslanbob #walnut forest #walnuts

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canvaswolfdoll · 5 years

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CanvasWatches: Avengers: Endgame

Well, I have to admit: the new trailer finally sold me on Detective Pikachu! Yes, the first trailer showed off uncanny valley designs with a suspicious genwunner undercurrent, but the trailer played before Avengers: Endgame showcased more designs that were from later generations and more aesthetically pleasing, and hinted at clever writing from a sincere love of Pokemon. It did the job trailers are meant to do: sold me on seeing it.

Sonic the Hedgehog will be a fun mess. Just need to decide if it’s worth a theater ticket, or just a rent.

Okay, I’ll talk about the MCU now.[1] There have been a couple more films since I last discussed the franchise, so I’ll play catch up, then talk Endgame and update my ranking list.

I have been rewatching the films sporadically in pieces, because my current job is essentially babysitting teenagers at varying emotional stages, so they’re on the TV sometimes. Oddly, haven’t seen anything before The Rift mentioned in the last review. Might try to rectify that, but I also need to catch up on Pixar films.

So, the new MCU films!

(Spoilers for all the MCU films follows)

Ant-Man and the Wasp

It’s good! Ant-Man and his cast are the only Earthbound characters I continue to care about. (Which I’ll get into more later). They did a very tidy job of elevating Hope van Dyne to a title character and advancing her character without being obnoxious about it. I am super in favor of female leads, but not a big fan of neon signs saying “Girl Power!”

The films do a good job of playing with scale, adding a third “Giant Man” stage to the options, and I care about the Lang/Pym/vanDyne family and their struggles. The villain(s) are also fun, playing with a Tracer-esque time displacement element that allows phasing, and making the motives of the bad guys completely sympathetic.

And they didn’t kill anyone. Gold star. I like people not dying.

Comedy’s still strong, and the callbacks to Ant-man were tasteful. I want more.

Captain Marvel

Okay, I know I risks boos here, but…

Good world building, character revelations for Nick Fury, and moving in and out of the cosmic stage and the earth stage (which carry different aesthetics and tones) but…

I’m not big on Captain Marvel as a character. She’s a rash, confident, quippy hero person, which is fine, except we have so many rash, confident, quippy hero people already. She didn’t distinguish herself as a distinct person to me, and it doesn’t help I’m also unclear about what her power set is.

The twist with the Skrulls was nice. I’m familiar with the general Skrull concept, so the twist worked even on those who know about the bad guys already. The 90s were a fun time to see, and I enjoyed everything around Carol Danvers.

It’s just… Captain Marvel felt generic to me.

There’s a chance for development later, but for now… it’s a’ight.

Avengers: Endgame

This one had the actual war in it. They should’ve called this one Infinity Wars. Maybe call the last one Infinity Gauntlet or Thanos Rising or something.

So, Thanos won in the last movie. How to fix that? Find Thanos and take the gems and fix things? Well, Thanos destroyed the Infinity Stones a week ago. That’s lame. Thor beheads him and stomps off.

There’s also a good comic nod when they show his armor hung up as a scarecrow.

So, how long do we all mope?

Five years.

And they don’t reverse this time jump, which is going to make the timeline of the films an even larger headache!

And, worse still, we lost Abby Ryder Fortson. Sure, Cassie Lang survives, but she also aged a decade in five years and there’s no comfortable way to tell a story with young Cassie anymore. Which is tragic, because that actress was super on point in both Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp. She nailed being an adorable little mirror of her father, and it was a great dynamic to give a superhero.

But, nah, Scott Lang was in the Quantum zone for five years, but perceived by him to be five hours, so there’s not even an opening to fit in a film within the five year jump and depict that father daughter dynamic.

I want to like the commitment. Making bold decisions and not reverting to the status quo is something I’m here for. But Ant-Man is owed one more film, and Cassie was important to me. And an older teenager just wouldn’t be able to play the dynamic the same way as a precocious preteen.

But I guess I shouldn’t dwell on the past.

Plot continues, some characters attempt to move on, Black Widow clings to hope, Tony Stark starts a family.

Then Scott comes in to say “Hey, how about time travel?”

And everyone else says “That’s dumb.”

And Tony Stark says “That’s dumb.” But it naggles him, and he figures out how to traverse the quantum realm.

So time travel is solved! Time to get the Infinity Stones from backwards in time.

So we get some nostalgic walks to the past films, including validating The Dark World. Because that was the only time the Reality stone was in play.

Also, they fridge Black Widow.

That’s been a regular problem with the sole female presence of the original Avengers. She was there to support other characters. The buddy-buddy of Hawkeye, Hulk’s confusing love interest (because Betty Ross was… lost in a drawer somewhere between Incredible Hulk and The Avengers, and they’re too embarrassed to admit it), and assisting Cap in Winter Soldier. Besides angst about being an assassin and not being able to have children[2] she never had the space to be a character outside of what she was to others.

And she literally gave up her life for a man.

Maybe I missed something in the dull SHIELD-era stuff, but Black Widow never resonated with me.

So the stones are gathered, placed on an Iron Man gauntlet, and Hulk (now at peace with himself, he’s a half-step between Banner and Hulk) does the reversal snap.

But past Thanos comes in for one last fight.

We get a fun scene where Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor all try to fight him, which even gets to the point where Cap uses Mjolnir,[4] and it’s very good.

But Thanos gets sick of it, and calls down his army.

Which looks bad.

So Dr. Strange teleports in with those who were on Titan.

Then, other mages teleport in with everyone.[5]

And I believe I felt what most people felt during the first The Avengers. Because it was going to be an epic, all-hands fight, but this time there’s a good number of good guys I care about, the antagonistic force has context now, and there’s a clear goal: keep the Gauntlet away from Thanos.

A giant, crowded fight scene, and it was easy to follow the action.

Plus everyone gets a moment sign.

Though, that does bring me to a nitpick: Spider-man asks Captain Marvel, whose arrival destroyed a giant space war ship, who’s going to help her during her turn with the Infinity football. Dumb question, Peter.

But then all the named female characters show up to be like “We’re here to help! Girl Power!”

And it kind of undermined Captain Marvel? Like, she’s massively powerful, but the narrative implying all the women need to band together to help her when the last couple of football passes were men going solo seems demeaning.

But I’m a white guy writing about nerd movies, so whatever.

During this battle I realized something important: the costumes (except Thor and Spider-Man, who had plot reasons) were on point. Everyone looked like their iconic selves. Iron man had a good Red/Gold balance, and the suit was mechanical. Captain America looked like Captain America. Rocket had his jumpsuit and goggles. Captain Marvel had the right jumpsuit and short hair.

They all looked correct. It was great.

I have one last nitpick: Tony Stark did not deserve the Thanos kill.

Yes, they’ve been trying to play up his fear and paranoia of Thanos since the nuke scene from The Avengers.

But Thanos didn’t do anything directly to Stark. They barely knew each other. Stark got a family, an amount of stability. He’s a playboy, billionaire, philanthropist. Tony Stark was fine.

Nebula was maimed. Turned machine in both body and mind. She suffered a lot under Thanos and by Thanos. She had an arc through this movie. Nebula should’ve killed Thanos.[6]

I would’ve also accepted Gamora, if they wanted a big name character.

But, nah, got to give the big finish to the man who started the franchise off. Sure.

Tony dies, and it’s a good death because his death achieved a big victory. Which is what you should do when you kill a character: have their death be their moment of awesome and a good narrative closure to the degree of their importance. No-name backgrounds characters can be comfortably killed off with a backhand, but to kill off an Iron Man, who has been relevant since the start of the franchise and started an era, his death needs to be worth twenty plus movies of set up and close an Era. Which Endgame did.

Black Widow, meanwhile, had been around for almost as long, had been poorly served by the narrative, and her death brought her arc no closure. Her story just stopped, and it’s unsatisfying.

Which is the main point of Endgame: bringing closure. Iron Man dies, and has earned his rest. Captain America, given access to time travel, retires and (importantly) passes on the mantle.

Actually, that’s an interesting question: who’s taking over Cap’s battle commander role? Because Iron Man has his replacements in Spider-Man (for tech and science upstarty-ness) and the Pyms (for big concept sci-fi) and Pepper Potts can still provide funding and infrastructure backing. Captain America makes Sam Wilson the new Captain America, but Sam hasn’t taken a leading role yet, so making him the new Avengers Leader might be an awkward transition.

The point is, the original six Avengers got their closures (of varying quality). Brash adventurer Thor continues his adventures in space, Tony Stark died but left a positive legacy to override his war profiteer history, Captain America get his lost time back, Hulk found peace with himself (which happened off screen, but eh, he was fun). Hawkeye and Black Widow… well, they started out as “they’re here, too!” characters, and they ended as “and they’re done, too!” characters.

Now, it’s time for the next generation, and it’ll be fun to watch.

Ranking and Overview

Well, the big narrative is finished, and it got better as it went along. The first phase was marred by the trend of “Super heroes, but in our grim and gritty world” that the Nolan Batman Films inspired. Thor began to loosen the tone, and Captain America was hint towards more grandiose elements, but it wasn’t really until Guardians of the Galaxy that the creative team looked around and said “This is inherently silly, right? Can we just… have fun?”

And from there, every new franchise had fun, while the originals had to keep their serious faces on.

Anyways, I’m going to rank them now from worst to best:

The Incredible Hulk

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Thor: The Dark World

Iron Man 2

Iron Man 3

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The Avengers

Iron Man 1

Thor

Captain America: Civil War

Doctor Strange

Captain Marvel

Black Panther

Captain America: the First Avenger

Thor: Ragnarok

Avengers: Endgame

Avengers: Infinity Wars

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Spider-Man Homecoming

Ant-Man

Ant-Man and the Wasp

Guardians of the Galaxy

Despite being two parts of a full story, I ultimately decided Infinity Wars and Endgame were different enough to split them for rankings.

And I enjoyed Infinity Wars a little more.

And I think this confirms my self-assessment from last time: I enjoy fun, strong characters, and bold choices over trying to be real or attempt drama. I like to escape with my escapism!

Now, where do I think the movies go from here?

Honestly, I feel they’ll be able to do three more phases (for six total). In that time frame, Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man will get third films, while Black Panther, Doctor Strange, and Captain Marvel each get two additional films. Complete trilogies before their cast become part of team-ups to bolster other films. There may be a few other franchises introduced, but besides Fantastic Four, I feel like Marvel is starting to need to dig too deep (especially since they burned the Defenders on Netflix shows. Daredevil could’ve been a film character).

The X-Men work better, narratively, away from the rest of the Marvel Universe, so hopefully they keep to their own, separate franchise.

So, complete trilogies, grind towards two or three more Phases,[7] then it’s time for reboots.

As for overarching plots, I feel like we’re not going to get another multiphase big bad. Doctor Doom would be a great next step, as he represents political hand wringing, technology, and magic in a single megalomaniac, and I feel like we’ve gotten to the tonal point where Doctor Doom can be properly hammy. But it’ll be a single phase. Then one or two more big bads, possibly ending with some sort of villain team-up and time travel shenanigans to bring everyone (everyone) back for one, finally grand finale.

Then Reboot.

Maybe start with Captain America next time. Or the Fantastic Four. We’ll have to wait and see.

For now… I’ve got a Digimon project I keep hyping, and I have been meaning to rewatch Star Wars.

Maybe check out my Patreon or Ko-Fi if you enjoyed this essay.

Kataal kataal.

[1] I will note I stepped out for the Star Wars trailer. I’m gonna see it, so I want as little spoiled as possible. But the title and JJ Abrams being back at the helm has me concerned. [2] Which I think gets an unfair rap. I always felt that detail was just a pin in the life Widow was built for. She submitted to invasive surgery and cut off options to be what she was. It’s a symbol, not just poor writing.[3] [3] Age of Ultron still sucks, though. [4] For the record, I believe he’s known he could use it since Ultron, but he was being polite to Thor. [5] Except Black Widow. [6] Plus, comic accuracy points! [7] Amazon has two box sets for the phases with art based around an infinity stone each, so completing the set with six total phases makes sense.

#CanvasWatches #avengers #ant-man #captain marvel #mcu #CanvasReviews

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haroldgross · 6 years

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New Post has been published on Harold Gross: The 5a.m. Critic

New Post has been published on http://literaryends.com/hgblog/mcu-from-the-beginning-and-before-the-ending/

MCU: From the Beginning and Before the Ending

In prep for Avengers: Infinity War, I decided to rewatch the entire sequence from its 2008 beginnings. Why? Well, first: Why not? This audacious sequence of films has pulled off something no one has even come close to producing, except Lord of the Rings. During the course of 18 films over 10 years Marvel has woven a story together with the goal of paying it off in film 19. They found great actors to tell great stories about flawed heroes; heroes we recognized ourselves in.

And with the exception of one of those films, they were all solid and well done. And the one that wasn’t so great, well, it still has my respect because unlike Sony’s flailing at the Spidey universe, it woke them up to the fact that they had to produce quality if they wanted to succeed. They never stumbled again, though certainly the movies had differing impacts and approaches. And the clues and nods are just incredible to see when you know everything that is to come. As we get ready to leave the Joss Whedon era, who really set the template for this cycle, you have to wonder if anyone would have the guts and talent to try this again.

If you want to rewatch it all yourself, do it over at least three weeks. I squeezed this into less than two weeks at two or three films a day. Fun, but exhausting.

So here we go, in brief, through the dots that brought us here.

Phase One (though we didn’t know for sure that until Thor)

Iron Man is still a surprisingly effective movie. My original write-up is lost, but I still am amazed at how it subverted the comic genre on screen by being a real movie. We got to know and care about Tony Stark, despite his ego, or perhaps because of it. He was flawed but engaging. The world was believable and intriguing. It had humor and action and, above all, a really good script and acting. This wasn’t done with a nod and a wink, it was done to do it well and it showed, launching the huge franchise we are celebrating this year. Sure, the ending was a bit overblown and the villain a bit too teeth-gnashy, but the series would learn as it went along.

The Incredible Hulk is already a second bite at the apple at this character (third if you include Bixby’s series), but it does an interesting job of not disavowing Ang Lee and Eric Bana’s take by bridging from it to the this new version during the credits. It is substantially more comic book style than Iron Man and still struggles with its villains and finale. However, it is an important piece in the Avengers puzzle. It introduces the Super Soldier program, something lost on me till now, and it provides an important pivot for David Banner. This more morose and pouty Hulk has to leave his past behind and accept who he is to become the Ruffalo version. Sure that comment is a bit revisionist, but you get to do that when you see it after knowing where it will go. It isn’t a great film, but it continued the character-driven approach Marvel wanted and gave us hope they had some real sense of what they had…the tag with Tony and the General sealed the deal on it.

We all would like to forget that Iron Man 2 existed. It was rushed to screen and just doesn’t have the same polish as what had come before. But it is easy to forget that it also introduced Black Widow, got Pepper and Tony together, shifted Tony’s attitude, queued up Captain America with a couple nods, and continued Phil Coulson’s involvement. Having watched this the day after Rampage, however, I can confidently point out that while it may be just an action flick, it is still better than most of the similar tripe being produced even if it isn’t up to the MCU standards by any stretch. However, it also put the fear of god into Disney/Marvel/Kevin Feige. They never tried for a pure money grab again, knowing that they had to meet the expectations of their audience or risk losing it all. Here we are almost 19 films later because they learned their lesson.

Thor is where the MCU really started to hit its stride, understanding what they had and where they intended to go. It is the first 3D. It is the first to push the comedy throughout. It introduced the first Infinity Stone. And it tagged the end with a mention of The Avengers. Thor was always the one hero that worried me because it was off-realm gods and magic. How do you make that mainstream and believable next to human heroes (even if they’ve been mutated huge and green)? But they did it, and managed to launch Brannagh’s career as a director of huge films to boot. They also took an existing god and gave him an origin story by making him mortal-ish for a good part of the film. Its one misstep, though it worked for the story, was Portman’s Jane, who they had to disappear to keep things going in subsequent films.

Captain America: The First Avenger. Hail Hydra! Where Thor had nailed the stride of the humor, Cap nailed the format of the MCU journey. The movie had its own style, reflective of its time period,ss and set up everything that was to come through Civil War (and a couple of TV spin offs as well). Despite the CG of Rogers never looking quite right at the beginning, it was still an effective and smart choice. And the ending manages to give us both action and pathos in a way that made it a great story as well as a solid action flick.

Marvel’s The Avengers redefined the term “big” when it came to films. Its non-stop action and coalescing storyline still amaze. It is full of character and some of the best moments yet to grace the series (then and now: Puny God!). It is the first taste of what Joss and Feige had planned for a much bigger feast and it certainly whet the appetite and proved they could pull off something no one else had even tried. And damn if they didn’t get you to feel the passing(ish) of a minor character with a great scene. Oh, and of course our first glimpse of Thanos.

Phase Two

Pivoting into Phase Two, Iron Man 3 kicked off a sequence that could best be termed: Consequences. Unexpectedly, if sometimes ham-handidly, it took on some serious matters like PTSD. It did so with humor and action, though it went a little off the rails in its blithe quippiness, Christmas theme, and kids. We know this world now, and with IR3 and Phase 2 , we’re getting a new sense of the characters, watching necessary doubt creep in this middle stretch of the sequence. It wasn’t what a lot of folks wanted, but it was fascinating and, again, necessary to build the platform that eventually becomes Ultron and Civil War. And, despite any of its weaknesses, it still is incredibly entertaining and rewatchable.

Thor: The Dark World has an odd flavor of political intrigue, but intrigue that has been in motion for quite a while. It also introduces the next Infinity Stone, but you could blink and miss that aspect if you didn’t know what you were looking for. In retrospect it is clear and sets up the Collector as well, who has his own role to play. It is full of humor and action, and it does advance some of the characters, but it feels a bit outside the Phase in some ways.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier takes a huge and brave leap for such a big sequence. It irrevocably changes the face and structure of the world, setting up Phase Three as well as impacting the spin-off series. Certainly there is a lot of character work here shimmed in between the action, and new characters who will continue forward. And, if you needed any other sense of how far ahead the crew plan, we also get our first mention of Doctor Strange in a throwaway interrogation…a hint that wouldn’t pay off for another five movies.

And now for something completely different, Guardians of the Galaxy. This romp, while still very much in the MCU, was a welcome break from what we knew and a huge expansion of characters to play with. Yes, it is a bit silly at times, especially how quickly the Guardians all bond, but the humor is fun and the action is great. There really is something for everyone in this branch of the universe, as well as laying out the mysteries to grow on and our first real interaction with an Infinity Stone.

All damaged characters, enter here: Avengers: Age of Ultron. This marked the end of the Joss Whedon era, and perhaps not on quite as high a note as he would have wanted. This story rewatches better than it played initially, though. It is a very psychologically complex tale with a lot of layered construction and cultural nods. It also has the trademark Whedon dialogue throughout, and the brilliant choice of Spader as Ultron. Also, this is the first direct mention of Wakanda and the tee-up for Black Panther. When you realize that this is the culmination of 10 previous films and the setup for the next eight (or 11 if you go through the full Phase Three sequence), the threads Whedon wove, and the guidance to get there, is going to be tough to match. Also, it’s worth noting that they were again willing to take the risk of pivoting to new characters and big changes, with more yet to come to keep it both fresh and, let’s face it, affordable.

Ant-Man gets a little absurd, admittedly, but maintains the connections and thread of the universe. And it’s a universe that can sustain a lot of different styles. That alone is something of note. Each movie, or perhaps better considered, each character has a particular sensibility that shapes the movies they are in. Be it the earnestness of Capt. America or the nuttiness of the Guardians or the comic book silliness of Ant-Man, each style supports the sense of the stories they are in. Ant-Man is fun and amusing, and uses its tech relatively well…at least within the confines of a PG rated film. That said, Ant-Man is the movie that feels the most out of place in the collection so far, even more than Guardians. I think that is because it is such a familiar world, but the action and dialogue are very broad in comparison.

Phase Three

Where Ultron showed the cracks in the friendships and group, in Captain America: Civil War it all goes to hell, launching the third phase through a moment of crisis and uncertainty. This installment is really more like Avengers 3 than a Captain America, but the schism formed here will surely come back to roost in a few films. For now, however, it serves more to break up the gang, redeem Bucky, and launch Black Panther. It is also the first of the films to show real fallout from the carnage that the heroes inflict upon the world trying to save it. The world’s reaction is eerily apropos current politics as well.

Forgetting that the medical scenes in Doctor Strange were just, well, absurd, the rest of it was really pretty fun visually, in action, and dialogue. Where else could a cape become a character? And while it feels rather on its own in the universe for most of the tale, other than some throw-away side comments, by the end it is solidly ensconced in the larger tale leaving only a single Infinity Stone unaccounted for.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 tries a bit too hard to be bigger and better than its first iteration. The fact that is has the highest number of tags at the end of the film is symptomatic of that as well. However, some questions get answered, some necessary information was layered in, and the action is huge. Fortunately, the humor continues unabated as well. As romps go, it was a hoot, if not as unexpected now that we’ve seen these characters and have a sense of them. It does cement the Guardians as a self-selected family and has given them a purpose that will aim them squarely at Infinity War, even if some of the moments were a little forced. Also, the two Guardian movies make the best use of 3D in the MCU (at least so far). Or at least make the most conscious use of it. They do have an advantage being in space and all, but really it is more about the director thinking about the presentation from the outset and throughout the story.

Spider-Man: Homecoming was a wonderful surprise entering into the MCU. And with Marvel guiding the Sony franchise, it has been reinvigorated and morphed into something both new and closer to the original material. Whether Sony will respect that input and collaboration and stick with it remains to be seen (and rumors on the street are that they won’t). Still we’ll get at least a couple more appearances of Spidey over the next few years and we’ll get to watch him grow-up in reality and in his role as a superhero.

Meanwhile, back in Asgard… Thor: Ragnarok brings about a few necessary aspects of plot and relationship, but it is generally just a good romp. While it is mostly just a pause before the finale that is coming, it does also take make some radical changes, declared right in the title. How that will play out, other than with some additional fighters to tackle Thanos, we’ll find out soon. But as a film it is a weird, anachronistic, pastiche of Waititi’s humor and the MCU ethos. Great fun, to be sure, but definitely one of the oddest of the films in the sequence in terms of how the bits clash at times.

Black Panther surprised me by not being as good for rewatching as I’d expected. It still is fun, and a great new world to explore, but it is not the action film it feels like the first time through. On seeing it again, it is the political message that rings through it like a gong. Not that it was subtle the first time, but after you know the story, it is that aspect that clearly drives and shapes it all. And, by the end, all the pieces are in place for Thanos and one heck of a showdown. What will be very interesting is seeing where they take Wakanda and the very real issues raised in Panther’s launch.

And now, on to Infinity War… and then probably the longest coda and shift ever conceived (2 years and 3 movies) with Ant-Man and the Wasp, Captain Marvel, and what was originally Infinity War part 2 (as conceived by Whedon). Where MCU goes at that point is a matter of much conjecture and very little information, but these last films should give us a good sense of the direction.

#craft #General #popcorn #Movie Review

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