#but. I need. to write. that. fucking. email

[cupid-styles]

brat (sex columnist!harry x best friend!y/n)

in which y/n is best friends with harry, a sex columnist, who needs a little help answering a reader's question.

word count: 3k

content warnings: SMUT!!!! (mean dom/bratty sub dynamic, dirty talk, pussy spanking, paddling, sir kink, degradation, slight edging, fingering)

masterlist | talk to me

. . .

“You’re out of your mind.”

“I’m really not.”

“No, but you are.”

“It would be for work and work only—”

“I don’t care.”

Harry sighs as he lifts a hand to run it through his curly hair. The noisy puff of air is filled with unsaid annoyance and Y/N tries her best not to roll her eyes at her best friend’s stubbornness, instead focusing on toying with the bracelet around her wrist. Instead of replying, he quickly runs his fingertips over the trackpad on his laptop so it glows back to life. 

“Can you at least hear me out?” he asks, his tone teetering on a polite plea, “You know writing about sex is my job. How am I supposed to help this person out when I can’t even offer a fair answer?”

Y/N crosses her arms and shrugs and Harry wishes he could reach across the couch and push them to her sides. 

“What makes you think I have any experience being a sub, anyway?” she fires back, keeping her eyes glued on the TV in front of them.

They're currently binging the newest season of The Bachelor, but Harry was more so using the dialogue and Y/N’s periodic gasps as background noise. For the past year or so, he’s held down a job at an online publication as a sex columnist. He loves it — people write in anonymously, asking him questions about everything from premature ejaculation to open relationships. Under the pen name H.E. Bell, he gets paid to write lengthy, thoughtful responses, helping his readers with approaching whatever sexual issue they’re facing. And this week, his editor really wants him to address a particular question about a dominant and submissive relationship. 

The thing is, though, is the letter comes from a sub. And Harry’s a dom. 

A mean one, at that.

So while Y/N’s diving into a pint of her favorite flavor of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream (Phish Food, obviously), and Harry’s trying his best — and miserably failing — to place himself in the shoes of his submissive reader, he knows what he has to do.

“I hate to tell you, but you scream submissive,” Harry replies, pushing his laptop off of the couch and onto the coffee table. “Don’t even try to deny it. Just… just hear me out. Please. My deadline’s tomorrow afternoon.”

Y/N lets out an irritated huff as she grabs the TV remote and presses pause. Silently, she sits back against the couch, facing her best friend, and shoots him a displeased expression; a wordless allowance to speak. 

“I’m a dom and I’ve literally always been that way. You’re a sub, through-and-through. This person is asking about situations pertaining to experience as a submissive, and I can’t really provide them with the advice that they’re looking for since I’ve never been in that headspace.”

Y/N shrugs carelessly. She’s unbothered by his frank analysis of her subordinate behavior — it’s not exactly surprising that Harry, the sex columnist, is able to identify a sub, dom, or switch from 10 miles away. But that doesn’t mean she has to get dragged into his research, or whatever the hell he was trying to play it off as.

“Why don’t you just skip the question, then?” Y/N asks. “If you don’t have the right resources to offer an answer—”

“My editor thinks it’ll bring in a lot of page views,” he says, his throat bobbing with a swallow. His eyebrows draw together some, creating a small worried wrinkle between them. “Listen, I’ll fuck off if you’re totally uncomfortable with helping me, but you’re my best friend and I don’t know who else I could ask with this short of a timeframe.”

She sighs and brings her knees up to her chest. 

“Fine. Read me the question.”

A grin breaks out on Harry’s face as he grabs his laptop. He taps on the trackpad a few times as he brings the email up on the screen, eyes scanning over his bright inbox. 

“Okay, here’s what they said,” he clears his throat and Y/N really does roll her eyes this time, “Dear H.E.— I’ve been in a sexual relationship with my dominant for three months. Up until now, we’ve clicked really well. The chemistry is great and we always mesh really well both during scenes and aftercare. But lately, I’m worried I’ve been a little too bratty. For context, I’m a bratty sub with an attitude, but my dom knew that going into this. I fear that they’ll grow tired of my nonsense and insistent disobedience, but when I’m in my subspace or engaging in a scene with them, it’s hard for me to pull away from it. What should I do? Do you have any advice for what I can do as a sub to best help my dom?”

Y/N’s plucking at her bottom lip as Harry glances up from his computer. Blinking, she thinks for a moment before crafting a response.

“Well, it sounds like the sub needs to communicate their feelings to their dom. There seems to be a lot of insecurity.” she says. He hums, nodding his head as he types a few words on his keyboard. 

“Yeah, that’s true,” he murmurs, “They said it’s hard for them not to be in that bratty headspace, though.”

She shrugs, “I mean, if you’re a bratty sub, you’re a bratty sub. That’s just who you are.”

“Do you think there are any punishments that would work, then?”

“You’re the dom, shouldn’t you be able to answer that question?”

“I guess,” he replies, running his palm over the short bit of facial hair that’s grown on his chin in the past few days. “Spanking, edging, overstimulation, types of shibari, I guess…”

Y/N’s thighs squeeze involuntarily.

“...I just don’t know what works best.” he finishes his sentence, halting the tapping of his fingertips over the keyboard. “What do you think?”

She forces a swallow to coat her dry throat. “It depends.” she pushes out.

“Well, what works for you?”

She thinks for a moment. It’s been a minute since she’s been in a proper dominant/submissive dynamic — the last few times she’s had sex have all been one night stands and quick flings, all of which don’t allow enough time to learn about hard limits, punishments, and safe words. Her brain has to float back to a year ago, when she was sleeping with Reese, a soft dom who tried his best to tame her bratty nature but came back empty every time. He was good — the sex was good, but she wanted — no, needed — more.

“I don’t think I’ve ever really had a dominant… achieve that, I guess,” she mumbles thoughtfully. “I mean, I know what I like, as far as punishments go. But it’s not really about what the submissive likes, is it?”

“No,” Harry agrees. He hums as he opens up a second tab and she watches as he types the words “punishments for submissives” into the search engine. She sniffles and attempts to disregard the way her core instantly clenches. 

He’s silent as he reads through a few lists, occasionally jotting down some notes into his Google doc. Y/N swallows noisily when he glances back up at her, this time prepared with an apparent list of proposed consequences. 

“Okay, can you just tell me which ones you think most submissives would be fine with?”

She nods.

“Withgoing underwear in public?”

“Mhm.”

“Pussy spanking?”

“Yeah.”

“Nipple wax play?”

“Depends on the sub’s pain tolerance, but um… yeah.”

“Paddling?”

“I actually haven’t done that one before.”

Harry’s eyebrows raise. 

“No?”

She shakes her head. “None of my doms have ever had one.”

“Doesn’t sound like they were proper doms, then.”

“They’ve all been on the softer side,” Y/N explains shyly. “But… yeah. I guess it’s always something I’ve wanted to try.”

“Is it?” 

She can tell by the way his eyes have darkened, that there’s something wicked stirring in that brain of his. She knows she can put a stop to this now if she wants — he’s her best friend and he wouldn’t care if she ended the conversation here and now. 

But she doesn’t.

Not for a second.

So instead she nods. And she’s completely unsurprised by the next sentence that falls from his lips.

“Do you want to try it now?”

By now, Y/N’s brain is all fuzzy and melty, so she doesn’t even think before she’s nodding her head eagerly. Harry chuckles and closes his laptop, shuffling onto his knees to lean forward and pluck at her bottom lip. A smirk curves at his mouth as she leans into his touch.

“Getting quite desperate on me, aren’t you?” he murmurs, cradling her cheek into his palm. “Get naked for me then and I’ll go get the paddle. No touching while I’m gone.”

Her stomach flips at the domineering tone in his voice. All too quickly, they’ve fallen into their most intimate roles, and Harry’s carrying himself to his bedroom as Y/N continues sitting there, all gooey-eyed and foggy. And maybe he should have expected it when he returns back to the living room a few moments later to see her sprawled out across the length of the couch, her bralette and underwear still on with her fingers tucked beneath the waistband of the fabric.

“Kitten,” Harry all but growls, making Y/N shiver at the pet name, “Are you already disobeying me?”

She hums as she watches him through half-lidded eyes, soft fingertips petting at her pearled clit. His eyes glimpse down at the tented material and he instantly sets the dark red paddle down on the carpeted floor, kneeling between her legs.

“What’s your color?” he breathes, locking a hand around her ankle. Her pussy quivers just from the simple grasp.

“Green,” she answers, “I’ll tell you if anything changes. Safe word is licorice.”

Harry nods, allowing his large hands to float up her legs. They reach the gusset of her sodden underwear and he clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth, snapping the fabric against her swollen pussy.

“Take your hand out of your panties now and I won’t smack your pussy until she’s raw.”

Y/N doesn’t move. In fact, he thinks her circling fingers only quicken.

“I’ll give you one last warning,” he grits out, squeezing the flesh of her thighs, “I’m not a nice dominant. You won’t be able to walk if you keep going against me.”

But of course, her hand stays glued to the bundle of nerves. Instead, she breathes out a sultry response: “Think I could cum like this, having you watch me.”

In a moment, her cotton underwear is being ripped from her body and thrown aside. He’s swift in his movements as he collects her wrists in his palm, squeezing them harshly and throwing them up, high above her body. She gasps, noisy and wet.

“I don’t fuck around with brats like you for a reason.” 

The first spank he issues to her puffy pussy is quick and fleeting, hardly offering a lick of pain. He’s eager to find where her pain threshold lies; if she’s all talk or if she can take the full force of his large palm. By the time he lands the sixth one, her skin now reddening beneath his smacks, he thinks he’s found it and he admits, he’s relatively impressed. 

“Aw, did that one hurt?” Harry mocks, watching as her face twists in an expression of discomfort. “That’s because punishments are meant to be mean. You’re not supposed to enjoy them, little brat. You’ve had it too easy, hm?”

“H-haven’t,” she stutters out, wincing as he delivers a seventh, “I’m good, sir, I swear—”

“Oh, bull-fuckin’-shit,” he retorts. “You’re a silly little brat is what you are.”

“‘m not—”

Smack—

“You are.”

She whines until he reaches the tenth one. She’s a wiggly mess of sniffles and whimpers and he shushes her, brushing a thumb over her clit. She gasps lowly and he laughs.

“On your belly.”

This time, Y/N doesn’t defy him and Harry is admittedly surprised. She buries her face in the throw pillow and he rolls his eyes at the theatrics. Before picking the paddle up off the floor, his blunt fingertips scratch at her scalp, gentle and kind as they trail down to the nape of her neck. 

“What’s your color, kitten?” he asks softly, rubbing a docile palm over her bare ass.

“Green, sir.”

“Do you still want to try the paddle?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay,” he murmurs, “We’ll start with five and then see where you’re at. You know what to say if you want me to stop, right?”

“Red or licorice, sir.”

“Good girl.”

Since it’s her first time, he decides to ease her into it. He uses only a smidgen of his strength to smack the paddle against the thick of her cheek, watching as the wood ricochets. Her skin jiggles in response and he swallows, noting the way her nails already dig into the couch.

The second and third are just as light but he adds a bit more pressure to the fourth and fifth. When he’s finished, he rubs over the flush skin, slow and intentional.

“How was that?” he asks. 

“Good,” she replies, her voice slightly muffled from the pillow, “I can take more.”

A hand quickly finds its way to the back of her neck and her eyes instantly widen. He shifts her head, smushing her cheek into the soft fabric so her voice is no longer dulled. 

“Need to hear you loud and clear,” Harry says. “And now you’ll count for me.”

When the oak paddle makes contact with her ass for the sixth time, she grits her teeth but still calls out the number. She follows suit for the next five and, while it’s painful and harsh in the most uncomfortable of ways, she’d be lying if she said her skin didn’t feel like it was on fire. She’s burning for him, feeling her arousal leak down between the apex of her thighs with every last spank. 

“Good job, kitten,” Harry announces, dropping the paddle at the end of the set. “You did good, hm? Did the bratty girl learn her lesson?”

Y/N’s bottom lip juts out in a pout when his soft palms begin to soothe her aching bum. He instantly takes notice, wrinkling his eyebrows in confusion. 

“Can’t give you anymore tonight, kitten. It was only your first time.”

Instead of replying, she simply shakes her head.

“Use your words. I’m not a mindreader, brat.”

Swallowing, she lifts her head up slightly, only enough to give her a peek of Harry’s concerned expression. 

“W-wanna cum,” she mumbles, blinking at him, “Will you make me cum, sir?”

And instead of immediately getting what she wants, Harry does the unthinkable.

He rolls his eyes.

“You act like a slutty brat all night, begging to get paddled, and now you want me to make you cum?” 

She nods, ashamed and embarrassed.

“What the fuck makes you think you deserve that?”

“I-I took my spankings and paddlings without complaining. And I didn’t disobey you a-after that.”

“But you did defy me to begin with, didn’t you?” he pushes, weaving his hand into the hair at the back of her head. His fist tightens and he lifts her head so her neck cranes back. “Isn’t that right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And now you want to cum.”

“Yes, sir.”

“But not only do you want to cum— you want me to make you cum.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Fine then,” he decides, sitting down and leaning back against the couch cushions. “Come here. Straddle me.”

She forces herself onto her knees and ignores the way her ass and pussy both sting from her punishments. Right now, all she can focus on is her buzzing clit and its need for attention. 

She does as she’s told and splits her thighs to fit his own legs between them. Almost instantly, he cups a hand beneath her mouth and glares at her expectantly. 

“Spit, brat. Are you dumb?”

She shakes her head, allowing saliva to pool behind her lips before spitting it into his palm. With his eyes staring into hers, he lowers his spit-slick hand down to her mound and pushes a finger inside of her. Immediately, she clenches around it, her eyes threatening to flutter shut.

“Keep them open,” he instructs, “Jesus, your cunt is already milking me.”

She swallows and forces herself to maintain eye contact with the man sitting before her. He’s merciless in his ministrations, especially when he nestles a second, then a third finger and curls them up to her most sensitive spot. Her hands form tight fists as she grinds against his hand, moaning loudly when his thumb reaches her clit. 

“What a desperate little pussy,” he murmurs, speeding up the tight circles over the swollen bundle of nerves, “You like getting stretched out, don’t you? Say it.”

“I-I love when you stretch me out, sir.”

“Of course you do,” he smirks viciously, “Is your cunt gonna cum like this?”

“Y-yes, sir—”

“Ask for permission first, kitty.”

“Please sir, can I cum? P-please?”

She’s whimpery and mewling as she bounces helplessly on his fingers, the ribbon in her lower stomach threatening to unravel at any given moment. He hums, stilling the digits inside of her.

“Hold it.”

“Sir—”

“Hold it, brat.”

Her pussy clenches around him but she does. She restrains herself until he finally allows the ribbon to come undone, a slew of whines and curses sounding from her plush lips as she does.

It feels like it goes on forever but when the pleasure finally ceases, she collapses into his chest. Harry gently pulls his fingers from her center and wraps an arm around her waist, giving it a gentle, loving squeeze. 

He lets her stay like that for a bit and, maybe selfishly, he enjoys having her limp, exhausted body so close to his. 

“Gotta clean you up and rub some salve on your bum,” he finally manages out, ducking down to whisper the words in her ear. 

Tiredly, she nuzzles her head against his shoulder. “Five more minutes?”

He swallows. 

He doesn’t think she’s in her subspace, but he knows she’s sleepy and fuzzy from the mix of pain and pleasure he just instilled on her body.

And so for that, he’ll give her five more minutes.

Six, if she’s lucky.

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[scoonsalicious]

6.2 Lily

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Fem!Reader

Summary: Lily McIntyre, trainer for new SHIELD recruits at the Avengers Tower, has been in love with her best friend, Bucky Barnes, from the moment she met him. She's been content with her role of the #1 girl in Bucky's life, even if it means she has to sabotage a romantic relationship or two. It'll be worth it when he realizes that they're meant for each other, right? There's just one small problem: Lily McIntire never expected Bucky Barnes to fall for You.

Warnings: (For this part only; see Story Masterlist for general Warnings) Language, toxic plants being manipulative and toxic.

Word Count: Bucky done fucked up.

Previously On...: 2.5k

A/N: Please note: I will be taking a one week break from posting starting on Thursday, May 16th, to focus on writing. I will resume posting on Thursday, May 23rd.

If you ever feel so inclined to support my work, hop on over to buy me a coffee; it's much appreciated! <3

NOTE! The tag list is a fickle bitch, so I'm not really going to be dealing with it anymore. If you want to be notified when new story parts drop, please follow @scoonsaliciousupdates

Thank you to all those who have been reading; if you like what you've read, likes, comments, and reblogs give me life, and I truly appreciate them, and you!

He was on his way! 

After disconnecting from her call with Bucky, Lily bent down to her front driver’s side tire and, using her car key, pried out the nail she’d run over to ensure it would go flat while she ran the trail. Walking to the edge of the parking lot, she hurled the nail into the woods, getting rid of any evidence that she’d manufactured the current predicament she “accidentally” found herself in.

It didn’t matter if Bucky hadn’t come home from his date last night. Hadn’t told her that he’d even been on a date to begin with. What mattered was that, when Lily had called, Bucky had left the bitch behind and had come running. To her.

And that meant something. 

Right?

Bucky could go out with some slut if he wanted to, but when Lily had needed him, Bucky had dropped everything to be there for her, and that knowledge made Lily’s insides glow with warmth. She was still his number one girl; she shouldn’t have let herself get worked up over one date that probably didn’t mean anything. Bucky had dated before, and Lily had made sure none of them stuck around for very long. This time wouldn’t be any different.

So, Lily waited. She checked her email, she played some games on her phone, she listened to a podcast. Finally, a little over an hour after she’d hung up with Bucky, she saw one of Tony’s sportscars speed into the parking lot and make its way to the trailhead.

Her heart sank at the thought of Bucky sending Tony Stark to help her in his stead, so it was quite a shock to her system when the car pulled up next to hers, turned its engine off, and Bucky himself stepped out. He wasn’t wearing his usual tshirt and jeans, no– he was wearing a rumpled burgundy button-up, sleeves rolled up to the elbows and the first couple of buttons left undone at his neck, and a pair of fitted, black trousers. 

Lily swallowed. His hair was a mess, but she could imagine how put together he must have looked the night before, and that made her stomach twist. He’d made an effort. He’d made a real, genuine effort to dress up for this date that he lied to her about.

“Hey, Lil,” he said, once she got out of her car to meet him. He smiled, but she’d known him long enough to be able to tell when his smiles weren’t genuine, and this one didn’t reach his eyes.

“Hey, Jamie,” she said, offering him a fake smile  of her own to hide her distress. “Thank you so much for coming out. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” 

“I’m sure Steve or Sam or anyone from the Compound would have been more than willing to help you out, Lil,” Bucky said as he walked to the back of her car. “Could you pop the trunk for me so I can get your jack and the spare?”

Lily bent her head back inside to unlock the trunk, rolling her eyes as she did so. If she’d wanted someone else to change her tire, she’d have just done it herself. Or, you know, not popped her own tire to begin with. But that was beside the point.

She walked around to the back of the car so she could help Bucky move things around in her trunk to get to her spare. “You’re dressed awfully fancy for a Sunday morning,” she said, watching him out of the side of her eye. “You find God and suddenly decide to start going to church?”

Bucky chuckled. “Something like that,” he said. Lily stole a glance in his direction and caught him smiling softly to himself as he pulled her spare out from the trunk with his vibranium hand. Taking her car jack in the other, he moved around to the driver’s side and began loosening the lug nuts with his left hand. Lily shivered when she considered how strong he was, how much power that one hand contained.

Once all the nuts were loosened, he slid the jack under the frame of the car and began raising it. He was annoyingly efficient at this, Lily thought, and she realized her window of time with him wasn’t as big as she had originally anticipated.

“So, where were you when I called this morning, really?” she asked, leaning up against the side of Tony’s car as she watched him work. She just wanted him to be honest with her. She didn’t think she could take it if he continued to lie.

Bucky stilled in his motions. “I… I, uh, had a date,” he said after a moment.

Lily paused, playing confused. “A date on a Sunday morning?” she asked him. “That’s a really weird—oh.” Bucky left the car suspended on the jack and turned to face her, hands shoved into his pockets, and the guilt in his eyes nearly palpable. 

Good, Lily thought. Let him be guilty, now that he realizes I know he lied to me. “I didn’t realize you were seeing anyone, Jamie,” she said, voice deliberately meek and soft. “Why didn’t you say something?”

Bucky sighed and leaned back against her car. “It’s new,” he said. “Like, really new.”

Good, she thought. This hasn’t been going on for a long time. There was still a good chance she could nip it in the bud before it grew into a real problem. “So, when you said you were out with Sam last night…” She left it hanging in the air. Let him be the one to say the word.

“I lied to you,” he said with a sigh. “I’m sorry.”

“Why, Jamie?” she asked him. “I didn’t think we lied to one another.” She thought about the hole she’d punched in her own tire. Well, she didn’t think he lied to her.

“We don’t, Lil,” he said. “I just… It seems like whenever I start seeing someone new, you just…” he paused to consider his words, and Lily started to get nervous. Did he know… did he suspect the things she’d done in the past to keep other girls away from him? He couldn’t. She’d been so careful… “You just form a lot of opinions on them, really quickly,” he said, and she released a breath. He didn’t know anything. She was safe. “I wanted to get to know this girl on my own, without any outside influences, before I decided to find out what everyone else thought about her.”

“I only tell you what I think because I care about you, Jamie,” Lily protested in her gentlest voice. She was going to have to walk a very delicate line here, between stressing her point and sounding sympathetic. “I’m just trying to look out for you, that’s all.”

“I know,” he said with a sigh. “I know you are, and I do appreciate it, but… I want to be able to figure out how I feel about this one before I start soliciting opinions about her from everyone else. Does that make sense?”

It did. Fuck, it did. Usually, Bucky was so eager to talk about the new girls he was dating, to introduce him to his best friends and find out what they thought about her, to get their opinions. If he was reticent this time, it could only mean one, horrible thing:

“You really like this girl, don’t you, Jamie?” Lily asked, trying so hard to keep her voice light, when inside, she felt like she was dying.

Bucky looked up at her. “Yeah, Lil,” he said, his dazzling white smile beaming at her and making her heart stop. “I really do.”

“That’s great,” Lily choked out. She turned back to the trunk of her car, pretending to busy herself with its contents so she didn’t have to look at him. “That’s really great.”

She heard Bucky move around and start working on the tire again. “Not really,” he said, his voice sounding dejected. Lily moved her head around from the back of the trunk to look at him. 

“What do you mean?” she asked, a spark of hope coming to life in her chest. 

Bucky let out a long sigh. “I think I might have blown it with her,” he said as he worked to take the flat tire off of her car. 

“Oh no,” Lily said, trying to keep the smile out of her voice. Maybe she wouldn’t have to do anything, afterall. Maybe Bucky had managed to fuck it up on his own. “What happened?”

Bucky was silent for a moment as he replaced the tire with ease. “I don’t really want to talk about it,” he said eventually. “Let’s just say that we left things very… ambiguously. I asked her if I could call her later, she didn’t really give me an answer either way. Just kind of shrugged. If she wanted me to call her, she would have just said so, right?”

Lily felt her stomach do a happy flip, but she put on a fake pout. “Oh, Jamie,” she said, fake sympathy oozing over her words, “please don’t tell me she’s playing mind games like that with you already! If a girl wants you to call her, she’ll tell you to call her, not play hard to get.”

“It wasn’t like that,” Bucky said defensively as he began re-tightening the lugnuts on the tire. “I just… I did something she didn’t like, is all. And she’s probably rightly pissed about it.”

Lily walked around the car to stand next to him as he finished up. “I don’t think I like this, Jamie,” she said cautiously. “You’ve barely started dating this girl, and already she thinks she can dictate your actions? That doesn’t seem healthy to me, at all.”

Bucky stood, running a hand across his face. “Nah, Lil– you’re… you’re getting it twisted. I made a mistake. I know I did, and she’s got every right to be mad at me about it. I need to talk to her, to sort it out.” Lily was losing ground; thankfully, she’d come prepared.

“Listen, Jamie,” she said, abruptly changing the topic in the hopes of getting his mind off this mysterious skank, “I was planning on having lunch up here today, since it’s so gorgeous out. I probably overdid it when I packed my food. Do you want to join me?”

Bucky heaved a sigh and looked like he was about to decline.

“Consider it my way of saying ‘thank you’ for you coming all the way out here to rescue me,” she added, knowing that she was laying it on thick, but not wanting him to walk away. “Come on, we’ll make a picnic of it. It’ll be fun!”

“Yeah, alright,” Bucky said, letting a smile cross his face. “I could eat.”

Bucky Barnes always did have a soft spot for a damsel in distress. With a grin, Lily opened the backseat of her car and pulled out the cooler she’d preemptively packed in the hope that just such an opportunity would arise. Lily was nothing if not prepared. 

Bucky reached for it. “Here, let me,” he said, taking it from her. Lily smiled to herself as she reached back into the car to pull out the picnic blanket she’d packed. 

“Such a gentleman,” she said as she closed the car door and led Bucky down one of the trails. It was a gorgeous late-summer day, and Lily could almost convince herself they were on a real date together. Almost. God, what she wouldn’t give for this to be the real thing. 

After they’d walked for about fifteen minutes, Lily veered left off of the trail and into the woods. “You bringing me back here to kill me?” Bucky asked in a playful tone as he followed her with the cooler.

“Yup,” Lily teased right back. “I definitely have faith in my ability to take out a super soldier on my own.” Her heart swelled when she was rewarded with an amused chuckle from Bucky. 

Soon, they reached her destination: a cozy clearing that sat along the bank of a creek that ran through the park, with a small waterfall that fed a crystal clear pool below.

“This is nice,” Bucky said, coming up behind Lily as she fanned out the blanket. “How’d you find this spot?”

Lily sat down and reached to take the cooler from Bucky, beckoning him to join her. “I was scouting some potential off-trail runs for the recruits and just kind of stumbled upon it,” she told him. She opened up the cooler and began taking out the food she’d brought– all of Bucky’s favorites.

Bucky nodded, then looked at the spread with wide eyes. “You packed all of this for yourself, Lil?”

Lily felt a slight blush creep up her cheeks– she had not, in fact, packed it all for herself, but specifically in the hope that he would end up joining her, though he could never know that. “I guess I just overestimated how hungry I’d be after my run,” she told him as she handed him a bottle of water. “Thanks for joining me so that all this food doesn’t go to waste.”

“No problem,” he said as he began to tear into the food she’d brought. “Thanks for getting a flat tire, I guess,” he added with a laugh.

They ate amicably, making small talk about their upcoming plans for the week, and how Lily’s latest batch of recruits looked. Lily was itching to ask Bucky more about his mystery date, to find out who she was, if she was someone Lily knew; but she didn’t want to bring it up– the less Bucky talked about her, the more likely he was to just forget about her all together, right? Especially if he’d done something to piss her off. Better to keep him distracted so that the window of opportunity for any reconciliation closed without him noticing it.

Soon, the food was gone, the sun high in the sky. Lily and Bucky both lay back on the picnic blanket, staring lazily up into the blue sky. “We should do something today,” Lily suggested, trying not to sound too eager.

Bucky chuckled. “Aren’t we doing something now, Lil?” he asked.

She playfully shoved his shoulder. “Later, I mean. Like, we’re having a good time; we should continue it. Go somewhere nice for dinner, do something after, like go to a club or see a show or something. Make a whole ‘friend-date’ night out of it!” Anything, she thought to herself. I’ll do anything, as long as I’m doing it with you. And who knew what could happen in the right romantic setting?

“Yeah, that sounds like it could be fun,” Bucky mused. “Sure.”

“Really?” Lily couldn’t believe her luck. “Leave all the planning to me, then!” She’d make sure she got a table at the most romantic restaurant she could find, and get them tickets to something steamy that would put Bucky in the right mood… She knew just what dress to wear, to show just enough skin to be tantalizing…

Yes, tonight, things were going to change. Lily could feel it.

<- Previous Part / Next Part ->

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky x you #bucky x reader #bucky fanfic #bucky barnes #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky x female reader #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes fanfiction #james bucky buchanan barnes #james buchanan barnes #mcu bucky barnes #james barnes

[whump-it-like-its-hot]

People who say just don’t allow yourself to use your phone/do fun stuff until you finish the difficult task! severely underestimate my ability to sit in the same place unmoving and do literally nothing for hours to end just so I don’t have to face the difficult task

#I still haven’t written the email #I haven’t eaten today or yesterday I also haven’t walked the dog or showered or worked on my assignments #it’s just a stupid fucking email #I barely even slept I was just sitting or laying there awake because I have to write the mail but my brain doesn’t let me #I have to head to work in. an hour #I was supposed to write the email yesterday #ITS LITERALLY TO HELP ME WITH THIS EXACT PROBLEM. I’m gonna lose my mind #I Know it’s not gonna be that bad #they said they could have something to give back to me by Monday #but. I need. to write. that. fucking. email #which I can NOT because whenever I try my brain freezes and no clear thought manages to form

[blueskittlesart]

profs will set the due date for the final as april 24 and then STILL NOT HAVE THE FUCKING ASSIGNMENT UP TO SUBMIT THE PAPER BY 11PM ON APRIL TWENTY FUCKING THIRD

#ALEC. BESTIE. PLEASE. I AM BARELY PASSING YOUR CLASS AS IT IS I NEED YOU TO WORK WITH ME HERE #i feel the need to explain the level of bullshit that has been going on with this particular final actually because holy shit. #he first told us about it about 3 weeks ago which. fine. but all he said was 'you will have to pick a topic and write a paper' #like nothing about what the topic should relate to how the paper should be organized word count etc. literally nothing #radio silence for 2 weeks. we all forgot about it. then out of the blue 'btw your papers are due in a week lol!' #so we all scramble to figure out what the hell the assignment actually is #come to find out he never actually posted the assignment brief on canvas as an assignment. the only way we can access it is via a pdf #linked in ANOTHER UNRELATED ASSIGNMENT. #the project brief in question describes several in-class activities we straight up have not done. #no one actually knows if it's really due tomorrow or next week because he keeps pushing shit back and DOESNT ANSWER EMAILS #but the date on the syllabus is the 24th. and there is still nowhere online where we can submit our papers at all. #jesus fucking christ in heaven #personal #he is going to be getting a. shall we say INTERESTING professor review from me. lmao

[ingravinoveritas]

I've posted on here before about the work I do as a professional speaker, so I field a lot of speaking requests in my e-mail on a day-to-day basis. Got a request last week from the UK and was super excited until I realized how off it seemed. It was from a monsignor at a church in London and had a lot of flowery, religious language, and I talk about autism and sex for a living, so why would a priest want me to speak at his church's conference? Although I might need a priest after doing that...

Did some research after receiving a follow-up e-mail with equally over-the-top religious verbiage, only to have my suspicions confirmed: It's a scam. A "keynote speaker" scam, of all things:

The wording of the e-mails described on this site was identical to the wording of the e-mails I received, down to the "theme" of the conference. Apparently the aim is to get your money via claims of needing a work visa and then having their "sponsor" get in touch with you to arrange the details once you've filled out the forms they send.

I'm feeling upset and disappointed for multiple reasons--at the thought of other disabled/autistic speakers or other vulnerable people being taken advantage of by these assholes, at the prospect of a speaking gig in a place I've always wanted to visit being taken away--but also because the so-called "conference" was supposed to be in March and I thought for a hot second that I might have the chance to see Michael in Nye.

I'm at least glad that my instincts were right, and that I was able to cut off contact before anything else happened, but still...ugh...

#personal post #public speaker #also the scammer copied the monsignor's email and duped it as a Gmail #so that was a big red flag too #but seriously these fucking people #like i don't have enough things to worry about #and it just extra sucks that i got my hopes up for Nye even a teeny bit #only to have them promptly dashed #anyway i need some gifs and fics to cheer myself up #maybe i'll finish writing the one i started about Michael and David at Macbeth press night #sigh

[exsqueezememacaroni]

dream team

Mike Patton and Dan the Automator photo by Nicole Kai

#when you see an old tumblr post and like the pic but it's lo res af #then you reverse image search and find out it's a bad crop of a picture that has one of Mike's main collaborators #but fangirlies are only interested in mike so they crop Dan out #sorry but fuck that y'all #also CREDIT THE PHOTOGRAPHER #im on a rampage today bc i am caffeinated and on a cannabis hangover and i have my period and i need to write uncomfortable emails #good morning!!! #mike patton #dan the automator

[hopefulqueer]

One thing they won't tell you about college is that if you find out that you need a piece of paper signed by 5 faculty members in different departments in the span of a week, it simply won't happen. You'll get four signatures in 2 days and then the fourth guy will send it off to the fifth and there will be radio silence and you'll email the fifth like "hey bro any idea how long this will take" and the fifth will be like "lol lmao what paper". And also your advisor will disappear for the entirety of finals week without warning leaving nothing but an automated out-of-the-office email response so you have nobody to turn to for help. And then you won't graduate.

#personal #i'm actually losing it a little bit guys #if this paper doesnt get signed off by the registrar in the next few hours i just wont graduate #and all my plans are completely fucked #this all happened btw bc instructions i got for getting an old writing 100 class waived since id already taken writing 200 #turned out to have changed since they emailed me those instructions #but bc i've had those old instructions bookmarked in my email for months and nobody told me things had changed #i had no reason to think i needed to check the website for the instructions. bc they were in my email. #so i have everything green checked on my graduation card except writing 100 #:)

[essektheylyss]

me: three classes is definitely A Lot but I'm doing fine, I just need to get through this quarter :)))

also me: what if next quarter I took three classes and also got involved in two research projects, one of which I'd be taking a sizable role in, and a separate research group. and what if I learned python in between terms. what then.

#if there's one thing that can't be said about me it's that I've ever lacked ambition. #it's FINE. it's fine. everything's fucking fine. I've already sent this additional email about research. don't worry about it. #one of them is more just like. drop-in meetings and the other isn't really gonna be A Thing for a while so. whatever. #ANYWAY. #I still have to write a novella. FUCK. #would love to not have a job. I could be doing literally so much with an extra 40 hours a week. I like my job a lot! #but it's not writing is the thing. I need to write. #megs vs mlis #i didn't even MENTION THE JOURNAL I'M MEETING AN EDITOR ABOUT THIS WEEK. OH MY GOD.

[mejomonster]

:/

I think about a query and a cover letter and how i need to look up what theyre called because i dont even know. Let alone know how to write them well and which things are required for what, and how i heard publishers only expect emails during calls for wubmissions so I dont know where to look for those but i also need to learn that from Somewhere i can learn such info. And how i know how to format a book for print, with mirrored margins and all the rest of that specific spacing stuff, but i have no idea the formatting requirements for a manuscript sent to a publisher (although hopefully that will be on their site as a style guide requirement directions and formatting IS something thankfully i'll be able to easily Look Up and Follow Directions to do). But the letter you send to pitch a novel and the length of manuscript expected (1 page? 1 chapter?) Or what kind of summary blurb they want, or if they want a summary or a "marketing blurb" that keeps some parts mysterious and enticing. And what's most frustrating, the reason i'm complaining, is when I look these things up the articles with advice do not say WHAT they are, basic requirements and basic expectations, it is IMPLIED the reader has as much familiarity with the definitions of these terms and when these items are needed as adults are expected to be familiar with job Resumes and standard Good Practice Format out of the gate. But with Resumes, high school and parents did provide some basic guideline directions and basic informafion like "include X, do not include Y, summarize Z" and "use keywords found in job description" and "keep it short such as one page or you may give a bad impression" and "do it in basic X fonts, basic colors, unless the job is particularly creative with unusual expectations of your resume" with similar directions about cover letters such as "state job you're applying for, summarize your education and some relevant experience, say you'd like the job and say why if you'd like, end with your contact information, keep it under a page ideally." I do not know the expected lengths of query letters, font expectations in the emails, if its an email or attachment, if it's submitted only during calls for submissions (i assume yes), how to find submission calls, what the title of the email should be, what the blurb length shpuld be and what it should Contain (summary? Marketing keywords? Your writing style or more technical key point information? Length/word count minimun and max? Should a summary be the whole main plot in a few key point sentences or be only the premise with the ending a mystery? Should it be entertainingly stylistic, or technical?) I look up requirements for publishing submissions and its so often expected the readers know what all these specific requirements and Norms in Writing them already are, so all the advice in the article is specialized like "you already KNOW what to submit, what the requirement is, now here's how to be Noticed Better." So it amounts to an equivalent to advice articles that do not state what a cover letter must contain or how to format it, but instead only focuses on specific ways of sounding more Convincing or Unique in your cover letter. Which is not super helpful if you... do not even know what a cover letter should contain to BE a correctly made cover letter to begin with.

#rant #what this amounts to is. im going to have to do a ton of research. which in theory is fine #but its so FRUSTRATING that its so hard to find basic information on WHAT DOCUMENTS ARE REQUIRED AND EXPECTED #AND WHAT THEY SHOULD CONTAIN AND HOW #like. i literally have looked up WHAT ARE THESE like for 20 hours this week #and about every 6 months i look it up and research for 20-40 hours for a month and just #i still have no fucking clue 1 #WHAT it is i specifically need to make for resume equivalents for submitting to publishers #2 what those documents should SPECIFICALLY contain and the formatting (in email? as attachment? title? summary or marketing plug? expected #keywords?) #because if i were a publishet yeah id simply THROW OUT submissions that do not contain the basic submission required documents #if the documebts werent included or were but contained totally irrelevant information and not the correct expected information #3 i cant find any guides that explain BASICALLY what the fuck all thid stuff is #i imagine maybe they teach ppl in college pursuing creative writing #but the articles im finding online are all skipping basic info. and basic info is what i need

[fitzrove]

I want to write a romance subplot (in [original project]) but I have this problem where I straight-up disagree with most people online on what is appealing in a romance story or romantic subplot (ie. a lot of common tropes are unappealing to me, I usually need it to be Full of Symbolism And Themes [but only like... wider themes, usually sexual liberation and self-discovery which are pretty common ones arent really my cup of tea ajks], I don't usually find much appeal in a mundane romance being at the center of the narrative & it has to be wlw OR i have to delusion it into being so in my head...)

Like legit the target audience for the kind of relationship I would write would just be me and like 3.5 of my gay friends rip

#also while writing this i realised i havent worked on any of my fanfic ideas for ages 😭😂 #i think i should do at least one of them because i need to practice different voices (maybe another w tdv because those are new characters) #also if i wrote that todcheni fic it would be so fucked up and meta. nobody would want to read it and itd be like 88k words #😂 that is kinda making me want to write it but tbh i feel like i should prioritise school #my professor straight up emailed me like 'hey no pressure but i'd be stoked if you wrote your book review on this book specifically👀👀' 😂 #like omg dr [redacted] is commissioning me and we've only known each other for 3 weeks xD

[barefootbaltimore]

How do you overcome this type of burn out?

I've never felt like this before. I've never felt this tired deep in my bones and this hopeless. It feels like I'm drowning all of the time now.

I had to leave work early yesterday because I was not able to care for a baby in the state I've been in.

Palestine and Congo and Sudan and so many more nations need me to be acting, and making choices. Need me to help.

At work a baby needs me, all day, to play with him and comfort him and hold him and teach him.

Then I go home and I have my partner and my pets and they all need me to be a person and show them love and affection.

Even when I'm alone I need for me to take care of this body, take care of my home, I need to take out the trash and shower I need to journal I need to remember to drink water.

That saying "you can't pour from an empty cup" doesn't consider that I don't have the time to find a sink to fill the fucking cup. My cup is empty I'm carving apart my body and soul to satisfy everyone who needs me.

How do I stop being a meat factory and start being a person again?

#burnout #im not doing okay folks #nothing feels like rest anymore #i need to clean my home but my body wont do it. so i sit instead and now nothing got done and i dont feel better #how do i go to a protest if i can barely stay upright? #how do i email my reps when my brain is mush #ive been writing this for half an hour making words is fucking hard

[mossflower]

‘i don’t even have a hangover’ she said, blissfully unaware of the horrors she was about to go through

#i did not make it to my lectures. i was busy curled up on my bathroom floor wishing for the room to stop spinning and the lights to shut up #i’m gonna have to write an email now!! bc i can’t present on friday because i’m going home!! #i knew it was too good to be true. i knew it! i got maybe half an hour of peace before it kicked in and i wanted to die #next time i have the bright idea to drink on a sunday night someone needs to physically stop me i’m not joking #it was like. every so often i’d get thirty seconds where i could manage to get up and move and then i’d need half an hour to recover #0/10 experience fucking hell #morganposting

[kuiinncedes]

me puttingon the filters "remote" and "data science major" on this job site from my university and just scrolling thru and applying to a ton that don't need cover letter without reading the qualifications/requirements 😀

#data science major is enough LMAO i'm slightly qualified at least right #if they get back to me i can read/reconsider LOL #bitch has to write a goddamn cover letter at some point tho lmfao #tmrw i'm getting together w my friend who also needs to apply for jobs i'll surely write a cover letter then right for shore #bro there's this unpaid internship that is like pretty fitting for me #but it's fucking unpaid which is so annoying lmfao #didn't realize it was unpaid until today (i saw it like yesterday lmao) #anyway looked at my email and reminded that i have to reply to an email abt a job i actualy have rn lmao 😭 #and just didn't do this semester #but i want/need to get back to it #but i've spent the last week rotting and doing absolutely nothing #idk where the motivation to do things is gonna come from LOL but we gotta do it #i gotta put work time like scheduled out in my gcal or smth to make myself actually do it :\ #and even then it probably won't rly happen lol #ig i spent the last while lying here clicking apply -> submit resume to all these jobs that don't need anything else LOL #so i'm not completely doing nothing 😀 #i also have done a bunch of club stuff 😀 for the club that i am no longer director for but ya know #i need to wash my hairrrrrrrrrr lmao ;-; #jeanne talks

[oflgtfol]

trying to juggle my jobs rn and i just feel so like . lol. like jack of all trades master of none. No i do not have a full time professional career but i work all these weird ass, unique, semi specialized, and not connected at all jobs that make people double take every single time they hear about Any of them. michaels is my most normal one UNTIL i start talking about framing then everyone is like what the fuck. i was telling my coworker at my other job about framing and he was teasing me about how passionate i was getting about like frame anatomy and construction. he had me rating his framing setup for his college diplomas and i was like "well i like the fillet but the mat is uneven and the glass is not anti-glare and also probably not anti-UV" and all his only response was. asking me what a mat was. and then at michaels i talk about my other job and everyone is always like dude that's so cool. they're more wowed by the uniqueness of the job but sometimes they ask me about the logistics too and then i'm getting the teasing about being passionate about some niche nerd shit. i cant even talk about that other job here because it's so weird and specialized that i'd doxx myself. and my internship. i've mentioned it before but i tend to avoid outright discussing it as directly since it also is more high stakes than michaels but its still like, augh? it had me in contact with fucking county executives over both the phone AND email and shit about stuff pertaining to social work and welfare. augh

oh and another point of chaos to all this is also a volunteer opportunity/informal unpaid internship that someone at my other job works at and i saw her hoodie for it and was like omg i totally wanna join. and i definitely definitely cannot talk about what that is cuz that will 100% doxx me as well if i ever were to work there. all i can say is that it is an actual scientific research thing. but like how the fuck do i have time for any of this and why does none of this have anything to do with each other. custom framing for art and photography; social welfare programs; scientific research; [redacted]. there's so many cool and interesting things in the world why cant i do all of it

#i didnt wanna ask my internship supervisor about a grad position beyond volunteering bc its like #im NOT going to the masters in social work program i dont really wanna fill the space up when others could take the position #and actually have it be relevant to their lives #but well SHE reached out to ME so like tee hee I GUESSS....... #i still need to reach out to the volunteer research position guy #i told my coworker i'd email him this past monday and she was so stoked she was like it'd be sooo fun to work together there too #but it just. totally fell by the fucking wayside this week what with my actual paid internship shit #brot posts #this is insane LMAOOOOOOOO #let me email the guy first and see if he even has the time to take on and train a newbie before i start trying #to factor that thing into all this mess as well #literally totally forgot about it until i was writing this post bc this whole week ive been trying to schedule that zoom meeting with #my internship supervisor

[lhazar]

I’m gunna do it. I WILL update No Rain Without Thunder this weekend if it KILLS ME

#this story has been rotating in my mind like the dEVIL for MONTHS after I posted it #every day I get emails #every day a new notification from ao3 #I swear #I swan to John I will update #I have a whole ass chapter just sitting in my drafts waiting to be released it’s just been too exhausting for me #to even think about writing these last few months #with how terrible it’s been losing my job #thank fuck I don’t work there anymore but it’s killed my creativity #but I need to flex those muscles again I need to just write #so #I’m going to do it #putting this declaration into the world #I SHALL SUCCEED #I WILL WIN #AND I WILL #get more emails #but ILL DO IT #AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHGGGHHHHHHHHHHH #txt #no rain without thunder

[spicyicymeloncat]

Goddddd adulting is so hard. People keep asking me if I have the [static noise] and I’m just like [windows error sound]

#fr tho I’m like can you do x for me and they’re like actually you have to specify further and I’m like I?? don’t?? know?? #there’s so much faff and fuff and fuss and paperwork in order to just get the things you need to get the things to survive #feeding yourself literally requires you to: #write emails like poetry bc ETTIQUETTE #Hunt down everyone who can confirm you’re not crazy (aka people who didn’t know you well) #sell your soul to dinosaurs #try not to be depressed whilst living in this literal hell we call a society #and on top of that in order to make the fucking food you have to be good at FIRE #AUGSJKEKEKEK #Also the sell your soul to dinosaurs tag could be me referencing old ppl but no #i am actually working at dinosaur land lol #AGJSKEKELLSKDKLDLDLSKDKEJJS #I wanna go back to 2011 #i just wanna sparkle dog and rawr xD #instead capitalism is bottle flipping my brain rn #HWHWHDJDKKDKDLDL