#natasha romonoff imagine

[winter-ryn]

while i take a break from finishing the final edits on petrichor you guys should send me some asks, requests for drabbles, whatever! just come talk to me!!

#bucky barnes imagine #steve rogers imagine #bucky barnes smut #bucky barnes #steve rogers #lloyd hansen imagine #lloyd hansen smut #send me things damnit #im bored #ry talks #marvel imagine #natasha romonoff imagine

[just-aake]

Widow’s Charm

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x fem!reader

Summary: Natasha finds herself falling for Tony’s new lab assistant and weapons technician.

Warnings: fluff

Words: 3322

Natasha walks down the hallway towards Tony’s lab, holding her widow bite gauntlets in her hand. Typically, she would have just sent them down to be repaired, but an unexpected mission came up which means she needs them fixed sooner rather than later. Reaching the entrance of the lab, the doors slide open for her as she enters.

“Hey Tony, can you fix–,” Natasha stops when she notices someone else working in the lab.

You look up from your work table at the new voice in the room and see the Black Widow staring at you curiously. You have been working at the Avenger’s Compound as the new weapons technician as well as Tony’s lab assistant for the past few months. 

Since then, you’ve met all of the other Avengers already except for the mysterious Black Widow, though you have repaired some of her equipment that she had sent down previously. 

Tony tells you that she prefers to keep to herself, which you can understand. You settled with the fact that you may never meet her in person, so it is a small shock to see her standing in front of you.

Putting down your tools, you wipe your hands on your apron and walk over to her. Extending your hand to her, you give her a polite smile as you introduce yourself.

“Hello, my name is Y/n L/n. I’m the new weapons technician and Mr. Stark’s assistant in the lab. How can I help, Ms. Romanoff?” 

A small surprised smile forms on Natasha’s face at your words. Intrigued to learn more about you, she raises her hand to yours in greeting.

“Hi, you can just call me Nata–.” 

“No, no, no!” A voice yells from down the halls outside of the lab.

Tony comes rushing into the lab, breathing heavily. Looking around frantically, his eyes widen at the two of you. He rushes over to you quickly, grabbing you by the shoulders, and pushing you away from Natasha and out into the hallway. 

“I need you to go get the thing from Pepper,” he tells you.

“What thing?” you ask in confusion as you turn back around to him.

He gives you a brief wave before pressing the button on the side, shutting the lab doors in your face.

For a moment, Tony remains standing by the door, tensed as he purposely avoid looking at Natasha. Then, in the next second, his entire body suddenly relaxes, and he moves casually over to his workstation. 

“FRIDAY, what’s the plan for today?” Tony asks.

“The parts for the new repulsors arrived today, sir,” the AI voice replies.

“Great, get those plans pulled up for me, will you?”

Natasha blinks at the lab doors as she tries to process what just happened. She turns to Tony, looking for an explanation.

“What the hell was that Tony?” she exclaims.

Tony looks at her with his eyebrows raised.

“What was what?”

“You just suddenly pushed Y/n out of the room.”

Tony's mouth presses into a tight line as he gives her a confused look. “Never heard of her. Was there somebody here FRIDAY?”

“No, sir.” 

Tony nods back at her with a satisfied look.

Crossing her arms, Natasha was about to argue when the lab doors opened up again. 

Pepper walks into the room towards Tony.

“Y/n said you told her to get a ‘thing’ from me?”

Tony lets out a groan as he hangs his head. Sighing, he gestures to Natasha.

“Y/n met Natasha.” 

Pepper lets out an exasperated sigh.

“Really, Tony? We talked about this. You can’t place all the blame on her.”

Natasha raises her hands to get their attention. “Can somebody please explain to me what’s going on?”

Pepper turns to her, a small apologetic look on her face.

“Tony thinks you are the reason why his assistants keep quitting.”

Natasha frowns at the accusation. “How is that my fault?”

Tony scoffs in disbelief. “FRIDAY, pull up the timeline.” 

A holographic screen pops up between them showing the past year with certain dates highlighted. Tony points to one of the earliest dates in the year. 

“Avery Grayson. She met you on her second day on the job. A week later she asks you out but you decline. She turns in her resignation the following week.”

Natasha raises her eyebrows at the information.

“That doesn’t prove—“ 

Tony interrupts her, “Quinn Turner. She confesses to you a month after your first interaction. Gets turned down too and then quits three days later.”

Tony brings up the two most recent dates.

“Same thing with Riley and Harper. It’s a pattern. They meet you, fall for you, get rejected, and then quit.”

Natasha looks over at Pepper, silently asking if he was serious. In response, Pepper gives her a resigned nod as she rubs her head tiredly.

Tony gets her attention when he points at her accusingly.

“Do you know how hard it is to find competent people who know how to handle this level of equipment?”

Natasha lets out a huff of disbelief, crossing her arms. She remembers his previous assistants. To be honest, most of her interactions with them were completely professional. She didn’t get close to any of them personally or showed any romantic interest, which made each of the confessions surprising to her. 

Still, this doesn’t explain what he was trying to do with you. She raises her eyebrow at him.

“So your plan was to what? Hide your new assistant from me forever?”

“Not forever. Just until I can find someone for her so that she doesn’t fall for you.”

Natasha rolls her eyes at his ridiculousness. Focusing back on her original intention, she places her widow bite gauntlets on the work table.

“Can you just fix these for me? I have a mission in a few hours.”

“Fine, but you stay away from my assistant,” he warns.

Natasha heads toward the exit and waves her hand, dismissing his words. It’s not like she intends to make you fall for her, but she has to admit that she is interested to learn more about you. 

~~~~~~~ ⧗ ~~~~~~~

You look up from your sketches at the sound of the lab door opening and see the Black Widow stroll into the room. You give her a smile in greeting.

“Welcome back, Ms. Romanoff. Are you looking for Mr. Stark?”

She walks over to your workspace, leaning slightly against the table as she looks at you.

“Actually, I was coming to see you, and you can just call me Natasha. We got interrupted the last time we met.”

Nodding your head, you laugh softly at the memory.

“Pepper explained to me what that was about.” You give her a teasing suspicious look. “So are you here to make me fall for you?”

Natasha gives you an amused smile. Most people don’t usually get comfortable around her so quickly. 

“Only if you want to,” she says nonchalantly.

You chuckle at her response.

“Unfortunately, you won’t be hearing a confession from me soon. I like my job here.” 

Natasha feels a tinge of disappointment at your words, her smile dropping slightly. You don’t notice though since your attention had drifted to the widow bite gauntlets on her wrists.

“Speaking of, did you want me to take a look at that?” You can see that there was some damage from a fight probably during her recent mission.

Glancing down, Natasha shrugs. “I can do it later myself.”

“Well, that explains why I don’t see your stuff across my desk that often.” You raise your hand out to her anyway.

She stares at you curiously before slowly placing her hand in yours.

You let out a small laugh at her action. “This is nice, but I actually want the gauntlets.” You hold her hand gently in yours before turning it around to reach the clasp on the weapon.

Natasha tilts her head as she observes you. You were focused but gentle as you worked, and you didn’t show any signs that you were intimidated by who she was. In fact, you were pretty cute as you scrunch your face in concentration. She decides to tease you a little.

“You know, I don’t usually let people take things off my body until at least the second date.”

You remove the second gauntlet from her other wrist with a start before you see the teasing smirk on her face. You let out a small huff before refocusing your attention on your table.

“I see what Mr. Stark means when he said you were charming.”

Natasha raises an eyebrow. “Oh? And what else did he tell you about me?”

“That you didn’t like meeting new people, though now I think that may have been a lie.”

Natasha shrugs before leaning in a little closer to you.

“It’s sort of true. I just prefer to meet people that I’m interested in.”

You turn away from her to hide the smile on your face, pretending to look for some tools. 

The lab doors slide open as Tony walks in while reading the tablet in his hand. Looking up, he sighs sadly when he sees Natasha next to you.

“Did she get to you already?”

You give him a reassuring look. “No confessions from me. Natasha just needed some things fixed.”

Tony stares at the two of you doubtfully before pointing to Natasha.

“Don’t you have reports to do or something?”

Rolling her eyes, Natasha stands to leave. She turns to you with a soft smile.

“I’ll come visit more often now that I know you exist.”

You bite your lips to hide your smile as you watch her leave. 

As Natasha exits the lab, she hears Tony’s voice call out.

“FRIDAY, can you restrict her access to the lab?”

“I’m afraid Ms. Potts has already denied that request, sir.”

Natasha smirks at the AI response. She should get something for Pepper later as thanks.

~~~~~~~ ⧗ ~~~~~~~

As she said, over the following weeks, Natasha visits you often in the lab. Sometimes with some equipment that needed to be fixed. Other times just to talk. Later, when she finds out that you usually eat your lunch in the lab, she would also join you if she had the time. 

You look up when you hear the doors open, already knowing who to expect. Natasha walks in, waving the take-out bag in her hands.

You groan in relief at the sight of her. “You are a lifesaver.” 

You stand and grab the food from her eagerly before moving it to an area where the two of you can eat.

Natasha sits on the edge of your work table as she watches you set out the food.

“Well, I know how you get absorbed into your work and forget to eat,” she tells you knowingly.

Her eyes glance at the papers on your desk that you were previously working on. Most of them had rough sketches of designs for some of the equipment of the other Avengers. Her name on one paper catches her attention. Picking it up, Natasha examines the details curiously. 

At the sudden silence, you glance up at her. You do a double take when you realize what she was looking at.

Over time, as you worked on her equipment, you’ve noticed that her current suit’s belt doesn’t hold much ammo or gadgets, so you had sketched some ideas that you had for her.

“That’s just some ideas of some upgrades that I had. It’s not really anything worth looking at.” 

Natasha shakes her head in disagreement before handing the paper back to you.

“I like it. I’m sure Tony will get you the parts that you would need if you want to work on it.”

“Really?” you ask her, astonished.

She nods at you reassuringly before pushing you back towards the food.

“We can discuss it later, but first, let’s eat.”

A few weeks later, you completed your first prototype, and you were excited to show Natasha and test it out.

Natasha admires the new belt on the table. It was still slim and compact, but she can see where you had added extra slots for her weapons. You also included her signature red symbol on the buckle.

You were practically buzzing with excitement.

“I just need to see if there needs to be any more adjustments with the sizing.”

Without thinking, you grab her hand to pull her closer to you. You move quickly as you remove her current belt. Taking the new belt, your hands wrap around her waist as you grab one end before bringing it to her front and snapping it into place. You fidget with the belt, checking for any snags or looseness, totally absorbed in your work. 

Natasha’s initial surprised expression melts into an amused and fond look on her face as she watches you. You were adorable when you concentrated on your work, and honestly, she’s not sure how much longer she can hold in her feelings for you.

After performing your final checks and detailing little changes that needed to be adjusted, you suddenly froze when you realized Natasha hadn’t said a word since you started. 

Your eyes widened, mortified when you see your current position. Your body had moved closer to Natasha’s when you were making adjustments. One of your hands was still placed atop the belt while the other was resting against her stomach, and you could feel her toned body underneath your hand. You swallow nervously as you look up at her.

She tilts her head at you as you continue to stare at her.

“Everything okay?”

The closeness between your bodies was making it hard for you to think. Eventually, you were able to get your brain to function enough to respond.

“Yeah…all good.” You unconsciously lick your lips out of embarrassment.

You see Natasha's eyes flick down to your mouth at the action, and you feel your face heat up even more. You should definitely step away from her now. As you go to move, Natasha’s next words causes you to stop in surprise.

“Would you like to go out with me?”

Your eyes widen at her question, and you see a hopeful expression on her face as she waits for your response. Instinctively, you want to say ‘yes’ and close the distance between you two, but you stop yourself, hesistating. 

Natasha sees the conflicting feelings on your face, so she decides to ease the pressure a little with some teasing. 

“You know, according to Tony’s theory, since I’m the one who confessed, a rejection would mean that I would need to quit my job.”

You can't help but laugh at her reasoning before giving her a playful smile, teasing back. 

“Well, we can’t have the Black Widow quitting over a failed confession.”

Natasha places her hands on your waist, pulling you in closer. She tilts her head at you in question.

“I haven’t failed yet. Technically, you never gave me an answer.”

You move your arms to wrap around the back of her neck as you pretend to think about your decision.

“So I still get to keep my job?”

Natasha nods reassuringly. “For however long you can stand working with Tony’s ego.”

You give her a fond smile.

“Then yes, I would love to go out with you.”

~~~~~~~ ⧗ ~~~~~~~

Tony was throwing you a party to celebrate your first anniversary since working with the Avengers and him, even though you insisted that it wasn’t necessary. He disagrees, saying how nobody has lasted this long, so you relented.

Naturally, you went with Natasha as your date since you have been dating her for several months already. The only problem is that you forgot to update Tony about your new relationship.

When the two of you enter the party, Natasha leans down and whispers next to your ear, “I’ll go get us something to drink.”

With a light touch against your back, she walks away toward the bar. 

You are lost in your thoughts as you admire her walk away, so you are startled when Tony slides in front of you, excitement in his eyes.

“Y/n! Good, I found you.”

You smile at him, used to his frantic energy by now.

“Hello, Mr. Stark, was there something that you needed?”

He waves his hand dismissively at you.

“This party is for you, and you’ve been working with me for a year now. I’ve told you to just call me Tony.” 

You give him an apologetic look before asking him curiously.

“You said you were looking for me?”

Tony claps his hands at the reminder.

“Yes, I want you to meet someone. She’s a nice person, has a great personality, and she works as a pilot.”

You raise your hand to try and stop him. “I already have some—“

“Oh, here she is!”

You give him a tight smile as the woman approaches the two of you. Tony pats you on the back in encouragement, turning to leave.

“Alright, I’ll leave the two of you alone.”

“Wait, Tony—,“ you try to stop him, but he rushes away. Turning back to the woman, you give her a polite smile as she introduces herself.

Meanwhile, Natasha was standing at the bar, waiting for your drinks.

“I am the greatest boss ever,” Tony exclaims, sliding in next to her.

Natasha rolls her eyes at his words. Deciding to indulge him while she waits, she asks him to explain.

“How’s that?”

“I just found the perfect date for our favorite weapons techie.”

Natasha frowns when she realizes what he said. Turning around to look at where she left you, she sees that you were currently talking with a beautiful woman. 

Her posture relaxes when she reads your body language. You had a polite smile on your face as you listened to the woman, but she could see how tense your body was, and your hand at your side kept fidgeting with your dress. 

“Now I don’t have to worry about her falling for you,” Tony says smugly.

“No, we wouldn’t want that,” Natasha smirks as she turns back around to grab the drinks that the bartender just placed in front of her. 

Tony notices the two drinks in her hands and raises his eyebrows at her.

“You have a date?”

“Girlfriend.”

Without explaining further, she heads back toward you. By the time Natasha reaches you, the other woman was already turning to leave, nodding at Natasha in acknowledgment. 

You let out a breath of relief as Natasha comes back to your side. Thankfully, the woman was understanding when you explained the situation to her. 

Natasha hands you your drink as she returns her hand around your waist, pulling you against her. She sighs in disappointment as she watches the woman leave.

“Here I thought I had the chance to be a hero and save you.”

You give her a teasing smile. “Maybe next time.” 

Natasha presses a soft kiss to your lips in response before pulling away.

You tilt your head curiously at her. “What was that for?”

Natasha gives you an affectionate look.

“First, because I love you.” 

Her expression shifts into a smirk.

“Second, is Tony freaking out?”

You look over her shoulders at the bar and see Tony gaping at the two of you, pointing accusingly at Natasha while Pepper holds him back from rushing over.

You turn back to her, giving her an amused look.

“He’s going to lock you out again.”

Natasha just shrugs, unbothered. “He can’t keep me away from you.” She raises her eyebrows suggestively at you. “He also can’t stop you from visiting me in my room during your breaks.”

You push her lightly before bringing her face close for a kiss.

When you accepted this job, you never thought you would end up in a relationship with the Black Widow. Then again you never imagine that she would end up falling for you.

~~~~~~~ ⧗ ~~~~~~~

#natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff imagine #natasha romanoff x fem!reader #natasha romanoff fanfic #natasha romanoff x you #black widow x reader #natasha romanoff #natasha x reader #natasha romonoff fluff

[ijustwant2write]

Mr and Mrs Barnes?-Bucky Barnes x Reader

(GIF credit to @veronikaphoenix)

Masterlist

Requested by anonymous: ‘May I ask for an arranged marriage fic where at first Bucky really doesn't wanna be with you as he likes Natasha but eventually falls for you’

Summary: Bucky and (Y/N) were both super soldiers under HYDRA. As part of a huge undercover mission, they were forced into an arranged marriage, both still bound to it to this day. However, as they enter the modern world, Bucky finds himself falling for a different agent, and (Y/N) can’t help but catch feelings for her husband.

Characters: Bucky Barnes x Reader, Natasha Romanoff x Reader (Platonic), Steve Rogers x Reader (Platonic)

Meanings: (Y/N)=Your name

Warnings: Arranged marriage, arguing, sadness but some fluff

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

He didn’t remember.

He didn’t remember what we were to each other.

Sure, it wasn’t for love, but even as robotic, hypnotised super soldiers, it was good to have someone beside you. It somehow made the killings easier; the guilt was shared. 

Of course there wasn't any romance, we were forced into this. One mission somehow required it, HYDRA making us sign the papers, surrounding us with guns as a threat if we didn't agree. Bucky and I had never even had a full conversation, only brief sentences during missions to communicate with each other. When he went rogue I had been sent to hunt him down, coming across his friends along the way. It hadn't been a good introduction.

"(Y/N), what are you doing here?" Bucky asked, his eyes wide in shock as I cornered him in the park where I found him jogging. He looked well, in normal clothes, his hair was clean...just good in general.

It wasn’t hard to find him. He had been on the news a lot recently, especially since he had, as the media had said, ‘turned good’. I hadn’t known where the Avengers base was, but found out where they regularly went for jogs; outside of the compound to probably escape the feeling of being restricted to one area. I stuck my hands in my jacket pockets, dark sunglasses covering my eyes as I looked at him.

"I'm taking you in." I simply stated.

"Really? How do you plan to do that?"

"Don't make this difficult, we can't run forever."

"HYDRA fell last year, who's ordering you?"

"You can come meet them." I reach in my jacket, revealing a gun.

"Bucky?" another voice shouted as they approached. Looking over his shoulder, I saw that it was Steve Rogers.

"It's fine Steve."

"Yes, it is." I grabbed Bucky's upper arm."We were just leaving."

"No, I'm not going back there." he snatched his arm back.

Steve stood between us."Alright what exactly is going on here? How do you know each other?"

"She's my wife."

You didn't have to be an idiot to see that I was jealous of Bucky's new life. He was free, safe and had friends. So when he suggested, well begged for me to leave whatever was left of HYDRA, I practically jumped at the chance. At first friends weren't overally thrilled, assuming that I was undercover still; but I had multiple chances to prove myself, something they took on board. However, it was me that took time getting used to this 'normal' life. Luxuries like a comfy bed, bathrooms, coffee even had made me emotional, though I found it hard to express these feelings, having been trained to hide my feelings.

Years had passed, and although it was strange, Bucky and I were still married. Most days I forgot, but today was different. Today marked the anniversary of our marriage, and I had to keep convincing myself that it was a stupid idea to keep it in mind. We wouldn't be celebrating, it was a forced marriage. After Bucky's help to rehabilitate me (even as he was going through it himself) I got to know his true self. He was unintentionally charming, kind, helpful with any obstacles I had to face, and understanding. Who wouldn't want to be married to this guy?

"Morning Bucky." I greeted him in the docking station, making sure I had my weapons for the mission.

When he didn't say anything back, I looked up at him, finding him staring at Natasha. She was getting ready herself, and although it seemed she didn't notice, she was too good a spy not to. I nudged him, repeating what I had said. He managed a smile back.

"You got everything?" I asked, trying to keep up conversation.

"Yeah, I checked." he replied.

"So, what was so interesting about Natasha?" I hadn't meant to be bitchy, but I wanted to get straight to the point.

"What? Nothing, I was day dreaming."

"OK, if you're sure."

“What’s that tone for?”

“What tone?”

“Alright guys, let’s go!” Steve called out, everyone immediately moving to the quinjet.

Was I being stupid? Perhaps paranoid? Bucky and I never had any type of romantic involvement, so him gawking at Natasha shouldn’t have bothered me. But it did, and it annoyed me to no end. I was a highly trained agent, I should be able to block out emotions such as these.  I knew Bucky wouldn't act on his feelings, it wasn't in his nature. However the looks he gave her didn't go unnoticed.

"Buck, hate to break it to you but you're a married man." Steve joked. It was a running joke with everybody actually.

"Not by choice." he said back, though there was no joking tone in his voice.

Steve sensed how that had annoyed me."Still, you and Widow? That's an odd pairing, I must say."

"It's not like that."

I butted in."It's pretty obvious. You're losing your touch. Might want to keep the staring at a minimum."

"Look, nothing is going on."

"Yeah, we know."

I hadn't let that get to me during the mission. It was pathetic. What had happened to me? Why was I turning soft? Why was I suddenly having all these feelings?

Because of Bucky, that's why.

We had been through too much together to not even have a sturdy friendship. We had even gone to therapy together, trained our minds back to normal, built a new life. So why was he acting like I was just someone to go on missions with? We lived in the same building, we saw each other everyday! I had to stop attaching myself to him, pretending that he actually cared for me.

After the successful mission, I was the first off the jet, wanting to get far away from Bucky, focus my mind on something else. However, Steve had other ideas, following me as I scurried away from everyone.

"(Y/N), I want to talk to you." Steve said.

"Sorry Steve, can it wait? I'm really tired after that mission."

"No. It has to happen now."

I groaned, stopping in my tracks to turn around. He nodded his head towards an empty conference room, and I followed him inside. Neither of us sat down, standing opposite each other.

"What's going on with you and Bucky? It seems...tense."

"I mean nothing, as usual."

"I'm not an idiot (Y/N), I know you have feelings for him."

"Yeah but I shouldn't."

"Why not?"

"Because he doesn't feel the same. Plus I've come to the conclusion that I only feel that way because I only have things in common with him out of everyone."

"That's not true."

I sighed."I know, but that's how I'm justifying it."

"He's still recovering-"

"So am I! Do you know how much they tortured me when Bucky escaped? They thought I had something to do with it!"

"OK, OK, calm down."

"I've attached myself to these ideas of our marriage when it's not even real, like as a comfort blanket."

"It's understandable, you were there for each other when you first came here."

"But he treats me like a work colleague! We don't even chat in passing, sometimes I'm lucky enough to get a polite nod."

"He's just...he's just reclusive."

"Bullshit. We used to open up to each other about everything. But as soon as we were cleared from therapy and were allowed on the team he changed. He fawns over Natasha all the time, and I shouldn't be jealous but I am."

"Have you talked to him about this?"

"Didn't I just say that we never talk?"

"Well make him. Tell him how you feel."

"I'm not good at that stuff Steve."

"No one else can tell him what you're feeling. Get it done soon otherwise it'll stay bottled up forever."

I hated to admit that Steve was right. I also hated that it was obvious to the others. How embarrassing for everyone to see that you're falling for someone who doesn't feel the same even though you're married. God, was I in a telenovela? 

I went on the hunt for Bucky, going to his room first. When he wasn't there, I searched the corridors as I headed to the living room. Nope, not here. As I neared the kitchen, I could hear his voice, along with Natasha's. Why did it have to be her? Not only could I compete with her, but I actually liked Nat. The jealousy towards her felt even worse. I listened in, hoping that they wouldn't catch me.

"You were great out there today." he complimented her.

"Thanks. You and (Y/N) are a great asset to the team."

He hesitated with his next sentence.“Yeah well, we were forced to train together.”

“You make it sound like it’s a bad thing. You two are practically impossible to beat. And (Y/N)’s a great partner.”

When he didn’t answer, she spoke again.

“So, I know you two aren’t married on your own accords, but how come you’ve never filed for a divorce?”

Divorce? Why was that so hard for me to hear? I had considered it before. When I finally thought I was stable, thoughts like this came into mind. Perhaps I could find someone who actually wanted me, someone who saw me for who I was, who didn’t treat me differently to everyone else. However, when I thought more and more into it, the more off putting the idea was.

“Uh...I guess we just never got round to it.”

“Really?”

“Actually, I’ve never put much thought into it.”

“I think there’s a reason for that. Might want to mull it over instead of making advances at me. Mind you, I am flattered.”

Natasha was making her way towards me, and I quietly took a few steps back to make it look like I was only just arriving. We smiled at each other as we passed, mine vanishing as soon as she was gone. Good, she didn’t reciprocate the feelings. Walking into the kitchen, my confidence was at a maximum level, soon dropping when my eyes met Bucky’s. No, I couldn’t do it. I made my way to fridge, pulling out two bottles of water before leaving. Nothing was said, nothing was done.

And that’s how it stayed for the next month.

We literally didn’t have any conversations, not even a ‘hello’. Steve’s words were playing on my mind, and Natasha’s words were playing on his. Neither of us acted upon them. We were both scared, unsure and didn’t know how to deal with the situation; something us super soldiers weren’t used to. But as I was bottling it up inside, not explaining it to anyone, these stressful thoughts made their way into my dreams, and the sleepless nights returned.

My body had been tossing and turning, the bed sheets tangled up around my body that was covered in sweat. I could feel everything I used to feel, the pain, the suffering, the imprisonment. I shot upright as I screamed out, fighting off whoever had a hold of me. They knew how to defend themselves, holding down my arms to stop the punches. As I realised that I was in my bed and not back with HYDRA, I stopped the yelling and fighting. 

“(Y/N), (Y/N), it’s me. It’s Bucky, you’re safe, you’re at the Avengers base.” he said soothingly, holding my face in his hands so that I looked him in the eye.

“I’m....I-I’m safe, I’m safe.” I breathed out as I sobbed.

“Yes, you’re safe, you’re with me.”

“Did I wake you?”

“You know I don’t sleep much.”

“Was I screaming?”

“Yeah. I rushed down here the second I heard it.”

I sighed, crying out.“Oh god, what if they all come back?”

Bucky pulled me into his chest, hugging me tight.“It might just be a one off. Something has just triggered it. Do you know what it could be?”

“I...a month ago I heard you and Nat talking, and she asked why you hadn’t divorced me. And for some reason, it really upset me, even though we never even dated.”

“That’s what set this off?”

“I guess so. I think it’s cause this is the only connection I’ve had with someone, even if it is fake. And I’ve gotten so used to it, but I know it’s stupid.”

“You know, I felt the same when she mentioned it.”

“You did?”

“Yeah. It’s like you said, I got used to the label.”

The conversation wasn’t going anywhere, neither of us expressing what we really wanted to stay. Though maybe neither of us were sure yet. I certainly wasn’t, not definitely.

“You want me to stay tonight?” he offered, causing butterflies to erupt in my stomach.

“You don’t have to-”

“I want to. We know what these sleepless nights get like.”

I smiled and nodded, moving aside for him to lie down next to me. He casually slipped under the covers, still holding onto one of my hands. I tried to remain calm, hoping that I wouldn’t look like an idiot in front of him. We were facing each other, his eyes already closed as he mumbled out goodnight. I repeated it back, unable to force myself to sleep. He was acting so normal about this, we were laying here together...like a married couple.

“(Y/N)?” Bucky whispered, slowly opening his eyes.

“Yeah?”

“Do you wanna start training together again? Go for those jogs round that nice park?”

“Don’t you want to train with Nat and Steve?”

“No, their regime is too easy.”

I giggled.“I hope you can keep up with me. It could take some time for you to get used to it.”

“I’m not thinking about going anywhere else.”

“Alright, we’ll start in the morning. Goodnight Bucky.”

“Goodnight (Y/N).”

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes imagines #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes one shot #bucky imagine #bucky imagines #bucky one shot #bucky x reader #winter soldier #winter soldier imagine #winter soldier imagines #winter soldier x reader #winter solider one shot #Natasha Romonoff #natasha romanoff #natasha romonoff imagine #natasha romanoff imagines #natasha romanoff one shot #natasha romanoff x reader

[platonicnatashaimagines]

Imagine you and Nat sending each other memes

#nat x you #natasha x you #nat imagine #natasha x reader #natasha imagine #natasha romonoff imagine #nat x reader #natasha romanoff #platonic imagine #platonic #platonic mcu #platonic reader #platonicnatimagines #platonic!nat x reader #avengers x reader #avengers imagine #avengers #mcu #y/n #reader

[wanderlustpeach]

Meant to be — bucky barnes.

PAIRING: bucky barnes x reader

SUMMARY: some people are meant to be, and some are not. theres never a inbetween.

WARNING: second guessing love, cheating/infidelity. 

WORD COUNT: 1.4k

[PART TWO] [MAIN MASTERLIST]

“He's the love of your life isn't he?"

"Yeah he is. He's just everything I'm looking for in a man." You sighed out glancing over at the man you called your boyfriend. The love of your life. Bucky barnes, the man that stole your heart. The man of the hour. The star of the show today.

It was his birthday.

"How old are you now old man?" You giggled, tapping on the shoulder of the birthday boy.

“one hundred six but whose counting. But you also know it's rude to ask someone age these days." He stated shaking his head glancing down at you, with his blue doe eyes with a smile gracing his pink plump lips.

“there he is! Bring him here!"

Glancing over at Bucky with a smile, " it seems you have been called upon my love. "

"No. Just plain and simple no. I don't do these things. I didn't even want to be here but u know how persistent tony is. could I really say no?"

"No buddy. I would just say get this over with the quicker the better for the both of us." Steve told him, with a grim look on his face. Sipping on his bourbon on ice.

"I never win do i."

"No now suck it up!" You laughed pushing bucky up to the stage with tony stood with his hands reached out, slowly grabbing it bucky climbed on stage. In front of staff and friend. He was the main star today. The main attraction.

"Today here, we have the almighty bucky barnes or former know as the winter soldier."

"I’ve retired front that name tony." Bucky cut in mid way through Tony's speech.

"Yeah, yeah what're ever anyways. We are here to celebrate his 106 birthday. He's kinda old if I say so." With the last remark tony pushed him off stage, " anyways back to me, I hope you all have an amazing party. Don't forget that I was the one who throw it."

"The one and only playboy millionaire tony starks."

As tony want on a rant about himself, you pulled bucky back to the small corner they once resided at was now filled with Natasha, Steve and Sam.

"Well isn't it the man of the hour." Sam taunted.

“Shut up bird brain.”

"Oh you want to go there. now do you." Sam antagonize ready to start problems. It was funny to him, to see Bucky all riled up. It was his own sweet medicine.

"Stop it Sam. not today." Steve told him jokingly, pushing his shoulder. Two people how act like they hate each other guts were attacked at the hip like no other.

"He started it." Bucky replied childishly, with his face scrunched up in a frown.

The hours flew by drink after drink, y/n was off her rocker. Quite out of it, as she clings onto for dear life. Scanning the room for her boyfriend.

"Where could he have gone." You breathlessly asked, looking around the room like a mad women. What man who let his significant other getting blackout drunk.

Overlooks the two couple in the corner making out, you slowly walked to your shared room. Never being the man and women a second glance. the man that looked oddly similarly to your boyfriend statuary and height. It couldn't be him or her. They would never do that to you. how could they, she’s your bestfriend.

Maybe it was your mind playing game with you, but the women looking oddly similar to Natasha. The women you called you your soul sister, the girl who break the fingers of you ex after he threatened to blackmail your nudes.

They couldn't do this to you. Could they?

As the night went on, bucky finally came to the room. Dazy and confused. Smelling of another's women perfume. A smell you couldn't wash from your brain. Vanilla, with a hint of musk.

"Hey baby." He smiled, staring down at you as you laid loosely across the bed you both shared.

"Where have you been?" You asked already knowing the answer, you had time to put it together. The smell, the bold red lipstick marks on his neck. Ones he didn't even try to cover before coming in the room. Like he was proud of his infidel. Like it was a long runny joke to him.

"I was with the boys. You know how they like to be." He reassure shrugging of his shirt, throwing it into the pile of clothes that was cascade across the floor in the corner of the room next to their three year anniversary photo.

Where did you go wrong? Was the sex, the clinginess, we're you to overbearing.

"come to sleep I missed you." you asked sadly overlooking, the pain u held in your throat as he bent down and kissed you with the lips, that touched another women. A women who wasn't you.

"Give me a moment. I have to take a shower, they boys really gave me a run for my money." He smiled shacking his head.

"Yeah the boys." you grimy said, looking above you at the ceiling, as a stray tear rolled down your cheek. Maybe just maybe this wasn't meant to be.

It's been weeks since the incident, you sweep it under the rug. With the false hope that thing would get better over time, maybe he would grow to love you like he used to. Maybe if his eyes didn't glow the way the used to at you, at Natasha. The women who acted like nothing happened between the two on the night of his birthday.

It was like they were playing you for the fool, the sneaky glances. The long touches and overly caring words for each other. It seemed like it was only them in the room.

Where did you go wrong, the million dollar questionnaire you replied in your head everyday.

"Hey bucky can we talk?" You asked as Steve was going over the strategy, with them. he had known had you been feeling, it seemed like he was the only one you could confided. The best friend of the man that was casually stomping out your heart, like it meant nothing to him.

"Can it wait for the second, we have t go over the plan." He irritating replied back, barely glancing up from the board.

"It's fine. I think it's best for your guys to talk." Steve pleaded , looking over at you with a smile grim smile. He knew what was coming, he could imagine all the drama and pain that was going to unfold in a the matter of a few minutes. To have yours and his world come crushing down at your feets. but who could blame you.

"Okay, let's talk then y/n."

"Some people aren't meant to be, maybe we aren't. maybe we aren't good for each other. " you cried out, moving out of his reach. He knew what was coming the moment you asked to speak, in a close off part of the tower. no cameras. no witnesses.

your were done, dried up. Tired, tired of grasping at something that was no longer yours.

"Doll we can work this out. I'll change. I promise." He cried out reaching for you. He couldn't loss you, it's was like losing a piece of himself.

"you can't fix what is already done. You cheated plain and simple. With the women you so called had a past with, the women who I called my best-friend." You screamed, shaking from the adrenaline rushing through you body, you had to leave you couldn't be here anymore. Not around him or her, who knows what could happen.

"it's for the better. Maybe we can work this out in a few years or months even. you need to fix yourself before we start being us again. "

"it's for the better." You whispered closing the door on the man you once called the love for your life. The man who claimed you were his world. the man who cheated, the one who stepped out the relationship.

maybe some people just aren't meant to be.

#bucky barnes angst #bucky barns x reader #self insert #x reader #poc!reader #steve rogers angst #natasha romonoff angst #avengers x reader #bucky barnes imagine #Spotify #—n. work

[robincantfunction]

REQUEST RULES:

prompt list here

what i will write:

the characters i will write for (x readers) currently are: most marauders era characters, fred weasley, bill weasley, charlie weasley, ginny weasley, luna lovegood, cedric diggory, stiles stilinski, lydia martin, klaus mikaelson, elijah mikaelson, kol mikaelson, peter parker (sm, tasm, and mcu) (i have watched no way home so any request to do with that is all good), natasha romonoff, wanda maximoff, pietro maximoff, steve rogers, bucky barnes, tony stark, loki, luke patterson, reggie peters, alex mercer (platonic if fem!reader). (i know that’s a lot but i’d rather write which characters than which franchises, it saves hassle yanno)

actors/celebrities i will write for (and most of their characters): thomas brodie sangster, ben barnes, tom holland, chris evans, luke hemmings, harry styles. zendaya.

fluff, angst (and i'm not opposed to writing smut lord knows i read enough of it but for warning not sure how good i'd be at writing it)

x reader

ships

any character (preferably from my list of movies/shows/books but i might have missed some so feel free to put any)

au's

fem, male, gender neutral (or any specific pronouns you may use)

one shots - series - imagines - head canons - drabbles - blurbs - you name it and i'll do it

platonic/sibling relationships

depression/anxiety/panic attacks (i have both and i get panic attacks so if you do want something like that i have experience and will be comfortable depicting it slightly <3)

what i won't write:

rape/sexual assault

detailed self harm/suicidal thought (light mentions are ok)

poly smut - poly fluff is cool but i'm not comfortable writing threesomes and foursomes

things to put in your request:

gender/pronouns (if you're comfortable sharing them)

specific characters you'd want to see

the relationship between the reader (or the shipped characters)

the rough plot

the theme (fluff, angst etc )

y/n's hogwarts house/job in tmr (or anything of significance like that)

any prompts you may want

some requests will take longer than others - and if i decide i don't want to do it i'll let you know <3 but every request is appreciated greatly!! <3

#fred weasley fanfiction #fred weasley fanfic #requests #requests open #harry potter

[stank-tower]

The Truth in the Control Room

Pairing: Bucky X Reader

Word Count: 2,234

A/N: OK so this is my submission for @buckysmetallicstump  #Bailey’s Disney Quotes Challenge. Its longer than my other ones as I got a little carried away but still a newbie at writing. There is a couple of curse words. Hope you like it.

The lab was quiet that night just how I liked it. I haven’t been working at the Avengers facility that long but I get on well with the few Avengers I’ve met. I’ve have a feeling that everyone must be on a mission as it was strange not having Tony and Bruce hovering around trying to wonder what on earth I’m working on. Now don’t get me wrong I like Tony and Bruce they act like my big brothers but I like it this way though. While they’re not here I don’t have to worry about getting in anyone’s way or have to explain why I’m was doing what I’m doing.

The silence didn’t last long as there was a sudden commotion coming from the landing dock and a fair few raised voices.

“What you did was stupid and could have got you killed, I can’t even imagine the trouble you got into while I was, you know, not me” I know that voice anywhere. He sounds pissed off and I wouldn’t like to get on the wrong side of him if he’s in this mood.

“Buck everything worked out ok. We’re all here in one piece aren’t we save part of your arm?” you laugh as you hear Steve trying to justify his actions. “That’s the thing everyone is not in one piece Steve. I’m missing part of my arm everyone is not in one piece” you could certainly hear the annoyance in his voice and I wouldn’t blame him if what was said was true. Suddenly the voices were starting to get louder and closer

“You know he’s got a point Rogers?” I can hear the smirk in Natasha’s voice. “You know what Romonoff?” Steve shakes his head as he comes into view following a very angry Bucky.

I knew they were making their way to the lab after that conversation you couldn’t help but overhear and I sighed to knowing that I will not be getting the same tranquillity for a couple of days but I put myself back to the task at hand and still try to work on my experiment.

“Hello Doll, is Tony around yet” I know this is Bucky who seems suddenly calmer in the lab but I don’t bother to turn around when I answer him.

“Nope.” I emphasised the p at the end “Did he not come back with you? He went on the mission with you didn’t he? I’ve not seen him since you all left”

Bucky sighs and I turn to face him, I can see the annoyance on his features “He set off back before us I was hoping he could take a look at my arm” at that I take a brief glance at his arm and can see exposed wiring and I instantly know this was a job for Tony. No one else could help him.

I give Bucky my best reassuring smile “I’m sure he will. Knowing Mr Stark he’s probably stopped off for doughnuts or Shawarma?” Bucky lets out a small laugh.

“For the last time Y/N my name is Tony not Mr Stark.” He walks into the lab and has already discarded his suit “Also this time I didn’t bring doughnuts or shawarma back. I brought pizza.”

Suddenly my stomach grumbles giving away the fact that I’m hungry. When was the last time I ate anyway?

“I think you need some pizza, you go ahead and start on it I’ll catch up along with the one armed wonder soon.”

I decided Tony was right so I decided to leave the room and left the two men. They have come on a lot in the last few months. I’m still aren’t keen on leaving them in the same room as each other but I’ve received my orders from Tony and my growling stomach. It’s starting to sound like a whale call.

I walk into the common area and see the others have already changed out of their “suits” as Steve calls them. All of them but Steve have helped themselves to a slice or two or pizza. Steve is currently sat on the sofa with his head in his hands obviously guilty of whatever he did that caused the wires to be exposed in Bucky’s arm.

“Hey everyone, hope Tony brought some goods pizza. I’m so hungry” I get some smiles and a grumble from Clint that I think is meant to resemble some form of greeting but with a mouthful of pizza I can’t be sure.  

“You neglecting yourself and forgetting to eat again Y/N? Maybe I’m working you too hard in the lab. You should take a break soon and no this doesn’t count” Bruce concludes.

“Bruce I’m fine I just lose track of time as I enjoy what I’m doing. No need to be worried about me” you reassure. “We’ll be the judge of that. You haven’t eaten since yesterday” Wanda interjects and hands you some pizza “eat”

I don’t want to upset anyone and I am hungry. Who am I to refuse free pizza. It’s not like Tony Stark would buy any old rubbish. I took a bite and the pizza which makes me hum in appreciation whilst I close my eyes it was almost euphoric.

I open my eyes to see everyone staring at me “What?” I enquire innocently.

“If I didn’t know any better Y/N I wouldn’t have thought you were eating pizza.” Tony remarks as he walks into the common area were everyone is. I look behind him and see a slight blush on Bucky’s cheeks and this makes my face heat up “well... I’ve not eaten in a while and it was so good. Thank you for getting it Tony”

“Relax Y/N. Your too sweet and innocent for anything like that. “ Tony declares.

With that I take another slice of pizza and head out the room but just before I leave I turn around and say to Tony “I’m not as innocent as you’d like to think.” I giggle and wink at them as I leave the room. What I don’t notice is a certain 99 year old solider staring at my backside as I retreated out of the room. “She’s out of you league Barnes” Sam pipes up. “That’s for her to decide, seagull” “It’s Falcon and you know that” “What ever you say, budgie” Bucky smirks as he leaves the room going in the direction I left in. Everyone in the rooms roles their eyes as they knew this argument hasn’t ended.

I’m completely oblivious to what has just happened in the common area as I’ve got my headphones on dancing around to Hyperactive by the Dollyrots whilst I grab my equipment the pizza discarded to the side. I’m not aware of a presence watching my every move with a wide smile on his face. He slowly makes his way to wards me and takes one of the headphones out of my ear causing me to jump “Shit Bucky, what are you trying to do give me a heart attack?” he lets out a small chuckle “no I couldn’t do that, you look adorable when you dance like that.” A blush graces creep it way onto my features and I look away from him clearly not knowing what to say next.

“Don’t hide your face from me I think your gorgeous” Bucky calmly says as he gently grabs my face and turns it towards him before anything can happen all the lights go out and we are left in a dark room when suddenly an alarm starts blaring and a red flashing lights drops from the ceiling filling the room with it’s glow.

Bucky then puts himself between me and the entrance to the lab. “whatever happens doll I need you to stay out of the way. I don’t want you getting hurt” He sounds sincere but I am unable to see his face “I’ll be fine Bucky, I can take care of myself” “you shouldn’t need to take care of yourself, I’ll do it for you” I take a glance and can see part of his face and he looks like he’s grimacing.

I can the hear footsteps making their way past the lab. It seems like no one has seen us “Y/N I need you to wait here while I find out what’s going on, can you do that.” “hell no. I’m coming with you, I’m not staying here when I don’t have to be I need to help. I can get to the control room and try and regain control of the towers security systems and get the lights on. If the lights are on they lose the element of surprise” Bucky places a quick kiss to my cheek but before I get chance to think to much into I’m being dragged by the hand out of the lab and in the direction of the control room.

It wasn’t long before Bucky had dragged me into the control room but before he retreated he once again kisses me on the cheek. I could feel the blush creeping on my face. Luckily he had already gone so he didn’t notice. I couldn’t dwell on it long as I had a job to do. I quickly made my way over to the main control panel. It didn’t take me long to be able to switch all the lights on and I felt like I needed to high five myself as the intruders could no longer sneak up on anyone as easily now. Still wouldn’t put it past them to try and sneak up on anyone though. I checked a few more lights on the control panel to make sure there was nothing out of the ordinary showing up when I could hear footsteps in the corridor again and knew they were too heavy to be anyone from the team.

There is nowhere for me to hide I figure as I quickly glance round the room so time to face them. Soon two men stood in the doorway and looked at me. I know I didn’t look intimidating but I wasn’t trying to. One of them gave a small laugh and lent against the door frame “hey look at what we have here, a little lady trying to save Earths Mightiest Heroes”  the other man joined in “come on lets get on with it. Its not like this little lady is going to start anything” he joins in laughing. “Yeah well you know what they say, Ladies don’t start fights but they can finish them”

With that I lunge towards the two men who are now surprised at my actions. I place a jab to one of men’s stomachs causing him to groan while dodging a kick from the other guy I manage to catch his round house kick and so I jab my elbow into his thigh and punch him in the face. I quickly turning around holding his leg in my other arm while I give him a backhanded punch to the head. Out of the corner of my eye I can see him fall to the floor and so I let go of his leg. Suddenly I feel a pain in the side of my head and the other guy is laughing at me. But not for long. Before I knew what I was doing I found myself on top of his shoulders with my thighs around his neck. I keep my legs tight as he’s trying to unlatch me. I can hear shouting again but can’t quite make out what is being said. I feel myself being removed from the man and see a flash of red white and blue take the guy out then my eyes flutter shut.

I awake to a bright light and I wince at it, pain still filling my head. I realise I’m lying down but where? I struggle to look around when a shadow looms over me “you can take care of yourself can you?” “Bucky?” my voice is horse “Yeah doll, you gave us all quite a scare when we saw them in the room with you. Wasn’t expecting you to have perfected Natasha’s move. Poor guy couldn’t get you off him.” He says smiling. “good job I’ve been practicing. What happened?” “don’t know yet doll. They’re in a holding cell being interrogated by Nat. Should have some answers soon. How’s your head” “painful but I’ll live” you try and laugh and wince again. “Take it easy Y/N you surprised everyone today including me. Who knew you had that I you?”  “erm me and Nat did” I take one look at Bucky’s face and feel I have to defend myself once more “hey I live with the Avengers, I can’t expect you all to drop everything for me, I need to learn to kick ass myself” I shrug when I finish talking.

“next time I’m not letting you out of my sight, I could do with a sidekick” he laughs “a sidekick me you must be joking Barnes, What makes your think I would ever be a sidekick? A partner yeah but never a sidekick” “do you mean partner in more ways than one?” he enquires a smirk once again gracing his features “Maybe” I reply and it doesn’t take him long to grab me behind my neck and bring his soft lips on to mine.  

#bailey’s disney quotes challenge #bucky x reader #bucky fanfic #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes imagine

[sempiternalsandpitturtle]

Marketing 101: Everything you need to know

If you’ve found your way to our blog chances are you work in marketing or you want some help with your marketing. But whether you’re an experienced marketer or a rookie we hope you’ll find something useful in this post.

This is our marketing 101 – an introduction to marketing. We’ve got a lot to cover so here’s a quick summary of what you’ll find if you keep reading:

CHAPTER ONE: A brief history of marketing

Okay, let’s not get carried away. We’re not starting with sponsored cave paintings. But we’ll take a look at some of the principles of marketing and how marketing has changed over the past 20 years.  

CHAPTER TWO: Building a marketing team

Next we’ll get into the different skills you’ll want access to in order to run effective marketing campaigns. To make this a little more interesting we’ve staffed your marketing department from the cast of the Avengers. We’ll also look at in-house versus outsourcing. And we’ll highlight some of the bear traps to avoid when working with third parties.

CHAPTER THREE: Marketing tactics and strategies

The third and final section will take a whistlestop tour through the most popular marketing tactics and strategies. We’ll cover content creation, SEO, social media marketing and email. And also run through the different challenges and opportunities at each stage of the marketing funnel.

“Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she laid an asteroid.” Mark Twain

CHAPTER ONE: A brief history of marketing

via GIPHY

It’s hard to imagine a marketing campaign today that doesn’t involve one or both of Google and Facebook. Marketing though is as old as the hills. But we’ll save the marketing trends of ancient Rome for another blog post. Here we’ll stick to the more recent history.

First, let’s define what we mean by marketing. The Oxford English Dictionary defines marketing like this:

“The action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.”

HubSpot, the marketing automation platform, has a more in-depth definition, which we prefer:

“Marketing is the process of getting people interested in your company’s product or service. This happens through market research, analysis, and understanding your ideal customer’s interests. Marketing pertains to all aspects of a business, including product development, distribution methods, sales, and advertising.”

And if you didn’t like either of those, here are no fewer than 72 definitions of marketing. Something for everyone in there.

Like David Packard (the “P” in HP) said: “Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department”. It’s not a bolt-on or an after-throught. At least, it shouldn’t be. Marketing is something that should be woven into the fabric of an organisation.

Philip Kotler, regarded by many as the father of modern marketing, describes marketing as “the art of creating genuine customer value”. Professor Kotler has published close to 60 books on marketing since the 1970s. Something he’s written and spoken about extensively is the different marketing orientations that have captured the attention of marketers and business leaders over the years. As this is the history chapter let’s dive into that.

Marketing philosophies, concepts and orientations

There are a whole bunch of models and frameworks for analysing different approaches to marketing through the decades. We’re going with a popular one: the five marketing concepts as set out by Graeme Drummond and John Ensor (descriptions are our own):

The Production Concept: This stack ‘em high, sell ‘em cheap approach emerged during the industrial revolution. The idea is that supply creates its own demand. Companies should focus on scale and efficiency, because what consumers want is easily-available, affordable products. The priority for marketing is raising awareness. There is still plenty of evidence of this approach in practice today.

The Product Concept: This one is in many ways a reaction to the Production Concept. Rather than price and availability the focus here is quality. Companies build their strategy and marketing campaigns around their product’s quality, performance and features.

The Selling Concept: We could sum up this one as: “churn and burn”. The idea is to aggressively chase down every deal and prioritise short-term sales numbers over everything else.

The Marketing Concept: This orientation treats the customers a little less like sheep and instead puts them at the heart of the strategy. The Marketing Concept is about understanding what the customer wants. And then creating a marketing plan that speaks to those needs more effectively than your competition. 

The Societal Concept: This final orientation builds on the Marketing Concept. The needs of the customer are still paramount. But it also considers the wider impact of the organisation’s activities on the environment, community and natural resources.

Marketing in the digital age

You don’t have to work in marketing to be aware that the internet has been a huge disruptor in the marketing space. The internet has changed how people work, shop, entertain themselves and interact with one another. No industry has escaped the internet’s winds of change, but few have felt them as keenly as marketing.

Let’s take a look at where marketing dollars have been doing over the past 20 years. Back in 1999, we were all worrying about the Millennium Bug, the Backstreet Boys were number one and “The Matrix” had just come out. Marketing looked very different.

Fewer than 300 million people had access to the internet. As a result, television, print and outdoor advertising gobbled up the lion’s share of marketing budgets.

Fast forward to 2019 and we still have the Backstreet Boys. But the global internet population has exploded to 4.3 billion, according to Internet World Stats. This is what happened to ad spend over that period, courtesy of Zenith Media, an ad agency.

You can see that online ads have now eclipsed other channels. Outdoor was the first to go in 2005, followed a year later by radio. Print, which has lost the most market share to digital, went in 2013. Television spend has been growing, driven by a renaissance in content quality. But even that was overtaken by online spend in 2016. Zenith predicts that 2019 internet ad spend will top USD $274 billion.

But these headline numbers don’t tell the real story. This is really about the two companies we mentioned in our introduction. Two companies the Backstreet Boys wouldn’t even have heard of when they were working on the lyrics to “I Want It That Way”.

Facebook first. Last year, the world’s largest social media network made USD $55 billion from advertising. That’s around a fifth of global online ad spend, but really it’s small potatoes. According to its parent company, Alphabet, our favourite search engine, Google, raked in more than USD $116 billion in 2018 from its ad products.

CHAPTER TWO: Building a marketing team

via GIPHY

Okay, we admit “how [insert product or service] is like [insert pop culture reference]” content is a massive cliche. But they went to a lot of effort with Avengers: Endgame (it cost USD $400 million) and you won’t hear about much else over the next couple of weeks. So, we’re doing it. Marketers, assemble!!

Web Design and UX: Tony Stark/Iron Man

As the man himself said in the first Avengers movie: “I just pay for everything and design everything, make everyone look cooler.” Most web designers don’t have to pick up the tab. But they are essential when it comes to getting your marketing reality to match your vision.

What you’re looking for here is a techie who doesn’t just know how to build what you want but can also bring their own UX knowledge to your marketing campaigns. Tony has a bit of an ego that needs managing, but all the best hires do.

Analytics: David Banner/Hulk

Miss your numbers and he’ll turn green and demolish the office. But that’s a small price to pay in order to have your biggest brain crunching the numbers. Analytics are crucial to successful marketing. From understanding what your data is telling you to making the case for more budget.

You want someone who’s comfortable, not just with Google Analytics, but also whatever social media pages and third party tracking tools you’re using.

Creative: Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow

If you don’t have any actual super powers you have to get creative. Not the most tenuous link you’ll see in this month’s Endgame-inspired marketing blog deluge.

Ms Romonoff will add flair and the imagination you need to set your marketing campaigns apart from the competition. She’ll be able to turn her hand to design and video or find people who can. And she’ll come up with original and compelling ideas for packaging, presenting and promoting your key messages.

Writing: Thor

“Families can be tough. Before my father died, he told me I had a half-sister … that he imprisoned in Hell. Then she returned home, and stabbed me in the eye, so … I had to kill her. It’s life, isn’t it, I guess. I feel your pain.”

The God of Thunder has a way with words and got most of the best lines in “Avengers: Infinity War”, so look no further for your writer.

With such a premium on original content – and lots of it – you’ll always have plenty for your writer or writers to do. From turning out blogs and crafting new landing pages to snappy ad copy and engaging emails with clickable subject lines.

Editor: Clint Barton/Hawkeye

A poor man’s Jason Bourne, maybe. But he has an eye for detail. So, Clint Barton is your first choice for editor. It will be the editor’s job to ensure your campaigns fit the brief and that your brand guidelines are properly observed at all times.

Strategy and Project Management: Steve Rogers/Captain America

Experience is a vital element on any team. And how often do you get the chance to hire someone from America’s greatest generation?

Cap is a shoo-in for the strategy and project management role. You need someone who commands respect at all levels within the organisation. A stickler for doing things properly and ensuring deadlines are met, with military-grade strategic nous. His old school values and work ethic will get your projects delivered on time and on brief.

Outsourcing your marketing

Two problems with hiring the Avengers. First they don’t exist. And second they cost half a billion dollars per campaign.

Let’s assume you staff your marketing team with real humans. How do you decide what and when to outsource to third parties? We wrote a blog article on how content marketing agencies can be more effective than in-house teams. And as a content marketing agency, we obviously have a vested interest and natural bias.

So, rather than feather our own nest or recycle January’s blog article let’s take a look at some of the potential pitfalls of outsourcing parts of your marketing activity. Here are our top five based on our experience of helping clients pick up the pieces after bad agency experiences:

Losing access to Google Analytics, Google Ads or social media pages: Among the most damaging situations we’ve been asked to help out with are when clients have lost access to their data, social media profiles or even their whole site because a relationship with a third party has ended badly. You should outsource to get extra pairs of hands and bigger brains. Never to hand off responsibility for your company’s key assets.

Blackhat tactics to secure short-term results: Marketing is a competitive space and clients often ask for guaranteed results. So you can’t blame some agencies for giving them what they ask for. However, big promises often lead to disappointment or worse. Worse being short-term results delivered by nefarious methods that blow back on the client a few months later.

Technology lock-ins: There are lots of third party tools – free and paid – that can make a material difference to your marketing campaigns. But make sure you’re involved in deciding which tools to use. These choices matter and can have long-term consequences for your business. Maybe they lock you in to ongoing payments or tie you to a particular supplier for a lengthy period.

Outsourcing of knowledge: We quoted David Packard earlier in this post when we were talking about the importance of extending marketing beyond the marketing team. Marketing shouldn’t be siloed inside your organisation and it definitely shouldn’t be siloed outside of it. Agencies should add value both in terms of what they can do for you but also what they can teach you. Knowledge is something you always want to keep in-house.

Brand disconnect: A big challenge for agencies when stacking up against in-house teams is that they don’t get the chance to live and breathe the company culture every day. They are hired help and they work on multiple client accounts. As the client, you need to be aware of this risk from the outset and compensate by really engaging with the briefing and feedback process.

CHAPTER THREE: Marketing tactics and strategies

via GIPHY

In this chapter we’ll look at the marketing funnel and some of the popular tactics you’ll no doubt be familiar with for finding, engaging and nurturing leads.

The marketing funnel takes lots of different forms. Google it and you’ll see plenty of variations but also a common theme. Here is one of our favourites courtesy of Medium.com:

We like this one for its simplicity. You have three types of prospects:

In “Awareness”, it’s people who don’t know your brand or your products. Or don’t know that you can solve their problem.

In “Consideration”, people have engaged with you in some way already, but they’re not ready to buy for whatever reason (not the right time, haven’t been convinced yet).

And in “Action” they’ve reached decision time and it’s between you and the competition.

The challenges and opportunities for marketers change as people move down the funnel. But this sort of broad segmentation can be an extremely useful way to stress test your marketing campaign. Do you have content, a promotional strategy and a conversion goal for each funnel stage?

In our experience, brands often neglect the middle of the funnel, especially when it comes to setting a conversion goal. If website visitors – for example – have just two choices: leave or buy, you’re missing out on a massive lead generation and nurture opportunity.

So, let’s assume you’re sold on the marketing funnel idea and now you need some tactics and cool ideas to tackle each stage. Well, look no further. Here’s an intro, a top tip and a useful link for content marketing, SEO, social media marketing, email marketing and web design.

Content marketing basics

Content marketing is about creating valuable and relevant content that drives useful actions on the part of your target audience. You can use content marketing at every stage of the sales funnel from awareness with SEO-friendly blogs, to capturing mid-funnel leads with gated ebooks, to closing deals with compelling and well-targeted offer emails.

Top tip: Don’t rely on your creative skills to deliver ROI. Content needs to be promoted to get seen by the right people. As Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute, said: “Before you create any more ‘great content’ figure out how you’re going to market it first.”

Useful link: How does content marketing work?

SEO basics

In Chapter One we highlighted the huge share of global online ad spend held by Google. The reason for this is that Google owns consumer intent. It knows what we want, when we want it because we tell it (5.2 billion times so far today). This makes ranking for the right search terms hugely valuable to any business. SEO is a longer-term play and less certain than PPC, but the ROI when you get it right is hard to beat.

Top tip: When it comes to ranking pages, the site is often more important than the content. So, it pays to pick your battles when competing for popular keywords. As Moz founder Rand Fishkin put it: “Without any domain authority or page authority it’s almost impossible to rank for competitive terms.”

Useful link: Content marketing and SEO: A Speed Date

Social media marketing basics

If your audience isn’t Googling, there’s a good chance they’re on social media. On average we spend 142 minutes a day checking, scrolling, posting and liking, according to Global Web Index, a consumer profiling company. And we do most of it on the same networks. In fact, four of the six biggest social media sites by users are owned by Facebook (Facebook, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Instagram). The second biggest is owned by Google (YouTube).

That means social media marketing is really about going where your audience is. A generation ago marketers bought ad space in newspapers that their target demographic read every morning over breakfast. Now, newspapers don’t have the eyeballs. It’s a social media app on a smartphone.

Top tip: For brands, social media sites are advertising platforms. But just like television and radio, the ad content needs to fit the medium. So take advantage of the free tools and helpful ideas that social media sites offer to create really compelling ad content for your marketing campaigns.

Useful link: The importance of compelling content in social media success

Email marketing basics

Email is the oldest digital marketing tactic. Even the Backstreet Boys with their dial-up modems back in 1999 got marketing emails. But just like Captain America, old doesn’t mean obsolete. And thanks to marketing automation, email is enjoying something of a renaissance.

When you’re chasing people at the middle and bottom of your marketing funnel, few tactics are more effective than a properly-targeted email campaign. And if you use marketing automation software, you can massively ramp up the scale and level of personalisation that your emails offer.

Top tip: If email is a big part of your marketing strategy, don’t forget to feed the hopper. You always need a plan for capturing more email addresses, whether that’s pop-up subscription forms, interactive quizzes or gated ebooks.  

Useful link: Your complete guide to successful drip email campaigns

Web design basics

Okay, so you can’t afford Tony Stark and no guarantee he knows about UX anyway. But web design has become an essential part of your marketing mix. People are increasingly hostile to slow, clunky online experiences. They want their interactions with brands to be smooth and fast on whichever device they use.

What this means is that your otherwise perfect marketing plan can hit a wall if your web design sucks. Maybe your form is difficult to fill in on mobile or the clever animated banner takes forever to load. You need someone with the web design and UX skills to put that right before it kills your conversion rate.

Top tip: Don’t underestimate the importance of mobile. We often hear that mobile doesn’t matter because most of the traffic is on desktops. That doesn’t mean people don’t want to access your site on a mobile, it means they can’t. People have multiple interactions with your brand these days, more and more of those will be on a mobile device, even if the purchase is on a desktop or in a store.  

Useful link: 60 UX Tips Whitepaper

from http://bit.ly/2KUEcql

#content marketing

[fly-on-my-sweet-angel]

What a relationship with Natasha Romonoff would be like

#natasha romonoff #black widow #natasha romonoff imagine #black widow imagine #marvel imagine #avengers imagine #the avengers imagine #a relationship with natasha romonoff

[platonicnatashaimagines]

Imagine baking cookies with Nat, which results in a flour fight.

#platonic!nat x reader #platonin imagine #platonicnatimagines #platonic MCU family #hi heres my first post #nat x reader #natasha romanoff #reader #natasha romonoff imagine #natasha imagine #platonic reader #first post #platonic MCU #natasha x reader #nat imagine #avengers #avengers imagine #avengers x reader #natasha x you #nat x you #avengers x you #y/n #mcu #marvel mcu

[platonicnatashaimagines]

Imagine going to Walmart with Nat at 3 AM

#nat x you #natasha x you #nat imagine #natasha x reader #natasha imagine #natasha romonoff imagine #nat x reader #natasha romanoff #avengers x reader #avengers #avengers imagine #reader #platonic imagine #platonic #platonic mcu #platonicnatimagines #platonic!nat x reader #y/n

[platonicnatashaimagines]

Imagine comforting Natasha when she has a nightmare about the Red Room

#nat x you #natasha x you #nat imagine #natasha x reader #natasha imagine #natasha romonoff imagine #nat x reader #natasha romanoff #platonic mcu #platonic reader #platonicnatimagines #platonic!nat x reader #platonic #reader #avengers x reader #avengers imagine #avengers #y/n #nightmare

[ijustwant2write]

A New Ruler-Thor Odinson x Reader One Shot

(GIF credits to owner)

Masterlist

Summary: Thor and (Y/N) have been in a long relationship, sticking by each other through the Chitauri attack, when the Dark Elves almost took over and Ultron. However, (Y/N) has never been to Asgard and Thor knows that he must return to his home to take over as king, facing a hard decision; choose his kingdom or his love?

Characters: Thor Odinson x Reader

Meanings: (Y/N)= Your name (Y/L/N)= Your last name

Warnings: not really sure where I was going with this

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

As my eyes opened from a deep sleep, I smiled at the scene before me. I was embraced in my lovers arms, feeling safe and protected. Thor had somehow come into my life but I never wanted him to leave now. Pulling him even closer, I felt his hands tighten their grip on me slightly, groaning from moving around. I let out a breathy laugh, watching as woke up.

“It is still early dawn, my love. Why are you awake?” he asked, kissing my forehead.

“I guess my body knows that I dont have much time left with you. I need to make every second count.”

Thor was to leave soon, having to return to Asgard. He had kingly duties and had been away for far too long. But that was all my fault. I had fallen for the God of Thunder, the king of Asgard; me, a small little Earth girl. I felt bad for keeping him away from his home but it wasn’t fair that the only good thing in my life was about to be torn away from me. He had begged me countless times to go with him back to Asgard, I just couldn’t face it. His people wouldn’t want me there, I just knew it.

“(Y/N),” he leaned up on his elbow, looking down at me,“come with me, please. Let me show you my home as you have shown me yours.”

I sighed.“Thor, I’ve already taken you away from your people, what would they think when they see me with you?”

“They would love you. Everyone knows that Earth is one of the many realms I must protect. And you a part of that too.” his hand gently stroked my cheek.

I placed my hand over his.“They’ll be expecting someone royal, or someone who can unite your kingdom with another.”

“Perhaps you did not hear me correctly? You are a part of Earth, Midgard as we call it; your council will be well appreciated.”

I thought about it for a moment.“But what if things do go wrong?”

“You must stop this negative thinking, it is not good for you. Besides, if that did occur, I would ignore my people, they would be the ones in the wrong.”

I smiled.“Thor you can’t do that. What sort of king would that make you?”

“The kind that loves his woman.”

“I’ll think about it.”

As the day progressed, his question played more and more on my mind. It had always been a dream of mine to visit Asgard, who would miss on an opportunity to travel to another realm? But how was I supposed to deal with the problems that would occur? Asgard was still old fashioned, it was part of their culture to have arranged marriages, or so I had read; I had always been too scared to ask Thor in case it offended him.

And the pressure of being a queen was far too much. I had no idea how to be royal and these people needed strong leaders, not someone who would just be waited on all day. Thor had a point, I was from one of the realms but we were so different to everywhere else. I would have to dress like them, act like them, be one of them; honestly, I would be acting out my Game Of Thrones fantasy. But it was so much more than fancy dresses and tiaras.

“Thor?” I called out. Walking into the living room, I sat by him.“I….I’ve been thinking about what you said.”

He suddenly perked up.“Yes? What is your decision?”

“I think…I want to go with you to Asgard.”

Thor smiled, pulling me into his arms.“You do not know how happy you have made me (Y/N). We will leave tomorrow!”

Everything moved so quickly after that. Thor seemed to be full of adrenaline, unable to keep still or stop talking about the wonders of his home. Although I was very excited to be travelling into deep space, a part of me was also terrified. I knew that I would never be able to leave Thor’s side, our love was too strong. That was what was making it hard.

The next morning was here in a flash, my heart beating way too fast for my body. I stood in my bedroom, taking a look around for anything I needed, I could be leaving this all behind. Little things suddenly became important to me; the decorations I had ever so carefully picked out, the piles of books in the corner and even the floorboard in the middle of the room that creaked loudly. Items like these had not been so important before, perhaps I really was going to miss Earth.

“(Y/N), are you ready?” Thor stood in the doorway.

“Um, yes. Yes, let’s go.”

I drove us out of the town, far away to the fields surrounding the countryside. I felt sorry for whoever’s filed we were now about to ruin. Abandoning my car on the side of the road, I held onto Thor’s hand with my shaky one, feeling very sick. I could hardly handle rollercoasters, how was this going to turn out? He sensed my nerves, turning to face me.

“If you have changed your mind, we can go back home.” he reassured me.“I will not force you into something you do not want.”

“No, I want to go with you. I’m just nervous.” I glanced down at Mjolnir.

Thor smiled.“No harm will come to you. Tis but a quick journey.”

I took a deep breath.“Ok, let’s just get this over with.”

One of Thor’s arms wrapped around my small body, the other started to swing Mjolnir. It started getting faster, the wind picking up around us. As soon as I shut my eyes, I felt us lift off, yet at the same time, it was as if we were standing still. Risking opening my eyes, I was almost blinded by an assortment of colours. It was beautiful! They all streamed around us, reflecting onto our skin. I was so distracted that I almost fell straight over as we landed.

Speechless, my wide eyes kept looking around me, amazed by everything I saw. We seemed to be in a gold dome shaped building, a man with a sword standing in the middle of it.

“My king.” he kneeled down.

“Heimdall my friend, please stand. It is good to see you again.” Thor was grinning.

“I see that you have finally brought Lady (Y/L/N) to marvel at our kingdom.”

“Yes, I am happy I have her here.”

“Lady (Y/L/N).” he also bowed to me.

I wasn’t sure what the right response was, attempting a curtsy. I heard Thor chuckle quietly, I hit his chest as I rose up.

“Come (Y/N), there is so much more for you to see.”

Again, I was unable to form any words as my eyes laid upon the mystical land before me. Everything seemed like it was out of a fairytale. Magnificent structures towered over everyone, spaceships filled the skies as the people went on with their lives. Thor wanted to walk through the streets to the castle, perhaps to show his people that he really had returned. Everyone bowed before him but I didn’t miss the off states being sent my way. I stayed close to Thor, scared that someone wouldn’t like the look of me and do…something.

I had seen the palace from where we had landed, but seeing it up close was entirely different. It dawned on me that if I were to stay with Thor, I would be living here. Servants immediately stopped what they were doing as they saw their king.

We stopped in front of two large doors, the guards standing outside opening them for us. It revealed a huge room, at the end was an equally big throne. Thor stepped right in, obviously used to it. Whereas he was already walking in, I stayed back, feeling out of place. The people were in such fine clothing, even the servants; I had tried to make an effort by wearing a casual summer dress though that still didn’t fit in. Hesitantly I took my first step, still walking slowly as I looked around me.

Crowds would fill this place, all to see their king. The courtiers and guards would be lined up too, as well as family and friends. I suspected this place would be decorated during festivities, events that the entire kingdom would turn up for. As the nerves began to build up again, my eyes landed on Thor, who was now sat on the throne. He suited it so well, for some reason I felt intimidated by him; hopefully he would have the same effect on his enemies.

“You seem to be deep in thought my love.” Thor’s deep voice slightly echoed around the room.

“Uh, I guess so.” I jumped as the doors shut, leaving us in private.

“But I do not see that smile that I adore so. You are troubled with your decision.”

I was stood at the bottom of the steps that lead to the throne, feeling very small.“My choice to be with you is not a difficult one. It’s the responsibilities that come with it.”

He waited for me to continue.

I sighed, feeling very conflicted.“I love you with every part of me, but I don’t want to ruin your reputation, or your kingdom for that matter. It just doesn’t seem fair that you would be stuck with someone who has no idea how to run a kingdom and can’t help when you have troubles.”

Thor stood, descending the stairs.“We both know that I have been away from my home for far too long. I need to be here.” I craned my neck up to look at him as his hands cupped my face.“And I want you, need you by my side.”

“What if I do something wrong that could jeapordise this place?”

“It would never come to that. We are not in this alone. I have many people that help me with my duties, they would help you too.”

“Everyone stared at me as we walked past them. They may not like-”

“It is not their choice. I am the king. If I choose to have you ruling by my side then it will be done. You doubting yourself too much, you’re smarter than you think (Y/N). I know that with your knowledge from Midgard we can rule over Asgard in peace; everyone would be happy.”

“Everyone? Including us?”

He pecked my lips.“Especially us. What do you say?” he knelt down on one knee.“Be my queen?”

I squeezed his hand.“Yes my king, I will.”

#Avengers #steve rogers #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers x reader #captain america #captain america x reader #captain america imagine #tony stark #tony stark x reader #tony stark imagine #iron man #iron man x reader #iron man imagine #marvel #marvel comics #marvel cinematic universe #nick fury #maria hill #natasha romonoff #natasha romonoff imagine #natasha romanoff imagines #natasha romonoff x reader #natasha romonoff one shot #black widow #black widow imagine #black widow imagines #black widow x reader #black widow one shot #clint barton #clint barton imagine

[ijustwant2write]

Come Back To Me-Steve Rogers x Reader One Shot

(GIF credit to owner)

Masterlist

Summary: No one knows about the fiance of the famed Captain America, she is hidden away. She stays in the shadows as the Civil War raged outside and even stays put when her beloved soldier disappears afterwards.

Characters: Steve Rogers x Reader

Meanings: (Y/N)= Your name

Warnings: none

A/N: I’m gonna try this in the 3rd person cause I hardly do that.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The natural light wakes her each morning. The thin curtains can’t block out the UV shop lights during the night, it can’t block out the sunshine in the morning. But she had grown used to it. (Y/N) would never move now, the apartment meant too much to her. It held too many memories. It was her safe place.

Without rushing, (Y/N) drags herself out of bed, slipping on a dressing gown and a pair of fuzzy socks. The money she earned didbt cover everything, something had to go this month, and it was heating. Luckily, it was the end of spring, summer would come along soon enough.

Quickly rinsing her face with water, she tries to avoid her reflection. Ever since he left, her body had gotten smaller, weight falling off her like leaves off a tree in autumn. (Y/N) tried to convince herself that this was because she was saving up on food, her budget couldn’t cover it. She made up a lot of excuses now.

No one knew of her affiliation with Captain America. Somehow she had even been kept a secret from his teammates. It was for her protection, that was easy to understand, though it was a lot to deal with. Steve would be the one to sneak around, how he did it was a mystery.

Every time she thought of him, her hand would automatically reach up to grip onto her engagement ring, which was on a necklace chain. (Y/N) didn’t want to risk losing it. It was the last thing he gave her. He had been determined to make it romantic. Steve was able to get them out of the block of apartment without anyone seeing, taking her to the local park in the dead of night before proposing. They both knew that they had to do it like this to avoid suspicion, but ignored that.

As the kettle started boiling, the sound of letters coming through the door distracted her. It would just be bills, nothing interested. For some reason that day, after picking up the post, (Y/N) leaned against the door, staring around her home. Despite the lack of heat, it had a warmth to it. To anyone else, there would be no signs of Steve Rogers in this apartment, but to her, it was as if he was still living there.

Certain drawings and paintings of his were framed in the wall, weights that (Y/N) couldn’t even attempt to lift was coated in dust in the corner of the room, a handmade recipe book lying on her kitchen counter. He had handwritten it all, listing his favourite recipes and new ones he found interesting. (Y/N) had never been one to cook much, until Steve came along, their third date was just then cooking, cliche but cute. There had been no motivation to cook any of those meals once he left.

(Y/N) wasn’t a tea or coffee drinker, yet there were packets in a little box for Steve. She cradled the hot chocolate, appreciating the warmth radiating off it. Sipping it slowly, she trudged back to her room, getting back under the covers with her dressing gown still on. Silence filled the home. It didn’t bother her anymore, she welcomed it.

As she placed the mug down on the bed, her eyes caught the corner of a sketchbook peeking out from under the bed. Bending down to pick it up, she recognised it. The couple bought it together, deciding to share it, both drawing whatever they wanted. That was something they had in common, their love for sketching. It didn’t matter what it was they were drawing. Sometimes it was each other. Steve wasn’t shy about his portraits of (Y/N), he would always show her; his fiance however was not like him, she was scared of what he would think, trying to hide the ripped out pages from him. Steve had found many pages of him, not telling (Y/N), secretly admiring them.

The day had gone by slowly. (Y/N) didn’t have work, and although she never spoke to anyone there, it distracted her. Throughout days like these, the lonely woman found herself doing the same things; cleaning the entire apartment even if it was clean, reorganizing items in her home that were already in order and even moving furniture around to make the room look different before pushing it back to it’s original place. It was a relief when night came, she could finally waste some time by sleeping.

(Y/N) remembered the first few weeks without Steve. Her mind wouldn’t rest, it kept reminding her that he was gone. Never would she have a night with him, holding each other until they fell asleep. No more late night talks, no more waking up next to him. The sleep medication helped. It was as if she had pressed the rewind button on a remote when she woke up. The same sad movie stuck I repeat. ‘Here we go again’ would be her first thought every morning. However, today was going to be a different movie.

The familiar feeling of her necklace was gone. Her hand shot to her neck, panicking as she tried to think where she could have left it. Sitting up in bed, her hands patted down the mattress, flipping over the pillows and shaking down the duvet. Nothing. There was no recollection of ever taking it off either. Quickly making her bed again, a glistening in her finger stopped her.

There it was. The ring she had been so determined to find, the ring Steve gave her. She stated at it for a few minutes, dumbfounded by the new location. She knew she wasn’t going mad. Never had she taken it off since Steve left, not once. Maybe if she carried on with her day, she might remember how it happened

Heading straight to the kitchen to grab a drink, (Y/N) screamed as she saw a figure standing there. Her eyes widened as she recognised the tall frame and broad back. The man slowly turned around to face her, her gasp filling the silence. There he stood, her fiance, her solider. He was home.

“S-Steve?” she breathed out.

“I’m home.” he said, holding out his arms.

Without hesitation, (Y/N) leapt into his embrace, tears suddenly pouring out of her. A part of her felt bad about how hard she was gripping him, her nails digging in, then remembered that it wouldn’t matter to him.

“I’m sorry about the ring. I just needed to see it in it’s rightful place.” he whispered to her.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For coming back to me.”

#avengers #steve rogers #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers x reader #captain america #captain america x reader #captain america imagine #tony stark #tony stark x reader #tony stark imagine #iron man #iron man x reader #iron man imagine #marvel #marvel comics #marvel cinematic universe #nick fury #maria hill #natasha romonoff #natasha romonoff imagine #natasha romanoff imagines #natasha romonoff x reader #natasha romonoff one shot #black widow #black widow imagine #black widow imagines #black widow x reader #black widow one shot #clint barton #clint barton imagine

[ijustwant2write]

Mother Figure-Peter Quill x Reader One Shot

(A/N: I couldn’t decide between the two GIFs, they were too cute! Credit to owners)

Masterlist

Summary: Peter and (Y/N) have been in a serious relationship for quite some time. However, being a part of the Guardians of the Galaxy can e straining on both of them, pushing aside any future plans they had together. But when Peter sees how (Y/N) takes care of Baby Groot, he realised how much he loves her.

Characters: Peter Quil x Reader

Meanings: (Y/N)= Your name

Warnings: Just fluff

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

As I cleaned the ship, I could hear Gamora trying not to yell at Groot. In a recent escape, he hadn’t fastened his seatbelt, causing more problems than needed. Luckily, I had caught him before he could get hurt, but that in turn made me injure myself.

“Groot, you have to wear it.” Gamora said through gritted teeth.

“I am Groot?” he asked.

“Because it’s for your safety!”

I cleared my throat.“Want me to give the life lesson?”

She stood up from kneeling.“Please.” I waited for her to walk away, sitting cross legged on the floor in front of the tiny creature. Eyeing him, I could see that he was starting to realise he was in the wrong as soon as he saw my bruises.

“How many times do we ask you to put your seatbelt on?” I asked him.

He sighed.“I am Groot.”

“We wouldn’t ask you so much if it didn’t do anything. We wouldn’t be wearing them ourselves if they were useless.”

He hugged my knee, resting his head on top.“I am Groot.”

I smiled at him, picking him up properly as he hugged my shoulder instead.“That’s ok.” my hand wrapped around him, it was the closest thing to hugging him now.

Groot stayed like that, so I decided to walk around with him. Heading to the cockpit, I saw Peter sat in the Captain’s seat, looking out of the window. Kissing his cheek, I seemed to break him out of thought. Sitting next to him, I felt Groot stir, placing him gently on the floor before watching him run off.

“I think he loves you more than I do.” Peter joked.

I laughed.“I think I’m starting to feel the same.”

“How do you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Be so motherly? Like, it just comes naturally to you.”

I shrugged.“You just answered your own question.”

We were just looking at each other for a moment, lovingly smiling; the peace was disturbed as the ship was jolted, something being fired at it.

“What the hell was that?!” Rocket exclaimed, ushering for me to get out of the co-pilot seat.

“Something’s attacking us, everyone get in a seat!” Peter ordered.

Drax and Gamora were straight into their seats. I was about to when I realised Groot wasn’t here. Looking around, I realised that he wasn’t going to make it.

“Where’s Groot?” I asked, starting to panic.

“He was in his room.” Drax said.

Without hesitation, I sprinted towards his room, stunning about as the ship swerved from side to side, avoiding whatever was attacking us. I knew Peter was trying to keep it stable for me, but it would get worse soon enough.

“Groot!” I yelled out. He ran out towards me, jumping into my arms. Running back to the seats, I tried hard not to fall over, especially with the baby in my arms. Finally reaching his seat, I put him down, then realising that Drax wasn’t there.

“Oh for God’s sake, where is Drax?!” I screamed.

I got my answer when the back of the ship opened, revealing the ship chasing us. Drax had tied a piece of rope around him and to the ship; he wasn’t going to do it, no way.

“Drax! Get back inside!” Gamora shouted over the noise.

“I will rid of these pests. Keep the ship steady.” he had a manic smile, jumping out before we could stop him.

The wind was blowing everything over, and the suction from the pressure of the open door made a few things fly out. My hands were slipping off the chair, my legs lifting off the floor. I was being sucked out, I couldn’t hold on any longer.

“(Y/N)!” Gamora tried to grab me but was too late.

Letting out a blood curdling scream, I felt myself fly out of the ship, away from the others. Thinking this was the end, I suddenly realised the rope was outside. My hands flailed around, desperately reaching for it, a miracle occurring as I did so. It wasn’t stable, we were being thrown around, it was enough to make you sick.

I could just see Drax punching the ship, puncturing it with his swords. He wasn’t doing much damage but it was definitely distracting them. His motions made the rope shape even more; yep, I was definitely going to be sick.

Although it was hard to hear anything, I could just make out a high pitched scream getting louder. Looking back to the ship, my heart almost stopped. Groot was falling out of the ship at an alarming speed. On instinct, I let go of the rope, just catching him. However, I now only had one hand on the rope, slowly losing my grip.

“Drax!” I screamed out, hoping he would hear me.

Craning my neck to look at him, I saw Drax give the ship one last blow before it started to descend. He jumped off, pleased with his work. But as he swung, it effected my grip, making it slip through my fingers. I clutched onto Groot, willing myself not to let him fall. The rope burned my hand as we slid down, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold on. A strong arm caught me, not having any problems with my weight. Shaking the hair out of my face, Drax was beaming, laughing as he climbed up the rope.

Collapsing onto the ship, I rolled onto my back, still cradling Groot. I could feel him shaking. We both laid still, catching our breaths whilst Drax kept on laughing, the door shutting. The others rushed over, circling me.

“Drax, are you insane! They could have died!” Peter angrily yelled as he helped me sit up.

“I defeated our enemy. I do believe I deserve some praise.” be defended himself.

“We would have been fine without you doing that. Quill and I had it under control.” Rocket spat.

Groot would not let go, not that I was complaining. Peter and Gamora got me back on my feet easily. I let Peter guide me away from the arguing, taking us to our room. It was obvious that he was furious, trying to hold it all in. I leaned against the headboard of the bed, still hugging Groot as Peter started pacing.

“Why doesn’t he ever think?! He put us all in danger!” He snapped.

I didn’t say anything.

He pointed a finger at the small tree.“And Groot! Groot, don’t think you’re getting away with anything.”

I sighed.“Peter-”

“Why didn’t he have his seatbelt on?! We literally went over this before anything happened!” Peter waved his arms in the air.

Groot cowered into me.

“Peter, it was my fault. I was supposed to buckle him in.”

“He’s old enough to know now.”

“He was scared, he didn’t know what was happening.” I rubbed Groot’s back.

“But you-”

“Just leave it for now. He’s still shaking.”

Peter groaned, sitting on the edge of the bed, his back towards me. I rocked Groot in my arms, calming him down. When I saw that he would be ok, I got up without saying a word. No one said anything to me as I passed them, going into Groot’s room.

“You ok?” I placed him on his bed.

“I am Groot.”

“Don’t worry about Peter. He’s just worried, we were both in trouble today.”

I felt someone standing behind us, shadow crossing over. Peter walked in a little, looking a little tense.

“Yeah, Groot, I’m really sorry. Just got scared back there. You good, buddy?”

“I am Groot.” We left the baby in his room, hoping he would fall asleep. Rocket would soon come through, not wanting to flaunt his emotions in front of everyone. Closing the door, I leaed against it, looking up at my boyfriend.

“You realise he’s only a child.” I pointed out.

“Yeah, I know. It’s just cause I knew him when he was grown up, having quite adjusted to it yet.” Peter admitted.

“Are you ok? Nothing happened back here?”

“No. Just me shitting myself.”

I giggled.“Thanks for worrying about me.”

He turned serious.“Are you kidding me? I always worry about you. How could I not?”

I pulled him towards me.“You’re too cute.”

“You’re cuter.”

I cringed.“Peter, you know I hate that.”

“I know. That’s why I do it.”

#avengers #steve rogers #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers x reader #captain america #captain america x reader #captain america imagine #tony stark #tony stark x reader #tony stark imagine #iron man #iron man x reader #iron man imagine #marvel #marvel comics #marvel cinematic universe #nick fury #maria hill #natasha romonoff #natasha romonoff imagine #natasha romanoff imagines #natasha romonoff x reader #natasha romonoff one shot #black widow #black widow imagine #black widow imagines #black widow x reader #black widow one shot #clint barton #clint barton imagine

[ijustwant2write]

A Bad Disguise-Peter Parker x Reader

(GIF credit to owner)

(A/N: This was inspired by a post I saw on instagram. It was saying how the crush of the superhero never recognises them and that they would like to see one time that they realise who it is.)

Masterlist

Summary: Peter’s crush, (Y/N), finds herself in trouble. When he saves her, he doesn’t expect to be recognised.

Characters: Peter Parker x Reader

Meanings: (Y/N)= Your name

Warnings: Slight violence, but mostly fluff

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Stumbling slightly, I tried to keep my balance as I walked home from a friend’s house party. I hadn’t had a lot to drink (what with being under age) but my body wasn’t used to the alcohol. Giggling to myself, I stopped for a moment, taking a deep breath before starting to walk again. I was still aware of my surroundings, it wasn’t that bad.

Everyone at the party had got drunk, meaning I had to walk home by myself. I didn’t mind though. It was only a ten minute walk from my house, though it would probably be twenty in these heels. Shivering, I wrapped my arms around myself, trying my best to hurry in my heels.

Across the road, I heard a whistle. Whipping my head around, I saw three guys around my age, checking me out. Trying to offer a smile, I carried on walking, hoping that all they wanted to do was admire. However, I was very wrong. For good measure, I looked over my shoulder, seeing that they were beginning to follow me.

Shit.

Again I tried to walk faster, paranoid that they were after me. Fumbling around in my clutch, I grabbed my phone, hastily dialling 911. As I heard the dialling tone, I impatiently waited for someone to pick up but had no time when I was grabbed from behind. Screaming as loud as I could, I thrashed around, desperate to get out of their arms. The man kept his grip on me as my feet touched the floor, the two others laughing.

“Why didn’t you come over? Didn’t you hear us call you?” one of them mockingly asked.

“Please let me go! I won’t tell anyone if you let me go!” I begged whilst crying.

“But we want to stay with you.” the other pouted.

“Help! SOMEBODY HELP ME!” I yelled even louder.

The man holding me tightened his grip, I could feel his breath on my skin. Slamming my foot down onto his, I drove the heel in deep. He let out a cry of pain, loosening his hold on me. I was able to escape, though not for long; why did I have to wear heels? They were all after me, as I tried to shake off the shoes, one of them caught up, shoving me to the ground. I hunched up into a ball, protecting my face from whatever was coming next. But instead of my screams filling the silent night, the sound of right replaced them. Still too scared to look, I waited for the noises to stop, peeking through my hands to see the three men collapsed on the floor, a familiar superhero standing above them.

Spider-Man had just saved me.

As I sat up, he realised that I was still in need of help. Walking towards me, he held out a hand.

“A-are you ok, miss?” He asked as I stood up.

I was still in shock.

“Oh boy, uh…do you n-need me to take you to a hospital?”

He wasn’t even trying to hide it.

“Miss?”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” I exclaimed, throwing my arms up.

“What?”

I raised my voice.“Do you have any idea what time it is?! You’re out here in the middle of the night! You could get hurt.”

“Yeah, I think I’m going to take you to a doctor.”

I crossed my arms.“Peter Parker, I know it’s you.”

“Shhh! Not so loud!” he grabbed my shoulders but realised what he said.“Wh-who is Peter Parker? I don’t know anyone-”

“You’re not even disguising your voice. I was wondering why you weren’t at the party.” He looked around him before pulling me into his body. Gasping in shock, I quickly held onto him as we suddenly ascended into the air, the only thing holding us was a string of web. Screaming from the feeling, I clung onto him, afraid that I would fall.

“Peter, you put me down right this instant-” as I almost finished my sentence, we landed on a rooftop.

Peter started pacing, placing his hands on his head as he stressed himself out. I could hear him mumbling to bimself. Huffing, I waited a few more seconds before grabbing his attention.

“Peter! Would you just stop? Why are you being like this?” I stood in front of him, almost hitting each other.

Frustrated, he whipped off his mask, revealing his tossled hair and worried expression.“How did you know it was me?”

“Like I said, I recognise your voice.”

“B-but we hardly talk to each other.”

“Yeah, I know, I don’t understand why you won’t have a conversation with me from time to time.”

“That doesn’t…you wanna talk to me?”

“Yeah. Why are you so surprised?”

I could see that he was trying to think of something to say.“Are you ok?”

I looked down at myself then back up to him.“Oh, yeah. A few scrapes and probably some bruising. But I’ll be fine.”

“I-I’m sorry for what happened.”

“Don’t say that. You just saved me from those guys. Peter…”

It suddenly dawned on me. For some reason I had just seen past it.

My voice got higher and more excited.“…you’re Spider-Man! Do you know how cool that is?!”

“You think so?”

“Yes! And you just saved me from…well from whatever could have happened. I owe you.”

“Just your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.” He smiled.

I tried not to laugh.“Is that your catchphrase?”

“Uh…I dunno, I sorta just came up with it now.”

“This explains a lot. The days off school, your injuries, Tony Stark…WAIT A MINUTE YOU AND IRON MAN HAVE BEEN WORKING TOGETHER!”

He shushed me again.“(Y/N), we may be in a rooftop but people can still hear you.”

I giggled.“Sorry.”

“Look, I need to take you home.”

“Oh yeah. I could just walk-”

“Are you crazy?! No way, not after that.”

“So do you like have a car or…?”

He held up his hands, smiling slightly.

“We’re swinging back?”

“Yeah. It’s quick. I promise I won’t drop you.”

“And this is safe?”

“I promise. Please, let me get you home.”

Finally giving in, I nodded to him. We both blushed at the awkwardness of how close we were, having to hold tightly onto each other. After slipping his mask back on, he leaned over the edge of the building falling down. I tried not to scream knowing it would just put off his concentration and attract people to the noise; but it was just so scary. We started swinging, though I was unable to open my eyes. I hoped that I wasn’t digging my nails into his skin too hard.

Only a few moments later were our swings becoming slower. I felt us stop. Risking to open one eye, I saw his lowering from a tree beside my house. As my feet hit the floor, I found that I couldn’t let go of Peter.

“Are you alright?” He asked as my feet were weak.

“Yep. Not sure how much I enjoyed that.”

“Sorry. It’s not for everybody.”

I looked back to my house, seeing that my living room light was on.“My parents will be waiting for me. Thanks for everything Peter.”

“My pleasure. Glad I got there in time.”

“Me too.”

It was silent for a few seconds before I reached up to peel his ask back slightly.“Be safe Peter.”

I kissed his cheek, immediately turning around and almost running inside. My face was a deep red from embarrassment. As I unlocked the door, I could see him swinging away already. I had so many questions but so little time to ask them. A regular boy from my school was a superhero and he had just saved me. Not sure how out conversations would be from now on, that is, if he would speak to me.

“Hi honey. Did I hear you talking to someone out there?” my dad greeted me as I walked into the house.

I smiled at him.“Yeah, just a friend.”

#Avengers #steve rogers #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers x reader #captain america #captain america x reader #captain america imagine #tony stark #tony stark x reader #tony stark imagine #iron man #iron man x reader #iron man imagine #marvel #marvel comics #marvel cinematic universe #nick fury #maria hill #natasha romonoff #natasha romonoff imagine #natasha romanoff imagines #natasha romonoff x reader #natasha romonoff one shot #black widow #black widow imagine #black widow imagines #black widow x reader #black widow one shot #clint barton #clint barton imagine