zemothethirteenth

[zemothethirteenth]

"I've always enjoyed a finely aged wine," Helmut responded gently, resting his head against James' arm briefly. He picked his steps over the stones carefully on his bare feet, smiling to himself as he listened.

"It's true. There's no reason to be anxious; no matter how the wedding goes, I'm already yours, and you're already mine." He squeezed James' hand before leaning on him briefly to brush off his feet before opening the car door and getting into the vehicle.

"That's certainly a way to entice some kind of order," he agreed with a laugh.

"Well, if not more grouchy, at least more old," Helmut laughed quietly at that, shaking his head and gathering his shoes again. He reached to grasp James' hand in his own gently, giving it a light squeeze, before starting to lead him back towards the car.

"Are you that worried, miláčku?" He leaned a little closer, wrapping his arm more around James' as he walked. "It's going to be fine. We'll make sure of it, okay?"

#{ Two Kinds of Hearts } #Cake is delicious it's true

[zemothethirteenth]

[ Text -> Spratku ] Sure. I'll bring you a coffee.

[2:20am. Text -> Bonbon] Why is it that lemon juice has an artificial flavor while dishwashing liquid has real lemons?

[ Text -> Spratku ] James, I left the bed for ten seconds to refill my water. Is this your way of asking for lemon juice?

#{ Citizen V } #{ thecoldsoldiers } #{ texts } #It's gonna be watered down and decaf

[zemothethirteenth]

"Well, at least you're out from under Captain America's wing. Good for you, James. Clearly you're moving up in the world," Zemo smirked to himself.

Despite his words and general demeanor, he stood near the entrance to the room and drew his weapon again, not rushing Bucky to get to his feet or get them moving. Super soldier or not, Bucky had been here a while and they could spare the time for him to get his bearings. Besides, Zemo was under no restrictions regarding killing Bucky's captors.

"Look at us, already agreeing on things. This bodes well for our ongoing work relationship," he chimed cheerfully.

"Oh. Tragic." Zemo's tone suggested he was in no way particularly bothered by that declaration. His attention was more focused on the cuffs, both from a curiosity standpoint - the kind of restraints it would take to restraint a super soldier were an eternal curiosity, frankly, and if he could acquire these ones in the process he saw no reason not to - and from a need to focus to figure out how to remove them.

"It does seem a downgrade. At least Sam knew what he was doing," he agreed, quietly working at the cuffs for a long moment before managing to disable the magnetic lock and force them open. They were promptly removed and tucked away into his coat before he got to his feet and looked down at Bucky again.

"... I'd offer you a hand up, but for the sake of your pride and my clothing, I suspect we can both agree to pass on that."

#{ Citizen V } #{ smertzimy }

[zemothethirteenth]

[2:20am. Text -> Bonbon] Why is it that lemon juice has an artificial flavor while dishwashing liquid has real lemons?

[ Text -> Spratku ] James, I left the bed for ten seconds to refill my water. Is this your way of asking for lemon juice?

#{ Citizen V } #{ thecoldsoldiers } #{ texts }

[zemothethirteenth]

“Just because something doesn’t last forever, doesn’t mean it wasn’t meaningful while it did last.”

— Candace Bushnell

#{ thoughts }

[zemothethirteenth]

"Oh. Tragic." Zemo's tone suggested he was in no way particularly bothered by that declaration. His attention was more focused on the cuffs, both from a curiosity standpoint - the kind of restraints it would take to restraint a super soldier were an eternal curiosity, frankly, and if he could acquire these ones in the process he saw no reason not to - and from a need to focus to figure out how to remove them.

"It does seem a downgrade. At least Sam knew what he was doing," he agreed, quietly working at the cuffs for a long moment before managing to disable the magnetic lock and force them open. They were promptly removed and tucked away into his coat before he got to his feet and looked down at Bucky again.

"... I'd offer you a hand up, but for the sake of your pride and my clothing, I suspect we can both agree to pass on that."

@zemothethirteenth moved it from here

"Oh, well, aren't you darling. I see no one beat the will to live into you," Zemo drawled quietly, crouching beside him and nudging at him thoughtfully with a glove before looking over the cuffs and sighing. "I'm afraid your team is terribly incompetent. Do you really want to wait for them? I did just cut the power to some rather nasty looking electrical probes." His fingers carefully traced over Bucky's arm before settling over the cuffs. "Alternatively, I can do the job I was paid to do and get you out of here."

"No, they possibly killed the last of it." Bucky muttered before spitting out some of the blood mostly comming from his nose. The serum had healed most of the worst injuries but with how often they happened..... He was in a whole lot more pain than he wanted to admit to.

"Fine...." He mutterede before flinching at the touch against his arms. The cuffs had begin to dig into his right arm since the cybernetic had no problem with how thing it was.... His right one was how ever not quite as sturdy. "I'm working with idiots don't i?" He sigh before nodding at the suggestion. He wasn't going to get out of here, that's for sure.

#{ Citizen V } #{ smertzimy }

[zemothethirteenth]

"Well, if not more grouchy, at least more old," Helmut laughed quietly at that, shaking his head and gathering his shoes again. He reached to grasp James' hand in his own gently, giving it a light squeeze, before starting to lead him back towards the car.

"Are you that worried, miláčku?" He leaned a little closer, wrapping his arm more around James' as he walked. "It's going to be fine. We'll make sure of it, okay?"

"I love you, James, you aren't something to be bought and sold, and certainly not to be refunded," he reminded him softly.

His smile softened further at James' words, and he shook his head slightly. "My goal is to make sure that continues to be the case. When we are both grouchy old men - well, moreso than you already are - I hope you'll be so utterly in love with me that you won't remember a time when you didn't love me, hm?"

Pressing another gentle kiss to his lips, Helmut pulled away only slightly. "Well, we have a wedding to tackle before we worry about the rest of the future," he chuckled. "Shall we get back to the hotel, get washed up, and get some rest?"

#{ Two Kinds of Hearts }

[zemothethirteenth]

“The broken will always be able to love harder than most. Once you’ve been in the dark, you learn to appreciate everything that shines.”

— Unknown

#{ thoughts }

[zemothethirteenth]

"I love you, James, you aren't something to be bought and sold, and certainly not to be refunded," he reminded him softly.

His smile softened further at James' words, and he shook his head slightly. "My goal is to make sure that continues to be the case. When we are both grouchy old men - well, moreso than you already are - I hope you'll be so utterly in love with me that you won't remember a time when you didn't love me, hm?"

Pressing another gentle kiss to his lips, Helmut pulled away only slightly. "Well, we have a wedding to tackle before we worry about the rest of the future," he chuckled. "Shall we get back to the hotel, get washed up, and get some rest?"

"I haven't changed my mind," Helmut responded gently, lifting his hands to cradle James' face fondly. Sure, it was small and lacked a few of the things he'd initially determined they needed, but it was cozy, with a good-sized property, plenty of privacy, and a kitchen he was happy to have. Moreover, James had been so excited about it.

"Oh, I feel like I was never getting rid of you before now," he hummed softly, brushing his lips against James' with a warm smile as he dug his toes into the sand slightly, "and I'm grateful for it. I'm lucky to have you, James."

#{ Two Kinds of Hearts } #{ queue }

[zemothethirteenth]

"Oh, well, aren't you darling. I see no one beat the will to live into you," Zemo drawled quietly, crouching beside him and nudging at him thoughtfully with a glove before looking over the cuffs and sighing.

"I'm afraid your team is terribly incompetent. Do you really want to wait for them? I did just cut the power to some rather nasty looking electrical probes." His fingers carefully traced over Bucky's arm before settling over the cuffs. "Alternatively, I can do the job I was paid to do and get you out of here."

⛓️

send ⛓️ to find my muse bloody, bruised and restrained

He could hear someone entering the room. But judging from the lack of insults it wasn't a a guard. "Just get it over with....!" He muttered, Bucky was completely out of comition right now, hell his nose had not stopped bleeding from the last time. Looking up he had to groan out loud, Zemo. Out of all people they could send.... Someone had dug out Zemo. "You got to be kidding me....." He groaned annoyed, which was rather toothless comming from the man laying bloody, face down on the floor with large cuffs restraining him and keeping his arms behind his back. "No! Leave me alone to die."

#{ Citizen V } #{ smertzimy }

[zemothethirteenth]

"I'm not trusting you with anything right now," Zemo pointed out. "Thus the supervision. I can't trust you to keep yourself alive, why would I entrust anyone else's life to you?"

Sighing quietly as Stark emphasized his point, he shook his head and made his way over to the door. "Stay here for the time being. I'll make you some broth."

He knew dark chocolate and fish were good for brain injury recovery, but putting him immediately onto solid foods could cause other complications. Broth and water would be best for fun, and he'd already rejected the offer of water multiple times. The water remained on the bedside table nevertheless.

Zemo raised his eyebrow at the regurgitation of information, before dipping his head in acknowledgement. "I'm not a doctor. I wouldn't know. Perhaps you are?" He tilted his head thoughtfully. He knew the man wasn't, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to plant that idea in his head, either.

"If so, it would benefit everyone if we could get you on your feet as soon as possible." He paused at Stark's apology, hesitating a moment before shaking his head. "Well, for one thing she isn't a doctor," Zemo sighed softly. "But she's as good as we have available for the moment." Or would, if she wasn't dealing with her own losses.

"For now, you need to take care of yourself if you're going to be helpful. You can't help anyone if you're injured and requiring supervision. We should get food and water into you, when you're ready."

#{ colonel } #{ ironifiicd } #{ queue } #left it here to give Tony an opportunity to assess his surroundings since it'll take a couple of minutes for Zemo to warm up some broth

[zemothethirteenth]

"I'm not concerned about the effects of gravity," he echoed her words back to her, closing his eyes and continuing to allow his thumbs to trail over her cheeks affectionately. "I'm concerned about your emphasis on this feeling like cheating. I'm concerned that attempting to pursue anything further will leave you with regrets, when I would aim to bring you joy."

Mistimed & Misplaced || @ofsokovianbaronesses

Helmut didn't remember falling asleep, but waking up was a nightmare.

It took him almost ten minutes to figure out where he was - though, it had been almost five years since he'd last been to Madripoor, so it was the mix of languages more than anything else that tipped him off as to where he was. He didn't remember everything being quite so... neon.

Memories were missing; that was the only logical conclusion he could come to. He didn't remember getting here. He hadn't even changed out of his uniform, clearly. The last thing he remembered...

... a forest. A strange flash of light.

Absolutely nothing helpful, clearly, and his head hurt too much to properly make sense of the situation immediately. What he knew was that he needed to reach out to a contact, find a place to lay low until he could get back home.

He made his way to a sideroad, and then into a small park where he pulled out his phone, only to find it 'not in service'. That was less than helpful. He didn't even know where he was going to find a payphone. A hotel would be the better option, and using a phone there.

With a sigh of frustration, he made his way back out to the main road again to get his bearings, before starting on the steady walk towards where he last recalled there being a hotel, doing his best to ignore the strange looks he was getting for his attire. At least it was Madripoor and no one was giving him a second look for his weaponry.

#{ hunter } #{ ofsokovianbaronesses } #{ queue }

[zemothethirteenth]

"I haven't changed my mind," Helmut responded gently, lifting his hands to cradle James' face fondly. Sure, it was small and lacked a few of the things he'd initially determined they needed, but it was cozy, with a good-sized property, plenty of privacy, and a kitchen he was happy to have. Moreover, James had been so excited about it.

"Oh, I feel like I was never getting rid of you before now," he hummed softly, brushing his lips against James' with a warm smile as he dug his toes into the sand slightly, "and I'm grateful for it. I'm lucky to have you, James."

"I do love the look of you wet and naked," Helmut grinned playfully at that, tucking his socks neatly into his shoes as James looked at the phone.

Looking up again, his grin warmed. "Seriously." As he was dragged into a hug, he couldn't help but laugh a little bit at James' excitement, leaving him to drop his shoes into the sand again and curl his arms around his husband. "There's still paperwork to do, James, if you change your mind between now and then, after you get a chance to see it in person and really look it over..." he paused, but there was a certain giddiness he swore he could feel radiating off of James.

"But... yes. We have a house. Our house. Our home."

#{ Two Kinds of Hearts }

[zemothethirteenth]

"I do love the look of you wet and naked," Helmut grinned playfully at that, tucking his socks neatly into his shoes as James looked at the phone.

Looking up again, his grin warmed. "Seriously." As he was dragged into a hug, he couldn't help but laugh a little bit at James' excitement, leaving him to drop his shoes into the sand again and curl his arms around his husband. "There's still paperwork to do, James, if you change your mind between now and then, after you get a chance to see it in person and really look it over..." he paused, but there was a certain giddiness he swore he could feel radiating off of James.

"But... yes. We have a house. Our house. Our home."

"Oh, goodness, my mistake. How could I overlook the gothic aspect," Helmut smirked slightly at the correction, drying himself off rather efficiently before gathering his clothes, skipping on his socks and shoes as he simply held them and fished his phone out of his pocket.

"Don't say things like that. I'd love for you to keep wandering around naked and wet for me," he responded, casting a coy look in James' direction, before padding through the sand over to him and offering the phone.

"... they accepted our offer on the house," he smiled gently as he showed off the confirmation message. "I'll arrange for a plumber to be by and check the piping, and an electrician to check the wiring but... it should be perfectly ready to move into by the time we're back from our honeymoon."

#{ Two Kinds of Hearts }

[zemothethirteenth]

Zemo hummed softly in response as he listened and focused on the final letter, carving the "O" into his skin more carefully than the other letters for the difficulty of it. Once he was done, he cleaned up his knife and set it aside, leaving his hand free to smear the blood from each of the wounds over his back and further paint it red.

His fingers curled up around Bucky's throat to leave a bloodied handprint there and he smiled to himself. "Sit up. Arms behind your back, right wrist in left hand," he instructed.

Bucky had given him the freedom to do anything with his words, and that left it to Zemo to make sure he was thinking things through sensibly. He was limited by his injury, yes, but his hand moved down over Bucky's stomach to carefully unbuckle the belt from his pants, pulling it out of its loops before loosely looping it around Bucky's neck, pulling the belt back through the buckle to create a mock-leash.

"Mine to use, are you...?" he drawled. "Well, aren't you wonderfully accommodating." But there were going to have to be limits that he imposed. He was going to have to consider both of them. Putting Bucky on his back would leave a bloody mess of the bed; putting him on his knees would mean a lot of things he couldn't manage with one arm, and the potential of Bucky dissociating like he had before. A part of him wasn't sure Bucky was ready to be fucked.

Leaving the belt around his neck, Zemo stood carefully and moved around to sit himself on the bed. "Stand. I don't think my loyal servant has any more need of clothing for today..."

The Rescue || @bloodstainedstar

Bucky had been right - Sam had a lead. A good lead.

And it was immediately chaos.

Sam and Torres had taken off to deal with the external factors, but that left Zemo and Bucky to deal with everything inside and while they were both perfectly competent it turned out there were a couple dozen children still alive and being held. And trying to safely get them out was going to be like herding very scared, crying cats.

If they left them in the rooms they were isolated in, there was no telling if they would be in danger - if there were ways of gassing the children or something, that wasn't a risk they could take. On the other hand, the base was still full of people and if they brought the children with them there was no way of making certain they weren't shot at.

Instead, Zemo knelt by one of the children at the door, and after a moment realized the child spoke French, leaving him to smile gently and respond in kind as he asked about whether the girl knew anything about the room they were in, getting little bits of information. She was clearly out of sorts, she wanted to go home. She was cold.

Zemo couldn't blame her, it wasn't exactly warm in the base.

"Nous reviendrons bientôt, je vous le promets. Restez ici pour l'instant et bientôt nous rentrerons tous à la maison." Offering her a smile, he watched her nod before he nodded back and stood up, looking at Bucky.

"If we don't incapacitate or kill everyone here, we'll never be able to get the children clear safely. We'll also need to alert Sam that we found them and will be needing more transportation to remove them," he pointed out quietly as he began a rather steady march down the hall, all quiet, furious grace.

#{ Bound To You In Sin } #tw: knife play

[zemothethirteenth]

"What a good boy," Zemo smiled to himself, bowing his head to press a light kiss to the nape of his neck. "You're absolutely correct."

Nevertheless, the tip of his knife dug into Bucky's back again, slowly carving the distinct "M" shape into his back next as his lips worked along Bucky's neck. "And what, exactly, is your station and purpose...?" It was an opportunity for Bucky to outline what he wanted as much as a means of reinforcing the power structure of their current dynamic.

It was a difficult balance, trying to offer Bucky the opportunity to control some of the flow and outline his wants and needs without breaking character, but their situation was new and he wasn't altogether sure how best to assess what Bucky wanted. Pain, clearly, and some degree of subservience. But how much? How deeply? How far under did he want to be pushed, and what did he want while he was under?

Was it simply punishment he wanted, or did he desire punishment and reward?

There really was a lot for them to learn about how this dynamic of theirs functioned. Whatever their dynamic was.

The Rescue || @bloodstainedstar

Bucky had been right - Sam had a lead. A good lead.

And it was immediately chaos.

Sam and Torres had taken off to deal with the external factors, but that left Zemo and Bucky to deal with everything inside and while they were both perfectly competent it turned out there were a couple dozen children still alive and being held. And trying to safely get them out was going to be like herding very scared, crying cats.

If they left them in the rooms they were isolated in, there was no telling if they would be in danger - if there were ways of gassing the children or something, that wasn't a risk they could take. On the other hand, the base was still full of people and if they brought the children with them there was no way of making certain they weren't shot at.

Instead, Zemo knelt by one of the children at the door, and after a moment realized the child spoke French, leaving him to smile gently and respond in kind as he asked about whether the girl knew anything about the room they were in, getting little bits of information. She was clearly out of sorts, she wanted to go home. She was cold.

Zemo couldn't blame her, it wasn't exactly warm in the base.

"Nous reviendrons bientôt, je vous le promets. Restez ici pour l'instant et bientôt nous rentrerons tous à la maison." Offering her a smile, he watched her nod before he nodded back and stood up, looking at Bucky.

"If we don't incapacitate or kill everyone here, we'll never be able to get the children clear safely. We'll also need to alert Sam that we found them and will be needing more transportation to remove them," he pointed out quietly as he began a rather steady march down the hall, all quiet, furious grace.

#{ Bound To You In Sin } #tw: knife play

[zemothethirteenth]

"Good," Zemo responded quietly, his fingers trailing over Bucky's back as he assessed things, before the tip of his knife blazed a sharp trail through Bucky's skin.

A pair of horizontal lines ran parallel to each other, carved into his skin with precision before being connected from their far edges, creating a simple "Z" shape. They were deep enough to not heal up immediately, continuing to ooze blood as Zemo carefully wiped his knife down and set to work drawing three more parallel lines and a singular perpendicular line to connect them. A clean "E" took shape before he wiped down his knife again.

"Look at you," he cooed softly, "suddenly behaving so well for me." The knife didn't touch him next, rather Zemo traced over the two letters he'd carved into Bucky's skin lightly, not minding the blood that smeared over his finger as he did.

"Tell me, what did you do wrong that you earned this? Do you recall?"

The Rescue || @bloodstainedstar

Bucky had been right - Sam had a lead. A good lead.

And it was immediately chaos.

Sam and Torres had taken off to deal with the external factors, but that left Zemo and Bucky to deal with everything inside and while they were both perfectly competent it turned out there were a couple dozen children still alive and being held. And trying to safely get them out was going to be like herding very scared, crying cats.

If they left them in the rooms they were isolated in, there was no telling if they would be in danger - if there were ways of gassing the children or something, that wasn't a risk they could take. On the other hand, the base was still full of people and if they brought the children with them there was no way of making certain they weren't shot at.

Instead, Zemo knelt by one of the children at the door, and after a moment realized the child spoke French, leaving him to smile gently and respond in kind as he asked about whether the girl knew anything about the room they were in, getting little bits of information. She was clearly out of sorts, she wanted to go home. She was cold.

Zemo couldn't blame her, it wasn't exactly warm in the base.

"Nous reviendrons bientôt, je vous le promets. Restez ici pour l'instant et bientôt nous rentrerons tous à la maison." Offering her a smile, he watched her nod before he nodded back and stood up, looking at Bucky.

"If we don't incapacitate or kill everyone here, we'll never be able to get the children clear safely. We'll also need to alert Sam that we found them and will be needing more transportation to remove them," he pointed out quietly as he began a rather steady march down the hall, all quiet, furious grace.

#{ Bound To You In Sin } #tw: knife play