#i will fight you james vowels so watch your back | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dracotheocracy · 1 year

Note

Please talk more about how bad the bond book was your last post about it was so fun to read

ask and you shall receive! happy you enjoy my james bond posting because i love sinking my teeth into problematic media and shaking it like a chew toy

last post i expanded on some stuff from my first ask that i either forgot about in the first 10 chapters or saw more of in the 18 chapters in part two. the majority of my analysis there relates to misogyny and queerphobia and we're not done with the former at all but i have a new element to add into the mix that was definitely present in part one but not really as prevalent

tw misogyny xenophobia/racism sexual violence

so the majority of part two takes place in istanbul and ian's contempt for eastern europe is palpable. i'll do my due diligence and acknowledge the historical context- this novel was published in 1957, western and eastern europe largely did not have a very amicable relationship coming out of the world wars and the cold war was well underway as well. james bond was probably successful in part because ian's biases to a fairly large extent would've reflected public sentiment in england at the time. again, not an expert in european history either take my word with a grain of salt

with that out of the way, let me just

"So these dark, ugly, neat little officials were the modern Turks. He listened to their voices, full of broad vowels and quiet sibilants and modified u-sounds, and he watched the dark eyes that belied the soft, polite voices. They were bright, angry, cruel eyes that had only lately come down from the mountains."

this is the first description we get from bond's POV of any non-british characters, and it's a running theme in the book that the only characters that are described amicably are tatiana romanova and anyone working for british intelligence. you know, the book that for the most part takes place in eastern europe. the book is full of slights like this; when ian introduces darko kerim this is how he describes the dude's handshake

"It was a strong Western handful of operative fingers--not the banana skin handshake of the East that makes you want to wipe your fingers on your coat-tails."

it's all very casually racist and it really just keeps going- there's a notable shift in tone when the orient express bond and romanova travel on leaves the balkans:

"The hard-faced Yugoslav plain-clothes men came on board. Then Yugoslavia was gone and Poggioreale came and the first smell of the soft life with the happy jabbering Italian officials and the carefree upturned faces of the station crowd."

this is done mostly by a shift in how he describes the infrastructure and the people. i don't think the former bit is inherently a sin but ian paints a very unbalanced picture of europe, where the east is mean and slimy and impoverished and the west is pleasant and well maintained. not that i was expecting nuance from a bond novel- much like being queerbaited by the MCU that's kind of like losing a game of chess to a dog, but my goal in these posts is a criticism of From Russia, With Love based on what it says about society

there are two chapters where darko and james interact with a group of romani people just outside the city because they work for darko and... hm. i don't think i can provide much meaningful commentary on it because i'm not familiar with romani cultures. i suspect that his depiction isn't very accurate to reality though, especially because there is one thing in his writing of this that i am pretty comfortable pointing out:

"Two girls of the tribe are in love with one of his sons. There is a lot of death in the air. They both threaten to kill the other to get him. If he chooses one, the unsuccessful one has sworn to kill him and the girl. It is an impasse. There is much argument in the tribe. So the son has been sent up into the hills and the two girls are to fight it out here tonight--to the death."

"The door in the wall crashed back and two girls, spitting and fighting like angry cats, hurtled through and across the grass and into the ring."

"They were both gipsy-dark, with coarse black hair to their shoulders, and they were both dressed in the collection of rags you associate with shanty-town Negroes--tattered brown shifts that were mostly darns and patches."

"Where this girl was a lioness, the other was a panther--lithe and quick and with cunning sharp eyes that were not on the speaker but sliding sideways, measuring inches, and the hands at her sides were curled into claws. The muscles of her fine legs looked hard as a man's. The breasts were small, and, unlike the big breasts of the other girl, hardly swelled the rags of her shift. She looks a dangerous little bitch of a girl, thought Bond."

what follows is the two women wrestling each other in a way that's described like a really weird catfight and also they both claw at or bite each other's boobs and tear a bit of each others' clothes off. i mentioned that the word "breasts" appeared 13 times in my last post and probably about a fourth of it was concentrated into this chapter because of the fight scene.

first quote is there purely because i don't want to paraphrase the context. i include the second and fourth quote because i want to look at how ian describes the women in this scene- first of all, again with the breasts mr fleming. how original. most importantly, though, he compares them to animals. cats, specifically, but the entire scene is meant to give the impression that these people are feral or savage, and the comparison of the women to a lion and a panther respectively, and describing them as hurtling into a fighting ring "spitting and fighting like angry cats" strikes me as a "look how barbaric these people are, how uncivilized their women!" comment on ian's part. this is compounded by the third quote here where he describes how they're dressed- he's explicitly drawing a connection between two oppressed groups here; it's meant as an indication that these two women are poor, but this comparison being drawn while flanked in between two paragraphs that describe the characters like animals makes it more suspect. there's other ways to describe how they're dressed in a way that indicates poverty and we already have a history of portraying black people as barbaric and uncivilized.

the last bit i'm going to chew on tonight is probably another intersection between xenophobia and misogyny and that's a little facet of darko kerim's character: he's violently misogynistic and that is not a fucking exaggeration,

so kerim is from trebizond and his father essentially had a harem- fathered a lot of children from multiple mothers and it's very much implied that kerim does the same. below i've attached some of his dialogue in a scene where he's talking to bond at a restaurant after they meet

"All women want to be swept off their feet. In their dreams they long to be slung over a man's shoulder and taken into a cave and raped."

"I had a little Bessarabian hell-cat. I had won her in a fight with some gipsies, here in the hills behind Istanbul. I had to knock her unconscious first. She was still trying to kill me when we got back to Trebizond, so I got her to my place and took away all her clothes and kept her chained naked under the table. When I ate, I used to throw scraps to her under the table, like a dog. She had to learn who was master. Before that could happen, my mother did an unheard of thing. She visited my place without warning. She found the girl. My mother was really angry with me for the first time in my life. I was a cruel ne'er-do-well and she was ashamed to call me son. My mother brought her some of her own clothes from the house. The girl put them on, but when the time came, she refused to leave me"

yeah so that second quote is one of the vilest things i've read

i'm calling this an intersection between xenophobia and misogyny because if i'm not mistaken darko being from trebizond makes him turkish. for the most part he's portrayed positively by the narrative, he and bond quickly become friends or something like it, bond isn't devastated or anything when kerim dies but he does view it as a loss. the thing is that, even for the 50s, this is not an acceptable way to treat women or talk about them. the most positive portrayed eastern european character in the novel is in all likelihood a rapist and is very transparent in his misogyny. furthermore again ian is comparing a presumably romani woman to a cat (through kerim's voice), and though everything expressed in these quotes is incredibly fucked up and untrue, there's a broader trend in the novel about the ideal woman being a submissive one- what darko is doing here is claiming that to be part of their nature and nowhere in the novel are his words contradicted at all unless we count rosa klebb, and with her being a villain it seems more natural to assume that ian agrees with the character rather than thinks he's spitting bullshit.

it's 20 past midnight and i'm rather tired so, i'll end this off with my impression of the story structure and all that. some plain old literary analysis. i think ian fleming spent too long on the setup because the payoff with grant and klebb accounted for the last 3 chapters of the book, compared to the 10 he spent setting it up. he built too much hype around bond's encounters with both characters for what they ended up being in my opinion, but i will give fleming that yeah those final confrontations were all right i guess i liked how bond managed to worm his way out of the stupid fucking mess he got himself in by falling for an obvious honeypot in the first place and then some. i think a lot of the building suspense was negated for me when i read it because my brain was too busy gnawing on. *gestures at the 3 posts i've written about this novel* all of that, to get invested in any of the characters and feel the tension all that much

#but maaarrrsss!#trashfire media containment breach #i think a fair amount of my analysis here is incomplete #and i felt the same to a slightly lesser degree with the first james bond post but i did expand on it in the second ask

2 notes · View notes

ohsnapcracklepopfriends · 3 years

Text

Here it is friends. Part one of my Taylor-Swift-nostalgia induced carraville fic. I will be writing a short part two but I figured I’d get this up now and it could be read on its own at this point. I haven’t proof read it so please excuse any mistakes but I hope you enjoy!

Jamie undid his tie. It was a plaid tie, blue instead of red to suggest his neutrality. It was a good day or at least it should’ve been. Liverpool beat Everton two to one, he’d had a good show (no one was harassing him on Twitter yet and Gary had made a few mistakes, Jamie thought that qualified a pretty good show), and he had a date at eleven. He should be fucking buzzing but Jamie just feels the idle hum of numbness. Even the five-goal thriller that was their first game of the night hadn’t got his heart pumping like it used to.

Gary walked in silently, startling Jamie who quickly pulled on a jumper. Not that his state of dress mattered, Gary’s eyes stayed glued to the floor. He walked to the far corner of the dressing room to change out of his suit, as far away from Jamie as possible. He hadn’t said a word to Jamie all night when the cameras weren’t rolling. It hurt. Especially when Gary was so good at acting like everything was fine when the commercial break ended. He even fooled Jamie a few times.

Kelly knocked on the door, making sure they were both decent, before walking in to say goodnight. Jamie watched as Gary smiled at Kelly, as he laughed with her about something. Jamie used to do that: make Gary laugh. Kelly turns her attentions to Jamie. She compliments him on his interview tonight and asks him where he and Tom are going for their date.

“It’s quite late,” she comments, “you can’t really be going to dinner.” Jamie give her a fake laugh.

“I’ve got a reservation and everything Kells. We’re going to that new vegan place. He’s picking me up.” You heard that right: vegan. Because on top of everything, Tom fucking cared about animals and the environment. Jamie wasn’t complaining too much, though. He could suffer through some tofu if it meant not having to go to Gary and his old haunts.

“Ooh!” Kelly said, “do I get to meet him? Redknapp keeps talking about how lovely he is, I figure I could judge for myself.” Ah, yes, Redders. Running into Redders had been an accident. They managed to bump into him at the golf course the week before. Tom was good at golf, unlike Redders, as much as he tried to be. Tom gave him a few pointers, helping Redders fix his posture for his swings. They ended up playing a whole round together while Jamie played ping-pong with an eight-year-old girl in the clubhouse. Redders hadn’t shut up about how Tom’s wonderfulness and his perfect swing since. Jamie nodded at Kelly. He figured he couldn’t do any more damage.

The three of them stood in the parking lot waiting for Tom’s car to pull in. He wasn’t late of course, he never is, they just got out earlier than anticipated. Gary had tried to skitter off to his car but Kelly practically dragged him back up on the curb. Gary, despite trying to put on an agreeable face, looked about as miserable as Jamie felt. Jamie thought he was slightly better at hiding it though.

At 10:59 Tom’s blue Volkswagen pulled in. One minute early. He wore a nice checked shirt with the first few buttons undone. His hair and shirt were miraculously crisp and clean after a full day of work. He looked like a fucking god with his symmetrical face, sharp bone structure, and straight nose. Kelly certainly took note of that. “Our Carra is a lucky man!” She whispered before going over to Tom to introduce herself. Tom shook her hand and complimented her dress which, to be fair, was a very nice floral pattern.

Tom stuck his hand out for Gary to shake. “Hello Gary, my name’s Tom. It’s nice to meet you.” Gary takes a minute to collect himself and takes Tom’s outstretched hand giving it a firm shake.

“It’s nice to meet you as well.” It sounds remarkably fake, of course it does, but Tom doesn’t seem to notice. He just turns towards Jamie with a perfect smile.

“You have such lovely friends, Jamie. It was nice to meet you both.” Jamie wasn’t so sure about that but played along and let Tom walk him to the car. Tom opened Jamie’s door for him before walking around to get in himself. He saw Kelly sling an arm around Gary’s shoulders as they drove away. Jamie took a deep breath and remembered it was all for the best. He reminded himself that this was what he wanted: stability. He didn’t want to fight anymore. The words Gary had said that night still rung in his ears. He was sure his own snarls were not forgotten either.

It started to rain as they parked but Tom had an umbrella. Gary never had an umbrella. You’d think that living in Manchester he’d learn to at least keep one in his car. Instead, he resorted to sprinting away from the rain as fast as he could trying to avoid the rain, he wasn’t as fast as he used to be. But Tom was prepared, he always was. He held the umbrella for the both of them as they walked around to the front of the restaurant.

“James, try the torte it’s quite delicious.” Jamie hated being called James. Absolutely hated it. Not when Gary said it though. His stupid manc accent stretched the vowels into velvet. When Gary said it he felt special. Tom’s polished London accent made him feel posh, pretentious, and twatty. James. Ugh. It was like the word torte. It’s a fucking cake, just call it what it is. Jamie took a bite of the torte. It was good if you ignored the aftertaste of soya in the frosting, a little dry, but Jamie nodded his head like it was an orange mcflurry. He let Tom finish the dessert.

They’re in the car. Tom’s dropping Jamie off at his apartment. Tom must have noticed that Jamie had been quiet and switched the topic to something a little more in his wheelhouse: football. They were talking about England and possible squads for the upcoming international break. Tom started talking about moving Kyle Walker into midfield and Jamie couldn’t take it.

“That’s bollocks. Where is the one place on the field where we actually have players? Fucking midfield. Gareth’s drowning in defenders but not experienced ones. Playing Walker in midfield fucking undermines Henderson and leaves the young centrebacks overexposed.” Tom laughs for some reason. Jamie doesn’t find it funny.

“Well, you would certainly know.” This is what you want, he reminds himself again. Peace, calm, stability. This is happiness. But, fuck, Jamie missed Gary. He missed the challenge. He missed the little crease between Gary’s eyes. He missed Gary’s squeaky voice when he gets worked up. He missed fighting and bickering with Gary over things that didn’t matter. He missed screaming at Gary and Gary screaming back. He missed the really hot sex they’d have after such screaming matches, making Gary scream in a different, more satisfying way. He missed Gary’s laugh, his smile. It seemed to Jamie that neither of them have smiled much since that day. Jamie thought that smiling didn’t seem worth it if Gary wasn’t smiling back.

Jamie checked his phone. It was nearing 1 am. He had a handful of messages from Kelly. Jamie didn’t want to read about how great she thought Tom was, he fucking knew that Tom was great. On paper, he was fucking perfect. The perfect boyfriend. The dream guy. Not for Jamie though. He dreamed of an angry, passionate, crazy, wonderful manc. He opened his messages anyways though, figuring Tom would want to hear what Kelly thought about him.

Jamie. I know you’re on your date but we need to talk. Can you call me? It’s about Gaz. The first one read.

He’s at mine. Really upset. He said not to talk to you so I figure you know what’s going on. That sounded about right. Kelly caring more about Gary’s well being than Gary himself. Gary was too stubborn to care.

Call me please. The last one read. Fuck. They’d made a mess of things. Not only had they made a mess of themselves, but they’d also dragged the others into it.

“Can you pull into that park up there?” Jamie asked Tom. He nodded and turned down the radio, waiting for Jamie to say something more. He didn’t though. Not until he got out of the car and puked some partially digested salad in the grass. Tom came over to him and rested his palm on Jamie’s mid back. Gary used to pet his hair, carding his fingers through it, on those mornings after he’d had a little too much to drink.

Jamie laid on his back in the middle of the parking lot. The rain soaked through his thin shirt in seconds. Tom looked down at him concerned. “I can’t do this, Tom. You’re so lovely. I mean you’re so fucking lovely but I just can’t—”

“I get it, James. You’re still in love with him.” The bastard still looked perfect even drenched with rain. Jamie guessed that he probably looked like a drowned rat. Jamie must have been giving him a confused look because he laughed and explained further. “I saw the way you used to look at him on the tele like he’s the fucking sun. I saw the way you looked at him tonight like being around him was tearing you apart. Besides, I’m pretty sure half the nation knew there was something going on there.” Jamie laughed at that. They had been pretty obvious. And not just Gary, apparently. Apparently, he was just as open of a book. He needed to call Kelly.

She picked up after three rings. “Hi Carra,” she whispered, “needed to get out of the living room, Gaz’s sleeping on my couch.”

“Is he okay?” Jamie asked, not really wanting to hear the answer.

“He’s a wreck, Jamie. He misses you.” I miss him too, Jamie didn’t say, so much.

“Can I come round?” Jamie asked. Kelly said yes so long as Jamie can get Gary the hell out of her living room and gave Carra her address.

Thankfully, Kelly’s place was nearby, about a mile away. Jamie didn’t know where he got the energy considering he was dead on his feet a few minutes before, but he ran there as fast as he possibly could. His water-filled shoes squished loudly with every step. He got there in seven minutes and was panting heavily when he knocked on the door. Kelly let him in wordlessly.

Gary was still sleeping on the couch when he walked into the living room. Kelly gave him a nod and walked into the kitchen. Jamie kneeled next to Gary and cupped his cheek with his palm. Jamie hadn’t realized how much he’d missed that simple feeling. Gary’s forehead was still crinkled in his sleep. His eyes were dark like he hadn’t slept much. Jamie hadn’t either. It was hard to sleep alone, without Gary’s comforting weight on his chest. Jamie took Gary’s hand from where it was tucked under his chin and intertwined their fingers. The weight of Gary’s hand in his set relief running through Jamie’s body. Gary started to stir at that.

“James?” Jamie smiles at that. His stupid name sounds beautiful coming from Gary’s mouth. His eyes weren’t even open yet and Gary already knows it’s him. “What are you doing here?” He opened his eyes slightly but upon seeing Jamie they were wide open. Gary’s eyes were red and bloodshot. Jamie just wanted to yank him into his arms and hug him forever.

“What are you doing here, you muppet? Bothering Kelly at 2 am?” Jamie said playfully. Gary flushed slightly. “Come on, Gaz. Let’s get you home.” He grabbed Gary’s hand to pull him up. Gary stumbled when he tried to take a step. Carra looked down at the empty beer bottles and figured that was why. He grabbed Gary’s arm and slung it over his shoulder. Gary’s head rested in the crook of Jamie’s neck, his soft breathing tickling at the skin there.

“Kelly,” Jamie called softly into the kitchen, “we’re leaving.” She came out to stand in the doorway in her fluffy, pink bunny slippers that Jamie had somehow not noticed before. Jamie thought he should get Gary a pair.

“Set an alarm,” she said, “he wakes up early. Don’t let him bolt.” Jamie figured Gary wouldn’t be racing out of his apartment at 5 am with the hangover he was sure to have but it was still a good idea. Gary was an unpredictable, stubborn bastard at times. Jamie thanked her and helped Gary down to his car.

It was still pouring when they got out of the building because clearly the gods wanted Gary to either sober up or catch his death. Thankfully, in his upset Gary had forgotten to lock the car meaning Carra didn’t have to fumble around for his keys in the current weather. Except, that Gary wouldn’t get into the car. He sprawled his limbs over the door so Jamie couldn’t push him inside.

“Gary, if you don’t get your arse in that car, I’m going to leave you out here to drown.” Obviously, he wasn’t serious but he figured that Gary might be drunk enough not to know that. Gary just smiled up fondly at him and stayed put.

“I love you,” he said, looking like the most radiant, beautiful thing Jamie had ever seen in his life. His hair was a mess, stuck down to his forehead. His cheeks were bright red from a mix of alcohol and the cold. His eyes were still red but god they held all the love in the world. Jamie could see that somehow, after everything, Gary still loved him, truly loved him. After all the things he said, screamed, did, this man--this beautiful man--still loved Jamie every ounce as much as Jamie loved him. It didn’t matter what he should want, he wanted Gary and all of his adorable, infuriating flaws. His recipe to happiness was just that: his own. He didn’t need stability, calm, peace. He needed to feel something.

Jamie cupped his face for the second time that night. He ran his thumb over Gary’s wet, stubbly cheeks. Jamie couldn’t help himself. He kissed Gary with all of the kisses they’d missed in the past two months. The two months of pain, loneliness, desolation. He kissed Gary with all of the love he had in his cold, wet body and Gary did the same. Gary moved slower than Jamie, less frantically but no less enthusiastically. Gary clutched at his jacket like a vice, unwilling to let go. Jamie moved his hands around Gary’s body. He wanted to make sure that everything was still as he remembered it. And it was. Of course, it was. He had Gary in his arms, it didn’t matter that the rain had picked up. Though, he was sure he’d hear about the soggy interior of Gary’s car in the morning. He pulled away reluctantly for breath and rested his forehead against Gary’s.

#carraville #jamie carragher #gary neville #thank you taylor for the inspiration #very loosely inspired by the way I loved you #my fic

17 notes · View notes

what-is-your-plan-today · 4 years

Text

CSI Rogers And Barnes: The Serious Cereal Serial Killer. Episode 17- At Last Pt. 1

Co-written with @icanfeelastormbrewing

Summary: It’s Tony’s wedding weekend, and the usual fun and antics ensue. Then Steve and Katie take an extra evening in Manhattan, where Steve has a little surprise of his own planned.

Warnings: Bad Language words. SMUT IN PART 2 (NO UNDER 18s and NSFW)

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

A/N: So this is it. The FINAL CSI: Rogers and Barnes instalment. (Well, bar an Epilogue…) and it’s long so we split into 2. This has been one hell of a ride! It’s been a total playground for us, seeing how many stupid references and ridiculous actions we could fit in, and our first collaboration. We hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as we have. Myself and Storm love each and every one of you who’ve taken the time to read, like, comment and re-bog.

We love you 3000…

CSI R&B Masterlist

Main Masterlist

Chapter Song: At Last- Etta James

You smile, and then the spell was cast, and here we are in heaven for you are mine. At Last.

Steve stretched out, rolling over and reached out for Katie only for his hand to meet a cold, empty mattress. He opened his eyes, confused for a second at the unfamiliar surroundings before he realised he was in his room at the Plaza…and it’s the morning of Tony’s wedding. His head was a little fuzzy due to the drinks last night which had gone on late and he could remember sitting in Tony’s suite drinking the bottle of scotch Sam had pilfered from the free bar at the rehearsal party. They had an impromptu party once the girls had left for Pepper and Tony’s and he remembered complaining loudly about why Sam and Bucky got to spend the night together when Katie wasn’t allowed to stya with him.

Jesus what had he turned into? A clingy bastard, that’s what.

He reached for his phone, checking the time which was 9 am. He dropped it back on the bedside table and tried to go back to sleep but he couldn’t. Not without her so he gave up. Firing Katie a quick ‘good morning beautiful’ message, he then kicked off the bed covers and shoved on a pair of sweats and a T-shirt. Grabbing his kit he decided to head for the pool to make the most of the facilities.

The place was fairly busy considering the time on a Saturday morning, but there was a lane closed off for the ‘serious’ swimmers with no one in it so he made use of that for half an hour before he made his way into the changing rooms and showered. By the time he was drying off in the locker room, Katie had messaged back wishing him a ‘good morning handsome’ and complaining she had a bad head from a lot of champagne. He smiled, replied that he was sure she’d soon get over it when they start again, and then just as he’d done that another message came through. This one from Tony who had apparently ordered a fuck tonne of room service for a breakfast party.

Deciding that wasn’t such a bad idea he replied saying he was on his way, shoved his phone in his pocket, grabbed his kit bag and headed to the elevator. When he got to Tony’s suite he knocked on the door, the faint well natured chatter from inside hit his ears before the door swung open. Rhodey greeted him and Steve stepped in to see Tony led on a chaise in a hotel robe, eating grapes like a Roman Emperor. Steve snorted.

“Having Fun Tony?”

Tony grinned “Am I ever? I love all this. You know, I might get married once every 2 years.” He looked at Steve “You should try it, Rogers.”

Steve rolled his eyes, remembering full well about the ring that was tucked in the safe in his room.

From his spot over by the low coffee table, Bucky shot Steve a glance. He was certain the punk was gonna pop the question this weekend, why else would he have booked an extra night for them to stay in Manhattan on Sunday as well? When Steve suggested it to Katie over breakfast a few weeks ago, he’d simply stated it was an opportunity for them to spend a bit of time together in the run up to Christmas, but if said girl didn’t return to Brooklyn on Monday with a ring on her finger then James Buchanan Barnes would chop of his left arm with a chainsaw.

At that point, Rhodey, ever the tactical, organised man asked Tony what the plan was for the day and Tony simply looked at him, and blinked.

“Aren’t you the best man?”

Bucky sighed “What a waste. I could have been a groomsman….ow!” he hissed, rubbing his side as Sam had elbowed him sharply in the ribs.

Rhodey completely ignored Bucky and looked at Tony “I am, yes, but you’re the Groom.” Tony waved him away “Yeah, yeah. We need to be dressed and in the room for 1. Ceremony is at 1:45, girls should arrive at half past and our stylist is arriving at midday. Easy.”

Steve glanced at his watch and Bucky smirked up at him “Hey, Stevie…only 3 hours till you see her punk…” From besides him, Sam snorted.

“You’re whipped man.”

Steve glared at them both, not even bothering to deny that was what he’d been checking and turned to Tony. “Is Greatmaster…Grandmaster, whatever, your wedding planner coming?” “Right, yeah that….asshole shall be showing up at some point.” Tony rolled his eyes “Fortunately I’m getting rid of him for the day.” He shoved another grape in his mouth and looked at Bruce “Remind me never to hire anyone you or the Bungalow recommend ever again.”

They boys settled down to eat, taking their time, enjoying a bit of banter about the stag do and the previous night’s rehearsal until an hour or so later Tony clapped his hands and stood up.

“Ok boys, suit up.”

Steve made his way back to his room and whilst in the elevator he got another message from Katie. This was a selfie of her in a robe with a glass of champagne having her hair put up. He smiled, responded telling her he couldn’t wait to see her, before the elevator door opened and he headed down to his room. Having already showered he knew he wasn’t in a huge rush so took his time trimming his beard, making sure the lines were crisp before he shrugged on his dress shirt, tying a Windsor in his deep, scarlet tie. Then he pulled on his suit pants, matching waistcoat and then jacket before placing his shiny black oxfords on and stood up. With a little product he styled his hair, making sure it was parted and slicked back as usual before taking a final glance in the mirror, smoothing down his jacket. He had to admit, the suits Tony (or most likely Pepper) had chosen for the Groom’s party were sharp. A black wool blend Tom Ford with a subtle red and gold check detail. Deciding he looked half decent he grabbed his wallet, phone, and room key. Satisfied he didn’t need anything else, he made his way back to Tony’s room.

Once more he gave a rap and the door opened inwards to reveal Grandmaster, smiling at him.

“Good afternoon Mr Rogers, you look dapper.” The man grinned, batting his eyelashes.

“Erm, thanks.” Steve replied in the absence of anything else to say.

“You’re late by the way.” Grandmaster continued.

“What?” Steve frowned, checking his watch to find he wasn’t late. He was never late…

“You’re the last one.” Grandmaster stated, as ways of explanation. “Everyone else is here already.”

“That’ doesn’t mean that I’m late.” Steve shook his head.

“No, I suppose it doesn’t,” Grandmaster replied, batting his eyelashes again.

“Whatever, can I come in?” Steve arched an eyebrow at him.

“Oh yeah, sure. Sorry. I got lost in your eyes for a minute there.”

Steve looked at the man, utterly lost for words. The guy was as nutty as a fruitcake. Steve stepped into the room, turning sideways as Grandmaster did the same smiling at him. He hastily moved into the living area of the suite where Rhodey was doing up Tony’s gold dress tie.

Grandmaster headed over to Bruce, brushing something off the man’s shoulder, smiling “You’ve always been my champion.”

Steve raised his eyebrows before he leaned over to whisper to Sam “How does Bruce know him again?”

“Some Ultimate Fighting online fan group.” Sam said “Bruce and Thor are very into it, apparently, along with one of Thor’s other good friends, Korg.”

“Korg?” Steve looked at Sam.

“Yeah, Thor knew him from his Uni days.” Sam said “They used to be quite political apparently. Tried to organise a protest against fascism but they didn’t print enough pamphlets so hardly anyone turned up.” Steve shook his head, the fact that didn’t surprise him in the slightest was ridiculous, but when it came to this lot, nothing did really, not anymore. It wasn’t long before Tony was ready, and the boys all stood round with one more scotch each before they were ushered, by a now very militant Grandmaster, down to the chapel where the wedding was going to take place in. Once there, Grandmaster headed off to check the function suite was ready for the ‘Post Wedding Meal’. At his muttering of those words, Steve and Tony shared a little grin at the memory of a few weeks ago in Tony’s kitchen.

The Photographer arrived and set about arranging the boys for a few shots. Bucky tried to sneak into most of them, Tony at one point telling him to fuck off from his grooms party shots, which was the WORST thing he could possibly have done, as Bucky then made it his mission to infiltrate as many of them as he could by stealth. Steve had to admit, he couldn’t wait to see the final shots of Bucky popping up all over the place like some kind of nameless assassin.

As they were all having a shot taken just at the doors of the room, Grandmaster bustled back in. “OH. EMM. GEE.” He said, pronouncing each letter, drawing out the vowel sounds. “My crew sent me photos of the girls…you’re all going to DIE when you see them.” He grinned, slapping Steve’s back.

Ducking away from him, Steve checked his watch. 12:15…not long now. But before he could think about it, the first guests started to arrive having been shown the way by the concierge, and it was all to attention and the groomsman duties began.

Approximately 10 or so minutes later, he was just heading back to the door of the chapel having shown the assistant from the lab to her seat when he stopped dead as he saw Katie just outside in the foyer area, locked in an embrace with Tony. He was sure his heart stopped for a beat, fuck, she looked stunning. Her dress was the same colour as his tie, a deep red with a halter neck and a v neckline. It cinched in at the waist, with a fairly loose fitting skirt that had a slit up the side and it accentuated her figure perfectly. Her hair was pulled back into an elegant knot of curls at the back of her head, exposing her delicate neck and shoulders, and the star necklace he bought her twinkled as it sat just below the hollow of her throat. For some reason his mind strayed back to the time he had met her. He’d been invited to Howard’s for dinner a few months after arriving at the 101st and she’d answered the door, dressed in a pair of cut-off jeans, an oversized grey sweater which hung off one shoulder complete with a messy bun on top of her head and the prettiest eyes he had ever seen, eyes which were now popping from underneath a lid of smoky brown and gold eyeshadow. She’d flashed him a smile that day, invited him in, and if he was honest from that moment he’d been a fucking gonner for her. Why he had waited the best part of ten fucking years to even kiss her he would never understand. As he watched her eyes turned to his and she beamed at him. He gave her a smile back as she released Tony and made her way towards him, her leg slipping through the long slit in her dress as she walked giving him a flash of the peep-toe gold heels she was wearing, leaving him actively fighting the image of said heels being hooked around his ears…. Jesus Christ….

“Miss me Captain?” She grinned, her teeth bright white against the deep, blood red lip stain she was wearing.

“Always Doll.” He smiled as she stopped in front of him, blinking as she looked up at him.

“Good, because I missed you too.”

“You look amazing, honey.” Steve complimented her and she beamed up at him, scanning his suit.

“Thanks, you look pretty good yourself.” She said, her palms sliding up the lapels of his jacket.

Steve’s hand slipped round her back as he pressed a soft kiss to her cheek, not wanting to smudge her lipstick. When his palm met bare skin he couldn’t help the groan that left his mouth as he realised her dress was backless. Katie looked at him having heard his involuntary noise, arching a perfectly plucked brow and smirked.

“Yes, no bra Stevie.”

“You’re killing me sweetheart.” Steve whined out but before she could reply, Steve was rather harshly slapped on the back.

“Put her down, Punk you’re needed.” Bucky smirked as he turned to Katie, doing an over exaggerated double take as he looked her up and down “Huh, ok, so you look decent…” “Fuck you Barnes.” She shot back “And tell them they can wait a little, I haven’t seen my man since last night.” “Oh believe me I know. He’s been a whiney little bitch all morning…”

At that point a familiar voice cut him off. “James Buchanan Barnes, wash your mouth out, this is a wedding!”

Bucky grimaced as huge grins spread across both Katie and Steve’s faces. “Sorry Momma R” “Yes, I should think so.” Sarah looked at him sternly.

“Okay, I’m gonna…go…ummm…” Bucky hastily made his retreat, Sarah watching him with narrowed eyes before she turned to Katie, beaming as she gave her a hug.

“Star you look stunning.”

“Thanks Sarah and so do you, I love your dress.” Katie smiled, looking down at Sarah’s light gold knee length gown and Steve had to admit, it had been a while since he’d seen his ma done up. She was quite striking actually. “I love the neckline, and your hair.”

“Yes, thank you for that.” She gave Katie a look and she blushed a little, waving her away.

“Thank you for what?” Steve asked and Sarah looked at him, smiling.

“I had a little surprise this morning. Star arranged for someone to come and do my hair for me.”

Steve looked at Katie, a soft smile crossing his face. “You did?”

Katie shrugged “It’s no big deal.” “Well it was to me, so thank you.” Sarah smiled, before she turned to Steve. “My boy…don’t you look handsome?”

Steve blushed a little “Ma…” he sighed and Sarah chuckled

“Are you going to show me to my seat?” she asked and Steve smiled. He offered his mom his arm, shot Katie another smile and then walked into the room. As they reached the row she was to be seated on he stopped and reached up to brush his cheek. “You look just like your father.”

Steve didn’t miss the emotion in his mom’s eyes and he swallowed a little as she took her seat one down from the end of the row. “Have you…?”

“God, Ma. No, not yet. And I won’t be today either, its Tony’s wedding…”

Sarah opened her mouth to speak, most likely to pressure Steve to hurry up again but she was cut off by a voice from behind them.

“I believe my seat is just there…”

Steve frowned, he recognised that voice. He turned to see none other than Stan Lee smiling at him.

“Mr Lee?” he asked as the elderly man beamed at him “I didn’t know you were invited.” He extended his hand to shake Stan’s. “Good to see you again.”

“You too Captain. May I?”

Steve gave a nod and moved so Stan could drop into the seat on the end of the row, next to his mom.

“Good afternoon Ma’am, looks like I’m on the young’uns row.” Stan beamed at Sarah who burst out laughing. Steve shook his head with a snort and left them to it, making his way back out of the room to find the rest of his team had now arrived, Thor currently giving Katie a huge hug. He greeted Natasha who touched his arm gently before making a bee line for Bruce. He watched her go, smirking to himself, before he turned and raised an eyebrow at Clint. Clint merely shrugged and then introduced the Captain to his girlfriend, Laura. Thor then turned to him, shaking hands with Steve and moved slightly to reveal Gina was stood now talking to Katie.

“Greetings Captain, I bought a date.” Thor grinned.

“I see.” Steve said, raising his eyebrows, not bothering to correct Thor on what he had just said making it sound like he’d purchased Gina in some way...

“Yeah…” Gina turned to Steve. “The way he says it he sounds like he’s bought a bottle of wine.”

Thor shook his head “No, I don’t drink wine.”

At that Katie burst out laughing and turned away, shaking her head slightly.

“It’s a good thing he’s dreamy” Gina said, jerking her thumb at Thor.

Steve’s attention then was then distracted by a loud voice “Miss Stark, you look stunning…” He turned to see flash fucking fire dude, Johnny Storm approaching her and he gave a little groan, rolling his eyes.

“Captain…” Thor asked and Steve turned back to him “Where do we err sit?” Steve floundered for a moment, he really didn’t want to leave the fire bastard alone with his girl so he turned to Bucky who was watching him, a huge grin on his face.

“Buck can you…”

Bucky raised both palms, shaking his head, smirking smugly “Hey, I’m not part of the groomsman party…”

“Fuck you jerk.” Steve shot back and Bucky raised his eyebrows.

“Ok, first off, watch your language. This is a chapel, a place of worship and two…” at this point he dropped his voice and gave Steve a stern look. “Stop with the jealousy, she’s with you. No competition.”

“What is he even doing here?” Steve frowned, completely ignoring what Bucky had said, and the sergeant took a deep sigh. He was just about to inform Steve that he had no idea when a voice sounded from behind them.

“Johnny, there you are!”

Bucky and Steve turned to see a tall, dark haired man and a blonde woman approaching them. The blonde rolled her eyes “Of course he would be here, Hi Katie.”

Katie smiled “Hi Susan.”

“Well this is cute and all but…” Gina spoke again, “like seriously, Captain. Where do we sit?”

Steve groaned and took another glance at Johnny who was bouncing on the balls of his feet, grinning as Katie chatted to the 3 people in front of her. Knowing he couldn’t not show the team to their seats, he rolled his eyes and moved gently to loop his arm round Katie’s waist, dropping a kiss to her cheek. A flicker of a smile crossed her pretty face and she turned to look at him, leaving him with absolutely no question she knew he was ‘marking his territory’ so to speak, before he grudgingly turned away to show the team to their seats.

“Smooth.” Bucky observed.

“Shut up.” Steve snapped back as he led his team down to a row half way down the room. This time, when he once more emerged from the room he was greeted by a whirl of gold and blue and he let out a low groan. Grandmaster.

Tony’s eccentric wedding planner started to clap his hands at Steve “The bride is here…get everyone seated, we’re behind schedule…”

Tony, who had been stood talking to someone grumbled to Steve “I wish he was behind schedule, preferably by a week so he wasn’t here.”

Steve gave a snort as Grandmaster turned to Katie and Pepper’s sister “Miss Stark, Miss Potts, the Bride may need your help…” At that he then looked at Steve, didn’t I tell you she looked stunning?” “You said gorgeous.” Bucky replied lazily.

“No.” Grandmaster frowned “Why would I use that word?”

Before Bucky could reply to the very strangely dressed man in front of him, Rhodey then appeared, smiling. “All set.” He smiled, clapping Tony on the shoulder “You ready?” Tony shook his head “Nope.”

Katie smiled, “You’ll be fine.” Steve watched as she stepped forward to give her brother a hug before she pulled back, her hands on his arms. “Mom and Dad would be so proud.”

Tony swallowed before he nodded “Ok, kiddo…don’t make me cry. Go help Pepper, tell her she’s already late.”

Katie rolled her eyes as Tony and Rhodey headed into the room, being ushered along by Grandmaster. She glanced at Steve and smiled. “See you in a minute.”

Steve smiled back, reaching out to pull her to him, dropping a kiss to her lips. “Don’t make it too long Doll.” She grinned and turned, giving him a full on view of the back of her dress, leaving his mouth a little dry and he made his way to his place on the front row, slightly down from where Tony and Rhodey were stood at the front of the aisle. On the way he shot his mom a smile as she beamed proudly at him, Bucky nodding as he sat next to her on the opposite side to Stan Lee. For some reason Steve was nervous. Why, he had no idea. He’d already seen his girl and she’d taken his breath away once already, but here he was, a ball of tense energy. He could hear Tony and Rhodey talking, but he wasn’t focussing, that was until Tony’s voice grew loud and indignant

“That man is playing Galaga” Tony pointed to a man on the second row who was engrossed in his phone. “He thought I wouldn’t notice, but I did.”

“Man, shut up and relax…” Rhodey soothed him.

“I need a drink, something strong…is it bad I can’t feel my left arm.” Tony looked at Rhodey who was about to respond when the music started and everyone stood up. Steve turned his attention to the door which opened inwards and Katie and Pepper’s sister stepped into the room, walking down the aisle.

Bucky watched Steve as he took a deep breath, his eyes on his girl as she glided towards them, a stupid, dopey, gooey-eyed smile crossing the Captains face. “Gross” he mumbled, giving a soft yelp as Sarah slapped him round the back of the head. Fury, who was on the seat to Bucky’s left gave a little snigger. Bucky looked at him and frowned. “What are you doing here? That’s not even your seat, I’ve seen the seating plan.”

“I’m sure you have Barnes.” Fury replied lazily “But given that it’s a stupid ass plan designed by an even more stupid ass planner I’ve elected to ignore it.”

As Katie reached the front row, Bucky saw her shoot Steve a huge smile, which his punk best friend returned, and then there were gasps in the room. Bucky turned and saw Pepper in a gorgeous, yet so simple silk, straight A-line dress, which was embellished round the waist in red and gold embroidery. He glanced at Tony, and was amused to see that the normally composed scientist was literally floundering for air. Bucky then caught Sam’s eye who flashed him a wink which he returned, and Sarah nudged him.

“See, that’s what being in love does to you James.”

Bucky smiled at her as she squeezed his hand gently. Throughout the Ceremony Bucky saw Steve kept on looking at Katie who was on the same row but the opposite side of the aisle. She was watching Tony, her eyes glassy. At one point, Pepper’s sister took her hand and she turned to her, giving her a smile, before they both looked back, Katie turning to Steve. She shot him a huge grin which he returned, and Bucky smiled to himself. It might be gross, but it was cute. He liked seeing Steve happy.

When the ceremony was over, Tony was told he could kiss his bride.

“Well, I’m not one to back down from an honest challenge…” he muttered, stepping forward and sweeping her up in a huge kiss to loud cheers in the room. As music began to play again, the new Mr and Mrs Stark swept down the aisle followed by Rhodey and Pepper’s sister. Steve walked on behind smiling as he reached the end of his row.

“May I Miss Stark?” he offered Katie his arm and she grinned, linking hers into the crook of his elbow and he lay his hand over hers. As they walked towards the doors, he caught his mom’s eye as she dabbed her tears away with a tissue. She beamed at him, and he smiled back, before he turned to look at Katie, dropping a soft kiss to her temple.

**** The meals were eaten, the toasts were done, and tears were shed through the afternoon. But once the reception was done, the drinks kept on flowing right through to the evening party. Steve was relaxed, feeling the buzz from a fair amount of wine, beer and shorts which had been consumed through the day. There was a loud tapping noise on the speakers and Steve glanced up from where he was sat at a table near the dance floor, Katie perched on his lap, as Tony and Pepper were welcomed to the floor for their first dance. The opening bars to Etta James ‘At Last’ last rang out around the room and Katie gave a snort.

“You can say that again.” She chuckled and Steve grinned, his arm curling round her as she watched her brother, her eyes glassy with tears. “You know…” she leaned down to Steve, this should really be our song.”

“Doll, just don’t…”

She shrugged and he gave a little huff of a laugh as she turned back to watch Tony slowly revolving Pepper around the floor, the camera flashing from the photographer. After the first verse the MC invited people to join them, as tradition and Katie looked at Steve. He nodded and she stood up, taking his hand and leading him to the dance floor.

Bucky watched them go, picking up his drink, smiling.

“Look, now there are two Stark ladies!” Thor grinned as the team watched Steve take Katie in a close hold, gracefully revolving them on the spot, the pair of them sharing a laugh at something.

“Not for much longer.” Bucky grinned.

“What do you mean?” Thor frowned,

Besides Bucky Clint gave a snort as the sergeant looked at Thor blinking “You know, I don’t get it. Like, you’re super clever sometimes and others…”

Thor shrugged and then Bucky turned his attention over the table to see Scott Lang, their assistant looking at Natasha.

“Are you gonna eat that peanut butter macaroon or…” Scott began, but Natasha wasn’t listening, she was too busy caressing Bruce’s palm as it lay on the table in front of her so Scott reached out and grabbed it, shoving it in his mouth. On the dancefloor, Steve effortlessly moved Katie around the floor to the song as it played. She tucked her head under his chin and he breathed her in, his hand splaying on her bare back, simply relishing the fact she was so close. He didn’t speak a word, simply allowed the music and being with her to sweep him away, and he was rather unceremoniously jolted back to reality when loud applause sounded as the song finished. The MC congratulated Tony and Pepper once more, Katie turned to give her brother a huge hug, before the man on the mic wished everyone a Merry Christmas and the sounds of Wham, ‘Last Christmas’ rang out, cheers hitting Steve’s ears as suddenly the dance floor filled up.

Almost immediately, Bucky was in front of him, throwing what looked like torn up place cards into the air, holding his arms out “Merry Christmas and Happy 2021!”

Sam, who was besides Bucky looked at him “Its 2020 next year, idiot.”

Steve dusted the paper off his shoulders, picking pieces out of Katie’s hair as she looked at Bucky, frowning. Bucky turned to Sam and shrugged “Yeah I know but I don’t like 2020. Sounds like a shit year to me…although…” he spun to Steve grinning and Steve took a deep breath and shot him a glare, which he totally ignored “It could be a good one eh Stevie?”

“What is he talking about?” Katie looked at Steve.

“God knows, he’s drunk.” Steve shrugged as Bucky made a clicking noise as he winked, pointing at both of them. Thankfully, Sam dragged him away, Katie and Steve both watched them go before Katie turned back around. Smiling, Steve took her back in a hold that was a little lighter this time as the music was more upbeat and they began to dance together once more.

“Hmmm. Last Christmas…” Katie pondered and Steve let out a groan.

“Can we…” he took a deep breath, dropping his head “Can we just not? Please Doll. I’m not very proud of myself when I think about it.” Katie chuckled and her hands came to rest on his shoulders as he moved them in a little livelier dance. “Ok, sorry. But, it worked out in the end.”

“It did. But I caused you a lot of pain along the way.” He sighed, “Too much.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t hang around and give you chance to explain or try and work it out.” Katie looked up at him. “I just ran away.

“I didn’t exactly try and stop you did I?” Steve looked at her.

“No, you didn’t Captain Righteous.” Katie conceded and Steve chuckled as she shook her head “God I was so mad at you.”

“I was mad at myself Sweetheart.” “But if I’m honest, I was more upset that we’d blown our chance.” Steve took a deep breath. “I really thought we had. Well, that I had…”

“Stevie?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t you ever leave me again, please.” She said, almost whispered. Steve frowned and looked at her, her face was loaded with emotion and beneath those sparkling green emerald eyes he could see a flicker of fear.

“Hey…” he reached for her hand and raised it to his mouth, pressing a kiss to her wrist “Where’s this coming from baby girl?”

Katie sniffed, “Honestly? I don’t know. It’s just, everything is so perfect. It sometimes feels a little too good to be true. And I’m scared that one day I’m gonna wake up and I’ll still be in DC…or that you might have another car crash…or a case getting nasty and you…”

She was losing herself in her head again, something he’d seen her do countless times so he quickly cut her off. “Look at me.” He cupped her face in both his hands “I’m not going anywhere Doll.”

“Promise?”

Steve opened his mouth to reply, but he knew full well that words wouldn’t do this moment justice. Instead he dipped his face to hers, catching her mouth in a deep kiss, not caring who the fuck was watching. He poured every single piece of emotion he was feeling into that kiss, desperate for her to understand that he had no intention of leaving her ever again and she must have gotten the message as he felt her relax into his hold, kissing him back, her hands softly gripping at the material of his jacket.

“Erm, stop eating his face Kiddo, this is my wedding.” Tony interrupted “It’s supposed to be about me….and Pepper” he added.

Steve could feel his cheeks growing warm as Katie pulled away from him with a groan and a roll of her eyes as she turned to face Tony.

“How about you go eat your wife’s face and leave us the fuck alone Tones?”

“Rude much?” He snorted “I raised you better than that.”

“You didn’t raise me at all, Tony!” Katie scoffed.

“Ok, it was a figure of…” he trailed off, frowning at something over her shoulder. “What the hell is Thor doing?”

Steve and Katie turned to see Thor was stood his nose almost touching one of the branches of the lit up Christmas Trees round the edge of the room.

“Oh, he was rambling on over dinner about Norwegian Spruce trees.” Katie shrugged, “Maybe he’s trying to figure out if that is one or not.”

“He was rambling about what?” Tony looked at her.

“It’s a type of tree which…” Steve began but Tony cut him off.

“You know what, on second thoughts I’m not really interested.” Steve sighed and looked at Katie who rolled her eyes as Tony continued “By the way, how do you like the décor?”

Steve watched Katie look around and knew what she’s was going to say, because she loved this time of year, turning into one huge, great child over the entire period of December. And true to form, when she opened her mouth to reply, she was grinning ear to ear.

“I gotta say, he might be a pain in the ass but Grandmaster got this right. I love it.” She smiled.

“Yeah, me too.” Tony agreed. “It’s like Christmas but with more me.” Steve let out a snort and Tony clapped his shoulder “Remind me to give you his card.” And with that he left, Steve shooting daggers at him. Thankfully, Katie was too engrossed in what Thor was doing to hear Tony offering Steve the services of a wedding planner. He saw her frown and his attention then flicked to the tall blonde, frowning.

“What is he offering my Ma?”

“Condoms.” A voice shot back, and Steve wheeled round to glare at Bucky who had appeared out of nowhere.

“For fucks sake Buck!” he growled as Katie spluttered out a laugh.

“Just kidding.” Bucky grinned, “They’re sweets. He handed them out before, you two were too busy dancing.”

“Sweets?” Katie arched an eyebrow.

“Yeah, he said he got em off a suspect…no, not a suspect, a suspects brief, yeah…”

“Bucky, are you ok?” Katie asked him and Steve looked at her, then to Bucky who did look a little, what was the word, spaced?

“Yeah, I feel…great!” He replied with a giggle.

Katie looked at him again before she let out a small “oh.” And groaned a little “Oh God.”

“What is it?” Steve asked, but she ignored him and continued talking to Bucky.

“How many of those sweets Thor has did you eat?”

“3 maybe 4…I dunno…” Bucky giggled, “I want more though.”

At that point, the man in questioned arrived. “Greetings!” Thor beamed at Katie and Steve, holding out a little foil packet “Sweet?”

“Thor, the guy who gave you those, was he wearing suspenders?” Katie asked and Steve frowned.

“Yes, I believe he was, along with a very bright lime green shirt. Nice chap.” Thor mused “He used many Post Its”

At that Steve looked at Katie, giving a little groan as he suddenly understood “Weiss?”

Katie nodded “They were a favourite little party treat of his.”

Steve snatched the bag from Thor and sniffed inside, pulling back immediately, the smell of cannabis sticking in his nostrils. “Jesus how can you not smell that?”

“Wait…” Bucky said, taking a sniff and looking at Steve “These have weed in them? The things I ate?”

Katie took a sniff and wrinkled her nose “Yup, and they’re stronger than I remember.”

“Than you remember? You used to do this?” Steve looked at her and she shrugged.

“Hey, I was younger and dumber…”

“Wait, so I’m high right now?” Bucky pressed and Katie grinned.

“Yep, they’ll wear off in a while. For the time being you’ll just feel very drunk and kinda floppy.”

“Floppy?” Steve frowned and Katie nodded.

“Yeah, like nothing matters, everything is cool. They used to make me a little frisky actually, we once took them before we…” she paled and Steve looked at her, swallowing before he turned to Thor.

“Thor, you didn’t give one of these to my ma did you?” Steve asked.

“Of course, not, no.” Thor shook his head.

“Oh thank fuck” Steve breathed out.

“I gave her two.” Thor concluded. At that Bucky’s giggles suddenly turned into loud laughter as he bent over, clutching at Thor’s arm.

“For fucks sake Thor, you drugged my mom!” Steve exploded as Bucky’s laughter grew louder.

“Sarah’s gonna be hiiiiigh.”

“Where is she?” Steve demanded, ignoring Bucky.

They scanned the room, searching for her only to see her at the other side of the dancefloor with flash fire dude, who was twirling her round to the music.

“Flame on!” She whooped, her hands up in the air as Johnny grinned.

“It’s catchy right?”

With a groan Steve strode over towards them. “Ma? What are you doing? You Ok?”

Sarah grinned at him, her eyes slightly glazed “Hey Son I’m good…just dancing with this young man.” She said, looking at Johnny then back to Steve “He says he’s called the human torch but us girls can call him torch”

Steve glared at Storm as Katie reached his side “The human torch?” he deadpanned “Seriously?”

“Hey,I didn’t coin it, it was the press that did that when we put out that warehouse fire. So called because my uniform caught fire on the way out…thanks to my sister though, I escaped with nothing more than a slight smoulder.” Steve felt Katie shaking besides him and could tell she was holding back laughter. Storm flashed her a wink and Steve grit his teeth before he felt his mom slap his shoulder.

“Don’t you be giving him that look Steven Grant! This brave man is a firefighter…” at that she turned back to Johnny, sniggering. “Now, where is your hose young man?”

“Jesus Christ…” Steve groaned, looking away in disgust.

Johnny opened his mouth to speak but Katie cut him off “Err no. Don’t.”

He shrugged and then looked at Sarah who was laughing so hard she was almost bent double.

“Ok, that’s enough Ma.” Steve decided to do what he did best, take control of the situation. “ I think you need to sit down.”

“Awww, don’t be such a buzz kill Steven.”

“It ain’t the buzz I want to kill…” Steve said, his eyes locking onto Johnny’s as he gave him another filthy glare.

After a little more cajoling they manage to get Sarah to agree to sit down. Steve helped her to her seat whilst she was rambling on about not wanting to be sat with Mr Lee again because he spent all dinner complaining about the booze not being strong enough. As they reached her table Sarah suddenly stopped.

“Actually…I think I need…yeah I need to go to my room.” She looked at Steve and Katie gave a snort.

“Hey, Steve, your ma’s crashing.”

Steve shot her a look. “This is not funny.”

Before she could respond Sam appeared and looked between the two of them, then to Sarah as he raised an eyebrow, an amused smile playing on his handsome face.

“Everything OK?” he asked.

“Yeah, she had one of Thor’s magic sweets.” Katie grinned “You wanna watch Buck, he’s had 4.”

Sam snorted, “Yeah I noticed.”

“I’m hungry.” Sarah suddenly said and Steve let out a sigh.

“Sam, can you help me get her to her room. Doll, you keep an eye on Bucky.” “I want a cheeseburger.” Sarah pointed at Steve and he looked at her.

“Ma, you’ve never eaten a cheeseburger in your life.”

“Shows much you know. A McDonalds on a Friday is my secret treat…although now I told you it’s not a secret.” She raised her finger to her lips “Sshhhh you can’t tell anyone.”

Steve rolled his eyes and started leading his ma to the door, Sam following.

“Bye Sarah!” Johnny called. “Pleasure meeting you!”

“Bye hottie!” she giggled, waving her hand at him as Sam laughed. She turned to Steve, spluttering out a laugh. ”Ha, hottie, see what I did there?”

“Yes.” Steve shook his head as he led her from the room. “Very good, Ma.”

Between Steve and Sam it was fairly easy to get Sarah to her room. Once he’d made sure she was ok and had some water he closed the door and they made their way back to the main room, Steve throwing the sweets in the trash as they passed a can on the way.

“Fucking Weiss.” He grumbled to himself as Sam gave a little chuckle.

When they arrived back in the room, it was clear a fair few of his team had managed to have one of those damned sweets before he’d confiscated them. Gina, Nat and Clint were dancing, all 3 of them with odd looks and dopey grins on their faces. Katie was on the floor with Pepper and Bucky, Bucky swaying on the spot. As Steve watched Sam headed over and winked at Katie, steering Bucky away. Steve felt someone besides him and he turned to see Bruce.

“How’s the team look to you Bruce?” he asked, a smile on his face as Bruce snorted.

“Right now we’re not a team, we’re a time bomb.”

Steve had to concede he was right, as at that moment Clint started miming as if he was shooting a bow, whereas Nat looked like she was throwing knives. Gina on the other hand was stood doing the robot.

“I need a drink.” Steve concluded.

“Good idea.” Bruce agreed.

They head to the bar where Tony was leaning against it, his tie long discarded, lecturing Peter Parker. Steve, taking lead from Tony, loosened his tie and popped the top button on his shirt before he ordered himself and Bruce a bourbon each, offering one to Tony who nodded, and then Peter who asked politely for a beer instead. The 4 men engaged in conversation, and a fair few drinks as Steve was happy to remain where he was, out of the way, every so often glancing around. It was about an hour later when he saw Clint and Natasha slowly walking towards a table, dropping down into a seat, Gina following. Bucky walked over to the bar with Sam shaking his head.

“Feeling ok Pal?” Steve grinned and Bucky blinked, rubbing his eyes.

“What the fuck just happened? It was like someone took over my brain…” he looked at them.

“I think the magic wore off.” Bruce mumbled as Steve gave a snort. “

“God, I really need food.” Buck looked around.

Steve laughed and clapped Bucky on the shoulder, ordering another round of drinks.

CONTINUED IN PART 2....

#csi rogers and barnes #steve rogers #csi au #steve rogers x original female character #katie stark #bucky barnes

31 notes · View notes

themyskira · 7 years

Text

Wonder Woman #34

Previously on what’s looking increasingly like a bad practical joke: James Robinson spent three issues telling us about stuff that happened in another comic.

Also: Darkseid is a baby, and his sexy evil half-Amazon daughter is helping him age up by feeding him the demigod children of Zeus. (And, incongruously, the nymph-turned-bear Callisto, because James Robinson’s Wikipedia game is not up to scratch.)

So far Diana’s been kind of a bit player in the story, appearing in less than 50% of the first three issues. She only made five pages of the first issue; last issue she didn’t feature at all. But this week she’s back, and guys, I just have this feeling that things are looking up for--

ohwaitnevermind.

At last! JASON! The hero for all those comic fans who’ve ever been reading a Wonder Woman comic and suddenly found themselves wondering, but what about the mens? Who will be the champion for them??

Flashback. Philippus, who is far too cool for this comic, smuggles baby Jason out of Themyscira. She explains to her accomplice that she’s not hiding him from the other Amazons, but from the wrath of the gods.

On the surface of things this is an improvement, because at least we’ve gotten away from the old New-52-Amazons-sell-their-sons-for-weapons bullshit. Except— if Jason is in such danger from conniving gods and/or a jealous Hera that he has to be sent far away from his family to be raised in deepest secrecy, how come none of that applies to Diana?

And okay, maaaaybe Robinson is working on the assumption that Azzarello’s origin still stands — i.e. that Hippolyta had an affair with Zeus, then somehow hid her pregnancy from everybody and, to protect Diana from Hera’s wrath, pretended that her daughter had been made from clay and given life by the gods. Problem is, that origin story never held up to begin with (preeeeetty sure the gods are going to remember whether or not they made an entire human being for you, Hippolyta), and it certainly doesn’t hold up now.

And if it did, then why couldn’t Hippolyta use that excuse for both of them? If evil-Amazon-misandry isn’t a factor, why not just say you made two babies from clay, and raise them both on the island?

Who wants to bet it’s because Jason is some kind of super-special-dangerous-powerful-prophecy-child who needs to be double-protected?

A sailor with an irritating habit of swallowing his vowels meets Philippus at Themyscira’s border. His name is Glaucus, the once-mortal fisherman-god, who’s also too cool for this comic. He promises to raise Jason in secret.

In the present day, Diana and Jason exclaim melodramatically at each other.

“Jason! Brother! I can’t believe I’ve found you!”

“Wonder Woman. My sister!”

A fisherman in the background makes this face, which is a fair reaction, tbh.

The exclamations... escalate.

“Diana! My name’s Diana. Say it, please. I want to hear you say my name.”

“Diana. I had hoped this day would come. Every time I saw you on the news— the amazing feats you performed, and all the good you did. I prayed one day we’d be together.”

Is… is it me or do they sound more like love interests than long-lost siblings?

Jason explains that Glaucus made him swear never to contact Diana. He suggests they leave the boat for some alone time, and Diana is like, “buuuuuhhh I mean I guess I could carry you??” Forcing Jason to point out that he is her twin, for fuck’s sake, and therefore shares most of her powers, including flight.

One problem with this? According to Diana’s new Rebirth origin, she wasn’t born with powers. She was strong, sure, and a trained warrior, but it was only after she ventured into Man’s World that the gods gifted her with flight, supernatural strength, speed, the ability to talk to animals, and all the rest. Which means that, unless Jason’s undertaken any heroic quests or earned any divine favours, he ought to be just a fit, stronger-than-average dude.

Have I mentioned how much I hate this reboot-but-not-really-lol job DC’s done on Wondy?

I need to pause for a second because there is something fucked up going on with Jason’s musculature right here. He looks like he’s wearing a shirt made out of human skin.

Jason explains to Diana that it wasn’t just his oath to Glaucus that prevented him from making contact. He was scared of who he was and of what Hera might do to him. Again: if Hera’s such a threat, why did nobody make any effort to hide Diana from her?

Back at ARGUS HQ, James Robinson is persisting with this idea that Steve Trevor is both a former Air Force Colonel and a current top-ranked Naval NCO, which, by the way, means that Steve should be at least in his mid-forties.

Doctor Peril, the confusingly-named not-a-villain, tells Steve that the relics Diana recovered from Giganta during her blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance in the first issue contained metal from Apokalips, which makes Steve glower wonkily out of the page.

Diana and Jason’s reunion continues to read like a budding romance and it’s creeping me the hell out.

They exposition some more for good measure. Blah blah Themyscira is unreachable, blah blah Grail is killing Zeus-spawn, and

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

Diana asks what Jason’s other powers are. He says he has super-strength, but “maybe not as strong” as Diana, which reads like a token to appease critics of this story. ‘How can you possibly say this super-secret, super-special, super-powered, chosen-one brother plot is sexist?? We specifically said he’s not as powerful as her!!’

He adds that he has other powers unlike Diana’s, but he’s not going to tell her about them now because it would ruin whatever ham-handed dramatic reveal James Robinson has planned down the line.

Then they start talking about their love lives.

Jason is super keen to know about Steve. Who is he? Is he her boyfriend? Does Diana loooove him???

I CANNOT BE THE ONLY ONE SEEING THIS THEY ARE FLIRTING OUTRAGEOUSLY WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON

(Also, Diana says of Steve, “He has a lot of [military] ranks, wears a lot of hats”, which makes me snort. Steve has all the military ranks, guys. He collects them! He’s an Air Force Colonel, a Naval Master Chief Petty Officer — he’s even a Rear Admiral in the Coast Guard! This is absolutely how the military works! I watched NCIS this one time!)

More stilted exposition. Jason says he fights monsters occasionally, but only in secret. They ruminate on why Hippolyta chose to give Jason to Glaucus, before circling back to the demigod-murdering elephant in the room.

Then the sun starts to set and Jason intones that “the appointed time has arrived” and—

oh for shit’s sake.

Grail arrives and punches Diana through a wall. Jason goes full supervillain, attacking Diana while monologuing about how much he wants to kill her. “I’ve hated you — the very thought of your existence — I can’t bear to look at you.”

She punches him off a cliff and he reveal his secret superpower, which is even dumber than you might have guessed.

“YOU WANTED TO KNOW MY OTHER POWERS, SISTER? OUR FATHER WAS GOD OF THE SKY — THE AIR — AIR PRESSURE — WHICH CAN CREATE A TSUNAMI!”

While this is technically true — rapid changes in air pressure can displace water, which in turn causes a meteotsunami — it doesn’t explain why Jason has the power to sculpt the waves into a giant version of his head and torso.

Diana is beaten and impaled on Grail’s sword. Jason and Grail gloat about how easy this all was. “We’re not going to kill you yet, Diana,” Jason tells her. “You’re needed. But don’t worry, when the time comes… it’ll be me that does it!”

Oh, and as a parting blow?

Looks like we’re in for yet another Wondy-less issue next time. That’s fine, it’s not like her name’s on the front of the book or anythi--

oh. right.

#comics talk #fuuuuuuck #five more MONTHS of this shit #the james robinson shitshow

77 notes · View notes

katsitting · 7 years

Text

Frostbite

AN: Back at it again with these one word prompts. I hope you like it :) My typos are my own. @obsidianpen

Rating: M

Warnings: Violence, dark themes

Endless white cut across Harry’s gaze, flurries of snow gliding through the air in an unknown dance. He stood still, his limbs frozen stiff as he watched the sun over the horizon; the trees unseen and the tufts of snow ignored as he tried to burn the image of the sun lowering from the sky into his mind.

It would be the last sunset he’d see, but this was his burden to bear.

He was the one that agreed to come, to give up his own life in exchange for the lives of his friends.

Though that did not stop the restless energy twisting his stomach into knots, or the doubts that reared their ugly head when he recalled just what lurked in the darkness waiting for him. He couldn’t help that even if he tried, even if he were the bravest man alive.

He was terrified at what this all would mean, of the outcome of his death. Because surely, if the rock did not keep him from meeting a permanent end, then the fate of Great Britain was lost. It was not an easy decision to make, but had to. He didn’t have a choice. His life for that of his friends; Voldemort had made himself quite clear when speaking directly into his head.

Almost as though Voldemort knew for a fact that Harry would come.

And perhaps, the man did know. Perhaps the connection had never been as one-sided as he believed? Maybe Voldemort had in fact been seeing the world through Harry’s eyes this entire time without Harry ever knowing this fact.

Harry shuddered, wrapping his arms tightly around himself to stave off the blistering cold air and the anxious energy thrumming through his veins.

The thought that Voldemort could have possibly been listening to every single conversation in his mind was enough to horrify him. To make him feel green with sickness because that would only mean that the monster had known all along how to get Harry within his grasp…

Maybe Dumbledore had been right when he had denied me the chance of attending the Order meetings.

Harry silenced those thoughts as easily as they’d come, shivering when a blurry ball of white pressed against his cheek, the touch like the gentle prod of a needle. There was no use dwelling on those thoughts, Harry knew. He could no more change the past than he could his fate at this precise second.

Not that it had been his to change, really…Harry thought, before dropping his arms to his sides and casting a glance to the open path through the Forbidden Forest. It was much too late now to change the decisions he had made, to turn back and tell his friends that he loved them with all his heart.

He had already snuck away from Ron and Hermione without a single mention, and it was time that he fulfilled his end of the bargain. Voldemort had, after all, summoned him with a carefully worded threat, the words searing through layers of emotion and thought, a sibilant promise echoing in his mind.

Your life or theirs. Choose.

Harry heaved a short breath, lungs unbearably tight as he forced himself to move. He didn’t know how long he stood there watching the sun slowly descend beneath the darkened earth. Didn’t know how long he watched the light blue deepen into royal purple and then, an oceanic blue. It could have easily been minutes or hours, time never did make sense to Harry after he had fled Hogwarts to sniff out Voldemort’s horcruxes.

His days of running had certainly put things into perspective.

A blink of an eye, and it would all change. Eons of waiting, and everything remained the same.

Harry pushed on with that burning thought in mind, ignoring the way his fingers trembled and his feet sank deep into the snow. He plunged himself into the darkened wood and didn’t look back to the open field at his back. He let the shadows of the hanging trees swallow him whole, and he didn’t think twice about where it was that he would go.

There was a clearing deep in the canopy, a place Harry had undercovered in his explorations of the place throughout his time at Hogwarts. It was the ideal place for a congregation of the kind Voldemort had, and it was where Harry’s feet led him.

Harry glanced up, to catch one more look of the sky as it descended into darkness, before flickering his gaze to the deep greens and darkened trunks at either side of him.

The Forbidden Forest was just as Harry remembered. Unchanged and seemingly untouched by the battle that had broken out earlier that day.

None of the trees were uprooted, the patches of dirt smooth and unmarred by an errant spell that could sever roots from the ground below. It was picturesque in its innocence, the towering trees over his head a reminder of just how small he was and how his choice never really was his to make in the first place.

Hermione. Ron. Remus. Sirius. Lily. James.

He would do this for them. Would stop the endless bloodshed and death, even if it meant his own.

His breath caught when he heard something snap in the darkness, just meters at his back. It was a slight sound, one that anyone would have ignored on a good day. But this was not a good day. This was war.

There could be enemies hidden within the folds of dirt, behind trees, and right above him. They could be anywhere and it would be a mistake to forget that. Even if Voldemort had ordered a cease fire.

But who would defy their Lord’s order? Who could have stepped away from the clearing without the Dark Lord knowing the wiser?

Harry didn’t know what to make of that.

“Who’s there?” Harry asked, his breath a puff of white smoke that tickled across his lips. He licked at the chapped skin in thought, a nervous gesture he could not restrain as he twirled around in search for the person hidden in the shadows.

Harry winced when his saliva smarted at the broken skin of his bottom lip, unable to recall just when he had hurt himself in the scuffle earlier that afternoon. But he quickly discarded the thought, ignoring the way his bottom lip throbbed painfully to survey his surroundings for the stranger. There was more to worry over than a little bruise and cut on his lip.

But there was nothing but dark trees, and flurries of snow cascading from above his head.

There was no answer to Harry’s question, absolute silence his companion as he tried to make sense of just what could have made the sound. It would be a mistake to ignore something like that, but after several long seconds of waiting for something to happen, Harry was forced to turn his attention back toward the clearing.

He was, after all, not in the Forbidden Forest for an evening stroll. He was there to see Voldemort and sacrifice himself. With only several minutes to spare before Voldemort would decide on whether he would return to Hogwarts and continue his terrorizing.

He couldn’t afford to stand around when his deadline was ticking on by, he knew for a fact that Voldemort would not take kindly to his dawdling. Hesitation would only hurt his friends, and Harry would never be able to forgive himself if his choices led to any possibly injury on their end.

It certainly wasn’t beneath the Dark Lord to murder everyone Harry held dear for being late, after all.

There was another snap, closer than the last, but Harry ignored it this time. He couldn’t afford to play with whoever lurked in the dark. He had somewhere to be…a Dark Lord to face. Lives to save, and a soul piece to rip from between his ribs.

“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster…”

Harry froze, recognizing the voice instantly. There was only one other person, other than Harry, that could speak in Parseltongue. And it was with great reservation that Harry turned his head in the direction the voice had come. His heart beat rapidly in his chest as he slowly turned to face the man that would take his life.

But there was nothing. No Dark Lord taunting him with a lurid smile and swarming crimson eyes.

Harry could only see the shadows of the trees, the last sliver of light from the dying sun elongating the massive size of the greenery surrounding him. It hardly mattered that the world around him should have been white, that his legs were knee-deep in snow. Harry hardly registered that his breaths were visible, and that his fingers were ice-cold from walking through the darkness without a cloak or even a warming charm to keep him protected from the elements.

Voldemort was not there, but Harry knew he had heard him speak. There was no mistaking the sibilant words, the soft croon dancing along his ear drums as the syllables were spoken.

Harry had heard the Dark Lord. He heard Voldemort’s sibilant tongue twist to shape the vowels and the syllables, felt the way they made warm skin cold with dread. It could not have been in his head, the words did not ring or echo as they often did when the monster burrowed itself into his mind. It had been real.

There was no way Harry was wrong.

Squaring his shoulders, Harry surveyed the quiet space around him. He took in the darkness of the trees, watching as the last rays from the sun disappeared and swallowed him in absolute darkness. He didn’t know how long he remained there, but Harry refused to move. Refused to turn his back on the Dark Lord when he could possibly be there waiting for him to lower his guard.

It was certainly something Voldemort would do.

“And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”

Harry yelped when he felt something cold wrap around the back of his neck, clawed fingers digging so harshly into the skin that Harry could only stiffen in the monster’s hold. He didn’t think to fight it in that instant, did not think to lift his wand and retaliate as he often did.

Harry had come to die. He had come to rip that vile piece of Voldemort’s soul from within him. But he had certainly not expected the Dark Lord to touch him.

“Fitting, is it not?” Voldemort said in perfect English, after a moment of complete silence.

Harry did not know how to respond for several seconds. His mind still reeling from the fact that Voldemort was here. That the monster, rather than wait for Harry to come to him, had instead come to Harry.

Harry had not expected that at all from the vain man. He was certain that Voldemort would never contemplate lowering his status as Lord to do something as…plebeian as this. It was comical, something that made strange amusement curl within the pit of Harry’s stomach.

“What is? That I will die here like all the muggles and wizards you’ve slain? Or that you’ve won?” Harry bit out, voice hoarse from disuse as he tried to make sense of the fact that Voldemort was touching him.

Without even a twinge of pain from his scar.

The agony that would come with the Dark Lord’s touch was notably absent, the promise of suffering and pain somehow silenced. It shouldn’t have made him as nervous as it did, but he couldn’t stop himself from shuddering underneath the man’s grip.

It was strange, unlike anything Harry had experienced before when in this man’s presence. He was used to pain and suffering, but this…nothingness was new. Harry wasn’t sure if he liked it or not, considering how often change led to more trouble than it was worth.

And it was with startling awareness that Harry finally forced himself to move, to pull away from the fingers that ensnared the back of his neck. Though, resisting Voldemort’s hold was near impossible. It felt as if there were a sticking charm holding their flesh bound together.

Harry yanked, but Voldemort’s hand followed as if he hadn’t struggled at all.

Shite.

Just as Harry was about to jab the man between the ribs, to punch blindly in the dark, he felt something lap at the tip of his fingers, like freshly cast magic. The touch distracting enough to make him pause, to consider just what the hell that was.

“Die? Come now, do not be so obtuse. There are far worse things than death, Harry.”

Harry shivered when Voldemort’s cold hand suddenly squeezed the nape of his neck, the nails catching on the skin and easily drawing blood from the rough treatment.

It felt as if death itself was gripping onto him, as if winter were burrowing deep into the folds of his skin to suck out all the warmth that lied underneath.

“Torture, then? Hardly original,” Harry scoffed, hyper aware of just how cold he felt. The tingling of his fingers had not stopped since it had begun, and it was growing more difficult to ignore the longer he remained rooted in place. But he didn’t want to look down, he didn’t want to see and distract himself from the fact that Voldemort was standing too closely behind him.

His fingers felt as though they’d been entirely encased in ice. The needle-like sensation penetrating deep into the skin, like tiny teeth dancing along each nerve ending.

“Death? Torture? It is not as simple as that…” Voldemort hissed, and Harry felt a weight press against his toes, slowly crawling up his shins until his knees felt like they might collapse.

What is this?

Harry gasped when his fingers then began to burn, his palms stiff as unbearable cold seized at the soft flesh, his knees nearly giving out when numbness began to penetrate the thick layer of his trousers.

Harry shot his gaze down, to make out just what it was that was happening. To see for himself that what he was feeling was not some trick of the mind.

What?

Harry’s stomach dropped, his mouth falling open in disbelief at what he was seeing.

The snow from the ground below was swallowing him whole. It was both white and crystalline at once, the hard shape of it fitting around the tips of his fingers and covering the palms of his hands like a glove.

Harry was being frozen alive.

Voldemort was freezing him alive.

Harry struggled, panic seizing his heart like a vice. His heart beat so quickly inside his chest that he was certain it might burst from right out of his rib cage. He had expected an Avada Kedavra. He had expected a Crucio before greeting his parents and Dumbledore on the other side.

But nothing like this.

No, never something like this.

“W-what are you–?” Harry’s voice came out weaker than he had intended, his tongue heavy as he watched the ice grow and spread. It was now sliding past his wrists and forearms, the snow sliding over his skin like an infection staining once pink flesh a deep black.

Harry could feel the ice as it wrapped tightly around his knees, moving further up his legs until it went past his thighs, the numbness stopping just short of where the zipper of his trousers began.

No.

“Ensuring that you can never fight me again. Your death, as much as it would please me, would only bring me closer to my own.”

Harry’s mouth parted to gasp when Voldemort’s hand fell away from his neck to slide past his pulse point and toward his trembling chin. Voldemort cupped it, and Harry flinched from the iciness. It was no better than the snow currently consuming him.

He wanted nothing more than to run, to fight the numbness sucking the life from him, but there was nowhere for him to go. The ice held him rooted in place.

He can’t!

“A horcrux…all this time. So very clever of the old fool to keep such a secret from me…”

Harry’s mouth parted to speak, but there were no words that he could speak. He closed his mouth when only a soft wheeze met the frigid air.

He knew.

How had Voldemort uncovered the truth? Where had Harry gone wrong? He was sure that he had kept his mind blank as soon as he learned just how intimately tied he was to the Dark Lord. Hell, he hadn’t known he was a horcrux until just that evening. There was no possible way that he could have uncovered such an insidious truth so quickly…

“But Voldemort knows all. Severus Snape has certainly been useful. My precious Nagini’s venom conveniently lowering his mental protections…”

Harry wanted to cry, horror more cutting than the ice slowly eating him alive.

This was an absolute nightmare.

“My horcrux..fighting so valiantly against the dark to only be a part of the darkness himself…”

“No!” Harry shouted, but his cry met deaf ears. Voldemort’s fingers were smoothing across his chin, and there was nothing that he could do but to allow him to do so. The ice had spread up to his neck, numbness following shortly after the agony of ice touching bare flesh. “Please, kill me!”

“Death will never take you from me. You are mine…”

Voldemort’s fingers dropped from Harry’s chin then, and it took everything within to stop himself from screaming when the ice began to cover his chin, slivers of crystal poking at his trembling lips.

“D-don’t do this. You don’t need to do–mnf!”

And then the ice was covering his mouth, ceasing all protests Harry could think to make.

“But I do, dearest Harry. I cannot leave you running amok, causing trouble for my men.”

Harry felt his vision blur before Voldemort appeared before his eyes, the gaunt reptilian face and bright red eyes almost incandescent beneath the sliver of moonlight that poked from behind the thick, black clouds above.

Voldemort then reached out to tease along Harry’s scar, a sharp nail touching at the clammy skin with a patient flick of his finger.

“You will remain forever at my side, to watch as I remake this world into one better suited for witches and wizards alike. You will be without nothing, and I assure you that with time, you will come to see things in a…”

Voldemort’s eyes flashed with something devious, and Harry felt his insides churn. The ice was now past his nose, and it would only be seconds before he was entirely trapped. Harry hoped that he didn’t look as frightened as he felt, that the tears that wanted to fall, in fact, did not.

Harry refused to give the monster the satisfaction of seeing him break.

Monster, he shouted the word vehemently in his mind. He hoped Voldemort could hear it, even if his mouth was unable to speak.

“…brand new light.”

And then Voldemort’s fingers slipped over his eyes, his fingers removing his glasses from his face.

“I will take great care of this. I do not think you will need this for quite some time.”

Harry glared at the blurred face of the Dark Lord, hoping that his anger translated easily to the monstrous man before the ice finally obstructed his vision, drowning him in complete darkness.

I will get out. Just you wait.

Harry trembled and struggled from within the ice prison, but his muscles refused to cooperate. His wand had somehow been pried from his holster, and there was absolutely nothing but the horrific darkness and cold.

He shook, but the ice never moved. It was like a second skin, a find layer of glass that refused to bend no matter how much he squirmed inside the prison.

“Oh, and Harry…” Voldemort spoke, his words an echo inside his head. Harry clenched his teeth to stop himself from cursing, wincing when the tiny pinpricks of hardened ice formed along the layer atop his skin and poked at his quivering flesh.

It was a reminder of just how powerful Voldemort was.

“I cannot promise that you’ll…come out intact. Frostbite can be quite cruel. But nothing Lord Voldemort cannot remedy…” Harry’s throat clenched up with dread, horror slicing through his heart like a rusty blade. No.

#harrymort #one word prompt #I did a thing #this got dark real fast

90 notes · View notes

queerwalrus · 7 years

Text

Won’t Treat You Like You’re Typical

In which the crew of the Walrus finds out that Anne Bonny is, in fact, one of them, and react in the way they think is appropriate.

The Third Part of the Queer Walrus Variations. Read on Ao3 H E R E

James Flint is engaged in an interesting and in-depth debate with Eleanor Guthrie that involves no death threats and very little shouting, and therefore is the most comfortable he has felt in the last three weeks, when a bottle breaks loudly against the wood of the closed door, causing them both to jump.

“Fucking Christ.” says Eleanor, a font of eloquence, as always.

“Should we -” starts James, already halfway out of his seat.

“I’m sure my man will stop it.” says Eleanor, waving her hand in dismissal. James folds back into his chair and hears the wicker of the seat creak under him. He shifts his weight a few times to try and find a place in which he won’t make noise every time he so much as breathes, and he fails. Eleanor watches him with a raised eyebrow that is her equivalent of laughter so boisterous she would have trouble breathing.

“Fuck off.” he says, under his breath, and runs his hands down the front of his coat so that the leather sits smooth and even. Eleanor huffs out a laugh, a sound that almost seems punched out of her, and then schools her face back into something more demure. Not that Eleanor was ever really capable of reaching demure. Miranda struggled with demure too - maybe that was a trend James ought to examine more closely the next time he had longer than ten minutes to himself.

There’s a louder thump against the door, followed by the recognizable sound of wood splintering, and James is on his feet instantly, covering the ground to the door in two strides and wrenching it open. The main room of the tavern is utter pandemonium, and he just stands for a moment, taking it in. Eleanor steps up so that they are even with each other on the small step that separates her office from the tavern floor, and she joins him in gawking for just a breath, before raising her hands to her mouth and whistling, loud and long and high-pitched.

The room freezes.

“What the fuck is going on here?” demands Eleanor, hands shooting up to plant themselves on her hips with enough enthusiasm her keys jangle on their ring.

John Silver, currently suspended against the wall by virtue of Charles Vane’s two-handed grip on the front of his shirt, wets his lips.

“There better be a good explanation for this, Mister Silver.” says James, voice even but threateningly low. Silver’s eyes visibly darken, and his feet strive a little harder to be reunited with the floor.

“Well, you see,” starts Silver, already beginning to spout his typical bullshit.

“You’re trying to poach my crew.” says Vane, directly to James.

“I am doing nothing of the sort.” says James, deliberately widening his eyes in faux-innocence, the way he used to in order to startle a laugh out of Thomas. It doesn’t get a laugh here, just Eleanor rolling her eyes and something that might be a flush creeping up Vane’s cheeks. Good to know that works on him - James has no real aspirations to sleep with him again, but any point of advantage is a good point of advantage.

“Your crew is, then.” says Vane, and that’s definitely a flush. Well, at least James is startlingly memorable and still attractive. That’s good to know.

“And what, precisely, brought this on, Mister Silver?”

“What makes you think I was behind it?” demands Silver, grumpily. He folds his arms over his chest, under Vane’s grip but above the point at which he actually started fastening the buttons on his shirt. His feet are still a good inch and a half off the floor.

“Are you telling me there was a fight motivated by talk and you were not the person doing the talking?” says Flint, letting one eyebrow drift up towards his hairline.

Silver squints up at the rafters for a second, plainly contemplating the idea.

“I suppose.” he says, at length.

Joji scoffs, from where he’s got two of Vane’s men pinned against a table with the broken end of a bottle and his sword.

“And what did you say?” James presses.

“Logan’s Charlotte, up a the brothel, told him that Anne Bonny is fucking Max now.” says Silver.

“It’s true!” calls Logan, from where one of Vane’s men has him held face down against the wood of the bar. There’s a line of bottles along the wood that James is sure Logan is a wrong word away from having his nose introduced to.

“And if it is true, then we have a certain offer to extend to her.” Silver finishes, and manages to shrug while still being held between a wall and the hard lines of Vane’s chest.

“And did you?” says James, already feeling the special kind of headache only John Silver could induce throbbing against his temples.

“No.” says Silver. “We were merely debating how we might go about doing it.”

“Bull-fucking-shit you were.” says Vane, and hoists Silver a little further up the wall. Silver makes a noise that is somewhere between frustrated and hopelessly turned on, and James catalogues his response away for the next time he gets Silver alone in his cabin, and then mentally slaps himself for thinking that such a course of action was a good idea.

He’s not going to fuck Silver again.

He’s not. Really.

Shut up, internal monologue that sounds an awful lot like Thomas when he was persuading James to do all kinds of filthy things in the bedroom.

“We were! The debate just got somewhat heated.”

“And that’s why one of your men was yelling, then?” says Vane, plainly not believing a word he’s hearing.

“We had some disagreements about how to best approach Miss Bonny.” says Silver. “As a result, Mister Dooley yelled a possible approach, right as there was a lull in conversation, and as Miss Bonny happened to enter the tavern.”

“So it was all a coincidence?” asks Eleanor. She sounds skeptical. James elbows her in the side and takes the opportunity to hiss a reminder that she vouched for Silver, once, and therefore this is all her fault.

“Yes.” says Silver, pleased. James gets the impression from his tone that if he were to start stroking Silver’s hair while he was in this sort of mood, the man might purr.

“It was a coincidence that your man yelled ‘hey, we hear you fuck women now, want to join our crew’ right as Anne walked in?” says Charles.

Silver nods, a bright and overly charming grin on his face.

James pinches the bridge of his nose and squeezes his eyes tight closed, and hopes that when he opens them, John Silver will have evaporated into a cloud of infuriating and infuriatingly attractive smoke, and all James’ problems will have disappeared.

There’s a thump, and James opens his eyes. Silver is gone, in fact, vanished from James’ eyeline. James inhales in preparation for a sigh of relief, ready to pray for the first time in years.

“Fuck you.” says Silver, from the floor at Vane’s feet, where, upon closer examination, it appears he has been unceremoniously dropped.

James’ exhale is one of disbelieving annoyance.

“Only if you ask nice.” says Vane.

“That’s not what I remember.” says James, and then fixes his surprised gaze on a spot about three inches in front of his own nose. What on earth had possessed him to say something like that?

Muldoon gasps, and Logan lets out a long and distorted ‘o’ vowel sound. Dooley throws his head back and cackles. Joji preens.

“What?” says Silver, breathless for reasons James doesn’t want to examine too closely.

“What?” hisses Eleanor, suddenly very loud in James’ ear, and pressed far further into James’ personal space than she used to be.

“Oh, fuck.” says James.

“That’s what got us into this mess in the first place.” says Vane.

“You did what?” Eleanor says again. There’s a look in her eyes that is almost manic, and James is painfully aware of the fact that she has just discovered that the man she considers to be like a father to her has, in some indistinct past, fucked the man she herself is currently fucking.

James looks at Vane. Vane looks at James. Someone on the step is breathing hard, and it’s not actually James.

“Perhaps, Captain,” says Silver, now coiled in a crouch with one hand braced against the straw-dusted planks of the floor, “we ought to take our leave now?”

James doesn’t dignify that with a response, mostly because Charles Vane has grabbed him by the wrist and is towing him out of Eleanor Guthrie’s establishment at something approaching a jog.

“GET BACK HERE AND EXPLAIN YOURSELVES!” Eleanor roars from behind them, and Nassau’s two most feared Captains break into a flat-out sprint for the beach, with their crews following at the same kind of pace.

There is a ten minute recess after they have safely arrived at the beach before the subject of Anne’s recruitment to the crew of the Walrus emerges from the collective labored breathing of the two crews as the main point of conversation.

“Why the fuck would that be a reasoning?” Vane says.

James looks up at him from where he’s still braced against his own knees, eyebrows up and jaw slack.

“You don’t know?” he says.

“Don’t know what?” huffs Vane. He sounds the same after the short sprint as he did after a good fuck, and James is now the one fighting to keep a flush from his face.

“We’ve got a rather specific recruitment plan.” says James. “We only take crew who fuck people of their own gender.”

“Huh.” says Vane.

There are several moments of silence, punctuated only by heaving breathing, during which James heaves in enough air to stand back up.

“So you thought you’d ask Anne, in case she was interested?” says Vane.

“We’d have asked you too, if you weren’t a captain in your own right.” says Dooley, who hasn’t even bothered with staying on his feet and is flat on his back in the sand. “After the Captain came back wearing your shirt and your marks on his collarbone.”

James smiles a little at the flustered look on Vane’s face, and stretches his arms above his head.

“Well, Miss Bonny?” James says. “Have you had enough time to give the offer a cursory thought?”

Vane actually flinches at the mention of Anne, as though he had forgotten that she was there and would have her own opinion. Anne, the only one of them not out of breath, is leaning casually against the trunk of one of the beach’s few trees, coat and hair fluttering in the salt breeze.

The men of the Walrus all breathe in together.

“Nah.” says Anne. “I gotta stay with Jack.”

The crew of the Walrus breathe out again.

“Maybe later, for a raid?” she asks, peering up at James from under the brim of her hat. James grins back.

“I would greatly enjoy that, Miss Bonny.” he says.

“Anne.” she says, firmly.

“Anne.” says James, inclining his head in acceptance.

She smiles again, all teeth and hardness.

“Oh, fuck.” says Vane, quietly.

“This seems like it was, in retrospect, a terrible idea.” says Silver.

“We’re all going to die.” says Dooley.

There’s the sound of someone trudging through sand, but James doesn’t want to look away from Anne to see who it is.

“What did I miss?” asks Billy.

“We’re all going to die.” Dooley says, again. He sounds more hysterical on this repetition than he did on the first, which is impressive. James had thought he’d started out far to strong and had left no room for crescendo, and yet here they were.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” says Billy.

“No, we are.” says Logan.

“Why?”

“The Captain and Anne Bonny like each other.” hisses Muldoon.

“Oh.”

The waves break on the shore. The wind rushes through the branches and the canvas of the tents. In the distance, a bottle breaks on stone and the muffled shouts of Eleanor Guthrie are still audible.

“Fuck.” says Billy Bones, and James and Anne both grin in a way that shows all their teeth and less happiness than the usual definition of the expression would suggest.

#Black Sails #my fic #the queer walrus variations

31 notes · View notes

teneleven12xiii · 6 days

Text

I am willing to donate money to williams racing only if it goes to Logan’s car, because what do you mean he’s driving with an old rear wing, his car is like 15kg over weight, his team let him race for multiple laps after he tells them he has no tires, not to mention the shitty strategies.

#logan sargeant #formula 1 #williams racing #logan’s defender until the day i die #i will fight you james vowels so watch your back

127 notes · View notes

riisinaakka-draws · 7 years

Photo

It has only been a little over a year since I started watching the show and joined the Black Sails fandom. I posted my first fanart exactly one year ago and it was the one above. Thus far I have drawn over 100 of them. I tried different mediums and styles, both for practice and for capturing the essence of the things I wanted to share. Some of them are great, some are silly, some are a bit out of character or not so good in other ways and some ended up surprising me in many ways. All are nonetheless very precious to me.

Under the read more there's a list of all my doodles thus far. Most of them feature Flint, Silver or both of them (there will be more of the other characters in the future, no worries). I have to admit I laughed quite a lot while going through these again. This is a really long post.

This is a list to show what sort of things there are and also for my own amusement and archiving purposes. The list is in chronological order, from first to the latest.

I tried to make this as concise as possible, but the tag/navigation page is here if you want to find something specific or don’t want to go through all this:

- Flint takes care of Silver's leg in the darkness of the captain's cabin.

- Some quick doodles of Flint, ballpoint pen

- Sharkdate cuties (really scrappy doodles of Silver gazing at munching Flint)

- Progress. A continuation to previous pic. Silver holding a cup, covered in blood and looking affectionally at Flint. Here’s a giffed version.

- Silver and Flint go for a night walk in winter and Flint finds the streetlights amusing. Modern Au, beanies and the BS logo

- “See any treasures, Capt'n?” Billy to Flint who is looking at something “shiny” with his spyglass.

- What if Silver stole that certain ponytail and made it into "a rabbit's foot"? And what if Flint had a medallion with pictures of the Hamiltons and later a lock of dark curls... I returned to this idea several times after this, lol. (still secretly wishing that anyone would write a ficlet about this).

- Overload of Blackbeard - several doodles of different adaptations of BB

- Shark hunting. Flint has the shark on his lap and Silver stands in front of him. Composition inspired by that infamous Wolwerine and Nightcrawler cover.

- A gif of Blackbeard with flowers in his beard (I share a birthday with Ray Stevenson, that's why).

- a quick sketch of displeased Jack

- The Red Lollipop. Flint eating candy which is distracting to Silver, inspired by this awesome post (x). Silver steals the sweets and peels some potatoes. Bonus: Randall and Betsy the Cat.

- Draw me like one of your quatermasters... Flint doodles sleeping Silver in the Captain's log.

- Random sketches of Silver and Flint. Learning to draw their faces

- Flint with a horrible mustache and Silver with a long braided beard. (I should redraw this someday..)

- Flint takes Silver for a ride (modern Au with motorcycles). The Walrus gang follows "the flagship"

- Black Sails moomin AU, part I (I had so much fun with these).

The domestic modern beach au serie with 15+ doodles, various characters, inspired by this hilarious post (x). - Jack takes pictures of everything and Vane ends up buried in the sand - Silver puts some lotion on Flint (Billy tosses people up in the background) - Max and Anne Bonny enjoying each other's company - Rogers is going to get hit by a beach ball "accidentally". Anne, Max, Vane and Jack in the background - Ben Gunn shows his ship kite to Billy Bones - Vane and Flint swim butterfly. Silver (*.*) - Vane flips his hair like a merman, Eleanor is drinking and enjoying the view. - Mr Scott and Mr Gates enjoy their drinks at the bar while others fight in the water. Max and Eleanor gossip together. Anne and Jack hold hands like otters on swim rings. - Silver and Flint sleeping on the sun, Flint has a book on his face - The Ranger Crew swimming. Jack is slathered in sun lotion, Anne waits for him and Vane makes a joke. + Mysterious swimming trunks. - Silver is the sneakiest shit and likes to creep underwater and drag people down by their legs. - Silver and Flint eating ice cream + some early sketches in a gif - the Fucking Warship (minivan) rides to sunset, Vane is forgotten in the sand but do not worry...

- Silver and Flint sing the song "Dynamic Duet" from Starkids' Holy musical B@tman!

- Nooooooooo! Flint shaves his head, Silver doesn't take it well.

- Silver's character development. From little shit to actual scary fuck

- A HUG. (silverflint, done before s4. I really needed a hug)

- Bloodthirsty Bunny & Squinting Squirrel, (furries, i am so sorry)

- Flint brings water to Silver, a scene from the show. <3

- Sweetness of touch. Flint gets his hair/head touched by his loved ones.

The Walrus crew acquires some chicken. A lot of them. And a parrot. - Billy and Joji are tending them - people playing board games and ignoring the chickens - a coc- I mean a rooster between Silver's legs - Silver holding some chickens and Flint meeting "the Captain Flint"

- Flint gets his ginger crown back...sort of

Chickens, part II. Flint sends his regards. Teach has taken Anne and Jack to fishing and they get a surprise "gift" from the Walrus.

Fanart about Silverfin, a thrilling and unbeliavably funny (nsfw) silverflint fic by @jadedbirch and @zoinomiko (can’t tag u for some reason..).

Go read it :D I made some (sfw) fanart inspired by it (spoilers). - a comic of the tragic night - reunion and crowns (˵ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°˵)

- (a recap, not really a tutorial) about some of my messy work methods.

- Anne Bonny, without her hat, ready to kick your ass, season 3

- A portait of Max

- Every fashionable pirate captain needs a hat! Silver buys some silly pirate hats. Inspired by @vowel-in-thug's fic (part V, nsfw) and the CBeebies Bedtime Story etc.

- "Support". Silver and Flint approaching the Maroon camp.

- A portrait of Long John Silver on his way of becoming the legend

- Swords and time. James McGraw - Captain Flint. Sword placement comparison, gif experiments etc. (I really like this one)

- A canary. Flint finds a sad-looking caged bird aboard a merchant ship and then reads books to it in his cot. Inspired by @old-long-john's sweet and beautiful fic (x). Also thanks to @captain-flint for spotting the bird cage in s1.

Inktober 2016, 20+ doodles, various characters - Silver, a sad little face doodle - A bringer of death and destruction (Flint as an angel of sorts). Quick doodle with a brush - Silver and Flint. A little doodle with an ink-dipped cotton swap - "Hungry", Silver and Flint find the whale and prepare to hunt sharks. - "SAD?" NOT TODAY! There's always Silver Lining. Silly and shitty puns. - "Hidden", The treasure has been buried. - "LOST", Silver and Flint look for a bird on board the Walrus. - "ROCK", Ben Gunn and Billy Bones play rock-paper-scissors. (sorry, still no better doodle of them) - "BROKEN", Benjamin Hornigold misses his chair. - "Lock the door", Flint on the floor of his cabin when they were becalmed ;_; - "TRANSPORT", Anne Bonny takes Jack Rackham to safety on a horse. - Madi, a little sketch - "Dufresne admires his new tattoo" - "TREE", What difference does it make? Captain Naft shares his insight. Froom and Crisp agree. Morley and Randall (+ Betsy the Cat) are not impressed (for obvious reasons...). - "RELAX", A nice afternoon at the seaside with some of the brothel girls - A little sketch of John Silver again, because I cannot resist him. - "Flint has a meeting with Death". - "ESCAPE", Flint has retired and Silver still sails the seas. Occasionally he visits James and steals some of his baked goods (with some help from his crew and birdies). - "FLIGHT", a sketch of a parrot on a napkin - "SQUEEZE", Jack Rackham enjoying his bath - "LITTLE", a little sketch of Max and Anne kissing in little rain, under Anne's huge hat. - "Surprise", Charles Vane lurking in the water - "And then! You won't believe what the.." Hal Gates and Billy Bones spend their free afternoon gossiping and having fun - "Forget-me-not" / "one dozen", Miranda finds some familiar flowers and thinks about Thomas. - "BURN", Thomas, James and Miranda, just eyes. Inspired by the powermetal duet "Wish I Had An Angel"

- Oooh, What does my reflection shoooow ~. (Lovable) Little shit.

- Accidents with the spyglass. Flint acts like an asshole, Billy and Gates are having none of it, Silver is yet to learn.

- Death builds a raft and follows the Walrus.

- Portrait of Eleanor, the Merchant Queen of Nassau

- "long johns and puns". Silver is looking for a new pirate style and Billy offers to help.

- Black Sails Moomin AU - part II

- Silver at the wrecks, light and visual practise

- Eleanor Guthrie and James Flint, looking in / out. visual practise, parallels and contrasts

- My Heart Will Go On, but I'll keep your ponytail and get a parrot for my duets. ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

- Muldoon's tattoo ;_;

Some of the following have season 4 spoilers:

- Eleanor does some embroidery (of bees and fuck-yous)

- How Silver gets his new crutch (Israel Hands is handy)

- Flint and the Wanderer above the sea of fog

- Flint's mouth saying FUCK infinitely, a gif experiment

- "That's my wee lad, Gimli." Berringer's locket and asshole Rogers.

- For a moment there was a Hat Trio. Teach, Jack and Anne

- Silver and Madi, canon kiss

- The Spare Ginger. Silver doesn't like Eleanor's plan. Madi and Israel Hands try to comfort him.

- Eleanor Guthrie, a green portrait

- Long John Silver must make a tough choice, while Flint enjoys his capture at Eleanor's expense

- All those extra spyglasses in 4.08. Maybe the answer was Israel Hands' hoarding.

- Fresh air on the balcony of the Walrus. (a drawing of the ship at night). There're celebrations on the deck, Flint and Silver have a private talk.

I find it endearing how this list ends with the balcony one. Like a parallel (ha!) to the first one, where Flint and Silver are having a private moment on board of a ship, although it is a different ship and at a different time. A year ago I had no idea where this all would lead me and how much I would learn and get to experience *pats my past-self in the back awkwardly and fondly*

Looking back at them (doodles) I feel both proud and slightly embarrassed of my enthusiasm. I have never done anything like this for any other fandom. I have never felt so much and had such an urge to engage in this sort of thing.

This show, its creators and crew, this fandom. Just something unbeliavable. I cannot find the words to say how much I appreciate you all. The brilliancy, the humour, the love in all kinds of forms. I am so glad I stumbled on this show (it was a gif or a fanvid about ep 2.05 that made me aware of this show, btw. I cannot remember it clearly anymore and for a moment I thought Crossbones was a pilot for Black Sails and almost missed everything, but that's a story for another time...)

Know this: I have loved sharing this experience (the show, the fandom) with you and I appreciate everything you have given to me or shared with me. I will treasure this. (I apologize not thanking more people individually, but this post would’ve never reached its end otherwise).

*throws hearts and forehead kisses to the best and inspiring fandom and the greatest show that broke my heart and healed my soul so many times*

All the possibilities and love to you. Thank you <3

(This is not a goodbye, btw. There’s still so much more to come!) (◠‿◠✿)

P.S. All this started as doodles so that’s why I have kept using that word eventhough it doesn’t really apply to many of these anymore...

#black sails doodle #anniversary of my descent to black sails hell and heaven #<3 #i can't really think of any tags for this #a list of things I have drawn for bs thus far #for archiving purposes #what a journey :D #I hope this is readable #there are several unfinished ones waiting but i am not going to spoil the fun yet #i hope there aren't many errors in links or tags #I won't tag or thank more people individually (at least in this post...sorry)#(better to not have too much stuff in one post)

45 notes · View notes

theloveablesociopath · 7 years

Text

Sweat

1940s Boxer Bucky AU

Pairing: Bucky x reader

Warnings: Violence, swearing, mentions of blood. (I know virtually nothing about boxing)

Summary: James Buchanan Barnes, A National heavy weight, not only is a world renowned boxing star, but is also your 2 year long boyfriend. Tonight is the National heavy weight championship, and all he needs to get through it, is his best girl.

Word count: 2,179

(SORRY IT’S NOT THAT GOOD IF IM BEING HONEST)

((story line came to me after seeing this picture))

“You ready baby?” Bucky asked you as he made his way across the locker room, cupping your face with his wrapped hands. You stared up at his beautiful face, lightly blotched with bruises and a small cut on his brow from last week’s fight.

“Ready to watch you punch other men in the face until they’re out cold?” you asked rhetorically, earning a huff of a laugh from him as he stared into your eyes. “Always”

His smile broke out, and he slowly lowered his face so he could give you a long and passionate kiss, causing your hands to move up and hold his to your face.

When he released, he took a step back and grabbed his bulky silver gloves, handing them to you. “Mind doing the honors doll?”

You smiled at his goofy grin and let your nose crinkle in delight. “Of course” you replied, holding the gloves out to him so he could slip his hands in one by one, letting you smile down at the contrasting red stars that stood out amongst the silver on each.

He knocked his hands together, jogging in place slightly due to the adrenaline, earning a small laugh from you.

“2 minutes till time!” you heard the gruff voice of an elderly man yell from the hall, and looked back to see Bucky jumping up and down and rolling his shoulders, a light pant of a breath escaping him as he calmed his nerves. Tonight was the very last fight of the heavy weight championship, and his win would be not only a huge accomplishment for Bucky to hold, but also what would buy you two your new home, and put food on the table.

“Alright!” Bucky exclaimed. “Let’s do this thing!”

He began to walk out, throwing his arm around you in the doorway and leaning down to kiss you firm on the lips.

“I’ll see you in the front row?” he asked.

“Where else?” You replied.

——————————

You where sitting patiently, stuck beside two rather large men, one already chowing down on a hot dog, and the other burping and drinking a very strongly smelling beer. Luckily as you where seconds away from snapping due to how loudly one of the men was chewing, the announcers voice came roaring through the speakers.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the 1942 national heavy weight championship!”

A series of cheers and brutal yelling exploded from around you, and as you always did you stood up with the crowd and cheered.

“In this corner, weighing in at 230 pounds, with a record of 16 knock outs and 2 Deaths! The mean, the Bad, The deadly, Johann Schmidt! More commonly known as THE RED SKULL!” The announcer yelled into his microphone, elongating vowels and causing an uproar of both cheers and boos from around you, most of the cheers coming from the men beside you.

As you looked to your left you saw a man come into view, a large build packed onto his bones, his short cut hair pulled back, and a red skull mask placed over his face. His body was covered in a black silk robe with a strange red tentacles and skull symbol on the back.

He put his hand up in a fist as a gesture to the cheers and sat down on the stool in the corner as his team began to prep him.

“and now, in this corner, weighing in at 209 pounds, with a record, 6 knock outs, 10 broken teeth and at least a dozen broken arms, he’s cold as ice, he’s as refined as the men who fight for this country, the one the only, James Buchanan Barnes! More commonly known as THE WINTER SOILDER!”

From all around you cheers and overpowering screams where launched into the air like gun fire, you where so overwhelmed by the response that you forgot to cheer yourself. That is, until the two brutes beside you began booing at the announcer, causing you to cup your hands around your mouth to amplify your voice as you screamed happily at the ring.

From the side of the stadium, Bucky came jogging down, throwing his leg over the rope as he entered the ring, and did a 360 as he held up both hands to acknowledge his fans.

His well built chest was covered in his silk silver robe, complementing the beautiful red trimmed sleeves and the large red star on his back. His neatly trimmed hair was slightly spiked with sweat as he took a seat in his stool, getting a pat on the shoulder from his coach.

He was nodding with a look of determination at everything the blonde man told him, and then opened his mouth as they put the guard in and pushed him up out of his seat.

When Bucky and the red skull, stood across from each other in front of the speaker, you could tell just how different they were in size, and although Bucky was slightly shorter and a little less broad chested, you still felt an overwhelming pride in calling him your own.

“KICK HIS ASS BABY!” you screamed from your spot, causing Bucky to look over to you, his face crafting into a sly smile as he winked at you.

The reff gave the ground rules to both of them, and after making them shake hands, stepped out of the ring and behind a table on the other side.

Bucky and his opponent backed up to the sides of the ring and put their hands up at the ready.

Finally the reff took one last look at their clean figures and yelled an exaggerated “FIGHT” in his microphone.

The loud melodic ding of a bell rang through the air and not even a second later the red skull charged Bucky.

An upper cut to Bucky’s jaw sent him staggering back, but with force he retaliated and landed a bone crushing jab to Johann’s left side.

A man was jabbering each move through a microphone, his voice slightly shaking with excitement as each of the men before him fought relentlessly.

Bucky sent three rapid jabs to Johann chest and for a fragment of a second he was on the ground. Quickly he jumped to his feet and sent a launching blow to Bucky’s eye.

They fought like this for what seemed like hours, each punch causing blood to fly from some part of each other’s body.

You screamed over the crowd as Bucky finally sent a brutal punch to the side of Johann’s face, causing a tooth to fly out of his mouth, and for him to stay down long enough for the reff to call it.

Both opponents made it back to their stools and you jogged over to the corner of the ring next to Bucky’s coach.

“great job babe!” you yelled over the chatter of people, Bucky looking to his side and giving you a open mouthed smile as he squirted water on top of his head, causing the blood on his face to run down and stain the white towel that was draped over his shoulders.

“Fights not over yet doll” he replied.

“You’re still kicking ass” you beamed. Coach Steve came from behind Bucky and took the towel off his shoulders, massaging his joints a bit as he began to talk. “You’re doing great out there, just remember aim low, broken ribs cripples him more than broken teeth.”

Bucky swished some water around in his mouth, and then spit the red tinted liquid into the bucket in front of him. “Got it” he replied

When the reff came over to inform that they had less than a minute, you reached over and turned Bucky’s face towards you. Luckily his lip only had a small cut on it so you stood on your tip toes and had him lean down as you gave him a good luck kiss.

He smiled at you then turned back to put the guard in his mouth and stood up.

The next match lasted nearly 20 minutes. Punches were thrown like gunfire, rapid and powerful.

A few times Bucky had been knocked down, and was punched relentlessly by Johann but just as soon as a few punches were thrown, he was thrown off him.

You could feel the anticipation build from all around you as Johann knocked Bucky to his back, this time pinning him after getting in a few good punches.

Bucky struggled against his hold but soon after the reff called it.

It was anyone’s game now. Tied.

It sent waves of panic through you. You had faith in Bucky sure, but knowing that it was literally a 50/50 chance terrified you.

You watched as Steve began pep talking Bucky, nearly bouncing with excitement.

From beside you the two brutes where conversing in the space above your head where you were too short to reach. Yet you heard enough to be included, they were talking about how the winter solider couldn’t possibly win, that he was just a skinny prick from Brooklyn.

You looked up at them and crossed your arms over your chest.

“The winter solider could beat the red skull any day.” You stated loudly.

They looked down at you, and moved so you could see their mock expressions.

“Oh really?” the one to your right asked, a smirk on his fat face.

“really.” You stated back. “In fact I’m willing to bet on it.”

The two men exchanged a glance and then looked back to you.

“Well little lady, it’s your lucky day, a bet is exactly what we wanted to do” the man to the left smirked.

“Fine. If the winter solider wins I want….” You thought for a moment, there was no harm in betting especially when you just knew you were going to win.

“$200 take it or leave it” they told you, and you had no choice but to shrug and agree.

The next round began and you felt your heart leap when Bucky got right to his frenzy of punches. The red skull blocked as much as he could but his attempts seemed fruitless as he eventually ended up on the mat.

Three more times Johann was pinned and each time he got weaker and weaker as he stood up.

You felt your heart stop when Bucky staggered back after a horribly crafted punch landed square on his nose.

His nose began to bleed rapidly and you felt your heart plunge into your stomach as you saw its crocked position. His eyes locked with yours as he tilted his head to the side, still inching away from his opponent. The shock on your face was noticed by him but for his sake you smiled, and cheered his name. “You got this Buck!”

You knew what kept Bucky going, and a lot of it was support so you started chanting. “Winter! Winter! Winter!” soon people around you also chimed in, and before you knew it there was a symphony of yelling the name.

You saw Bucky glance around quickly, a wide grin sitting goofily on his face.

His name was now yelled by so many at such speed that it almost started to loose its meaning as a word anymore, but non the less you could see its effect on Bucky.

His gloved hand fell from his bleeding nose as he began to dance lightly on his feet, adrenaline freshly pumping through his veins.

The red skull had a look of complete and utter rage on his face, and soon the two started to circle each other.

“I see you got your bitch trained.” Johann gave a shit eating grin.

Bucky tried his best to ignore it, instead taking his anger out with a powerful jab to his opponent’s ribs. He however glided out of the way to the other side of the ring.

“what’s the matter? Did I hit a pressure point?” his slight Russian accent filled Bucky with red, and he forced all the anger to remain inside, unwilling for this fight to turn sloppy.

“Don’t worry, when you lose, I’ll take real good care of her.”

Bucky’s eye widened in hate and before anyone could so much as blink, he had Johann pinned to the ground, punching him relentlessly in the face.

The blood splattered on the mat so heavily it could be seen as modern art. Through the cheers amplified around him, he heard the reff start to count. Finally getting to one, as he rolled off his enemy and was hoisted up by the arm in triumph.

The crowd cheered his name like gospel, and out of all the faces his eyes locked to yours. You where being handed a wad of cash and sticking your tongue out mockingly at two large men beside you.

When the excitement died down and he was handed his belt, the speaker passed him the mic as he asked “So James, what do you plan to do now?”

“I’m going home with my best girl.” He replied with a smile.

(sorry if it wasn’t that good, it was kinda just a wing it idea.)

#james bucky barnes #Bucky Barnes #bucky #buckybarnes #bucky x reader #bucky x you #wintersoilder #winter solider x reader #Winter solider x you #marvel #james barnes x reader #theloveablesociopath #sweat #fanfiction #fanfic #1940s bucky #40sbucky

42 notes · View notes