Sunday Reading List (September 25th, 2022)
This week has been an incredible reading week for me with lots of amazing fics. Autumn is starting and it's made me want to cozy up inside with a good fanfic, a warm blanket, and a nice cup of tea. So that is exactly what I have been doing all week, including some buddy reads with my friends!
COMPLETE
“It’s already been paid for,” the barista told him and then pointed toward the man that had been in front of Bucky. Even shadowed under the cap and hidden behind thick-rimmed hipster glasses, it was far too easy to recognize that face.
That was most definitely Steve Rogers -- aka, Captain fuckin’ America -- in semi-disguise, loitering as he waited for his drink.
Steve Rogers paid for his drink. Steve Rogers heard what he said. Christ, that was embarrassing.
Or: the one where Bucky Barnes meets Steve Rogers in Starbucks.
Modern Love by idiopathicsmile [Modern Stucky, 1,793 words, Teen and Up]
“Steve Rogers,” says Ninety Glorious Pounds of Righteous Wrath, sticking out his hand to shake.
“Your knuckles’re bleeding,” says Bucky.
Modern AU. A no-serum Steve Rogers meets war veteran Bucky Barnes because they accidentally punch the exact same neo-Nazi at the exact same time.
It’s with a painful twist of Steve's heart that those eyes haunt him into the timestream, and stay with him through every stop along the way. Bucky's eyes are the last thing he sees before it's all swirling, spiralling chaos, and he can’t unsee them, their heartbreak and despair and—
When Steve gets back, though, they’ll have time. Steve will have time to fix it, whatever it is that put those things into Bucky's soul; they’ll have time.
He'll only be gone five seconds.
Avengers: Endgame Fix-It.
“Whales make sounds,” says Bucky, shocked.
“They sing,” Steve says absently.
Moving home isn't exactly at the top of Bucky's priorities, but he doesn't have much choice after getting pulled into an embezzlement scandal by his boss. And, because the universe hates him, his childhood best friend, Steve - the one who he hasn't spoken to after a falling out seven years ago, the one he's been in love with his entire life - just moved back, too, and they're only two houses apart.
Bucky had simultaneously wanted to do three things: roll his eyes and smack Steve's arm for how unbearably sappy that was, offer to suck Steve off right that second for what a surprisingly good line that actually was, and tell Steve to come over here and kiss him for the way the words were making Bucky's heart hammer in his chest.
And, damn it all, he'd ended up going for option three.
(Or: A very soft fic about all the little things that keep surprising Bucky now that he and Steve are together.)
“Listen, I was just thinking,” Steve says, his face open, eyebrows raised in a tentatively hopeful expression. “Why don’t you come stay at my place for a while? I’ve got an office that I barely use, and a change of scenery might do you good, right? Help you beat that writer’s block?” With a crooked smile, he adds, “I promise I’m not a serial killer.”
While Bucky would normally crack a joke about how that’s exactly what a serial killer would say, right now, all he can do is blink at Steve in surprise, heart tripping over itself in his chest. Steve wants him to come and stay at his place. In Massachusetts. Just the two of them.
"Oh," Bucky croaks. "I- Wow."
“I mean, no pressure,” Steve says hastily. “Totally fine if you don’t wanna. I just thought I’d offer, in case it might help, y’know?”
“Yeah.” Bucky ignores the little voice in his head that sounds an awful lot Nat and Becca, telling him he’s setting himself up for heartbreak. “I mean, if you’re sure, that would be amazing.”
"You're… not Hal," Steve says when the stranger looks at him. He's probably close to twenty-five, the same as Steve. Tall and broad shouldered (not the same as Steve), with a head full of loose, dark brown curls. He's not wearing any kind of sweater, just a short sleeved t-shirt that seems significantly tighter than is necessary. If Steve's shirt were that tight his ribs would be visible.
"Nope," the man says, leaning forward to rest one hand on the counter and hold the other out to Steve. "Bucky Barnes."
Steve has a comfortable, well-worn routine for his Thursday nights, until the old man who runs the laundromat breaks his hip.
Then Steve has Bucky instead.
“Your subscribers seem nice,” Bucky says, interrupting the silence that had settled over them. Steve rubs a hand over his face.
“Yeah, they’re pretty cool,” Steve says, sitting down next to Bucky. “Should I tell them about us or just let them keep guessing?”
Bucky grins mischievously. “Yes.”
(aka a secret relationship/youtube AU starring Steve as a violinist and Bucky as his hot mystery boyfriend)
Bucky's tap starts leaking. Steve comes to fix it. Bucky swoons. He starts breaking things so Steve will fix them. To be honest, it's not the best plan he's ever had.
The first time really was legitimate. The hot tap in the kitchen started leaking and Sam decided Bucky’s method of sticking a bucket under it wasn’t sufficient. And apparently just because Bucky worked from home most days, that meant he had to deal with calling their apartment manager to let them know, so they’d send someone to fix it.
Sometimes Bucky hated being an adult.
Steve's first day at the flower shop, he walks into the break room to find an extremely large and muscular man having a breakdown because his dog is sick. Only an asshole wouldn't try to comfort that large and muscular man.
This fic is based on this this tweet.
Bucky Barnes, newly-single twentysomething from Brooklyn, heads to Europe with the goal of showing everyone back home (particularly his shitty ex) that he's living his best life. He asks a beautiful blond stranger for a picture of them kissing in front of the Eiffel Tower to post to his social media, and ends up having a bit of a déjà vu.
Bucky expresses some feelings with the help of karaoke, Asgardian mead and some bad decisions.
Steve and Bucky have a one night stand that turns into a friends with benefits situation. A weekend snowed in at Bucky’s apartment brings to light how much that really doesn’t suit either one of them.
“Wow, you have a lot of… patriotic memorabilia around your office,” Bucky observes. “Do you, like, cosplay or something?” He chuckles before his eyes suddenly snap towards Steve.
He looks back at the costumes hanging off the mannequin and then back at Steve, staring in horror as realisation dawns.
“Holy shit, you’re Captain America,” Bucky says at the same time Steve replies with: “I’m not sure what cosplay is.”
aka: Bucky and Steve have a reverse Notting Hill-esque first meeting.
Steve's students don't believe him when he says he's dating international rockstar and heartthrob Bucky Barnes, but he is, and has been since they were sixteen.
Bucky bites his bottom lip, trying to find the right words to explain this to Steve but coming up short. “Sometimes I just like to feel – pretty. You know?”
Steve looks very serious when he says, “You look plenty pretty to me, Buck. Always have.”
And Bucky knows he means it. He can see it in Steve’s eyes every time he looks at him.
“I know,” he says softly. “But I just like making myself look nice. There’s something about the process, the pampering, the grooming… I can’t really explain it, I just know it makes me feel… good. About myself.”
“Okay,” Steve nods. “That’s great, Buck. You should do whatever makes you feel good.”
Nerd Bucky wants to go to a dance with football player Steve.
WIPS
Bucky is a high end escort. She likes making money from her rich clients.
Steve is a rich businessman with some kinks to work out. He likes rough sex. He doesn't like dating, so using a call girl is convenient for him.
It's the start of a mutually beneficial relationship.
It’s 1994 and Bucky Barnes is stuck in a dead-end job at Blockbuster trying to figure his life out. Until a recently unfrozen Steve Rogers walks through the door and asks him for film recommendations.
