Hello and welcome back to a new fic rec collection that will be easier for me to update as I read more. Of course, I still have over 300 pages of AO3 history to get through before I can truly call it up to date, but we will get there eventually.
If there are any issues with links or any other comments you have, please let me know!
A link to my previous collection: here
PAIRING: Steve /Bucky
SUMMARY:
Brooklyn, NY. Seven years after HYDRA has usurped freedom and democracy, there are rules about personal liberty. Rules about how to conduct yourself in public, and who to be, who to love, who not to love, and so on and so forth, down to which tattoos you can get. Bucky navigates this world like a sleepwalker, mostly detached from all inklings of emotion and reality, until he decides to get a tattoo. And meets Steve. And then emotion and reality come crashing back, because you can only sleepwalk through your life for so long, and also because quite possibly there's more to Steve, and more to life in general, and more to Bucky's life in particular, than anyone could have predicted. A story about the power of love in uncertain times, and the strength you find inside yourself, sometimes in places where you least expect it. Also lots of softness and connection, snappy comebacks, real snark, realer feelings, and the customary Happy End.
A/N: This story is a gift for the incomparable @mxaether and @buckyismybicycle, who are nothing short of amazing. They deserve all the gifts, and here is a tiny little offering from me.
i screamed all about outlined how this story came to pass in my opener notes on AO3, so i won't repeat myself here, but rest assured that without either kam or HR there would be no story. Kindness and support (and also cheerleading and encouragement) go a long way.
(Look, you throw shouty love my way, or you hold my hand in times of trouble, you'll get Words in return. Eventually. 😂 NO. THIS IS NOT AN INSTRUCTION.)
Extra special endlessly grateful love also has to go to the AMAZING @maichan808, who collaborated with me during last year's Shrinkyclinks Double Bang, which was one of the greatest experiences of my life, and who said "yes!" when i asked her if she wanted to contribute art.
AND THEN SHE DID HER THING AND IT'S AMAZING AND SO GORGEOUS AND i CANNOT EVEN. Darling. You make everything better. EVERYTHING. i cannot thank you enough. 💖
Shouty love also needs to go to @anxioussquirrel who beta-ed with endless patience and consummate skill, the way she always does, as well as my Lovely People @booksandabeer, @bittersweet-in-boston, @hanitrash, and @sparkagrace -- because they keep me sane and also encourage me in all the wrong places.
Darlings, ilysm. 💖💖💖
...
Last but not least -- i know the world has changed since i wrote this story, and yes - this is a HYDRA wins speculative scenario - but i promise you, this fic is here to give you hope.
And we all need hope.
OK? OK.
i love you all. 💕💕💕
Thinkin about retired Steve Rogers who lives in Brooklyn with his husband and is just part of the neighborhood wallpaper but also every place he becomes a regular at mysteriously unionizes or becomes employee owned within six to twelve months of him showing his face
captain america: the winter soldier | Protective team mates are protective
I gotta ask, are you listening to Bucky because he’s threatening or because you are sleeping with him? ‘Cause I gotta know what I need to do for you to start TAKING MY ADVICE.
I just love the fact that when Steve went to the hydra camp he had literally no idea what he was doing. He had absolutely no experience fighting in his new body whatsoever. He had no fighting experience at all. He wasn’t even really in the army. Literally the only army exposure he had at that point was that short time BEFORE he even got the serum. This is just Steve Rogers being like I have no idea what the fuck I’m doing so I’m just gonna wing it
He literally saves all those men by sheer force of will and an unconditional love for Bucky Barnes
he had a plastic helmet and a dream
one of my favorite things to do is listen to sleeping at last and think of steve and bucky
like whoa…
one of my favorite things to do is listen to sleeping at last and think of steve and bucky
I feel like the biggest mischaracterization I see of Steve Rogers is that he is this rule following conservative guy. Like no, did we watch the same movies? This man breaks every rule he can. He hates the government. He also is not a bigot at all. He has his own moral code and does everything based on it.
How to get a visa-free permit to Wakanda
my fic rec collection is getting so much attention rn and it’s making me want to update it but i’m so fucking busy 😭😭😭
if i was 26 and had just woken up from a 70 year suicide-induced coma with no one in the present remembering who i am and instead conflating me with the ever changing image of the role i played in ww2 that now serves as american propaganda and 2 weeks ago i was watching guys get half of their faces blown off and a week after that the love of my life fell off of a moving train with me only being able to watch and then i had to like... deal with a billionaire nepo baby war profiteer calling me an old man and saying there's nothing special about me i would have started killing people. but unfortunately it happened to steve rogers. and he has, like, morals. so
Steven Grant Rogers has never worn a henley shirt before
But he is wearing one in the endgame trailer
Let me show you some things he has worn
T-shirt, practical and easy to wear with anything, anytime
Plaid, he looks like someone’s grandpa but somehow he’s still hot
Pullover, keeps you warm and still relatively fashionable
There’s much more - tank tops, more plaid - but. No. Henleys.
Why is the henley special then?
Is it not just another shirt??? Maybe he just wanted to try something new out???
Well guess who has worn a bunch of henleys
Bucky.
In conclusion, Steve either bought a henley while Bucky was in cryo and wore it to feel as if Bucky was with him and has now brought it out of the back of his closet, or that henley is actually Bucky’s and Steve is going to have to explain himself when Bucky comes back.
if anything else happens to me i’m not enduring it. somebody else do that
Steve Rogers is Captain America now and so he HAS to be respectful and Good and Professional but like…. sometimes when a superior is trying to intimidate or talk down to him in a way he doesn’t like/ used to get a lot back in the 40′s, his Primal SkinnySteve Lizard Brain surges back up to life and he ends up accidentally telling the secretary of state to go bite his ass or something w/o even thinking about it
US President: * is talking his usual fuckshit*
Steve: Oh wow
US President: See! Captain America agrees with m-
Steve: Sorry I just realised I don’t care about anything you’re saying
