recs and links

He'd known she was beautiful, once, back when he'd still thought of such things, before her cool professional manner and his growing bitterness had pushed all the whimsy out of his mind. She is radiant now, arms flung wide, face tipped back to drink in the sun, spinning in the sand and sea as her hair flies around her face. On an island paradise with their only transportation sailing steadily into the horizon and civilization a good five-hour hike away, Aaron thinks he's never been surrounded by such beauty before. He thinks he finally knows what happiness feels like. Aaron and Marta, living in the aftermath. Lovely.

Colin's ten-year journey to bring Polly home. Excellent story, filling in the part of the story the novels didn't give us (without some of the more annoying tics). Definitely recommended, but carve out some time - it's 83k words long.

Rosa and Amy's book club. awesome!

"I'm perfect," Gina says, because obviously. It's like Rosa isn't even trying to be a detective anymore. Gina's got it going like Queen Bey. "You woke up like this?" Rosa cocks a smile. Gina nods and takes her coffee. She feels like one of those teachers in an after-school specials when they finally teach a kid to read. "Flawless." Rosa is Wonder Woman, because of course she is. And Gina is her Wonder Girl.

"For a date," said Jaime, as he started to recover - only to narrowly miss flying directly into a billboard advertising some kind of shampoo. "You can't just- invite me out on a date with you and your girlfriend-" "We totally just did." "Yeah," Jaime said. He tried to pass the anxious tension in his voice off as a cough, but he didn't think it was very successful. Taking a deep breath, he landed on the ground on his front lawn, only stumbling a little bit before he found his footing. "... Yeah, okay." Tactical advantage: Paco Tejas. "Shut up," Jaime muttered viciously. Adorable story in which Jaime starts dating his best friends. He's a little awkward about it, but Khaji Da is on board.

“I haven’t,” Amy says, distracted by the fact that she’s almost panting against the side of Rosa’s face, “With a girl—a woman,” because, yeah, Rosa’s not a girl. Rosa has possibly never been a girl. Rosa probably came out of the womb as a grown ass woman wearing tasteful leather, and Amy has always been kind of jealous of that, except she’s not jealous right now. She is definitely something other than jealous.

Steve leaves letters for Bucky when he thinks Bucky's not going to come back. Oh my heart.

Very hot and sweet Steve/Bucky/Natasha.

Lovely, meditative look at Bucky dealing with Steve being away on a mission.

Steve and Sam visit the 99. Absolute HILARITY ensues.

Bucky recovers slowly, Steve tries to deal, and also goes on the Daily Show. I enjoyed this (though the narrative calls him "Buck" instead of "Bucky" too often for my liking, but I realize that's a personal pet peeve).

Pepper's wry, slightly bemused take on the Avengers' first Thanksgiving together. Aw, team.

Very hot Steve/Bucky/Natasha PWP.

Steve and Bucky try to keep each other warm. Oh heart.

Steve and Bucky get married to stop Bucky from being extradited. This is so achy and lovely. *sobs*

Steve and Natasha (and Bucky) and their sexy, sexy pillow talk.

Really lovely look at Steve bonding with the USO showgirls on his bonds tour.

No one loves Steve the way Bucky loves Steve. Oh my heart. This is utterly gorgeous.

Steve gets turned into a cat. That's only the start of his problems. Sweet Steve/Bucky/Natasha.

Long, supremely satisfying time travel story where post-CATWS Bucky and WWII era Bucky magically swap places for a while. Highly recommended.

Steve's trying to help Bucky but he's kind of a mess too, so it doesn't go as well as he'd hoped. This is really melancholy and lovely. *sobs*

Bucky gets caught in a time loop the day that the insight carriers launch. It takes him a while to figure out how to fix it, but it also gives him time to remember Steve and himself and how to be a person again. Oh Bucky.

The Avengers rescue a baby from HYDRA and Bucky gets attached. I could read a million words of Bucky + babies.

"Did you miss me on the plane?" The towel falls away altogether. Rogers sits back on his heels, forehead scrunched up, blinking rapidly. "Yes, Buck," he says, in a voice that suggests he is in the early stages of asphyxiation by invisible noose. "As a matter of fact, I did." His marble-blue eyes are glassy with a sheen of moisture. The Asset experiences a surge of emotion he can only describe as guilty panic. He is fairly sure making Captain America cry constitutes a war crime by the standards of the Geneva Convention. Bucky is grumpy and Steve is emotional. Oh my heart.

modern day Steve and Bucky swap bodies - and places - with 1938 Steve and Bucky. It sounds really cracky but the story does a nice job of taking the emotional consequences seriously.

Steve grows a beard on a mission. Bucky really likes it. Oh this is great - it has shaving, tickle fights and pining. Mmm...good.

Lovely, quiet Bucky recovery fic.

Bucky's not doing real well, but while he's dogsitting while Steve is away, he ends up breaking up a dog fighting ring and becoming the pet whisperer. Oh Bucky.

Bucky pines stoically when he and Steve get jobs working backstage with showgirls, and he thinks Steve's in love with someone else. Lovely.

When Sam's wings need to be rebuilt, Tony introduces him to T'Challa. Adventures happen. I enjoyed this.