Maybe it’s the stillness, the throbbing quiet that surrounds them. It’s them, alone, whispering in a building full of ancient whispers. Red scoots up so her mouth is near Belle’s ear as she whispers, “I’m glad I met you.” Belle whispers back, “Me, too.” “I’m not lonely anymore.” Belle nods and nods. They sit there, in the quiet, until Belle opens the book again and reads another story, her voice a lullaby, her words a dream. Really lovely Ruby/Belle, set post-Child of the moon.
There wasn't enough evidence to get the headstone changed. Rogers' story is a little too fantastic for the suits up in the Government and there have been enough Margaret Carters in the secret service over the decades that no one can be sure Steve's Peggy is their M. "It's what you choose to believe," Eve had said, and it turns out Q is okay with that. He's the last person who would be because he likes facts and numbers but M being friends with Captain America fits in his head the same way it fits that light is both a wave and a particle and he can do maths with imaginary numbers. *sniffle* Yes. This.
Steve and Darcy become fuckbuddies. Darcy has a lot of rules about this, the most important of which is NO FEELINGS. Which Steve kind of breaks a lot. A LOT. I draw a million sparkly hearts around this story - it is sweet and hot and it made me cry and then it made me happy. ♥
"Are you still scared of him?" Natasha stamped on his foot. "No," she said sweetly once he'd resurfaced, red-faced, from under the table and she'd had time to chew and swallow. "Why?" Clint shrugged. "Well," he said. "I always think you're really alike." Natasha felt her jaw swinging open. "He uses people's expectations about the Hulk like you use people's expectations about being a woman." Five conversations Natasha and Clint have about/with their teammates. Lovely and understated.
'All right. I didn't want to do this, but I got vetoed by the others. Steve, this is officially an intervention.' 'An intervention,' Steve repeats, not particularly enthusiastic. Clint nods. 'You have a problem. With the whole, the living vicariously through the people you throw at Barnes? It's a problem. We think maybe you need to get out more. Get your groove back. Meet someone. Get laid.' He makes a zip-it gesture with his hand when Steve opens his mouth to protest. 'Tony's words, not mine. Now shut up, this is my intervention speech. Okay? Okay. Now, we have a perfect date for you.' Steve's perfect date is, of course, Bucky and it all works out in the end when they realize they don't have to pine stoically for each other anymore. *happy sigh*
The serum started his body anew and was kind enough to ignore it during the war (or maybe just the fact that Steve could go months on end without seeing a woman helped him avoid this problem). And after they’d found him and, well, thawed him, sex hadn’t been high on his list of priorities. Trying not to lose his mind in a world he had never imagined was a bit more of a pressing issue. But life’s settled down now. He’s adjusting. He has a routine. He lives a pretty sedate life, besides the frequent attempts by aliens and supervillians to take over the world. But on the whole, Steve has a chance now to relax. And his body—one particular part of it—has taken advantage of that. And Natasha—Steve is not prepared to handle Natasha. Steve can't help his reaction to Natasha and Natasha enjoys making him uncomfortable. Hilarious and sweet and hot.
She ran her fingers along the short hairs on the back of his neck, murmured his name against his skin, reminding him who he was, reminding her who he was to her. She could not put the pieces back together for him, it was a job he could only do himself. But Natasha would gladly hold him together for a long as he needed her to. Nice look at the progression of Natasha and Clint's relationship. (Some tense slipping in places, but it didn't ruin my enjoyment.)
'So what you're trying to tell me is that Sergeant James Barnes, Captain America's second in command and decorated war hero, but more importantly missing in action and presumed dead for the past seventy years — you're telling me he somehow managed to survive a thousand-feet fall into freezing water, defected, and became the world's most notorious assassin,' and he sounds so unimpressed and incredulous that Steve thinks maybe he's been wrong all this time, maybe he's been lonely and desperate and grieving and instead of dealing with it like a civilised human being he started committing random acts of treason for the first person who looked a little like his dead best friend. 'And what's more,' Fury goes on, staring Steve down, 'you're trying to tell me that based upon this assumption, unsubstantiated with any sort of facts or evidence or Earth logic, you decided the best course of action would be to let the world's most notorious assassin evade capture, aid him in escaping from SHIELD custody, and engage in property damage amounting to forty thousand dollars during your secret gay tryst.' Fury makes a face. 'I can't believe I just said tryst.' 'When you put it like that,' Steve admits, hanging his head like a kicked dog, 'it does sound kind of, you know.' 'I should probably be glad you didn't elope. Agent Hill, pull up the footage.' Hilarious and AWESOME story of how Steve has some 007 style adventures on his way to getting Bucky back. I draw a million sparkly hearts around this story.
Really lovely Donna/Harvey story in which Harvey bides his time until he doesn't. and the sequels: http://abvj.livejournal.com/244860.html Equilibrium and http://abvj.livejournal.com/250980.html a minor acclimation
They aren’t kissing but it’s a near thing. She can’t take a breath without it having come from his mouth. Suddenly, she’s dizzy with expectation. They’ve been dancing around this sort of physical intimacy since they met, their fear of each other still too new to just fall into it easily. All they’ve had were casual kisses that ended almost as soon as they begin or light touches that barely graze the skin. Will he? Won’t he? She sees the same questions in his eyes from time to time as they continue to chart out their relationship. Should they stop at friendship or take it further? And what will become of their closeness if true physical intimacy doesn’t work for them? It would be more comforting if one of them had answers instead of just the infernal quest. Clint and Natasha slowly try to figure out their relationship. Lovely.
Five Times An Avenger Accidentally Woke Natasha Up by
“You wanna stay at the Tower, then?” “I’m not saying that,” Clint said. She raised one eyebrow without opening her eyes. “Fine, I am saying that. What do you say?” Natasha didn’t bond well. People disagreed with her. She disagreed with people. She’d accepted a long time ago that she was better suited to a solitary life where the only visitors to her world were people offering her jobs and people like Clint who came and left as she pleased. So she knew that any fondness she felt for her team—for the people she had recently worked with, she meant—was misplaced sentimentality, the dangerous side effect of post-victory euphoria. Everyone was best friends after you had saved the world together. It was important not to overemphasize these feelings or do anything to improperly encourage them, not when impartiality was so important to her safety. Natasha knew that perfectly well. So she blamed her answer on her sleepiness. “Sure,” she said. Clint stiffened a little. “Really?” he asked, and he sounded so incredulous that she was a little offended. “Why not?” She cracked open one eye and fixed him with it. “I mean, if you’re gonna be such a girl about it.” Clint laughed and wrapped his arms around her. “You’re going to regret that in the morning.” “I regret this already,” she said. really lovely look at Natasha and how she settles into being on and living with the Avengers.
"I thought you were dead," Captain America whispers. He is, as the youth of his country would say, tripping balls. "You're thinking of someone else," the Winter Soldier says, as kindly as he can. It does not seem productive to encourage this delusion. But the other man only shakes his head. "I saw you fall," he says. The Winter Soldier runs into Captain America. Things don't go exactly as planned. Oh, boys.
How Pepper first meets the Hulk. Or, charity dinners and other catastrophes. Tony, Bruce, and Pepper go to a charity dinner and things go somewhat awry. Luckily, the Hulk is there to save them. This is lovely.
