assemble

Fanfic recs of stories that focus on characters in the MCU that don't have the last name Stark for once. This is NOT a strictly A//nti-T//ony blog, this is just for people who want to read something MCU-related that doesn't kiss his ass every five sentences. Have a fic suggestion? Please feel free to recommend it!

[avengersbeyondstark]

Welcome! I’m still getting things set up around here so it might take a little while for me to post anything, but I’m currently going through my own personal list of MCU fics, and I hope you enjoy them. If there are any really good fics you’d like to recommend to me, feel free to message me and I’ll read it and link to it as soon as I can!

My goal is to recommend at least one or two fics per day, that way you’ll all have plenty to read overtime, but please understand that I’d prefer to completely read through a story before recommending it, and I have ADHD, so it might take me a little bit to get through it. Thank you for your patience!

[avengersbeyondstark]

The Company You Keep

by orbingarrow

G, 51k, Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes, Complete

Summary: Hurt, hungry, and on the run, the Winter Soldier doesn’t have a lot of safe options to go to for help. Figuring that any friend of Captain Steve Rogers is unlikely to be HYDRA, Bucky takes a chance and reaches out to the first Avenger he can find. It works out better than anyone could have expected. Eventually.

My thoughts: Ohhhh, this one took me a while to finish, but in the end it was so wonderfully worth it. A recently post-TWS James manages to track down an off the grid Bruce Banner for help, and an unlikely alliance and friendship forms between this odd duo. Bruce’s compassion and utter refusal to see James as anything less than a human being is so heartwarming, and seeing James slowly beginning to trust Bruce and coming to terms with his personhood again is absolutely lovely. I hope you guys love it too.

Science Bros, Slow Build, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Bruce Is a Good Bro, Clint Is a Good Bro, Basically All the Good Bros, Hurt/Comfort, Except The Hurt is Past Hurt, Because No One is Going to Hurt Bucky Again Or Hulk Smash, Bucky Barnes Defense Squad, Complete, Happy Ending, Domestic Avengers

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[avengersbeyondstark]

Twelve Minutes Behind

by Val_Creative @nooowestayandgetcaught

T, 1k, Gen, Complete

Summary:  The carnival has come to town. Wanda loses her sons in the Hall of Mirrors, and she discovers someone unexpected.

My thoughts: It’s been a long time since I’ve read one of Val’s one-shots, and this one certainly does not disappoint, in the angst or in the bittersweet feels. Wanda and Pietro have been two of my favorite characters since AoU came out in 2015, so any fics involving the two of them immediately have my attention. The WandaVision show is so much more than I was hoping for or expecting, but I can’t help but be disappointed that Aaron Taylor Johnson’s Pietro has not made a real appearance yet. This fic gave me a little taste of what that reunion could look like, and it hurts so good.

WandaVision Season 1 Spoiler(s), Season/Series 01, Post-Episode: s01e06 All-New Halloween Spooktacular!, Family, Friendship/Love, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Protectiveness, Mild Language, Superpowers, Angst and Feels, Reunions, BAMF Wanda Maximoff, Wanda Maximoff Needs a Hug, Pietro Maximoff Feels, Good Sibling Pietro Maximoff

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[avengersbeyondstark]

When the Dead are all Living

by aloneintherain

T, 10k, Gen, Complete

Summary: Somehow, Peter continues to run into a dangerous, homeless man around New York. Somehow, Peter avoids being killed. Somehow, they become something like friends. (Peter and Bucky’s unlikely friendship, following Bucky's road to recovery).

My thoughts: This fic is so, so precious to me. I’ve always loved me some good Peter Parker Befriends Other Heroes of the Marvel Universe fics, and that describes this story to a tee. Written prior to Peter’s actual debut into the MCU, this Peter Parker is more like either Tobey Maguire’s or Andrew Garfield’s version of Peter,  both in personality and because he’s quite a bit older than actual MCU Spidey, but regardless, it’s a super fun time. Bucky is still homeless and wandering through New York, unsure of how human he is and how much of HYDRA’s weapon still remains, super traumatized and super not getting the help he needs, and their first couple of meetings are less than ideal ways to strike up a friendship. But Peter’s kind, determined nature shines through even here, and their relationship is so lovely. Peter might not be a trained therapist, but he would never leave a man to suffer through panic attacks alone. It’s so sweet. Also I gotta tell ya, the brief mentions of Peter working with/befriending other Marvel characters like Daredevil and Deadpool offscreen are just *chef’s kiss*.

Bucky Barnes Recovering, Identity Issues, peter continues to regret everything, mentions of torture, peter is an embarrassing human being, bucky is remembering how to be a human being, Friendship, Peter & Bucky is platonic, Winter Soldier Trial, Torture, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Hurt/Comfort, Bucky Barnes Returns, Recovery, Identity Reveal

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[avengersbeyondstark]

Not Easily Conquered

by dropdeaddream and WhatAreFears

M, 117k, Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes & Steve Rogers/Peggy Carter, Multi-fic Series, Complete

Summary: In 1945, Steve Rogers jumps from a nosediving plane and swims through miles of Arctic Ocean to a frozen shore. In 1947, Steve Rogers marries Peggy Carter. In 1966, the New York Times finds the lost letters of Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes.

My thoughts: The complicated story of what could have happened if Steve Rogers avoided being trapped within the ice while bringing the Valkyrie down and made it home, only for his supposed-to-be-a happy ending with Peggy to be unexpectedly strained by the eventual discovery of letters Bucky wrote to him before he fell from the train, confessing to loving his best friend back in a time where loving another man was seen as a sin beyond forgiveness. Steve grapples with this posthumous confession, his own thoughts and feelings for his lost best friend, and his marriage to Peggy all suddenly seemingly conflicting with each other; if he loves his wife, a woman, how could he love his best friend, a man? It’s a tale of a hero slowly coming to terms with his bisexuality during an era of hatred and bigotry, while he is also on the hunt for the mysterious KGB assassin “the Winter Soldier” in the midst of the Cold War. I don’t want to spoil too much of the plot, but I must confess, the way Peggy is written in this is absolutely wonderful; plenty of fics have her portrayed as simply the roadblock on the way to the eventual Steve/Bucky relationship, but in this series she is given so much care and depth. Yes, she is angry at Steve and Bucky for being in love with each other and complicating her marriage. Those letters and Steve’s inability to properly articulate his feelings for Bucky leave her feeling betrayed, thinking perhaps she was just the woman Steve settled for rather than choosing for himself. It’s so nuanced, and so painful, and so, so real. I’m so glad her marriage with Steve isn’t simply swept under a rug in favor of Steve/Bucky, and I hope you guys love it too.

Historical Character(s), Steve Rogers: the Bisexual America Deserves, Cold War, September 11 Attacks, World War II, Period Typical Homophobia

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[avengersbeyondstark]

A History of Falling

by Virgo827

T, 127k, Gen, In-Progress as of 2/13/21

Summary: Loki falls. When he finally lands, he finds himself on Midgard. S.H.I.E.L.D. beckons with the promise of adventure and intrigue, but he's not sure his mortal identity can withstand the pressure. The Avengers Initiative has only been delayed, not disbanded, and Fury gathers his team as the realm is threatened by a mysterious player from beyond Earth's borders that claims to want the Tesseract...

My thoughts: Hands down one of the best fics I have ever read in my entire life, full stop. If I could replace canon with anything, it would be this story. Who cares about Infinity War or Endgame when we could have had this? Loki working with SHIELD as the antagonistic, sarcastic, slightly devious consultant whose motivations remain a mystery to his employers (and even to himself most of the time) as he balances a human persona who should only be slightly powerful (whilst SHIELD operates under the assumption he is some kind of “average” meta-human) along with his true knowledge of the galaxy outside of Earth and his understanding of the Norse artifacts that keep giving SHIELD trouble. Phil Coulson remains suspicious of him, Steve Rogers bonds with him slowly over a feeling of disconnect from the world these two never meant to find themselves in, and Natasha Romanov unexpectedly begins to understand him from the periphery as someone who also re-forged her personhood under a new name in a new place where her past was left far behind. However, everything begins to change when strange gaps in space begin to appear, fluctuations seemingly caused by the Tesseract still under SHIELD’s custody, a possible sign of more sinister workings afoot. And of course, it’s amidst these tense uncertainties surrounding Loki’s true desires for his fleeting life on Earth, that Asgard’s Prince of Thunder finally reappears in Midgard...

Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Loki falls to Earth, Mentions of Suicide, Angst and Humor, Magic and Science, Loki Redemption, Loki Does What He Wants, Loki Tries to Assimilate, Loki Uses Emojis, Identity Issues, I have a sinking feeling this will be epic-length, Abuse of italics, Minor Jane Foster/Thor, Minor Pepper Potts/Tony Stark

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[avengersbeyondstark]

United States v. Barnes, 617 F. Supp. 2d 143 (D.D.C. 2015)

by fallingvoices and radialarch

T, 20k, Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes, Complete

Summary:  The Associated Press @AP Winter Soldier set to stand trial for Washington D.C. massacre and treason apne.ws/1og6SWE

My comments: This story is an absolute classic in the fandom, or at the very least it should be. Written back in the era fresh off the release of the Winter Soldier, it contains a lot of the tropes I think the fandom has come to associate with that time period of fanon: fake-though-oddly-realistic social media posts, snippets and pieces of full-on academic papers on the morality of punishing a man who was brainwashed into being an assassin, and all of the painful ambiguity that would and should be present in a story where the Winter Soldier is brought to trial for crimes he never would have committed if he’d had the choice. Steve and Bucky are reunited amidst the courtroom drama, and America is torn on what to think of it’s national hero being in love with such a dangerous “villain”. This story has been in my Fic Recs list for literal years. Well worth the read!

media fic, Courtroom Drama, mentions of torture, mentions of Natasha Romanov/Sam Wilson, Social Media

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