This is where I tag and bag all of the fics I've read in an attempt to organize them and be able to locate them later I am starting this blog on 6/27/16 but will try to include as many fics that I've read before this date as well
anyone have recs for post-mockingjay everlark fics that are good at being tonally similar to the trilogy + keeping people in-character? like “the unrecorded hours” by hollycomb vibes or “the list” by silvercistern
i HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend (could not recommend enough) Us Among the Living by @evermarch
Her Katniss voice flows so naturally from the Katniss we see in Mockingjay Chapter 27.
Her Growing Back Together is tortuously slow in the best possible way. Her Everlark is so obviously thirsty for each other and the entire district are holding bets, i'm certain.
Please, please, please go share the love - you're going to ADORE it!!!!
Today, with an enormous 9th chapter I've finished The Cipher of Love. I think it's been my personal favourite so far because, well... single dads, shared grief, capacity for acceptance...
*sigh*
The Cipher of Love (52451 words) by talesofwhales
Chapters: 9/9
Fandom: James Bond (Craig Movies), Mary Poppins (Movies)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: James Bond/Q
Characters: James Bond, Q (James Bond), Eve Moneypenny, Mathilde (James Bond), Annabel Banks (Mary Poppins Movies), John Banks (Mary Poppins Movies), Georgie Banks (Mary Poppins Movies), Alec Trevelyan
Additional Tags: AU, Hurt/Comfort, James Bond as Mary Poppins, Post WW2, Q is a Damsel in Distress, Q Needs a Hug (James Bond), James Bond Needs a Hug, MI6 Cafe 007 Fest 2024, Touching, Pining, Grief/Mourning, Single Parents, Widowers, Slow Burn, Period Typical Attitudes, Internalized Homophobia, Self-Discovery, Hand Jobs, Sharing a Bed, Alec Trevelyan Saves The Day
Summary:
Q is a part-time bank teller, math tutor, and single dad of three. James Bond has a cane, a private detective practice, and a daughter.
It’s the year 1948, and the war is over. One must go out there and live a life, but not all sorrows end with a war.
(i know the Epicureans meant their doctrines in the literal sense. i read them as something much more sentimental, the fault is mine)
✨00Q end of the year fic rec list ✨
(to commemorate the year of the lord 2023 when this ship came back to kick my ass)
the simplest of crimes by pdameron - fake marriage AU. my favorite 00Q fake married au just because the stakes are so low like they didn't have to do all that but the build up is so good.
come a lily, come a lilac by pdameron - florist!Q AU. this really got me giggling and twirling my hair.
James Bond Will Return by sorion - post-Spectre James comes back. a very charming character study.
as permanent as stone cathedrals by pdameron - pining Q. beautifully written with just the right amount of whump.
people can surprise you (or not) by pdameron - fake relationship but posh. i love whodunnits.
Hold Tight by orphan_account - Spectre fix-it. and fix it they did. also has my second favorite Q name.
lacunae (just the blood you owe) by finestkind - Q offers comfort as bond deals with grief. this fic honestly makes me ache, the way it handles friendship and grief and love UGH.
Say Something (I'm Giving Up On You) by Brihna - Spectre re-write where Q and James sleep before he goes off to Mexico. possibly my favorite Spectre fix-it, love emotional constipation and miscommunication.
Crossing the Bar by GwynDuLac - Q pulls bond out of retirement for an emergency mission. the best mission fic i have ever read hands down.
bloom on my skin, echo in my soul by Areiton - soulmate au. gorgeous writing.
if I couldn't be strong by SailorChibi - post-Spectre James is found abandoned in a hospital in a coma. i love how quietly vindictive Q is in this.
a bloodless coup by Ark - marathon sex. very vulnerable.
I Could've Been a Maths Teacher by Brihna - Q branch gets invaded. v good translation of the comic into prose.
I Don't Take Your Pleasure For Granted by Catchclaw - Q develops a crush. love me some pathetic Q.
I Won't Shiver, I Won't Shake by Only_1_Truth - Skyfall re-write, lots of Q whump. the hurt is so good but the comfort is even better. plus i love attack roombas.
Favours by dhampir72 - pining from Q's POV. fun fact: my gf once quoted a line of this fic to me and i knew immediately which fic she was reading, that's how much i've read this.
rain by Aniron84 - touch starved Q. god GOD, this fic!! there was a time in my life, i read this multiple times a day. the description of loneliness is so on point it always hurts.
Fidelity by marlowe_tops - Q seems to have picked up a stray. local idiot doesn’t know he’s in a relationship, struggles mentally
Indelible by enjolras_lexa - 5+1 of bond breaking into Q's apartment. quite gentle and funny.
A Hitch in the Holster by APrettySpy - Q is having A Time during a heat wave and like Q i'm not immune to the holster
when the world isn't fair by Mlle_Heloise - James rescues Q's holiday. warm and fluffy.
The Pros and Cons of Wayward Agents by Brihna - Q whump with a protective Bond. is it bad to be all teehee while reading someone beat someone else to unconsciousness
Best Dressed by HandsAcrossTheSea - PWP with kilts! really good p0rn and with bottom Bond to boot!
Through A New Lens: A Spectacular Love Story by christinefromsherwood - Q discovers he has a glasses kink, or does he? listen, i too am not immune to daniel craig in glasses so i can relate.
talk / listen by thestalwartheart - dirty talk. a masterclass in p0rn honestly, SO good.
The Inevitability of Time by dhampir72 - soulmate au. will never stop recommending this, it's so tragic and yet not?
Hello, I just finished the Hat Trick Hearts series by SomewheresSword and ohhhhh my god, it was SO GOOD.
If you like PBJ and you like seeing these boys happy, I highly recommend this series. It's 463,312 words of them being in love and figuring out how that relationship works, both in private and in this heteronormative and monogamy focussed world, and it's very low on angst. It's not pure fluff, there's anxiety and homophobia and dealing with past hurt, but there's no manufactured angst in the relationship, just lots of love and comfort and actual communication! Especially once they get together, which I promise doesn't take too long.
The series is canon divergent from Epikegster, based on the premise that Bitty went to the 2010 Olympics as a figure skater and met (a very sad) Kent there. They became close friends, but only through phonecalls/skype/texting and somehow neither realised that Bitty's captain who he was crushing on was the same guy that Kent had been heartbroken about all these years. So when Kent shows up and sees them taking selfies together, the night goes very differently. Despite this divergence, the series still includes a lot of canon moments, before eventually moving past where the comic ends and folowing these boys for many more years.
I'll link to the fist fic, if the idea of commiting to the whole series is too daunting, you could technically just read this and have a satisfying (and happy) ending in about 90k words. Or just start here and enjoy the journey!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
sometimes plushies make me cry because it’s like. they’re little guys made to be loved. their only purpose is to be held and hugged and loved. we made them because we love making things and we love loving things. and they’re so cute
Years back, I was working at a specialty store, and we got this HUGE crate of plushy toys. They were all insanely cute and squishy. I knew kids would go nuts for them, as it was the first week of December, so parents and grandparents often had kids with them while shopping for furniture, lamps, cooking equipment, lights, etc.
One night, I was working my last hour of my shift covering the Customer Service desk, which meant when I wasn't busy, I was supposed to help clean up around the cash registers, including taking back items people changed their minds about at the checkout. Earlier, I had witnessed a kid carrying thos cute plushy toy. It was a brown and white hedgehog. The kid, at the checkout, saw a remote control car and he told his dad he qanted it. The dad told him, "The plushy or the car- you can't have both" (by the way, I respect boundaries with kids and parents sticking to their guns about it), and the kid picked the car.
So, I'm cleaning up, have less than an hour left of my shift, and I see the little plushy hedgehog. Somehow, he never got put back nor had anyone else seen him and decided to buy him. He was just sitting there, slumped to the side, unattended.
It's Christmas and I'm a sentimental old sap at heart. My brain starts replaying the scene from RUDOLPH where he's on the Island of Misfot Toys, and is told a toy is never truly happy until it is loved. I picked him up and quickly took him back to the bin with the plushies but... It was empty. He was literally the last plushy toy and my boss was about to wheel the bin out. We weren't getting any more toys till November, so that meant any toys left at this point needed to sell or they'd be sent to the dump.
I brought the little hedgehog to the front, figuring someone would see him with the candy, candles, & Christmas brick-a-brack, and fall in love with him. When I finished my shift, I went to ask my manager a question and as I passed the Christmas candle display - there he sat, the sad little slumped over hedgehog plushy. No one had bought him, or even moved him.
My manager, Phillip, saw me and the hedgehog. He asked how the hedgehog got there. I told him how I'd put him there when the bin got sent back, and he was the only plushy left. Philip had kids, I figured he'd probably get sentimental and buy it for his kids. Nope. He shrugged and said he'd send it back to be disposed of.
That night, I came home with a plushy hedgehog in my passenger seat. My mom saw him and just thought he was the cutest little hedgehog and asked what I wanted to do with him. I told her the story, then added I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do with him.
My mom is a child psychiatrist, specializing in children with PTSD and brain damage that results in learning problems/issues with processing their emotions. She asked if she could have the plushy hedgehog (even offered to pay me for him, she didn't expect me to just give him over), so kids could hug him when they were upset in session.
Murphy, the plushy hedgehog that still slumps a little to the left when seated, has been hugged by hundreds of kids. Little girls have held him tight while explaining about bullies, little boys have held him tight while crying over their panic attacks, younger siblings have held him to whisper secrets while elder siblings and parents talk about self-soothing techniques, teenagers have hugged Murphy while talking about the worst day of their lives. Murphy has also been hugged by kids excitedly chatting about a new friend at school, a teen girl excited to be called by her name instead of her dead-name, little kids proudly saying they've mastered their ABCs, and even staff members who just need to come chat over a case they are having trouble with.
Every now and then, my mom brings Murphy home for a weekend. He gets washed (she calls it a Spa Weekend, to her coworkers, all of them laughing), dried, and sits outside with my mom in the sunshine to get aired out, then on Monday, they are back to work. Some kids even just ask to hold Murphy while they talk, no matter their mood or what they want to talk about. They just want to hug Murphy.
So yes. Plushies are made for one purpose. To be hugged and loved. To be a comfort.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/?
Fandom: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Eric “Bitty” Bittle/Jack Zimmermann
Characters: Eric “Bitty” Bittle, Jack Zimmermann, Shitty Knight, Larissa “Lardo” Duan, Justin “Ransom” Oluransi, Adam “Holster” Birkholtz, Original Child Character(s)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Reunion, The Kiss Never Happened, Everybody is older, Past Eric Bittle/OMC, past Jack Zimmermann/Camilla Collins, Time Capsule Opening
Summary:
It’s been more than 15 years since Eric Bittle graduated from Samwell University, and just about that long since he last spoke to his former hockey captain, Jack Zimmermann. But it’s hard to escape the past, especially when he gets the news that the Haus is being torn down. A long overdue SMH reunion, a time capsule, and two meddling teenage daughters may just be what Eric and Jack need to start anew.
Frankly, you’d known those idiots had had a kid for years now. You’d pretended not to, because while you’d committed a lot of atrocities in your life, you weren’t willing to face the moral quandary of whether you would knowingly kill a child just to spite its parents.
They probably thought they were being clever though, what with the blaming you for an injury you knew damn well you’d never given keeping one of them out of commission for a few months, then references to what they would ‘leave behind’ or ‘could not follow’ when in the latest death trap. One of them had accidentally pulled a pacifier out of their utility belt once, and tried to pass it off as being prepared for any young children they came across while rescuing.
Idiots.
Still, you had standards. Standards that fell somewhere past war crimes and before common decency, but they were standards.
also seriously if a character isn’t white, i promise your only descriptive options aren’t food words and varying degrees of tan. it’s okay to say brown. pale brown! light brown! golden brown! medium brown! dark brown! deep brown! so many kinds of brown!
This post by writingwithcolor might help in picking good words to use plus reading about why not to use food words! In general if you’re writing a character of color I highly recommend @writingwithcolor
James “Bucky” Barnes is a successful billionaire on the cusp of releasing one of the most technologically advanced prosthetics the world has ever seen. Married three years to a decorated NYC sergeant detective, he lives on the Upper East Side with his adopted daughter, Mia. Everything seems perfect.
But Bucky’s life is anything but perfect. Behind closed doors, his marriage is in shambles. Bucky is in constant fear of when the next blow will fall. If he doesn’t get out now, he may not see another day.
The only choice he has is to run. Along with Mia, he settles in a small town clear across the country on the San Juan Islands in the Pacific Coast.
Friday Harbor is a far cry from the crazy hustle of the city, but the slow pace helps Bucky to finally take a breath and start healing. Not only that, but spend time with his daughter.
He just didn’t intend on Steve, his Airbnb host and the town’s mechanic.
Soon, Bucky learns what it really means to love and be loved.
These fics weren't all published in 2021 (in fact many of them were not) but I did read all of them in 2021.
They cover a wide range of ratings and topics so please read any of the writers tags and content warnings before reading.
Anything in Italics is my thoughts. This post is long, sorry
1. it all started with 1 (one) twitter DM (series) by rickysims (@omg-whiskey)
whiskent | 400k
Kent Parson and Connor Whisk didn't exactly mean to fall in love, it started out with one DM and it kind of snowballed from there...
One of my all time favorite fics that I have read countless times
2. No Matter How Small by weneedtotalkaboutsherlock (@weneedtotalkaboutfic)
zimbits | 125k
"Elliot," Eric says, "this is Jack. Jack, this is Elliot."
3. After Me by rayemars
zimbits, kent/omc | 250k
In 2009 Kent "living Taylor Swift song" Parson goes first in the draft, moves to Nevada, and starts an NHL career that includes one Stanley Cup win, one league lockout, a lot of media manipulation, bad blood with several teams, a captaincy, big city politics, and the pressure that comes with some questionable sponsors for a club located in the gambling heart of the United States.
Meanwhile, the Las Vegas Aces learn how to work around the ghost of Jack Zimmermann.
(Not literally.)
A wonderful story of life and growth. The original characters are amazing and I could not stop reading.
4. consider the hairpin turn (do not choose sides yet) by jjcofeesa (@30samwiches)
zimbits, holsom, shardo, pimms | 50k
You are not in a car with a beautiful boy. You are in a car next to a beautiful boy. And in a car behind your ex. And in a car ahead of your best friend. If you're Jack Zimmermann, current World Driver's Champion, that is.
If you're Eric Bittle, you're too nervous about your rookie season to be thinking about what the boys in the other cars look like. (You tell yourself you're too nervous, anyway. You do think about it.)
If you're on Twitter, well. They're all beautiful boys, and you wish you could be in the car with them.
5. with grace in your heart by iridescentoracle and mutuisanimis
zimbits | 140k
When Kent Parson shows up at Epikegster 2014, he doesn’t mess up Jack and Bitty’s relationship, but it is a turning point.
6. Begin Again (series) by aleia
kent parson, ptater | 320k
When Jeff Troy agrees to billet new rookie Kent Parson, he assumes he's going to be stuck with teenager trying to party and bring girls back to the apartment. That's not at all what he gets. (Description from Part 1)
7. Dear Jack by WrathoftheStag (@wrathofthestag)
zimbits | 20k
Just after his overdose, Jack Zimmermann meets patient Eric Bittle at New York–Presbyterian Hospital and the two make an immediate connection. When Bitty leaves the hospital and Jack begins rehab in Montreal, they start a correspondence that will forever change their lives, and hearts.
This absolutely murdered me but it was also so so so beautifully written
8. Ethics of Journalism by rosepetals42
zimbits | 12k
When Dan Erikson is assigned to write an article about Jack Zimmermann's years in college, he thinks he knows what he's getting into.
Then he meets Professor Simpson, Jack's photography professor.
9. Something Like This by emmagrant01
zimbits primarily | 285k
Jack thought his first year in the NHL would be 100% about hockey, but the reality is so much more complicated.
The OCs and storytelling are just so good
10. out in the open by wit (@parvuls)
zimbits | 35k
TMZ ✔ @TMZ · May 23, 2019 22:36
Jack Zimmermann and Eric Bittle’s Friendship Goes Viral After Release of Providence Falconers Video
One thing is for sure: this isn't what Bitty expected to happen when he first DMed NHL forward Jack Zimmermann.
The formatting, the story telling, all of it was just magical
11. Firecracker by procrastinationfairy
patater | 18k
Kent's best friend (with benefits) tells him she's pregnant with his child, and if he doesn't want the baby, she'll adopt it out. Kent doesn't want the baby. He's still dealing with issues from his childhood and every failed relationship. He's not ready to come out. He's not ready to be a father. He doesn't want to be. (Except he does.)
12. Ice Crew Please! by rosepetals42
zimbits | 61k
Jack Zimmermann was drafted first by the Providence Falconers when he was eighteen years old. He is good at hockey. Very good. His team won the Cup his second year and now, in his third year, they are looking good. Jack should be on top of the world. And some days, he manages to convince himself he is.
He’s not, of course.
Enter the Ice Crew.
13. DREAMBOY by chillmari
patater, zimbits | 22k
Alexei Mashkov was number 7 of the Providence Falconers, and he couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. When he was on the ice, he knew that it was his new home.
Beneath it all, Alexei was scared to live in Russia. The constant ghost of who he was meant to marry haunting him no matter where he went. Everyone back home always asked him if he had settled down yet. If he had finally found the woman of his dreams.
In Providence, he found his home. He knew that within the black ridden puck and beneath the hidden cracks of the ice, that he found comfort in the brisk air, and silently appreciated the warmth he felt in his heart that came from the frozen fractals of the ice. He didn't have to worry about his sexuality. He didn't have to worry about his dream girl.
Everything in Alexei’s life was going smoothly. Until it all didn’t.
14. Like Real People Do by xiaq
kent/omc | 154k
“So still two dates to go then?” Parson continues.
“I—what?”
“We’ve got a roadie coming up but then we’re home for almost two weeks. When does your semester start?”
“You want to do this again?” Eli asks.
Parson stops idly twirling his spoon.
“You don’t?”
He does, Eli realizes. He really does. Because apparently he actually likes Kent fucking Parson.
while not available on AO3 anymore, that is because it is being published into a real book in spring 2022, it is really good, and if anyone is interested in reading before then i have a pdf i downloaded and can send you (as that does appear to be allowed, if that changes please let me know)
15. roads all even and peaceful by ahermioneh (@zimms)
olliewicks | 13k
In which Ollie and Wicks definitely don't run hockeyblr blogs.
No way.
And they definitely aren't mutuals.
No. Not at all.
I love the way their lives, friendship, and relationship are portrayed through tumblr posts and messages
16. northern lights at dawn by weneedtotalkaboutsherlock (@weneedtotalkaboutfic)
zimbits | 8k
He's at a party reuniting some of the most beautiful people in the world, he's single, and lord, nobody can fault him for thinking that, perhaps, he could be making out with a cute boy by the end of the evening.
17. i hugged you close in the parking lot by acornfield (that's me)
jack and shitty | 300
Sometimes life happens and before you know it, it's been two years since you've seen your best friend.
Yes I put my own fic in this list, that is because I am very happy with it and think about it all the time
18. Heart of the Haus (series) by cricketnationrise (@cricketnationrise)
smh in some way or another | 15k
A collection of timestamp fics, all under 1k, set in the haus.
The little snippets into life in the Haus are just so fun to read
19. Excuse Me While I Kiss This Guy by PorcupineGirl
zimbits | 8k
Jesse Snowden knows all the best restaurants and gourmet food shops in Providence, so when Jack Zimmermann starts bringing in incredible baked goods, he's eager to find out where the new bakery is. When he meets the man behind the pies, he decides that there's no way Jack could really appreciate this guy's talent the way he does, even if they are friends. He starts hiring Jack's chef on the side, in the hopes that maybe once Bitty's done with college he'll come work for Jesse.
Good thing there is absolutely no way whatsoever that Jesse could possibly be misinterpreting this situation.
20. Bits of Heaven by WrathoftheStag (@wrathofthestag)
zimbits, nurseydex, shardo, holsom | 22k
At age 44, NHL legend, Jack Zimmermann, knows three things for sure: retirement is boring, love is probably not in the cards for him, and his aging father makes a pretty good roommate. When the bakery "Bits of Heaven" opens up down the street, Jack finds that a happily ever after is possible—even late in the game.
21. collapsing everything he once knew
nurseydex | 79k
Its Dex's senior year. He's stepping into the shadow of Bitty's leadership, pressure building onto him. This year will collapse everything he once knew about himself, wading through uncomfortable waters, balancing his schoolwork all while realising that he might not be as straight as he thinks he is.
“--but I know you enough that you hate new things,” Nursey says. Dex has to stop himself from moving, they’re not close, how does Nursey know him so well like the back of his hand? “So if you need help, me and Chowder are here. Denice is here as well.”
“Cool,” Dex manages to breathe out, not wanting to raise his voice any louder.
“Cool."
A wonderful look into the future of SMH
Making this list and then ordering it was so ridiculously hard as you all are so incredibly talented and I read hundreds of fics this year and loved every single one of them (I just looked and I have 31 pages of AO3 history from this year--what). All of this to say that this was so hard, you all are so talented, and I cannot wait to read more <3
“While there is not enough ecological or even physical space on Earth for everyone to enjoy private luxury, there is enough to provide everyone with public luxury: magnificent parks, hospitals, swimming pools, art galleries, tennis courts and transport systems, playgrounds and community centres. We should each have our own small domains – private sufficiency – but when we want to spread our wings, we could do so without seizing resources from other people.”
— George Monbiot, Capitalism is killing the planet – it’s time to stop buying into our own destruction
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Denice “Foxtrot” Ford/Tony “Tango” Tangredi/Connor “Whiskey” Whisk, Tony “Tango” Tangredi/Connor “Whiskey” Whisk
Characters: Denice “Foxtrot” Ford, Tony “Tango” Tangredi, Connor “Whiskey” Whisk
Additional Tags: ford’s family, tango’s mom, Original Character(s), POV Original Character, POV Alternating, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, mentions of internalized homophobia
Summary:
All the Ford siblings are home for the holidays. Denice’s brothers are more than a little surprised when their sister brings not one, but two men home for Christmas.
Logically, they assume she’s dating one of them.
Which one, though?
written for @omgcpbigbang2021, with stunning art by @tangredont
🛡️ Aut Cum Scuto, Aut In Scuto by @humapuma, art by @hopeless--geek - [Explicit; 33,2k words]
[Modern AU; A/B/O; Alpha!Bucky x Omega!Steve; Soulmates; Mating Bond; Age Difference; Older Steve; Angst; Controlling Parents; Mention of Past Miscarriage; Mention of Mpreg; Explicit Sexual Content; Bottom!Steve; Fluff; Happy Ending]
Bucky never thought he would find his Omega at just twenty-years-old. Mates usually found each other around twenty-two or twenty-three, so he was overjoyed to learn that their bond was so strong, they were drawn to one another early.
Until Bucky's family attorney informed him that his Omega - Steve - was not only a long-time activist and a successful nurse, he was actually thirty-six.
Steve never thought he would find his Alpha. It had been more than ten years since they were supposed to come together, and he had long-since given up waiting. So, when a kid slammed into him on the street and tried to claim him, Steve was more than a little surprised.
Can these two overcome their differences, presumptions, and their pasts to find one another on the other side?
✨ The Best Boyfriend Bucky Barnes Never Had by @annerp, art by @capdeady - [Explicit; 17,7k words]
[Shrunkyclunks; Fake/Pretend Relationship; Fake Dating; Pining; Falling in Love; There Was Only One Bed; Explicit Sexual Content; Frottage; Hand Jobs; Inexperienced Steve; Naive Steve; Confused Steve; Identity Porn; Coming Out; Misunderstandings; Feelings Denial; Angst; Making Up; Happy Ending]
Bucky Barnes really needs someone to pretend to be his boyfriend for 5 minutes, just long enough to make his ex go away so he can enjoy the rest of his afternoon in peace. Super sweet Steve, with his perfect body and even better smile, is naturally willing to help the cute guy who hangs out in the park.
Fast forward several weeks and Bucky thinks they have the perfect fake dating arrangement. Bucky meets Steve's friends. Steve spends Bucky's birthday with his family.
There's only one problem. Steve apparently missed the fake part in their relationship and sets out to be the best boyfriend Bucky Barnes never had. Meanwhile, Bucky is working hard not to develop feelings for his friend.
To complicate everything, the world, and more importantly Bucky, don't know that the new Captain America, who never shows his full face, is actually Steve Rogers, the original Captain America who was secretly revived after 70 years on ice.
🌻 Not Just A Pretty Face by cleo4u2 - [Explicit; 10k words]
Steve does something stupid on a mission and Bucky has to save him with a little help from Howard Stark.
🌶️ You Like the Way I Look by @iamthe-wo-manwhocan - [Explicit; 2,7k words]
[Shrunkyclunks; Age Difference; Bearded Steve; Dancing; Casual Sex; Blow Jobs; Hand Jobs; Semi-Public Sex]
Bucky sidles up to him, hand boldly coming to rest on his chest. “What about you, big guy? Care for a dance?” Steve watches Bucky’s eyes twinkle with satisfaction, somehow already knowing he’s got Steve on the hook.
A decade out of the ice, Steve Rogers returns to New York. Reeling from a battle against the Chitauri, a night with the troublesome Bucky Barnes might be just what he needs.
🌤️ In the New Light of Dawn by @iamthe-wo-manwhocan - [Mature; 1,9k words]
[Shrunkyclunks; Established Relationship; Married Stucky; Domestic Fluff; Slice of Life; Amputee Bucky; Light Angst; Emotional Sex; Bottom!Bucky; Happy Ending]
The rustling of clothes is what wakes Bucky up.
Squinting his eyes open, moonlight illuminating the dark bedroom, he sees Steve slip into fresh boxers, hair damp from the shower. He turns to find Bucky sleep rumpled, though whatever expression is drawn across his features coils the tension holding Steve’s shoulders tight and rigid.
Bucky blinks in the dim light and wonders what Steve can read in the lines of his face.
idk if you're still taking prompts but I would die for nurseydex and this one "We were pretending to be lovers but I’m not pretending anymore and I have to know if you feel the same way"
thank you a million for the birthday prompt!! sorry it took me a million years to fill it, but here we are! i give to you nurseydex fake dating shenanigans, with a sprinkle of holiday cheer, a huge helping of fluff (more than i usually have!), and--the most rare of all--some nsfw content for you in these trying times!
warning for nsfw, explicit rating. these guys are working out like four years of pent up sexual frustration in like five minutes, so. give 'em a break :)
*~*~*
teaser:
“Didn’t you hear her? The whole building is going to hate us for being frat bros.”
Nursey forced open one eye. “Dexington. You’re a code-monkey and I write poetry about plants for a living.”
“They don’t know that,” Dex said, ear still squished between his skull and the door. “They think we’re going to throw keg parties and corrupt their children.”
Slightly hazy through the one eye and the sleep, Nursey watched Dex turn the frustrated red that so characterized their frog year. Blearily, he noted how attractive he found it—half the reason Nursey’d spent that year antagonizing the shit out of him—before the attraction settled into the realization that Dex was genuine in his distress. Nursey frowned. Gorgeous as the red was, he’d long since preferred Dex’s softer pinks. His sweet embarrassments, little pleasures. Gentle contentment.
Half-asleep as he was, Nursey didn’t have the brain power to think through anything, merely lurched blindly in the direction he thought would best calm the worry in Dex’s flushed cheeks. “Well, why don’t we make them think we’re something else, then?”
*~*~*
read the fic below the cut!
In hindsight, there’d been many small things added up that led to the current ridiculous state of Nursey’s life.
Picking the apartment had been a big one—Nursey’d thought originally that it was too far from Dex’s job, but Dex insisted he liked walking, and between the giant windows and the gorgeous kitchen with the breakfast bar Nursey could see himself watching Dex cook from, there really hadn’t been any other option.
Moving themselves using only Ransom’s mini-van and Dex’s nearly-dead pick-up was possibly not their best decision, admittedly, and deciding to do it all in the span of one afternoon really just demonstrated a quite remarkable lack of foresight. After jamming everything they owned into the two not-as-large-as-previously-believed-vehicles, navigating New York City traffic, and dragging it all box by box up the stairs in a little under an hour, they promptly collapsed onto the floor of their new apartment and went the fuck to sleep.
Nursey woke up some hours later to Dex hissing his name. “Nursey. Wake up.”
Nursey whined, turning over on the floor and attempting to pull the bag of linens he’d been using as a pillow over his head to block out the noise. This worked a treat until Dex ruthlessly pelted him with a loofah and Nursey shot up, squawking indignantly, to find Dex sitting at the front door with a finger held to his lips and an ear pressed to the wood. Obviously, Nursey joined him without further question.
Once in position, Nursey could hear the two mothers from their floor—Jessica and Avery, they would come to learn, who hate-loved each other and planned their toddlers’ eventual wedding to one another with as much intensity as if it were happening next June at the Ritz. They would also come to learn that Jessica and Avery went on daily morning runs together, and always spent at least ten minutes doing warm-up stretches in the hallway between their apartments, right outside Nursey and Dex’s front door.
Nursey joined in time to catch the tail-end of, “—saw them moving in. She says they’re a pair of newly-graduated frat bros.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Oh my god.”
“I know.”
Nursey glanced at Dex to share his amusement, but Dex remained stalwart in his eavesdropping, brows furrowed as if he were working on a particularly finnicky piece of code.
“I don’t want Raycheal around two loud, foul-mouthed day drinkers,” Jessica—or as she’d then been known in Nursey’s head, Mommy #1—said.
“Exactly!” Avery—Mommy #2—responded with equal fervor. “My Xander is impressionable! He’s already such a handful—you know how boys are. I don’t want him getting ideas.”
A pause, as they presumably shared a moment of silence to shake their head so their perfectly style ponytails could swish in synchronized consternation. “You know Gladys has the same worries,” Jessica continued, less shrill, more solemn. “All of them on the first floor are worried about the noise. What if they throw parties? What if they have parades of women going in and out? What if they have alcohol?”
Nursey has since seen the amount of wine bottles Jessica leaves in the recycling bins, so he now interprets this statement as worry over being dethroned rather than any infraction on their part, but alas, the perils of hindsight.
“I don’t like this one bit,” Avery responded, trailing off towards the end as they presumably finished their warm-up and embarked on their actual jog. Nursey and Dex waited, ears smushed to the wood, until their footsteps faded away completely.
“Wow, they suck,” Nursey said, turning his ear from the door and promptly attempting to fall back asleep against it.
Dex, apparently, didn’t share his desire for unconsciousness. “No, Nursey, we suck.”
Unfortunately too exhausted to come up with any sort of witty joke in response to that, Nursey didn’t even open his eyes. “Hmm?”
“Didn’t you hear her? The whole building is going to hate us for being frat bros.”
Nursey forced open one eye. “Dexington. You’re a code-monkey and I write poetry about plants for a living.”
“They don’t know that,” Dex said, ear still squished between his skull and the door. “They think we’re going to throw keg parties and corrupt their children.” Slightly hazy through the one eye and the sleep, Nursey watched Dex turn the frustrated red that so characterized their frog year. Blearily, he noted how attractive he found it—half the reason Nursey’d spent that year antagonizing the shit out of him—before the attraction settled into the realization that Dex was genuine in his distress. Nursey frowned. Gorgeous as the red was, he’d long since preferred Dex’s softer pinks. His sweet embarrassments, little pleasures. Gentle contentment.
Half-asleep as he was, Nursey didn’t have the brain power to think through anything, merely lurched blindly in the direction he thought would best calm the worry in Dex’s flushed cheeks. “Well, why don’t we make them think we’re something else, then?”
Dex turned away from the door, eyebrows raising tentatively out of their furrow, the sign that meant he’d actually started listening to Nursey’s ridiculous idea for a new play. “What do you mean?”
The majority of Nursey’s body, at this point, realizing the plan that he’d started to give voice to, immediately woke up, alarms blaring. What the fuck are you doing, his own mind demanded, but it didn’t matter. Nursey’s mouth, apparently still crawling out of bed, missing one sock with a cowlick the size of Manhattan, said, “We can be a pair of frat bros, or we can be the charming gay couple who the aunties love and the mommies try really hard to seem welcoming of, lest they lose their good-ally cards.”
Dex’s eyebrows lifted fully out of their furrow, consideration and surprise contained within their arches. His cheeks simmered, shifting into a pollution-pink sunset, letting some of his lighter freckles become visible once again. Nursey watched on, adrenaline curling up his spine like the familiar grasp of anxiety, and still he smiled, pleased to have achieved his goal.
Dex licked his lips. Nursey very carefully didn’t watch. “You mean, we’d pretend to be…?” He trailed off. Nursey still didn’t look at his mouth, but his brain filled in the last words. In love.
You would, Nursey thought, and then shrugged. Shrugged. “Why not? Can’t be too hard.”
Oh, irony.
Three months later, Nursey stands clutching a plastic cup that reeks of peppermint as Janice from 3B dives headfirst into yet another new topic—kites, apparently?—completely unaware that Nursey checked out about three tangents back in favor of watching his d-man-turned-best-friend-turned-roommate-turned-fake-fiancé from across the building holiday party as he charms the pants off the first-floor aunties with his plate of delicious, homemade, chocolate croissants.
Yes, irony, indeed.
“I can’t believe you’re making croissants,” Nursey said, last night, sitting at their breakfast bar wearing ridiculously large, fluffy socks and cradling a mug of semi-nice wine between his hands as if it could offer him any warmth aside from the line of heat down his chest as he swallowed. “Bitty doesn’t even make croissants. Says it falls under self-destructive practices as defined by Meredith.”
(Meredith, Bitty’s long-term therapist, was the source of many a quote like this, including but not limited to, “I don’t think roller-skating is a conducive method of problem-solving,” and “Maybe QVC doesn’t have all the answers,” and, “Bitty needs to bake at least 20 pies a week for the sake of his mental health.” Nursey has his doubts about that last one.)
“Croissants are nice,” Dex said, refusing to look up as he folded the dough yet-a-fucking-gain as per the nature of these demon pastries. The blush dusted across his nose like the powdered sugar Dex planned to coat the croissants in, once finished. Nursey tilted his head and watched, grinning behind his mug.
“So buy a box from the place down the street. We could even put them on a plate to make it look like you made them. Avery did it with the pie at Thanksgiving.”
Dex’s face curdled in affront. “That’s—no.” Nursey didn’t quite manage to hide his laughter in his mug, and Dex ducked his chin as if that could disguise the way his cheeks darkened with further embarrassment. “I just want to,” he said, chin tucked nearly to his chest. “It’s—nice.”
Nursey sighed. Dex and his weird desire to be adored by the building. He already was, was the most ridiculous part. He carried in groceries for the first-floor aunties, fixed the heat on the third floor when the landlord couldn’t get a guy out until the next week, shared leftover baked goods every time he made something—though Nursey got first picks, of course. Dex remembered people’s names and asked them about their lives, even the really annoying people like the second-floor mommies. He seemed to genuinely care, even. Everyone loved him.
“That man of yours is a real catch, huh,” the first-floor aunties would say as they offered Nursey lemonade while Dex put together their Ikea furniture. “It’s been so nice having another couple around,” Jessica would say, as they rode up the elevator, Nursey tucked into Dex’s side half out of performance, half just tired, “especially one as sweet as you two!” Even the grumbly Russian man on the fourth floor who pretended he didn’t speak English to get out of talking to people returned the Tupperware from Dex’s mid-November cookie-frenzy with a gravelly, “You and red one good neighbors.”
People had been tentative, at first, likely believing the gossip about them being troublesome frat bros, but once they started holding hands through the hallways, pressing together as they waited for the elevator or Dex took too long unlocking the door, and that one time the mommies walked by as Nursey bid Dex goodbye on his way to work and Nursey impulsively pressed his lips to Dex’s cheek—nearly, nearly the corner of his mouth—their neighbors relaxed around them. Invited them to things. Offered tips, took help, gave it. It was—nice, actually. For all Nursey complained about some of the residents, it truly felt like a little neighborhood in their own building.
But then—the better it got with the neighbors, the worse the pretending became. The not-pretending, on Nursey’s part. The little touches he could bear—they were pretty tactile people anyway, only the brief kissing had truly tripped him up—but having the whole building think of them as a couple, as a great couple no less, it ached in such a new, unfamiliar way. It’s like his wildest daydreams have been made real, tangible, but hollow inside. A porcelain lie he’s gotten himself addicted to.
Nursey sat at their breakfast bar, curling his fingers tighter around his mug of wine, nearly finished, swinging his fuzzy-socked feet so they thumped softly against the barstool rungs, as he thought of the mess he’d made himself. Dex continued to fold dough, focused on his work. Well. At the very least, at least Nursey’d made him happy.
“Alright, Dexy-do,” he said, his smile genuine, if small. “You make your croissants.” Something sticky clung in his chest, sickly sweet like store-bought baked goods. “Just make sure you leave a dozen for your loving husband-to-be.”
Dex rolled his eyes then, and didn’t bother to respond, but Nursey knows there’s a plate of chocolate croissants sitting upstairs on their counter now, beautifully dusted, waiting for him. Dex’d already made an extra batch, just for him, even before Nursey asked.
Nursey curls his hand tighter around his plastic peppermint drink. The building holiday party should be great. The whole building came—the entire first floor opened up their doors to create a multi-apartment party space, full of food and alcohol and party games. It holds the welcoming fun of a kegster, without the sickly divinity of tub juice and the ever-looming stress of college coursework. Nursey would love it, if not for—
“We still haven’t picked a date,” Dex said, his arm a warm brand against Nursey’s back, his hand curled around Nursey’s hip. “We want to get settled in here before we add any more stress to our lives, you know?”
“You’ve been here three months!” Auntie from 1C said. “How much time do you need?”
Dex leaned in conspiratorially, dragging Nursey along with him, closer, unavoidably. “To be honest, we can’t decide on a season. I want a spring wedding, and he—”
“We could never be married in the spring,” Nursey interrupted, affronted enough for his filter to seemingly disappear. “Have you seen yourself, Dexy-darling? You were made to be framed by autumn leaves, I’ve got the notebooks of poetry to prove it.”
Dex flushed, and the auntie tittered, and Nursey looked away, cursing himself for being too honest, wishing for a drink. Dex, the ever-dutiful fiancé, went to fetch him one, but then he’d been accosted by the remaining aunties as they praised his croissants, and 3B Janice appeared at Nursey’s side out of nowhere, and—
3B Janice, when Nursey pops back in, moved on to basket weaving sometime since he’d stopped listening. He glances back away just in time for Dex to look up from the aunties, still cooing over the croissants.
Their eyes meet above the din of the room. Dex smiles, this small, half-curve to his lips that just lifts one side of his mouth, his eyes warm and laughing. The kind of thing you share with a lover. A quiet, unspoken amusement, resigned but content. Easy communication, easy understanding, laced with an affection that seems to say, at least I have you here to bear it with.
And suddenly, Nursey can’t do it anymore.
“Excuse me,” he says to 3B Janice, cutting her off quite rudely, actually, but he has to leave, he can’t—he pushes his way towards the elevator only to find 2A and 4A drunkenly making out inside it—that’s gonna suck for 3A, wow—and quickly diverts his course for the stairs. He takes them two at a time until he reaches their floor, fumbles with shaking hands to let himself into their apartment, and isn’t inside for a moment before he sinks down to the floor, his back pressed into the wall to the right of the door.
Fuck. Fuck. This—Nursey has known this love for a long time. Known it in the way spring sunlight shone through lingering raindrops in Dex’s hair as if igniting him a halo, known it in the pillow creases in Dex’s cheek on hazy not-quite-mornings after too-late study sessions, known it in the press of their shoulders after hard games, the twist of muscle in Dex’s forearm as he rolled out the dough for a pie, known it in aches and burns and sighs and smiles, and—and Nursey thought he’d learned how to live with it. Keep it safe, quiet and warm and tucked away, tended to but never spoken.
Now he feels like a forest fire, uncontainable. It threatens to singe his tongue with every word spoken, desperate for air. He wants—he wants. He wants to know if Dex thinks about how close their mouths were, that time he kissed him goodbye. He wants to know if that look downstairs holds the same weight for Dex that it does for him. He wants to know if Dex loves him back the way Nursey loves him. He wants it fiercely, suddenly, without fear or—or without the fear being enough to quell it.
It’s terrifying and Nursey sits on the floor of their home and tries to swallow down the flames before they can lick too far up his throat, and then—Dex appears.
“Nursey?” His head pokes through the door, then his shoulders, then the rest of him. Cheeks pink from the stairs probably, hair a mess from the stupid antlers he didn’t know how to refuse. He jumps, as he notices Nursey. “Oh, there you are.” He closes the door and settles down on the floor in front of Nursey, eyebrows furrowed. “Everything alright?”
Currently sitting on the floor with his knees pulled into his chest after running abruptly out of a holiday party, Nursey doesn’t really think that warrants questioning, but he appreciates it, anyway. “Dex,” he says, and licks his lips. Dex straightens up, his worry turning sharp, intent. Nursey huffs under his breath, unbidden laughter. He’s conditioned Dex with the never-ending nicknames to the point where, when he actually uses Dex’s real name, it sends him into panic mode. Nursey shakes his head.
He has no idea how to put this. He remembers something Mama told him about writing, years and years ago, when he’d been an awkward middle schooler working his way through his first lovingly horrible prose. If you don’t know how to write something, just start by putting it as simple as possible first, and go from there. As simple as possible. Nursey takes a breath.
“I love you,” he says. “I’m in love with you.”
Dex’s eyes flicker to the closed door, as if wondering if they have some unseen audience Nursey’s aware of that he’s not.
“Not—not pretend,” Nursey continues, stilted. “Not for our neighbors, just—just for you.” His hands shake horribly where he’s clasped them about his knees. He wishes Dex would still them, as he’s taken to doing recently, covering Nursey’s anxious fingers with his steady, calloused palms.
Dex sits still, staring, frozen.
The silence squeezes tight around Nursey chest, panic, and he speaks as if it’s being forced from him. “Loved you for—for years, probably. Since sophomore year at least. I thought I could just—you know. Keep it to myself. But these past few months—pretending. Pretending that I didn’t love you while pretending you loved me back, I—”
“It wasn’t pretend. Isn’t. Nursey.” Dex falls forward, hands outstretched, finally, finally encasing Nursey’s hands with his own, stilling his twitching fingers, holding him there like a mug of wine because they never actually bought real glasses. “I don’t—I’m not—”
Dex turns red, blotchy beneath his ears, down his throat. Frustration. Nursey wants to touch it. With a buried sound, nearly a growl, Dex gives up on the words and tugs Nursey forward by their joined hands, firm but not painful. Their noses brush abruptly and they suspend there for a second, Nursey inhaling sharply and holding it, unbreathing. He can make out the winter-faded freckles scattered beneath Dex’s eyebrows. He can taste the peppermint on Dex’s breath. He exhales, shuddering, and Dex kisses him.
A delicate press first, a greeting. Hello. Then Dex tilts his head, and Nursey gasps, open-mouthed, and Dex presses further, and it’s—hello. Dex’s teeth skim, sharp, before his tongue appears, kinder. Here, he doesn’t taste like peppermint, just tastes like chocolate croissants, and Nursey suddenly gets why the ridiculous process of making the damned things is actually really fucking worth it.
Nursey breaks Dex’s hold on his hands in favor of pushing them up under Dex’s stupidly attractive sweater. Dex gasps—Nursey’s always had cold hands—but presses closer, taking up space between Nursey’s thighs. Nursey spreads his legs to let him. He wants Dex there, here, as close as possible. He’s spent so long waiting just out of reach, he just wants.
Dex’s skin scalds under his sweater. Nursey’s seen him without a shirt plenty of times, but now he gets to touch, drag his hands over soft skin, firm muscle. He brushes a tender spot under Dex’s arm and gets a muffled laugh from his lips. It tastes so sweet he does it again and Dex presses closer, ever closer, as if to smother Nursey’s hands between their chests.
“Mm. Mm.” Dex’s hands, resting on the tops of Nursey’s knees, begin to slide down, down, until he presses his palms flat to the backs of Nursey’s thighs. Nursey gasps, then melts into a moan. From thumb to pinky, Dex’s hands encompass the entirety of the back of Nursey’s thighs. He digs his fingertips in and pulls—pulls Nursey—so he’s perched on Dex’s knees, legs spread across Dex’s lap, torso falling back as he catches himself against the wall.
Kiss broken, Nursey stares at the tangle of their legs. His grey slacks stretched to their limits with the angle his legs are held apart at, Dex’s firm thighs inside those goddamned khakis allowing no give. Nursey tents his slacks obscenely—embarrassingly, if not for the fact that Dex is in the same state. “Oh, fuck.”
“You—” Whatever other words Dex might’ve managed are smothered in Nursey’s neck. Dex hastily undoes the buttons of Nursey’s hunter-green button-down, dragging his mouth down to the newly uncovered skin as he pushes Nursey’s collar wider. “This—green—” Dex mutters, wet and incomprehensible into Nursey’s collarbone. “Forearms.”
Nursey laughs, sweet, bubbly, imagines he can see ashes in the air. This can’t be real but—but it is, Dex is—oh, Dex is leaving the mark to prove it. Nursey replaces one hand under Dex’s top, having fallen in the move, and uses the other to start shoving the hem of the sweater up, up, off. He gets it most of the way up Dex’s back, but Dex refuses to pull away from his work at the base of Nursey’s throat long enough to get the damned thing over his head. Curled over Nursey as Dex is, Nursey can see the barest hint of freckles trailing up and down Dex’s back. He whines, dragging his hands over them, wishing he could see more, wishing he could press his lips to each one, and yet he wouldn’t untangle himself from Dex’s lap for all the world.
Nursey’s shirt hangs open, the shoulders starting to slide down his arms. He releases Dex long enough to shrug out of it and Dex hums against his throat, approving. “Your turn now Dexy,” Nursey says, his voice quite a bit more desperate than it had been the last time he spoke. “C’mon,” he says, arching under Dex’s mouth, “wanna see you.”
Dex whines now, into Nursey’s throat, and pulls back long enough for Nursey to catch the pupil-blown black of his eyes, ringed barely by the familiar golden brown. With a flurry of movement, the sweater is gone, and it’s just warm skin touching, everywhere. Dex ducks his head again, this time to let his nose bump Nursey’s, their mouths barely touching, panting. Nursey wraps his arms around Dex’s torso and draws his hands greedily over skin, tugging him closer.
Dex pants, eyes closed, pale eyelashes brushing the tops of his pink cheeks. He braces one hand against the wall behind Nursey’s head and the other low, low on Nursey’s back. Nursey turns, sloppily catching the corner of Dex’s mouth with his own, tasting the warmth of his blush after years of dreaming of it. “Dex,” he says, gulps in air, “Dex, I need—oh.”
Dex rolls his hips, and Nursey slides further down into his lap until his straining slacks meet Dex’s lower stomach. Dex rolls his hips a second time, and simultaneously his abs apply delicious pressure to Nursey’s sorely restrained dick as something—as Dex—nudges along Nursey’s ass from below. “Oh. Oh. Dex, I—please—”
Dex kisses him again, thankfully cutting off whatever nonsense Nursey was sure to spew, and continues to rock up against him. Nursey moans, way loader than he should—than he would, were Mariah Carey not blaring loud enough to assure him no one in the building can hear anything but what she wants for Christmas—and he grips Dex’s shoulders to give himself purchase to rock back. He grinds quick and dirty back against Dex’s dick and revels in the groan Dex muffles into his mouth.
“Wanna—wanna ride you,” Nursey says, groans. Dex smothers a whine into Nursey’s cheek, his hand at Nursey’s back drifting lower, fingertips slipping past the waist of his slacks. Nursey arches up, taught, as Dex’s fingers brush down the line of his ass. “Thought about it for so—hnn. Wanna—want you.” Nursey bites his lip, stifling his moan. “But—I can’t—I can’t—mm—”
Dex suddenly presses impossibly closer, trapping Nursey’s dick between their stomachs as he continues to grind into the open V of Nursey’s legs. Pressed together as they are, he doesn’t have much room to thrust, so he just rolls, rolls, slow grinds that Nursey can feel up and down his entire body. “Dex,” he gasps, digging his fingers into Dex’s shoulders. “I’m—gonna—I’m—”
Dex ducks his head to press his mouth just under Nursey’s ear. “Come for me,” he says, voice low and rough like he’s just woken up but wetter, more desperate, and then he drags his teeth over the spot he just spoke into right as he grinds into Nursey, dick lining up perfectly along Nursey’s ass as his abs roll, applying this incredible pressure, and just like that, Nursey’s coming in his slacks. He shudders through it, the warmth of his own spend hot around him—he’s sure it’ll suck in a minute, but for now it just adds to the number of unnamable, uncountable sensations. Dex continues to move against him, working him through the orgasm, and when Nursey gets his wits back about him, he frames Dex’s face with his hands to pull his mouth back to Nursey’s.
“Come,” he whispers into the corner of Dex’s mouth. “Please, I wanna feel it.”
“Fuck, Nursey.” Dex’s hips stutter once, twice, and then still against Nursey’s. With four layers between them, there’s no way it could be true, but Nursey imagines he can feel Dex’s dick twitching against him as he comes in his own pants, and he moans weakly at the thought.
Panting, the both of them, Dex slumps down, letting his weight rest on Nursey. After a few moments, Nursey begins to laugh, soft but growing louder with time. They’re ridiculous. Adults, supposedly, pretending to be lovers so their neighbors will like them, rutting like teenagers against each other on the floor of their apartment, and coming in their pants not five minutes after their first kiss.
“Wha’s funny?” Dex asks, words dragging over the blooming marks on Nursey’s neck. Nursey shivers, raising a hand to pet through Dex’s hair.
“We are,” he says, staring at their kitchen, the breakfast bar, the plate of chocolate croissants. “This whole thing—what we just did. The fake engagement. We’re ridiculous.”
Dex doesn’t lift his face from Nursey’s neck. The heat of him could just be from the exertion they put themselves through, but Nursey imagines it’s from a blush. Muffled, he says, “I wanted the neighbors to like us.”
Nursey tugs softly on Dex’s hair. “I know, Dex-a-do.”
Dex grumbles a frustrated sound into Nursey’s skin. “No, not—I wanted it to be nice, here. For us. For—you. Wanted you to like living here. With—me.”
Nursey blinks a few times. “What?”
“You know what I mean.” Dex presses a kiss to Nursey’s neck. “Our home.”
An interesting new warmth blooms in Nursey’s stomach. Hot, and comfortable, and—and loved. “Oh, Dex.”
Dex wraps his arms entirely around Nursey’s waist, embracing him and holding him more securely in Dex’s lap. “Love you,” he says. “Too.”
Nursey’s face hurts with how wide he smiles. He hugs back, tight, hopes Dex can feel the racing of his heart, hopes Dex knows it’s for him. Nursey could stay here forever, happily, cooling come in his pants be damned. In Dex’s lap, wrapped in Dex’s arms, is the only place he could wish to be.
They both jump abruptly as a knock comes on the door just beside them. “Derek? Will? Are you alright in there?” comes Jessica’s familiar voice. “We’re about to start cupcake decorating, I know you wouldn’t want to miss it!”
Dex immediately presses even further into Nursey’s neck, his laughter buzzing on Nursey’s skin. Nursey attempts to muffle his own giggled gasps with his hand, hoping they aren’t loud enough for Jessica to hear.
“Hello?”
Nursey shakes his head, nudging Dex as his body begins to tremble with his concealed laughter. “Shh,” he whispers between his own fingers. Dex just shakes harder.
“Hmm.” Jessica’s heels click on the floor as she gives up, walking away from their front door. Dex slumps back to resting most of his weight on Nursey as his laughter finally settles. Nursey pets at his hair, humming, enjoying the pressure of Dex all around him.
When Dex sighs, laughter completely gone, Nursey says, “That woman takes cupcake decorating entirely too seriously,” and grins at their apartment as Dex’s giggles restart immediately. Nursey turns to try and press a kiss to Dex’s cheek—he only gets an ear, but that’s good enough.
Dex sighs again, pulling back finally from Nursey’s neck as his laughter dissipates once again. He smiles at Nursey, pink-cheeked, hair rumpled. Gorgeous. “I take it that means you don’t want to go back down for the Candy-Cane musical chairs?”
“What the hell is that.”
“Avery wrapped red and white streamers around the legs of a bunch of chairs.”
“Oh my god, that’s appalling. I love it.” Nursey’s almost tempted to go, just to see the carnage of the hyper-competitive ten-year-old twins from the third floor trip the competition in their quest for victory. But— “I could be persuaded to miss it,” he says, letting his free hand rest on the small of Dex’s bare back. “What do I get if I stay here?”
“Hmm.” Dex leans in as he pretends to think, bumping the tip of Nursey’s nose with his own. “How about I let you eat one croissant in bed?”
Nursey scrunches up his nose. “You’re just going to watch me eat a pastry in bed? Sounds like a boring time for you Dexy-doodle. Don’t you at least want a snack for yourself?”
Dex just winks.
Nursey cackles, unexpected, and doesn’t stop laughing even as Dex struggles up to standing and carries Nursey to a bedroom. Nursey manages to get out through his laughter, “Hey, wait, what about my croissant—!”
The door shuts behind them.
Nursey doesn’t end up getting that croissant until the next morning, but he doesn’t really have any complaints.
There are so many great OMGCP fics out there that I love and read, and rec, again and again. I decided to group some together, by theme, and share them with you. I’ll be posting one or two themes a month. Most of the fics are Zimbits-centric.
Theme: Olympics AU
when you remember what you forgot by westernredcedar @thewesternredcedar
Summary: Oh, and we can see a runner coming now with the torch, and the crowd is simply roaring. What a moment. It’s Team Canada’s captain, gold medalist Jack Zimmermann.
Not to Win by foryouandbits @foryouandbits
Summary: The most important thing is not to win but to take part. Eric Bittle, 2014 US National Champion, is selected to compete in the men's individual figure skating competition in the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games. Jack Zimmermann, Captain of the Providence Falconers, is selected to the hockey team for Canada. Eric and Jack meet in Sochi and form a quick bond in a place where emotions and adrenaline run high. Can it last when the games are over, or are they just another Olympic hookup?
Until I Can Say It Myself by westernredcedar @thewesternredcedar
Summary: What is a deeply closeted Jack Zimmermann to do when faced with an adorable ice dancer who just wants to get to know him? He has no clue of course, but at the Olympics, surrounded by friends and foes, who knows what might happen.
Now That You Don't Have to be Perfect (You Can be Good) by There_Once_Was_A_Girl
Summary: Eric Bittle had been put into kindergarten when he was six instead of five. He was a year older than all the other kids in his grade. This was extremely significant.
bliss (is on the other side of this) by onawingandaswear @whoacanada (a WIP)
Summary: In another life, Jack Zimmermann is an Olympian, a two-time Stanley Cup champion, and the high-flying Captain of the Montréal Canadiens. On the surface, his world is as perfect as his career would suggest, but in reality, Jack is struggling to balance superstardom with a tenuous personal life. Between his GM father threatening to put him on IR, a partner Jack can’t be seen in public with, and the ever-present haze of a secret mental illness, Jack’s life is a mess he’d love to ignore. Now, a rogue Cup Day wish will give Jack a chance to see a life where he wasn't afraid to go public.
we are climbing higher by jamesiee
Summary: At 1:30 pm on April 4 2017, the NHL Commissioner officially announces that the NHL will not participate in the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.
At 1:37pm, Jack finishes his thesis presentation and his phone buzzes a couple minutes later.
Or, Jack doesn't go to Samwell. The NHL doesn't go to the 2018 Olympics. Jack and Bitty still go to South Korea.
we can do this, if you want by KikiJ
Summary: Eric Bittle, working with an international catering company, is working behind the scenes at the Winter Olympics and it's a dream come true. He expects to have a blast, meet cool people, possibly make some friends and do some potential networking. It's not a huge surprise, then, when he meets NHL Hockey Player and Olympian (representing Canada) Jack Zimmermann, but it's still pretty exciting. Eric has no idea why he starts flirting with the guy, but maybe it'll work out in his favor.
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