the new obx season come this week so let’s have a little reminder: if you post something that contains a spoiler (gif, shit post, picture ANYTHING) please tag it with “obx spoilers” or “outer banks spoilers” please!!! <3 let’s not ruin the show for anyone
not that it will make a big difference, but just wanted to let your know that i’ll be taking a break from tumblr, i start working at the er in two weeks and i wanna enjoy my few free days ✨
Hello, friends! This is my tribute to Shirtless James Potter May, which is now definitely a Thing™
Dedicated to all my lovely Jily Discord buddies! And special thanks to @mppmaraudergirl @the-dream-team @constancezin and @blitheringmcgonagall for making this happen.
“YES!”
A screech tears from her throat, excited and giddy and decidedly drunk, as the small ping-pong ball lands neatly inside the cup of beer across the table. Her partner’s roar of triumph is followed by an enthusiastic slap of hi-five that has her reeling, the blazing heat of his palm rather delicious against her own.
Quite generously, he decides to bestow more of this warmth onto her person when he lifts her off her feet, mad and grinning, arms tight around her waist. His cheeks, ruddy from all the drinks he’s downed, accompanied by the dazzling brightness of hazel eyes, causes something to clench painfully inside her.
He’s just a mate. He’s just a mate.
“James!” she yells, half-laughing, fully breathless. “Put me down, you big buffoon.”
“We won! Again!” he grins, letting her feet touch the floor after another spin.
Before she can so much as inwardly lament on the loss of his comforting warmth, a pair of lips land on her cheek. Heart thundering, she forgets how to breathe, a reaction that is by no means justified given the sloppy, open-mouthed, intoxicated nature of the kiss.
A kiss that is not even a kiss because it leaves her lips feeling petulantly ignored.
“You…are fucking brilliant, Evans,” James slurs, entirely oblivious to what he’s just gone and done. She can only stare at him with poorly-hidden surprise, face blazing, warmer and warmer by the second.
“Er, thank you,” she sputters eventually, immensely grateful that everyone around them seems too drunk to pay their little interaction any mind.
“Another game!” James announces.
But she can’t; it’s impossible now.
“I think I’m done for the night,” she tells him, fingers brushing over his arm apologetically. “I’ve had too much to drink already.”
“WHAT?” he shrieks, betrayed, glasses sliding off nose. “You can’t ditch me now, Evans! We’re this close to being named The Hogwarts Beer Pong Champions.”
“Winning the Quidditch Championship wasn’t enough for you?” she laughs, hands rising above her head to point at the banners and streamers dangling from the common room ceiling.
“Oh yeah,” he blinks, grins blindingly. “I’d almost forgotten about that. Next year is going to be even more amazing. We’re going to win all the matches!”
“I have full faith.”
James smiles, triggering that annoyingly familiar tumble in her stomach. “You sure you don’t want to play?”
“I’m sure. Why don’t you ask Sirius? He’s probably withered away to ash without you by now.”
“Good call,” he says, instantly cupping his palms around his mouth. “Padfoot! Up for a round?”
“Fuck, yeah!”
She saunters over to the drinks table as Sirius walks by to take her place, casually ruffling her hair as he passes by. “What’s the damage, Evans?”
She makes a show of observing James. “Mm, five shots from blackout.”
“Excellent. Gotta bring that down to one.”
“All the best.”
Sirius adopts a ridiculously fierce expression as he joins James, facing off against two fifth-years. “Let’s take them down, Prongs!”
She chuckles quietly at the silliness, fingers pulling out a bottle of butterbeer despite her previous proclamations of having had enough alcohol for the night. With some sensible distance yawning open between her and the stupidly affectionate Quidditch captain, oxygen is easier to draw inside. She sighs, chilling the bottle with a quick wave of wand.
With sixth-year coming to an end, she feels the significance of everything the past year has brought to her life rather tremendously, but especially on the James Potter front. While being his friend has been an experience she wouldn’t trade for anything in the world—well, it’s also a lie, because there is one thing she would trade it for: being more than his friend.
But she worries, quite justifiably, that they’ve already crossed a phase too many in such a short span of time to tease at their dynamics any more. There’s a strange fluttering in her chest every time her eyes land on crazy hair and goofy grins that she knows certainly aren’t friendly reactions though.
She’s distracted from her thoughts by a sudden wave of excited hoots that ring out through the room. Curiosity piquing, she twists around to spot the fuss, eyes immediately flying to the beer pong table because there’s no doubt that that’s where the eye of the storm lies.
At the sight, the bottle of butterbeer almost slips from her fingers.
James stands, eyes even more glazed than before, crooked grin splitting over his face, bursting with laughter as he chest bumps Sirius. And if she hadn’t already noticed it before (she most certainly had) the action draws her gaze to his very sweaty, very bare chest, no doubt the target of the still ringing catcalls. She watches, mouth completely dry as the muscles in his abdominals ripple with movement when he runs a hand through his hair. It’s almost as if her ogling registers on his radar, because half a second later, James is looking at her.
She immediately lifts the bottle to her lips, hiding the awe-struck expression behind tinted glass. Fuck, was he fit! She’d guessed as much, of course; it was impossible not to when she hugged the boy as often as she did, but knowing and seeing, it turned out, were vastly different things.
“Lily!” he slurs, tongue rolling over the name as he walks over. “We trounced them. Did you see?”
“I think Evans was rather occupied with seeing something else,” Sirius smirks, the look he throws her entirely too knowing.
She takes another swig, unable to reply, unable to breathe, unable to think with James standing so close. The heat rolls off of him in waves, as sweltering as the fireplace in the room. To make matters worse, he raises his hand, swipes a thumb over her cheek. “You’re so red.”
She mumbles something unintelligibly while Sirius snickers.
“Sorry?”
“I’m tired. I’m gonna go to bed.”
And before either of them can protest, she chugs the rest of the beer and all but bolts from the party, heart pounding mercilessly in her ears. She almost makes it to the third step of the girl’s staircase before a hand wraps around her wrist, the warmth of the touch telling her enough. “James,” she sighs, turning around.
“Are you mad at me?” His brows pull together, sweat dripping from his hairline, down the side of his face, over that strong neck to pool into the hollow of his collar bone. She swallows, wondering if it would look too weird if she reaches up and licks it away.
Probably.
“No,” she wheezes.
He steps closer, makes it worse. “Then why won’t you look at me?”
She looks at him then—of course, she does—and something like adoration bursts inside her. “I’m not mad at you, James. You’re just too distracting right now.”
“What?”
Some remnant of Gryffindor courage has her reaching forward, placing a palm over his chest. She feels it, right beneath her skin, when the beat of his heart alters rhythm. “You’re quite shirtless, if you haven’t noticed.”
A rush of breath tickles the top of her head.
“Lily,” James breathes, fingers drifting to her waist, and when she catches his eye again, the look in them has changed wholly. Any previous glaze is wiped clean, replaced by some brightness that wars with the expanding darkness of his irises. “Will you—”
“Wait!” she says, almost moaning when his fingers squeeze her hip. “Not like this. Not now. We’re drunk.”
“I—” he looks down, eyes on her mouth, and she thinks he’ll lean forward anyway, kiss her anyway, fuck it all. It isn’t until he sighs, deep and resigned, that she realizes she wouldn’t have minded. “Yeah, alright.”
“James.”
“Yeah?”
She smiles, slow and confident, because now she knows, and leans forward to brush her lips over his cheek. The hints of stubble feel delectably coarse against her mouth, and even more so when he groans somewhere at the back of his throat. She pulls back sluggishly, weak in the face of her own want. “Ask me later,” she whispers.
James watches dazedly as she takes a step back, then another. Eventually, he finds his smile. “I’ll hold you to that, Evans.”
i feel like u can tell a lot about a person by where they sat in the classroom, so reblog with where u sat and ur star sign, i’m back of the room by the windows taurus
you don’t have to cancel everyone the second they misstep or do something dumb but you also DON’T have to defend everything that your fave does. you can say “hey this particular thing sucked” without getting into this all-or-nothing mentality. you are not an extension of the things you like. you can think freely and criticize the things (and people) that you like, and a criticism of something you like is not something that you should take personally or feel the need to correct/defend.
✧ chapter two: the missing girl - b. barnes x oc series ✧
-> lost-shoe’s gif
‘let’s play fire with fire’ series masterlist
my masterlist
summary: sera has to deal with the consequences of helping sam and bucky while still trying to get used to being a part of a team. and bucky finds himself not wanting her to be alone.
FEEDBACK IS VERY MUCH APPRECIATED! :)
“So... control fire, huh?” Bucky asked when the silence became unbearable between him and Sera.
She turned to him while her arms where across her chest and she was comfortably sitting on the seat next to Bucky. “What?”
“I’m just- trying to be nice.”
“You literally saw me back there. You know is fire. Is like if I went ‘hey, metal arm?’” She rolled her eyes and went back to staring out the window.
“We definitely started with the wrong foot. Maybe if we just-”
“That’s not gonna work.” She cut him off. “And, wrong foot? You literally accused me of wanting you two dead!”
“That’s why I was trying to be nice!”
“Then don’t! Being nice clearly isn’t helping.”
“Fine! I won’t be nice.” He said loudly trying to keep his full attention on the road ahead of him, but the girl next to him didn’t seem to let him. “Torch.” He said under his breath but loud enough for her to hear him.
“Screwdriver.” She said in the same tone dropping herself more into her seat and leaving her head to rest on the back of the seat.
Even if she didn’t want to talk to Bucky, the silence surrounding them was making it even more awkward than the situation already was. So turning to the side looking for something to do or say, Sera let out a tiny smile when her eyes noticed the button to turn on the radio.
“Don’t turn it on.” Bucky said immediately once he noticed her fingers going towards the car’s controllers.
“Why not?”
“The music is not good.”
“What? You don’t like modern music?”
“Yes I do.”
“Then why I can’t turn on the radio?”
“Just don’t.”
“Damn. Do you ever smile?”
“When I throw that bucket of water on you I will.” Sera let out a tiny fake laugh and then nodded.
“Never smile and not funny, what a deal, huh?”
“I wasn’t trying to be funny.”
“News for me.” As soon as she said that Bucky moved uncomfortably on his seat and grabbed the wheel with his two hands and that made Sera look at the metal arm in the other side of Bucky’s body. She bit her lower lip staring at it since a million of questions were flying around her mind. It was the first time she was in the presence of a super soldier and let alone someone that had a vibranium arm. So curiousity was her main feeling in that moment. “Can you take it off?” She asked without breaking her sight from Bucky’s arm but since Bucky didn’t look at her, he furrowed his eyebrows confused.
“What?”
“Can you take the arm off?” Sera repeated. Bucky did a quick look at her but then went back at the road. People’s eyes staring at his arm wound usually make him uncomfortable or just don’t like it, but not with her. He found himself liking his arm under them.
“Yes I can.”
“And do you take if off to sleep?”
“No, I don’t.”
Sera tilted her head sideways to have a better look at it, which made Bucky let out a tiny grin. “Isn’t it uncomfortable?”
“I got used to it.”
Sera nodded. “Nice.”
“And you, do you get burn when you do.... that?”
“No. I can’t get burn.” A little laugh escaped her lips after watching Bucky struggle with his words, it was clear that he never been next to someone like Sera and he didn’t know what to say about it, or even what to think in that moment that he got her full attention. And Sera noticed it.
“With any type of fire of just the one that you... do?”
“Any type of fire. Is this weird to you?”
“What? No.” Bucky shook his head after looking at Sera who was exploring every detail on Bucky’s face.
Sera shrugged her shoulder. “Seems like it.” Sera looked Bucky up and down licking her lips enjoying the feeling of having Bucky on the palm of her hand. He did seem like the tough kind of guy, maybe he was, but there was a part of him that made him the softest guy ever. And Sera wanted to see more of that guy. “Does the serum affects... you know?” Sera moved her hand over her lower stomach but Bucky looked at her confused, not understanding.
“Does it affect what?”
“You know...” She moved her hands in the same position but quicker than before.
“No I don’t know.”
“YOU KNOW-” Wanting Bucky to understand she pointed repeatedly to her crotch area while a smile appeared on her face as soon as she saw Bucky’s eyes go wide open as soon as he understood.
“Oh my, no!” He shook his head.
“Really? Have you tested it?” She moved her body to the side to be more closer to his face.
“And you care because?” Bucky let out a smile and then bit his lower lip while doing a quick look to Sera by her side.
“Always wanted to know! Common things everyone wonders.”
“I don’t think everyone wonders.”
Sera quickly nodded. “Oh, yes, everyone does.”
“Really?”
“Yes!” She let her hand hold her head to be even more to closer to him, as closer as the car was letting her. “So....? have you tested it?”
“No!”
“Then how do you know it doesn’t work!? Have you even had your first kiss since 1940?”
“I-” Bucky wanted to answer but his tongue seemed to have twisted itself. It was a reality of him not kissing anyone since he came back, it wasn’t like he had the time to hang out with someone enough for that, he had been dealing with big things since he gain his head back. And he wasn’t ashamed of it, but for some reason, admitting it to Sera didn’t sound like something he wanted to do.
“Oh, you haven’t?” She asked once she understood his silence.
Bucky let out a tiny laugh and then shook his head confused. “How did we get into this topic?”
“No judgement here! Not at all. Just wondering, you know?” Sera let out a proud smile knowing that she accomplished what she wanted and sat down normally on her seat but without breaking her sight from Bucky. He did seem to notice but he kept his mouth shut, waiting for her to talk again. “I made you smile.” She said softly.
“Annoy me. That’s what you did.”
A loud laugh escaped her mouth as she let her head rest on the back of her seat. “That’s even better.”
Bucky shook his head but he couldn’t help but let out a smile. He did a quick look at Sera and noticed that her eyes were now closed and it gave him a little wave of relaxation over his body, but when he went back to the road and noticed a group of people standing outside Sera’s apartment building, it all went back to normal.
“What’s that?” He asked as he was getting closer and the people became more clearer.
Sera quickly opened her eyes and got her face closer to the front window of the car, trying to see more if she could make a sense of the whole situation. But when the car was now a couple of feet away and the entire building was now visible, Sera’s stomach twisted as her heart started to beat faster.
“Oh my God... Angela.”
>>>
“That’s my apartment! You have to let me in!”
Sera’s loud voice could be heard from miles, even if the smoke coming out of the building and the people talking around them covered their entire surroundings. The man at the entrance had made Sera take steps back after seeing her with the intention to walk into the building with no hesitation. With a strange look, the man gently grabbed Sera by the arm and stopped her from getting sucked into the dark smoke and horribly damaging her lungs from it, but that didn’t seem to had bothered her at all. Not even a single muscle on her face let others know that she was a couple of centimetres away from a strong smoke, and that lead to some talking about Sera and her strange desire to enter the building on fire.
“Ms! That apartment is on fire! I can’t let you go inside!” The man yelled trying to keep Sera back. Noticing this, Bucky stepped towards Sera and gently grabbed her arm, preventing her from doing something bad in front of all those people.
“My friend was in there! Can you at least tell me if she’s alright?!” Sera yelled more loudly than before losing her patience, while ignoring Bucky’s hand on her arm.
“We don’t have information from anyone on the inside so please, move aside and let the men work.”
As soon as Sera heard those words she let out a word Bucky couldn’t fully understand but knew that it was a bad one for the way she said it. She stepped back while looking to her apartment and the smoke coming out of it. Biting her lower lip she looked down at Bucky and let out a tiny sarcastic laugh. “Yeah, let the men work my ass. Fuck that!”
“Where are you going?” Bucky asked as she walked passed him trying to leave him behind, but not getting an answer from her got him even more worried about her and her next mysterious actions.
She had quick feet but so did Bucky, so right behind her he followed her to a dark alley right next to her building. Even if it wasn’t far from everyone, the noise and the smoke didn’t seem to get to where Bucky and Sera found themselves to be. Until Sera quickly opened a black door and smoke immediately came out of it.
Without questioning it, Bucky followed Sera once she stepped inside the building full of smoke and hot air. It seemed like she knew where she was since she didn’t even stop to check where she had to turn or if she had to keep going. Her quick steps were becoming a little bit blind to Bucky since the smoke was starting to become thicker and bigger and deeper as they were getting into the building, but anything like that didn’t seem to bother Sera at all.
The long walk that Bucky was having with Sera in front of him didn’t seem to ever end, until the place became more brighter but more hotter as soon as the hallway turned into a room filled with firemen working to turn off the fire still growing inside.
“Ms! You shouldn’t be in here!” A fireman said as soon as he layed his eyes on her but not hearing at word he was saying, Sera walked passed him and walked through he fire that was hiding the hallway to her apartment. “How did she-” the man said turning to Bucky surprised but he just let out a tiny smile and patted his arm.
“Don’t ask questions, just keep working.” He said before nodding and following Sera, leaving the poor fireman confused at his own thoughts and what his eyes just saw.
It didn’t took Bucky long to find Sera again since he remembered the way towards her apartment. With quick steps he managed to walk by her side as she was moving the little flames out of her way without moving a finger.
“There’s no need for you to be here, Bucky. You should go.” Sera said without taking her eyes away from the way in front of her. “Go, Bucky.” She said firmly noticing that he wasn’t turning back, completely ignoring her words.
“Like I’m going to do what you say. I’m not afraid of a little fire.” He said and Sera let out a loud sigh but not a single word came out her mouth after that since the door to her apartment was now in front of her. Noticing that she didn’t have her keys or anything that could open the door for her, she was ready to step up and knock the door down. But Bucky stopped her.
“I got it.” He said but Sera just rolled her eyes and before he could move another muscle from his body, her foot was already on the door kicking it to the floor.
“I got it too.” She said before stepping inside and quickly moving her eyes side to side, trying to find something that could tell her that her friend wasn’t there.
As soon as they were both inside they both noticed that the fire definitely started there on Sera’s apartment. The flames were bigger than the ones outside and the smoke was starting to get into Bucky’s eyes, but ignoring it completely he tried to follow Sera around the apartment.
“Angela! Angela!” Sera started yelling but then suddenly stopped when something else caught her eye. Bucky followed her with his eyes as she was slowly getting closer to the table on the side of her living room. Not taking her sight from it, she moved her hand and grabbed a little piece of paper that didn’t seem to be affected by the fire around it at all.
“What does it say?” Bucky asked when he noticed her eyes transforming.
As soon as those eyes were finished reading the words on that tiny paper Bucky saw how they started to turn red like the fire living and growing surrounding them.
“Good luck on getting your friend back, dear. -J.” She said firmly and with anger on her voice. Seconds later, the note turned into flames and disappeared into the hot air. “That asshole!”
Her loud voice seemed to have shaken the entire building since Bucky felt the walls moving along side her voice. He looked around him and to the ceiling to find it becoming weaker and weaker as the seconds were passing
“We need to get out of here, Sera.” He said looking around making sure nothing was going to fall on top of Sera’s head, because she didn’t seem to care about the building falling apart on top of her.
As soon as Sera locked eyes with Bucky he felt the fire going through his veins. Those red eyes felt like they were burning every single muscle he had on his body. “She’s gone and it’s all your fault!”
“You don’t know that she’s gone!” Bucky yelled once the fire was becoming stronger around Sera. The redness on her skin looked like she had glowing sticks inside of her, slow flames were coming out her body as she was eating the fire around her while making it even more stronger, but she didn’t seem to care since her full attention was on the man there with her.
“I know is your fault!”
“Sera, calm down! We need to get out here!”
“If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t be involved in this mess and Angela would’ve been safe!”
Another noise of the walls breaking and shaking next to them. It felt like the whole building was going to become apart at any second, and it was all because of Sera.
“Sera! The roof is coming apart!”
“Yes, Bucky! That’s what fire does! It breaks everything apart! Everything that comes its way it destroys it!” Each word seemed like a bomb to their surroundings. Sera was now the biggest fire in the entire building and Bucky knew that, so trying to get to her and calm her down he stepped to get closer and gently grabbed her arm ready to pull her out of there. But as soon as his hand touched her arm the burning sensation hit his skin and that made him take a step back in pain and locked eyes with her, ignoring the feeling of his hand coming apart.
“What?! Afraid of a little fire?!” Sera yelled once she noticed the surprise and shook on Bucky’s eyes.
Before Bucky could say anything else, he looked up when the noise of the ceiling coming apart every second. He could see how the material was slowly breaking and going down towards their bodies. Bucky, looking down ready bring his body next to Sera he locked eyes with her and moved his arm to the side, but like a slow motion movie, Sera let out a loud scream as the fire was coming out go her body and in the process, moving the breaking ceiling out of their way. Bucky lifted his metal arm ready to feel the burning on his skin as the fire was surrounding him, but for his surprise, he didn’t feel a thing. And that’s when he noticed, the fire was hitting everything; expect for him and Sera.
Seconds later, he stopped feeling the hot air and the sound of fire growing next to him. When Sera dropped to her knees he noticed that there was no fire around him anymore. The sound of the walls stopped and the ceiling was no longer breaking, instead, silence surrounded them for the first time in a while. Sera was now back to normal but with tears dropping down her cheeks. Bucky hesitated, but then walked closer to her and kneeled down to wrap her around his arms, making sure his metal arm wasn’t hurting her. Now there was no fire around them, no smoke, no hot air, no ceiling or walls breaking next to them. Just a broken Sera knowing that her friend was in danger and she couldn’t stop it, and Bucky knowing exactly how she felt.
>>>
“I’m sorry, Sera.” That was the only thing Bucky felt like saying when him and Sera were finally out of the building and next to their car. She was leaning over the door while looking down, it seemed like her mind was somewhere else but Bucky didn’t care, his words came out without his brain thinking them. “I truly am.” He said softly trying to get her eyes to look at him, He she wasn’t moving. Until, after a couple of seconds, she moved away from the car and from Bucky with decisive steps. “Where are you going?”
“You need to make sure Sam is fine, and I’ll go back to where Jackson used to work.” She said without stopping.
“Why?”
“Because maybe they were stupid enough to leave things behind. I’ll find something.”
“Are you sure?” He asked louder since she was further away, and noticing that he wasn’t going to get any answer, he started walking towards her. “I’m going with you.”
“No,” Sera said firmly without looking at Bucky “I’m going alone.” Feeling Bucky’s presence still next to her, she looked at him while letting out a loud sigh. “Didn’t you heard me?”
“Oh, I heard you perfectly.” Bucky nodded. “I just chose to ignore it.”
Sera stopped walking and grabbed his metal arm immediately feeling the cold hitting her skin. Being something that she wasn’t used to, she quickly let it go. “Bucky-”
“No. You’re right. You’re in the mess because Sam and I brought you into this. I wanna help.”
“I don’t need your help.”
“Well you’re going to get it anyway, so let’s go.” Bucky started walking but then stopped when she didn’t follow him.
“Being older than me doesn’t mean that you can order me around, you know?”
“I am 106 years old. That has to mean something.”
“Yes,” Sera moved her feet to pass Bucky “that you’re old as fuck.”
“Ouch.”
“Yes, ouch indeed.” She quickly started walking away but being as fast as her, he catched her with ease. “Bucky- go back and make sure Sam is ok.”
“He’s probably sleeping right now.”
“He needs to know what’s going on.”
“You’ll tell him when we go back to the apartment. Let’s go.”
Sera looked at Bucky with an eyebrow raised. “We?”
“Yes, we. Is a pretty easy word to understand.”
Once again, Sera stopped not wanting Bucky to follow her. Copying what she was doing, he stopped in front of her and crossed his arms around his chest.
“Like I told you before, you’re not funny. And I’m not coming back with you.”
“Well, we can discuss it later because now, you” He pointed at her while his other hand took the car keys out of his back pocket and waved them in front of Sera’s face “need a ride.”
“I can fly, remember?”
“You’re going to fly all the way there? Isn’t it going to be very tiring? It’s such a waste of time.” Sera rolled her eyes while letting out a long sigh and tilting her head backwards, realising that Bucky was right. “Let’s go, Sera.” He said in a loud whisper enjoying his win.
“This is going to be the last time you’re right.” Sera said without looking at him once she started going back to the car, not wanting to see the arrogant smile on his face.
”We’ll see.”
>>>
The sound of papers flying and drawers being opened was the only thing Sera and Bucky could hear the moment they both stepped inside that red room. For their surprise, the place wasn’t empty like they imagined it, even worse, it was all burned down. Every furniture, every paper, every little wall decoration was now to laying on the groun while a little smoke were coming out of it.
“Fuck! There’s nothing here!” Sera yelled throwing the last piece of paper the last drawer had inside. She let out a long frustrated sigh while trying to look around for something she hadn’t seen before.
“They literally made sure to burn everything to the ground.” Bucky bit his lower lip doing the same as Sera, but there was nothing else there that could potentially have any information. So Sera frustrated, turned to the door and without waiting for Bucky she left the room leaving traces of smoke behind her.
“Where are you going?” Bucky asked as he was trying to catch her.
“They like to play with fire, but so do I.”
“What are going to do? There’s nowhere left for us to look.”
“I don’t know!”
“We need a plan!”
“There’s that we again.” Sera stopped angrily making Bucky face her as soon as he stopped as well. Being behind her the quick movement she made to face him ended up with him being a couple centimetres from her face, almost feeling the hot air coming out of her mouth against his skin.
“Yes, we, Sera. As much as we need you, now you need us, so we need to stay together.” Bucky was starting to get frustrated at the whole situation, his loud tone was showing it but Sera didn’t seem to care about that at all, she just shook her head annoyed at Bucky’s words.
“I don’t need anybody.” She said firmly getting closer to his face without realising. Even if the hallway they were in had nothing but the light that was coming through the front door, they could see all the details from each other’s faces. They closeness made the other feel every little air that their noses were throwing out, mixing them together every time.
“That’s what you think.”
“No, that’s what I know.”
As each word was said, their tones became more firmly than the one before. Even if they felt the anger and frustration growing inside of them, knowing that the fight wasn’t over, they both went completely silent when their eyes finally connected to each other. Even though their eyes were locked since the fight started, they weren’t paying attention to what the they were saying. As soon as she saw those dark eyes under the poor light she felt the electricity she would often have when looking at Bucky. The blood in her veins started to move faster since she felt her skin burning, but she didn’t move at all. Her feet seemed to have glued themselves to the ground not wanting to leave Bucky behind and keep staring at those blue eyes. For the first time since they met, there was no words that wanted to come out of their mouths. They were no anger or frustration inside of them, just growing sadness ready to explode.
There was no noise around them, just the sound of their breathing. It felt like they been staring at each other for too long, when Bucky felt the need to end the space between them and wrap Sera around with his arms. Looking at her eyes and seeing the sadness and pain in them made him feel like he was in front of a mirror, like he was seeing his eyes on Sera. Those mysterious eyes were showing the same things Bucky would usually see in himself a long time ago.
Before he could say anything else or even think another thought, Sera closed her eyes and tensed her jawline ready to leave the dark hallway and those ugly thoughts on her mind behind. She moved to the side and turned around to walk towards the door with decisive and quick steps. A part of Sera wanted Bucky to follow her, keep talking and go back to normal, but he didn’t. He kept still looking down trying to find the perfect words to say next.
“I used to think the same thing, Sera.” He said softly but it was enough for her to hear him. His tone made her stop what she was doing and close her eyes while letting out a long sigh. “But now I have a partner and I’m good. Better than I’ve been in a long time.” Sera didn’t expect it but those words hit her differently than anything else Bucky had ever said to her. She felt the tears fighting to come out but she tried her hardest to keep them in place, not wanting to break down in front of Bucky. “You think you don’t need anyone but in reality you do. You can’t do this alone.”
As soon as he said those words she felt the burning anger inside of her. All those people on her past telling her what to do or how to act, keeping her like their pet or even weapon on their hands, those words brought them back. She knew that Bucky wasn’t the same, and he wasn’t doing what those people did, but something inside of her clicked moving away every single feeling she was having inside of her seconds ago.
She turned around and locked eyes with Bucky who was already looking at her. “Watch me.” She said firmly and without waiting for an answer, she turned around and walked through the door.
Bucky let out an angry sigh and followed her with quick steps starting to feel the frustration even bigger inside of him. “Alright!” He yelled angrily the moment he pushed the door to walk outside. “What’s your new plan now, genius? Huh? What is your master plan now that you plan to do it alone?”
“She had a date.” Sera said without stopping while hearing Bucky’s steps right behind her. “And the date was at the same hour that the fire happened so I’m going to see if that asshole is involved.”
“How do you know? Maybe he left after she didn’t answered her phone.”
“I don’t know. That’s what I’m gonna find out. It’s weird that at the same hour she had a date the whole apartment turns into flames.”
“Yeah, it is a little weird. And what do you plan to do with that information?” Not getting an answer back from her, Bucky let out a fake laugh and started yelling his next words even more frustrated. “Do you know his name? His address? Where he used to work? Anything? Do you know anything?!”
“I don’t know, Bucky! I don’t fucking know!” Sera turned around quickly to face Bucky. “Agh!” She yelled annoyed covering her face with her hands trying to calm herself down as Bucky was getting closer to her, ending up a right in front of her face.
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you! Let’s do this together. You get your friend to safety and we get those assholes, we all win.”
“Why do you want me with you anyway?” She spitted out uncovering her face quickly to lock eyes with Bucky, but he didn’t answer immediately. He just stared at her while her jaw tensed and those eyes penetrating her soul like he wanted to know every little secret she was hiding.
Before Sera could feel the same electricity she felt before, Bucky took a step closer to her and added more softly than before. “Because I know what is like to care about someone and if something bad happens... it’s in you.” Those words felt deeper than Bucky intended them to. Yes, they were as true as the next words coming out from his mouth but saying it someone that he met not even a day ago wasn’t Bucky at all. Trusting a person new so fast and easy wasn’t what he was used to doing, not after him not being able to trust his own mind. But for some reason, saying those words to Sera didn’t make him uncomfortable, instead, he felt the same as he was talking to Steve. Like those old times he loves and misses so much. But this time, Sera being the one in front of him. “Working together is going to give all of us an advantage, we all have something to bring to the table and it’s going to have a better result. You want to find your friend as fast as possible, right?” Sera nodded. “Then let’s do it. I’ll go to the car, if you come that means you’re with us. If you don’t... then I won’t bother you anymore.”
As soon as Bucky left her side she knew what she wanted to do. What was the right decision, and that Bucky was right even if it felt hard to think about. She hated it, but if she wanted to find her friend safe, she needed to do it with Bucky and Sam.
“I remembered something.” She said and that made Bucky stop and let out a tiny smile as soon as he heard those words coming out of her mouth. “And it can help us get more information about the guy.”
Not hearing her walk towards the car, Bucky turned to Sera and nodded slowly. “Then let’s catch the asshole who did this, shall we?”
>>>
“Angela told me that he works at a coffee shop three blocks away from our apartment.” Sera said when she had Sam’s full attention.
They were all standing in the living room as Sam was sitting down on the couch, still trying to take it easy since the side of his stomach wasn’t fully recovered. Bucky and Sera were standing in front of him trying to catch Sam on everything that went down in a matter of hours.
“Very coincidental.” Sam said looking at Bucky which he nodded agreeing.
“Very.”
Sam turned to Sera who had her arms across her chest while her foot was going up and down repeatedly on the ground. “And you really think he’s involved?”
“I- maybe. I’m not sure.”
“Well, it’s something that we could start on.” Sera nodded and before anyone could let out another word, she turned around towards the door ready to leave the apartment behind.
“Ok, let’s go.” She said but when she noticed nobody was following her, she went back to Sam and Bucky who were staring at her confused.
“Where?” Bucky asked.
“To the coffee shop.” She answered immediately.
“Sera, is almost midnight.” Sam said pointing at the tiny window. Sera looked at it and noticed that the light of the day was long gone, but that didn’t seem to bother her at all. “The coffee shop is probably closed.”
“So?” Sera asked. “We can go and wait until it opens so we can talk to him first thing in the morning.” She opened the door but then Sam spoke again, making her turn around to face him.
“No, Sera, is better if we get some good sleep and we go tomorrow.”
Sera felt the burning sensation growing on her inside as her brian was processing Sam’s words. “Sam, Angela was taken. She could be anywhere right now. And they’re probably doing to her God knows what and you’re asking me to wait?!” Each word that was said was let out louder than the one before. The fire inside of her was growing and she knew it, but she didn’t seem to care or even stop to prevent something bad happening. Her mind was thinking about Angela and nothing else, ignoring the feeling of her hands starting to burn.
“Sera-” Sam got up from the couch to calm her down and for the looks of it, it made Bucky realize that calming her down needed to be done. Because he felt like something was coming. And he was right.
The moment that Sam got up from the couch Sera’s eyes went red like the fire itself. Her fingertips were glowing and her hair started to move like there was wind around her, even if there wasn’t. “No, I agreed to do this with you guys but that doesn’t mean we have to do everything your way-”
“It’s not my way or anyone’s way, it makes sense to wait and get some rest to be fully prepared for tomorrow.”
“I’m fully prepared now, Sam!”
“No, Sera.”
Even if Bucky wanted to intervine he was afraid that if he said something he would make it worse. By the looks of it it looked like Sera was a second away from burning the place to the ground of even burn Sam, who was closer than Bucky.
“Fine.” Sera said normally, like she didn’t feel her skin screaming fire every second that was passing. Just like she was her normal self. “Let’s go with the place Jackson told us about.”
Bucky was about to agree but then Sam spoke again, and his next words worried Bucky even more. “We’re not ready, we need backup.”
“Backup?” Sera asked with a joking tone on her voice.
“Yes. We don’t know what we’re up against and we need to make sure we have all the help we can get.” Sam’s tone made it clear that he wasn’t going to change his mind and Bucky knew that very clear. Knowing Sam he knew that he would always try to make the right decisions. And this time, it wasn’t an exception.
“He’s right, Sera.” Bucky said after Sam said those words, which made Sera even more angry than before. Clearly showing it on her red eyes and her now skin letting out some smoke. But just like before, she didn’t care.
“Of course you’re on his side! You two don’t get it, do you? My friend was just abducted by some really dangerous men that could be doing anything to her right now just to despise me!” Each word that was said was making Sera more angry and the smoke now turned into fire growing out from her skin, slightly burning the furniture on her side. “She could be dead right now and you don’t care! And if she’s not she’s probably suffering and I put her there! I made her involved even if I tried my best to keep her safe! But no! Everything that comes through my way always seems to burst out into flames!”
As soon as she finished her sentence the tiny fire from her skin turned into a circle of fire around her body. Sam and Bucky, preventing themselves from getting burned they took steps back almost falling to the ground in the process.
The fire around Sera was so strong that even Bucky felt the burning on his skin. The tiny table next to Sera was now burning and everything that was on top of it. The fire didn’t seem to be growing but it was becoming stronger and thicker around Sera. Bucky, trying to see her, opened his eyes wider and focused his sight inside the fire. Sera was covering her face with her glowing hands while her hair was lifted into the air moving uncontrollably.
Sam took some steps forward after gaining his balance back ignoring Bucky trying to stop him by grabbing his arm. “Sam! What are you doing?!” He asked but Sam completely ignored him and calmly walking towards Sera. Bucky expected Sam to move backwards painfully after arriving closer to the fire, but surprisingly for him, he didn’t. It looked like the fire wasn’t burning or hurting him. Noticing this a confused Bucky turned to Sera and saw how her red eyes were now on Sam, while tears were slowly going down her cheeks.
“Sera you need to listen to me!” Sam yelled but nothing happened. Sera looked down and covered her face once again and that’s when Bucky felt the burning on his skin become even stronger. “Sera, please. Count to three, remember? It’s me, Sam.” As soon as Sam let out his name out loud Sera quickly uncovered her face and locked eyes with Sam. Their connected eyes seemed to be talking even though they weren’t letting out any words. Seconds later, Bucky noticed how the fire was becoming smaller as the seconds were passing and the burning feeling in his skin slowly fade away. Once the fire was long gone inside of Sera, the second her body ate all the fire she quickly closed her eyes and dropped to the ground. Bucky and Sam with quick steps grabbed her and layed her on the ground, ignoring her burning skin hitting theirs. “You need to rest, Sera.” Sam said softly but Sera shook her head slowly.
“I need to find her.” She said almost out of breath and with a weak tone.
Sam nodded, while grabbing her body with he help of Bucky, who gently grabbed her waist and started walking towards their little balcony. “And you will, but one thing at a time, Sera, one thing at a time.”
>>>
As soon as Sera felt the cold wind hitting her skin, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Even if she wanted to feel some cold air inside her body, as soon as she took it in, she felt how it turned into hot and her lungs filling with it like it was used to. Annoyed, she opened her eyes and the memories of her priors actions came to her head. Like an old movie, the fire around her body and the tears coming out of her eyes were playing on her mind. Sam’s eyes on her, seeing something not for the first time and knowing what was happening, exactly like old times. But this one, had something different. Bucky was there.
A man that met her not even a day ago saw her doing one of the things that happened when she was on her lowest. Something that she didn’t know how to control and even feel coming, even if she tried for years. She felt embarrassed because they came to her for help but seemed to brought them even more trouble even if she wasn’t trying, but for some reason, it always seemed to happen to her. She was used to it, living a life like that for most of her life, but knowing that she did it with Sam... and not the first time; she felt the disappointment on herself growing inside of her each second that was passing. And she didn’t know how to stop it.
“Better?” Bucky’s voice made Sera come out of her thoughts and turn towards him, who was standing on the door with his back resting against the wall.
“Yeah,” Sera nodded and feeling the hot cup of tea touching her skin, she remembered the drink on her hands “and thanks for the tea.”
Bucky let out a tiny smile and then looked down, somehow embarrassed of him and his tea for her. “I’m glad you liked it because I didn’t know if you wanted something hot or cold after... you know.”
“Tea was fine.”
“Good.”
Sera turned to see the inside of the apartment and tilted her head sideways, feeling sorry for the plant and the table now burned. “I’m sorry for the plant... and the table.”
Bucky immediately shook his head and then shrugged his shoulders. “It’s alright, the plant was probably fake anyway. We’ll get a new one.”
“I’ll pay for it.”
“Don’t worry about it, it happens.” Bucky walked closer to Sera and sat down next to her on the tiny couch. Once comfortable, he looked at Sera who had an eyebrow raised. “Yeah, burning a plan to the ground, who hasn’t done that?” For the first time after a long time, Sera let out a genuine tiny laugh. She took a sip of her tea and for her surprise, enjoyed the hot feeling of the drink going down her throat and stomach. “Sam was pretty good back there with you.” Bucky said softly once Sera locked eyes with him.
She nodded going back to her tea, staring at the liquid inside her cup move slowly. “He has seen it before. Me going all... crazy.”
“Did he?” Sera nodded. “I didn’t know that.”
“Yeah. When I met him it was something that happened... a lot.” Bucky wondered why and the questions of her mysterious past came back to his brain. The need of asking some of them to her right on the moment was consuming him, asking himself if it was right or even if she was going to answer them in the first place, but before a word could come out of his mouth, she let out a tiny fake laugh and said: “It’s kinda funny because I get this electric feeling every time something bad is about to happen or someone is about to hurt me but... I never get it when it’s myself who’s about to turn the whole place into chaos. I have this crazy sense and still, I couldn’t protect her.”
“We’re going to find her, Sera.” Bucky said softly but Sera shook her head.
“How do you know that?”
“Because we’ll make sure to find her and keep her safe.” Even if Bucky wanted her to feel better for some strange reason, he couldn’t find the words because... she was right, there was no way he could assure Angela’s safety.
Sera stared at Bucky’s eyes and then let out a tiny nod when some old memories came back to her head. “I said those same things to myself years ago and it never went my way. It’s like everyone that gets involved with me they get hurt. No matter how much I try to keep myself out of the real world.”
“We won’t get hurt, Sera.”
Her entire past was a mystery to Bucky, but for her words he knew that he could relate to it. He could relate to the feeling of not being able to trust your own self and being scare of hurting the people around you. Not having a choice and wanting to leave the real world, Bucky lived that for years. He knew how it felt, but also he knew that it wasn’t easy to forget and heal, and there wasn’t much for him to do more than try to make things right, for him and for the people around him.
“Sam got hurt because of me. You said yourself.” Sera’s voice made Bucky come out of his thoughts and throwing everything he was thinking to the trash. The pain on her voice could be noticible for streets far away and that made Bucky feel the regret in every vein of his body.
“I didn’t- I’m sorry about that.”
“It doesn’t matter, Bucky. What matters now is finding Angela to make sure her safety, so I can move on with a different life like I always do. Away from everyone.” She got up from the couch and left the tea on the side table before locking eyes with Bucky once again. “Thanks for the tea, but I think it’s time for me to head to bed. Don’t worry, I heated it up for you.” She said with a tiny smile trying to hide the tears wanting to come out. And Bucky noticed that. “Goodnight, Bucky.”
As soon as she said those words, she started walking towards the door to walk inside the apartment. Once she left Bucky behind, the tears that were fighting to come out finally won and started to drop down on her cheeks as she was making her way towards the couch, ready to give herself up to the night.
Bucky, who just stayed put while repeating her words on and on on his mind, finally grabbed the cup of tea and felt the hotness on his hand. He let out a tiny sigh disappointed on himself for saying those words, for treating her that way and for everything that happened. Maybe feeling like they couldn’t trust their own selves wasn’t the only thing they had in common. Because Bucky also felt like the people around him always got hurt, even if he was trying to do the complete opposite.
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