Shrinkyclinks Reverse Bang 2021 Wrap Up
Like the Dead Sea by @clarkestetler and @goosenik
Recovering from being an instrument of death isn’t easy. Staying grounded in the present is almost impossible when memory is a sea constantly surging forward to drown Bucky Barnes. It’s harder when he spends his days alone, struggling to piece himself back together. The silence is deafening, and in his desperation to break through it, he dials the only number he has—one given to him by a scrawny New Yorker living a completely mundane life. It’s a buoy in the sea, and a connection that becomes integral to both men as the days wear on.
The Crashing Down of Forest Trees by Newsgirl_Rider
Art by @littlemidnightnothings
What he didn’t know that night was that the mountain was not happy. What he didn’t know was that she was rumbling, deep below the surface.
Rumbling enough to knock the lumber loose and send it cascading down the side of the cliff, knocking loose boulders and dirt and creating chaos as the debris plunged to the path around Bucky, a falling rock knocking him out cold, a broken limb slicing his shoulder wide open, the avalanche of human interference leaving him pinned and stranded in the once-familiar forest.
The one who found him? A slight spirit, swathed in leaves and moss and barefoot on the shaken earth. A soft, small hand pressed to his cheek, a quiet gasp emitting from scarlet lips when the body underneath the hand moved and groaned. A sharp pain that made him groan. A flurry of words he couldn’t decipher, a flash of green and brown and bright blue, the smell of unsettled dirt and decaying leaves, and another soft gasp – then everything went blessedly, silently, black.
Save me, If I Become My Demons by annao_meh
Despite not being able to see him, Steve can feel Bucky’s eyes on him, watching him walk away.
He looks back, finding Bucky perched on a stool that was empty a moment before. Bucky’s gray eyes dance in the dim light and a predatory smile graces his face. Steve has the sensation of warm fingertips dancing down his spine; the familiar caress of a lover’s touch. Steve hasn’t felt it in a long time, too long honestly, but it’s not something a man easily forgets.
The shadows of the library seem to draw in around Bucky’s body and Steve hurries for the door before his mind tries to make sense of the shape those shadows take.
Just Waitin’ for Ends to Meet by @valerin-berenghar
A story in which Steve Rogers has said goodbye to Brooklyn for the time being and finds himself out in the boonies, renting a cabin in the woods from a friend of a friend. It’s the ultimate escape until a blizzard brings more than just howling wind and isolation – namely, Bucky, a mysterious agent whose arrival leads to more questions than answers.
I Never Thought That You Would Be the One to Tie Me Down by @bittersweet-in-boston
Steve shows up just after three and Bucky is suddenly and ridiculously glad he didn’t cut and run, because this guy is gorgeous. Dirty blond hair flopping over his forehead and an undercut in the back, ocean blue eyes with maybe the longest eyelashes Bucky’s ever seen, high cheekbones with a long nose that’s been broken at least once, and soft, full, pink lips.
Bucky might jerk off thinking about those lips later.
The face of an angel sits atop a thin, wiry body. Steve is maybe 5’8, a good six inches shorter than Bucky, but he carries himself bigger and with an air of pugnacity that warns people against underestimating him. His shoulders are surprisingly broad and seem to telegraph the challenge Steve presents to the world.
Yeah, come and try it, asshole, his stance says.
Right now Steve is standing in the living room of Bucky’s rental house, arms crossed, looking around in disbelief. His beautiful mouth is turned down and he periodically shakes his head.
**in which Bucky’s rental house is damaged and he needs a contractor. His property manager, Steve, knows just the person — himself.
Till Time by Iithril on AO3
Steve is cursed - or gifted - to reunite with his lover. Until then, he reincarnates, bearing the memories of his past lives. He remembers the name of his lover, now.
Bucky is in Hydra’s hands, but he can feel the spark of rebellion ignite. There will be no turning back after his next mission.
Also: books are very good weapons.
Wherein Bucky Barnes, SHIELD operative, discovers he has feelings for the nurse down in medbay and rediscovers a few more things about himself along the way.
Through the grapevine by @neonbat666
Art by roadsidelunatic on Twitter
There is gossip around about a lone centaur in their midst, and around these parts anything new is met with unbridled curiosity. Steve never expected the hot topic in question to save his butt one day when he bit off more than he could chew via a grumpy cyclops.
A Twist of Fate (For A Good Read Call) by @buckybarnesdeservestobehappy
Bucky Barnes doesn’t mean to be anti-social, but he doesn’t really like people and sees no reason to pretend otherwise. What he does love to do is cuddle with his cat Alpine, read as many books as possible, and watch the city from the rooftop of his apartment building in Brooklyn. When he finds a phone number advertising “good reads,” he decides to call it for book recommendations. The guy on the other end is just what Bucky needs to get him out of his own head and decide people aren’t that terrible anymore, that is until he sees a trio of bullies beating up a small, feisty blonde man who Bucky has to rescue and then nurse back to health.
Crossed Wires by symbiont on AO3
Art by @konfundus
Bucky Barnes is not the man or the boy that Steve remembers but he is, at least, more of a man still than his companions. There’s a chance, then, and Steve hangs onto it with white knuckles and burning fingertips.
‘Bucky!’ He tries again, just managing to choke the syllables out as the arm tightens its grip on his shoulder. The pain is blistering, his bones creaking beneath the grip and Steve is sure they can’t take much more. ‘Buck! It’s me! It’s Steve. Don’t you remember?’
Bucky halts in his advance. The metal fingers flex on Steve’s shoulder, not quite letting go but not tightening either, for the first time.
‘Steve?’ The word comes out muffled from behind the mask, as if Bucky is tasting it for the first time.
Time Only Heals When You’re Letting Go by @hanitrash
After escaping the wreckage of the helicarriers, Bucky finds himself in New York City, homeless, starving, and barely in possession of his faculties. A chance encounter with Steve breathes new life into him, giving him something to fight for and a reason to stay alive. He slowly begins to trust again, and when Captain Carter clears his name, he has one goal in mind: Steve. But is Steve ready to move on from his own traumatic past and give Bucky a chance? Or does Bucky come with too much baggage for even someone as giving as Steve?
kiss me like the ocean kisses the shore by @stuckyflangst
Steve Rogers travels to the coast of southern Alaska to research his expose of Hydra Fishing Inc, whose supertrawlers are destroying the ecosystem of Marvel Bay. But once he arrives, he discovers that the bay holds other secrets. Like a beautiful, dangerous orca merman named Bucky who Steve meets in the moonlight.
Meanwhile, Hydra’s PR Guy James Barnes insists on irritating Steve by assuming Hydra will be able to force Steve to back off from his story - and by being infuriatingly handsome.
Outlaws by Scannerbrain on AO3
After Sam is arrested in a case of mistaken identity, infamous outlaw Steve stumbles across a childhood friend he hasn’t seen in years.
Bucky, a big time lawyer trying to escape a past of his own, travels from one town to the other, changing identities like he changes his hat. When he takes Sam’s case, he’s drawn into Steve’s brand new world.
Bucky tells himself he’s going to clear his name and return to his boring old life, but they’re heading west. And they’re about to make new names for themselves.
His Vigilante by @trekchik
Art by itwastheband on AO3
Steve Rogers gets into more trouble than the average human being. One night, Steve is saved by a man in black tactical gear and a mask covering the lower half of his face, thus begins Steve’s obsession with drawing the man and his beautiful but haunted eyes. When the man walks into Steve’s design office to have a new logo designed, Steve is certain the man is there to kill him.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
I’m Wanted (Dead or Alive) by @becassine
Art By Dense_MF on Twitter
When the prominent families of Shield, Kansas, become the target of a cattle-rustling gang, Deputy Sheriff Steve Rogers is determined to track the culprits down. But when one of them turns out to be Bucky Barnes, his supposedly dead childhood friend and his first kiss, does he pick duty or desire?
Brooklyn Bakes by @oh-i-swear-writes
The tale of what happens when bakery owner Steve Rogers employs one ex-assassin, accidentally befriends two more, wins a tamagotchi war, and somehow gets upgraded from cat-sitter to boyfriend.AKA; The Bakery AU nobody asked for.
A Sea Glass Collection and a Longing in My Bones by @sickdaysurfer
Art by Dense_MF on Twitter
Bucky Barnes knows he’s not where he’s supposed to be - he’s got gaps in his memories, and what scant things he can remember play out like film reels: a glittering safe cove, hidden from ships and protected fiercely by a sleepy village; working at the docks by day and stealing away to study blond hair and thin shoulders in the moonlight. A collection of sea glass, laid out in the sand, and shiny, iridescent scales; a tail chased underwater. Laughter, friendship, longing. Aboard a ship filled with a scheming crew and turned into a weapon, Bucky knows he’s not where he belongs.As soon as he sees him, he knows where exactly that is.
In a room full of art, I’d still stare at you by Girl_Back_There
The blond grabs his chest and throws his head back, laughing with his whole body. Bucky can hear the sound from where he is across the gallery. The sound is far deeper than Bucky could have anticipated on a man that small. Bucky can feel the sides of his mouth curl upwards at hearing that laugh.As if his thoughts called out to him, the blond looks over and catches Bucky staring. Bucky should look away, he’s being rude and creepy, but he can’t. Those startling blue eyes have him snarred.
no time to start again by @jesmme
After being drafted to Vietnam and half a decade working for Hydra, Bucky returned to New York. Specifically, to an apartment above a leather bar called the Widow. He didn’t expect to stay long or get to know the people there; he was pretty sure Hydra would like him dead—probably rival spy agency, SHIELD, too—and sooner or later one of them would catch up to him.
But Bucky’s plans to live out his life on the run—alone except for the occasional hook-up and the ghosts from his past—are derailed by the people he meets there and his ex unexpectedly showing up at the bar. And maybe everything could work out, except Steve happened to work for SHIELD and was in New York on a special mission.
Look Into My Eyes by @wolfnprey
Art by @koreanrage
Bucky sighs, the bubble of joy he was in officially popping. "Nat, I don't need another shrink to try."
"He's not a shrink," Natasha counters, sitting back in the chair and crossing her legs, "he's a good friend. I met him through Sam a couple of years back."
In a font that reminds Bucky of those Greek literary books he used to find in the back corner of the library, the card says Steve G. Rogers, Sleep Therapist.
"It says right there 'therapist'," Bucky groans.
He tries to push the card back to her but Natasha holds steadfast and returns it to him as soon as he lifts his fingers. "He's a different kind," she corrects.
Fade by sym_biont on Twitter
‘Steve?’ The voice isn’t what he’s expecting, though Steve’s not entirely sure what that even is. It’s low and rough, as if rusty from disuse, but the accent is American. And human. So very, painfully, human.
‘Yes! What’s your name?’ Steve leans excitedly back towards the box, pulsing thundering.
There’s a pause and then the creature is drawing out of the box, into the moonlight. It’s just bright enough that Steve can make out broad shoulders, which shrug upwards in a fluid motion.
It’s not just the eyes, then, that are slightly feline. The man has dark brown hair that hangs limply down to his shoulders; not unusual in itself, apart from the lank, uncared-for look to it. The pair of ears, poking out from between the unruly strands, on the other hand…
Steve can’t quite force his gaze away from them, taking in each delicate flick of movement. It’s uncanny, he can’t quite believe that they’re a real part of this man and not some kind of Halloween costume and yet they can’t be anything else; the fur atop them blends so perfectly with the man’s hair.
Thank you to everyone who participated this year! It's been a wonderful year and you have all created wonderful content! I appreciate all of your guys' hard work and hope to see you next year!
(To all those who have been waiting for this, I apologize for the Master Post being so late. I had a medical emergency that has only just now been resolved.)
