#sproings

[mitsususu]

Once upon a time, everything was beautiful, nothing hurt, and Stucky lived happily ever after. Below are my Top 5 Favorite (non-Disney) stories:

“a marvelous gift” (T, 74k) by biblionerd07

Bucky Barnes has a curse: he has to obey any orders he receives. It gets more complicated when he becomes best friends with Steve Rogers--the prince who will one day be king.

+ Ella Enchanted AU with fantastic MCU parallels. Mutual pining, Hydra abuse, curse breaking, and happily ever afters for everyone except Zola, Rumlow, and Pierce. 

-☆-

“Cynics are Simply Thwarted Romantics” (NR, 13k) by Reccea

"It could be alien technology," Natasha offered, folding her arms over her chest. "Something he stumbled on. They're still finding things from the Chitauri so it's not impossible. But the simplest answer is the most likely."

"How is magic the simplest answer?" Stark asked.

Or

In which Steve is Sleeping Beauty and true love's kiss doesn't have to be requited. Or does it?

+ Post WS. The villain of the week has a preference for fairy tale curses. Mutual pining and two True Love Kisses

-☆-

“This Enchanted Place” (M, 41k) by layersofsilence

When the chill of winter starts to sneak through the forest, all the swans on the lake prepare to migrate away from the castle and the royal lake and into warmer climes.

All the swans, that is, except one, who cannot bring himself to leave for reasons unknown even to him. Frustrated with himself, he prepares to spend a long, cold winter on his own - but then he meets Crown Prince Steven Rogers and begins to suspect there is more to him than his own shape lets on.

+ Swan Lake AU. Bucky is turned into a swan, remembers who he is, and tries to save his Steve before it’s too late

-☆-

“Once Upon Some Bullshit” (T, 12k) by machine_dove and Sproings

Bucky really hated magic. He had always hated magic, ever since the first time he'd been forced to believe in it, back in the trenches in occupied France.

He hated it even more now.

A beautiful white swan was standing where Steve should have been, and Enchantress was fucking giggling like the asshole she was.

In which magic is terrible, Steve is sick of this bullshit, and True Love Conquers All

+ Post WS. Steve transforms into a different animal every day, and only True Love’s Kiss will break the curse.

-☆-

“Once Upon a Beanstalk” (T, 31k) by leveragehunters

Everyone knew how the story went: climb the beanstalk, brave the terrible giant, and if you were lucky and clever and quick you could come away with fortune enough to change your world. If you weren't…well, not every story had a happy ending.

Bucky's problem was that his story had gone wrong before it started. He wasn't braving the giant for a chance at fortune, he was climbing the beanstalk to save his skin—ironic, when he knew the giant was probably going to stomp him flat.

Except he didn't. Didn't stomp him flat, didn't send him back down the beanstalk, didn't act much like a terrible giant at all. He was kind in a way Bucky didn't know how to deal with because everyone knew that wasn't how the world worked. But Bucky was slowly coming to understand that at the top of a beanstalk nothing was what it seemed and that sometimes, with enough determination, what everyone knew could be changed completely.

+ Jack and the Beanstalk AU. Bucky climbs up, falls in love with the “Giant”, and gets chased around by the golden goose.

-☆-

*More Stucky Recs here

[whtaft]

For the game: light

He’s probably the only one wearing a light-up Hanukkah sweater underneath his inadequate winter coat.

[brendaonao3]

Prince Charming!

Awww, yaye, thank you!!!!!!  I have a lot of love for that story, and that particular version of Bucky & Steve. (Plus, it was a goddamn gift to write after all of the angst of The Ghosts Of Who I Used To Be :D)

For the Let Me Know Your Favorite Fic By Me Meme

[0n-y0ur-left]

Trainer!verse is my faaaaave! (and also A Whole Latte (Pretend) Love. Because a meet-cute/fake relationship/coffee shop au is the best combination.)

haha, I think Trainer!verse is my favourite, too.  I mean, AtB is my opus, but it was so nice to have something so fuzzy and fluffy and sweet to break things up... and going back to it to dabble around with the “Firsts” is literally like pulling on a comfy old sweater.

Tell me which of my fics is your favourite

[trancowboy]

For the fanfic ask, Number 39. Favorite AU fic? Or fics, plural, because more is good.

Just answered here.

Have some more: my heart’s been offline by thepsychicclam, Cornerstone by Vendelin, Something So Precious by steveandbucky, Captain Fantastic and the Pineapple King by buckyfuckybarnes.

Thank you! <3

Fanfic asks!

[mitsususu]

Colorful balls of yarn, soft sweaters, warm scarves, and a lot of time and love. Below are my Top 5 Favorite stories:

“How Bucky Barnes Became The Sock Fairy” (G, 2k) by Maia_saura

It started out with Steve. Everything always did.

+ Pre-WW2 to WS. After the train, Bucky upgrades to the god of socks for lost soldiers

-☆-

“Between Their Names” (M, 20k) by Sproings

What would a background check have turned up about Steven Grant Rogers?

Hopefully not the fact that Bucky could still remember the guy’s middle name. But certainly the fact that Steve and Bucky (and Jesus how their names still flowed together in his head) had spent three years living on the same street, going to the same school.

And now they were strangers.

AKA The one where Steve teaches a knitting class, and Bucky hides in a tree, and there's a cat named Peepers

+ Modern AU. Reunited childhood best friends, mutual pining and requited love. Bucky spends one (1) day in Steve’s house and he’s never leaving. Bonus outsider POV sequels

-☆-

“First Place In The County Fair Of My Heart” (M, 2k) by attackofthezee (noxlunate)

“No.” Steve says as his eyes fall upon the very soul that stole Steve’s yarn, the man who has now upset Steve from his spot as a first place winner, standing next to the pieces that beat Steve’s. “It was him.” He says, raising one accusing finger to point in the direction of James Buchanan Barnes, now a thief of both yarn and dignity.

In which Bucky is Steve's knitting nemesis and very little actual knitting occurs.

+ Modern AU. Enemies to lovers. Steve is competitive and Bucky thinks he’s cute

-☆-

“Knit One, Purl Two” (NR, 32k) by mollus

What do you get when you mix knitwear, senior citizens (of several varieties), and social media together? Pure, unadulterated fluff arising from the best of intentions and some minor misconceptions. Featuring recovery through crafting, The Facebooks, and The Orange Hat of Destiny.

+ Defrosting to Post WS. Steve and Bucky get adopted by a seniors knitting group. Soft Bucky and domestic snippets

-☆-

“taking up the tangled threads (and spinning something strong and true)” (E, 10k) by IamShadow21 and kath_ballantyne

Since his birth, Bucky has been surrounded by magic. Passed down through his mother's line, Bucky has the gift - the inborn ability only a handful possess - to take fibre and craft it into cloth that has the power to help the wearer.

It's a sin.

It's shameful.

It could be the only thing that gets Bucky and Steve home from the war alive.

+ Pre-WW2 to WS. Bucky knits protection and safety. Instead of the train, it’s the Six Swans curse with nettle shirts

-☆-

*More Stucky Recs here

[mitsususu]

The Great Defrosting: everything is bright and shiny and new and all his friends are dead. Below are my Top 5 Favorite stories. 

“Where the Need is Greatest” (T, 19k) by Niitza

In which Steve Rogers takes one look at the history of American military interventions since the end of World War II and nopes straight out of it, follows in his Ma's footsteps to become a paramedic, joins Doctors Without Borders, gets sent on an unsanctioned humanitarian mission to Syria, and somehow still ends up being a determining factor in Hydra's downfall - all of this without throwing a single punch.

Somehow, he's okay with it.

+ Shield and Hydra learn not to underestimate Steve Rogers, but by then it’s too late

-☆-

“Easy Work For Easy Pay” (M, 45k) by AustinB

Bucky's working his way back up through the ranks at S.H.I.E.L.D. after a mission took his left arm and Stark gave him a new metal one.

So when Fury tasks him with integrating the newly defrosted Captain Rogers into the 21st century, he jumps at the promotion.

+ Shrunkyclunks with mutual attraction, battle couple-ing, amnesia, and a wedding

-☆-

“can’t hardly weight” (T, 3k) by attackofthezee (noxlunate)

When Steve Rogers woke up in the future he was given a phone and shown how to use social media.

Well, no, in all actuality he was given a two week crash course entitled The Future And You, a six hour sensitivity course, a brand new id, and a credit card.

In which Steve gets a crush on an instagram gym thot and laments over it a lot to the intern stuck with him.

+ Shrunkyclunks with a lot of thirst and awkwardness

-☆-

“turn me up when you feel low” (T, 13k) by faerietell

Steve Rogers is a man out of time, in a city that used to be his home, a city he no longer recognizes. Through charming radio host, Bucky Barnes, he relearns his city, adopts a dog, and falls in love.

+ Shrunkyclunks where Steve listens to the radio for advice, conversation, and connection

-☆-

“The New Age” (T, 6k) by AustinB

“You’re good at the future,” Steve says, a little downcast.

Bucky doesn’t notice. He grins, “I always thought I would be.”

(AU: Bucky and Steve were both on the plane when Steve put it in the Arctic.)

+ They will always come back to each other no matter how different their perspectives are, or how far apart they drift

-☆-

-☆- And a freebie -☆-

“Surveillance” (G, 7k) by Sproings

If there are ears everywhere, that means it's somebody's job to listen.

I hate my job.

+ Steve’s apartment was bugged and this is that outsider’s POV. Part 1 is defrosting, Part 2 covers events of WS.

-☆-

*More Stucky Recs here

[mitsususu]

If you take the serum from Captain America, you’ll still have to deal with Steve. Good luck! Below are my Top 5 Favorites:

“The large and the smol of it” (E, 63k) by Kalee60

Bucky, a freelance operative: codename Winter Soldier, has been working with the Avengers on the regular, which was great, he loved the extra cash, could hone skills he’d picked up in the army and no-one cared about his metal arm. Best of all he got to work with Captain America, a man out of time whose identity is shrouded in secret, which made having a big fat crush on him problematic, since no one knew the Winter Soldiers identity either. But this doesn't stop Bucky being drawn to Cap in a way he’d never felt before.

So it’s a surprise when Natasha drops off a small injured mystery man 'Grant' to him for protection and to patch up, that he finds himself utterly taken with the snarky man. Feelings he couldn’t work out as Grant was the worst patient, stubborn as hell and pushed Bucky’s buttons in all the wrong (and right) ways. He needed to figure out who Grant was, and what he had to do with SHIELD before he either killed or kissed him stupid.

Throw in Hydra’s infestation of SHIELD, unsanctioned science experiments, being hunted and keeping identities secret, all while trying not to fall helplessly in love with a man who had more secrets than the Pyramids. Bucky’s simple life was now anything but.

+ Shrunkyclunks. Mutual secret identities, mutual crushes, and mutual obliviousness. The sequel is Steve’s POV. 

-☆-

“In The End It All Comes Back Around” (T, 12k) by attackofthezee (noxlunate)

“You’re being dramatic.” Natasha tells him, perched on the kitchen countertop, and like this, with her there and Steve leaning against the countertop next to her he has to look up at her. It gives him a strange sense of vertigo and he does his best to ignore it.

“I think I’m being just the right amount of dramatic here, thanks.” Steve mutters, glaring at a spot on the refrigerator like it’s personally wronged him. He hates this. Hates it. The 21st century had been confusing enough when he’d had a purpose. What the hell is he supposed to do now?

“You think maybe this is a chance to be a normal person, Steve?” Natasha’s tone is strangely gentle. Steve hates it.

“I think all this is is my chance to see what being sick is like in another century.”

+ Defrosting to WS. Steve wakes up de-serumed, becomes an agent anyway, saves Bucky and lives his best life

-☆-

“No Place Like Home” (T, 4k) by stele3

"HEY YOU LITTLE MOTHERFUCKER I MISSED YOU BEING THIS SIZE, LET ME TAKE YOU DOWN TO THE GYM AND THROW YOU INTO SOME WALLS."

+ Post WS. When Bucky sees Steve, it’s like it’s 1938 again

-☆-

“nothing goes over his head” (T, 1k) by fmo

In which Bucky gets knocked out briefly during a mission, wakes up fine, and then spends a day enduring strange hints, clandestine looks, and cryptic texts from his friends. Steve will never let him live this one down.

+ Post WS. After a mission, Bucky can’t figure out why everyone’s acting so strange

-☆-

“To the Marrow of Our Bones” (M, 22k) by Sproings

"I'm Grant," the guy said shyly. He had jet black hair with streaks of bright blue that brought out his eyes, even from behind his thick rimmed glasses. "I'm Captain America's assistant."

"Am I supposed to be meeting Captain America today? Because I am not prepared for that," Bucky said. He tried to play it off as a joke, but seriously, he would have found something nicer to wear if he'd known he was going to meet a national icon.

"Uh, it's only me," Grant said, biting his lip a little, just enough to show off the bright gold of his lip ring, and Bucky kinda wanted to help out with the whole biting thing, because Grant's lips were lush and pink and very biteable looking.

+ Shrunkyclunks. Steve needs a bone marrow transplant, and the donor needs to be just as Good

-☆-

-☆- Bonus Freebie! -☆-

“all systems snot” (T, 2k) by galwednesday, silentwalrus, and skellerbvvt

They don't let you suck dick in quarantine.

+ Post WS. Not de-serumed, but the serum definitely isn’t working right

-☆-

*More de-serumed fics in the Propaganda list