If you haven't read my rules and it's plainly obvious, I will simply block. I'm sorry, but this is a hobby based in reading - if you're unwilling to read the rules first, then I can't trust that you'll be willing to read responses I've written, either.
Verses || General Muse Bio || About Mun
Prompts are a great way to get started if you're not sure how to start an interaction. If I don't respond to your prompt within a week without notice, there may be something in my rules or mun info to explain why.
Reminder that I'm not mutuals-only, but if you've followed first and I follow back and you've still chosen not to reach out ooc or with a prompt within a week or two, I may simply unfollow to keep my dash clean.
Tag breakdown under the cut
Open Starter - For general preestablished starters; I don't do these often, but they exist. I do not require people to be mutuals to interact with these, but I do require the characters to be canonical adult Marvel characters.
{ prompt } - Prompts to get started; the same rules as above - mutuals are not required, but canonical adult Marvel characters are
{ meme } - Various memes that can be sent to me for IC or OOC replies
{ meme reply } - Replies to the memes that have been sent in per above
{ baron replies } / { hunter replies } - IC responses to asks sent to Zemo; these are based on verse
{ Zemo Headcanon } - Personal headcanons and info that I use to inform the way I RP Zemo here
{ ooc } - Out of character thoughts, updates, or gags
{ thoughts } - IC thoughts / concepts that fit with what I'm doing with Zemo (usually reblogs / quotes that are fitting)
{ dash commentary } - various ooc thoughts and comments on things happening on my dash amidst characters and mutuals
{ Blurb Req } - Short stories that have been requested from prompts
{ texts } - Short text message based threads
{ reflections } - Various pictures, gifs, and art including Daniel Brühl and / or Zemo
{ wishlist } - Dynamics mun would really love to explore
“For making your birthday nice? I mean, I thought we could maybe watch some movies. I looked up some recipes for some Sokovian foods and may or may not have gotten a baker to make some stuff for you.” He admitted quietly, hoping that Zemo would like that.
“That too. I can be here with you whilst you open it, or if you want to do it yourself then I can go back to the bedroom.” He pressed a gentle kiss to Zemo’s cheek, thumb brushing against his side. “Maybe it’s someone noble from another country? I think you’re better opening it now rather than overthinking it.”
"Do you have time for things like movies, these days?" It was teasing, though the question wasn't entire unfounded. Bucky had been busy, and he knew it was important to him. All he could do was let it be what it was and hope that one day Bucky would have more time. Still, the idea of movies, nostalgic snacks, and some baked goods was... nice. Tucking himself against Bucky's side, he rested his head against Bucky's shoulder.
"I'm sure I can make time for that somewhere in my very busy schedule," he mused quietly, his smile playful even as he looked the letter over. With a sigh to himself, he flipped it over again, before stepping away to find a letter opener. "Well, if it turns out to be anthrax, at least one of us is immune," he sighed to himself.
The gunshots in the distance put him on edge as he paced around impatient the room. He followed his order of staying even if it felt like he could do better things than being here.
It didn't take to long for him to start going through the drawers, old case files and nothing of importance to him at least. Why was things being so weird right now?
His organising of papers however was stopped once he heard voices in the distance. It wasn't the rest of the team, wrong direction. Waiting for the voices to get closer, it was clear they was swiping the rooms, looking for the team. As they opened however, Bucky instantly pulled the gun and pulled the trigger point blank at the two guards. He was supose to do that right?..... Whatever.
"Well, we better figure it out soon. If Val hears about this, it's going to be chaos," Yelena pointed out, leaving Zemo simply rubbing at his temples.
"I promise you, I am looking for whatever information I can while we're here. Do you want to check on the others so I can focus on doing that?"
"I do hate paperwork." Yelena smirked at that, patting his shoulder and making her way out of the room again to check on the others.
After a sweep of the room brought up no information to help with the current situation, Zemo returned to Bucky, not wanting to leave him alone too long. He kicked past the bodies without a second thought, before looking around the room. "I trust that there were no complications for you."
[text -> Bonbon] Happy birthday dear, I’m sorry work demands have kept me away.
[text -> Bonbon] Check on your bed. Love you.
[text -> Spratku] Yes, well, someone did decide to go and make himself very important didn't he?
Still, he made his way to the bedroom once he was home, smiling to himself absently at the bouquet on the bed. Trust his fiancé to bring him flowers home...
His fingers brushed over the petals absently, before he gathered them up to find a vase for them. At least he could enjoy them a little while, in Bucky's absence.
Moving back to let Zemo off of the windowsill, Bucky watched him with a soft frown. He understood why Zemo was so against birthdays, but he had hoped that perhaps he could help him have one to remember for at least a good reason.
“I understand. If you don’t want to celebrate, you don’t have to. If you do, then we can.” Bucky muttered softly, moving to wrap his metal arm around Zemo’s waist to gently pull him closer. He nuzzled against his shoulder a little, looking down at the letter.
“The internet could help? The only people I know that use seals like that are rich people or people that have grown up with a family symbol that they’ve used for centuries.” He shrugged a bit.
He relaxed back against Bucky, tilting his head slightly to look up at him. "Mm, did you have something in particular in mind, miláčku?" he asked quietly, smiling ever so slightly.
His attention returned to the envelope on the table, however, and he gave a quiet hum. "Or I could just stop being a coward and open the letter, I suppose. I used to know many people who used seals like those - my father used to, as an example. It wasn't exactly uncommon. But that isn't the seal of any of the noble families of Sokovia, I would know them in a moment."
It was obvious that this was a touchy subject and that had Bucky worrying that maybe he shouldn’t have gotten Zemo anything at all. Maybe he was more like Bucky in the sense that he didn’t celebrate his own birthday anymore, but then again he hadn’t celebrated since before HYDRA.
“Yeah, it definitely feels a little better to be sleeping in a bed though. Still too soft for my liking, but I like sharing it with you.” Bucky admitted gently, moving to rub a hand against the male’s arm a little.
“if that’s what you want to do, then we can not think about it, but I feel like there’s something that’s not letting you forget.” Bucky nodded towards the letter under Zemo’s leg.
Putting out the last of his cigarette, Zemo carefully shooed Bucky back a couple of steps so that he could get out of the window sill, shaking his head. "It's better for your back than the floor," he pointed out, closing the window and tossing the letter onto the table with a sigh.
"I've been in prison for my birthday for the last ten years. I don't really know what to consider doing for it. I don't know what I want for it." He curled his fingers in against Bucky's, squeezing again as he looked at the cupcake and the letter, frowning to himself.
"I don't know who sent it. I don't know who would've known or remembered other than Oeznik. It isn't as though I've told anyone about it. But the seal on the back... it's familiar. I can't place it, but I know it from somewhere..."
Bucky noticed the letter being tucked away, but didn’t mention it just yet. He wanted to make sure his love was okay, especially when he hadn’t even made the journey to their bedroom.
“It’s your first birthday spent with me, so I plan to make it as happy as I possibly can.” He pointed out softly, moving to reach up to brush some hair back away from Zemo’s face, cupping his cheek afterwards. He could tell there was something on his mind.
“I think I’m getting too used to having you next to me whilst I sleep.” He breathed out with a small smile, looking to the letter briefly. “Something’s on your mind. You wanna talk about it?”
He tilted his head back against the window frame again with a quiet hum at that, carefully not saying the first thing that sprung to mind at the notion of Bucky attempting to make his birthday happy. "That's sweet of you," he managed instead, squeezing Bucky's hand slightly before taking another drag of his cigarette.
Ashing the cigarette in a little tray near him, he gave a quiet hum. "Well, probably for the best that you're getting used to it. It's an improvement on you sleeping on the floor, to be certain," he teased softly. As Bucky asked about what was on his mind, he opened his eyes again to look at Bucky, the cigarette hanging out the window.
"... I don't know," he admitted. He tilted his head to look outside again, setting the cigarette between his lips. "I haven't actually celebrated a birthday in about a decade, now. It seems rather unceremonious at this point. I was content to let it pass without thinking about it at all."
If there was one thing that Bucky was good at, it was remembering dates. He had also been incredibly good at gift giving when he had grown up in Brooklyn. He found lots of art supplies for Steve when they were younger, had bought Sam loads of fishing gear that he knew he didn’t have. It had taken a while for them to find out when Zemo’s birthday was, having wondered if it was something that he still celebrated or even cared about after everything. Bucky didn’t celebrate his much, not caring about them now that he had the serum.
He had gotten Zemo something but had wanted to wait until the morning to surprise him with it, but the lack of warmth in their bed suggested that the Sokovian had never followed after him. It had Bucky rubbing at his eyes to try and wake himself up more, before pushing himself to stand and walking out of the bedroom quietly.
He spotted Zemo quickly, padding his way over in a tshirt and underwear. His human hand reached out to rest gently against the male’s leg. “Can’t sleep?” He asked softly, bringing Zemo’s free hand up to his lips and pressing a light kiss there. “Happy birthday, Zemo.”
He didn't expect Bucky, but he wasn't exactly startled by him either. He drew his cigarette away from his mouth, tucking the letter slightly beneath him - more to hold it in place than to hide it - and drew Bucky's hand to his own lips to leave a kiss there.
"... thank you, miláčku, but I suspect it will only be as happy as we make it." Squeezing Bucky's hand, he set his cigarette between his lips again. "I'm sorry, I meant to come to bed earlier, but then... I suppose I got caught up in my thoughts."
He didn't know how Bucky knew about his birthday, but he let it be without asking. It didn't particularly matter. Bucky knew, he couldn't change that. He wasn't sure why he would. "I hope I didn't wake you?"
It wasn't often these days that he had so much trouble sleeping. He'd told Bucky hours ago that he'd join him in bed later, and yet the darkness had descended and he hadn't followed through on his promise.
The clock had ticked over hours ago, it was nearly 4am and he sat at the kitchen window, a cigarette set between his lips, unlit as he flicked the lighter in his hand, not really looking at it. It was the first time in ten years he'd been out of prison for his birthday. He hadn't thought to mention it to anyone; why would he? Bucky had been so busy as of late, and he certainly wasn't going to bother Sam with something like this.
It was immaterial.
Insignificant.
Or... it should have been.
A parcel had been delivered earlier in the day; he'd opened it an hour ago, finding a letter and a small cupcake with a candle in it. He had yet to open the letter, but he held it lax in his other hand, the cupcake sitting on the kitchen table, unlit. He knew this wasn't a gift from Oeznik - his dear butler tended to call around dinner-time on his birthday, and wouldn't have made the mistake of sending the cupcake a day early.
Finally lighting the cigarette, Zemo tucked his lighter away and drew up the letter, flipping it over in his hand to look at the wax seal marked on it with a frown. It felt familiar, somehow, but he couldn't quite place it. He took a deep inhale of the cigarette, leaning his head back against the window frame, he sighed to himself, closing his eyes in an attempt to focus.
Who would send him a letter and a cupcake for his birthday? A red velvet cupcake no less...?
I'm gonna preface this the way I'll preface any headcanon-related questions: this headcanon is specifically about the Zemo I RP here, which may be different from how I write him in fic or other things, and naturally may differ dramatically from how others interpret him.
With that said!
As a general add-on to headcanons I have related to the placement of Sokovia and the Sokovian language I consider Sokovian as a language itself to be a part of Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS). This means that in those countries, there's a good probability that he can speak/read/write the language with native fluency and that the only real issues he may struggle with are in localized idioms or localized slang that have developed.
This has been changed to be reflected in his bio properly.
This will not change that I will continue to represent the language with the use of Czech; this is a combination of there being a dearth of resources at my skill level for writing references re: BCMS, and to maintain the consistency I've had for the last two years.
Thanks for the request. Personally I think Zemo should have committed to the full slutty Winter Soldier outfit when he was framing Bucky in CACW but alas---
"What? I just asked!"
John snapped back at Zemo. He knew the Sokovian was snappy but this was..... More than usual. Giving Bucky a quick look he sigh before raising his hands in capitulation. It wasn't worth the argument.
"I take him, you go tell what has happened."
He said before unbuckling Bucky who really just began to look worse by the minute.
Bucky couldn't do other than groan when John and Zemo started bickering back and forth. He felt like honest to god shit right now and he wasn't quite sure what to do.
"Can we go before i decide to die?"
He asked before getting helped out of the truck. It was mostly as walking help that he thought of bringing Walker. Then again right now? It felt like his brain was lacking a lot of the blood used to operate his brain.
"Okay..... I'm steady enough, let's go."
"You did," he agreed. "And I answered. There's no teacher quite like experience."
He cast a brief look between John and Bucky, furrowing his brow. Whatever else his tone had been, it softened as he spoke to John again. "Get him into a wheelchair and keep him in it. The stretching and compressing of his side right now may not be the best idea," he advised quietly, before turning away and disappearing into the hospital properly to speak with a nurse.
Money did a lot of talking in this situation - not because he believed Bucky needed attention more pressingly than anyone else, but because there was a certain degree of confidentiality he wanted this handled with. Bucky was not human in the way that others here were, and there were unique needs that needed covering. On top of which, Zemo was eternally reticent to consider anyone getting a hold of his blood to begin with.
Since it's Zemo's birthday next week, if anyone would like to do something silly for his birthday do let me know. I'll be a bit busy until Monday, but I'm sure I can get through a couple of little things at a time.
