as their lies wash you down and their promises rust
Avengers
All things being equal, I'd rather be in Philadelphia by
meinterrupted
Darcy gets caught up in a hostage situation and has her own little Die Hard experience.
The Annual Stark Family Fourth of July Celebration by
screamlet
This is a really good look at Tony and his relationship with Howard growing up, but the real best part of it is PEGGY. And the ending. <3
Apophasis by
workerbee73
Really lovely Clint/Natasha, slipping from past to present. "You could be more careful."
"You could learn not to get shot."
"I just do it for the sympathy."
The corner of her mouth quirks upward in response. There's nothing much else to say tonight and he hasn't said it in a while and no one could ever accuse him of forgetting to mark an occasion. "You really should get around to marrying me sometime, Romanoff."
The quirk turns into a smile. "Shut up, Barton," she says and that's that. One - two, ritual complete. It's as close as either of them comes to saying I love you because people like them don't really say things like that. Besides, this is better anyway.
Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie & Chevrolet by
velvetmouse
Darcy takes Steve to Cooperstown. <3
Boys Wanna Be Her by
paperclipbitch
hot and hilarious Clint/Natasha bodyswap.
break common laws in twos and threes by
etben
It takes a while, but they sort things out. Pepper will stay on as CEO, because unlike Tony, she actually likes it.
"I mean, you do, don't you? I'm not just forcing you into this job out of, I don't know," Tony says, waving his hands around, "some twisted fantasy where you boss me around?"
Pepper laughs, and not just because she's pretty sure Tony's forgotten all about the coil of wire in his hand.
"I like it, Tony," she says, and she does: she likes managing people and situations, and she likes figuring out what's best for Stark Industries as a whole and then making it happen. Tony and Pepper, making it work. Lovely.
Call Them Brothers by
Vongchild
"They called him the Winter Soldier," she explains, "because he came in out of the cold. He was an American, like you. They pulled him out of a gorge somewhere. He fell off a train." Frozen and broken and bent out of shape, because that was the Red Room's specialty, taking broken things and remaking them (unmaking them).
And Steve, who has gone perfectly still, says, "Bucky." Steve and Natasha go on an unauthorized expedition to find the Winter Soldier. Excellent - spare and sharp and a little sweet. <333
crown and anchor by
irnan
Meditations on the effects of the supersoldier serum in the various people treated with it. Or, the Avengers have to deal with a couple of Red Room survivors who are mutating.
He Ain't Heavy (He's Our Villain) by
goodboots
After Loki gets sentenced to exile on earth, he and Darcy slowly become friends. I enjoyed this.
heroes of old brooklyn by foxlives
Steve and Bucky as yearning teenagers on the streets of Brooklyn. Heartbreakingly lovely (if in need of a good beta to corral the tense changes)
It's the same old theme since nineteen-sixteen by
haipollai
Steve and Bucky, growing up and finding a home in each other. <3
if ever two were one by kuhori_rei
Five ways the Avengers found out Clint and Natasha were married, and one way they didn't. Exactly what it says on the tin. I especially liked Bruce's section.
know your devils and your deeds by
irnan
Tony sputtered into his wineglass and almost choked over the antipasta, what, not want, what was there to not want about Pepper, it was true it'd taken him a while to fit the idea of actual sex into their relationship but then he was sure the same went for her and what was the question? Oh yeah, not want.
"You're crazy," he said. "I want, Pepper, I want the whole thing, everything, all of it, even the rules."
Wow, did he just say that?
Wow, the look on Pepper's face. Really lovely Tony/Pepper.
The Last Great Border Town Hotel by
ignipes
Really lovely and in-character backstory for Natasha and Clint.
Legacies by
twtd
Steve and Carol share a moment of grief. (movieverse!Cap, comics!Carol)
Moving In by
Flamebyrd
"Rumour has it you created a new element for that," he said, gesturing vaguely in the direction of Stark's chest.
Stark looked torn between pride and annoyance at the change of subject. "Not exactly, but close enough. Stick around and maybe I'll let you see it."
Bruce weighed up his options for a moment. Take a train to somewhere very far away and hope he could lose the attention of SHIELD (not very likely); try to take a plane out of the country (also not very likely, thanks to SHIELD); steal a car, drive to Mexico or Canada and sneak across the border in the middle of the night (see: tailed by SHIELD).
Or join Stark Industries as a researcher. Science or not having to work with Tony Stark? He had a contrary urge to say no anyway, but science won.
Science would always win. Bruce slowly gets to know his teammates. Really interesting interactions here.
Natasha/Rhodey, competence by
sinensis
Because how badass and awesome would these two be together? They could rule the world if they wanted to, and be hot doing it. <3
no use for sails by
irnan
Six times a plan the Avengers made didn't come together, but things were ok, and one time it was someone else's plan for them (and things were still ok). &TEAM;
Protocol 1985 by
hollimichele
Clint and Natasha get sent back to 1946. They don't like it much. But everything works out in the end. Adorable. And the sequel : The First Night, in which Steve and Peggy have a more intimate reunion. Lovely.
Reverb by innie_darling
Steve knew from the moment he saw the Vibranium shield that it was the one that belonged on his arm. It shone clean and bright, somehow unassuming without paint, a blank canvas rather than a finished piece. Howard Stark dismissed it as a prototype, then said there was no more raw material to make it again, and wasn't that a perfect metaphor for Steve Rogers, transformed from a skinny marink into a super-soldier thanks to the wonders of some lost blue serum and a whole boatload of needles?
He liked the neat, unbroken curve of the shield, reminiscent of the sun hanging low in the sky, pale gold in the mornings and sultry red like a girl's best lipstick in the evenings. When he let it spin ahead of him, clearing a path, it seemed like it knew how to fly back to his welcoming hands. It looked epic in a way that the other shields, elaborately shaped and worked, simply didn't, and Steve knew the value of a powerful symbol - even if that was exactly what he didn't want to be, not when boys like Bucky had become men on the fighting fields of Europe and he still had to catch up. Not when he knew there was fight inside him, bursting for him to stand up and do his part. This is a really gorgeous, meditative look at Steve and his relationships with Peggy and Bucky.
Samsara by
xahra99
Enjoyable Clint/Natasha backstory, from Clint's POV
Second Chance by arsenicjade
Clint gets de-aged. The rest of the team finds handling him is not as easy as they expected. Oh my god, I cried so much during this story, because it uses Clint's comics backstory and it's heartbreaking. And Natasha... Oh, Clint. oh my heart. "Because my friend, my best friend, Clint Barton, who is the world's best archer, and definitely a brave warrior, was brave enough to tell me those things, to let me know about all the people who had hurt him, and how he made something of himself anyway."
Clint's, "We're friends, too?" is so, so quiet, and tremulous and it's clear that he's just waiting for this to be a particularly cruel joke.
Natasha opens her mouth, then hesitates. Tony is about to kick her--and he's still in the damn suit--when she says, "No, Clint, we're more than that. We're family. You're the only family I've ever really had."
seven minutes in heaven by
lanyon
This is adorably sweet and kind of hilarious. Basically, Steve kisses the Winter Soldier back into being Bucky. <3
Show Us the Maps by
northatlantic
"Of course I don't have to. I want to. Because life is too short and you don't think anybody has to do anything, not for you. It's going to stop, this everything for everybody else and not for you because I'm here and I will and I want to. Because it feels good and I want to make you feel good." Steve licks his lips uncertainly, eyes huge, and Bucky leans down to kiss him, tangles his hands into dark gilt hair as lips meet lips. It is a long tense moment before Steve sighs, hands that had come up to push at Bucky instead slipping shyly around him as Bucky nips at his lower lip, sucks on it and hums soft approval at the harsh sound in Steve's throat, the restless arch of his body beneath Bucky's pushing up for more contact, more friction, more. Steve's color is high, his breath short as Bucky has to come up for air, something bruised and raw and trusting all at once and it's like the world settles back into its spin because this Steve is HIS Steve. "There you are," he whispers, throat closing. "I'll take care of you, Steve. Let me take care of you."
"Jerk," Steve whispers, a caress. "Take care of each other." Really fantastic Steve/Bucky set during the war. Sweet, hot, funny, and achy all at once, plus I love how Peggy is handled here. <3
singing songs in exile by
lanyon
Bucky plays the piano and then he and Steve have sex, hot and melancholy. (no quotation marks on the dialogue, if that's a thing that bugs you)
Six Cities That Are Not Budapest by
igrockspock
Clint and Natasha attempt a vacation, with mixed results. Lovely.
Six Times The Avengers Stopped An Alien Invasion by
Closer
The Avengers save the world from alien invasions with muppets and hilarity. <3
So quietly to catch by
some_stars
Natasha looking out for Clint in the aftermath of the movie. <3
Sodium Silence by
icarus_chained
"I ..." she'd said, soft and so much more fragile than she'd ever been, in all these long years. Since the first moment blood had painted her hands, and she had known the monstrous thing inside her. "I don't know ... that I can do this."
A world where they were not monsters, he'd offered. And she had known, even as she stared down the length of his arrow, into the silent, savage faith in his eyes, that it could not be so. That it could never be so. She had never ... never not been a monster. Brief, lovely look at Natasha making the choice to prove Clint's call correct.
Someone I Used to Know by
igrockspock
Really interesting backstory for Pepper that explains why she might have stuck around for all those years.
The Stories That Stay With You by
TLvop
Thor reads and enjoys Lord of the Rings. This is lovely.
There's a Name For It by
Renne
Bucky's pining for Steve, and he and Namor end up having sex that may involve feelings more than either one of them anticipated. Even as I was having a TON of Bucky feels (as, quite clearly, does Steve, even if they aren't the kinds of feels Bucky wants), Namor makes everything hilarious. (Invaders era, comics canon)
there's people and they're young and alive by
Amanuensis
Clint gives Natasha some of the experiences she missed out on, what with being trained as an assassin from a young age. Lovely.
though you know so few words by
hypotheticalfanfic
Bucky's thoughts on the avengers not named Steve or Natasha. Lovely.
when i offer you survival, you say it's hard enough to live by
lanyon
"There's this other part," says Steve, curling around Bucky, his hand resting on Bucky's upper thigh.
"Hmm?" Bucky leans back, head turning towards Steve.
"He too is Alexander." Someone else keeps getting to the bad guys before the Avengers can, and it turns out to be Bucky. ♥ with excellent Steve/Bucky/Natasha
while there is a soul in prison, I am not free by tigriswolf
Natasha remembers the Winter Soldier.
Why Then Oh Why Can't I? by
ladyblahblah
"She shouldn't trust me. I don't trust me," Bucky says urgently. "I don't know what they put in my head, or if your friends at S.H.I.E.L.D. really managed to get it all out; it's like I have two sets of memories, and I can't always tell which one is real. I'm not safe to be around, not in a combat situation."
"So you don't trust yourself. That's fine." Steve reaches out, clasps a hand over Bucky's shoulder. "I'll trust you enough for both of us."
"You-" Bucky looks, for just a moment, as though he might start throwing punches. Then the tension in his shoulders eases-Steve can feel it beneath his palm-and he lets out a weary laugh. "You really haven't changed." He reaches out and grasps Steve in return, the fingers of his one remaining hand curling firm and fever-warm around Steve's neck. "Still the same Steve." Steve and Bucky, slotting back into each other's lives and stumbling towards more. Oh heart. (I don't know why Bucky's eyes are brown in this story, when it's movieverse, but whatever!)
~*~
Due to a ridiculous proliferation of spam comments on this LJ, I've closed comments here. Please comment at http://unfitforsociety.dreamwidth.org/192937.html if at all possible. Thanks.
All things being equal, I'd rather be in Philadelphia by
meinterrupted
Darcy gets caught up in a hostage situation and has her own little Die Hard experience.
The Annual Stark Family Fourth of July Celebration by
screamlet
This is a really good look at Tony and his relationship with Howard growing up, but the real best part of it is PEGGY. And the ending. <3
Apophasis by
workerbee73
Really lovely Clint/Natasha, slipping from past to present. "You could be more careful."
"You could learn not to get shot."
"I just do it for the sympathy."
The corner of her mouth quirks upward in response. There's nothing much else to say tonight and he hasn't said it in a while and no one could ever accuse him of forgetting to mark an occasion. "You really should get around to marrying me sometime, Romanoff."
The quirk turns into a smile. "Shut up, Barton," she says and that's that. One - two, ritual complete. It's as close as either of them comes to saying I love you because people like them don't really say things like that. Besides, this is better anyway.
Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie & Chevrolet by
velvetmouse
Darcy takes Steve to Cooperstown. <3
Boys Wanna Be Her by
paperclipbitch
hot and hilarious Clint/Natasha bodyswap.
break common laws in twos and threes by
etben
It takes a while, but they sort things out. Pepper will stay on as CEO, because unlike Tony, she actually likes it.
"I mean, you do, don't you? I'm not just forcing you into this job out of, I don't know," Tony says, waving his hands around, "some twisted fantasy where you boss me around?"
Pepper laughs, and not just because she's pretty sure Tony's forgotten all about the coil of wire in his hand.
"I like it, Tony," she says, and she does: she likes managing people and situations, and she likes figuring out what's best for Stark Industries as a whole and then making it happen. Tony and Pepper, making it work. Lovely.
Call Them Brothers by
Vongchild
"They called him the Winter Soldier," she explains, "because he came in out of the cold. He was an American, like you. They pulled him out of a gorge somewhere. He fell off a train." Frozen and broken and bent out of shape, because that was the Red Room's specialty, taking broken things and remaking them (unmaking them).
And Steve, who has gone perfectly still, says, "Bucky." Steve and Natasha go on an unauthorized expedition to find the Winter Soldier. Excellent - spare and sharp and a little sweet. <333
crown and anchor by
irnan
Meditations on the effects of the supersoldier serum in the various people treated with it. Or, the Avengers have to deal with a couple of Red Room survivors who are mutating.
He Ain't Heavy (He's Our Villain) by
goodboots
After Loki gets sentenced to exile on earth, he and Darcy slowly become friends. I enjoyed this.
heroes of old brooklyn by foxlives
Steve and Bucky as yearning teenagers on the streets of Brooklyn. Heartbreakingly lovely (if in need of a good beta to corral the tense changes)
It's the same old theme since nineteen-sixteen by
haipollai
Steve and Bucky, growing up and finding a home in each other. <3
if ever two were one by kuhori_rei
Five ways the Avengers found out Clint and Natasha were married, and one way they didn't. Exactly what it says on the tin. I especially liked Bruce's section.
know your devils and your deeds by
irnan
Tony sputtered into his wineglass and almost choked over the antipasta, what, not want, what was there to not want about Pepper, it was true it'd taken him a while to fit the idea of actual sex into their relationship but then he was sure the same went for her and what was the question? Oh yeah, not want.
"You're crazy," he said. "I want, Pepper, I want the whole thing, everything, all of it, even the rules."
Wow, did he just say that?
Wow, the look on Pepper's face. Really lovely Tony/Pepper.
The Last Great Border Town Hotel by
ignipes
Really lovely and in-character backstory for Natasha and Clint.
Legacies by
twtd
Steve and Carol share a moment of grief. (movieverse!Cap, comics!Carol)
Moving In by
Flamebyrd
"Rumour has it you created a new element for that," he said, gesturing vaguely in the direction of Stark's chest.
Stark looked torn between pride and annoyance at the change of subject. "Not exactly, but close enough. Stick around and maybe I'll let you see it."
Bruce weighed up his options for a moment. Take a train to somewhere very far away and hope he could lose the attention of SHIELD (not very likely); try to take a plane out of the country (also not very likely, thanks to SHIELD); steal a car, drive to Mexico or Canada and sneak across the border in the middle of the night (see: tailed by SHIELD).
Or join Stark Industries as a researcher. Science or not having to work with Tony Stark? He had a contrary urge to say no anyway, but science won.
Science would always win. Bruce slowly gets to know his teammates. Really interesting interactions here.
Natasha/Rhodey, competence by
sinensis
Because how badass and awesome would these two be together? They could rule the world if they wanted to, and be hot doing it. <3
no use for sails by
irnan
Six times a plan the Avengers made didn't come together, but things were ok, and one time it was someone else's plan for them (and things were still ok). &TEAM;
Protocol 1985 by
hollimichele
Clint and Natasha get sent back to 1946. They don't like it much. But everything works out in the end. Adorable. And the sequel : The First Night, in which Steve and Peggy have a more intimate reunion. Lovely.
Reverb by innie_darling
Steve knew from the moment he saw the Vibranium shield that it was the one that belonged on his arm. It shone clean and bright, somehow unassuming without paint, a blank canvas rather than a finished piece. Howard Stark dismissed it as a prototype, then said there was no more raw material to make it again, and wasn't that a perfect metaphor for Steve Rogers, transformed from a skinny marink into a super-soldier thanks to the wonders of some lost blue serum and a whole boatload of needles?
He liked the neat, unbroken curve of the shield, reminiscent of the sun hanging low in the sky, pale gold in the mornings and sultry red like a girl's best lipstick in the evenings. When he let it spin ahead of him, clearing a path, it seemed like it knew how to fly back to his welcoming hands. It looked epic in a way that the other shields, elaborately shaped and worked, simply didn't, and Steve knew the value of a powerful symbol - even if that was exactly what he didn't want to be, not when boys like Bucky had become men on the fighting fields of Europe and he still had to catch up. Not when he knew there was fight inside him, bursting for him to stand up and do his part. This is a really gorgeous, meditative look at Steve and his relationships with Peggy and Bucky.
Samsara by
xahra99
Enjoyable Clint/Natasha backstory, from Clint's POV
Second Chance by arsenicjade
Clint gets de-aged. The rest of the team finds handling him is not as easy as they expected. Oh my god, I cried so much during this story, because it uses Clint's comics backstory and it's heartbreaking. And Natasha... Oh, Clint. oh my heart. "Because my friend, my best friend, Clint Barton, who is the world's best archer, and definitely a brave warrior, was brave enough to tell me those things, to let me know about all the people who had hurt him, and how he made something of himself anyway."
Clint's, "We're friends, too?" is so, so quiet, and tremulous and it's clear that he's just waiting for this to be a particularly cruel joke.
Natasha opens her mouth, then hesitates. Tony is about to kick her--and he's still in the damn suit--when she says, "No, Clint, we're more than that. We're family. You're the only family I've ever really had."
seven minutes in heaven by
lanyon
This is adorably sweet and kind of hilarious. Basically, Steve kisses the Winter Soldier back into being Bucky. <3
Show Us the Maps by
northatlantic
"Of course I don't have to. I want to. Because life is too short and you don't think anybody has to do anything, not for you. It's going to stop, this everything for everybody else and not for you because I'm here and I will and I want to. Because it feels good and I want to make you feel good." Steve licks his lips uncertainly, eyes huge, and Bucky leans down to kiss him, tangles his hands into dark gilt hair as lips meet lips. It is a long tense moment before Steve sighs, hands that had come up to push at Bucky instead slipping shyly around him as Bucky nips at his lower lip, sucks on it and hums soft approval at the harsh sound in Steve's throat, the restless arch of his body beneath Bucky's pushing up for more contact, more friction, more. Steve's color is high, his breath short as Bucky has to come up for air, something bruised and raw and trusting all at once and it's like the world settles back into its spin because this Steve is HIS Steve. "There you are," he whispers, throat closing. "I'll take care of you, Steve. Let me take care of you."
"Jerk," Steve whispers, a caress. "Take care of each other." Really fantastic Steve/Bucky set during the war. Sweet, hot, funny, and achy all at once, plus I love how Peggy is handled here. <3
singing songs in exile by
lanyon
Bucky plays the piano and then he and Steve have sex, hot and melancholy. (no quotation marks on the dialogue, if that's a thing that bugs you)
Six Cities That Are Not Budapest by
igrockspock
Clint and Natasha attempt a vacation, with mixed results. Lovely.
Six Times The Avengers Stopped An Alien Invasion by
Closer
The Avengers save the world from alien invasions with muppets and hilarity. <3
So quietly to catch by
some_stars
Natasha looking out for Clint in the aftermath of the movie. <3
Sodium Silence by
icarus_chained
"I ..." she'd said, soft and so much more fragile than she'd ever been, in all these long years. Since the first moment blood had painted her hands, and she had known the monstrous thing inside her. "I don't know ... that I can do this."
A world where they were not monsters, he'd offered. And she had known, even as she stared down the length of his arrow, into the silent, savage faith in his eyes, that it could not be so. That it could never be so. She had never ... never not been a monster. Brief, lovely look at Natasha making the choice to prove Clint's call correct.
Someone I Used to Know by
igrockspock
Really interesting backstory for Pepper that explains why she might have stuck around for all those years.
The Stories That Stay With You by
TLvop
Thor reads and enjoys Lord of the Rings. This is lovely.
There's a Name For It by
Renne
Bucky's pining for Steve, and he and Namor end up having sex that may involve feelings more than either one of them anticipated. Even as I was having a TON of Bucky feels (as, quite clearly, does Steve, even if they aren't the kinds of feels Bucky wants), Namor makes everything hilarious. (Invaders era, comics canon)
there's people and they're young and alive by
Amanuensis
Clint gives Natasha some of the experiences she missed out on, what with being trained as an assassin from a young age. Lovely.
though you know so few words by
hypotheticalfanfic
Bucky's thoughts on the avengers not named Steve or Natasha. Lovely.
when i offer you survival, you say it's hard enough to live by
lanyon
"There's this other part," says Steve, curling around Bucky, his hand resting on Bucky's upper thigh.
"Hmm?" Bucky leans back, head turning towards Steve.
"He too is Alexander." Someone else keeps getting to the bad guys before the Avengers can, and it turns out to be Bucky. ♥ with excellent Steve/Bucky/Natasha
while there is a soul in prison, I am not free by tigriswolf
Natasha remembers the Winter Soldier.
Why Then Oh Why Can't I? by
ladyblahblah
"She shouldn't trust me. I don't trust me," Bucky says urgently. "I don't know what they put in my head, or if your friends at S.H.I.E.L.D. really managed to get it all out; it's like I have two sets of memories, and I can't always tell which one is real. I'm not safe to be around, not in a combat situation."
"So you don't trust yourself. That's fine." Steve reaches out, clasps a hand over Bucky's shoulder. "I'll trust you enough for both of us."
"You-" Bucky looks, for just a moment, as though he might start throwing punches. Then the tension in his shoulders eases-Steve can feel it beneath his palm-and he lets out a weary laugh. "You really haven't changed." He reaches out and grasps Steve in return, the fingers of his one remaining hand curling firm and fever-warm around Steve's neck. "Still the same Steve." Steve and Bucky, slotting back into each other's lives and stumbling towards more. Oh heart. (I don't know why Bucky's eyes are brown in this story, when it's movieverse, but whatever!)
~*~
Due to a ridiculous proliferation of spam comments on this LJ, I've closed comments here. Please comment at http://unfitforsociety.dreamwidth.org/192937.html if at all possible. Thanks.