New fic: Home Plate

[gwyn]

Home Plate (8580 words) by gwyneth rhys
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Characters: James "Bucky" Barnes, Steve Rogers, Howling Commandos
Additional Tags: Baseball, Military Uniforms, World War II, Implied/Referenced Torture, R&R, Rimming, Sexual Innuendo with Sports Equipment
Series: Part 4 of Batter Up (Baseball)
Summary:

With a bashful smile, Steve said, “I thought maybe a little taste of home might make you feel better.”

It was such a perfectly Steve thing to do: he didn’t see Bucky as damaged goods, just as a guy who loved to play baseball. Who was still whole, still his best friend.

I used to have this tradition of posting fic on my birthday, so here's a birthday present in reverse. Sorry it's just another stupid baseball fic, though.

Comments

[minim_calibre]

Yay, birthday girl!

[minim_calibre]

Also, I can safely assure you that all your concerns during the writing process here were unfounded.

[gwyn]

::wipes sweat from brow::

Hey, the pie is fantastic!! Thank you again. That was really the one nice part of the day.

[minim_calibre]

Yay! The persimmons went over well, by the way. Many were eaten.

I braved my microplane for fresh nutmeg in the pie. Worth it. And no damage done to my fingers.

[kore]

it's just another stupid awesome baseball fic, though.

FTFY

But this is great! Bucky feeling like such damaged goods while Steve is all shiny and new, but Steve loving him anyway, and Steve saying I jumped out of a plane through flak for you, DUMBASS, and the Howlies! The game! Dernier convinced Gabe is making up what a "foul ball" is! Steve having the fastest fastball ever! No, I loved it. As usual all the period details are great -- the military baseball teams with the cushy life, the MPs waiting for guys outside the pubs, And then you break our hearts too.

Some little sliver of home still existed inside him, the Hydra scientists hadn’t ripped it all out of him the way he’d feared. Steve would always bring a little home with him.

AND you kill us with the hot. Bucky’s dogtags clinking with his thrusts were the only other sound in the room besides their sharp, shallow breaths. oh my god

And oh my God, of course Steve still can't play ball, and he wouldn't realize why that made other people sore (yes, Steve, you are a SUPERMAN now, Jesus). And Bucky outlining it for him, you’re just a kid, like the rest of us, and you wanted to have some fun in a time where that’s in pretty short supply, that was heartbreaking too, and that's great insight about how Steve doesn't have any training but he's with the regular guys and not even a lieutenant and it's all mixed up and usually that's just presented as a totally good thing, but this is the military, with the chain of command and protocol, and you got that too.

So I think it's awesome.

[gwyn]

Aw, thank you. I just loved thinking about the idea of what would happen if Steve tried to play, you know? It wouldn't work, at all, but he'd be so enthusiastic and just crushed if he couldn't because once again he had the wrong type of body. But I also didn't want it to be mean, or sad, so of course--sexytimes! Because they are still kids, just mid-twenties and Steve has a whole new lease on life.

Research is so fun--I get so many ideas when I do it. When I was researching the other baseball fics, I kept seeing names mentioned for being these heroes in the war, and then when I looked into where guys would be playing in London and found out so many really not so pleasant myths we've developed about their patriotic heroism.

Thanks for your interest in it. It really meant a lot to me to have encouragement back when we were first talking about it.

[kore]

But I also didn't want it to be mean, or sad, so of course--sexytimes! Because they are still kids, just mid-twenties and Steve has a whole new lease on life.

It really hit that bittersweet note perfectly. I loved it.

....ngl, I would, like, bake you cookies to keep you writing the baseball fics, and the last time I baked anything I was eight and unsupervised and tried to make "brownies" with, I don't even fucking remember anymore, a bag of white flour and milk and a bag of chocolate chips and some crushed-up chocolate chip cookies for good measure and a bunch of salt, and I believe I set the temperature to 'broil' because when you cook that's what you do, right? and my parents had to throw away the pan.

But I would try again! for the baseball fics. (It could only go better, right? I know the difference between 'bake' and 'broil' now!)

[kore]

Also not to sound like a creepy-ass version of Your Greatest Fan (Misery! so great, right?), but I just finished rereading Dark Approach (I've reread it several times) and it's great. It has the really unflinching view of recovery, and the romance at the same time, and the period details, and it's just so good. (AND hot as hell Steve/Sam and Sam/Nat.) I'd be really happy if I ever wrote anything half as good about the boys and I wouldn't say that just to be nice.


ok time to hit post before I say anything MORE embarrassing

[ranalore]

Happy birthday! This is in no way a stupid fic, this is in fact a fabulous fic and I forgot to say in my comment on it that I adore how it is a HOWLIES fic, because there can never be enough of those either. I have to say, I love my early birthday fic. ;-)

[gwyn]

I can't get enough of them either. I have had so much fun writing them lately. It's going to be hard to go back to writing without them. I hope you have a great birthday, too--and I'm happy that I could give you an early birthday present, since you and kore have been the support network for me a lot lately.

[kore]

How fucking awesome are the Howlies? I love the idea of them loving their Sarge, who drew all the fire from them in the POW camp probably, and loving Cap too because he loves their Sarge. I love the fic like this where you get the sense they actually are in the military, there's really not enough of it.

[mackiemesser.livejournal.com]

Aww, very sweet!

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[daria234.livejournal.com]

That was great :)

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you!