This Little Guy Is A Postcard From My Collection That Was Mailed In 1908. I Love Him So Much That I Use

Patti Hansen for Anne Klein F/W 1976/77.

Digable Planets (ph. unknown)

vacation in paris

Katja Lang（German, b.1968）

works on paper via more

the space where you used to be.

The forest was a fairytale today

Edward Steichen, Ad for Coty Lipstick, 1930

This post about fic length came across my dash. It got me thinking about how many truly incredible Stucky fics under 5k I've read — specifically about the short fics that have broken and/or healed my heart.

So, I made this quick rec list of 10 under 5k Stucky fics that are deeply heart-affecting and emotionally devastating.

(There are so many beautiful, moving, and painful fics in this fandom that come in at under 5k. In the interest of keeping this list to 10 fics, these fics are all also canon/canon-divergent.)

💔 Cheat Days | chicklette | Mature | 2,033 words | Pre/Post TWS

Quote I'm unwell about:

Only on the very worst days – when he is tired and sore and hurts all over, hurts inside and out. Sometimes it’s the fight that does it, his need to be held, to be loved after throwing himself on the line. Other times it’s something else - something more cruel – a joke that he knows Bucky would find hilarious, a movie that Bucky would have loved, a book. Sometimes Steve is just so goddamned lonely that he feels like he’s going to come out of his skin. Then he has what he calls a cheat day. A day when he closes up his apartment and uses the coin, and sighs into Bucky’s embrace.

💔 029. Mirror | aimmyarrowshigh @aimmyarrowshigh | Mature | 2,400 words | Pre-War

Quote I'm unwell about:

“I wanna sit at his bedside when he’s sick,” Bucky says finally. “And buy him hot dogs at Dodgers games. And uh… I guess, I wanna…” He exhales and looks down, away from Mrs. Rogers’ eyes. They’re too much like Steve’s and Bucky’s never said this out loud, not even to him. “I wanna get an apartment for the two of us and curtains that close, and I want to teach him how to dance to Cole Porter records. I want to finish all his stupid fights. I want… I dunno. A lotta impossible things.” Sarah’s voice is so soft. “Like what?” “I want to see him grow old,” Bucky mutters. “Right beside me. I want it to be a hundred years from now and look to my right and see Stevie standin’ there.” He blinks away the heavy wetness in his eyes.

💔Not the Needle, Nor the Thread | steebadore | Explicit | 2,017 words | Post-TWS

Quote I'm unwell about:

"Okay, sweetheart, okay," Bucky whispers, running his thumbs over Steve's brow, his wet eyelids, down that bumpy, ungainly nose--the only physical evidence that Steve is a flawed human and not a figure cut from marble. If you asked Bucky what he loved most about Steve, he might say something like his goddamn earnest heart, or those too beautiful-for-spacious-skies eyes, but really it was this: the bump on Steve's nose, put there by Bucky himself, age eleven. Selfish, maybe, but Bucky never pretended to be otherwise these days. He doesn't know why the serum didn't fix that--Bucky likes to think it couldn't. Steve always said how it didn't change anything, just amplified what he already had, and what he had was Bucky's mark on him, down to the bone. This one's mine, it said. You cannot have him. Not the whole of him.

💔Through the notches in your spine | caughtinanocean | Explicit | 4,460 words | Post-TWS

Quote I'm unwell about:

Maybe Steve was right to worry, and maybe he's not ready and—he's breathing too fast, and Steve's going to notice any moment now, going to stop and leave. Steve lets go of Bucky's hand to stroke the side of his face, tender and soothing. He leans in to give Bucky a soft kiss on the lips, and Bucky doesn't feel so panicky anymore. He's with Steve. Steve is inside of him, as close as someone could be, and nothing bad could ever come of that. Bucky wills himself to focus on the moment, to watch Steve's face, soft with affection, to relax and enjoy this. “'s like it's my first time all over again. How many people get a shot at that twice?” Steve groans. He looks flushed and giddy and bright, and Bucky's inordinately proud that it's his words and his body making Steve glow like that. “I'm gonna make it way better for you this time.” “Our first time was bad?” Bucky asks, trying not to sound crushed, even though he feels it a little.

Steve traces Bucky's jaw and down the line of his neck to caress his chest. “No, our first time was perfect. We had no idea what we were doing, but it was perfect.”

💔A History of Birds | OddityBoddity | Not Rated | 2,580 words | Post TWS

Quote I'm unwell about:

“I don’t remember,” he says. Steve holds his breath. “I don’t remember telling anybody about that.” It’s like there’s something stuck between his lungs, like something’s pulling them apart in his chest. “You mean about the bird?” he whispers. Bucky looks at him. Not staring, not really, but looks at him like Steve’s looked at paintings before. Like he’s trying to work out how it’s done. “That little bird,” Steve says quietly. When he speaks, he speaks like the words are a spell or a prayer. Like the words are going to reach into Bucky the way his name once did. Like they’re going to catch his arms and pull him up to safety. This secret they both kept. Something so little, so inconsequential that no one has touched it.

💔You Will Meet a Stranger | spitandvinegar | Mature | 3,081 words | Post-TWS

Quote I'm unwell about:

"Steve," she says, unruffled. "He needs someone who'll look at him without pining for who he used to be."

Steve sets his coffee cup upright again. He mops up the mess with a napkin. "Honestly," he says, "All I ever pine for is for him to look back."

💔This is the place | dharmashark @dharmasharks| Explicit | 4,654 words | Canon divergence

Quote I'm unwell about:

With a metal hand there, under the small of his back, Steve might as well be weightless. It’s terrifying. For Steve to be so fragile in ways that Bucky isn’t, and might never understand. But Steve has never been afraid, has never shrank away. Not ever. Not even when Bucky could have—when he would have—when he almost hurt him—Steve had only balled his fists and locked fierce, red-rimmed eyes on his. Steve is fragile; he is unbreakable. Bucky’s memory is full of contradictions.

💔i've seen my share of trouble and i've held my weight in shame | inevitablemeow  | Teen | 4,166 words | Post-TWS

Quote I'm unwell about:

Bucky is a ghost, still, in the wind so far they haven’t been able to find him. It’s been six months since the helicarrier, and Steve hasn’t lost hope, not fully, but he’s slowed his search. Seeing this heart, knowing that all the others are his, has that hope roaring back to life. They’re his. They’re all for him.

💔sorrow sings a song in me | unicornpoe | Teen | 4,425 words | Post-TWS

Quote I'm unwell about:

Bucky’s note is on a thick piece of cardstock, and the words are a little more steady, this time. STEVE, IT HELPS ME TO READ THESE THINGS. I THOUGHT IT MIGHT HELP YOU TOO. I MISS YOU. I WANTED TO CRAWL UNDER THAT BLANKET WITH YOU, BUT I DIDN’T KNOW IF I SHOULD. I DON’T THINK I’M GENTLE ANYMORE, AND I WANT TO BE GENTLE WITH YOU.

💔more than anything | jehans | Explicit | 2,938 words | Pre-War

Quote I'm unwell about:

Steve is a reckless asshole who Bucky loves unconditionally and wholeheartedly, and when Steve is quietly undoing him in their bed, loving on him openly and indulgently the way Bucky doesn’t always let him, it becomes difficult to keep pretending that Bucky wouldn’t go to the ends of the earth for any of Steve’s whims. But mostly, what makes him so honeyed in these moments is the way Steve transforms. When he climbs on top of Bucky, all of Steve’s usual, too-close-to-the-surface anger drains out of his eyes, clearing away into pure blue skies of utter adoration. It’s an honesty that Bucky cracks under, breaking open the clay of mundanity and allowing him to shine brightly under Steve’s hands.

Fic rec series

Get to know your mutuals: tag game

Thank you so much again for tagging & including me @musette22 💙

What's the origin of your blog title: It’s French for ‘fluid views’ (plus it sounds really nice) because I was thinking about the blog being a place where you leave footprints of yourself constantly changing, evolving and ‘shifting’ views all the time, and ‘fluid’ covers that pretty well, so that’s why I picked it :)

OTPs + Shipname: Stucky

Favorite Color: blue, always💙

Favorite game: Any kind of games? I like playing catch? Does that count? Oh and Ludo!

Song stuck in your head: Let me copy & paste 😂: It’s Beethoven’s “Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 27 No. 2 “Moonlight Sonata”: I. Adagio sostenuto.” (lol)

Weirdest habit/ trait: I keep my fan on even in winter, because 1. I’m extra intolerant of warm weather or still air (I feel breathless when the air is still) and 2. I’m used to the sound of it, and when I turn it off all the unblocked noise drives me nuts.

Hobbies: movies, reading, writing, reading fanfiction, history, learning (about anything), exploring/listening to music. And doing random creative stuff if the idea is there.

Something you're good at: maths & physics, I don’t necessarily love these, but I am rather quick with them when I have to. It’s been the same in school, these were my best subjects.

Something you're bad at: directions, understanding architecture (like anything beyond just looking at them with no further curiosity)

Something you love: I love staying indoors, and having extra uninterrupted privacy and solitude (which is a privilege most people can’t have). But also nature and forests.

Something you could talk about for hours off the cuff: Stucky, Steve and Bucky (and other MCU characters), history of WWII, human nature and civilization, and just philosophy.

Something you hate: I hate being rushed into things. I also often find having to eat so frequently exhausting. (Like right now I have to get up and eat ugh)

Something you collect: older books and mugs. But I also read / use them.

Something you forget: I’m very likely to forget including the cost of drinks when I eat at cafés. Embarrassing.

Favourite movie / show: my favorite shows are 11.22.63 (2016) and WandaVision

Favorite food: if pancakes & chocolate chip cookies (my own recipes only) don’t count, I’ll go with roasted potatoes.

Favorite animal: cats.. and deer? Deer are so pretty! And dogs of course.

What were you like as a child: until I was 7, I think really active and playful, but after that, I became a loud, obnoxious, talkative monster until 10-11 or so.

If you could change any detail about your life right now, what would it be: move far away.

If you could travel in time, who would you like to meet? This is hard, either my dad before I was born, or if I could, maybe JFK? I am fascinated by that particular short period.

I can only think of a few to tag, but since we haven’t interacted that much please feel free to ignore this if you don’t want to play!

@guiltypleasureisfun @soliddarrity

I hope there are more people I can tag in the future!

if my father sees this, you'll have to marry me