WIP Warriors Round 6

Fandom-Free Bingo - Madness May!

Please Note. Following implications of the behaviour of a certain previously-credible author and its affect on the queer community, we will no longer be reblogging fills from within the Harry Potter fandom. We never wanted to make this a political environment, but this has gone beyond politics. The money raised by this woman through HP is actively going into fighting against the rights of trans folks, and we refuse to support anything to do with her. While I understand this may be upsetting to some, the mod team here is entirely under the trans* spectrum, and we would rather not have to engage with anything to do with her. Trans rights are human rights.

Note: From the end of April, we will no longer be reblogging fills from Pride Edition Cards. The AO3 collection will remain open indefinitely, however, and any Tumblr post that fills Pride or earlier prompts and any prompt from a later edition will still be reblogged on those grounds. This means that posts covering exclusively Pride prompts or earlier will no longer be reblogged <3 

Now, on to May! In honour of mental health awareness month, it's time to show your inner crazy. As always, this is a good-faith event, and individual experiences are subjective when they feed into our works. With that in mind, however, any fills explicitly hating on certain disorders or those who struggle with them will not be reblogged. With that in mind, please welcome Madness May!

- Turnaround time is hopefully no longer than a week. If you've been waiting longer than this, please feel free to reach out!

- Feel free to interpret the prompts however you wish - the world is your oyster! <3 Note: Terms with a stereotypically applied gender (e.g 'Princess', 'king') are not gender-restricted! Some things are just hard to make gender-neutral, especially in limited space. Gimmie those boy princesses and nb kings to your hearts content. <3  

- No restriction to one prompt per fic/chapter.  

- You can merge this event with others, so long as the other event permits this.  

- Please mark rating clearly, and use CW where applicable. Posts not adequately marked will not be reblogged. We love you folks, and all the work you produce, but we get a lot of reblogs and have lives outside the event - we don't always have the time to be chasing down ratings or fandoms ;-;

- Use the tags #FandomFreeBingo and #Fandom Free Bingo: Madness May, and tag @fandom-free-bingo on tumblr for a reblog - don't forget to also add in the pairing/characters, rating, the fandom and the warnings in the tags please <3  

- Madness May sign ups will run until May 31st, 2025. Feel free to post after this date, however - works will be reblogged until April 30th, 2026, and the Ao3 collection will be open indefinitely.  

- A maximum of FOUR cards per participant. 

- This season we are offering BOTH 5x5 and 3x3 cards - please let us know which you would like!    

- All media forms, fandoms and original works are welcome!  

- You can request square changes twice (of any number), for up to a week after the card is issued.  

- Be respectful to other participants.

- Be kind to us!  

- Ao3 collection can be found here!

We also have a Discord!

@thebigbangblogproject

Sign up here!

Last Line Challenge

Tagged by @flowerparrish

Not actually the last thing I wrote, but the last unposted thing.

From an unposted Matt/Foggy College AU:

Foggy sighed, and Matt knew he had caught onto the pause that was Matt thinking about his old mentor. But even though Foggy didn’t know what he wasn’t saying, they had known each other long enough for him to know that asking would just make the problem worse.

Tagging @foxywrites @schildmehdchen @0nelittlebirdtoldme and whoever else is interested.

Comment resources

Receiving comments means so much to fic authors so we’d love to encourage people to leave more. But we appreciate that leaving comments can be a bit daunting or draining, especially on days when we are tired or already stressed. So here are a few resources to hopefully encourage us all to leave more and to make doing so easier.

Archive of Our Own floating comment boxes

There are a couple of versions of these out there and they can be helpful. They are browser extensions that allow you to keep the comment box on the screen whenever you like so that you can easily comment as you read, rather than getting to the end and panicking about what to say.

Here are two different versions:

AO3 Floating Comment Box by ScriptMouse

Floaty Review Box by ravenel ← I use this one and think it’s great - Squid 💕

Feed The Fandom Fest

Have you heard of the @feedthefandomfest bingo cards? Because if you’re participating in these, maybe one of the recs on this blog could be the perfect way to tick off a square on these cards. Or, if you’ve not started one yet, why not pick one to encourage yourself to comment more and have some fun while doing so?

Here are the different cards:

Original Card

For Beginners

Fluff Edition

Angst Edition

Smut Edition

Old Fic Edition

Billy Hargrove Edition

Or put your own together!

I’d also just recommend having a look through the Feed The Fandom Fest blog in general, it’s such a wonderful resource 💖

Additional AO3 Kudos

Here’s some images of additional kudos for when you’re longing to mash that button again but all it greets you with is that mocking red smiley face. These are complete with the html to easily put them in!

AO3 Random Nice Comments

This browser extension will give you a short, nice comment from a list at the press of a button. It may be useful for beginner commenters who want to say something nice but are unsure what.

Comment prompts

If you want to craft your own comments but are unsure what to say, here’s a few starting points:

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think back on the fic? I’m sure the author would love to know

Who was your favourite character in the fic? 

Where are you reading the fic?

Speculate on what could happen after the end of the fic

How did you react emotionally? Did you laugh? Cry? Smile? Scream?

Or there’s the simple but ever loved:

Keyboard smash

String of emojis

‘Loved this!’

Here’s some more lists of prompts:

Good and easy comment ideas by ao3-shenanigans

Some more easy comment suggestions by ao3-shenanigans

Unhinged fic comment ideas by magpie-murder 

Our comment stickers

Here’s a few stickers we made to use in place of comments if you want to leave something but still don’t know what to type out yourself:

html for the above, in order:

<img src="https://i.postimg.cc/yYRJxJ8C/readforbookclub-sticker.png" alt="sticker with stars and text reading: I READ THIS FIC FOR FANFIC BOOK CLUB AND LOVED IT"/>

<img src="https://i.postimg.cc/yxgDFxh9/greatwork-sticker.png" alt="sticker with stars and text reading: I ADORE THIS FIC GREAT WORK"/>

<img src="https://i.postimg.cc/c12gd7Zc/howtheactualheck-sticker.png" alt="sticker with stars and text reading: HOW THE ACTUAL HECK IS THIS SO GOOD?"/>

<img src="https://i.postimg.cc/V6HSrntm/amazingwriting-star-sticker.png" alt="star-shaped sticker with text reading: AMAZING WRITING!"/>

<img src="https://i.postimg.cc/RZzWHMW6/screamingcryingthrowingup-star-sticker.png" alt="star-shaped sticker with text reading: SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP"/>

<img src="https://i.postimg.cc/1XkfMSMd/mayiofferyoumyfirstborn-star-sticker.png" alt="star-shaped sticker with text reading: MAY I OFFER YOU MY FIRSTBORN? OR PERHAPS MY SOUL?"/>

Sound and Color - Masterlist

Sound and Color

The sound and the colors of Leaves : 2467 / General Audiences / Matt and Clint bond over their mutual love for fall and leaves and their disabilities

The sound and the colors of Snow : 3959 / General Audiences / Matt helps Clint get the support he needs and they take a walk through wintery NYC

The sound and colors of Flowers : 2531 / General Audiences / Matt and Clint are working together as the city warms up.

The sound and colors of Sunshine : 3570 / General Audiences / Matt and Clint suffer in the heat and talk about Family.

WHBB 2025 - Mod Call!

Dear fellow WinterHawkers, it is almost that time of the year again when we will be looking for artists and writers who are interested in joining us in another round of the Bang.

Before we can start, however, we have some planning and preparation to do. Due to personal and time reasons, we are looking to make some changes to the Mod team this year.

If you are interested in joining our little team and supporting us, please check out the event rules and possibly last year’s schedule to make sure you are ready to commit to joining us for the entire duration of the event and then fill out this so we know where your strengths are and what you could bring to the team. The form will stay open until 7 February.

Further updates on this year’s schedule will follow hopefully soon and we are excited to see many new and old friends in the Event.

– Mods Panic and Jess

P.S.: To make the wait a little shorter check out the previous year’s stories here if you haven’t already!

Happy FFWF! Lets play a find the word game: Valentine's Day Edition! Find any of these words in your WIP, and post the part where they appear: pink / red / heart / valentine / chocolate / ribbon / love / friend / partner / boyfriend / girlfriend / husband / wife / couple / date / kiss / card / candy / dinner / flirt / snuggle / soulmate / together / always / arrow / candle / rose / beautiful / handsome / hug

I got the first and it's actually pretty much at the start to a WIP I'm working on that I have yet to post C:

“Hi,” Bucky greeted, fidgeting nervously under Clint’s assessing gaze and inadvertently trying to hide his left side from view. “Hey,” Clint offered a soft smile, pulling his long hair into a ponytail and checking that the magnets of his cochlear implants were still firmly in place almost automatically. The motion was just as much to get himself more comfortable as it was to set the other man at ease, as Clint revealed his own disability. The gesture didn’t do much, but it was enough to release some of the attention from Bucky’s shoulder and let him take a more natural stance that revealed what he had been trying to hide. “Come in, I promise I don’t bite without asking first.” Clint chuckled, waving the younger man over with a playful wink. The joke relieved some more of the awkward tension in the room and Clint’s patient gesture was enough for Bucky to move where he was still frozen in the doorway. “I... Sorry...” He muttered, the blush colouring his cheeks turning from rose to bright pink. “It’s okay,” Clint assured him gently, leading the way along the hall to a small but cosy living room. “This is a safe space, which means you get to be as shy or outgoing as you happen to be.” Bucky just nodded quietly, sitting down on the couch a little stiffly when Clint offered.

WIP game: coffee shop au, please!

(All of these look really interesting! 👀)

I'm not completely happy with the execution, but the basic Idea is a Coffee Shop AU (duh), probably no Powers, where Clint, Maya Lopez, Bucky and probably others work in a Café that specializes in accessibility. It's close to the University and Foggy has been going there for a while. He recommended it to Matt mostly because he's trying to set him up with Clint and that's where the story starts right now.

Like I said, I'm not happy with it yet and I still have to figure out the logistics and accommodations a Café like that would need.

But anyway, here's the first few paragraphs:

On a cold morning in early December, Clint was standing behind the counter of Double Shot Coffee. The typical morning crowd was already mostly gone, and Clint finally had a moment to drink his own coffee and chat with his coworker. Bucky had taken over the morning shift for Maya, and since their schedules usually didn’t line up, they had a lot to catch up on. While complaining about a professor who wouldn’t stop bugging him, Bucky stopped mid-sentence and signed "Bell." Clint looked over to the door and saw a young man enter. He was wearing a warm winter coat and dark-tinged glasses. At first, Clint was confused about the sunglasses on a cloudy day until he noticed the white cane the man was holding in his gloved right hand. He frowned and turned to complain to Bucky, but the latter was on his way to one of the tables to help a customer. Clint didn’t have a choice but to take the new guy's order himself. It wasn’t that he had a problem with blind people, because he really didn’t. The thing was just that he really didn’t want to talk today. He took a long sip of his coffee, preparing to talk to the guy. As usual, he didn’t wear his hearing aids; the café specialised in accessibility, after all, so he didn’t need them most of the time. The only times when he regretted being so uncomfortable just talking to his customers were situations like right now, when he had blind customers and no one was around to deal with them but him.

「Shopping in IKEA」

- Time to go home, Buck

- NO!

🍂 🍃 Hello and welcome to our third annual Flufftober 🍂 🍃

We’re so excited to be back and to once again have you here!

As always, let’s fill the month of October with as much fluff as possible 🥰 and for that to happen, we not only have 31 prompts for you, no; we also have something special this year...

Prompt Extras

Last year's Prompt Substitutes were very well-loved and a lot of you used them to replace some prompts from the original list. You're more than welcome to do this again if there's a prompt that doesn't work for you for whatever reason - no explanation needed.

Once again, we offer you last year's top five fan favorites (as voted in the end survey). In addition to that, we also offer five scenario prompts.

If you don't want to replace any prompt from the original list but still love the additional ones - or you simply want to challenge yourself - you can also mix them all together!

So in whichever way you use these Prompt Extras, have fun with them and go wild 💚

Below the cut you'll find all our rules, posting info, all the prompts in writing, as well as some explanation for prompts we feel might need clarification. If you have any more questions, please feel free to send us an ask 🥰

We hope you like these prompts, and now

Happy Creating 🥳

Standard Blog Rules & FAQ

No inc*st or p*dophilia - we can’t keep you from writing it or creating art for it but it won’t be reblogged. See further down for clarification.

No hate or ship bashing - we’re all different and we all love different things. As long as it doesn’t go against rule #1, it’s allowed.

Tag correctly! Trigger warnings (including cheating!), ships, ratings, (pure) smut, etc - it’s all fine as long as you tag it.

There’s absolutely no word count restriction, write as little or as much as you like.

In regards to art, anything goes: drawings, paintings, collages, mood boards, gifsets, videos, playlists… the sky’s the limit (though not really…)

While we can’t force you to write fluff or create fluffy art, please try to keep in mind that this is a fluff event 😉

You can start writing and/or arting as soon as you see this - but please refrain from posting before the respective day.

You can participate on as many days as you like, even if it’s just one; you can also create multiple entries for the same day.

You can replace prompts from the original list with either or all of our prompt extras; you can also mix them with the original prompts or create for them in addition to the 31 original prompts, that's completely up to you.

It’s okay to write one story/a series for all the prompts as long as it’s separated into chapters and the respective chapter/work is posted on the given day.

You do not have to stick to one ship or even one fandom - switch as often as you like to or even write for multiple ships for one day.

The ship does not have to be a romantic one! Friendship and family feels are more than welcome (but this is not a way to get around rule #1!)

This event can be combined with other events as long as the other event allows it.

Late entries are always welcome, even if it is months later.

All fandoms and ships are welcome - fanon and canon - as long as they’re of age (in case you want to add smut) and not related.

Since this has often been asked in previous years, please let us clarify the no inc*st or p*dophilia rule:

No inc*st: This rule does not apply to distant cousins and such, as you might find in the LotR fandom (or basically in all of European Monarchy). The line we draw is at direct blood relations (siblings, parents, kids) and/or legal guardianship.

No p*dophilia: This rule does not rule out fandoms that feature teenagers such as Harry Potter, Heartstoppers, Hunger Games, etc. It also doesn't mean you can't write about their time together as teenagers! It was mostly aimed at ships in which one is a minor and the other is not - but since even that got complicated over time, the rule is now this: if you keep it SFW, all is good and allowed, we don't care; if it turns NSFW, be mindful of the legalaties of the world/society/times your characters live in.

Posting

Posting to tumblr

Please use the tag #flufftober2023

Since tags are sometimes wonky, make sure to also add @flufftober in your post

We will try to catch them all, but please don't be mad if we miss a post or if it gets reblogged a bit late

If you're absolutely certain a post has slipped past us, feel free to send an ask with the link to your post

To make reblogging easier for us, make sure to add the following tags: #flufftober2023 #day [xy] #[fandom] #[ship and/or main character(s)]

If you're using a prompt extra tag it as #alt [number]

Posting to ao3

You can add your creation to the collection flufftober2023 or flufftober_2023 (yes, we've once again claimed both)

Late entries are always welcome, on tumblr as well as the ao3 collection! Neither will close - but like always, reblogs will become less regular the more months have passed...

Prompts (and explanations)

1. “I’ve got you”

2. Family, Friends, Loved Ones

3. “Wait you love me?” - “I always have”

4. Cinderella Moment (the "ugly duckling" gets their moment to shine)

5. x + 1 (can be a classic "5+1 things" [or any number you want] creation or literally a plus one for an event or really anything else you can think of)

6. Corn Maze

7. Porch Swing

8. Rainy Day

9. (...) at first sight (think "love at first sight", "enemies at first sight"...)

10. Love of my Life (even this does not have to be romantic 😉)

11. Sweet Tooth

12. Fire & Ice

13. Wrong (...) (think "wrong number", "wrong train", "wrong person"...)

14. “I hate it” - “No, you don't”

15. Emergency, Confession, Adventure

16. Singing one another to sleep

17. Encouraging someone to achieve a goal

18. “Did you plan for this to happen?”

19. Keeping someone safe

20. Pumpkin

21. Swoon

22. Picking (think "picking flowers", "picking up someone", "picking out a dress", "picking a song for the wedding"...)

23. Trinket

24. [melting emoji] (does anyone even know what this emoji stands for? No? We neither but we would love for you to get creative with it 😉 but also, think "melting in the heat", "melting from embarrassment"... also, I would've loved to add it here but tumblr doesn't have this emoji yet)

25. Nook

26. Fireplace

27. Outdoor Event (think "hiking tour", "concert", "picnic"...)

28. Soothing Touch

29. “Hey, wake up!”

30. Self-Worth / Self-Love

31. Dreams Do Come True

Prompt Extras

Last Year's Favorites

Alt 1: Hot Chocolate

Alt 2: “You’ve told your parents?”

Alt 3: Wearing Each Other’s Clothes

Alt 4: Candles, Lanterns, Fairy Lights

Alt 5: “Oh no, you’re a Morning Person!”

Scenarios

Alt 6: Reverse all the Roles

Alt 7: Create a Fairytale Retelling

Alt 8: Give your character a new occupation

Alt 9: Create a crossover of two or more fandoms

Alt 10: Have your characters share the last table at a café

You Don't Know Me

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 -> Bucky Barnes x NB Reader

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 -> Nat’s charity auction doesn’t quite go off without a hitch – but luckily, Buck is on hand to help out, reluctant as he may be. Until he meets you, that is.

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓 -> 1507

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 -> (T) Language

𝐀/𝐍 -> I have no idea. Random fluffy oneshot goodness. Utter candyfloss Bucky, sweetly understanding reader.

Prompts fulfilled; ‘Himbo’ and ‘Bachelor Auction– @buckybarnesevents (Build-a-Bucky Bingo); “I Understood Most of That.” – @fandom-free-bingo (Flight Edition); ‘We Can’t Even Compromise or Not Needing to be Told’ – @julybreakbingo (Pre-July Flash); ‘Social Media’ – @fandombingo; ‘Coming out’, “My pronouns are they/them.” and ‘Queer’ – @lgbtqbingo; ‘I Can’t Believe I Ate The Whole Thing’ – @multifandom-flash Thanksgiving Flash (7026); ‘Awkwardness’ – Gen Prompt Bingo (Here on Dreamwidth) Check it out below, or on AO3 here! Stagbug sticker used in cards from here.

“Not a fucking chance.”

Nat turned her emerald eyes on Bucky’s, wide and pleading. “C’mon, James! Steve got called away at the last minute- we promised an Avenger! It’s all over social media, and it’s packed out there. Can’t we compromise?”

“What about Clint?” he grunted, and she fluttered her eyelashes, sidling closer.

“He’s not as popular as you...” she purred, resting her head on his shoulder to gaze up at him adoringly, earning a laugh from the soldier.

“You don’t want to hand over your boyfriend, more like,” he snorted, shaking his head, and letting out a heavy sigh when she simply continued to stare, a fond smile curving the bow of his lip. “Fine, fine... What do I have to do?”

Her face split wide in a broad grin, and she clasped her hands together, shifting excitedly. “Nothing! Just stand there and look pretty.”

He flexed and stretched pointedly, a companionable arm draping over her shoulders as he wondered what he’d gotten himself into. “Fortunately, that comes naturally to me.”

All of Bucky’s bravado faded as he stood awkwardly on the stage, spotlights shining down on his uncertain grin as his eyes scanned the audience, absently listening to Nat wax lyrical about his many positive attributes (and carefully not mentioning that he was most known in the Tower for his intense nightmares that woke up anyone within three floors). Bucky simply hooked a thumb in the pocket of his jeans, leaning back on his heels, flashing a cocky smirk, his heart pounding a little harder at the sighs and sounds of delight from those in the crowd. He was an attractive man, and he knew it – but that made this process all the more daunting. Since he’d joined the team, the only people he’d managed to date were either chasing the fame, or just interested in one thing.

It seemed that anyone he spent time with had their own expectations of who he was; the problem was, he wasn’t that person. Perhaps he had been, once upon a time, but he’d lived a long life, and times had taught him that just because people found him attractive didn’t mean he had to bed everyone he could.

The unfortunate reality was that nobody seemed to stop and ask; nobody took the time to get to know him, to learn about him and how he worked. Not that he minded, especially – pleasure was pleasure, and if he truly didn’t want to, he made it clear. He simply longed for someone to care.

And yet, here he stood, with dozens of eyes assessing him. It was nice, but…

“Sold! Now, remember the rules, folks. This is a charity auction; keep it clean, or the contract is null and void. Come and collect your prize!” Nat added, gesturing into the blur of faces.

And that’s when his eyes met yours at last, pale blue meeting deep brown, and his smile widened, just a little, as you blushed.

You stood beside him uncertainly, head ducked and fingers knotted together, and he grinned down at you politely. “So… You won me for the evening, huh? Congratulations. It was a pretty fierce competition.” You nodded, cheeks growing darker, and he bit back a chuckle at your shyness. “What did you have planned?”

“I thought you might like dinner,” you whispered tentatively, and his eyebrows raised.

“I- I mean, I can try, I suppose. I’m not much of a cook, but-”

You cut off his stammering with a quick shake of your head, looking up at last. “No! No, I wouldn’t- I meant that… I’d like to take you for dinner. I imagine you don’t get to just… Have a nice meal and some relaxed company very often, so…” You shrugged, toe scuffing the ground, and his eyes lightened as he smiled.

“That sounds really nice,” he assured you gently, reaching out to squeeze your bicep gently with strong metal fingers. “I’d like that…” He paused, head cocked, and you barked out a laugh.

“Oh. Yeah. Uh- Bug. You can call me Bug… My pronouns are they/them,” you added quickly, brow furrowing just a little. There was an edge of uncertainty to your voice, and you winced as you heard it, but he simply continued to smile, nodding once.

“Bug.”

“- and then that couples the neutral stimulus to the unconditioned stimulus to elicit a conditioned response. It’s pretty simple, really.”

Your eyes were bright as you explained the basic principles behind – yet another – training method from your work, quickly followed by your cheeks flushing pink and your eyes lowering. “I- Sorry. I could talk about this forever.”

“Feel free,” he replied, chuckling, his head cocked endearingly to one side as he took you in. “I understood… Most of that, and it’s nice to see some enthusiasm; I don’t get a lot of it in my line of work.” Your eyebrow raised in disbelief, and he laughed. “Well, I suppose that’s not quite true. They’re enthusiastic in some ways, but it’s not…” His hand cycled thoughtfully as he hummed. “… Passion, you know? It’s something they do because they kind of have to. They have these gifts, and, one way or another, they ended up in the team, and that’s… Just the way it is.” His brow furrowed a little, lips pursed, and you leant onto your elbows, considering him quietly.

“You said ‘they’. Like you don’t consider yourself one of them.”

Blinking in surprise, he paused for a moment before nodding slowly. “I suppose not. I am, I guess, but… The only one who really knows me is Steve. And even he doesn’t know everything,” he added with a rueful smile, shrugging a shoulder.

“He doesn’t?” you mused aloud, eyes still locked on his. Your focus was entirely on him – there was no glancing around, no checking to see who saw the two of you together. There was no discreet – or not-so-discreet – flicks of your gaze to the muscles of his chest or his exposed forearms. You were paying attention to him, as a person behind the persona, and he was enchanted.

“I’m not... Nobody- I-” He’d begun quickly, but paused as he faltered, blowing air up to clear the hair that was falling into his eyes as they flitted away uncertainly. “I… Guess not. Does anyone ever know anyone else, really?” he added cryptically, offering you a wry smile. “I can’t believe I finished the entire thing…” The redirect was clear as he nodded towards his empty plate, the heaping helping of carbonara having been eagerly eviscerated by his increased metabolism.

You simply watched him in silence for a moment, head cocked curiously, before offering him a reassuring smile of your own. “How about I tell you a little about me?” you prompted softly, hardly waiting for a nod of confirmation before continuing. “I’m non-binary. Folks don’t always understand that – what it means to be outside the societal expectations of male and female. But for me, it just feels… Like me, you know? Like neither of those labels quite fit right. I’m somewhere in between – or something else entirely, I suppose. It’s just who I am.” He nodded again, his brow furrowed slightly with curiosity, and your lips quirked higher. “I’m also bi… And I’m somewhere on the asexual spectrum – though I can never quite settle on where!” You chuckled slightly, resting a chin on your hand, mahogany eyes locked on his diverted pale ones. “Do you know much about asexuality? I’m happy to tell you more, if you like.”

“I’m familiar,” he replied quietly, still unable to meet your gaze,  and you reached out to squeeze his hand gently.

“I think I’d like to get to know you,” you murmured, smiling a little wider when he finally looked up, “if you’d let me, of course. I think we might have some things in common, huh?”

He hesitated for a moment, then frowned, eyes shifting to your hand on his. “You just want to know the Soldier… That’s what everyone wants. The fame. This,” he added, his tone free from ego as he gestured at himself with his free hand, and you quirked an eyebrow.

“While I’m sure you’re very irresistible to the allosexuals of the world – ace, remember? This,” - you mimicked his gesture playfully – “doesn’t do all that much for me. You’re a pretty man, sure. But… I’m most interested in why you do what you do. You risk your life on a daily basis for complete strangers; I’m curious about what makes someone quite so altruistic. I’m interested in you, James. You seem like a good guy, and I think you don’t have too many people in your life who want to hear about you without all the muscle and cameras.”

He could only stare in surprise, stunned into silence by your short speech, and leant forward, just a little. “I think I’m demisexual,” he blurted quickly, his cheeks colouring crimson at the words.

You simply smiled, fingers squeezing gently around his. “It’s nice to meet you, James.”