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It's the Best Time of the Year by chicklette || shrunkyclunks + advent calendar || 40k, E
Steve's finally figured this whole Captain America thing out: He's got a place in Brooklyn, a couple of good friends, and a mild crush on the hot barista at his favorite coffee shop. So what if he never talks to the guy. It's not like he's actually lonely, right? Right.
A short fic taking place from Nov. 30 - Dec. 25th, featuring an advent calendar, veteran!baker!Bucky Barnes, my attempt at fluff and gratuitous amounts of baked goods.
Trending / AU fics:
The Right Time by wearing_tearing || friends to lovers + fake relationship AU || 16k, T
“So let me see if I got this right,” Bucky says, gaze focused on Steve. “You want to fake date me.”
“No,” Steve shakes his head, and then corrects him, “I want us to pretend to be engaged.”
Get Jingle With It by mambo || friends to lovers + fake relationship AU || 41k, M
Bucky stands alone in a room full of Steve’s coworkers wearing a light-up Hanukkah sweater and holding a plate of terrible spinach puffs. It’s Christmas Eve, and they’ve been snowed-in, stuck with Steve’s coworkers for nearly a week at their company retreat. Steve is flirting with an asshole across the room while Bucky watches one of Steve’s overly-familiar coworkers making his way over to him, probably to ask Bucky about his sex life for the fiftieth time since this week began. Why does everyone keep asking about Bucky’s sex life? Because everyone at this terrible party thinks that he and Steve are not only a couple, but the cutest couple at this whole shindig. And that apparently makes them feel entitled to all of the information about Bucky's private life that they can get.
They aren’t entitled, and he and Steve aren't a couple. But that doesn’t mean that Steve isn’t the love of Bucky’s life.
Bucky nibbles on the edge of the nasty spinach puff and nearly gags.
Worst. Christmas. Ever.
Coming Home For Christmas by Chiyume || meet-ugly + advent calendar || 118k, E
Steve Rogers is a good man. His friends have told him so on numerous occasions, but this might actually be more bordering on "stupid" rather than "kind".
Because what else would you describe the act of inviting a complete stranger - and thief - into your home over the Holidays?
Steve isn't quite sure what to call it himself, but fact is that when it comes to the case of Bucky Barnes, Steve's actually pretty okay with being referred to as an idiot, as long as it keep the other man safe.
And to Steve's defence, it had all started out with such good intentions...
The Holiday by crinklefries || meet-cute, stucky + thorki || 91k, M
There’s a listing for a home exchange just outside of Liverpool, a charming, very English stone cottage with a garden, just a stone’s throw from the water. Two bedrooms, one bathroom, a fireplace, a kitchen, only a 15 minute drive into the city proper.
Bucky: Hey, I’m very very interested in renting your cottage for the next few weeks. I live in NYC, in a nice apartment in Chelsea. No roommates, just a grumpy cat named Tom who won’t bother you as long as you talk to him sometimes. He likes roast chicken. He’s weird, but cute.
Loki: I have never met a cat that I did not like. The dog is my roommate’s, I would much prefer a cat.
Loki: I have not been to NYC during the holidays for many a year. Is two weeks acceptable to you?Heartbroken, burned out, and aimless, both Bucky Barnes and Loki Laufeyson are in desperate need of just getting away. When these two strangers agree to switch homes and lives for the holidays, what they find, and who they meet, may be exactly what they needed all along.
[ A Marvel (stucky/thorki) RomCom AU of the greatest of all holiday movies, The Holiday ]
If Only In My Dreams by odetteandodile || meet-cute + blogger!Bucky || 28k, T
Bucky is a highly successful cooking and lifestyle blogger, the gay New England Pioneer Woman if you will. He writes all about life in his Connecticut home with his D.H. (darling husband). Only problem? It’s all complete fiction. He actually lives in a shitty Brooklyn apartment, is single as hell, and has visited Connecticut exactly one time at the age of eight.
When his agent Sam informs him that he's been offered an exclusive sponsorship deal with Stark Media and a three book contract to go with it, Bucky's forced to fess up to Sam, who's predictably...displeased. But Sam's also convinced the deal is too good to miss—even if they have to put on a little bit of a show in order to get it.
So Tony and Pepper descend on Bucky and Sam's fake home for Christmas with a devastatingly handsome War Hero in tow, and their already complicated plan quickly gets even more complicated as Bucky finds himself falling head over heels for Steve. Can he keep it together just for the holidays? Did he ever have it together in the first place?
Not the Same River at my Fingertips by giselleslash || exes to lovers + roadtrip AU || 11k, E
Steve desperately needs a ride home for Christmas but the last person he wants to take help from is Bucky Barnes. There’s a one night stand gone badly and four years of hurt feelings and misunderstandings between them.
Of course there's a road trip home that goes perfectly smoothly.
I Really Can't Stay (Baby, It's Cold Outside) by musette22, paperstorm || evanstan + small town AU || 38k, E
When a hot-shot New York lawyer gets stranded in a sleepy, New England town because of a snow storm right before Christmas, he thinks it might just be the worst thing that’s ever happened to him. Then, he meets a handsome, bearded stranger in a local bar, who slowly but surely teaches him the true meaning of Christmas is finding love where you least expect it.
Disclaimer: we have deliberately tried to incorporate as many clichéd and cheesy romantic Hallmark-esque movie tropes into this fic, just because if you can’t do it at Christmas, when can you, eh?
Original / canon and canon-adjacent fics:
All I Want For Christmas Has Been You for More Than Seventy Years by Kellyscams || post-CA:WS mutual pining + cabin fic || 10k, E
It's Bucky's first Christmas back with Steve in 70 years, just a year since he's come to live with him and the Avengers. Steve's taking him away from the city for the occasion. Bucky assumes it's for his own safety; just in case the hustle and bustle of the New York Christmas Season triggers some of the Winter Soldier tendencies he's been fighting and learning to overcome.
Bucky doesn't mean to take this impromptu trip personally. Doesn't want to be upset. But he's recently recalled and redeveloped his feelings for Steve. Feelings he never shared with him. Feelings he has no idea if Steve shares, so being alone with his super soldier buddy might not be something he's ready for. Only Steve's reasons for taking Bucky away might not be so black and white--or red and green as it may be.
Christmas songs, snowball fights, ugly Christmas sweaters, confessions, and Bucky wrapped up in Christmas lights.
One Does Not Simply Walk Into JoAnn Fabrics (And other millennial lessons from The Winter Soldier) by stevergrsno (noxlunate) || shrinkyclinks + craft store AU || 12k, T
What do you get when you mix one deprogrammed formerly brainwashed assassin who works at a craft store and occasionally saves the world on the side, and one chronically ill crafting youtuber who frequents his store?
You get love, obviously. Though first you get some pining, some cat herding, and some teasing from your coworkers- both the super ones and the maybe possibly super on the side when they're not at the craft store with you ones.
I got that good thing for you by canistakahari || post-CA:WS + established relationship || 6k, E
When it comes down to it, Steve will do anything for Bucky. Even if that involves fulfilling a very specific seasonally-adjacent fantasy.
The 12 Trees of Christmas by GoodbyeBlues || shrunkyclunks + meet-cute || 10k, T
Suddenly 'soft' and 'dark' and 'lush' were no longer adjectives fit to be tied to just his Douglas Fir, because the man from the ladder was approaching him, a shy smile on his flawless face, and Steve was totally gone.
Steve purchases an outrageous number of Christmas trees and accidentally creates a tiny apartment forest, all because he needs an excuse to visit adorably shy tree farmer Bucky Barnes. Lots of fluff and Christmas feels abound! <3
two strangers in the bright lights by Claudia_flies || post-CA:WS + fake relationship || 7k, E
It really is an accident. Steve wouldn’t even call it a slip of the tongue, because what he said and the way it was heard were two different things.
Paper Tree by Ellessey || pre-WWII + mutual pining || 21k, E
Bucky just laughs and shoves another bite of egg in his mouth, giving Steve a shrug and a full-cheeked smile. He's so damn cute Steve wants to shout at him, but he can't seem to say any of the right things. "Shoulda got you a comb for Christmas," is what he comes up with instead.
"What did you get me?"
It's Steve's turn to shrug now, and if he looks more terrified than cheeky as he does so, he can only hope Bucky doesn't catch it before Steve hurries out the door.
On December first, Steve wraps up a letter for Bucky and sets it under their Christmas tree. Now he has twenty-four days left to figure out how to tell Bucky what he wrote, face to face.
Get Scrooged by alby_mangroves, leveragehunters (Monkeygreen) || post-CA:WS + magical realism, 20k, T
You'll be haunted by three spirits. The first is gonna come tomorrow when the bell tolls one. That's in the morning. The second's gonna come the next day at the same time, and the third, same again.
Bucky was keeping his head down in his tiny apartment in Bucharest, because that's what you did when you were a former brainwashed assassin and never knew who might be coming after you. You kept your head down, you didn't draw attention, and you tried real hard not to think about what you'd done, all while trying to piece together your fractured memory.
But it doesn't matter how down you keep your head—once the Bureau of Christmas Spirit has you in its sights, you're getting a visit from the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. No appeal, no review, and you can't lock the doors and pretend you're not home.
Luckily for Bucky his Ghosts have their own agenda, but whatever happens...someone's getting Scrooged.
Templates by radwrites.
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