Soft Robotics ✧ Bucky Barnes

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A/N: Welcome! This is just a note to let you know what to expect from this story.

Canon typical violence. Strong language. It's rated mature for sexual content. 18+.

Sex scenes are explicit, with ✨✨daddy kink✨✨ and soft dom Bucky.

A few more general warnings: a lot of praise kink, size kink (and super soldier/metal arm kink?), and some possessiveness throughout.

All that said, this isn't a dark or kink-centered fic. There's also humor, fluff, angst, and a typical marvel sci fi/action plot. It's just an adult relationship that happens to involve kinky dirty sex sometimes lmfao.

And please don't kink shame. If you don't like something, you can just not read the book, change it in your head, or scroll past the stuff that's not for you. You can actually do that with any scene, sex or not. It really bums me out when people read my book for some reason, but only ever comment to say something negative or cringe or talk down to me.

Commenting that you don't like daddy kink on this story is sorta like if you're at a restaurant and the person across from you is eating and enjoying smth that you think is unappealing, and you start telling them about how you gagged when you smelled it and you would never eat that. And the chef that made it (me) is also standing there and can hear lol. It's like, ok so don't eat it? You don't need to make them feel gross about it? But instead, you took a big spoonful of it, knowing you wouldn't like it, and then spat it out on the table. Now everybody's appetite is ruined and you look like a clown.

Like any emotion, cringe is a part of life. Like any emotion, what makes you cringe depends on who you are, your culture, your experiences, your preferences, your insecurities, etc—what makes you cringe might not be the same as what makes me cringe. And like any emotion, how you choose to react to it, express it, and treat people according to it is YOUR decision. You have free will over what you choose to do with your feelings, including what you do or say when you feel cringe, shame, discomfort, or embarrassment. I think in general, we all need to collectively take a breath and stop pissing and shitting and crying and screaming every time we cringe at something. Just cringe and move on. If you learn to do that for other people, you'll move on faster next time you cringe at yourself. Heal. Accepting others' differences will help you be kinder to yourself next time YOU do something that feels like it breaks the social norms/expectations around you.

Sorry to be preachy...

My characters are also rather blunt and straightforward. A lot of directness. This is in general but especially about sex. It's kinda the tone of the story and the relationship...I think it's funny and gives the 2 main characters a unique dynamic. They often just vocalize exactly what they want. So, if a scene is socially offbeat or awkward or different from other fics you've read, I made it that way on purpose. I'm aware, lol.

Bucky also uses "doll" in this. There are a lot of endearments. He calls her like every single one I could think of, and in like every other sentence. If you have something to say about that being out of character or overused, I would like to cordially invite you to kiss my ass. It's par for the daddy kink course anyway.

The relationship gets "toxic" for a stretch of this book. "Toxic" behavior is always depicted as such, as it has a clear negative effect on the characters involved. I am not endorsing any behavior. If you want a relationship self-help guide, I would suggest reading one.

I write fanfic in my free time because it helps me manage my anxiety, and I share it online so that other people can use it for escapism if they want to as well.

;

Another thing to mention is that I write Bucky with flaws; he doesn't always make the choices that are best for himself or for other people. A lot of readers find him frustrating at times in this book (for good reason lol).

I interpret Bucky as feeling a painful and constant amount of shame, and he has clear defenses up to prevent someone adding to that shame. So, he doesn't always act in selfless or heroic ways in this book. When I write him as a victim, it's not always neat and vulnerable and easy to feel sympathy for him; he has a million defenses up. This story is not a redemption arc because I don't believe that Bucky has ever needed to be redeemed.

More on Bucky's characterization (rant):

Trauma isn't a personality trait. People aren't just the sum total of the worst things to ever happen to them. A well written, well developed character isn't just a vessel of trauma either. Trauma can affect how we feel, behave, relate to the world, etc, but that's in communication with who we are, who we're surrounded by, social pressures, age, our upbringing, the weather or what we had for breakfast. So, if Bucky in this book isn't walking around with his heart on his sleeve the first time he shows up—give it a second. We'll get there. You can't usually tell someone has PTSD just from meeting them once.

Most people are lovely ofc, but I've gotten a couple comments that have made me a bit defensive of how I write Bucky in this book. Yes, I watched TFATWS. I wrote this book because of TFATWS. I might have interpreted moments from the show and his character differently than you did. That's valid. Multiple interpretations can be supported by the same canon material.

Also, characters and people act differently in different contexts. Bucky is not at the beginning of his TFATWS character development here. Different things have occured, so I interpreted how I think he'd act based on my context. Characters will also act differently depending on GENRE! No character from a big-budget superhero comic adaptation film franchise is going to act exactly the same when translated into a fanmade romance novel that is OFTEN JOKEY AND LIGHTHEARTED IN TONE. I was working with different priorities and storytelling conventions. This was the summer of 2021, I'd just watched WandaVision and TFATWS for the first time, and I was also watching a lot of sitcoms while writing—notably, like, my 10th rewatch of New Girl. The SITCOM INFLUENCES are strong in this book.

What it really comes down to is that I just wasn't interested in dwelling inside a tone/style that was hopeless and tragic and totally abject at the time that I was writing. I was connecting with Bucky as a character, and I was willing to give him depth and complexity and flaws and angst, but I wasn't in the headspace to write the most miserable shit you've ever read in your life when I cracked open my laptop in my 2021 depression den and cranked out 150k words in one summer to distract myself from the Bad Thoughts.

Again, you're welcome to disagree with me on characterization (we are different people after all, and that affects our interpretations), just give me the benefit of assuming I'm an adult capable of critical thought who wrote this book with time and intention, and I usually had a reason for doing whatever it was that I did, even if I write a character differently from how you would have lol.

Rant over:

Grace will also frustrate you sometimes! She's just as complex as Bucky is, and she has real flaws. She doesn't always act in her own best interests either. A lot of her thought processes are fueled by anxiety. And she has skewed, shifting perceptions as well. She's working on it too💖

This story doesn't take place at a certain time in the MCU—it's got a lot of different characters, settings, etc mixed together with a bunch of shit I made up.💖

It's essentially in the tradition of the 2012 "everybody lives in the Avengers Tower" era fanfics. I wrote this in the big year 2021 bc I just wanted to feel something again lol.

Bucky is an Avenger, he and Tony put up with each other, and Thanos, like, died in a spaceship accident before he could get any infinity stones or something idk RIP.

Note 7/17/25: I'm currently revamping the original premise for this book with new plot lines, a more detailed writing style, and all entirely new scenes in my book Somewhere Safe if you want to hop over there after you finish here :) if not, enjoy Soft Robotics :)

💖Thank you for reading💖