the widening gyre

is this a safe space ermmm.... (Shane version too maybe 👀👀)

I saw this photo posted by autoerot.ca on Instagram n I just thought it was sooooo Ilya

enjoy 🫶

And that’s just the front. How and wHY. What is you doing Steve. WhAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THESE EXTRA FIDDLY THINGS

Then there’s this angry weirdo:

First I thought maybe this was some heavy duty bra but he doesn’t have boobs so maybe its purpose is to provide some sort of strap onto which things can be attached to? Like backpack straps without … a backpack.  Because YES THAT MAKES TOTALLY SENSE.

Friend: “hoLD UP that could come in very handy indeed.” Me: “How tho” Friend: “Imagine him checking in at the airport lol”

And then she came up with THE BEST ™ explanation:

You know how Steve and Bucky always freaking manage to lose one another? Either one of them falls down somewhere or jumps into different timelines or falls down again somewhere and loses an arm or whatever.

SO

SEE WHERE WE ARE GOING WITH THIS?

updated: 2026-06-30

chapter length: 32:12

story length so far: 10 hours 51 minutes

chapters: 25/30

AO3 tags:

Alternate Universe - Modern Setting | Alternate Universe - No Powers | Alternate Universe - Activism | Activist Steve Rogers | Pre-Serum Steve Rogers | Protective Bucky Barnes | Appalachian Bucky Barnes | Direct Action | Meet-Cute | Meet-cute while locked to the same piece of construction equipment | Fluff and Smut | just a little angst | Happy Ending | Big Brother Bucky Barnes | Appalachia | Slow Burn | Probably too much description of how to lock down to a piece of construction equipment | But Also Pining | Pining | Eventual Smut | Virgin Steve Rogers | Not that it's any of your business he's kind of shy about it ok? | He's good at a lot of things but romance isn't one of them | Poor Bucky | Kid Fic | But the kids don't show up till chapter 11 | But then there are definitely kids | Southern Gothic | I meant to write a meet cute but this is actually a sprawling southern gothic | Sorry Not Sorry | Once things get smutty they get smut-tay if you know what I'm saying so just head up | Idiots in Love | schmoopy love stories | swimming in a sea of fondue level of cheese | bring your bread | the bread is to dip in the fondue | it's a romance novel | podfic

Author's Note: ZenaidaMacroura

... a meet-cute where boys meet while chained to a backhoe. Why are they chained to this backhoe? Well. I spent wayyy too much time thinking about that! I decided they are fighting a pipeline. There are a lot of pipelines people are fighting the construction of around the US and in other countries around the world. The specific pipeline for this story is fictionalized, but also, it is more or less the Mountain Valley Pipeline (aka MVP) (it's pictured in the moodboard)

Podficcer's Note: E_Greer

This novel caught my heart with its positive depiction of Appalachia, and the people who live here. As a native Appalachian who grew up a couple hours northward of the location in this fic, I heard my accent in this fic and I wanted to share the way I heard it with everyone. So yes, this is way I speak at home. A couple things may wobble as you listen—I speak with a slightly different "r" and though I've tried to represent ZenaidaMacroura's accent writing accurately, I might miss it on occasion. Also, this is a massive work, and if I tried to record only when I was well, it would not exist—I apologize in advance for those chapters where my voice is a little weaker. I'll try to post every other week, and in the end, my plan is to post the whole thing as an audiobook

In which Steve, Becca, and Natasha bring home something unexpected.

This one took me longer to edit because @zenaidamacrouras1 is so funny—I had to edit out all my giggles!

[link to chapter 25]

We barely know anything about Madagascar pre-500CE. We don’t even know whether the island had a permanent population before then, despite finding a bunch of much older signs of temporary human presence.

Malagasy mythology makes mention of the vazimba, a “precursor” ethnic group that might or might not be distinct from Madagascar’s current population.

The point is, we do not know.

So you were in Madagascar when the pyramids were being built in Egypt, i.e. during one of the most obscure, most undocumented parts of Madagascar’s human history?