i'll take advantage (while you hang me out to dry)
For the WIPBB2025, I was so privileged to work with my friend @katie-delaney to create a playlist and art for her fic, i'll take advantage (while you hang me out to dry).
This deep dive into the playlist and art is NOT SPOILER FREE! Read the fic linked above first if you don't want to be spoiled!
The Music
I remember the first time we talked about this fic, long before the WIP bang, and she was calling it the Sonic fic while I was giggling over Tails jokes. I think the doc was even called "Megadrive" when she first shared it with me. Even though Sonic didn't end up featuring quite as strongly as the original concept, of course I wanted to pay homage to those roots by including the Mega Drive version of Sonic's Green Hill Zone theme as track one on the playlist--it had to happen. Other than that, Katie asked for a 90s vibe (some of this is very early 00s) and for Taylor Swift's Red to be on the list... And, here we are: The Playlist.
Track Listing
STH1 Green Hill Zone ~Mega Drive version~
Masato Nakamura
Bucky spends a good deal of his time ignoring Steve to play Sonic the Hedgehog on his Mega Drive.
Bucky unpacks his football kit, sorting it into the laundry, then sits down opposite Steve on the floor and turns on the Megadrive. “You wanna play?” Bucky asks. “No, thanks,” Steve says, still not looking up. “What you drawing?” “Houses,” Steve says. God, no wonder the kid didn’t have any friends. Well, Bucky tried. He ignores Steve, something he’s become very good at, and carries on playing Sonic the Hedgehog.
I Want You to Want Me
Letters to Cleo
Despite being mostly ignored by Bucky, Steve just wants Bucky to want him. He's been crushing on Bucky for a long time, even if Bucky never notices.
“Bucky. I…” he laughs and shakes his head. “I had a feeling I might be going into heat that night, I kind of hoped you might…” Bucky stares.
Truly Madly Deeply
Savage Garden
As Steve's heat sets in, he wants to be Bucky's everything.
“I hoped you might take advantage of me, not be able to control yourself, and you did, and you couldn’t, and it was so fucking hot.”
Kiss from a Rose
Seal
Bucky was just never that into Omegas until he scented Steve presenting and now he can't get enough, like an addiction that he can't deny.
Bucky wakes up with a jolt, achingly hard, grinding his dick into the sheets and the scent of, oh, fuck, he doesn’t know, but it’s the best thing he’s ever smelled in his life. He cringes, god knows he can’t do this with Steve here. Eurgh. Why does this have to happen now when he can’t jack off? It’s never been this bad before. What’s usually an itch under his skin is a burn, he feels like he can’t breathe, can’t do anything but rut his hips down into the mattress. He lets out a whimpered moan into the pillows. [...] It’s Steve. Omega his brain supplies. Oh. Oh, fuck. Steve’s an Omega. Steve’s presenting and Bucky can’t control himself. He feels his body moving, like it belongs to someone else, moving down onto the floor because he needs more of that scent. He can’t do this, he can’t, it’s little Stevie Rogers and, fuck, does he smell good.
Teenage Dirtbag
Wheatus
Teenagers in high school be teenagers in high school, but Bucky especially feels like a teenage dirtbag.
They walk around the back of the bike sheds, thankfully finding the usual teen hiding place empty. “So, uh…” Bucky says, gearing up to get yelled at, or to start his apology, when Steve pushes him up against the back of the shed with surprising strength. Well, good for him. He hopes the punch he’s gonna get is just as bad.
Sex & Candy
Marcy Playground
Bucky's mostly just hanging around minding his own business when there's Steve, smelling like sex & candy and honestly casting some devious stares in his direction.
“Stevie!” Bucky whispers when he’s shut the door. He can scent him from the doorway. “You’re not supposed to be in here!” “I was cold.” When Steve slides under the bedsheets, he is, in fact, nice and warm. He’s also completely fucking naked.
Hella Good
No Doubt
Steve's just enjoying the ride with Bucky. He's feeling hella good, so he just wants to keep on dancing!
“I wish I could take you back to my place,” he whispers in Steve’s ear, his voice hidden to the others by the limo music. "Me, too. Well, maybe when you’re at college I can come over and stay the night.” He grins. “Or when we’re a bit older and they just won’t care.”
Kiss Me
Sixpence None The Richer
An incredibly popular prom song from the late nineties/early aughts. It's also one of Steve's new favourite things to do with Bucky, "So kiss me."
“Can you kiss the back of my neck again? Was so nice.” “Oh, okay, Stevie.” Bucky kisses Steve’s neck, kisses and nibbles and Steve shudders.
I Love You Always Forever
Donna Lewis
As Steve and Bucky explore this new dynamic between them, the often find themselves, "lost in a deep cloud of heavenly scent, touching, discovering" each other.
Bucky goes, pulled like a magnet to Steve, his lips drawn to his like they never wanted to leave. He feels positively giddy as they kiss, a little lightheaded, and he has no idea what from, the hormones and the alcohol blurring in his head.
Save Tonight
Eagle-Eye Cherry
Steve knows Bucky's leaving, but doesn't realize what that will mean for them. Bucky knows he's leaving, but that doesn't mean Steve can't have something nice right now.
He just can’t stand Steve sad. And it’s not a lie; he definitely does want Steve. He knows he doesn’t deserve to have him after what he did, but, well, if Steve wants him, too, and he does seem to, maybe it couldn’t hurt to give Steve something nice before Bucky has to go away to college.
My Own Worst Enemy
Lit
As Bucky desperately tries to convince himself that he's done the right thing, I'm sure he asks himself often if he's his own worst enemy.
“Bucky,” she says eventually, right when he thought she was about to leave. “What happened between you and Steve? Sarah says he’s beside himself, won’t stop crying, won’t come out of his room.” Bucky’s heart twists.
No Ordinary Love
Sade
Steve gave all of himself to Bucky and Bucky... Bucky just took his love.
“I just, we had fun, you know, and I –” “Fun? Fun?!” Steve stands up, somehow seeming to tower over Bucky. “Fuck you! Fuck you, Bucky Barnes!” he rips off the chain from around his neck and throws it at Bucky. “Fuck you, you stupid fucking Alpha!”
Never Ever
All Saints
Never ever has Steve ever felt so low.
“Fuck. Bucky, I just, I don’t know what to do,” he says honestly. “You broke my heart. I… don’t think I ever recovered. I know you did it thinking you were doing the right thing, but…” he shakes his head. “I wish you’d have just talked to me, Bucky, been honest with me.”
My All
Mariah Carey
Steve just wants another night with Bucky.
“I. Know. What. I. Want. You moron. And it’s your dick, inside me, right fucking now.”
Your Woman
White Town
Steve's friends hate Bucky, but Steve just wants Bucky to tell him why he broke up with him. He thought they had a good thing going on, but he's started to accept that he could never be Bucky's Omega.
He walks out and finds Nat sitting chatting with Sam in the car. She seems to have won Sam over, but he still glares at Bucky when he approaches the car. “If you’ve bitten him…” “I haven’t,” Bucky says, rolling his eyes, having taken an immediate dislike to the Alpha after he punched him in the face. Nothing to do with the fact that he’s living with his Omega. Stop it Bucky. Steve isn’t your Omega…
Do You Still Love Me?
The Kooks
When Steve realizes that Bucky is truly the stupidest Alpha to ever have lived ever, he realizes he can't really blame Bucky. He might even still be in love with him, but he needs time.
Bucky’s heart twists. He thinks about getting dressed, but he has no idea what Steve wants, so he ties off the condom, chucks it in the trash, and waits. Steve isn’t long, a couple of minutes, and comes back with red eyes and wet cheeks. [...] “Hold me. Idiot.”
I Knew I Loved You
Savage Garden
Steve knew he loved Bucky before they ever even got together.
“What do you want?” Bucky says. “Whatever you want, we’ll do that.” “What I want?” Steve gives a hollow laugh. “Bucky, I’ve wanted your teeth in my neck since I was 15 years old.”
About a Girl
Nirvana
Bucky takes advantage of Steve on his heat and then dumps him after leading him on for months, while Steve is taking advantage of Bucky's pheromone-addled brain and manipulating him into having sex.
“I hoped you might take advantage of me, not be able to control yourself, and you did, and you couldn’t, and it was so fucking hot.” Bucky blinks. “I...” “I mean, maybe I shouldn’t have done that either, but I never felt particularly bad about it.”
Red (Taylor's Version)
Taylor Swift
This song is everything about how Steve feels for Bucky, particularly after they break up.
“And, no, I didn’t manage to find someone I liked. I tried, though. I had sex with quite a lot of them before I realized it just wasn’t hitting the same. No matter how fucking horny I was. And every time, when they just didn’t scent quite right, they weren’t handsome enough, or they weren’t fucking me right, I hated you a little bit more. You ruined me, Bucky.”
The Art
The concept of the fic cover and the chapter headers is that it is a scrapbook of Steve's side of the chapters, so while the fic primarily presents Bucky's perspective, the art is from Steve's point of view.
Cover Art
The image of kids playing SEGA Megadrive is licensed under CC by 2dot0dot. The image of Steve's nude back is under open license from Bianca Petrisor from Life of Pix. The image of Sebastian Stan as Bucky is from the 2012 TV series Political Animals and is used under fair use. The image of the Coney Island sign is under open license from Nelson Ndongala from Unsplash. All other art is courtesy of Canva and has been modified for use.
The fic cover gives a very brief overview of Steve's perspective, the video game Bucky would ignore him for, then Steve, vulnerable in his first heat, then their date to Coney Island, then Bucky the way Steve comes to resent him. Each chapter header directly reflects the characters, places, and events of each chapter.
Most of the text in the art is Katie's writing, but I really wanted to be very clear about Steve's resentment of Bucky so in case the crossed out eyes weren't enough, I added a little sarcastic speech bubble, making Steve put some unflattering words in Bucky's mouth. To underline that this was my embellishment and not Katie's writing, the font used is the same as the one used for my name. Similarly, the title and all the chapter titles are in the same font as Katie's name.
Chapter 1
The image of kids playing SEGA Megadrive is licensed under CC by 2dot0dot. The image of Steve's nude back is under open license from Bianca Petrisor from Life of Pix. All other art is courtesy of Canva and has been modified for use.
For chapter 1, we have Steve's drawn houses behind the title card, the messy bed in Bucky's room, the boys in front of the SEGA Mega Drive, Steve's nude back during his heat, and the morning after pills Bucky bought for him.
The chapter begins with Bucky being pretty dismissive and even annoyed by Steve, so I wanted to find a quote that spoke to Steve's thoughts about how he was being treated. He admits later on in the story that he knew he wanted Bucky since they were young, but at this point, Bucky doesn't seem interested in Omegas, he just wants to hang out with his stupid Alpha friends and play video games. Even without taking into account Steve's health and other motivations, being an Alpha might've seemed like a better way to get Bucky's attention than being an Omega.
Little did either of them know how strongly Bucky would react to Steve's presentation and how perfectly it turned out for Steve... at least at first.
Chapter 2
Image of Chris Evans as Steve is from the 2014 film Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the image of Sebastian Stan as Bucky is from the 2012 TV series Political Animals, and both are used under fair use. The image of two boys at school is under open license from Nicolas Carbon from Life of Pix. All other art is courtesy of Canva and has been modified for use.
Chapter 2 spent a lot of time at the boys' school, so in addition to head shots of both the boys, I decided to include a shot of them at school together. I had to include a little sketch from Steve of the shower/locker room as I imagine that encounter remained in his spank bank for years to come. The maps and the quote both foreshadow Bucky leaving and how far away they'll be.
Chapter 3
Image of Sebastian Stan as Bucky is from a 2011 photoshoot for August Man, and the image of B. Dylan Hollis as Steve is from the Instagram of B. Dylan Hollis, and both are used under fair use. The image of the Coney Island sign is under open license from Nelson Ndongala from Unsplash. All other art is courtesy of Canva and has been modified for use.
This chapter included both their Coney Island date and prom, so there was a lot going on! The Coney Island sign is front and center, along with some boardwalk tickets and a sketch Steve made of the necklace Bucky won for him. I imagine him sketching it out as he remembers it after chucking it at Bucky in the end. Prom streamers line the background and the photos of the boys are in their prom attire. Interestingly, neither of these photos were actually the ones I had originally planned on using.
Although I had always planned on B. Dylan Hollis being my stand-in for little Stevie Rogers, I originally was going to lift a picture of him off one of his cookbook covers, I think, in a khaki suit with a bow tie, but all the baking stuff around him was a little weird and then I stumbled on this picture and thought it was perfect!
The original image I had in mind for Bucky was honestly kind of boring? (Sorry, Sebastian!) I liked that this one was more pensive, like his thoughts about Steve and their eventual breakup.
Chapter 4
Images of Sebastian Stan as Bucky are from Denise Truscello for 2013 D23 Expo, Jon Premosch for Buzzfeed in 2016, and the 2012 TV series Political Animals, some of which were heavily modified for use. Image of Chris Evans as Steve is from the 2007 film The Nanny Diaries. Image of Anthony Mackie as Sam is from the 2006 film Crossover. All of the images of Sebastian Stan, Chris Evans, and Anthony Mackie are used under fair use. All other art is courtesy of Canva and has been modified for use.
Chapter 4 brings us an older Bucky with longer hair, Chris Evans as Steve, and little baby-faced (and very angy!) Anthony Mackie as Sam. I wanted Steve to have a lot of time to sketch out both how he remembers Bucky and Bucky now, so I heavily filtered some different shots of Sebastian to look more like sketches and even did one that looks vaguely like maybe pastels? (I was going for water colors, but the soft colors clashed with Nat's convertible.) Bucky's got his map to Steve's place behind his picture, Sam looks like he's gonna punch Bucky (again) and Nat's red convertible pulls up right under the title card. I loved this quote, by the way, and felt it really summed up Steve's initial reaction to Bucky. "Fuck. You bastard. Fuck you."
I had an absolute blast working with Katie on this one. I had the privilege of being with this project from start to finish since I also was beta reading it and it gave me some great insights that I hope translated into some great tunes (and passable chapter headers, lol). By the time we were done with this one, both of us were sheepishly trying to figure out how to ask if we could work together on future projects, so watch this space for more soon!
