Regency AUs (a la Jane Austen era!)
1. Clawshock (Logan/Darcy)
Logan’s been at war for what feels like centuries, and when he comes home he has absolutely no use for balls and parties and everyone twittering and gossiping at him. Unfortunately for him, he came home a war hero, which makes him very high in demand in the marriage market.
It’s only a matter of time before some enterprising family traps him into an engagement that he hates, so his family friend Charles Xavier puts him in touch with a young woman in similar circumstances.
Their courtship and engagement is only supposed to be pretend, but Logan finds himself enjoying their outings and the way they buffer each other at social engagements more and more. When he meets her family, sees the kind of marriage they’re trying to force her into, he knows that he’s never going to let her go. She’s his to protect, after all.
2. Shieldshock (Steve/Darcy)
Steve is an American businessman who’s come to London to trade but has a disdain for the English nobility and their utter disregard for the lower social classes. They, in turn, look down on him for dealing in trade. He’s frustrated as all hell, but can’t go home without turning things around, and doesn’t trust any of the English upper class who are nice to his face but mock him behind his back.
Enter Darcy, the genius daughter of an elderly widower who runs her father’s affairs without anyone knowing. So used to people dismissing her or mocking her for her business sense, she finds a kindred spirit in Steve, who is simply in awe of this young woman who defies convention and is willing to risk her own reputation to help him.
3. Wintershock (Bucky/Darcy) - Persuasion AU
in which Darcy is the ward of Sir Alexander Pierce. She and Bucky fall desperately in love, but she breaks it off when she finds out that Pierce is waiting for them to get married so that he can leverage Bucky into doing his dirty work. She doesn’t want to be responsible for that, or have Bucky get killed when he confronts her powerful guardian, so she never tells him why.
Years later he returns from war with a prosthetic arm and a hardened, weary heart. Everyone wants to marry him off to their daughters or sisters, but he’s bitterly aware that his heart belongs to one woman and one woman only, as much as he’d love to flaunt a new love interest in her face.
But he’s older, and wiser, and the more time he spends around Pierce the more he gets an idea of why she sent him away in the first place…
North & South AU - Wintershock (not regency, but i couldn’t resist)
Bucky crawled his way out of poverty when he was a young boy, assisting his stepmother, Sarah, in providing for his sickly stepbrother Steve and his younger sister Rebecca.
The industrial boom in his city, plus a keen business sense honed over the years, has made him a bit ruthless and protective of those under his purview. When he meets Darcy, a young woman who has recently moved up from the South, he’s captivated by her confidence, her intelligence, even the proud tilt to her chin. He could listen to her talk about the stars and her studies with her friend, Jane Foster, for hours.
When she protects him in the middle of a riot, getting injured when she pushes him out of harm’s way, he allows himself to hope that his feelings might be returned.
