#soft mobster

He’d only grinned, that dangerous, all-teeth smile that had both publishers and politicians crawling when he wanted them to. “Just spell my name right, sweetheart.”

Of course, you didn’t. You used a pen name. A pen name that the rest of the world now whispered about in bookstores and podcasts about “the queen of modern crime thrillers.” You never missed the irony.

Tonight, your newest manuscript glowed on your laptop screen. The cursor blinked at the end of the sentence:

He wiped the blood from his knuckles, the scent of smoke and regret still clinging to him like a confession.

You hummed, rereading it, sipping your wine as you heard the door unlock behind you.

“Still murdering people on paper, doll?”

You smiled before you even turned around. “Only the ones who deserve it.”

Bucky’s heavy footsteps crossed the floor. He smelled like his night—gunpowder, rain, and bourbon. He never came home before midnight unless something had gone right. Or very wrong.

“Who is it this time?” He stopped behind your chair, big hands sliding onto your shoulders, thumbs tracing lazy circles over your skin. “The senator? The rival boss?”

“The man who thinks he’s untouchable.”

He chuckled, low in your ear. “Oh, sweetheart. That’s me.”

You tilted your head back, meeting his smirk. “If the bloodstained shoe fits.”

His hand moved from your shoulder to your throat—not squeezing, just resting there, a warm, possessive weight. “You got no idea what it does to me,” he murmured, “reading about myself like that. The way you write me. Mean. Broken. Hungry.”

“You let me,” you teased.

“I do.” His thumb brushed your pulse. “’Cause you’re the only one who knows the truth.”

And it was the truth. You knew every piece of him—the public myth, the private man. You knew that beneath the immaculate suits and diamond cufflinks, he was still the boy who flinched at gunfire, who kept scars covered because he didn’t like what they said about him. You wrote him better than anyone ever could, because you wrote him from the inside out.

He leaned down, lips grazing your jaw. “You use the part of me I don’t show anyone.”

“Art imitates life.”

“Not usually so accurately.”

You laughed softly, closing the laptop. “Relax, Barnes. You know I never use real names. You’re just…my muse.”

He groaned into your neck. “You’re the only person alive who can call me that and live.”

“Lucky me.”

He spun your chair around with one hand, crouching down between your knees until your eyes were level. “You really think you can keep hiding behind that pen name forever?”

“It’s worked so far.”

He hummed, studying you the way he studied people he was about to break. “You don’t see the way they talk about you, do you? Every cop in the city’s trying to figure out who you are. They think your books are confessions.”

“They’re fiction.”

“They’re clues.”

The air thickened. You could feel his tension—the line between lover and criminal, pride and paranoia. It wasn’t the first time he’d danced on it, and it wouldn’t be the last.

You softened, cupping his face. “Bucky. I’d never put you in danger.”

His eyes softened back, blue and burning. “I know, baby. I trust you.”

It wasn’t a casual statement coming from him. It was a vow.

He kissed you then, slow and deep, tasting of whiskey and the night. His metal hand slid up your thigh, cool and heavy through the silk robe you wore. “What are you writing in that twisted little head, hm? Another scene where your bad man gets his hands bloody?”

“Maybe.” You arched into him, teasing. “Or maybe a love scene.”

He groaned, forehead dropping to your shoulder. “You’re gonna kill me.”

“Write what you know, remember?”

He laughed against your skin, muffled and rough. “God, you’re trouble.”

You tangled your fingers in his hair, pulling just enough to make him look at you. “And you love it.”

He kissed you again, hungrier this time, until the words on your laptop faded into static. His hand slid higher, under the robe, tracing your hip, your waist, his voice low and dangerous. “If I end up in your next chapter, doll, I better have a happy ending.”

You smiled, breathless. “Depends on how good you are.”

His grin turned wicked. “Oh, sweetheart. I’m phenomenal.”

Later, tangled in sheets and the aftermath, you lay with your head on his chest, his heartbeat steady under your ear. He was half-asleep, his fingers lazily drawing shapes on your back.

“You ever worry?” he murmured. “That someone’s gonna figure you out?”

“I write under a name no one can trace. And no one would believe that the city’s most wanted man reads bedtime stories to his girlfriend.”

“That’s ‘cause you make me sound like a monster.”

“You’re not.”

“Then what am I?”

You smiled against him. “A man who keeps me safe. Who buys me first editions of Stephen King when he could buy the publishing house. Who reads every draft I give him, even when he pretends not to care.”

He snorted. “You think I don’t read them ‘cause I don’t like seein’ myself on the page?”

“Do you?”

“Nah. I just like when you read ‘em to me.”

You laughed softly, tracing the tattoo on his collarbone. “You’re impossible.”

“I’m yours,” he said simply.

The simplicity of it always broke something open in you. For all his power and danger, he was gentle here. He was home.

The next morning, your publisher called. “You’re trending again. They’re saying your villain feels too real. Like you know something they don’t.”

You smirked, watching Bucky make coffee shirtless in the kitchen, the metal arm catching the early light. “Maybe I just have a good imagination.”

He turned, caught your look, and grinned. “What’re you smirkin’ at, novelist?”

“Just thinking of my next story.”

“Oh yeah?” He slid the mug toward you. “What’s this one about?”

You sipped, letting your eyes drag over him. “A man who’d burn down the world for the woman who makes him feel human.”

He paused, smile slow and dangerous. “Sounds familiar.”

You winked. “Write what you know.”

He kissed the corner of your mouth, whispering, “Just remember, sweetheart—don’t make me too soft. I still got a reputation.”

You laughed, fingers brushing his jaw. “Don’t worry. The world will always believe you’re the villain.”

“And you?”

You leaned in close. “I know better.”