Relationship(s):Â The Thunderbolts/New Avengers x nonbinary!reader (platonic)
Warnings: Mentions of dysphoria, mentions of transphobia, possible typos because I'm trying to be less perfectionist about my silly little headcanon posts. (Let me know if I need to add any)
(A/N: My first MCU fic! And, my first Pride Month 2025 fic. I used to be really into the MCU back in 2019, but then my love of and interest in it dwindled post-WandaVision. I've spent the past 5 years wanting to get back into the MCU, and it was Thunderbolts* that convinced me to finally do it. I rewatched the Cap movies and the Avengers movies and finally watched Black Widow and TFATWS. I'll (probably) do a full watch through of the whole MCU ready for Fantastic Four next month. But, yeah, I really fell in love with these movies again and I can't wait to write for these characters. I wanna do a fic where the reader is Hawkeye's adopted kid and they come out to him as nonbinary, particularly with the reader having this backstory. If you'd be interested in that, let me know! Also, I wanna write romantically for Bucky, particularly with an enby reader with that same backstory. I wanna be Bucky's lameass nonbinary partner genuinely. As always, requests are open! I have no idea what to write, really, I'll add the MCU to my fandom list when I've done a full catch-up.)
Youâll be happy to know that everyone on the team is cool with the whole nonbinary thing.
Mostly.
Alexei is a little confused but has the spirit.
Definitely âhis/her pronouns are they/them!â energy.
He is curious but not judgemental, and if anything he thinks itâs pretty cool.
Yelena, Bucky and Ava are normal about it and donât treat it like a big deal.
At first Bob is clearly nervous about messing up how he refers to you, so you might have to reassure him that itâs fine for him to mess up as long as he tries his best.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is Walker, who, when you first meet him, canât give less of a shit about offending you.
He doesnât go out of his way to do it, and he isnât malicious about it, but I can imagine him thinking âoh, greatâ and rolling his eyes about it.
He doesnât strike me as someone who has queer friends. Or friends. Especially after he bashed that guyâs head in.
He misgenders you and the only apology he offers is sarcastic and otherwise insincere because heâs got bigger things to worry about, like his wife leaving him.
Of course, Bucky, Ava and Yelena will all tell him to shut up and stop being a dick.
I adore my silly little idea of Ava and Yelena misgendering him to piss him off and see how he would like it, and it isnât long until he concedes that itâd just be less of a headache to show you some basic respect and refer to you properly.
And, he will actually come to not be bothered by referring to you properly in the end.
I feel like Avaâs main way of showing support is by being a dick to people who are dicks to you about the gender thing.
Bucky knew you long before the whole Thunderbolts/New Avengers thing.
(TLDR: My headcanon is that, after Civil War, you lived in Wakanda after Steve busted you out of prison, which gave you a chance to get to know Bucky and vice versa)
When he first met you, all he knew about you was that you had stuck your neck out to save him, something for which he was grateful.
And, if you had Steveâs stamp of approval, that was more than enough for him.
The whole ânonbinaryâ thing was unfamiliar to him.
Heâd noticed how you were referred to by Steve and the others.
He took the approach of not questioning it, despite being confused.
Not asking about it became unavoidable when you grew closer.
One night, when you were both sitting around a fire in Wakanda, he very awkwardly asked you about it, and you had a long conversation about it.
After that, he understands well enough and he gets the hang of gendering you correctly in no time.
(Iâd like to think you help explain other queer concepts to him).
If someone is a dick to you, he will stand up for you.
Whether or not you can handle things yourself, he takes it upon himself to have your back, like you had his, and like he always had Steveâs.
Itâs in his nature to stick up for the little guy, you know?
Iâd like to think that, after Bucky and the rest of the population is revived post-blip, you remain close to him.
You wind up being his best friend by default.
And, he does his own research on queer shit because he cares that much about you and being a good friend to you.
He doesnât admit it or bring it up.
Even though youâre friends, he feels awkward about asking you things directly too much.
Either way, itâs clear heâs done his homework.
Iâd like to think, as a congressman, he does what he can to advocate for queer people like you.
I feel like Valentina would try to encourage you to be the LGBTQ+ New Avenger.
Even though, yâknow, thereâs probably a few fruits in that basket if you get what Iâm saying.
Her image of you is one of a corporate Pride poster child- someone who can appeal to a demographic, rather than an actual person.
She will try to parade you around like her token queer associate.
Hopefully, youâll have none of it.
Bucky and Yelena will advocate for you.
They will tell you not to do anything you donât want to do or otherwise feel uncomfortable doing.
Thereâs something so compelling about a superhero who is given the opportunity to be positive, visible, real-life representation for their community whilst also knowing theyâll have to be palatable in a way that likely sacrifices facets of their own identity and experiences.
I havenât seen much of The Boys but thatâs a storyline in that show I think.
If you exclusively use they/them pronouns, or pronouns that arenât âtheyâ, âsheâ or âheâ, Val definitely fucks up your pronouns a suspicious amount of times for someone who likes to appear like an ally.
If you use any pronouns, she will default to the pronouns of your AGAB with the occasional âtheyâ thrown in for good measure.
She really is one of those kinds of people, I fear; someone who isnât queerphobic but is performative in her allyship.
If/when youâre feeling dysphoric, Yelena will be there to listen to you vent.
I love the idea that Yelena will warn everyone that youâre not feeling great, and Alexei will take it upon himself to hype you up.
âHeyyy, if it isnât the most not-woman, not-man person I know!â
He claps you on the back and looks to Yelena for approval that he just did allyship right.
Again, heâs a little confused but heâs got the spirit.
If you seem down and youâre clearly withdrawing from the rest of the team, I can imagine Bob asking you if youâre okay and stumbling over some clumsy words of comfort.
I feel like Yelena, Bucky and Bob would be more observant than the rest of your teammates when it comes to realising youâre reacting negatively to gender stuff.
Theyâre the ones who will catch you looking at your reflection for a few seconds too long, or obsessively readjusting your clothes or your hair, or doomscrolling through anti-trans headlines.
If you seem to be way too caught up in it, theyâll ask you if youâre alright, or otherwise try to distract you with something else (even if itâs obvious they know somethingâs up).
Ava will pick up on a lot of things but she is far less likely to say anything.
Itâs not that she doesnât care; itâs that she doesnât think itâs her place to say anything because she wouldnât be your âgo-toâ.
If she notices that youâre doomscrolling, though, Iâd like to think she snatches your phone off you without a word.
You have to be so visibly bad for John or Alexei to notice.
And, even then, they might not realise itâs a gender thing.
But, if Alexei knows whatâs wrong, heâll try his best to comfort you.
Heâs paternal like that.
John wonât bother saying anything.
His version of being nice is the bare minimum of not making you feel any worse.
Quickfire round:
If youâre transmasc, Alexei will offer to take you to do some stereotypically masculine activities.
He may also let you win an arm wrestling contest to make you feel better.
(If you couldnât tell, I love the idea of Alexei being paternal to you).
If you ever want/need to go shopping for gender-affirming clothes, Yelena will be happy to go with you because clothes and other forms of self-expression mean a lot to her.
If you bind, Yelena and Bucky are really good at picking up if youâre doing it unsafely.
They will pick up on if you seem dehydrated or if your body language shows some discomfort, especially if youâre someone who isnât great at taking care of themself.
In summary, you have some good teammates who look out for you.
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okay so i'm gonna write some Thunderbolts* nonbinary!reader-insert headcanons for Pride Month. i have an idea for the reader character's origins/powerset, but i haven't written for the MCU before so i don't know if readers in the fandom like fics that get that specific, nor do i know if my idea for the reader's origins are any good.
if you'd be interested in reading this, let me know if you'd be happy with me writing with the more specific backstory in mind, if you'd prefer me to be more vague with the reader's origins other than the fact they've been associated with the Avengers for a while now and they're on the team because they're close with Bucky and helped him out with the whole taking down Valentina thing (they tried anyways), or if you'd like it to be completely ambiguous.
i'd like to write more Thunderbolts* fics, so it'd be handy to know if i can keep using this idea for the reader's origins, or if i need to keep it more vague mostly. i would like to write some stuff with the reader specifically having the backstory i've come up with, but equally since i'm writing for others as much as i am myself i'd like to get some honest, helpful feedback.