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Published:
2022-07-01
Updated:
2024-06-30
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18/30
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This is (not) a Ghost Story [COMIC]

Summary:

Steve moves into a haunted house. Well — everyone else is convinced it’s haunted, anyways.

Notes:

I’ve taken a break from my current reality and am spending some time in the bubble that is Stucky fandom circa 2014. Thank you to Peach, always my favourite cheerleader, as well as to the peeps in Marvel Art Party and to Kam specifically for the beta!

Alt text has been embedded, but let me know if it needs to be fixed.

Posting Saturdays from now on (I just like the look of posting 07/01 through 12/31 :)).

Chapter 1: Moving Day

Chapter Text

Title page of PottersPink's comic, This is (not) a Ghost Story. Bucky stands against a green wall and is covered by an off white piece of cloth. In the bottom left of the image, a fat, fluffy orange cat wearing a collar with the letter 'A' on the charm stares up at him. From out of view, Steve says "What an ugly ghost." Bucky replies, "This was your ma's favourite table cloth, pal."

Page 1, chapter 1: Moving Day. Full page view of a car driving along a winding road in a forest. You can see the Manhattan skyline in the background.

Page 2, Sam and Natasha are in the car. Sam is driving. Natasha looks out the passenger window at the towering trees and says, “I can’t believe Steve actually bought a house.” Sam looks over and replies with an incredulous look and tone, “I can’t believe we’re still technically in the city.”

Page 3. A closeup of the car on the road, with trees towering above them from either side of the road. Natasha says “Yeah, I guess that’s kind of weird, too.”

Page 4. Sam gets Natasha’s attention and leans away from his seat and into Natasha’s space, looking out the passenger window. He says “I think that this is it.”

Page 5. Full page illustration of a long, dark winding road. There is an old stone and iron gate at the entrance, with “Ravens Lane” visible at the top. You cannot see the end of the road, and the trees are tall and swaying.

Page 6. Sam turns into Raven’s Lane and starts to drive down the road. They pass a few driveways but cannot see the houses. Sam asks Natasha: “What number was Steve’s, again?” Natasha replies, “1313.” Sam is concerned and says, “1313 Raven’s Lane. Sounds lucky.” Natasha laughs and comments, “Yeah, no kidding. 1295, 1301, 1307 — oh, here it is.”

Page 7. Sam and Natasha pull into Steve’s driveway. There is a moving truck and ramp set up in front of the house, and Steve is standing close to it with his hands on his hips. He is smiling at them. Behind him, the house looms, tall and narrow and made of brick. There are a lot of windows, all different sizes and shapes. The yard is surrounded by trees, all tall and leaning in.

Page 8. Steve calls hello, still standing in front of the house. Sam and Natasha get out of the car, and Natasha says “So the city boy has a yard, huh?” while walking up to Steve.

Page 9. Natasha asks, “Is it as old as you are?” Steve smiles and responds “But I look younger, don’t I?” Natasha grimaces and makes a seesaw motion with her hand. She says “well,” and drags out the word so that it sounds like she is disagreeing with him. Steve shoves Natasha hard, and she falls over with a shocked expression. From out of sight, Sam calls Steve’s name.

Page 10. Natasha has the arm Steve shoved her with held tight and she is threatening him with a taser. They both look at Sam, who asks: “You sure there aren’t, like — dead people living here, man?” Steve and Natasha both look back to the house. Sam begins to sweat, nervous.

Page 11. Steve doesn’t respond, and Sam gets more and more nervous. He sweats more until he has to call Steve’s name again. Steve laughs, looking sheepish. Natasha and Sam both stare at him incredulously. “Haha yeah Sam of course there aren’t any ghosts here.”

Page 12. Steve steps towards the house but turns back to look at Sam and Natasha. Steve asks them if they want a tour, and in the corner of the largest front window of the house, you see a dark, shadowing face watching them. Natasha doesn’t look impressed, and Sam tries to point it out to Steve, to no avail.

Chapter 2: Nope.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2: Nope. Page 1. It’s night and Steve stands on his porch, backlit by the light from inside the house. He is waving goodbye to Sam and Natasha, who are getting back into Sam’s car. Steve yawns widely as he waves.

Page 2. Steve steps back into his house, and climbs the stairs up to the second floor. He yawns again while climbing. Upstairs he is greeted by a long hallway, long enough that the far end is completely dark. There are framed photos on the floor, leaning up against the wall. He makes it to his bedroom and peeks inside, flicking the light on.

Page 3. Full page illustration of Steve walking into his bedroom, stretching his arms over his head. You can see a slip of his belly where his shirt rides up, and his face is scrunched. Of what you can see of his room, it’s a mess. There are boxes and clothes spread out on the floor.

Page 4. Steve sits on the edge of his bed, and with a sigh he falls back with his arms spread.

Page 5. A bird’s eye view of Steve’s room. Steve is lying on his back staring up at the ceiling. There are boxes, a suitcase and a rolled up rug on the floor. There is also a pile of loose socks spilled onto the floor from a tipped box.

Page 6. Steve turns his head to look at his room, and then back up to the ceiling. He heaves a huge sigh and thinks that he is too tired to clean up.

Page 7. Bird’s eye view of Steve’s bedroom again, with the lights off. Steve is in bed, curled up on his side and sleeping.

Page 8. The room is dark, Steve is fast asleep and drooling onto his pillow. He scrunches his nose and smacks his lips, starting to wake. Slowly he begins to open his eyes and sees a vague, dark shape begin to appear.

Page 9. Steve blinks his eyes some more and as his vision clears, so does the tall, dark, and looming shape.

Page 10. Full page illustration of Steve in bed, blinking sleepily at the tall dark figure who is standing at the end of his bed, watching him.

Page 11. Steve makes eye contact with the dark figure, who does not blink or look away.

Page 12. Steve turns and dives back into his pillow, pulling the blanket up to his chin. He thinks, “NOPE.” He doesn’t want to deal with this right now. Cut to a few hours later. And the room is bright with morning light. Steve is sprawled across his bed, arm hanging off the edge of the mattress and is drooling once more.

Page 13. Steve begins to wake up. He furrows his brow and scrunches his nose and yawns widely. He stops and stares at his room, surprised.

Page 14. Full page illustration of Steve’s room from behind him. Along the wall across from his bed, there are pictures hung on the wall, the fireplace has been cleaned and there are knick knacks on the mantle, and the bookshelf has been moved and is full of books. The armchair is in front of the shelf, and underneath the set is a rug that Steve does not recognize.

Page 15. Bird’s eye view of Steve’s newly cleaned and organised room.

Page 16. Steve is confused but clearly does not want to question things right now. He gets out of bed but when his bare feet touch the floor, he flinches because it’s cold. He decides to go looking for socks, which he figures is where his socks have ended up.

Page 17. Steve walks over to his dresser and pulls open the top right drawer.

Page 18. Steve found his socks in the top right drawer of his dresser, but they have all been folded together in mismatched pairs. “Haha, weird,” he says to himself. THE END.

Chapter 3: Neighbour who?

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: Neighbour who? Sam and Natasha are walking down Raven’s Lane and looking around. Sam looks up at the trees, which are towering above them, and Natasha looking that the flowers and rocks along the road, swinging a stick around. Sam asks, “How did Steve even find this place?”

Page 2. Natasha replies, “No idea.” She notices a big rock and crouches down to poke at it. “I checked everything out and it’s clean, all legal.” She puts both hands on the rock as though about to lift it. Sam leans down and asks what she’s doing. Natasha does lift it, and a bunch of bugs and a snake crawl out. Natasha thinks it’s neat, but Sam cringes and says “Gross.”

Page 3. “So that’s it, I guess,” Natasha says while standing back up. She brushes her hands on her thighs. “Captain America’s settled down and bought himself a house. Nothing Crazy about it.” She and Sam turn to continue their walk down Raven’s Lane, and Sam says: “I guess I’m still just surprised. It seemed pretty sudden. I thought that he’d be ready to head back to Europe.” Sam notices a small figure ahead of them. “Oh hey — she must be Steve’s neighbour.”

Page 4. Sam is already waving and decides that they should go introduce themselves. As Natasha picks her stick back up, she wonders if that would be odd, since they don’t actually live around here. Sam replies, “No, it would be polite.” So they walk over to Steve’s neighbour, who is a little old lady wearing a striped dress and a knit cardigan. She is emptying her mailbox at the end of her driveway, address 1311. Sam calls out: “Hi, ma’am, I don’t mean to interrupt. We just wanted to introduce ourselves. We’re friends of Steve’s, your new neighbour.”

Page 5. Neighbour smiles at them. “I’m sorry, did you say that you were my new neighbours? Down the road at 1411?” Sam smiles and shakes his head. “Uh, no — not us. Our friend Steve just moved in next door, at 1313. I’m Sam, and this is Natasha.” Neighbour freezes, and doesn’t reply. Awkward pause. Then, she says, “Oh. How strange.”

Page 6. Sam (already not a fan of where this is going): “...strange?” Neighbour laughs and shrugs, seemingly unconcerned. “Honestly I thought someone already lived there. What with all of the flashing lights and odd noises.” She frowns, thoughtful, and puts a hand on her hip. “I could have sworn that someone wanders the woods at night.” She shrugs again, chuckling. “Probably just a raccoon.”

Page 7. Sam and Natasha stare at the neighbour incredulously, and with some concern. Sam tilts his head back and declares that he hates all of it. Natasha puts her hand on his shoulder and tells him she is just going to head back to Steve’s. Neighbour smiles pleasantly at them and waves, swinging her mail back and forth. “Tell Steve that Mrs. Han at 1311 is always available for tea!” END.

Chapter 4: Alpine

Chapter Text

Chapter 4: Alpine. Steve, Natasha, and Sam are all sitting around Steve’s living room eating pizza. They’ve finished another day of unpacking and they are relaxing. Natasha is lying on the couch with a napkin covering her face and her feet are propped up in Steve’s lap. Sam is nearly passed out in an armchair, slouched deep into the cushion. Steve is happily munching away on a slice of pizza. He notices something in the corner of his eye, and then a smile breaks out on his face. “Alpine! There you are!”

Page 2. A black cat stands backlit in the doorway. It stares at them with a blank expression, like a demon. Natasha peeks at it from under her napkin, and Sam stares down his nose. Neither seem to know what to do with this new addition.

Page 3. Sam: “Hey man, when’d you get the cat?” Steve: “It, uh. It came with the house?” Sam and Natasha look at each other, and both decide that they’re just going to roll with it. END.

Chapter 5: Gardening is very relaxing

Chapter Text

Page 1: Chapter 5, Gardening is very relaxing. Full page illustration of the forest around Steve’s house. There are bushes and flowers and lots of trees.

Page 2. Steve and Sam are standing in the backyard, admiring all of the flowers. “Wow, Steve — it looks great back here. You do it all yourself? Gardening is great. Relaxing and helps build routine. Good for you.” Steve laughs a little. “Oh fuck no,” he replies. “Don’t ever put me in charge of a plant.”

Page 3. Sam is confused. “Oh. So you hired someone to come by and do it?” Steve shakes his head. “Invite strangers over? Nah, Bu —” YOU’VE PUT YOUR FOOT IN IT, STEVE. OOPS. Hopefully Sam didn’t catch that slip.

Page 4. Steve starts speaking again, dragging out the “Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuu” until he settles on the word “but”. Sam is not impressed.

Page 5. Steve turns to Sam and says, “But I thought they just grew like this.” Sam cannot believe this guy. END.

Chapter 6: A CURSE, Rogers

Chapter Text

Page 1. Chapter 6: A CURSE, Rogers. In a dark room, you see Steve’s hand reaching for a lightswitch.

Page 2. Steve turns the bathroom light on. The walls are covered in a wallpaper with bats and snake skeletons on it. Steve is staring at the mirror, and he has a bemused expression on his face. In big, sloppy, red writing, you can read YOUR ACTING IS A CURSE. Steve’s only reaction is a little “huh.” END.

Chapter 7: I don't know what's worse

Notes:

Thanks for your patience! Here we go with chapter 7 :)

Chapter Text

Page 1. Steve, Sam, and Natasha stare down into a box of antique toys and comic books.

Chapter 8: Unused Spaces

Notes:

1/4 of the way through :) and we've reached intermission 1. Thank you everyone who has been following along so far!

Chapter Text

The attic is dark except for a string of warm white fairy lights strung above the circular window. There are jacks, a toy horse, and a miniature Ford model along a ledge under the window. There are blankets folded up and a pillow on a mat, with a calico cat curled up on top. Books are stacked everywhere, titles including The Hobbit, The Return of the King, and The Golem and the Jinni. Steve has left some flowers in a vase for his ghost, because they reminded Steve of him. This is where the ghost lives.

Chapter 9: don't spoil your dinner

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Chapter 10: the bar was set a long time ago

Notes:

Hi! I cannot explain how happy I am that this is here. I love this project so much, it's my happy place. Posting schedule has unfortunately been changed to 'when I finish a chapter,' but I promise I won't quit until it's done. Thank you all for sticking around :)

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Chapter 11: Cat(s?) Sitting

Notes:

Birthday weekend!! Grateful that I got to spend it finishing this chapter :)

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Chapter 12: #hotghoulsummer

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Notes:

Steve knows that a Barnes -- I mean a ghost -- that can't resist a bargain is a ghost that is healing.

Thank you everyone for sticking with the comic!! It means so much to me when I encounter readers out and about :)

Chapter 13: New Recruit (Part 1)

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Chapter 14: New Recruit (Part 2)

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

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Notes:

*rearranges canon timeline in a way that sparks joy (not ironic) for ME. These were actually some of the first chapters that I wrote.

Thank you for reading and commenting and giving kudos, as always!! <3

Chapter 15: Quiet Company

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Steve sits in his large blue wingback chair, knitting under lamplight. Tucked behind the chair with his back to the viewer, Bucky, I mean, the ghost, plays with Alpine.

Notes:

Second intermission! And a surprise ghost sighting :) happy spooky season <3

Chapter 16: Wake Up

Notes:

ADDITIONAL WARNINGS!! Visual depictions of blood, and of Steve's crash (drowning, blood, implied death)

Additional warnings tag has also been added to the tag list.

The hurt comfort tag has finally (officially) entered the chat :)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

A blue, green, and grey wave over a black background. Chapter 16: wake up

Steve is flying the Valkyrie over the ocean; he can hear Peggy and Bucky both asking him to stop. The sun is rising over the water.

Steve is getting closer to the water. The waves are coming up to meet him.

Impact. Steve hits the water and is blasted back, knocking his head hard against the wall.

The tesseract glow is still all around and Steve is shocked by the impact of the crash. He falls forward onto the control panel of the ship.

Steve slowly gathers himself, but then from the shadows, a metal arm reaches forward.

The Winter Soldier picks Steve up by the hair.

The Winter Soldier slams Steve against the control panel of the Valkyrie repeatedly, while Steve tries to scream: I don't want to fight you, Bucky, please.

Steve is slammed through the windshield of the Valkyrie and into the Arctic waters. He still pleads with Bucky that he doesn't want to fight.

Steve floats in the water, bleeding out. He knows that he will drown.

Blackness.

Steve wakes up. "Buck?" he asks.

Steve is alone in his room, woken abruptly from his nightmare. It is early morning.

Steve rolls over, trying to sweep the nightmare from his thoughts. He can still feel the rush of freezing water.

Steve stays in bed, unable to bring himself to get up. Hours pass.

Steve's bedroom door creaks open. Steve peeks over his shoulder to see what it was.

There was no one there, but Steve decides he may as well get up. He brings his blanket with him, wrapped around him like a ghost sheet.

Steve goes down the stairs, peeking out of the hole in his blanket cape.

He follows the sound of music coming from the living room, looking like a ghost as he walks through the halls.

In the livingroom, the tv is on and Howl's Moving Castle is playing. He can see the tip of a cat tail over the back of the couch. He doesn't recognise it. It's the biggest cat Steve has ever seen. She is stretching luxuriously, and Steve goes to sit beside her. They are the same height sitting down.

Steve can still feel the edges of the nightmare, but he tries to distract himself with the cat. He wants to name her Smaug, but he thinks that he'll be outvoted.

Steve looks over everything that Bucky set out for him. There are all of Steve's favourite foods, his knitting project, and some hot water bottles. Steve smiles softly, although he still feels exhausted.

Steve tells Smaug, "I'm really spoiled, you know." And then wonders if he should call her Horse, instead, because of her size. Suddenly, Steve feels something move on the couch beside him and looks down.

Bucky's metal hand reaches over the edge of the couch. He carefully touches his pinky finger to Steve's.

Steve smiles, a little teary. The nightmare feels faraway.

Yeah, Steve is spoiled rotten. He falls asleep, with Smaug on his back and Bucky's hand holding his, with his favourite movie on the tv and belly full of his favourite snacks.

Notes:

Me sitting with the joy inspired by seeing Steve & Bucky’s pinkies touch: should I also have tagged this slowburn?

Thank you for reading along!! this is the longest chapter yet (and it's my favourite one yet!!!!) PLUS a fun (crazy) fact: this comic is now up to 140 pages long ;-;

Chapter 17: Yard Werk

Notes:

Surprise!! New chapter :) Hopefully the rest of the comic will be re-uploaded tomorrow. I'm not quite happy with the quality of Ch1 so I had to change plans last minute. So instead of a new chapter tomorrow, you get it today!

Chapter Text

Chapter 18: Leaning into it

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Spirit Halloween sign in bright neon and yellow. Reads: Chapter 18. Leaning into it.

Steve stands on the sidewalk, looking up at the storefront.

Steve gapes at the store, which he has never seen before, and then suddenly gets a devious look on his face. He has an idea.

Steve walks into Spirit Halloween, which has a sign above the door reading "open for a limited time." Steve grabs a cart and immediately heads to the yard decor section.

Steve's purchases cost $325.57. It's a bad omen, but Steve buys it all anyways. He heads home.

The house is fully decorated: there are zombie limbs coming out of the ground, except for the left arm in a dakr blue sleeve that looks mostly human. There are fresh graves and signs warning visitors that the house is haunted. There is caution tape on the front porch and bloody handprints in the windows.

The same view of the house with all of its decorations, but at night. Hours have now passed.

Steve is comfy in bed. The view of his bedroom is from a bird's point of view, so you can see how he has redecorated. The walls have been painted and there is art up on the walls. The single armchair by the book shelf has been replaced by a loveseat. There is a yoga mat on the floor on the other side of the bed. Steve does not do yoga.

Steve is falling asleep with a smile on his face. But then red liquid starts to drip onto his face. He opens his eyes and turns to look at the ceiling.

The ceiling reads: YOU AIN'T FUNNY, in red paint. Or is it blood? Steve responds, "Well, it looks like SOMEONE'S sense of humour was stored in their left arm, huh." THE END.

Notes:

:) Happy summer, everyone!!