Sleeping Bucky

You returned from your mission the next day, disgruntled and exhausted. Your whole cover had been blown and now you were going to have to assemble an alibi and a new disguise, just because Clint couldn’t keep it in his damn pants. Natasha did have an amazing body but that was no excuse to get distracted in the middle of a freaking mission and drop you right into a HYDRA base. You had gotten out with barely a scratch and the only casualties belonged to the opposing force, but it could have been easily avoided.

“Why the long face?” Clint nudged you with his shoulder lightly with a toothy grin.

“Just because you got a good view of Nat’s ass doesn’t mean the entire mission was a success, Bird Brain!” you exclaimed, shoving him away. He meowed and pretended to claw at you and you held back a smile and rolled your eyes.

“What about my ass?” Natasha slipped in between you and Clint with a small smirk on her face.

“Nothing you don’t know already,” you said with a smile before trudging wearily down the hall towards your room. You passed Steve’s room and heard voices coming from the slightly ajar door. You leaned against the doorway softly and listened intently.

“Bucky c’mon, you can tell me,” you heard Steve plead. You could tell without even looking that he was smiling.

“Yeah Steve, I know,” Bucky replied flatly with a hint of annoyance.

“She’s been gone a day and you’ve done nothing but mope, you like her don’t you?” Steve pressed, obviously delighted with his observation. Bucky snarled in response and both went quiet for a moment before Bucky sighed.

“Shut up Steve, we’ll talk about it later okay?” he said eventually. You heard heavy footsteps walk towards the door and you skirted away from it, jogging slightly down the hall to make it look like you hadn’t been eavesdropping.

Once you were a couple of doors down, you slowed down and turned back to see Bucky shutting the door silently. Time to play it cool.

“What up, Buck?” you said as cheerily as possible, considering your aching muscles were threatening to let you drop to the floor at any moment.

“Oh (Y/N), hey, how was the mission?” he said with a small smile.

“Clint’s pigheadness got us compromised,” you said, forgetting that Bucky didn’t know how the mission went down. He cocked his head like a little puppy and looked at you with a confused expression. “Never mind, I’m heading for a shower now but do you want to hang out afterwards?”

“Love to, I’ll be in the living room,” he said with a nod. You smiled and turned to walk away when Bucky noticed your limp from where Clint had dropped you.

“(Y/N), are you okay? Do you need help?” he asked quickly, a concerned expression washing over his face. You hesitated for a moment but didn’t have a chance to reply as he slipped his metal arm around your waist and held you up slightly so that you could walk easily to your room. Once you stepped in the door, you turned to face him and he let his hand settle at your hip. You blushed as his conversation with Steve popped into your mind.

“I think I can handle it from here,” you murmured, attempting not to lean in to his touch but the temptation was strong. Bucky’s cheeks were dusted a rosy pink after realising how close he was standing, quickly withdrawing his hand.

“Thanks for the help, I’ll catch you in like 10 to 15 minutes?” you said, touching the back of his with your fingertips. His eyes softened when your skin touched his and he nodded with a little smirk. You turned and hobbled to your bathroom after he left, cursing yourself for ruining the moment. Could he really like you?!

You sighed and let the hot water wash over you, releasing your muscles of tension and cleaning your skin of dirt, sweat, and Bucky’s brief touch. Once you were finished, you plaited your damp hair and threw on a pair of loose pants and a t shirt.

Wandering down to the living room, you found Bucky sitting on one of the plush couches with two mugs of tea sitting in front of him on the coffee table. One of them was your favourite cup. You couldn’t help but grin happily as you tossed yourself down onto the couch next to him.

“Why James, would that tea in my favourite cup be for me?” you teased as he reached forward, picking both of the cups up and handing you one.

“I’ve been practising,” he said softly, watching you take the first sip. You sighed contently as the sweet, hot liquid warmed your insides.

“And you’ve already perfected it, my friend!” you exclaimed, clinking your cup on the side of his. He smiled brightly at your comment and downed his tea quickly, paying no heed to its temperature. You cradled your cup in your hands and hummed quietly to yourself. You felt a hand reach up and stroke your plaited hair gently, and looked over to see Bucky frowning at it, twisting the end between his fingers.

“You like it?” you asked, a smirk playing at your lips.

“Yeah, it’s pretty,” he said simply. An idea popped into your head and you set your cup down and clapped your hands excitedly.

“I’ve just had to best idea ever!” you exclaimed. “Sit on the floor in front of me.”

Bucky looked at you with a look of confusion but obliged to your command. You crossed your legs on the couch and he rested his head back on the couch between your knees. You ran your fingers through his messy brown hair, untangling it as much as possible before starting to French plait it. It only took a couple of minutes and you pulled a hair tie off of your wrist, tying the end of his hair with it. Leaning back, you admired your handiwork and turned his head from side to side to see if you missed any bits.

“What did you do?” he asked, sitting impatiently as you played with the loose bits of hair that framed his face.

“French plait,” you smiled, patting the top of his head gently. You sensed someone walk up behind you and you turned to see Steve standing behind the couch, stifling a laugh.

“How do I look, Steve?” Bucky said with a wink.

“Beautiful, Bucky, just majestic,” Steve grinned, leaning over to pat him on the shoulder. And then maniacal laughter filled the room as Tony doubled over, gripping his sides.

“You are so whipped, Frosty!” he cried, wiping a tear from his eye.

“Never mind them Bucky, can I play with your hair more?” you asked sweetly, rubbing his shoulders. He merely shrugged, settling into a comfortable position in front of you.

You took out the hair tie and undid the plait, working your fingers through the knots once again and stroking his soft locks for what felt like an hour at least. Bucky’s eyes had drifted closed and yours were beginning to droop again, until a loud crash caused both of you to sit up straight, startled.

Bucky woke up, looking around wildly, a look of fear in his eyes. You reached out to touch his face when he turned towards you and you shushed him gently.

“It’s okay, James, it was just a loud noise, you’re okay, do you remember me?” you reeled in the most soothing voice you could muster. He blinked and nodded, but was still tense. You shimmied off of the couch and sat beside him, taking his hand in yours. You felt him relax slightly as you squeezed his human hand, stroking the back of it with you thumb. He let out a breath that both of you hadn’t known he was holding in and he smiled weakly at you.

“Sorry, I guess I’m not fully recovered yet,” he said, dropping his gaze.

“Nobody expects you to be, you’re doing amazingly well, don’t forget that,” you said reassuringly. “Wanna go check out what the hell that was?”

He nodded and stood up, pulling you up gently without letting go of your hand. You both wandered down the hall, you still limping, to find a panting Tony sprinting out of the lap, a look of fear and humour conveyed on his face.

“Oh fuck, Tony did you do what I think you did?” you asked, afraid of the answer.

“It wasn’t on purpose, I swear!” Tony huffed, backing away from the direction of one of the labs, as a roar rippled through the tower.

“What’s happening?” Bucky said, oblivious to Tony’s habit of setting off the Other Guy.

“Jesus, Buck, we gotta run now, unless you want to get smashed in the worst sense of the word by a giant green guy with an affection for purple!” you exclaimed, watching the realisation hit Bucky like a slap in the face. He hoisted you onto his back in one swift motion and ran back to the kitchen, taking the stairs two at a time and stopping when he reached your floor. He didn’t let you off of his back until you had safely entered your room and the door was shut tight.

He walked to the bed and set you down gently; panting ever so slightly but he hadn’t even broken a sweat. He really is a super soldier. You flopped onto your bed, exhausted from the adrenaline rush, despite not having ran at all. Bucky lay down next to you, staring at the ceiling.

“Does that happen often?” he frowned.

“More often than you would think,” you admitted and he turned his head towards you. Glancing down at his human hand that was just inches away from yours, you sighed. “I was just about to fall asleep.”

“I was already gone,” he smirked. His features started blurring as you stared at him with sleepy eyes. You felt his slid into yours and a pair of lips touch your nose and you smiled before drifting off.