this is for the lovely @mylovingkiss i hope you like it!!! (ËśË áľ ËËś)
tehehe im fiiiiinally done sigh. it actually took me far too long, sorry bout that :(
lots of fluff, a piiinch of angst (if you squint enough) bc who wouldnât i be if i wouldnât write angsty stuff??? some patheticness on buckyâs side too lol (the way i wouldâve folded so fast ong) ALSO this is so much longer than i expected like hello?! motivation kicked in somewhere along the way hihi
itâs kinda buns tho sadly đ i donât like the ending too much bc does anyone even get what i mean? does my writing even make sense?
ship: jamesâbuckyâbarnes/wintersoldier x gn!reader (meant to be fem!reader but can be interpreted however one wants:3), established relationship
That gooey kind of warm that seeps through the cracks of the window, into the blankets to worm its way under your skin, making your body feel all pliant and soft. Warm sunlight always announces a new day coming soon, with Bucky hopefully still close to your sideâwhereâd been last night, curled protectively around your body, shielding what he deems important from a threat unseen to the naked eye. To yours, at least.
Not to Bucky. Unfortunately, no matter how much he wishes to, to him thereâs always a threat lingering just outside his field of vision, ready to pounce whenever he stops looking for just a second. Old habits die hard, you suppose. Even harder with years â centuries â of orders drilled into his skull, the good kind of memories wiped out the moment heâd start slipping up, liable once again. Heâs not there anymore. Not with Hydra, not with what was left of it, not with anything salivating at the mouth to clamp its jaws around whatâs left of Bucky, not him. Not the Winter Soldier. Heâs with you, instead. Safe. As free as a man like him can be. Finally.
Itâs a nice morning, truly. Perfect only if Bucky was still where he belongs this early. At your side.
You realize his absence before you even fully open your eyes, sleep clouding your vision, shrouding your thoughts. You stir, just slightly, curling your toes to shake the kind of numbness that only a deep slumber ever brings away. It clings to your limbs like lead. Annoying, in a way, yet familiar.
A yawn tears its way across your face, working your jaw open, loose. By now youâve come to realize Bucky really isnât by your side anymore. The blanket is crumpled on his side of the bed, sheets left untouched and cold; for a while now. As obviously as the empty side of his bed is the weight of his body missing, pressed close to yours, wantingâneedingâto hold, to touch you in any way through a night of peaceful sleep for you, and one of tossing and turning for him, willing sleep to steal the memories away. It never works often, scarcely even.
You pretend not to notice. For Buckyâs sake, maybe even yours too. Youâre convinced he knows though, sees the concerned, almost pitying looks you give him whenever the shadows under his eyes grow deeper and the slope of his shoulders more taught. He doesnât need pity, never wanted or expected it coming from you either.
Bucky was never one to let you in on whatâs going on in his head though.
Lately, itâs been getting worse. He pretendsâthat he doesnât wake in the dead of the night, gasping for air like a man held underwater for far too long, that heâs not whimpering when his dreams grow too much and too heavy to bear without a sound.
You do your best, truly, every time, to soothe away the broken memories, stroking your fingers through his hair when heâs slurring incoherent words into your skin and his hands hold onto you just a little tighter.
So yes, perhaps youâve earned the right to be hurt by Bucky shutting you out so completely. Youâre not mad though. Not really. Not at him, never at him because of something thatâs not his fault.
Carefully, you stretch out your legs this time, shifting just enough to press your face into the pillow next to yours, inhaling the dewy scent of Bucky left on his pillow. You close your eyes. He smells like home, first and foremost. Like spices and musk, with just a hint of peppermint softening it at the edges. Heâd probably say the same about you, or just grin at your cheesiness if youâd told him. For a while, you just breathe. Inhaling Buckyâs scent all over the side of his bed, from where it seeps into your nostrils, through your nose and down into your chest, leaving a warm feeling of giddiness behind, like a hole stuffed with sunshine and goodness.
A shiver ripples along your body still all bundled up beneath the sheets, goosebumps pricking at your skin, small and thin like pinheads. You raise your head, squinting at the early morning light slowly creeping up the horizon, bathing the wold in gentle hues of orange and yellow, clouds tinged a fuzzy pink at the edges.
The window is open; someone mustâve forgotten to close it before you had dragged Bucky off to bed last night. Or it just has been reopened.
Curtains sway in the light breeze, making you shudder again, as icy fingers spread to reach for you, longing to get their grip on skin left bared. Disgruntled, you pull your body back into the warmth the bed provides.
With a glance at the clock one the nightstand at your sideâ6:57 a.m. in bright red colors stares back at youâyouâre stretching again until your spine pops, the sound of satisfaction lost somewhere between getting stuck in your throat and actually leaving you.
Even sitting up is harder than youâd thought it to be, sleep still clinging to your consciousness. Yet, you drag yourself out off bed anyway, away from its delicious warmth protecting you.
Buckyâs in the kitchen as you pad out of the bedroom, sleep crusting the corners of your eyes and hair ruffled like the feathers of a spooked bird.
Heâs where you expect him to be; at the kitchen table, hunched over in a chair, nursing away at mug of coffee (still full)âentirely black, no sugar, no milk, he drinks it every morning, like clockwork, like a habit heâs unable to fully shakeâwith some stupidly ridiculous (a cat with a hat) design that youâd insisted on getting for him and for some reason he doesnât remember, he had relented.
He doesnât lift his head when you stroll into the kitchenâdoesnât have to, he heard you the moment you started walking down the hallwayâjust smoothes a thumb along the rim of his mug.
âGood morning.â Your voice is gentle, still laced with the last remnants of tiredness, like honey seeping through the cracks of Buckyâs armor, smoothing out sharp edges and bitter thoughts. His shoulders sag, like the unbearable weight of everything had been lifted away from him the moment you started talking.
âMorning.â Heâs rasping again, voice a broken thing. It always sounds the same after another sleepless night.
You step closer to where Bucky sits, just to trace your fingers along his shoulders, simply to rub away at his burdens. He latches on immediately. Hands wrap your hips, tugging you closer between parted thighs, his lips finding home on your skin. Bucky presses a kiss to your collar, once, twice, while his thumbs smooth along your hipbones, holding you.
Itâs something raw, unfiltered. Some intimate thing meant to be forgotten the moment his mind clears again. You rarely forget, simply because you think you should treasure every touch Bucky gifts you.
Diligently, you card your fingers through the tufts of his hair, dragging your nails down the back of his head, down his neck. His face presses further into your skin, huffing in the smell of your skin like a man starved. You canât help yourself with the grin that spreads along your lips, cheeky in every sense of the word. Your hand falls from the tangled strands of his hair, just to play with the thinner ones at the base of his head. Bucky tilts his head into it, like a cat would lean towards head scratches.
You glance at him again. The tiredness in his gaze is there, barely hidden in the way he looks at you. âYou doing okay? Youâre up quite early again.â Bucky hides his gaze the second you ask. Itâs enough of an answer for you.
You let go of his hair; his hands drop.
Thereâs space between you now that wasnât there before, even if youâre still standing right next to him. And just like that, you slip away, as carefully and quiet as you ever are whenâ
Itâs not like you feel like you need to act like youâre walking on eggshells around Bucky all the time. Itâs just so easy to slip back into the same familiar pattern over and over again. With your back to him now, you shuffle over to the counter, turning at last to lean spie back against. Just to stand there, of course. Itâs too early for coffee. Or even tea. Itâs barely 7:00 a.m on a weekend, so thereâs plenty of time later for coffee or other necessities.
âAre you sure youâre doing alright?â Youâre prying now, you think. Itâs not like you really care if you are. You care about Bucky. Not if you are prying for something that shouldnât concern you. But the damage is done before you can take back your words. His expression falls, becomes tight and expressionless. âJust drop it, please.â Bucky sounds exhausted now.
You release a sigh. Part of you feels frustrated at his stubbornness, the other feels sorry for prying, again.
So you try a second time. âI was just asking because youâre up so early and youâre tired andââ The fingers of his metal armâcold, lifeless, used to hurting others yet somehow still managing to hold you gentlyâflex. âDrop it, doll. Itâs notââ
âItâs just that I care, sorry forââ And just like that, so very easily, something inside Bucky cracks. How dare you feeling sorry for something that comes with who you are. He never yells, doesnât argue with you either. Because itâs pointless, truly. But sleep deprived, with too many thoughts too loud in his brain, with fear gnawing at his insides that youâll leave, once youâll release how broken he truly is, it happens without so much as him thinking about it a second time.
âI said drop it.â Heâs not yelling, but thereâs venom in his voice. Venom that sits like poison in your head, hurting. It hurts. âJust fucking drop it.â Something shatters under the weight of metal. The mug, coffee splatters the table. You flinch; itâs unbidden. You didnât even mean to. Your expression pinches, then drops. Buckyâs does too.
Somehow, thatâs worse than tears.
Both of you move at the same time; you to clean up the mess heâs made out of his mug and Bucky to get to you.
Halfway, you nearly crash into him, his hands frantic as they move to find purchase on your skin before you slip away from him.
âBaby.â Buckyâs fingersâboth flesh and steelâscramble at your cheeks, tugging you in. Youâre not looking at him. Pain spreads where he think his heart should be. âBaby, baby, baby, please. âm sorry. I didnâtâfuckâyou know I didnât mean to.â His thumbs stroke along your cheeks, coaxing you to look at him. Youâre not budging.
Youâre slipping through his fingers like sand, drifting apart from him.
His touch grows firmer, not to hurt you, never to hurt. He just canât have you slipping away. Not when youâre the only thing left thatâs still good to him.
The pain in his chest spreads, like flowers unfurling their petals, from behind his ribs outwards, bleeding into his skin.
âIâm sorry.â He says again. Iâm sorry. Iâm sorry, Iâm sorry, Iâm sorry. Like thatâll fix everything, just like that. A sorry was never meant to fix what he had broken, not in the past, not now. âPlease. Iâll get you a new mug, justââ
Your brows draw together tightly. âKinda liked that mug though.â It was never about the mug, was it?
Buckyâs shoulders heave, a sigh punched from his chest. The heavy kind of sigh that tells you how tired a person truly is. And youâre still not looking at him, instead off to the side somewhere, expression remaining pinched. It looks like youâve just bitten into a sour apple. He runs the pad of his thumb along your jaw this time, smoothing away at the skin under your eye. The callouses on his skin catch on yours, broken skin soothing soft. He tilts your head.
âIâm sorry.â He tells you again. Too many apologies so early. Something as simple as you asking how he was feeling shouldnât have led to this. Bucky knows, he truly does. He tries at cracking a grin, hoping to see you smile back; you donât.
Instead, you sigh too, shoulders raising. âBuckyâŚâ Your touch slips away from his, your body ready to wind itself from his hands on your face. Fuck. He holdsâclingsâonto you tighter. âItâs just that I care, Iâll always careââ His lips crash into yours with a force that nearly knocks you over, and most definitely knocks the breath from your lungs. His teeth scrape your lip, hands cradling your face to tug you deeper into the kiss, deeper into him. You sigh into his mouth, lashes fluttering, threatening to make you buckle, to forgive him (not that never forgiving him was ever an option, of course).
Maybe youâre too soft on him, relenting too soon, too often, and every day a bit more.
Bucky strokes your jaw again when you finally pull away. âDonât stop caring.â His arms wind around you, folding you to his chest. He noses at your shoulder, for the sake of it, savoring the softness and warmth your skin provides him when he feels cold inside. You embrace him too, for the sake of it. âI wonât. Just stop making me feel so shitty about it.â His lips brush your skin; you shudder and this time, itâs not from the cold, but because of the goosebumps that come with Bucky loving you. Heâs grinning now, hiding. âGot it, boss.â You snort.
The mug remains broken where you both left it, barely visible when you peek over Buckyâs shoulder.
You could try to fix it, with bandages and great care. It wonât be as pretty as before, but it doesnât have to be perfect. Given time, youâll find to enjoy it again.
to whoever this reads, i hope you'll have fun with my silliness <3