Professor!Bucky Barnes x Reader
Warning: Nothing I can think of (?) If you find something, send me a message.
Prompt / Summary: Bucky just learned a lesson: You have to ask before you make assumptions.
Note: So, I learned something with this, Peter’s mom’s maiden name was Fitzpatrick. Also, I wanted to make this one since what feels like forever. Btw, isn’t Sebastian Stan the loveliest? If there is a mistake or something you can totally tell me so we can fix it! :)
‘God be damned, I’ll totally be late, again.’ Y/n thought as she saw how many slides were left for the class to end.
Usually she wouldn’t mind staying a little longer to finish a class, especially if it was the last of the day; but now, with her nephew Peter under her wing, a lot of things changed, sadly, her school schedule wasn’t one to change.
At 3.15 pm Dr. Banner let the students go home. He was very passionate about the subject he taught, and Y/n appreciated that a lot… just not at that moment. As fast as she could, she put her laptop, books and bottle of water in her backpack and ran to her car.
Finally, after what felt like years, she arrived to Peter’s school at 3.45 pm. Earlier than the last time at least. Still in the car she set her eyes to the building’s main entrance and started to worry when she realized Peter was not there. Rapidly she got out of the car.
‘No, no fucking way' 'He knows he is supposed to wait for me here' 'Oh no, where could he be?’
Before she could start losing her mind somebody cleared their throat. “Excuse me, are you here for Peter Parker?”
Y/n jumped as soon as the woman finished her question. “Yes, yes, I’m here for him! Do you know where he is?”
She could swear that she saw pity in the woman’s green eyes “Yes, he is in Professor Barnes’ classroom.”
Relief washed all over the young girl’s body “Awesome, could you lead me there?”
“Yes” the mature woman in front of her looked rather uncomfortable, but Y/n had no mind at that moment to pay attention to that.
The lady walked her through corridors with open doors at the sides, which made the young doctor self-conscious; all the kids were already home, maybe doing homework or playing, and her nephew was stuck here because she couldn’t arrive at time.
Before she could start self-destroying herself both women arrived to a corridor with a closed door in its left wall.
“That’s Professor Barnes’ classroom, knock before entering.” And with that the woman turned around and left; leaving an alone Y/n to her devices.
Without thinking too much, the girl knocked the door twice and waited till a rough voice inside told her to come in. Upon opening the door, her eyes found Peter and she got to her knees and extended her eyes.
“Kiddo! I finally found you!” As soon as her mouth opened, Peter ran to her arms, and the so called ‘Professor Barnes’ set his eyes on her.
“Bloody hell Peter! I was so worried kid.” She told him, separating from him to put her hands on his shoulders.
“But I’m okay!” He said with a happy smile. “And I already finished homework!”
“That’s awesome dude!” She stroked his hair, then turned to the Professor, who got up from his chair. “Thank you for taking care of him while I was busy Mr.-” She left the sentence incomplete, hoping he would introduce himself. The older man didn’t smile.
“While you were gone you mean.” Any trace of a smile erased from the girl’s face.
“Go-” ‘Gone?’ she wanted to ask.
“Mrs. Parker, a word please” He interrupted her, and before she could tell him that ‘Parker’ wasn’t her last name, but Fitzpatrick, he passed next to her through the door and waited for her outside.
“Pack your things okay?” She tried to smile for the boy, and got up, walking outside the classroom and closing the door behind her.
“Yes sir? What did you need?” She asked, without her usual smile, but with a polite voice.
“Mrs. Parker, if you didn’t have time for a kid, you shouldn’t have had one” He told her, the roughest voice she had ever heard.
“Come again?” She asked surprised. How could he talk to her like that?
“Look Mrs. Parker, let’s not play pretend, this is the 10th time in this month that you arrive late, today was the 5th time Peter didn’t have anything to eat at lunch, and the 8th he has fallen asleep at my class, and that’s only talking about my class.” He said, his blue eyes piercing through her soul. She felt bad, but there was little she could do to change what was happening.
She arrived late because she had classes at the exact same moment Peter got out of school; those three times he went to school without lunch were because they were short of money, or because the bar she worked at couldn’t pay her sooner; and the constant tiredness of Peter was because of the nightmares that didn’t let him, and her, sleep at night. She knew that, this wasn’t her fault, she was trying everything in her power to make this work, even giving him her lunch and staying hungry herself. She knew that. She knew she was doing her best. He didn’t. But at that moment she was left speechless.
“I- I” She tried to defend herself.
“I, I and only I. That’s the point Mrs. Parker, you have to think about him, not you!” He yelled at her, his impeccable and always in place brown hair getting messy with the sharp movements he made. “Look, Mrs. Parker, we don’t want this to go any further, right? So, I suggest you to start taking better care of your kid, the scholar year has just started, if this situation stays the same, I’m afraid I’ll have to call my superiors and if be needed child support.”
If his scream didn’t scare her, the threat of calling child support did. Y/n was so close to cry in front of him, but she took a deep breath and looked him at the eyes. “I get it sir; is there anything else you would like to discuss?”
Her response made him want to yell at her, but an opening door and a sweet voice stopped him.
“Y/n are you done? I want to go home.” Peter chimed in their conversation.
“Yes Peter, I am, let’s go home.” The girl smiled at him, and without glancing at the teacher, she took the boy’s backpack in one hand and his hand in the other, and the two of the walked back to her car.
Something James Barnes always prided himself of was his ability to observe the kids around him, and if it was necessary to put their parents in place. He could be the sweetest to his children, who often called him “Professor Bucky” or simply “Bucky”, but he could be the devil in person with the parents that didn’t take proper care of their children.
Peter Parker had been by far his favorite student, the little boy was so intelligent, it scared him sometimes; he knew a lot of fun facts, he was especially good at math and natural sciences; Bucky though he could be a doctor with all his knowledge in the human body, but the boy often told him that, that wasn’t for him.
Anyway, the little boy was so dedicated and passionate that he often found himself and the boy discussing a certain topic seen in his class during lunch break; that’s how he noticed that sometimes the boy didn’t have food to eat, or that sometimes he was so sleepy he would stare at some point in the distance and fall asleep.
Bucky felt so mad at Peter’s parents, that it didn’t matter to him that Peter’s mother was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, or that she seemed indeed worried about him. No. He was so mad because she and her husband couldn’t give Peter the proper love and care that he deserved. And now that he thought about it, she was way too young to know what she was doing. And that made him angrier. Anyway, it didn’t matter anymore, for usually when he talked to the parents everything went better.
Except this time, it didn’t.
The day after the “talk” with his mother, Peter missed school.
And the day after that, he arrived with a frown in his face and sat at the back of the room. He made no sound in all day, nor did he share fun facts or answers with the rest of the class, and at lunch break he took his things and without sparing a glace to Bucky walked out of the classroom with his friend Ned. He was picked up at three o’clock sharp by that woman he was now starting to dislike. Did she told Peter not to talk to him anymore? Had she hurt him to make Peter ignore him? Was she making Peter’s life a living hell? Is that why he missed school and was in a bad mood? The doubts made Bucky’s head ache. He needed to talk to Peter to know why he was all moody.
Next day arrived, and Peter did the same: sat at the back and ignored Bucky, he had a frown again. At lunch time Bucky tried to call him, but the boy was already out of the classroom when the bell sang.
Two more days passed the same, until a faithful Friday after classes, Peter was waiting to be picked up when Bucky told him to go to the classroom to wait for his parents to come for him. Peter looked at him with a mix of anger and hurt, but walked to the classroom anyway and sat at the end of the room. Bucky followed him
“What is it Peter? Why don’t you talk to me anymore?” Bucky asked with the softest voice he had. Peter had taken out a book that read ‘Anatomy for kids’ and was ignoring him. “I know, why don’t we talk about anatomy? I heard you talking about it with your friend Ned during lunch time the other day.” He said again, smiling.
“I don’t want to talk with you” The young boy whispered, making Bucky’s smile disappear.
“Why Peter?” Bucky tried again. Peter mumbled something behind his book that he couldn’t catch. “What did you say Peter?” He asked getting closer.
“Because you made her cry!” He screamed at the top of his lungs, tears threatening to fall from his eyes.
“Wha- what do you mean Peter?” Bucky tried to hug him or something but the kid jumped out of his chair.
“You made her cry! You made auntie Y/n cry! She cried all night and asked me forgiveness one hundred times! She thinks she is a bad aunt because of what you told her, but she is the best thing I have ever had since- since”
“Since what Peter?” Bucky pushed him further.
“Since my parents went to heaven” And with that hell broke lose and Peter started crying like there was no tomorrow, Bucky got to his knees and tried to comfort the kid but nothing seemed to work, until the door opened, and the girl he had before confused with Peter’s mother came running to the kid and hugged him.
She threw her backpack to the floor and Bucky could see medicine books and a stethoscope fly out of the poorly closed bag. Then everything clicked to Bucky, why she was always late, why she looked so young, why Peter never got mad like other kids when she was late. Because she was doing what she could do.
“Shh, shh, it’s okay my boy, it’s okay. Do you want to talk about it?” She whispered as she rocked him on the floor back and forth in her arms.
“Aunt Y/n I miss my mommy” The girl’s eyes filled with tears.
“Me too, kiddo, me too. But you mommy would be so sad to watch you cry. Do you remember that song she used to sing to your dad?”
“Ye-ah, it-it was pretty.” Peter answered in a whisper, trying to regulate his breath.
“How does it go?” Y/n made a thoughtful face, and Peter separated from her a little to see her face. “oh yes… I’ll reach my hands out in the dark
And wait for yours to interlock
I’ll wait for you
I’ll wait for you
'Cause I’m not givin’ up
I’m not givin’ up, givin’ up
No, not yet
Even when I’m down to my last breath
Even when they say there’s nothin’ left
So don’t give up on”
Peter’s eyes shined as he sang too. Bucky still in the floor with them saw how Peter slowly became sleepier and let Y/n carry him to the exit. When she tried to take his and her things, Bucky took them from her and walked behind her to her car, once she laid Peter down in the back seats, and closed the door. Bucky started talking:
“I’m so sorry Miss Parker, I-”
“Y/n Fitzpatrick, but you can call me Y/n. Parker was my sister’s married name… she died some months ago, and now I’m Peter’s legal guardian” She interrupted him, as she opened the trunk, took the backpacks and books from him and threw them in.
“I’m sorry Y/n, if I had known what was going on, I wouldn’t have said that.” Bucky told her, shame and guilt written all over his face.
“It’s okay, I guess I will have to push a little harder to be the tutor Peter deserves” She said looking at the floor ashamed.
“No!” Bucky’s sudden yell made her jump. “You are doing great, Peter talks wonder of you, says you are the best thing that has happened to him since his parents. I told you all those things because I thought you weren’t taking proper care of him… he is such an amazing kid, and now I know that in part because of you, I saw the book he was reading ‘Anatomy for kids’ he most admire you a lot”
The girl smiled “I took him to one of my classes some days ago, he seemed to love it”
“I’m sure he did” It was his turn to smile, and Y/n was awestruck; she knew from the moment she saw him that the man was handsome, with his frown and everything. But here, with a smile on his face, his blue eyes sparkling and the little wrinkles, sign that he smiled often; man, at that moment she thought she was in front of a god. “I’m James Barnes, but my kids call me Professor Bucky, you can call me Bucky too.” Oh, dear God, he called his students HIS children, how heartwarming was that? She knew he was good with kids; he wasn’t Peter’s favorite teacher for nothing. But this, this was beyond lovely.
“Nice to officially meet you Bucky.” His smile got bigger when he heard her. His name sounded heavenly coming from her lips.
“Likewise,” And then both adults looked at the floor, speechless. But Bucky wasn’t having none of that, he was going to make it up to her. He cleared his throat. “Would you like to… go to the park? I mean, Peter, you and me. I have a lot to make up for.”
“You have nothing to make up for, really, I get that you were trying to help Peter.”
“Well maybe I don’t have to, but I would like to…”
Y/n didn’t know what to do, she didn’t want to go out with him just because he felt guilty, she didn’t date often, mostly because she had no time, but also because she didn’t want to waste her time in boys that wouldn’t stay around, or wouldn’t understand what her duty was, especially now with Peter by her side. Bucky seem to understand that, but if he really just did that to ease his guilt?
“Please” He whispered taking her hand and looking straight at her eyes, he seemed honest.
She was going to accept but a younger voice interrupted her from inside the car “Say yes aunt Y/n. I want to go to the Park” And soon Peter’s face was showing through the still open trunk, his cheeks resting in the back seat, “Please auntie”
Bucky and the girl laughed “Seems like I am forgiven” He said smiling at little Peter.
“Just if aunt Y/n accepts to go to the park with us!” Peter exclaimed, but the three of them knew he had already forgiven Bucky.
“What do you say Y/n? Do you help me earn Peter’s forgiveness?” The blue-eyed man asked her, his eyes shining with hope.
The girl giggled “You will win him back with an ice cream and a race to the swings” She now realized that they still had their hands entwined.
“And do you have any tips to win you over?” He stepped closer.
She squished his hand “That can be discussed later over a coffee, for now let’s go to the park”
He smiled, she smiled, Peter yelled excited, and the three of them started a story together.
