Pairing: Professor!Bucky Barnes x Professor!Reader
Author’s Note: My second request, sent in by the lovely @iheartsebastianstan, i decided to change it up just a tiny bit, but i hope you enjoy what i have put out for you, and i do hope there is enough angst! Anything italicized is a flashback of sorts! Thank you for sending in the request love! I enjoyed writing this for you. Behind the Screen chapter 18 will be out tomorrow, had to get this one-shot out!
“May i have a super angsty fic, reader is cute, but a little awkard, techie & is completely in love w/Bucky. Everyone can see it, even Bucky. He flirts back, she thinks its going somewhere but overhears him talking that he just feels bad for her, she’s not his type. She is embarrassed & pulls away & tries to get over him. Starts dating other people maybe, he notices her absence & realizes he really was feeling something for her too. Ending doesn’t have to be happy, just maybe hopeful?”
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He had no idea, except that he did.
He had no idea that your heart skipped a beat in your chest when you saw him smile. Your breath catching in your throat when it was directed towards you, how you longed to be the reason behind that smile, the same way he was the reason for yours. You wanted to be the one to bring him joy, be the reason his eyes lit up. He brought so much happiness to those around him, and he deserved that same happiness in return, and you wanted to be the one to give it to him.
“You ever going to tell lover boy over there that your completely and totally head over heels for him?”
Your eyes snapped towards Banner, “it isn’t like that Bruce, it’s” the words caught on your tongue, because it was like that.
“It’s like nothing y/n, your totally smitten for the man, anytime he comes into our lab to borrow equipment, you become a puddle of goo on the floor, besides don’t you two go back”
“I do not, and unfortunately we do” you muttered eyes going back to the equipment on your table.
“Oh no?” Banner laughs, “we’ll see about that,” he murmurs.
You turn your head to raise a brow at him, “hey y/n, hey banner,”
“Jesus fuck!” You hiss a spark flying from the equipment you had before you, the shock enough to send you falling to the floor, hand waving wildly.
“See,” banner speaks up from your side, “a puddle of goo on the floor,”
“Shove it banner,” you muttered sending him a glare from where you lay on the floor the tips of your fingers burning in pain, “don’t you have a class to go teach or something” A loud laugh is falling from his lips as he grabs his things from the desk next to yours, “my students don’t mind waiting a few extra minutes for me, besides it builds up the suspense for whether I’ll show up or not, you know with the whole 10 minute rule they came up with.” You’re taking a hold of his hand that he has stretched out for you, “you would have been my least favorite professor than,” you teased.
A smirk was pulling at the corner of his lips, “well good thing I’m leaving you in Barnes hands,” he shoves your shoulder playfully as he moves around you turning on his heel to face the two of you as he walks backwards towards the door, “besides I’m sure you’ll like him more, you know sparks flying and all that,” he winked.
A growl of his names was falling from your lips, the door shutting closed behind your partner, “sparks huh?” and you can hear the smirk on his face.
Your head turned to him, “you know I can ban you from this lab right?”
Bucky laughed heartily, “but I thought there was sparks y/n, I mean you did fall for me didn’t you?”
A warmth encases you, your heart skipping a beat in your chest, “you wish Barnes,” you muttered.
He’s laughing again, his arm wrapping around your shoulder to pull you into his side, “come on now doll, we both now you couldn’t resist me,”
A pink hue cover’s your cheeks, because it’s true, you weren’t able to resist his charm, though it wasn’t entirely your fault, you would think after years of being in his presence the feeling surely would have passed, but within years it had only grown. You had known Bucky most of your life, the two of you went back to your elementary years where you met in kindergarten. It was there that shortly after you discovered you were neighbors, the two of you, two peas in a pod as your parents would like to tease. You had spent most of your elementary years resisting the James Barnes charm, but come your middle school years is where things began to change. You had been well into your sixth-grade year when you noticed the first change, where his toothy smile had once made your nose wrinkle in distaste, it now left behind a warmth that spread deep within your chest, your heart skipping a beat whenever that smile had been reserved just for you. Your first thought was it’s just a crush, just like the many you had in elementary it too would pass, so you thought, but oh how wrong you had been. It’s as if the charm he had tried to entice you with many years ago in elementary, had only heightened, the thing was that charm was never meant for you. Sure, he would charm you into a movie night rather than do homework due the next day, charm you into staying up late when you had an early morning, or the rather reoccurring occasion where he would charm you into going on a double date, Steve your date, it had always been Steve.
At first it was no big deal, you were able to get through your middle school years still able to resist that charm, but high school was a different story. Come high school things got worse, that crush you had said would pass, had only become worse, and you supposed it was the interests the two of you had. The only classes you two didn’t have together was electives, those you had with Steve, what could you say, you were a closeted artist. As you progressed through you high school years the two classes you didn’t have with Bucky had become a solace for you, and each year that passed Steve’s comforting smile had only grown and grown, because with each year that passed the love you held for your best friend had only grown as well. Steve was always rooting for the two of you, even to this day, aside from Bruce he was that constant in your ear telling you to just tell him, “what’s the worst that could happen” he would say.
The thing was you never wanted to find out what the worst was, you had lived through a lot of it your college years. Bucky had quickly become a lady’s man, there had been girls left and right throughout high school and it seemed the numbers had only increased once you entered college. You were able to preoccupy your mind easier in college what with all the classes you had piled on, so you didn’t have to see him put his charm on as much, and the once double dates he had asked you to join him on had become shared movie nights you had with Steve while Bucky enjoyed out a night on the town with his newest conquest. The thing was he always came back to you, always laid on that charm, and you were putty in his hands once more. Then a new girl would come along, and the charm would fall away, it was an endless cycle, an emotionally draining, endless cycle.
“y/n, hello,” a hand was being waved in your face, your pushing his hands away, a grin pulling at his lips.
“what do you need Buck, I need to finish this lab before my class,”
He’s smirking, “you’ve been so spaced out lately,” he responded avoiding your first question, “what have you been thinking about?”
You gestured around the lab area as if it’s the most obvious reason, “Seriously Buck, it’s finals week, or did you forget?” you questioned, “my mind has been on getting my students to pass so they can all be loaded onto you next semester,”
“As if you or Steve would let me forget its finals week,” he grins, “I knew you were thinking about me though,” he teases waggling a finger in your face, “I think you should just come out with it y/n,” his face turns serious, “you don’t have to hide it anymore, just tell me,”
Your raising a brow at him, what was this man getting at, “tell you what?”
“That you are completely and totally head over heels for me,”
Your heart was beating wildly in your chest, eyes slightly growing wide, had he heard your conversation with Bruce, but you didn’t even admit to anything, no, no, no, a faltering forced grin pulled at your lips, “w-what?”
His fingers reached out to run over the tops of your cheeks, your mouth parted, breath catching in your throat, it was the tap to your nose that had your eyes blinking you back to reality. His head fell back in laughter, his arm once more pulling you into his side, his head falling to yours, “god you should have seen your face,” an awkward laugh leaves your lips. The more laughter that falls from his lips the tighter your heart constricts in the confines of your chest, its suffocating, “alright, alright Barnes,” you grumble, “we get it, it’s funny,” you grit out.
“awe come on now doll,” he coos rubbing you shoulder, “don’t get upset it was funny, besides you know I’m just teasing,”
“funny?” you question raising a brow, “Barnes you being extra annoying and might I add wasting my precious lab time is anything but amusing to me, this is like a repeat of middle school”
“oh, come on y/n, you enjoyed spending time with me, I’m sure you preferred my company rather than that of your homework,”
You were rolling your eyes, but a grin was still splitting your lips, “whatever helps you sleep at night Buck,”
A smirk tugs at his lips as he invades your space, a warmth blossoming in your chest once more, “You could help me sleep at night if you j- ouch y/n,” he laughs as he moves away from your swinging arm.
He’s rounding the other side of your desk away from you, hands held up in surrender, “Buck seriously what do you need, I have less than-” you paused to look at the watch on your wrist, “less than 15 minutes to complete this lab, now can you please tell me what it is you came to borrow,”
Bucky’s rubbing at the back of his neck now, “uhm, I actually didn’t come to borrow anything this time around,”
You raised a brow, “no?” you questioned, “seems very unlike you, so what is it?”
“will you be home tonight?” his questions catches you off guard, a soft chuckle falls from your lips, “well that’s where I’m at every night after classes, why?” you questioned back drawing out the last word.
“I’m going out on a date tonight,” and there it is, “and how is that going to affect me being home?” hold it together y/n don’t let yourself crack just yet.
“Well I’m only asking incase my date and I decide to you know,” he sends you a wink, a shiver rolls through your spine.
“Gross Barnes, why can’t you go back to her place, that’s what you’ve been doing anyway, why do you have to bring her back to ours,”
“She has a roommate,” is his argument, and you can’t help but to stare at him in disbelief, “and what am I chopped liver, I’m your damn roommate too,”
He’s rounding the desk back towards you, hands falling to your shoulders, “c’mon y/n please,”
Your mouth drops open to argue, but he’s beating you to the punch, “I already asked Steve if you could stay with him and Sam tonight, he said there would be no problem, something about a movie night,” your heart falls in your chest, shoulders slumping because of course, Steve was always there, “so what do you say?”
And as much as you want to scream at him, a tired sigh is leaving your lips, “if that’s what it takes for you to get out of my lab, then yes Barnes,”
His arms are closing around you, “I promise I’ll make it up to you,”
A forced laugh falls from your lips as you push him away, “sure whatever, try not to forget this time, now can you please go, I need to get to class since you took up all my time,”
“shit I’m sorry,” he groans looking at the watch on his hand, you shake your head at him as you move away from him to gather your things for your class. He calls out one last thank you, and that he owes you one before he’s disappearing out of the lab door. You scoff, how many times had you heard that one, how many times had you heard those words and still never learned.
