Spy General Wintersolider context warnings, nothing too extreme. Bucky Barnes x F Reader Chapter 1 3765 words Fluff, barely angst. 18+ MDNI Steve hadn't meant to spy on you and Barnes. Not exactly, anyway.
“So are you going to do anything?”
Steve chews his lower lip, eyes flicking between the view of the room, and Natasha, who is clearly waiting for his response.
He paws at his jaw when she sighs, nodding towards the scene they’ve both been watching for a good ten minutes.
Bucky is perched on the edge of the couch, anxiously wringing his flesh hand in his metal one, gaze focused intently on the floor.
“Like what?” he asks at last, “He-”
“You’re his friend” she replies, “He’s clearly not doin’ well-”
“so how do I help him, Nat? I’m open to suggestions here”
There’s a strained desperation in his tone. It pairs well with the helpless look on his face.
The woman decides to pity him with a smile before she shrugs.
“I don’t know” she says honestly, “I don’t really know him- but, I can tell you a bit about normal behaviour, Cap’ and that—“
She nods over to where the man remains unnervingly still in the adjacent room,
“-That, isn’t it.”
Steve knows that, so he nods, gritting his teeth as he tries to decide what, if any, action to take.
Barnes struggling is something that everyone has expected. It’s been less than two months since they’d gotten him away from HYDRA, and he’d been there for the better part of a century, so really, him having problems adjusting to a life where he’s not being tortured 24/7 is more than understandable.
That doesn’t make witnessing with it any easier, though.
The former soldier has kept to himself, for the most part. He’s still a fraction too close to being a cornered stray for majority of the towers inhabitants to risk interacting with him too heavily, and with how strained things still are with Tony, even Steve has been staying away from him.
Although, saying that, it had been Tony who had quietly taken Steve aside at lunch, to tell him about the way that his oldest friend was acting strangely in the common room.
“I’m goin’ out for the night anyway” he’d said, disinterested, “but you might want to check in on the kid. He doesn’t look right.”
A quick “Thanks, Tony” had been all he’d offered in response.
“Maybe we should just give him some space” Natasha suggests, “He’s not actually doin’ anything-”
“Exactly, Nat” Steve says, “I don’t think he’s even blinked in the past five minutes.”
She turns back to the small, remotely activated two way mirror they’ve been watching through, leaving the man by her side to stew in his concern.
“Hey, Buck!” a cheery voice says suddenly, making both the viewers heads snap up, “You doin’ alright?”
“Is that Y/N?” Steve asks urgently, as the side door to the room swings shut.“Jesus christ-”
Natasha hushes him, watching the interaction curiously;
“Nat-“ he insists, “She’s great, y’know I think she’s great, but she’s— she’s a little, lively— she’s Tony’s sister, and we both know tact ain’t a Stark trait—“
“Shut up” she hisses, nodding back towards where the young brunette is now pacing round to where Barnes is still staring straight a head, “I’m tryin’ to listen”
He exhales, frustrated, but then, just before he can start talking again, Y/N does something that silences him instantly.
She crouches, a few feet away from Bucky’s legs, and reaches out, placing a tentative hand over both of his.
To Steve’s enormous surprise, all the man does in response, is blink at her.
“Hey” Y/N soothes, tone much softer than it had been before, “You feelin’ okay?”
There’s a beat of silence, where the former solider seems to register her presence for the first time.
He tilts his head, eyes staying trained on her face now, as his vibranium fingers curl into a fist, and his flesh ones, turn over, to hold onto the hand she’s offered him;
“My…my head hurts..” he admits, so quietly that Steve and Natasha both have to strain themselves to hear it, “I was lookin’ for you, I— I didn’t know where you’d be”
Steve’s jaw goes slack as Y/N brings her free palm up, to press it against the other mans brow.
“I was in the labs, sweetheart” she replies, “FRIDAY could’ve told ya’ that, if you’d have asked.”
She brings his knuckles up, pecking a kiss against the skin as she lowers her other hand from his head, to his lap.
“‘m sorry” he replies, “I-I didn’t- I… I guess I forgot..”
The nervous waiver in his tone is enough to make Steve swell protectively. He hasn’t seen the man this vulnerable since they were children, and he doesn’t know enough about Y/N to trust her intentions—
“It’s alright” she soothes, smiling, “just, try and remember next time, okay? if you want to find anybody, you can just ask, she’s real good at that”
He nods in response, although it looks like the action pains him.
Y/N notices that, too. She lowers their tangled fingers back to his legs, releasing him, before reaching up to stroke her thumb across his temple.
The action is so gentle, that Steve feels his eyes flicking over to Natasha, he’s only half surprised to see her still watching, totally unfazed by the affectionate display.
“Is it just your head botherin’ you?”
Bucky looks at her for a moment, before dropping his gaze.
“No” he tells her quietly, “I…I feel like shit, doll.”
She laughs at that, leaning forward to press a chaste kiss against the corner of his lips.
“Why don’t you get settled on there?” she suggests, standing, “I’ll make us some drinks, grab a blanket, you look like you could do with a few hours sleep”
Steve notes how Bucky is moving for the first time since he’s been watching. He’s tilting his head up, clearly tracking the way Y/N is moving, pacing around the furniture, towards the small kitchenette that’s nestled in the corner of the suite.
“D-don’t you have to meet your brother, or-”
“Tony’s got a date with some shareholders tonight” she replies, flicking on a machine that starts to fill the two waiting mugs with steaming liquid, “I was supposed to go, too- but he offered to take one for the team, as long as I promised to use my night off wisely.”
She’s ducked out of view, now. And Steve is blinking wildly, pulse racing as he tries to make sense of everything he’s watching unfold.
“I think curlin’ up with a handsome super-soldier definitely counts as wise.”
Bucky even manages a scoff at that. He tries to smile, too, as she reappears in front of him, holding a thick blanket she’s grabbed from a chest that’s disguised as a bench beneath the bay window.
“You don’t look very comfortable” she notes, passing him the cover, “Lie down, sweetheart”
He flushes scarlet, before reaching out for her hand, again.
The action is so hopeful, so innocent and gentle that she can’t help but sigh, ignoring the waiting drinks to refocus all of her attention on the man now clutching her fingers.
“I’ll be right back” she promises, “How longs it been since you’ve gotten any rest, huh?”
When Bucky looks back up, eyes wide behind his hair, Steve thinks he’s looks an awful lot like he did as a child, when they’d both gotten caught doing something wrong and he’d known that he was about to be scolded. It hurts his heart, especially when he thinks about how much time has past between then and now, and how much more scared he looks now, even though he’s a fully grown man.
“I’m not sure” he confesses, “I— I try, doll I- I swear-”
She nods, cutting him off.
“Have you eaten anythin’ today?” she asks next, voice soft and non-judgemental.
He shakes his head a fraction, not bothering to explain his lack of appetite. He knows she already knows.
“That’ll be why you feel so awful” she says, “You’re human, serum or not, you can’t just run off adrenaline indefinitely.”
He doesn’t argue. He stays quiet as she kisses his hand, again, before nodding towards the couch he’s sitting on.
“Lie down, sweetheart” she repeats, “I’ll get the drinks, and then I’ll be right back. I promise.”
It takes him a second, but eventually, he does what she’s asked him to.
As she lets his hand go, Steve finds himself squinting in disbelief.
Natasha looks intrigued, more than anything else, he thinks that’s fair, since spying on people is something he’s sure she’s had more practice at than him.
“Here” they hear Y/N say, “It’s hot, Buck— be careful.”
“It’s good” the other man counters, budging up so that she can slip in against his flank, “Thank you, doll— for- for all this, I— I don’t know what I’d do without ya”
“You don’t have to worry ‘bout that” she replies calmly, “I’m not goin’ anywhere”
There’s a strange weight in her words that takes both Natasha and Steve by surprise. For the first time since Y/N’s arrival in the room, the red-heads expression has shifted from interested to genuinely shocked.
Bucky, on the other hand, doesn’t seem taken aback by the love behind her tone, infact, all they see him do, is snuggle closer into her side, and then, press a kiss against her brow.
Y/N laughs at that, before reaching up with the hand not holding her mug, to guide his face down, so that she can press their lips together.
Steve is blushing then. It strikes him instantly how wrong it is to be watching the pair this way, when they clearly think they’re being given the luxury of privacy.
It feels horrible. Guilt is well and truly settled in his core, he nudges Natasha and mouths out ‘let’s go” so obviously that she roles her eyes at him.
She doesn’t fight though. With one last glance at where the couple are now cuddled up on the couch, between a thick blanket, kissing and laughing like teenagers, she follows him out into the hallway.
“Jesus christ” Steve says, the second they stop, “what was that?”
“I think” The woman chuckles, “That’s proof that even after being brainwashed for the last hundred years, your old pal, still has more game than you-”
“Very funny, Nat” Steve mutters, “I’m being serious-”
“-So am I-” she counters, “-I think it’s pretty obvious what that was”
“But they-”
“-are both consenting adults, Steve” she says, “and since Y/N will probably try and kill us if she finds out we’ve spent the past 10 minutes watching her through this mirror, I’d say we forget all about what we saw”
He gawks at her for a minute, before realising that she’s right. Y/N has a temper to rival her brothers, and, despite the fact that their intentions had been pure, the invasion of privacy isn’t something he’s likely be able to talk his way out of.
Eventually, he nods.
“Yeah…” he agrees, “Yeah, you’re right, Nat but.. this, this is Bucky, I mean- he, he nearly put himself through a wall when I pat him on the back the other day, and now he’s-”
“Curling up with Tony’s little sister like a lap dog” she says bluntly.
That sounds so ridiculous that Steve finds himself sighing. It only takes him half a heart-beat for Tony to enter his mind.
Suddenly, he’s panicked.
“Oh, oh god, Tony”
Natasha rolls her eyes.
“He tried to kill him— He’s still-”
“-in his defence, Barnes did assassinate his pare-”
“Nat” Steve bursts, not caring for the humour in her tone, “if he finds out-”
“Y/N will deal with it” the red head says calmly, “I for one, am not going to get in-between any family drama those two could cook up”
That sounds fair, it’s not settling his nerves, though.
Eventually the woman takes pity on him, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder
“Look” she exhales, “I’ve known Y/N a long time, she’s good, she’s really, good— okay? and from what you say, Barnes is a pretty okay guy, too?”
He nods, barely looking at her.
“So” she says, “I say, we leave them alone. If this becomes anythin’ that Tony finds out about, then we’ll deal with it, but until that happens, there’s no sense in interfering, not when they’re clearly trying to keep things quiet.”
She meets his eyes until he folds, gulping and nodding again.
“Yeah, yeah, you’re right.”
With another brief exchange, they part ways. Both agreeing to meet up later that night to go through some paper work for a job they’d be working on that weekend.
It’s dark when they both perch themselves at a desk in one of the studies, and it’s even darker when they sign the final document, having gone through every sentence, making sure it lines up with the tactical plans they’d drawn up that morning.
They’re about to split, and turn in for the night, when they hear a door opening down the hall.
Their eyes meet, and Steve knows she’s come to the same, split second conclusion as he has.
“Tony’s back” he says, hoping, praying, that he’s wrong about where the sound has come from.
Instead of a verbal reply, Natasha walks quickly in the direction of the mirror they’d been spying through earlier.
“Maybe they’ve moved?” he says following her, “or maybe that’s not-”
“Shit” she hisses, nodding to where the couple are still curled up together across the couch, “He’s-“
Steve’s about to cut her off in a panic, when they see the billionaire enter the room through the same door that Y/N had used the last time they were watching.
There’s a horrible silence as both of them survey the scene, weighing up what they should do.
It feels awfully like they’re about to see something terrible unfold. Steve is about to launch himself through the hidden entrance, when Tony does something that makes him have to hold onto the wall for support.
The man looks at where his sister, and Barnes are sleeping, before reaching down, to grab the blanket that has slipped to around their waists, and then, he pulls it up, silently tucking it in around both of their bodies.
Natasha is slack-jawed as they watch him leave, without as much as a word to anybody.
Minutes pass, and Steve is still just blinking dumbly.
“Well shit” Nat says, almost laughing, “Guess we don’t have to worry ‘bout Tony.”
The next day, Steve is partially convinced that everything he’d witnessed had been some kind of strange dream.
Infact, if it hadn’t been for Natasha sniggering at his vacant expression from behind her coffee, he’d have sworn it had been a delusion.
They’re both sat at the kitchen bar when Y/N comes in, wearing clean work-out clothes, hair tied back into a pony tail.
She beams at Nat, and then at Steve before making a bee-line for the espresso machine behind them.
“Mornin’ ” Romanoff greets, “Sleep well?”
Steve widens his eyes, as the younger woman nods, making a quiet noise in the base of her throat.
“Well enough” she replies, flicking some switches and arranging her mug, “You?”
Natasha nods pleasantly as Bucky wonders into the room.
He looks good, Steve notes. He looks much better than he has for the rest of the week.
“Coffee, Buck?” Y/N asks, already turning away from him, to grab an extra cup.
“Please, darlin’…” he says, coming to a slow stop by Steve’s side, “..Black -“
“-two sugars” she finishes with a scoff, “It’s the same every day, I think I’ve got it memorised.”
He doesn’t reply, but Steve tilts his head as he catches him grinning at the counter.
“Thank you” he mumbles, as she passes him his mug, before turning to finish making her own.
“You’re quiet today, Cap?” she notes, when she’s done, “you feelin’ alright?”
Steve feels his cheeks burning red as all eyes land on him.
Even Bucky is watching him curiously.
“Fine” he says, aiming for calm, “Just, thinkin’-”
“Don’t do that” Y/N mock scolds, “you might hurt yourself.”
The laughter he hears at his side makes his jaw drop open.
Bucky’s genuine chuckling is something that is so familiar that it takes him a minute to remember why it’s surprising to him at all.
Y/N just smiles, turning away again as Tony walks in.
He’s apparently ignorant to the way the atmosphere changes when he appears, he paws at his goatie before pressing a kiss against his sister’s head, and nudging her out of the way of the coffee.
“How was dinner?” she asks absentmindedly, “Get the answer you wanted?”
“The answer we wanted”
“The answer we wanted” she agrees.
“Sure I did” Tony chirps, merrily adding milk to his coffee, “What about you, did you have a successful night in?”
Steve feels his breath catching in his throat in the beat it takes Y/N to answer.
“Sure I did” she says, rummaging around by the stove.
“Did you get up to much?” Natasha asks, tone almost smug.
Steve thinks about kicking her under the bar, but he decides that’s probably more noticeable than the line of questioning she’s pursuing.
Plus, she’d definitely break his nose.
“No” Y/N admits, cracking eggs into a bowl, “I said it was successful, not productive.”
Bucky chuckles at that, though the sound is significantly more tempered than it had been before Tony’s entrance.
Natasha turns to stare at him for a moment, and Steve can’t help but clear his throat.
“To be honest” The younger Stark sighs, whisking her mix now, “I turned in pretty early, but I guess I was tireder than I’d thought”
“You’ve been burnin’ yourself out in the labs” Tony agrees, tone softer than before, “I keep tellin’ ya-”
“You can’t say shit about spendin’ too much time in the labs” she cuts in, “Do ya’ll want blueberries in these?”
Steve blinks confused as she gestures to the food she’s preparing.
“Pancakes?” Natasha asks, “Or muffins?”
“ Pancakes, Nat- it’s nine thirty in the morning.”
“Like that matters” Tony mutters dryly, before ducking away from the wooden spoon she goes to swat him with, “Okay-O- Okay!”
“Okay, what?” she laughs, easing up “am I adding the berries or not?”
“Yeah” Nat answers before Tony opens his mouth, “Blueberry sounds good”
Satisfied, Y/N turns her back on the others, and sets about preparing the food.
“You don’t have to do that, y’know” Steve says, “Cook for us, I mean”
“I know” she chirps pleasantly, still not facing him.
“She’s practicing her house wife skills, aren’t ya’, Stark?” Natasha teases, flicking him a glance that he takes to mean she knows exactly what she’s doing.
“I think that’d be called ‘home making’” Y/N replies, cool as ever, arranging a pan, “and, what, would make ya’ think I need practice?”
Her gaze is almost smug as she turns it onto the redhead. Who suddenly looks as though she’s been caught.
“You’re going to burn those, for a start” Tony interjects, nudging her out of the way to fuss over the stove, “why do I even bother, huh? I keep the refrigerator stocked with pre-made, over-processed junk specifically so we don’t need to coo-”
“I don’t think eatin’ the chemicals in that stuff all the time is a good-”
“I don’t think” he chuckles, “that we can say anythin’ about the damage chemicals can do to someone”
She flicks the two super soliders a courteous look, before laughing along with her brother, shaking her head and passing him a spatula.
“We” she says, “had nothin’ to do with that. I for one would’ve drawn the line at human experimentation.”
Tony shrugs.
“I’d have probably drawn the line at the flyin’ car”
She laughs again, and Steve can’t help but notice the way even Bucky is grinning at the siblings interaction.
“Either way” Y/N agrees, “I don’t want to consume something with that many E numbers in more than 8 times per week, thank you very much.”
“8?” Nat asks, “Why draw the line that far down?”
She shrugs, pulling out a bottle of syrup, and grabbing the plates, seemingly pleased with the way that her brother has taken over the responsibility of cooking.
“Because even though it’s bad for me, I can’t pretend I don’t enjoy it.”
Tony snorts, and she tilts her head at the way Steve is watching her.
He suddenly feels the need to get to know her better. He’d never payed her much attention, really, outside of the fact that she was a genius, with an arrogance to rival her brothers, her working for SHEILD as an agent had never filled him with a desire to interact with her much, even though she was nothing but outwardly pleasant towards him.
“He’s thinking” Y/N says, in response to Tony questioning the blonde man’s gawking, “He’s been doin’ a lot of it this mornin’”
“You wanna be careful with that” he says, “You might-”
“Hurt myself.” Steve cuts in, rolling his eyes, “I’ve heard.”
The duo laugh together again, before returning their joint attention to the breakfast they’re preparing.
It all seems strangely domestic, especially with the playful bickering and the way that Tony keeps nudging his sisters’ side.
Even Bucky seems relatively settled, even if he does shift uncomfortably in his seat when Y/N passes him a plate.
“I’m eatin’ in the lab” Tony announces, when he clicks onto the man’s reluctance.
Barnes’ cheeks are very red. He looks as though he might object, but before he gets the chance, the older Stark meets his eyes;
“You’re fine.” he says, in a tone that brokers no discussion.
Y/N pecks her brothers cheek, before either he can continue or Bucky could think of a way to respond.
The affectionate act seems to snap the awkwardness of the atmosphere. Tony, paws at his goatie, beaming at the woman, before telling her that he’ll be ready to go over their plans by noon.
She agrees, eagerly, before sitting herself at the bar, opposite the others, directly across from the former solider, who still looks more than a little uncertain.
“Eat” she murmurs, before grabbing her mug, “anyone doin’ anythin’ fun today?”
Her question draws a scoff from Natasha, who reminds her about the briefing she is also supposed to be attending.
“We went over the papers last night.” Steve tells her, “We, uh— didn’t make any tactical changes-”
“Did you get all this done before, or after you decided to spy on us?”
Bucky swallows. Looking at her, before averting his attention very deliberately back on his meal.
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