Bucky Barnes x Reader One Shot
A/N: A short one shot Inspired by When the party’s over by Billie Eilish.
You didn’t understand how you had gotten here. Having a casual fling with one Bucky Barnes should not have gotten complicated. You had both agreed to keep it lowkey and purely physical. A way to relieve stress after a mission, but feelings had started to grow slowly over time. The real turning point had been a particularly hard mission, just the two of you were supposed to just gather whatever intel an abandoned Hydra base had to offer. Only it wasn’t as abandoned as the team had been led to believe. Your body was sore and bruised, Bucky however, with his hero complex, his need to make up for all the bad that Hydra had made him do, had taken a bullet for you. Heading back to base on the Quinjet, you looked back to see he was bleeding and not attending to it. His arms resting on his thighs as he just looked at the ground. Engaging the autopilot you searched for the first aid kit, but found it hadn’t been replaced after the last mission. Cursing you made your way to Bucky and pulling your shirt off and pressing it to the wound. He looked up at you with those blue eyes and your heart skipped a beat, it was the moment you knew you were falling in love with him. So angry at him for taking an unnecessary risk.
“Why would you do that?” You asked taking his metal arm and placing your shirt on it to have him hold pressure on the wound.
“Didn’t want Nat to kick my ass for letting her protégé get hurt,” He sighed leaning back.
“I can handle myself thank you very much,” rolling your eyes knowing it was a bullshit answer, you rummaged through your pack and pulled out a water bottle. Moving the shirt aside, you poured the water over the bullet hole to see how bad it was. Pulling him forward to check for an exit wound. “It looks like it went clean through, should heal up alright, you’ll have a scar though.” He nodded and placed the shirt back to the wound.
“Another to add to the collection,” He said with a half smile. Bucky was no stranger to scars. Where his metal arm joined his body was littered with them, along with all the damage he had taken all those years with Hydra. Your fingers had traced over those markings many times, but now this one was your fault. “Worth it though, can’t let that pretty skin of yours get all marked up,” He said trying to sound flirty, but exhaustion, pain, and a little blood loss was making his eyes heavy.
“What you don’t want matching scars,” You joked back making him chuckle to himself, his eyes now closed.
“I would never let anything happen to you,” He said so quietly you almost didn’t hear it as you made your way back up to the pilot's chair.
That had been a month ago. And now here you were, yelling at each other.
“I don’t like this idea of you going to a party in the city. It would be to easy for something to go wrong.” Bucky had become possessive since your last mission. Still only ever calling you a friend, still never staying until morning.
“Are you worried that someone will attack me, or that someone might find me attractive,” You spit back trying to finish getting ready. The girls had all decided they were in much need of a break from the compound and wanted to head into the city to let off some steam. You knew you didn’t want anyone else, that you wanted so much more from him. No man could ever compare. “You can’t call me just a friend and then get mad when I get attention from others, you can’t hold me that close.” You said in a defeated tone. It always stung when he brushed you off as just another one of the team but then would crawl into your bed when the nightmares got too bad. You grabbed your bag and coat and left him there with a shocked look on his face. You knew you needed to let him go, to move on because nothing more would ever happen with him, and you needed more than just sex. It had been enough in the beginning, but not anymore, he had wormed his way into your heart and it ached for him every day now.
You tried to forget him and have a good time with Nat and Wanda, the music thrumming through your body, and the alcohol flowing. Your phone however had lit up more than once with Bucky calling you. You were about to turn your phone off when a text came through.
Call me back. It made you angry. How could he act like an angry boyfriend, when he couldn’t even stay with you until morning, always waiting until you fell asleep before sneaking back out of your room before anyone else had risen.
I’ll call you when the party’s over, you replied before turning your phone off. You weren’t going to let him ruin this night. Not when you had finally decided to let him go. You had to learn to lose him, even though it felt like your heart was being ripped from your chest.
You got back to the compound saying good night to the girls you made your way through the quiet halls alone. A slight buzz from the drinking, but you could already feel yourself sobering up. Not even bothering to turn the lights on in your room you kicked your shoes off and flopped onto the bed.
“You didn’t call me back,” Bucky said, startling you. He was sitting in the dark, in the chair in the corner of your room.
“God damn it Barnes, what is your problem,” you asked, trying to catch your breath from the scare. “Why are you sitting in MY room, in the dark, like a stalker?” You turned on the bedside lamp, bathing the room in a soft low glow.
“You didn’t call me back.” He stated again.
“No, I didn’t, I was having a good time with my friends, and I don’t have to do what you say, you aren’t my keeper Barnes. I’m not even sure you were my friend.” Feeling brave from the alcohol, and wanting this to be over once and for all. To have closure from all of this. You stood up from the bed and walked over to your dresser, watching him in the mirror. You placed your hand bag down and started to remove your jewelry. He stood and came up behind you, burying his face in your hair.
“Y/N,” he sighed quietly. You placed your hands on the dresser steadying yourself and taking a deep breath, taking in his scent, warm and intoxicating and all him.
“I could lie and say I like coming home alone, waking up alone, being on my own, but I don’t” you whispered, not being able to look at him in the mirror. You could feel his warm breath on your neck and it made you want to lean back into him, to feel his lips trail down your neck like he had done so many times before.
“Don’t you know I’m no good for you.” He whispered and you turned and could see the sadness in his eyes. “I’ll only hurt you if you let me.” He was saying goodbye.
“Tonight I thought I had decided to let you go, to end this, but I can’t, I can’t let you go.” You whispered, moving your lips closer to his barely brushing against them. He took your face in his hands, studying every feature, etching them into memory as if he would never see you again.
“I can’t let you go either, but I need to,” He said, pressing his forehead against yours, your face still in his hands, warmth on one side and cool metal on the other.
“Why?” It was a small sound on your lips. You lifted your head up to meet his eyes, trying to find answers in them.
“I’m damaged goods doll, all twisted up and scarred, I’m not meant for a happy ending, and you deserve the world, and everything good it has to offer.” You could hear the pain in the voice. He thought he didn’t deserve love because of all the things that had been done to him and that he had been forced to do.
“How can you not see that you have become my world,” you brushed a hair away from his face and cupped his cheek, he leaned into the warmth, your touch always giving him comfort and quieting the demons inside. “I was so angry at you for taking that bullet for me, putting yourself at risk like that, that’s when I knew, I was falling in love with you.” Bucky turned away from you, hearing you say that broke his heart even more. How could anyone love him?
“That’s why this needs to end.” He whispered more to himself than you.
“I thought so too, but I think about you every moment of the day, I miss you every morning I don’t wake up next to you. If you don’t feel the same as I do, then fine this is over. But James, if you do feel the same, stay, stay with me.” You walked up behind him, wrapping your arms around him, pressing yourself into his back. “Let me love you, how you deserve to be loved.”
Bucky turned around and crashed his lips into yours and you knew in that moment that he did feel the same, that your hearts were entangled, that it would kill the both of you to rip them apart now.