Meant To Be
Summary: Bucky Barnes x fe!Reader -> When you find yourself transported to the future, you begin to question if you were always meant to be here.
Disclaimer: Kinda open ended, platonic!Steve x reader, fluff, angst, Reader comes from the 40s, MJ scaring people, oblivious idiots, swearing, mentions of violence. Not Proof Read.
You groaned as you hit the solid ground. “Oh, I am gonna kill Howard.”
Coughing a little before rolling onto your front to try and stand, you took a look around you.
“Where the fuck-”
As you brushed some dust from your skirt, a loud blaring alarm sounded overhead. You were quick to cover your ears before trying to find an exit. What was the wager that Howard had set something on fire again?
But before you could call out, the floor beneath you fell open and you went sliding down. A scream let itself out from your lungs, only stopping just before you landed and rolled onto a pristine white floor.
“Jarvis, who is she?”
Once again, you groaned. You held your head, keeping your eyes closed. “For god’s sake, Howard. You know who I am. Don’t pull that bullshit with - ow - me.”
As you stood on your feet, you looked around you again. The whole room was white. Where the hell were you?
“Jarvis?”
You recognised the name, but not the voice that said his name.
Slowly turning around, you started to realise where you were. It wasn’t like any you were used to but you were, in fact, in a cell.
“I can’t seem to find an ID for her from this century.”
“This century?”
You looked through the glass. “Where’s Howard?”
The man looked right at you. “I ask the questions here.”
“Considering I’ve just landed who the fuck knows where, I’d say I’m the one who should be asking questions. How much did he pay you? Thirty, forty bucks?”
“Forty bucks?”
The man seemed disgusted.
“What? Keep Y/n distracted so he can run around town again? Just so you know, if I don’t kick his ass, Peggy will.”
“Stark! What the hell is going on?”
Tony watched as you lit up a little at the voice coming down the hall.
“Steve?!” You called out.
Tony had already been confused when he got an alert from Jarvis that someone had broken into the facility. Then he was confused even more when you asked for Howard. But now? Now he was more confused than ever.
“Steve!? Oh, thank god. Tell this moron to let me out. Howard’s probably ten seconds away from setting the whole building on fire. What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
Tony turned to his side and took a long look at Steve. He looked…pale. Shocked, to say the least. Like someone had just stuck a knife into his heart and he was watching himself bleed out.
“Y/n?”
“You know her?” Tony asked quietly.
You laughed. “What? Did Howard pay you, too? Just so you know, once I’ve kicked his ass, I’m gonna have Peggy kick yours.”
Steve turned towards Tony with a slightly heated gaze. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything. She just showed up here. Who is she?”
Reading the room, you took a few steps forward. Something told you that this wasn’t just a prank. “Steve, what’s going on?”
“Y/n?”
“Yes?”
Steve felt the breath leave his lungs. “What…What year is it?”
You chuckled. This game again?
“1944.”
Steve couldn’t breathe.
“Sir, though I’m not quite sure how it’s possible. I do believe this is Agent Y/n Y/l/n. Born in 1921, she went missing the summer before Sargent Barnes fell from the train.”
That sentence made you panic a little. “Okay, Jarvis! Howard, I get it. You can call it off now!”
“Call what off?”
Steve ignored Tony for a few moments. “Y/n, I think you’re gonna wanna sit down.”
“Steve, what’s going on?”
“Tony, open the doors.”
He didn’t think twice and the glass door slid away and behind the panel, letting Steve inside.
“Steve?”
He didn’t say anything. He just hugged you. Tight. Like he’d waited years to do so. So, you hugged him back. “Steve, you’re scaring me now. What’s going on? Where’s Howard? I swear to god if this is some-”
Steve leaned back and shook his head. “No, this isn’t…it’s not a joke.”
You stepped back a little and took in the two men in front of you. Although he wasn’t Howard, he did have a funny resemblance to him. And Steve…the last time you saw him…he’d been wearing his uniform. Not a blue button down and a pair of jeans.
“You should probably come with us.”
Less than ten minutes later you were sitting in Tony’s lab. Some kind of floating projector showed different images and other things. All the while, you could feel Steve’s eyes burning a hole into the side of your head.
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
“Being in the underground bunker. Howard’s testing some new chemical weapons. It’s meant to melt weaponry from the inside. Steve, what happened? Jarvis…s’voice…he said Bucky fell. Did we lose?”
Steve shook his head, taking your hand in his. “No. The war…we won the war. But…Hydra…they captured Bucky. We all thought…I thought he was dead. I thought you were dead.”
You couldn’t do anything else but laugh, though it wasn’t happy. “Steve, I was with you less than twenty minutes ago. And Howard-”
“Howard’s dead.”
“Tony.” Steve scolded.
“What?”
You looked back at Steve, then at Tony.
“Y/n, this is Tony. Howard’s son.”
You heard yourself gasp a little. But before you could understand what the hell was going on, the doors across the lab swung open.
“Mr Stark! I’ve finally figured it out! If I just change the chemical- oh. Hello.”
You looked over at the young boy who couldn’t be more than seventeen or eighteen.
“Y/n, this is Peter. Peter, this is-”
“Holy shit, you’re Y/n Y/l/n.”
Both Tony and Steve looked at Peter. “You know her?”
Peter nodded. “Yeah, MJ goes on about her all the time. MJ’s my girlfriend, by the way and she thinks you're, like, super cool. But- hey. Wait a minute. How can you be here?”
“I’ve been asking myself that same question.”
“Mr Stark?”
Tony sighed. “Best we can figure is that my old man went wrong and somehow…”
“Invented time travel?” Peter finished.
Tony nodded, as did you.
“Sounds like Howard.”
“Maybe you should call Scott?”
“Why Scott?”
Peter shrugged. “I was gonna suggest Hank but I didn’t think you two are still talking since the burrito fiasco in the cafe the other week.”
Steve just looked at Tony and it took a few minutes but the Stark kid threw his head back before grumbling and pulling out his phone. “Fine.”
“He’s just like his dad,” Steve heard you whisper as you watched him walk away.
“Hey,” Steve said softly, bringing your attention back to him. “How are you feeling?”
“Dizzy. Terrified. Angry. A little more dizzy.”
Steve just held your hand tighter.
“Steve, I need you to tell me everything that happened because right now I have too many questions and…I don’t even know where to begin.”
Steve nodded understandably. You’d been missing for longer than he’d been in the ice. You’d become a part of some of the ghost stories with the walls of Shield. You’d become a small block of text in the Smithsonian since nobody knew anything else.
Your name was one of the first that he searched for when he got out of the ice. If he can be left sleeping in the ice for seventy years, gods can wield magic hammers and aliens can fall from the sky, then surely you could still be alive somewhere, right?
But there had still been no trace of you.
Until today when a loud rad alarm started to sound throughout the kitchen to alert whoever was left in the compound that someone had broken in.
So, starting from the beginning, Steve told you as much as he could in the short time you had together. With Peter filling in a few gaps.
Steve told you about when you went missing. How Howard has a black eye for three weeks since Peggy had hit him hard when she realised what he’d been making and didn’t think to use any safety precautions. One thing Howard knew for certain was that you weren’t dead. How he knew that, the others couldn’t figure. But it was easier to accept than thinking Howard Stark had just murdered one of his closest friends.
Steve told you about when Bucky fell and when he went into the ice. He told you about the end of the war and him and Peggy.
Peter told you about Tony and the little snippets he knew from what he’d been told. Peter accidently let slip that Bucky had been the one to murder Howard and his wife, Maria.
Steve explained about the Winter Soldier programme and waking up in the ice. He told you about New York and The Avengers. Peter mentioned how he, too, was a Superhero. Steve explained about Natasha, Sam and Bucky. Peter mentioned bringing Bucky and Steve up to date with Star Wars and other movie franchises.
Then Steve explained, briefly, about Wakanda and what Bucky had been through.
Tears slipped from your eyes and Steve helped you wipe them away. “So…he’s…he’s alive?”
Steve nodded with a smile. “He’s alive.”
You felt yourself breathing again. Steve had only told you the key things about what happened to Bucky. You couldn’t begin to imagine the pain he went through, or the pain Steve went through realising he’d lost Peggy.
Last you knew, Peggy and Steve were crushing hard on each other. You and Bucky had a bet running for how long it would take for Steve to finally ask her on a date.
“Okay, he’s on his way. He doesn’t believe me, but I don't even believe it.” Tony announced as he walked back inside, pocketing his phone.
“What happens now? What am I meant to do?”
Steve looked at Tony who just shrugged. “You stay here with us until we can get some kind of answer, I guess.”
You tilted your head at Steve. “I’m meant to be in the 40s. What the hell am I supposed to do whilst I’m here? Better yet, what the hell am I meant to do when I can go home? What, am I just not meant to tell you anything? Or Bucky for that matter? Oh, my god! Can I even get home?”
Steve placed his hands on your shoulders and led you back to your seat. “Okay, just sit down. Just breathe.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“Blueberry?” Tony suddenly shoved a silver packet into your face. “They can help calm the nervous system.”
Tony didn’t say anything else. But he did unfurl your hand and place a packet in your palm.
“Can I even get home?”
“Uhh…”
“It’s not a question of whether or not you can get home. It’s do you go home?”
Everyone, including yourself, jumped. All except for Peter.
“Jesus Christ,” you swore to yourself, holding onto your chest.
“How the hell did you get in here?” Tony turned towards the curly haired girl standing beside Peter.
“Peter texted me.”
Tony just stared at the girl. “That still doesn’t answer my question.”
Steve sighed. “She’s training with Nat and Laura, remember?”
That seemed to answer something.
“See, that’s how you give me information.”
“Oh,” Peter jumped back into the conversation. “Agent Y/l/n?”
“Please, call me Y/n.”
“This is MJ, my girlfriend.”
You smiled at her and she gave you a small smile back. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you, too.”
Half an hour later, three people walked inside who were introduced to you as “Ant-Man, but not the original Ant-Man-.”, “Hope”, “She’s the Wasp.”, and “Hank Pym.”
“I believe you might be able to…help.”
Hank nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“What ‘we’ can do?”
“Why ‘we’?”
“It’s my lab, Pym.”
“And it’s my research, Stark.”
“I found her first.”
“But you called me, remember?”
The argument continued on for a few more minutes until finally you stood up.
“Hey!”
That shut them up.
“I am not some lab rat that you’re gonna be poking needles into! I understand that I’m over seventy years out of my time, but I’m not some experiment. I’m human, alright?!”
Hope nudged MJ. “I like her.”
Hank and Tony seemed to come to a silent agreement. “Okay, how about we start with the basics?”
You nodded. “Okay.”
Over the next few hours, you had your heart rate monitored, your blood pressure taken, your memory tested. You filled out multiple different medical forms. You told them everything you could about where and when you were born, what you did in the last week of your life in the 40s and was fed so many blueberries you were pretty sure your skin would turn the same colour.
“MJ?”
As the boys messed with things on the other side of the lab, you took a seat beside the girl.
“Hi.”
“Hi,” you smiled. “I was hoping I might be able to talk to you.”
MJ nodded. “What about?”
“Earlier, when you said it’s more about do I get back…Peter mentioned you might know a few things about me, after I went missing.”
MJ nodded slowly. “I…might.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone anything. Whatever you know will stay between you and me.”
MJ nodded. “Okay.”
“Just…tell me everything?”
And she did.
About the rumours, about the ghost stories. That’s all they were, but there was always a hint of truth in stories. Some people still looked for you, others believed you hadn’t ever existed at all. There was a lot of research done after your disappearance. What had caused it, where you could have gone.
“Does this research still exist?”
“You’d have to ask Mr Stark about that one. Mostly it was his dad’s stuff. I only know because Agent Romanoff was helping me find references for a college paper.”
You smiled. “Thank you, MJ.”
That was when Jarvis, who wasn’t Javis, spoke. “Uh, Captain Rogers, sir. Sergeant Barnes and Captain Wilson have returned.”
“Thank you, Jarvis.”
You looked over at Steve.
“I’ll go and get him.”
You just nodded and watched as Steve jogged down the hall, out of the doors and towards the stairs.
“Did you date?”
You turned back to MJ. “What?”
“You and Barnes? There were always rumours. And I’ve seen the footage.”
“Footage?”
“They still show clips in the Smithsonian. You know, like Steve keeping a picture of Peggy in his compass. I’ve seen some of you and Barnes.”
You could only nod, letting her know you’d heard what she said.
Truth be told, you and Bucky hadn’t been dating. You were just friends. He’d save you a dance at every Hall. He was the one, besides Peggy, who you’d been closest to. On the days where all his confidence and charm would leave his body – mostly when he was geeking out at the technology fairs – you’d stick by his side and help him out.
Some women he’d try and talk to, so you’d give him a push. But others…he was nice to them, but he just wanted some time alone. The war was a lot and with his own call-up looming, he just wanted some time. So, making sure he didn’t constantly bump into people, you’d both pretend you were on a date. It kept some girls away, and you and him had a great time.
And despite your growing crush over the last few months…no, you weren’t dating.
Your head kicked back into gear. “No. No, we weren’t dating. Just friends.”
MJ just gave you a look. You knew that look. Because it was the same look Peggy had given you three days ago when she cornered you in the girls bathroom after you excused yourself when one of the blonde agents waltzed her way over to talk to Bucky.
Before your conversation could continue further, however, there were multiple sets of boots pounding on the floor. The noise was growing closer and closer.
You stood up from your chair, standing directly in view of the glass doorway, your skirt swishing a little around your knees.
And through the glass, you saw Bucky come to a halt.
He just stared at you.
He was in dark blue tactical gear, a man stood behind him with a jet pack attached to his back and Steve remained beside him.
Bucky stood alone just staring at you.
Then he started walking.
Opening the door, your name fell from his lips before he ran towards you and you ran to him.
Crashing in the middle, Bucky’s arms held your tightly almost crushing your bones.
“Y/n,”
“James,” you felt yourself smile.
“You’re alive?”
“Apparently.”
He just held you tighter. “I didn’t believe him. He told me…you were here and…you’re really here.”
Bucky felt himself laugh a little. He was stunned. To him, he hadn’t spoken to you in over seventy years, but he knew, to you, you and him had spoken that morning.
He never forgot you.
He never let himself forget you.
You meant too much to him.
“I don’t have a clue what’s going on, but boy am I glad to see you.”
Bucky laughed again before leaning back to look at you. Instinctively, he held your face. Both of you had tears in your eyes but that didn’t matter.
“God, you’re alive.”
Bucky hugged you again.
“If you two love birds have finished, might we get back to work?” Hank called out.
Scott nudged him and Hope slapped him across the head. Meanwhile, you remained fixed in Bucky’s arms.
Hours and hours and hours of work later, you were sitting on your own since Bucky had left to go and get you something to eat.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
Sam came and sat beside you.
“Something tells me I don’t make it back home.”
“Maybe you’re not meant to.”
You just looked at Sam. And he took a breath before talking again.
“First time I asked Bucky about his life before,” Sam started. “The first person he mentioned was you. You were close to him. And he was close to you. He told me losing you was one of the worst pains he ever suffered through. And when Steve mentioned your name today, I saw someone come back to life inside of him. A person even I haven’t seen in Bucky since that day when he first talked about you.”
You didn’t exactly know where Sam was going with his speech, so you just let him continue.
“Maybe, for whatever reasons will help you rationalise this, you were meant to be here instead. With these two, but most importantly…” Sam just pointed to Bucky across the room who was handing out different lunch meals to everyone as Peter carried the tray.
“Nothing is as I remember it.”
“Maybe you’re not as you remember.”
You just looked at Sam, puzzled.
“Those two science nerds will probably have some big, elaborate explanation but, maybe you didn’t time travel. Maybe you just got stranded in time. Pushed through each year in order to get to this one. And, whenever you dropped-”
“Literally.”
“Into here…it was because you needed to. Because it was meant to be.”
You rolled your eyes a little and laughed. “Okay.”
Sam just chuckled and nudged you.
Bucky eventually made his way over to you, just in time to hear Sam ask; “And if you’ve got any tips on how to tap into Mr White Wolf, I’ll take ‘em.”
Sam tapped Bucky on the arm as he passed him by, heading towards the food Steve was opening up at one of the tables.
“It’s not ration food, but it’s the closest I could find to something familiar.”
You smiled accepting the meal as Bucky sat beside you and ate his own with you.
Looking around you, you took everyone in. The super soldiers, the humans, the ego filled scientists and the kids. And the longer you looked, the more it started to look familiar.
Maybe a different room, maybe a different year.
But it was still the same.
Then Sam’s words echoed in your head.
“Meant to be.”
A month later, you were still in the future. People were still looking for answers but the longer time pushed on, the more you began to realise maybe Sam was right. Maybe this was where you were meant to be.