I FOUND IT! THANK YOU lol Please, would you do #20 with Darcy loving all over the avengers (maaaaaaaayby her love love being bucky) I can see her just being so affectionate. Thank you!
ask and ye shall receive! i did throw in a wintershock theme, because they’re my weakness. i hope this is what you were looking for.
“Does Darcy not like me?” he finally asked.
His friend stared at him in confusion, his spoon full of oatmeal halting in midair. Steve froze with it halfway to his mouth, and normally Bucky would’ve laughed at him for the silly picture he made. But instead he was too busy analyzing every single interaction he’d had with the woman in question, trying to figure out what he’d done wrong.
“What?” Steve said, eyebrows furrowed as he tried to follow Bucky’s train of thought. Bucky said nothing, staring off into the distance. Tracking Bucky’s line of sight to the dining room, Steve watched his best friend as he observed Darcy, who was laughing at something Clint said.
As they watched, she stood up and picked up her empty bowl. Brushing an affectionate kiss to the top of the archer’s head, then to Natalia’s, she headed toward the kitchen. “That,” Bucky muttered, referring to her casual affection with the rest of the team. Steve stared at him like he was crazy, but held his tongue as Darcy walked into the kitchen.
“Hey guys,” she greeted cheerfully, oblivious to the fact that they’d been talking about her only moments before. She moved between them to rinse her bowl and drop it in the dishwasher. Bucky moved out of her way, shifting so that his metal arm wasn’t directly in her line of sight. He could feel Steve’s eyes on him, but all he could look at was her.
Darcy hummed to herself as she worked, then stepped back with a flourish. Steve handed her a thermos that was resting on the counter—it featured a cartoonish depiction of the Milky Way, and clearly belonged to her. “Thanks, Steve!” she chirped, ruffling his hair as she snagged it from his hand. He had to bend down to accommodate the gesture, but Bucky noted grumpily that their movements had a strange sort of grace and rhythm. This was clearly not the first time she’d done it.
She turned to Bucky next, with a genuine smile that lit up her entire face. He smiled back somewhat shyly, helpless as always in the face of her happiness. For a moment he allowed himself to hope that she’d reach out to him, too, show him some sort of special form of affection. But she didn’t. Instead, she stopped several feet away and offered an awkward hug. “See you around, Bucky!” And then she was gone.
He turned to Steve after she’d left, cocking an eyebrow as if to say, ‘See?’ Much to his frustration, his friend just laughed in his face. “C’mon, Buck. You really don’t see what’s happening here?”
Clearly, he shouldn’t have said anything at all. Bucky stormed out of the kitchen to the echo of Steve’s laughter, cursing his sudden inability to read people.
“Wait. Buck!” his friend called out after him, seeming to realize he’d made a mistake. But Bucky didn’t stop. He felt too much like a fool.
As much as he tried to forget about it and move on, Darcy seemed to be everywhere. She was ruffling Tony or Steve’s hair—his best friend stared at him in concern every time—or laid kisses on Natalia’s head, or Clint’s. All of his teammates seemed to take the gestures as their due; even the newest recruits, the Maximoff twins, were gifted with light, affectionate touches.
Bucky got nothing. Not that he felt he was owed anything—if she wasn’t comfortable around him, then she wasn’t comfortable. He didn’t blame her. But he couldn’t figure out what he’d done wrong. It hurt, thinking that perhaps she just couldn’t be around him. Knowing who he was, what he’d done. And it wasn’t Darcy’s fault that she was all he thought about.
But he couldn’t stand to be around her, to watch the way she was able to relax around everyone but him. So, he started to avoid her.
“Hi,” she greeted quietly, straightening from the wall she’d been leaning against as she waited for him to finish his workout. He’d known she was there, of course. For a moment he’d considered cutting his workout short to leave, but she clearly wanted to talk to him. And while Bucky wanted to protect himself, he didn’t want to hurt her.
“Hi.” Wiping the sweat off his brow, he waited for her to speak.
“Umm, sorry, but—can you put a shirt on?” she blurted, averting her eyes from his chest. He winced, realizing that his scars must be disturbing her, and hurried to pull his shirt over his head. “Thanks,” she babbled, “It’s just that you’re so—distracting.” She waved a hand vaguely at his abdomen, and he froze. What?
She waited for him to finish the motion before turning back to face him. With an earnest look, she cut straight to the chase. “Did I do something to upset you?”
That was…not what he was expecting at all. “No?” he said, cursing the way it sounded like a question.
“It’s just—I thought we were friends, Bucky. But I know you’ve been avoiding me.” She stared him down, daring him to contradict her. He didn’t.
“You never touch me,” he said, then winced. Her eyes grew round and surprised behind her glasses, and he hastened to clarify, “Not like that! But you—you kiss Natalia and Clint and Wanda and Pietro on the head, and you ruffle Steve’s hair. You even show Tony affection, and he hates being touched.”
He was breathing heavily, and he couldn’t even pretend it was because of the workout. She kept staring at him, and he realized how whiny he sounded. “I don’t—” he cut himself off, pinching the bridge of his nose.
A soft hand against his metal arm stopped him from saying anything else. Another hand followed, stroking along his flesh arm from bicep to wrist. She tangled their fingers together slowly, allowing him to pull away if he wished. Bucky had no intention of doing any such thing, and he gripped her hand tightly in his.
“I thought you didn’t want to be touched,” she told him. “And I couldn’t bear to hurt you. Not you, Bucky. Never you.”
Oh. He’d been a total dumbass. Steve had been right to laugh. “All I’ve been wantin’ is for you to touch me, doll.” Bucky tugged on the hand tangled with hers, drawing her closer. She was laughing but willing, and her eyes fell to his mouth.
When her lips touched his, he realized it had been worth the wait.
