Saw you're taking request for thunderbolts bucky and I don't even know what I want to read, I just know I NEED to read something from itttt. Was thinking that gala scene (it's in the trailers so I guess it's not spoilers right), maybe reader is part of his campaign too or whatever and they're just there together? (Maybe already a couple, maybe not)
Idontknow sorry I just wanted to sent you something you maybe could use as an "idea" so sorry to bother you
Hiii!! Please, never ever be sorry for sending something into my inbox!! I get so happy about each message I receive, ESPECIALLY NOW IF IT’S ABOUT BUCKY👏🏼🥰
I let myself get inspired by your prompt, but I hope you like it where I took it :) I wanted to include the “flirting” of a couple but I wanted a bit more tension, hope everyone enjoys it!😊
This. Movie. Is. Incredible. That’s all I want to say. I’ve always loved Bucky, I will always love Bucky, but I need some tension and some badass characters, so here you go!🫶🏼
Old Habits Die Young, Or Whatever
pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader
word count: 3.4k
warnings: mentions of dead characters, cursing, tension, implied past relationships
masterlists
You could've looked up at the balcony. Just one glance up and you know your gazes would've met. You've been feeling his eyes on you ever since you stepped into the mansion. Knowing you've reached your goal made you grin to yourself. What you had come for had found you, and you didn't even have to do anything. Just look good and play along.
And boy, did you look good. A long black dress might still be simple, but the slit up your leg most definitely wasn't. Smiling at the people passing by, some greeted you as they recognised you, some you knew as well, but most of them, you didn't.
Galas hadn’t always been your thing. Although you enjoyed the idea of getting dressed up and doing something good, then you were all there for it. Just not this time. Glancing around, seeing weapons and valuables that you had fought for, now behind glass and just being presented to the public, did not feel right. And it shouldn't. Especially not if they were put on display in the name of none other than Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.
It was easy to get on your nerves, yes. But that woman had a special super power in just her being feeling like nails on a chalkboard in your head. You had avoided her all evening, and so far, you had been doing well.
The Avengers were gone. You understood that. As hard as it was to come to terms with it, you were there first hand. But now, to have some politician woman step out and put out everything you had worked for, only to make herself look good... that's where you drew the line at being a good person. Because two people could play that game. And you were never made to be good in the first place-
"Miss Thompson." A deep voice made you turn around. Thank God you had already downed your glass of champagne the minute you stepped foot through the door.
"Miss Thompson?" You wondered with a grin, looking at the older man in front of you. Gary and you were on a first-name basis, so the sudden politeness in his voice surprised you. "Well then, Congressman-"
"Alright, cut the act," he stopped you with a smile.
You laughed. "You started it."
A moment of silence filled the space between the two of you before Gary's soft voice spoke up again. "Didn’t expect to see you here, Y/N." It was so unlike the tone he used with Valentina.
You shrugged with a sigh, "Just trying to help my conscience, I guess?" Maybe only a part of it was a lie. But some of it definitely held truth. There was one reason you were sure of as to why you were here. But would you still had come if HE hadn't been here?
"Your conscience?" The politician looked at you in pure confusion. "You already helped us enough with de Fontaine. I hope you know that. You can sleep tight, knowing you brought us everything you could. You worked hard. You deserve some time off."
'Some time off.' You could only scoff. You had heard that sentence one too many times. Your type of people don't just get 'some time off'. If you do, you're missing something. You'd be failing at the one job you were confident in.
"I don't think so." Trying to avoid his gaze, your eyes darted upwards, finding a woman now next to Bucky. You scrunched your eyebrows.
"You helped enough," he tried to assure you some more.
Softly, you shook your head. "Is there ever enough help?"
Gary let a sigh fall from his lips. He wasn't annoyed. He couldn't be after all you had done for him and the right side of the impeachment. But he knew how hard you had been on yourself for the past few months, and he couldn't understand why.
"Self-employment really isn't doing you any good."
You switched back to look at him, your mind now elsewhere and suddenly in a rush. "Yeah, well... maybe that's also why I'm here."
"You know, I'll always be able to find you a seat right next to me." It wasn't the first time he had offered to help you take your first step into the Capitol. And it wasn't the first time you had turned it down.
"I know," you smiled at him before your eyes went back to the now laughing couple on the balcony. "But politics isn't really my thing."
-
“You can’t sneak up on me. I thought you knew that.”
You had excused yourself from the crowd on the ground floor, passing even more people who seemed like they wanted to speak to you, starting their approach with 'Thank you for-' before you politely brushed them off to continue your way upstairs. There wasn't much time you had spent behind the stone pillar before he had found you. Even with his back still turned to you.
With a sigh, you gave in. “A girl can try.” Turning around, you made your way to the suited-up former Winter Soldier, who was still looking straight ahead, the big A shining directly towards the two of you.
Glancing down at your feet with a smile before he shook his head. "Not in those heels," Bucky commented.
"Jeez," you joked, "can't even dress to impress anymore."
You got a chuckle out of him, making you grin, yet you hid it behind the rim of another glass of champagne you had snatched from a waiter's tray.
The former soldier bit down on his lip, thinking twice before letting a compliment tumble from his lips. "You look beautiful." Sounding as easy and light as it did every time before.
You couldn't help but smile. "Thank you." Turning your head towards him, you were immediately locked in his gaze. You had almost forgotten how piercing his steel blue eyes were.
His hair had gotten longer. Much longer ever since you had last seen him. Sam had told you about his changed looks in your last phone call, which was... also quite a while ago. Shit, close to a year. He had told you about the suit and tie Bucky showed up with and with 'the old long mane, but not that shit he had back in Wakanda'. You never realised how much you had missed his long hair since he had decided to keep it short for some time, but now that you saw him again with this, it brought you back. Back to when you had met him, which, sure, wasn't the perfect first meet, but he still looked as good as ever.
And you looked even more stunning than ever before, he thought to himself. Also, he hadn't seen you in a good two years, and he had to hold onto the memory of your beauty for that time.
"What are you doing here, Y/N?" His voice was close to a whisper, with the non-existent crowd on the upper floor, he didn't need to speak much louder, yet it felt all that much more intimate.
You could lie again. Tell him the same thing you had told Gary merely minutes ago. But Bucky knew you. Too well. You knew he would see right through you. So you decided to keep quiet for just a second too long, which made him continue.
"I thought you were still in Louisiana."
Louisiana... where you were promised a somewhat normal life. A new beginning. A fresh start. Clean air. A clear past. Turns out that just wasn't for you. After all, he had also decided it wasn't right for him, so who was he to suddenly throw that at you? Almost two years after he was last there.
"I was," you answered him, going back to avoiding his gaze, rather looking straight ahead at the big warm light right in front of you. "For a bit. Then D.C., Brooklyn, Wakanda-"
"You went back?"
"Had to," you simply told him. "Shuri..." God... there was so much you wanted to tell him. So, so much. But you decided otherwise. "Just a few things I had to finish there."
Bucky must've noticed your drift away, but he didn't nag on it, but played along. "How's everyone?"
"Good. They asked about you." Maybe there was still some part of you that wanted him to feel remorse. To feel hurt. To feel bad.
He took a deep breath, fixing the hem of his pants around his waist. They sat perfectly, you had to admit.
"What did you tell 'em?"
"That I was worried."
"Worried?" He wondered in confusion, his eyes still trained on your side profile. "Why worried?"
"Well," you started. You had prepared the following course of conversation in your head. You weren't about to spill the content of the past few months of your life apart from him when you had just seen him again. You didn't come to catch up with him. You just wanted him to know that you were still there. And that you were being and looking good as ever. Even if it was just an act.
"It is quite... worrying. You know... You... in politics. Alone. Worrying about this... very worrying issue." You teased him, slowly turning your head towards him at the sound of his chuckle.
“So I guess you watched the news.”
You raised your eyebrows, taking another sip from the champagne. “Oh, did I.”
While he may have been an okay politician during his term, he, by no means, was a natural when it came to speaking in front of the camera.
“And? What do you say?” Bucky continued to conversation almost too easily. Either he truly didn't care about the past, or he had become a phenomenal actor in the time you had spent apart.
His eyes made it hard to look away once again. You remembered why you always loved looking at them. While everyone would falter under his stare, give in and confess, you were intoxicated by them, lured in, and brought to your knees.
With a grin, you took a step closer, noticing, there wasn't much space left between you. “I think you might need a new speech writer. Or just somebody that helps you with speaking in public, really.”
“Really?” He taunted you, raising only one eyebrow.
“Yeah," you had joined him in the hushed whispers you were now sharing.
“You might know someone like that?”
You could only grin. “I might.”
“You think they’d wanna help out an old man?” There he was. The flirt from the 40s you had managed to melt back in the day. You knew he wasn't all that strict and stoic. Not how the outside world saw him. No one really knew just how much of a real playboy bachelor flirt he could be. No one but you.
“Caring for the elderly has always been really high up on my list, you know?”
“You don’t say," he smirked, knowing you could feel his warm breath on your lips.
“Mh." You copied his facial expression. "You don't remember?”
“Guess I’m quite lucky then, huh?” In the close distance you had created, Bucky easily lifted his metal hand to take the almost empty glass from your grip, downing the rest in one gulp before setting it down on a plateau next to you.
“You are.”
You both smiled at each other. Possibly for a few seconds too long. Longer than people who haven't seen each other in months probably should. Even if you hadn't ended on bad terms, you still shouldn't be all that close to him right now. Well... technically you didn't even end on... any terms...
You caught Bucky's eyes going down to your lips for just a split moment before coming back up again. You know he hoped you hadn't caught it. “It’s good to see you, Y/N.”
You grinned. Got him. "Mh," you nodded, tilting your head in the way you remembered him always liking. The way little animals would as they tried to read you.
Once you realised you still had just as much power over him, you chuckled to yourself, straightening your back and fiercely locking gazes with him again.
“So, Mister Congressman-”
“Oh, please.” He quickly broke the ban, rolling his eyes and taking a step back.
“What?" You mocked him. "You fought for that position, you think I won’t play into it?”
The former soldier shook his head, “You’re still quite the smartass, you know?”
But you just shrugged, choosing to lean your backside against the stone railing and crossing your arms in front of your chest. “Old habits die young, or whatever they say.”
“Die hard," he chuckled, shaking his head.
“That makes more sense.”
You were never good at remembering expressions, but oh well, that's what he had always been there for. Bucky was one of the few people who didn't tease you because of it; he'd just chuckle, correct you, and move on. Sure, he'd remember it secretly forever, but he would never mention it again. Unlike some others back in the Tower all those years ago.
"How are Sam and Rhodey?"
You noticed how he didn't ask about Jaoquin - he never really liked how much of a fan the soldier was of you. He must've thought you were in closer contact with the two men than he was. After all, he was the one to leave first.
"Good," you took a deep breath, glancing down at your hands in shame at your next confession. "I think..."
Bucky's scrunched eyebrows snapped towards you. "You think?"
You brushed some of your hair out of your face before answering with a nod. "Haven't talked to them in a while." It must've been like... a good few months.
"What? Why?"
All you could do was shrug. There was a reason. Of course, there was always a reason. But you were still allowed to keep some things to yourself.
The congressman's entire body was now turned towards you. Pure fury and the beginning of a fire filled his eyes. "Do they know you're here?"
Sam and especially Rhodey had been adamant about your 'retirement'. Or 'break' as they had called it after you had repeatedly told them you weren't even close to thinking about putting your suit into a museum. Even though you knew it's what Tony would've wanted. What Pepper still begs you for. But after... everything, you had thrown yourself deep into work, harder than ever before. The Flag Smashers should've been your last mission. You had gotten hurt pretty badly and had almost been injected with the new Super Soldier serum, making all the alarm bells ring. But then you remembered Peter in Brooklyn, then Shuri called, and then came the impeachment, and suddenly there was no way out. There never was.
"What do you think?" You snapped back at him, suddenly triggered by the tone in his voice. "You think they'd let me be here? You think they'd be happy about this?"
"No." Bucky hissed at you, making you almost take a step back, but his hand had found your arm, tightly holding onto it. "That's exactly why I asked you what you're doing here."
"I was helping," you snarled through your teeth, snatching your arm out of his grip, knowing he'd never hold you too tight to leave a mark or trap you.
Your comment sparked Bucky's interest. "With what?"
There goes your wannabe mystery appearance. "With the impeachment." Well, at least he now thought that that had truly been the only reason.
The former soldier looked around in confusion. His eyebrows scrunched, leaving creases in his forehead that you used to straighten out in the past, telling him he'd grow older fast even with the serum rushing through his blood.
"You're here because of Valentina?"
You sighed in slight annoyance. "Not because of her. I helped Gary," you explained, making him shut his mouth and listen carefully to you. "I haven't heard from him in like a week. I thought the impeachment had gone through, and it was done. So you can guess how fucking happy I was, seeing she was throwing a first responder gala to 'honour all the heroes of this country'." You changed your voice to mock her. Turning around to glance back down at the crowd of people, you couldn't help but get sad. Everything you had ever owned or earned, now behind glass and put on show for everyone to see.
"This was ours. And she just... took it. Tony wasn't-" You forced yourself to hold back the tears forming in your eyes. "He didn't think about what he was doing, okay? He was... frustrated and... angry." Yes, it's been a while since everything happened, but the wound was still very much open for you. Especially since you hadn't allowed yourself to fully think about it until you were confronted with it.
Tony had sold the Tower, and Valentina was the first to accept the offer. Everything inside went to SHIELD. You never truly forgave him for that. Bucky held you throughout every night you confronted yourself with the past. While he was trying to get better in therapy, you chose to suffer, hoping it would be in silence, but living together gave you close to no privacy at all.
You could feel Bucky shift closer next to you. His hand was a shadow on your lower back before he decided against it and lowered it again, choosing to try to comfort you with words rather than a touch.
"They asked Pepper-"
"I know they asked her," you spat back at him. "I know they did. We've talked about this... they didn't ask us. They didn't ask me." Your voice got quieter with each syllable falling from your lips.
He repeated the words he had said to you oh so long ago. Sitting on the fire escape of your shared Brooklyn apartment, with Bucky waking up as soon as you had gotten up to get some fresh air, another nightmare haunting you and making you go back in time to remember all the things you didn't do and didn't say.
"You couldn't have done anything to stop this, Y/N."
You shook your head. "I could've and I should've. But-" you took a deep breath in, turning your body slightly to find Bucky a bit closer than before again. "It seems like getting Valentina out of the way is the best thing I can do for now."
"You've done enough," his whisper of a voice made you shiver as he lifted his hand, finding the courage to touch you again. Bucky placed his warm palm on your naked arm, his thumb caressing the softness of his skin he had missed.
Ignoring the rush going through your body, yet you didn't jump away from his gentle touch, but instead tried to swerve the conversation.
"You sound like Gary."
The super soldier smiled at you. "I'm sure some of him has been rubbing off on me." A few years ago, you would've joked about the double meaning behind his words, but now you stayed quiet.
Speaking of the devil.
"Buck- oh, sorry-" the Congressman jumped back as soon as he saw the missing distance between you two, making Bucky and you separate immediately. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."
The faint feeling of his touch still lingered on you. You tried to brush it off, physically rubbing your hand up and down your arm.
"It's okay," you assured him, a fake smile appearing on your lips.
"No, no, I'll just stop by later," Gary tried to get away, but you stopped him.
"It's fine, don't worry. I'll leave you to it." Giving one last glance at Bucky. "Like I said, politicians aren't really my thing."
But before you could go, another grab by your wrist halted you and made you turn around. Again, those blue eyes that once felt like home.
“I missed you, doll," he breathed out.
You let a beat pass.
“I missed you too, James.”
It was the first time Bucky couldn't tell if you had truly meant it or not.
Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed it! My requests for Bucky are still open :)
