h4rkonn3n

[h4rkonn3n]

Like Rainbows

BuckyBarnes x f!reader

a/n: this is so short (i might edit it later tho)

Summary: Bucky feels insecure about his mate al arm, but she helps him overcome it without even knowing.

Bucky Barnes had learned a thousand ways to disappear. He knew how to blend into shadows, how to sink into silence, how to cover the pieces of himself that made the world stare too long.

Especially his left arm.

Even now—months into dating her—his thumb would twitch at the hem of his sleeve, pulling it down, covering metal and memory alike. She never made him feel small about it. Never flinched. But old habits clung tight.

She was softness personified. All gentle smiles, quiet hands, warm words. She could make a crowded room feel like home just by looking at him. She laughed at his dry humor. She brought him tea when nightmares pulled him under. She ran her fingers through his hair and called him darling without fear or doubt.

He’d met her parents. She’d met Sam, Steve’s old apartment, even Torres. She fit into his life like sunlight slipping through blinds—quiet but impossible to ignore.

But his arm? That was the line he kept drawn. She never asked why he wore hoodies in June. Never asked why his left hand never touched her cheek. She knew. She just always seemed to know.

One morning in Brooklyn—when the air smelled like wet stone and lilacs—she sat on the stoop of his apartment as Bucky locked the door. Sunlight caught his sleeve as it pulled up slightly.

“Bucky,” she said softly.

He paused, his breath catching. His instinct twitched—to yank the sleeve down, to shield.

But she tilted her head and smiled at him like she always did when she was about to say something quiet and true.

“When your arm catches the sunlight right,” she murmured, “it looks like it’s got rainbows in it.”

He blinked.

“Like…tiny colors hiding in the metal. Not cold at all. Beautiful. Like light finding its way through.”

No fear. No pity. No sadness.

Just wonder.

Something cracked in him, slow and gentle. Like thawing ice.

The next day, he pulled on a simple black t-shirt. No sleeves to hide behind. She looked up from her book and smiled so wide he forgot how to breathe.

“You’re showing off,” she teased, winking.

“Maybe I am,” Bucky said quietly, sitting beside her. She reached for his left hand without hesitation, lacing her fingers between the vibranium and flesh.

Her thumb brushed the metal knuckles.

“Still the softest soul I know,” she whispered.

Bucky smiled—really smiled—and let the sunlight catch his arm, letting the rainbows dance.

For the first time in a long, long while, he didn’t want to disappear.

[h4rkonn3n]

Meeting Sarah.

soft!joel x f!reader

Summary: After months of dating, Joel finally introduced her to Sarah.

a/n: No outbreak, just fluff and all that ig

Joel Miller didn’t believe in second chances.

Not when it came to love.

After Sarah’s mother left them in the quiet shadow of dawn—nothing but a folded note on the kitchen table—Joel never let another woman close. He told himself he was too busy raising Sarah, working long hours with Tommy, fixing roofs, pouring concrete, hauling lumber.

Who would want a man with a kid anyway?

But then came her.

She wasn’t like the others he’d met in passing over the years. She didn’t mind the quiet way Joel spoke, or the tired circles under his eyes. She didn’t fill silences with needless chatter. Instead, she’d sit beside him on the porch swing, sipping sweet tea and watching the Texas sun bleed orange into the sky.

Joel waited three months before even thinking of introducing her to Sarah.

Because if Sarah didn’t like her—well, then she would be gone. Simple as that.

Tonight was the night.

Joel smoothed his hands over his jeans, feeling sweat gather at the small of his back. She stood beside him on the porch, looking calm, but he knew her heart was racing too.

“Relax,” Tommy muttered behind him, giving Joel a small nudge. “You look like you’re about to face a firing squad.”

Joel shot him a glare. “Not helpin’, Tommy.”

The woman smiled gently. “It’s okay, Joel. I’m ready.”

He swallowed thickly. He hoped Sarah was.

The screen door creaked open.

There she was. Sarah Miller, eleven years old, wild curls pulled into a loose ponytail, wearing those worn-over jeans she refused to part with.

Her big brown eyes flicked from her daddy to the woman standing next to him. Then to Tommy, who gave her a little wink.

“Hey, kiddo,” Joel said softly, introducing the woman to his daughter.

Sarah crossed her arms, her small mouth pursing in suspicion. Joel felt his gut twist.

The woman squatted down to Sarah’s level. “Hey, Sarah. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Sarah cocked her head. “Like what?”

The older woman chuckled. “That you beat your dad at guitar all the time. And that you made him build a treehouse all by himself… with no instructions.”

Tommy snorted from behind them. Joel shot him another glare.

Sarah’s eyes softened. “He did mess up the ladder the first time.”

She laughed gently. “Yeah, he told me that too.”

Joel rubbed the back of his neck, feeling foolish.

Sarah stepped closer, inspecting the woman as if trying to solve a quiet puzzle. Then:

“Do you like dinosaurs?”

Joel blinked. Where the hell did that come from?

The woman didn’t miss a beat. “Love ‘em. Velociraptors are the coolest. But… I’d probably pick a triceratops if I had to ride one.”

Sarah smiled. “Wrong answer. It’s totally the T. rex.”

She gasped in mock horror. “No way. Too clumsy.”

Sarah giggled. Joel felt the knot in his chest start to loosen.

Tommy clapped him on the back. “Looks like she passed, brother.”

Joel allowed himself the smallest of smiles. “Yeah… looks like she did.”

The woman stood, glancing at him with a quiet warmth in her eyes. Sarah slipped her small hand into hers without a word and tugged her toward the living room.

“C’mon,” Sarah said. “I’ll show you my dino collection. You can learn which ones are best.”

The woman winked over her shoulder at Joel as she was led away.

He followed quietly, standing in the doorway as Sarah dragged her battered shoebox from under the couch. The one with the plastic dinosaurs, scratched and faded, treasures from birthdays and thrift stores. She didn’t even let Tommy touch that box.

But now she flipped the lid open for her daddy’s girlfriend without hesitation.

“This is Spike,” Sarah said, holding up a stegosaurus missing its tail. “And that’s Chomper. He’s the mean T. rex. He eats everybody.”

She took the toy, turning it gently in her hands. “I didn’t have many dinos when I was your age. But I had this old toy horse. Broke its leg once, but I kept fixing it with tape. Couldn’t throw it away.”

Sarah beamed. “You get it.”

Joel leaned against the doorframe, the knot in his chest finally coming undone. He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

The woman sat cross-legged on the floor beside Sarah, asking the right questions, listening like every answer mattered.

For the first time in years, the house didn’t feel so quiet. It felt warm. Full.

Sarah pressed close to the woman’s side without even thinking, chattering about raptors and stegosaur tails. She grinned, holding up each dino as if it were some rare museum find.

Joel settled onto the arm of the couch, sipping his cold coffee, just watching.

Tommy caught his eye from the kitchen and raised a brow.

“Guess you are allowed a second chance after all,” Tommy said, soft enough only Joel could hear.

Joel smiled—small, real.

“Maybe I am,” he murmured.

And for once, that felt like the truth.

[h4rkonn3n]

Sunshine and Shadows

vulnerable!Bucky Barnes x f!reader

a/n: this is my first ever project i’m so sorry if it’s bad!! This is a one-shot of Bucky and Reader. Overcoming trauma with fluff (??)

summary: She helps him overcome trauma with her gentle heart

She had always been a beacon of light. At twenty-two, she carried herself with an effortless grace that seemed to soften even the hardest edges of the world. Her laughter was a melody that echoed through the halls of the New York safehouse where she often spent time with Steve Rogers—her steadfast friend, a man who had lived through wars and battles but still kept a hopeful spark alive in his heart.

Steve had trusted her from the moment they met. She had an old soul with a kind heart, the kind that could warm the coldest room. But there was something else—something almost magical—about her presence. She wasn’t just Steve’s friend; she was, without knowing it, the light Steve desperately wanted to shine into the dark corners of his own past, especially those tied to his oldest and most tormented friend: Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier.

Bucky. The name still hung heavy in the air whenever Steve thought about him. The man who was once his brother in arms, now lost beneath layers of manipulation and pain. Steve had tried everything to reach him—to pull him back from the shadow of the Winter Soldier’s identity. But nothing seemed to break through the walls Bucky had built.

Then came her.

It started with small moments. Bucky, who had always been distant and cautious, began to soften when the woman was around. She didn’t treat him like a weapon or a mystery to solve. She treated him like a person—a man worthy of kindness. her innocence and purity were like a balm to Bucky’s weary soul. Where others saw a broken soldier, she saw a person deserving of light.

One afternoon, Steve watched from the doorway as Bucky and the woman sat in the garden behind the safehouse. The sun filtered through the leaves, casting a golden glow over the scene. Bucky’s usual guarded expression had softened, replaced by something almost tender. She was telling a story, her hands animated and eyes sparkling with joy.

“You really believe in all that?” Bucky asked, half-joking, half-curious.

The womanhood and smiled, a genuine smile that reached her eyes. “I believe in hope. In people. Even when it’s hard to see.”

For Bucky, those words were strange yet comforting. He had spent so long in darkness that hope felt like a distant memory. But with her, it felt almost possible again.

Days turned into weeks, and Bucky found himself seeking her company more often. She never pressed him about his past or his pain. Instead, she shared stories about the simple things she loved: the way the city smelled after rain, the thrill of a good book, the joy of watching sunsets.

Steve noticed the change and it both relieved and worried him. He wanted Bucky to heal, but he feared the woman’s purity might be shattered by the harsh realities of Bucky’s past. Yet, she remained steadfast. She was untouched by fear or prejudice, only driven by a deep desire to bring light to those around her.

One evening, under a sky painted with stars, Bucky opened up to her in a way he never had before. The words tumbled out—fragments of memory, guilt, and longing. She listened without judgment, holding his hand gently.

“You’re not alone anymore,” she whispered. “I see you. The real you. Not the soldier, not the Winter Soldier. Just you.”

Tears slipped down Bucky’s cheeks, a rare and vulnerable moment. Her presence was a reminder that even the darkest past could be softened by genuine love and acceptance.

Over time, Bucky’s fragmented memories began to reassemble, piece by piece. Steve continued to support him, but it was the woman’s unwavering light that made the difference. She was the sunshine in his life—untouched, innocent, and pure—showing him that he could find peace beyond the shadows.

Together, the two of them forged a new kind of family, one built not just on battles fought side by side, but on the quiet strength of hope, healing, and the power of her unwavering belief in the goodness buried deep within a broken soldier.