real-jane

[real-jane]

So we can stop waffling on whether Pratt is an idiot, right?

[real-jane]

just because i like something doesnt mean its good

[real-jane]

but time makes you bolder even children get older and i'm getting older too. btw

[real-jane]

[X]

Nobody touch me 😭🥹

[real-jane]

This isn't right.

[real-jane]

art will save you, being unreasonably passionate about something niche will save you, letting past sources of joy show you the way back to yourself will save you, earnestness over composure will save you, the natural world will save you, caring for something bigger than yourself will save you, daring to be seen will save you, kindness not as a whim but a principle will save you, appreciation as a practice will save you, daring to try something new will save you, grounding will save you, love will save you, one good nights sleep will save you

[real-jane]

🥰🥰🥰

Bucky Barnes Twoshots/Series

DISCLAIMERS

DO NOT REPOST THESE FICS AS YOUR OWN OR ON ANY SITE, EVEN IF YOU GIVE THE AUTHOR CREDIT! It’s rude; don’t be an asshole.

[18+] means NO MINORS! This is not to be discriminatory; it is to protect you and the authors.

***this list is linked in my Marvel Fic Library so be sure to check it out so you can see some other amazing fics!***

Though they're not much, all graphics on this post are mine and I would greatly appreciate it if you would give me credit if you use them. If you don't, then you are not only rude, but also an asshole. :)

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All descriptions are the author’s, except those marked with *, which are mine.

★ TWO-SHOTS

How to Make Small Talk in Five Simple Steps & How to Make the Right Decision in Five Simple Steps [tfatws] by @certifiedskywalker

1. When people meet, they often use small talk as a means to negotiate and define the start of a new relationship. When you and Bucky meet, you both struggle to find the right words. 2. On the daily, people are thrust into situations that force them to make a choice, sometimes a series of choices. Since meeting each other, you and Bucky have struggled to decide when to speak up, when to tell your truths to the other.

Graveyard & Sacrifice by @wkemeup

[avengers!au: avenger!bucky x engineer!reader/mutant!reader; friends to lovers] 1. As the unofficial healer for the Avengers, you pride yourself on the ability to mend heroes with the touch of your hand. Only, your gift comes at a heavy price — one you keep secret from your friends —and when Bucky asks you to do the impossible, they’ll discover why your gift is called a sacrifice, too. 2. In the midst of an attack, you’re dosed with an unknown chemical and your healing ability becomes compromised.

Deadweight & Deliverance by @loving-bucky-is-easier

[avengers!au: avenger!bucky x avenger!reader; friends to lovers] 1. The reader is reluctant to go on a two-person op with Bucky, and her instincts prove to be far more accurate than either of them would have thought. 2. [18+] Almost three months to the day since you’d woken up in the med bay with his hands wrapped around yours, since you’d finished your first kiss in a hospital bed and he’d stayed with you until Helen shooed him away. Almost three months of dating Bucky Barnes, which was lovely and confusing, because how many couples got together because of an accidental confession of love mid-argument post-torture in a terrorist facility?

Timeless Love: one | two by @beccaanne814

[catws & civil war; agent!reader x 1940s!bucky/fugitive!bucky] YN has finally met the love of her life. The problem is – it’s a long distance relationship. She lives in Washington D.C., and he’s in Brooklyn, NY. There’s also one other minor detail – he’s from 1943 and she’s from 2012.

Insomnia & Daydream by @bemine-bucky

[avengers!au: avenger!bucky x techie!reader; friends to lovers; fluff] 1. You and Bucky keep each other company at 3am.* 2. [18+] You can’t help but replay your night with Bucky over and over again in your head.*

Keep it Going & Acquaintances by @writingcroissant

[avengers!au: avenger!bucky; 1940s!bucky x 1940s reader/enhanced!reader] 1. Bucky remembers a girl from the 40s, a girl not even Hydra could make him forget. 2. [18+] Bucky found his long lost love in a whole new century.

Looped & Looped (again) by @softlybarnes

[avengers!au: avenger!bucky x avenger!reader; can be read as separate oneshots] 1. You are inadvertently trapped in a time loop without any memory of the last five years, including your relationship with Bucky. But Bucky would stay in the loop forever, explain everything again each day, if it meant getting to stay by your side. 2. Bucky is inadvertently trapped in a time loop without any memory of the last five years, including his relationship with you. But you would do anything, if it meant getting to stay by his side. (alternate to Looped where the reader loses their memory)

Bucky’s Got Game & Doc's Got Game by @real-jane

[avenger!bucky x doctor!reader] 1. Bucky's got a crush, and Sam's a little worried about whether or not he's gonna see it to fruition. 2. What really happened when Bucky told the good doctor how he felt. This is the prequel to Bucky's Got Game!

Flustered: Part 1 & Part2 by @lovelybarnes

[avengers!au: avenger!bucky, avenger!reader; friends to lovers] Bucky loves to get you flustered*

Just Across the Hall (Part 2) by @buckysbabygorl

[Modern!au, neighbors!au] Y/N can’t stand her annoying neighbour, who always seems to pop up at the worst times.

Of Jewels and Gems & Of Thieves and Queens of Hearts by @anika-ann

medieval!au: princess!reader, thief!bucky; strangers to lovers‘I snuck in the castle to steal the royal crown but I’m stealing you instead au’.

★ SERIES

Guiding light by @wkemeup

[complete; avengers!au: avenger!bucky x avenger!reader; friends to lovers] It was supposed to be a simple mission. Get the intel and go home. Until everything goes wrong, and you’re taken captive by Hydra. While you struggle to stay alive and hold your sanity, Bucky begins to lose himself to a darkness and gives into the soldier because he doesn’t know how to breathe without you. Not until he brings you home. If he even can.

Delicate Edges by wkemeup

[complete; biker!au: biker!bucky x florist!reader] Your family’s beloved flower shop was not the only thing you inherited when your parents passed. Trapped under a mountain of debt to the Hydra club, you bear the cost of your father’s desperate bargain. It’s only in moments when the charming Bucky Barnes walks into your shop that you can forget the cruelty of the biker clubs of this town. But a war is brewing. The border is crumbling. You’re trapped in the middle. And Bucky will stop at nothing to keep you safe.

A Sky Full of Song by wkemeup

[complete; pirate!au: pirate!bucky x pirate/siren!reader; idiots to lovers] Despite the bitter resentment of the crew, you found a home on Captain Barnes’ ship; on the ocean where you belonged, at the side of a captain you swore loyalty and heart to. But when course is plotted for a legendary island, the secret that has kept you alive for years is threatened to be revealed.

3B by @softlybarnes

[complete; tfatws; neighbor!bucky x neighbor!reader] Bucky is used to being alone, so is the girl living in apartment 3B. He keeps to his routine, to crossing off amends. But mutual loneliness forges an unlikely friendship. Alone and reclusive, sweet and incredibly strange, with deep secrets and regrets, 3B has more to reveal than meets the eye.

Oh! The weather outside is frightful: one | two | three by @mallowswriting

[ongoing; avengers!au: avenger!bucky x avenger!reader; enemies to friends to lovers] Bucky Barnes is a condescending, infuriating ass. Your mission has gone terribly wrong. There’s no way this could get any worse. Right?

Dormiveglia by @beccaanne814

[complete; endgame!au] Out of the seventy years Bucky was held captive by HYDRA, most of them were spent in a cryogenic state. Considering the horrendous atrocities he suffered during his waking hours, it’s no wonder he created an idyllic world in his dreams—with a woman he can never have in real life.

Strange Times by beccaanne814

[complete; post civil war!au: ex avenger!reader x fugitive!bucky; 1940s!au: pre-serum!steve, 40s!bucky] You have a certain type - smart, charming, and handsome as sin. For years you’ve been in love with the only man you thought possessed all of those traits, but a chance encounter with a Strange individual sends you and a certain ex-assassin on a journey of self-discovery. As you try to find a way back home, will you also be able to uncover the perfect man hidden beneath layers of guilt and self-loathing.

Flour Girl by @avengerofyourheart

[complete; modern!au & Bakery!au: baker!bucky x baker!reader; enemies to lovers] Discovering the cute guy you just flirted with is the heir of a rival bakery, you suddenly find yourself running into him all over the city. Can your small boutique bakery compete? And how do you deal with the guy who seems determined to make your life a living hell? Luckily you’re distracted by a secret admirer…But who is he? (Inspired by “You’ve Got Mail”)

Catch Me by @buckyywiththegoodhair

[complete; avengers!au: avenger!bucky x avenger!reader] In which a bet leads Bucky to have to catch you every day for a week, no matter what.

Trick Question by @nacho-bucky

[complete; modern!au: doctor!reader x paramedic!bucky] It’s a weekly battle of wills for Bucky and the Reader, as they navigate the stunning pressure that is pub trivia. Can these obdurate opponents find any middle-ground?

Beautiful People by nachobucky

[ongoing; post-endgame!au; avenger!bucky x Plus-size!reader] Bucky is adapting to a civilian life, busy with a new project and a possible career change (if Sam gets his way), as Steve prepares to move on and the Avengers ease into a new phase. Day-to-day life is consumed with the details, but Bucky finds himself looking for a different perspective. That’s where you come in. 

Reflections by @breadqueen95

[ongoing; post-civil war!au; avengers!au: avenger!bucky x enhanced!reader] When Steve and Natasha lead the fight against Hydra in 2014, they had no way of knowing just how many secrets there were left to uncover. They suddenly have one more person to add to their list as they search for Bucky Barnes. Fast forward to 2018. Bucky Barnes is living with the team at the Avengers Compound, trying to settle into life as an Avenger and as a free man. Steve and Natasha, with the help of the third part of their leadership trio Tony Stark, have finally managed to track down the human subject that escaped four years ago. And you…you’ve been on the run for four years. Desperately avoiding any detection by hiding your identity, resisting your memories, and suppressing any flicker of power raging to get out. What happens when an unexpected arrival forces you to face everything you’ve been running from?

Just One Kiss by @sarahwroteathing

[complete; 40s!bucky] Bucky Barnes has been chasing after you since he was ten years old, but you’re determined not to give in. How long can you hold out when all he’s asking for is just one kiss? (40′s happy ending AU)

Project Amaranth by sarahwroteathing

[ongoing; tfatws; enhanced!reader] When a mission goes south, Bucky discovers an occupied cryotube in an abandoned bunker. He knows nothing about the person inside, but is completely unwilling to leave them behind.

For the Love of the Game by @pellucid-constellations

[complete; modern!au, college!au, baseball!au] Bucky Barnes was a menace. NYU’s top baseball player, he was used to girls falling at his feet and could smooth talk his way out of just about anything. You hated him. He couldn’t figure out why. So when the novelty of weekend parties and quick hookups finally wore off—and his feelings for you began to grow—he made it his mission to fix it.

Undisclosed by pellucid-constellations

[complete; lumberjack!au: lumberjack!bucky x librarian!reader] Desperate to outrun a secret that could cost you your life, you seek refuge in a small mountain town. Its deep forests and small cabins make it the perfect place to hide, but the travel website hadn’t mentioned anything about the quiet, burly lumberjack that wouldn’t leave your thoughts. No one had warned Bucky about you either.

A Million Reasons by pellucid-constellations

[ongoing; College!Bucky x reader; enemies to lovers] Bucky Barnes, with all his trust fund money and family connections, gets assigned community service. You, as someone that’s technically part of the community, now have to put up with him. Every day. And he won’t stop killing your plants.

Harmless by @shurisneakers

[complete; avengers!au: avenger!bucky x villain!reader; crack!fic: perry the platypus!bucky x doctor doofenschmirtz!reader] Bucky volunteers to go stop a small-time villain, but nothing can prepare him for what exactly he has to deal with.

Unsolved by shurisneakers

[ongoing; Buzzfeed unsolved!AU, avengers!au: avenger!bucky x avenger!reader; crack fic, strangers to lovers?, slow burn] Bucky doesn't even believe in the paranormal. So who the hell thought it was a good idea to stick him in a series about everything haunted for the internet's amusement? With his loose-canon of a teammate who has no concept of subtlety or shits left to give, to make things even worse.

These Ties That Bind by @sweetascanbee

[complete; soulmate!au, avenger!au: avenger!bucky x teacher!reader] When you're sixteen years old, you get a soul mark with the letters 'JBB' emblazoned on your left wrist. The only problem is, soulmates pairings have basically gone extinct, and the man you've been paired with has been dead for seven decades.

The Last Name by @demonpoxballad

[complete; post-tfatws; ex-shield agent!reader] There’s one more name from the past bouncing around Bucky’s head. One more scribble ripped from the pages of Steve’s old book. Another person to make amends with. Except this one is different: he can’t remember doing anything wrong. No murdering or enabling of evil plans. No threats or political conquests. In fact, Bucky can’t remember much of her at all.

No Such Thing by @sanguineterrain

[complete: football player!bucky x journalist!reader; enemies to lovers] You’ve been assigned to write a column for your school paper on the team’s spectacular running back. You don’t care very much for your university’s football team; you just can’t understand the hype, okay? Turns out your distaste for football bigheads was exactly on point: James Barnes is insufferable.

It Started With A Smile by @writing-for-marvel

[ongoing; Regency!au/Bridgerton!au: duke!buckyx baroness!reader] At the start of the new social season, Lady Whistledown predicts this will finally be the year solitary Duke James Barnes finds a wife. After a chance meeting at Lady Danbury’s ball, can you and the Duke overcome all obstacles thrown in your path by his scandalous past and your overbearing mother insistent against your match?

On the Run by @fanfic-scribbles

[complete; post catws; avengers!au: avenger!bucky x smartass!reader] Your life is fairly normal, up until Captain America shows up on your doorstep asking for help for something nobody should know about. Some things you do know are: 1) James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes is an asshole, 2) This is all his fault, and 3) You’re going to punch him in the face. If you survive.

Bag of Tricks (oneshots) by @heli0s-writes

[complete; avengers!au: avenger!bucky, avenger!reader; chaotic dumbass!reader x exasperated!bucky; friends to lovers] The shenanigans of one chaotic dumbass and one smart ass.*

Wordpeddler by heli0s-writes

[complete; social media!au, avengers!au: avenger!bucky; strangers to lovers] An online petition for the Avengers to be interviewed turns into a series of misadventures with the so-called wordpeddler.

Flirting and Football by lovelybarnes

[ongoing; modern!au, college!au: football player!bucky; strangers to idiots to lovers] College football star Bucky Barnes is immediately enamored when he meets you. You? Not so much. But Bucky Barnes is determined. And the teetering-on-cynical views that you hold for relationships are about to realize exactly how determined he is.

Blunt [18+] by @buckysbabygorl

[complete; avengers!au: avenger!bucky x assistant!reader; coworkers to lovers] Blunt. If she was one word that would be it. Y/N is as sharp as they come, both to Bucky’s delight and dismay. He’s tried everything, open flirtations and bold moves but he can’t crack that stone hard and professional exterior. The back and forth can’t go on forever. With all this tension, Bucky is on the verge of desperation.

[real-jane]

i truly am my father’s daughter: a tragicomedy

father - the front bottoms // oil study - liza sivakova // 6 ways to draw a circle // a pearl - mitski // snow and dirty rain - richard siken // i don’t know // when it is over it will be over - troy passey // post by @pastamaker // image by @akaiiros

[real-jane]

just reread your bug and bear two shot and man do i love them! never fails to make me yearn and feel safe and warm inside. thank you for them!

Awe thank you so much!!

[real-jane]

What’s funny is that I’m not even into that type of music. I did listen to it when I was reading your fic for the first time, to be able to feel the vibe. But I saw it in that store and I was transported back into her room when they were listening to her records together and now I have to read the entire thing again. 🥰

💖💖💖💖💖

[real-jane]

So when me and hubby go record shopping and i stumble upon Benny Goodman: The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert and i have to hug it to myself just a little and he thinks I’m being weird… I told him he wouldn’t understand. 🤭🥰

Ahhhhhh!! That is so lovely! The research I did to get a really Benny Goodman title and you found it in the WILD!! 🥰

[real-jane]

BUCKY BARNES in Thunderbolts* (2025)

[real-jane]

just finished nostalgia for the new and kind of cried a little bit… i love them dearly, and i love how you wrote both benny/bucky’s dynamic and all the friends!! time to read it all over again… <3

Thank you so much! They are my babies. I am so glad that story meant something for you. Happy readings :-) 

[real-jane]

Y’all, nothing brings me joy like a new surge of reading/comment notifications when new Bucky Barnes media comes out. Welcome, new friends. Enjoy my little stories ❤️

[real-jane]

Thank you so much!! 🥰

The Right For You-niverse

[bucky barnes x fem!reader] [past steve rogers x reader]

*masterlist* by @real-jane

summary: steve leaves you to pursue a life with peggy. bucky is there to pick up the pieces, and build a life you never could've imagined in order to dream of it.

part 1: wrong about me, right for you

part 2: right for you, too

part 3: right on time

complete: June 10, 2022

my masterlist - my bucky barnes masterlist

[real-jane]

🥰🥰🥰 so glad you liked it!!!

the lengths i'd go to

[detective!bucky barnes x reader]

summary: detective barnes and his partner are the star team at precinct 75. one threat could tear it all apart.

warnings: idiots in love. mention of canon level violence/wounds. author stretches her knowledge of law and order to the limits.

a/n: thank you to @missraion for the prompt idea: "I love them but don’t see those a lot, a detective!au with bucky who’s secretely in love with his partner? plenty of banter and longing looks and they’ve got each other’s back kinda vibe, y’know"

enjoy!

--

John Walker lays dead at her feet, and that’s the beginning and the end of Bucky’s relief when he arrives on the scene.

The block is crawling with officers and agents evacuating the residents of the apartment building adjoining the alley in which Walker’s body lies, and the lights flashing against brick create dancing spots behind his eyelids every time he blinks. Bucky watches his partner as the paramedics wrap her shoulder. She winces. He inhales too hard and chokes on cigarette smoke, forcing Sam to pause mid-sentence to clap him on the back.

“--she sustained three shots, two were blocked by her vest. The third is lodged in her shoulder but it’s not serious. Small caliber like the rest, it was a through-and-through.”

Bucky grunts, glancing at the notebook Sam holds out, but his words are mangled. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees her shake hands with the medic and make her way towards them. Without greeting her, he holds out his hand. She takes the half-burnt cigarette from him, and inhales deeply. 

“How’d you take him down?” he asks.

“Slit his throat.” Smoke escapes from between her lips at her admission. Her eyelids are heavy, and she’s clearly upright by the grace of adrenaline alone. “Can I bribe you to give me a lift to the hospital?”

“What’s that ambulance for, huh?” Sam asks. 

She rolls her eyes. “You payin’?

Bucky inclines his head toward his black unmarked cruiser and looks to Sam. “Can you spare me?”

Sam nods. “Go. I’ll bring you up to speed tomorrow.”

He outpaces her by enough distance that he has the air conditioning blasting at arctic levels by the time she slides into the divot she’s worn into the seat after five years of partnership. The remains of Bucky’s cigarette get flicked from between her fingers out the window as he pulls away from the crime scene.

“You slit his throat,” Bucky murmurs without realizing he’s speaking out loud. His mind swirls as he dodges through the thick afternoon traffic.

She snorts. “Sheer dumb luck.” He can feel her gaze on the side of his face but Bucky can’t bring himself to look at her. “He garotted himself on my cufflink.”

“Jesus.”

“You took your time.” 

Bucky tightens his fingers on the steering wheel. “Contrary to what you might think, I can’t teleport, and my partner didn’t tell me she was pursuing a lead on our case.”

“Karli should’ve been alone!” she huffs. “We had no reason to believe he’d be there. It was supposed to be a quick conversation to clarify her interview from last week.”

It’s been like this, lately–the instant, fiery arguments the moment they’re alone in the car. Amongst their compatriots, they’re both professional, but every time he turns around, she does something else to push his buttons… to the point where Bucky’s hackles rise the second he smells her perfume every morning. He’s preemptively angry with her for her inevitable recklessness, her flippancy, her impulsive choices which steal his sanity. This feels particularly cutting, now that her normally pristine button-up is soaked through the shoulder with her ruddy blood.

“Kid–you didn’t even tell me that much,” Bucky growls. “What the hell were you doing? If I hadn’t forced you to share your damn location with me on your phone when we first got partnered, who knows how things would’ve gone down today! I called for backup from the Jersey Turnpike! It’s bad form, and it’s your own fault you got shot. You’re lucky I’m not makin’ you walk to the hospital.”

“Jesus–I fucked up! Is that what you want to hear?”

“Explain why you walked into that apartment with your vest on if you thought it was gonna be as simple as talkin’ to Morgenthau.”

She sighs. “I always wear it when I’m going in alone.”

“Bullshit.”

“Shit, Barnes! You don’t fucking know how often I wear my vest or why, okay? How would you know if I was wearing it? You’ve never seen me in the field without my jacket.”

“I cut your fucking shirt off the first time you were shot on duty! I know your body. Like it or not. And lying to me about it is definitely not gonna make me less pissed off!” 

“You’re being an asshole right now.”

“You’re damned right.” He screeches into the parking lot of the hospital and pulls up under the ER overhang. “Get out of my fucking car.”

“I hate you.”

“Real mature, detective.”

Bucky stares straight ahead as she gets out of the car, but he can’t help but flinch when she slams the door shut. Only then does he turn his head… she’s watching him. He forces himself to keep her gaze, unblinking. Her brows furrow in a combination of pain and fury, surely mirroring his own scowling expression. Slowly, she raises her hand and raps her knuckles on the door. Against his better judgment, Bucky depresses the button to roll down the passenger window.

“What?” he seethes.

“One thing.”

He raises an eyebrow and waits for her to go on. She leans down so she can see him better, and shakes her head.

“Are you pissed that I didn’t tell you? Or are you mad you couldn’t kill him yourself?” She shrugs, and pats the window frame. Her lips press into a thin line as she straightens. “Because you sure as hell don’t seem to give a shit that I survived.” Then, she’s gone, striding towards the hospital like she didn’t take a slug to the shoulder less than an hour prior.

Bucky can’t do anything but stare after her, because for the last few hours, he has done nothing but drive like hell to reach her, and pray to a god he doesn’t even believe in that she comes out of the encounter unscathed. Please God, don’t let her die. Let me get to her. This is not her fucking time. The moment the APB went out alerting all personnel that Walker had been spotted, Bucky bargained with dead gods that his partner wasn’t dumb enough to try to find him by herself–especially once her location pinged to the very neighborhood Walker typically haunted. The fact that she had merely been struck once by a bullet from the gun which was responsible for seven deaths around Brooklyn was a miracle. Not enough to make Bucky a religious man, but enough to remind him that his partner was no more answerable to him than she was dear. They were investigative partners in an unmarked cruiser during the day, and then Bucky went home alone at night, to a cat who fancied herself some kind of deity. 

Realizing how he felt about his partner of five years had been the worst day of his adult life, prior to this one, when the abject terror of losing said woman felt not only possible, but inevitable. Which case would it be? What kind of bullet? 

Bucky rips open the glove compartment for a fix, but his faithful box of smokes is empty. Damn her. It was her turn to buy, and instead, she went and confronted the most notorious criminal they’d ever dealt with… alone. He throws the empty box against the windshield and let an angry scream loose.

–

He stares at the locator app well into the evening to make sure her little blue dot hasn’t budged from the hospital. It doesn’t. When he wakes up again to his blaring alarm, there is one change to her location: he can’t see it anymore. This user has not shared their location with you.

–

“You look like shit.”

“You’re no looker yourself, Wilson.” Bucky rucks up his sleeves and rubs his face. He didn’t shave away yesterday’s scruff so his chin is prickly. When he glances at the preternaturally handsome sergeant, he grimaces. “Nevermind. Fuckin’ walking GQ cover model.”

Sam snorts. “I feel the affection, Barnes, thank you.” He slaps a folder down on Bucky’s desk and crosses his arms. “You ever read a file that made your skin crawl? Because that is gonna give you permanent goose bumps.”

Bucky frowns. “What is this?”

“That is what your partner found in Karli Morgenthau’s apartment yesterday.” 

Bucky stares at the nondescript folder for a second. “This is why she was there?”

“Just open it.”

He does. His chair clatters to the ground as he stands in shock, leaning over the photograph–clearly taken through a window from a long distance–of his mother, Winnie Barnes, standing in her kitchen with his little sister Rebecca. The next photo is of his father watering his beloved herb garden, and then there’s one of Bucky, sitting beside his best friend Steve at the hole-in-the-wall dive they frequent every Saturday night. There’s codes to his building notated beside extensive details about his schedule, his family and their corresponding addresses… 

“She had good reason for not telling you what she was doing,” Sam murmurs. Then, he holds out a sheet of paper, printed with a text conversation between Sam and her. One line is highlighted.

don’t care if he’s pissed. w wants b dead. k says hes going for winnie tonight.

Bucky tosses the paper down and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Jesus.”

“I knew she was going in alone, Buck.” Sam leans against his desk and crosses his arms. “The second she sent that text, I dispatched two cars to watch your parents’ house. They’re safe.”

“Steve?”

“Still in Alaska with Nat.”

“Thank god. Fuck.” Bucky dares to look at Sam, then. “Should’ve told me.”

“We didn’t know the extent of his plans. The only reason she even thought to visit Karli is because her boyfriend Lemar blabbed to one of our informants at Howlers that The Cowardly Killer wanted to go after bigger fish, like good ole’ Detective Barnes of the 75th precinct.”

“...Oh. That’s why you sent me out of town.”

“Yes. And this morning… Lemar Hoskins was apprehended trying to flee on a 5 am flight to Bermuda, with his girlfriend in tow, and the exact gun we’ve been looking for to connect the other murders.” Sam perches on the corner of Bucky’s desk as he slumps back into his desk chair in shock. “It’s over, man.”

The case they pursued for months, it’s just… over. Simple as that. 

Bucky doesn’t remember walking out of the station, only that he isn’t in any condition to drive, so he comes to consciousness again clutching a pole on the subway. He doesn’t need to think about where he’s going because it’s ingrained in his muscles. The skies open up for a much-needed midsummer shower almost as soon as he emerges from the underground, but he doesn’t care. 

He’s soaking when her door swings open. She stares at him in surprise.

“What are you doing here?” She asks, reasonably.

Bucky steps forward until they’re toe-to-toe, and eases the door handle from her grip. He shuts the thing with a soft kick behind himself, never taking his eyes off of hers. Where to even begin?

She’s in her police-issued sweats; he has an identical pair back home, but he’s certain he doesn’t look quite so… lovely, in them. She looks down in embarrassment, or something like it. He springs forward to catch her chin, tipping her head up so he can search her eyes for the end of the right thread. The dark circles beneath them do the trick.

“You okay?” he rasps.

“Didn’t sleep. My shoulder is killing me, and I keep feeling his blood seeping through my fingers. I, uh…” she clears her throat and steps out of his grasp. “Tried to keep him from bleeding out, actually. But Karli was just screaming and I was so shocked. One minute I have him on the ground in a headlock, and then–yeah. Try closing your eyes and not seeing that all night long.”

“You revoked your location.”

“You still found me, so I don’t know what good it did. I was pissed. I’m pissed, still. If I didn’t go in there, I might’ve been speaking to your corpse right about now.”

“After yesterday, I thought you might enjoy that.”

“Only if I’m the one to kill you, Barnes.” She smiles. Just one corner of her soft lips turns up, but it’s enough to say I forgive you. But he hasn’t earned it, yet. She does that. Forgives him too easily, for his moods and temper… for forcing protocol when it’s not necessary, for kicking her out of his car at the entrance to the Emergency Room instead of walking her inside to make sure she is alright. She has every right to be angry.

But he doesn’t.

Her phone alarm sounds, so she hastily turns it off. “It’s time for me to take my pain stuff, you mind?”

“Go on.”

“You want a beer?”

“You have beer?” he chuckles, knowing full well that she prefers to drink a hearty glass of red wine or straight-up bourbon.

“That’s the only thing in my fridge right now,” she admits. “It’s still there from game night last month.”

“I’ll have one. But I’ll get it, you take your happy pills.”

She disappears into her bedroom and Bucky finds the beer he brought to her house the last time they were on good terms… What went wrong? He cracks open the can and takes a sip of the citrusy brew. It goes down easy, but he holds the cold aluminum against his cheek. He’s flushed, he’s still wet–Bucky fishes her hand towel from its home draped over the oven handle, and rubs the thing over his hair aggressively. She clears her throat. Bucky wheels around.

“Fuck,” he breathes. 

She takes in his rumpled hair, which sticks out with the same tumult inside that very head, and she covers a laugh behind her fingers. Gently, she tugs the towel out of his hands, and dabs at his temple, where a drop of water streaks downward. Her fingers calm the fury of his hair as best as they can. 

“Should you be standing?” he asks gently. 

“No,” she laughs. “But you know me.”

“I do.”

“Stubborn.”

“Dangerously so.” He raises both brows to dare her to challenge the observation, but she nods. 

“Especially when my partner is in danger.”

“Yeah… Sam showed me the file.”

She looks away. “Buck, that was just confirmation of what I’ve known for weeks.”

“What–?”

“Four, approximately. I have been racing against time to keep you from being his next victim.”

Bucky can’t speak, he’s so shocked. She points to the refrigerator, where a magnet holds up a nondescript envelope. He sets his beer down and plucks the thing from beneath the tiny photo of The Big Apple. Inside the envelope, printed in aggressive scrawl on yellow legal paper, is a note. It reads:

The White Wolf of Brooklyn can’t find me. What makes you think YOU can little girl? When I put him down like a dog, you’ll be sorry. Your precious detective. Maybe I’ll take him through your eastern window the next time he’s here. You’re nothing. He’s big game.

“I found that taped to my front door the morning after game night,” she murmurs. “I’ve been trying so hard to outpace him, while keeping you safe. I should’ve told you but I knew he had eyes on me enough to have observed us–”

“You’ve been picking fights,” he realizes. 

She bites her lip. “To keep you safe.”

“It’s had me real fucked up, kid.” Bucky rubs his chin. “I got whiplash from you yankin’ me around.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I figured that if you knew, you would’ve tried to goad Walker into a confrontation and by then?” She shrugs. “He could’ve picked off everyone you love.”

Bucky glares at her. “What about you, huh?” He tosses the letter onto the counter and pins her to the wall, arms on either side of her shoulders. She winces and he cups her cheek in apology, without even thinking. As she freezes under his touch, Bucky swallows hard… and mirrors the gesture with his other hand, so he cradles her face in his hands.

“What the fuck would you expect me to do if he took you?” he whispers. 

“He’d only do that to hurt you, and if we weren’t getting along, then… I wasn’t going to be used against you.”

“No–goddammit, he could’ve killed you today. How do you think I would’ve gone on with my life? Huh?” He thumbs her cheeks with a gentleness that opposes the angry desperation in his voice. 

Her eyes search his sadly. “It’s a risk we take in our line of work, Buck.”

“Not needlessly. Doll–shit, on a good day? I can sense where you are at a scene without even looking at ya. We’re the dream team. When we’re solid, we’re untouchable. How many times have you feared for your life in the five damn years we’ve been partners?”

“I dunno. One?”

He shakes her gently. “Exactly. Exactly!”

“If you were in my shoes, what would you have done? I’ve spent every day of the last four weeks paranoid about you getting fed up with my attitude and showing up here to confront me, only for John Walker to make good on his promise. It was better for me to risk our partnership than your life.”

He levels his eyes with hers and huffs. “This partnership is my life.”

Her jaw opens and shuts. Her eyes flick to his lips. “You don’t mean that.”

“Like hell I don’t.”

Bucky is acutely aware that she’s nursing a gunshot wound, but he nevertheless captures her gasp of surprise between his lips and kisses her. It may be abrupt, but it isn’t hasty. He’s thought about this so many times that it feels like coming home. He is too worried about her injury to devour her the way he wants to, so he presses his lips to the corners of her mouth.

“If you’re not alive, I’ve got nothing,” he says fiercely. “That’s it.”

She groans. “Buck–”

“No. You should’ve told me what you knew.”

“You saved me, in the end.” She touches his jaw. “You turned me on to french cuffs in the first place.”

He wrinkles his nose. “You’re shitting me.”

“Seriously. I was wearing the cuff links you gave me for Christmas–”

“Secret Santa,” he corrects her with a soft, mischievous smile. 

“Fine. The cuff links from my Secret Santa shaped like daggers were my saving grace. Even when he doesn’t know it, he has my back.”

Bucky shuts his eyes in relief, resting his forehead against hers. “I missed you.”

“I’ve cried in the bathroom three times this week, just from the hurt on your face. I’m so sorry.”

“Shhh. It’s over.” He pulls her against his chest gently. “You should be laying down, huh?”

“I’m in so much pain,” she whimpers. 

Bucky sighs. “Doll–”

“Don’t start. It was important we have this conversation. But now that we have–can you be extremely kind and help me get comfortable?”

“What do you need?”

“I’d kill for a cigarette.”

“Fat chance,” he chuckles. “Besides, it’s your turn to buy our pack.”

“We should quit.”

“Not today.”

Twenty minutes later, she is propped on her bed in an elaborate pillow lounge, which enables her to recline as comfortably as one can when one’s been shot in the shoulder. He’s packed bags of ice around her bandages, ordered from the pizza shop down the street… but she’s asleep before it comes. Bucky doesn’t press her about reinstating his location privileges. Doesn’t really need to, considering that he posts up in the wingback chair beside her bed.

At some point, they’ll have to talk more about why it feels so good to kiss, because Bucky’s not about to sacrifice that great privilege. And there is the question of what to tell the chief, and when, but she’ll be on desk duty while she heals, anyway. For now… she’s safe, and she snores, and both of those facts are enough to ease his heart. 

Part 2

–

thank you for reading! :)

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[real-jane]

Thank you!! 🥰

what i wouldn't do

[detective!bucky barnes x reader]

summary: it's been a week since she was shot. They're desperate for each other.

warnings: idiots in love. smut, bi-bucky rep if you squint.

a/n: part 2! sequel to the lengths i'd go to

enjoy!

--

“Detective Dollface?” 

The courier’s call fills the precinct, clear as a bell, and for her part, Detective Dollface slumps forward in mortification… even as she raises her good hand to indicate where she sits. The bicycle delivery guy drops a shopping bag containing two takeout boxes on her desk, and hands her a sweating cup the size of her head, containing just enough soda to drown in if the embarrassment becomes too much. She nods at the man, who waits expectantly. He doesn’t leave until she hands him the only cash she has on her–a twenty dollar bill Bucky gave her that morning, so she could pick up some smokes.

Serves him right, she thinks. Embarrass the shit outta me? No fix.

Except she is dying for a cigarette, and he did send her favorite food… and it’s not like the whole precinct didn’t catch on real quick to them being partners with a capital P, so why let their amused snickers get to her? She holds her middle finger in the air as a ‘get fucked’ to anyone within the general radius, and digs into the meal.

‘I’m going to murder you,’ she texts him, between disintegrating one-handed bites of taco.

It takes almost no time at all to receive his reply: 

DICKHEAD: knife between the eyes or smothering me in my sleep?

‘Something painful and embarrassing.’

DICKHEAD: i love you too babydoll. take your pain pills.

‘I’m fine.’

DICKHEAD: youre stabby

‘You like it.’

DICKHEAD: yes i do

‘I can feed myself, you know.’

DICKHEAD: its 2 pm and you havent eaten since i force fed you a muffin this morning

‘You don’t know that.’

DICKHEAD: I have eyes everywhere 

‘Coffee is all I need.’

DICKHEAD: you have anxiety 

‘Do you wanna come over tonight?’

DICKHEAD: you missing me?

‘Planning on smothering you in your sleep.’

DICKHEAD: be there at seven

She smiles against her will, staring down at her screen as those three little dots pop up beside his name and disappear again several times, before he settles on a simple heart emoji. He’s told her that he loves her at least fifteen times a day since he came over in a rainstorm to make sure she was alright. She never would’ve pegged him for a simp, but then again… she’s made the mistake of underestimating him before. He is obsessed with her, to a fault. He went home four nights that week and spent each one on the phone with her, telling her how much he wished he hadn’t. She pretends to be annoyed, but deep down, she is thrilled to be obsessed over–especially by someone who she knows has very few people he holds dear, by design. 

To be counted among them is to be special in a way which can’t be measured out in heart emojis or takeout boxes.

She wants to do something for him which will surprise him, something even better than ordering a taco delivery or realizing after five years that the person you call ‘partner’ has become the very textbook definition of the term. Rendering Bucky speechless is difficult. The White Wolf of Brooklyn is too controlled for that. But to see his expression soften into quiet awe would surely be something.

With the swiftness of a bicycle courier absconding with a $20 tip, she dials the one person who knows Bucky better than she does.

“Becs. Hi. I need a favor.”

__

Bucky shows up promptly at 6:55 pm, wearing his police-issue sweats and a smile which rivals a smitten teenager. It’s a simple surprise, but it’s absolutely worth it to see the look on his face when he walks into her apartment, using his key… to discover takeout from his favorite Chinese restaurant sprawled across the length of the counter, and a bottle of scotch nearly impossible to find unless you have a hookup–like a sister with a golden retriever bartender for an ex. Bucky guesses right away that his sister was involved in the procurement of said treat. He’s giddy at the thought of Y/n and Becca in cahoots, especially on his behalf. 

He happily digs into the veritable feast, while trading Y/n for bites of her orange chicken, and trying to kiss her every time it looks like she left sauce behind on her bottom lip (and she suspects he makes up several such instances just for the excuse to do so again).

But there’s something not quite extraordinary enough about the surprise. She isn’t satisfied. He’s excited, but he’s not boggled. No bafflement to be found. In fact, she is the one who is caught off-guard when he pulls a bag of bath salts out from under the sink, and some kind of oil which is sure to drive her to the limit of sanity while she’s still under strict orders to keep her shoulder stabilized.

Speaking of which… she can’t help the whine which escapes as he helps free her of the sling she’s worn all day. Bucky makes an involuntary noise of his own, some sort of grunt from the deep, and begins to shuck his own clothes. He won’t listen to one protestation when he unclothes her, too. Bucky’s evening surprises quickly become eclipsed by his own concern for her.

He sits back against the tile, cradling her between his legs amongst a host of pillowy bubbles. She shivers from the disparity between the warm water and the ice on her shoulder (which he retrieved from her freezer ‘Buck-ass naked’ as she deemed him), gripping Bucky’s arm until her muscles finally relax around her wound. He smells like his cologne and a bit of sweat, and the leather conditioner they use to preserve the cruiser seats. Not like she wants to wash that away… but they have been apart all day, and what better way to be skin-to-skin when she can’t jump him yet?

He kisses her neck, just below her ear; she hums.

“I love you,” she breathes. “But I’m so annoyed with you.”

Bucky chuckles warmly. “Mmm. Do ya?”

“You’re a dick, but I do.”

“Glad I can be my true self with you,” he says. “What’s on your mind?”

She sighs. “We can’t be partners if we’re together.”

“Yeah.” He noses her cheek when she lays her head back against his shoulder.

“I’m starting to wonder if I only do this to be close to you, Buck. The thought of riding shotgun with anyone else has me feeling like Tom Hanks’ dumb dog sidekick. I’m taking so long to heal. By the time I get cleared to go back out in the field, you’ll have some other partnership and that’ll be the end.”

“Babydoll,” he soothes. “It’s been a week, barely. It takes a while to heal a gunshot. You’re not Wolverine.”

“…who?”

“Hugh Jackman with the claws and sideburns.”

“Oh. Would you still be into me if I was?”

“If you’re still you, but also somehow Hugh Jackman? Yes. Without a doubt.”

“You contain multitudes.”

“Would you rather pretend like we don’t wanna jump each other in the hot, not West Side Story way?”

“Be cool, boy.”

He shakes with silent laughter. “If I have to go back to pretending like you don’t turn me on when you call in an APB, I might commit an atrocity.”

“Socks with sandals?”

“At the very least.”

“Do you ever think about how things would’ve been different? If you didn’t get in the wrong cruiser.”

It was how they got paired. 

A call went out, all available officers responded in kind. Bucky wound up peeling out of the station parking lot with a fresh faced rookie as a copilot. But it was that instant magic, where they just clicked without even knowing each other’s names. It wasn’t until she pressed the suspect belly-first over the hood of their cruiser that Bucky held out his hand to introduce himself. 

Bucky tosses the baggie which used to contain ice onto the rug just outside the bath. 

“I was meant to meet you. And keep you safe, and fed. And when you can jab me square in the chest with this healed arm, I’ll know it’s safe to make you feel good in other ways. And if I can’t fuck you as my partner on the force, then I guess I’ll have to keep more boxers in your intimates drawer and spend my nights making it up to you.”

She chokes back a whine of arousal. “…you probably could now. If you were really careful.”

“No ma’am.”

She scoffs. “You really mean that.”

“I still win, whether or not we get to work together. Or fuck.”

“I find it hard to believe that you’re so sanguine about that particular activity being limited.”

“I didn’t say that,” he chuckles, shifting to deemphasize her effect on him… as if she hasn’t already clocked how his muscles react to their proximity. “You’ve had my balls in an iron vice for years."

“Poor baby.” 

His laughter warms her cheek. “We gotta get out. It’s time for your meds.”

She snuggles closer to him as best as she can, making sure their legs are good and intertwined. “How’d you like sharing a car with Barton?”

“...Are you ignoring me?”

“I’m comfortable. Don’t you want me to be comfy, Barnes?” She nuzzles the nearest available pec.

“It was fine,” Bucky sighs. “He thinks I should reach out to the 84th and transfer. Then we can both keep our positions. What do you think about that?”

“There is no solution in which we get to stay partners, huh.”

“Not unless you wanna pretend like you haven’t seen me without pants on.”

She shivers, because she can feel the way his cock twitches at the base of her spine in acknowledgment of how much he wants her. “Buck–”

“Babydoll.” He tucks his nose into the crook of her neck until she squirms. 

“You either gotta get out, or you gotta touch me.” She cannot ignore the prickle of arousal which has infiltrated her senses any longer. 

“What’re you gonna do, masterbate while I put the leftovers in the fridge?” he whispers.

“Yes.”

Bucky stays her good hand as it creeps down her stomach and she swears she hears his heart begin to race. In his grip, her veins jump at the wrist. “Doll–the water’s cold.” He says it like an oath of devotion to her. Like he’s trying to talk himself out of it, and not her. “I’m–you’ll pop your stitches,” he groans. “God. I am not a strong man. Please don’t ask me to do this.” His hand flattens hers against the swell of her soft belly. Even so, his tongue finds the pulse point behind her jaw. 

There’s that awe she wanted to hear from him. Bafflement. 

“Don’t,” she breathes. “Just hold me while I do. Keep me steady.”

“Okay. Okay. God–”

“You’re an atheist.” She pries her fingers free from his grip, forcing his hand to retreat towards her hip. His nails are closely-trimmed, and still she feels the blunt bite of his fingertips into her skin as he holds on for dear life.

“I worship you, doll.” Bucky can’t help but roll his hips into her ass and they both groan. 

A zing of pain through her shoulder is not enough to deter her from finding her swollen clit, even as she nestles her ass cheeks back against his lap. She almost doesn’t want to touch that little bundle of nerves and bring herself relief. This wanting, this desire for him–it has been her constant so long that it feels like comfort. The awareness of his skin and what it might feel like against hers–when she’s wet, and wanting him… it’s real, and more heady than any single tryst she’s experienced prior to now. Even knowing that she could hurt herself–it makes it feel special. I’ll touch myself with your oversight, because you’ll keep me from the worst of it… because if I don’t, it will end us both. It really might. Not giving in to some shared bliss. What would they put on her tombstone?

He narrates her pleasure in subtle catches of his breath, watching her middle finger float the nerves of her clit in soft circles. His vision is distorted through a soapy iridescent film, but his imagination is wild–it must be, the way he huffs to see her elbow straighten and wrist bend. To test the addition of one finger into her heat–

“Reach into the drawer by your head,” she breathes. “Fucking water is making me squeaky clean, can’t stay slick–lube, Bucky, the gray bottle.” Y/n giggles when he yanks open said drawer after a moment of stunned silence. He cradles said bottle in one hand, and he won’t relinquish it when she wiggles her fingers. 

“I–I’ll do it.”

“I thought I was too injured–”

“I won’t hurt you. I couldn’t–” he flicks open the cap of the bottle– “and I’ll just touch you. Just like you wanted.”

He’s right. It’s what she wants. Those fingers, which she’s watched wrap around a steering wheel until his knuckles strain. Touching her, working her to an orgasm she’s been waiting on for five years. So she takes the bottle from him, and turns his palm upwards, so she can squirt a dollop of the silicone lubricant into his hand. She scoops the clear gel and presses their fingertips together. 

“The water won’t wash this away without soap,” she explains. When he doesn’t reply, she turns her head so she can make eye contact. She shivers at the look on his face–determined, and delirious. His lips worry the corner of her mouth as she brings his fingers to her folds.

“Orgasms are good for pain,” he mutters.

Bucky has a reputation around the station. Nobody has ever looked her in the eye and said “I know what Barnes’ fingers feel like,” but plenty of women giggle a little too much in his presence. Try as she might, Y/n can’t muster one tiny giggle when the pad of his calloused middle finger slips over her clit. He nips at her good shoulder, choking back the joy of finally feeling her. For her part, Y/n can’t breathe. Not when he’s testing the limits of her pain, while simultaneously teasing her inner folds.

“Are you gonna put it in, or what?” she gasps. Bucky gives her mound a soft tap, making water ripple around her hips.

“Your sexy talk needs some rehearsal,” he says. “This isn’t an assignment, I’m here because I wanna be, so I will take–” kiss, kiss behind her jaw– “as long as I goddamn want. Might drain this bottle just working you up to my fingers, doll.”

“Better not… it’s fucking expensive.”

“If we don’t drop into a lower tax bracket because of all the lube we’re buying, we’re not doing it enough.”

“You’re not doing it at all, you’re–oh, I hate you,” she moans, ready to weep at the feeling of his finger dipping into her heat slowly. 

“Sure you do.” Bucky braces her closer to his chest with his free arm, doing his level best to keep her from arching into his touch and yet doing his best to send her over the edge anyway. 

“Hate you so much.”

“How much?” He coaxes her until she can take a second finger and then proves it to her, despite the huff of worry when she feels him doing so.

“So much that I forget how much–Bucky, god.” Her knees shake as she approaches release. 

“Tell me you love me.”

“Make me.”

He lets the heel of his hand rock over her clit to take that challenge on. “How about now?”

She ventures a glance up at him, which is a mistake–his pupils are blown wide, and he’s watching every subtle shift on her face as if he could sustain himself on her expressions alone. “You do this with all the girls?” Her words come out clipped.

“You want me to give you my history while I’m fingering you?”

“Five. I’ve had five partners. Two one night stands. Haven’t had sex in so long that I’m surprised I remember how to do it.”

“I’m gonna hurt your feelings,” He warns. Bucky slows down his ministrations, and Y/n feels panic begin to rise in her chest. “This ain’t when we should be talking about it.”

“You didn’t sleep with someone this week–”

“No! No, I’m not a piece of shit,” he sighs. He struggles with himself just long enough that the water being cold comes back into their awareness, and they both shiver. Bucky kisses her temple and pulls his fingers from her. Y/n grabs his wrist.

“What?”

He looks at her like he wants to cry. “On your birthday, alright? I went home with a chick from the bar.”

She blinks. “...you took a girl home from my birthday thing?”

Bucky shakes his head. “Steve met me after.”

“Oh. At Stan’s?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh. And… you met a girl there, and you took her home.”

“No–I went to hers. It didn’t go so good, but… it was recent, and I–I definitely did it to stop thinkin’ about you.”

“Didn’t go good how?”

“I fucking hate this conversation–”

“Buck.”

“I panicked, okay? I freaked out. Couldn’t stop sweating, didn’t want to look at her. Wanted to get sick when she kissed me. So I left before things got too hot and heavy.”

“Did she at least suck your dick?” Y/n asks softly. The smile at her lips makes Bucky flush crimson. He doesn’t say anything, but he nods once. “Thanks for telling me, dickhead. Would ya please, please, please get back to fucking me with your fingers so good, my stitches pop?”

“That was good, baby, very sexy.” Bucky cups her cheek. “I know I have you now, but I didn’t for a long time. I did lots of stupid shit to try to be okay with it. Even if it doesn’t bother you? I hate that I did it, alright? Just let me feel like a fool about it.”

“Hey. I love you. Yeah? If that was gonna change my mind, I wouldn’t be worthy of you.”

“...you really want an orgasm, don't ya?”

“Desperately,” she giggles.

“You get romantic when you’re horny.”

“Is that so?”

“Remember that New Year’s Eve we were stuck on patrol and you let me kiss you at midnight, and then you told me I was ‘a nice guy’ and ‘you like working with me’?”

“God,” she laughs. “I was trying to get you to kiss me again!”

“What?? It absolutely killed my boner. No guy likes to be called ‘nice’, not ones raised in Brooklyn anyway.”

“But you are, baby,” she says, nipping his chin. 

“What is nice, anyway? Tell me I’m really strong or something.”

“That does it for you?”

“How did we get here–doll, let me get you out of the bath, okay? We’ll revisit this another time.”

“James, either you finger me in this bath or on my bed. Only ‘nice’ guys walk away from a horny woman without making her come.”

“I ain’t a nice guy, as you know–” Bucky scrambles out of the bath and then lifts Y/n out, too. He manages to wrap her in a towel and baby her shoulder, all the way to her room, leaving a trail of drips in his wake. He lays her down on the covers gently, but she winces as she lays back on her pillows. Bucky freezes.

“What was that?” he murmurs.

She shakes her head frantically. “I’m horny, as established–”

“That was your bad face. Doll–” He squares his hands on his hips, erection and fervor be damned.

“Bucky. I got shot. I’m never completely pain-free!”

“All I want is to touch you, you know that. But–sweets, I don’t think tonight is the night.”

She frowns. “I hate when you’re logical.” The small smile which pulls at her lips has him smirking back at her.

“I’ll lend you my sweats and we’ll watch a movie, huh? Almost as good as an orgasm.”

“What will you wear?”

Y/n does a second round of icing her incredibly sore shoulder sitting next to Bucky on the sofa, surrounded in the comforting scent of his cologne in his sweats… while he recites every word of ‘The Princess Bride’, wearing only a pair of clean boxers (printed with penguins, inexplicably) and one of her zip-ups straining around his biceps. It’s just as intimate as sex, she thinks. Maybe moreso. He’s not thinking about performing, or making her feel good, he’s just reciting all of the romantic hero’s lines into her temple and occasionally feeding her popcorn, in between sips of whiskey.

He is a nice guy, even though he hates the word. It’s part of his niceness–that designation being too amorphous, too static. Bucky is a man of action, and when it comes to her… he defaults to kindness and honesty. He’s silly and emotional and far too concerned about ‘protocol’, but that’s about as nice as a guy can get. 

Bucky jumps up to fetch her pain pills before she can even ask.

__

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