I'm Glad I Met You | Bucky Barnes x Reader

Exposed

Berlin, Germany

The next morning, you and Sam followed Bucky through a corridor in the Berlin Correctional Facility residing in Germany's capital. It was silent as a guard led you down to the baron, Helmut Zemo's, wing. It felt like you had to bypass a dozen sub levels and guards before you got to the right floor. But your mind wandered elsewhere as you followed through never ending hallways.

You were a little concerned with the stakes of this situation, considering how hard a time Bucky's already had on this mission. Of course, yesterday was rough on all of you. And in more ways than one. But you had thought about it overnight; the way Bucky had been the one to suggest going to talk to this guy despite it being the hardest for him to deal with especially. Whether that was nobility or instability, you were yet to be sure of.

"He is just through this corridor."

"Alright. Give us a minute." Buck nodded to the man in uniform who left you all with a sub level clearance pass to get into the cell. The former Howling Commando turned back to face you both. "I'm gonna go in alone."

"What? Why?" Sam immediately questioned, while your eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Because he didn't know you," he turned from you to Sam, "and you're an Avenger."

"And you're a super soldier."

"Yeah, but he might be more inclined to help if it's only me."

"Why? 'Cause he used you as his weapon the last time you two met? Ya aren't exactly known for frolicking in the sun together."

"He was obsessed with Hydra. We have a history together." His blue crystalline eyes flicker between you and Sam as he tries to reassure. "Trust me. I got it."

To your right, Sam's head shook doubtfully. "He's gonna try to get in your head."

"Yeah, well, he can't do that anymore."

"That's not what I meant."

"I know what you meant."

Sam sighed, but you observed the soldier as they talked. Noticing his taut shoulders and gnawed lips and baggy eyes. You kept waiting, expecting to see any sign that too much of his past was being drenched up all at once in talking to this man. That it would become too difficult for him to handle. But he only ever showed his insistence. And if this guy was as preferential as he was chalking him up to be, it sounded like a fair choice. So when he turned to you, you nodded firmly. "We'll wait out here."

His stare held with yours for a moment, still never giving away a single transparent thought to you that he didn't want to. He nodded gruffly before carrying himself through the corridor's doorway.

Neither of your eyes left Bucky until he was lost from sight, and you leaned your back against the wall to wait.

"Sam, with or without us, are you sure Bucky talking to Zemo at all is a good idea?" You finally asked. "He's been kind of on edge..."

"That's his natural state." Wilson responded shortly, arms crossed and eyes staring off distractedly as his back rested against the wall across you. When your eyebrow raised and he caught your gaze, he sighed and gave in. "He's still upset over the shield."