OneShots and OffCuts

Lovely

Lovely - Billie Eilish & Khalid

In a world where finding Bucky Barnes didn't trigger the breakdown of The Avengers, Bucky now must find himself. But when returning to the compound with Steve Rogers brings him face to face with Natasha Romanoff memories begin to surface and he can't figure out what is real and what is not.

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Word Count: 1403

Content: SFW, nightmares, lost memories.

Requested by: @LizzieBarnes1917

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The room was dark, save for the soft blue glow of some show he was not watching, and the fuzzy noise of laughter tracks mocked him as he sat clutching his dog tags and gasping for breath. It had been six weeks since Steve had brought him to the compound and Bucky still didn't know exactly who he was. All he knew was that she was featuring in his dreams and nightmares more and more with each passing night.

The creak of floorboards and the soft sigh of the opening door pushed through the room as she stepped inside tentatively. She searched the space for him when she saw his bed was empty once again and her heart ached for him. The shaky silhouette of a broken man sat hunched on the floor at the foot of the bed, a sheen of sweat glistening against the red river of scars on his shoulder. He flinched as she stepped towards him, pulling the blanket from behind him to cover his arm; to cover The Winter Soldier.

"You don't have to do that, you know." Natasha Romanoff sank to the floor beside him, careful to leave some space between them, as she whispered in the dark.

"Do what?" His voice was gruff and thick with pain.

"Cover it up." She smiled softly as she shrugged. "The arm or the pain."

"I'm not in pain." He looked away from her, his eyes focussing on the fuzzy glow of the screen on the wall.

"My room is next door Barnes. I hear you screaming."

He sighed a shaky breath as his head dropped and his shoulders shook. Sitting beside her was conflicting. She had shown him kindness and compassion. She had made it clear he was welcome. That his past did not negate the hiding place he could find with The Avengers. But she looked at him like he was a stranger to her, and the memories that tore him to pieces, skin and bone, told him they were not. His mind had set moments with her in stone, it had brought fragments of connection into his dreams and broke him in waking moments. He had known her and he had lost her.

Did she even realise how important she was?

"You know you'll make it out of there one day. I promise." She shuffled closer to him slowly, turning to face him as she tilted her head to the side and her eyes softened. She looked at him with understanding. "I had them too."

"You did?"

"How much do you know about me?"

Bucky sighed as his eyes met hers; jewels of jade illuminating a path to redemption within the darkness.

"More than you can imagine."

His eyes burned into hers as she took a deep breath. The flicker of a moment long buried and burned away in the hidden depths of her mind floated to the surface.