Bucky Barnes One Shots

A Cold Hearted Monster

♫ Came into this world
Daddy's little girl
And daddy made a soldier out of me ♫

Steve was giving Bucky a tour of the headquarters when a soft voice that seemed to come from the walls stopped Bucky dead in his tracks. He looked around him, his body tense and alert.

"It's alright." Steve assured him, one hand rising to rest on Bucky's shoulder.

"The hell is that?" Bucky gasped as the soft music filled the corridor.

"It's just the woman we recruited before you."

"Where is she?"

Steve looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "I'd say she's in the air ducts." He scoffed when Bucky looked at him in disbelief. "She likes to be alone. I don't think you'll see her a lot outside of missions. Everyone here has their quirks. Clint sleeps on the roof and Vision can pass through walls. You'll get used to it."

"I miss Budapest." Bucky exhaled forcefully, following Steve.

♫ With his gun, with his head held high
He told me not to cry
Oh, my daddy said shoot ♫

Two weeks later Bucky woke up drenched in a cold sweat and gasping for air. He didn't scream, but God knows he wanted to.

His nightmares were so vivid and terrifying that he only went to bed when he was beyond exhausted. The bad dreams were still there. If only they were just bad dreams, Bucky thought, but they were memories. Disturbing memories.

He felt guilty that his life was now somehow back on track, and his mind made him pay at night when no one was there to comfort him. He got up and he paced. The living room was plunged into complete darkness when a voice startled him.

"You're James, right?"

"Bucky."

"I don't like nicknames." You shrugged.

He moved his chin towards you. He said your name and you confirmed with a nod. "I heard you sing. You sing a lot."

"Sorry."

"Don't be. Made me drift off to sleep last night." You snickered lightly in the dark kitchen as Bucky approached you. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"We already met."

The expression on his face was one of confusion before it clicked. "You met the Winter Soldier."

"Yep, twice. Did I make such a fleeting impression?" You smirked.

"I'd rather forget about it." He sighed before he looked up at you. His lips looked dry and chapped. "Did, um, did I hurt you?"

"Bruised my ribs, broke my favourite pair of high heels, but other than that... no."

A wall of deep, yet oddly comfortable silence rose between you. You took the opportunity to observe him. His face was bent, sending his long hair cascading down over his face, his pale blue eyes shone in the dim moonlight.

"There are twenty three objects in this room I can kill you with." You tried to lighten the mood, but you had never been really good at it so you cringed a bit when a crease formed between his brows.

"Twenty four." He replied with a smirk. You laughed together, relieved that he was as awkward as you were.

♫ When trouble comes to town
And men like me come around
Oh, my daddy said shoot ♫

Friendship blossomed that night. From that moment you were inseparable, always training together or having each other's back. You told him how your father turned you into a weapon, how you killed your first man at age ten to save your mother and how things only got worse after that.

Natasha found you and promised to keep your family safe if you joined the Avengers. Between that and prison, your choice was quickly made.

Bucky told you about his nightmares, about what he remembered and what he wished he could remember. He missed his mother, but had no memories of her. He called himself a monster and you called yourself a cold-hearted killer.

He was determined to warm your heart and you to show him that monsters only lived under our beds. You stayed with him at night and sang until he fell asleep. His nightmares dwindled as the buds of your friendship opened into flowers that had the forgotten scent of love. You started to think that perhaps you were not so bad after all.

And Bucky never thought he would love again until the day you had been captured. He was running aimlessly, desperate to find you. He screamed your name, punched the walls, but the only thing he heard was the evil laugh of the HYDRA agent pinned to the wall by Steve.

"You'll never find her. She's as good as dead." He said, cheek pressed against the cold, damp wall.

Before Bucky could open his mouth Steve knew what he wanted. When Steve broke the agent's arm loud sobs bounced off the walls, but Bucky managed to hear your soft voice. It was as if you were in the room with them, lulling him to sleep.

"Shut him up!" He yelled and Steve knocked the man down. "Listen!"

"I can't hear anything, Buck. It must be your min-" But Bucky shushed him before he could finish his sentence.

♫ And we rode motorcycles
Blackjack, classic vinyl
Tough girl is what I had to be ♫

"It's her! She's alive!"

He followed the soft sound of your voice humming the tune he heard so many times before. He found you on the ground in a small pool of your own blood. His eyes sprang open as he rushed to your side. Your body was covered in bruises and you were barely conscious. Your eyes fluttered closed as you continued to sing.

"Bucky." You said with a smile. He thought his heart was going to explode, you never called him by his nickname.

"I've got you." He rushed back to the jet, you limp body pressed against his chest. Your eyes were closed and you were no longer singing. "No, no keep singing. You know I love when you sing. Sing for me, doll."

Bruce took you from Bucky arms, but you wouldn't let go. Bucky lifted your hand and kissed your knuckles as they took you away. Four agonising hours later, Bruce allowed Bucky to stay with you. He sat next to your bed and held your hand tightly in his.

"Hey, my knight in shining armour." Your voice was so low, you didn't recognise it.

"My princess." He kissed the hand he had been holding for the past thirty minutes.

"It's not the hand of the princess you're supposed to kiss." You said with a small cheeky smile.

"But the princess is supposed to be asleep."

"And did you try to wake the sleeping princess up?"

He stood up and leaned forward so that his face was only a few inches from your own. "To receive a punch in the face? No, thank you."

He made you laugh, your face contorted into a painful grimace before he rested the palm of his hand against your cheek. His lips brushed against yours.

Each time his lips grazed yours, you whimpered and you knew he was grinning from ear to ear. His lips press harder against your own in a delicate, soft kiss. Too soon, he slightly pulled away to speak.

"No one will hurt you again, I sent a message to the others." He felt you smile against his lips.

"You killed them?"

"No, I'm a man of peace now." He made you laugh again and apologized when your features twisted in pain. "I sent Steve."

"Oh yeah, Steve. Good call, everyone knows he hates punching people in the face." You replied sarcastically. Bucky tossed you a wink before his lips claimed yours again.