Fix Me: Bucky Barnes x OC (MCU)

Chapter 6

Warnings: nightmares (again), blood, swearing, bad writing :(

Word Count: 1242

 'It might work, but then it might not,' Bruce says. 'This is just a prototype. I want feedback about it, ok? Just drink a sip before you go to sleep.'

He hands me a bottle full of amber liquid.

'Thanks,' I reply. 'Are you giving some to Jame - Buck?'

'It doesn't work on him,' Bruce sighs. 'I tried everything when he first came. Tony's tried too. Nothing worked.'

'Why?' I ask.

'They wiped your mind. They broke mine.'

I turn to James, standing in the doorway. His gaze lingers on my face, then he turns away and disappears down the hallway, leaving his words echoing hollowly in the room.

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'Monster,' Thor accuses. 'Look at you.'

This is a dream, I tell myself. Thor and Loki left yesterday. But I look in the mirror on the wall anyway, and what I see makes me recoil. Blood stains my muzzle, my claws. And my eyes... My eyes are those of an animal. Not even that. They're empty, soulless, all that's inside is bloodlust. I look like a hound from hell. That's my sister's wolf... She's the goddess of death... With a snarl, my body launches itself at the mirror, and it shatters when I'm barely millimeters from it, the glass hitting my crimson stained fur, biting into my skin. I'm transported into a room, and there's a man with his back to me. Fury. I leap at him, and it's only when I've ripped his neck out that I realise that it's James. Shuddering, I back away, and a howl leaves me -

'Minka!' A voice yells.

My eyes snap open, and I see James, eyes wide, his flesh hand on my back, fingers clenched in my fur. I killed him. Didn't I?

'Minka,' he murmurs, pulling me to him and burying his face in my fur. I can feel him shaking against me. 'You scared me.' He mumbles, moving his flesh hand up to touch my chest. I see four, oozing red lines on the back of his hand. I look down at my claws, and I see the claws on my left front leg are tipped with blood. Monster. Blood staining my muzzle -

I Shift back and rip away from him. I don't want him to touch me. I'll hurt him. Because I'm a fucking monster. And HYDRA can make me kill whoever they want. Stumbling backwards, I put as much distance between us as I can.

'I'm a m - monster,' I gasp, hitting the wall and pressing my back against it, trying to distance myself from him as much as I can. My hands rake through my hair and I scrabble against the door, trying to find the handle, eyes always on James. A tear slips down my face. I shrink away as he moves towards me.

'You are not a monster,' he growls. 'Stop it, Minka.'

His hand encloses around mine and pulls my hand free of my hair. He traps them against him and wraps his arms tightly around me, and my fingers fist in the front of his shirt, holding him there.

Gently, he picks me up and sits back down on the bed, cradling me.

'You want to tell me or not?' He asks.

'I - I thought y - you were Fury and I k - killed you,' a sob chokes me for a moment. Opening my eyes, I grab his right hand and turn it over so we can both see the gash my claws gouged. 'I hurt you,' I whimper as the blood from the cut drips down his wrist.

'It's okay,' he replies. 'You didn't mean it. How could you?'

Another ragged sob slips past my lips, and I squeeze my eyes shut so I don't have to see the blood. The blood I drew. He sighs and shifts me to his left side, holding me with his metal arm and carrying me to the bathroom. I hear the tap switch on, and open my eyes minutely to see the pink stained water trickle down the drain. He grabs a bandage and wraps it around his hand, fastening it with his teeth.

'Look,' he says, sitting back down. 'I'm all right now.'

I press myself closer to him and breathe in his scent, letting it calm me.

'I'm sorry,' I sniffle.

'It's okay, doll,' he replies, and the way he says it makes it true.

------------

'So what happened?' Nat asks with a smirk as she sees both Bucky and I stumble into the kitchen, dark circles under our eyes and a freshly applied bandage on his hand. I shrug.

'I had a nightmare and mauled him in my sleep.' I'm careful to keep the waver out of my voice.

'Oh, that's boring,' she sighs.

'Shut up,' Bucky replies.

'So my anti-nightmare potion didn't work?' Bruce asks around his toast.

'It did,' I reply.

'It did? But - '

'I didn't have a HYDRA related nightmare.'

'You didn't?' He asks.

'I didn't,' I confirm.

'What's for breakfast?' James cuts in, saving me from explaining what happened to Bruce.

'I'm making scrambled eggs!' Wanda yells.

'Can I have some?' Bruce shoots back. I grin over at James. The easiest way to distract the Avengers is to speak about food.

'Sure, I'm making some for everyone,' she calls back.

Tony stumbles in in his pyjamas.

'Look who's up,' Steve chuckles.

'Hi team,' Tony mumbles groggily. 'We've got a mission in two days. Fury managed to find out that HYDRA's having a weapons shipment coming. We go and intercept it. That's all. Now, did I hear something about scrambled eggs?'

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Once my scrambled eggs have digested, I sit back in my chair and listen carefully as Nat and James speak to each other in Russian. I don't catch half of it, but the half I hear is interesting. A lot of 'she's and 'you's 'man up's from Nat, and a lot of 'shut up's from James. Wanda listens to them in silence, and as Nat starts speaking again, she interrupts.

'Alright, alright,' she placates. 'Give the poor man a break.'

I snort, then speak.

'So, who wants to spar with me today?'

Nat grins at James.

'Why not the one and only James Buchanan Barnes?'

Unexpectedly, Wanda turns to Nat.

'Hey, that's actually a good idea.'

'Fine.' James says. 'If you all insist. And if she's okay with it.'

I roll my eyes as they all turn to me.

'Yeah, sure.'

-------------

We circle each other in the ring, the only sound being our breathing. To my surprise, the others haven't tagged along to watch, so it's just us. I want to know if I can still fight like I used to, if I'm ready for tomorrow's mission. Suddenly, James lunges forward, hurling a punch aimed at my head, and I duck, grabbing his wrist and yanking on his arm, pulling him off balance and sweeping out his legs from beneath him. He growls and his metal hand clamps around my shoulder and maneuvers me underneath him. Quickly, I Shift, and his grip on my shoulder dissolves as skin turns to fur. He almost falls on his face, putting out a hand just in time, and I bark a laugh and lick his face. He chuckles and rubs me behind the ears.

'You always used to win.'

I Shift back.

'Obviously.' I flash him a grin over my shoulder. I'm ready.