Erotylos: love stones prompt list

Onyx

A/N: One of the doctors in the lab hits Pierce's assistant for touching some equipment. The Winter Soldier doesn't take kindly to it, and protects her the only way he can.

— PAIRING: dark!Winter Soldier x female!Reader
— PROMPT: Onyx - the curing of sadness, through violence
— WORDCOUNT: 1.5k

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Nobody knew the full extent of what the Asset was capable of, or even if he was capable of thoughts beyond submission or of, for instance, feelings deeper than anger. All they knew was: set him up for battle, give him orders, turn him loose. He didn't particularly mind that, at least not all the time, but eventually it wasn't enough. He kept most thoughts and feelings to himself, though, knowing what a problem that would cause his handlers. What do you do, after all, with a weapon that has a mind of its own?

They behaved around him as if he didn't notice them, but he noticed everything. Only the director, Pierce, didn't drop his guard around the Soldier and spoke to him like a man, though he never seemed to care what his underlings did. Nor did he seem to treat anyone else with too much care.

"You, come here," he barked at his assistant. "Write down what the good doctor says, I doubt that I'll remember it."

"Yes, sir."

The Soldier had seen her before; she was easy to notice, looking out of place in the cold, hard environment, seeming too soft to be there for all her professional flair. She stood just behind her boss as the doctor gave them an update on the Asset's health, speaking in terms Pierce clearly didn't understand.

The girl never looked up from her notes, but he could watch, from his seat at the centre of the room and between all of those machines. She stood stiff, straight, strong, but seemed so fragile in his eyes as if a firmer wind could lift her, and all the times he heard her speak to anyone around him she'd been nothing but a good girl. He might have thought she was pathetic, but all that he could think was how adorable she was.

The doctor finally finished and so Pierce dismissed them. The girl stayed around for her orders, while the medic tended to the Soldier. He spoke to the nurse on the other side of him as they were strapping him down, and further ahead he could see Pierce talk to someone else. Once he was all strapped in and left alone, the Asset could finally turn his head and stare, shamelessly, at the Director's assistant fumbling with something to his right. Feeling his eyes on her, she finally looked up, and after the first flush of shyness, she dared to smile at him.

He didn't even think of smiling back, too busy looking at her, and how round her cheeks became, how her eyes crinkled and shone, while mindlessly her fingers tangled in some of that weird equipment... He must've looked quite frightening, half-stripped and tied down to a chair, hair ruffled, dirty, long, with a stern look and frown. But she, with her focused gaze on his, shared a sort of intimacy, a private look between them two that nobody else noticed.

"Girl! Put that down," the doctor growled at her, trotting over in a huff.

She barely looked at him before she realised what he meant, but by then he was in front of her, and with a firm slap knocked the item from her hand.

"Ow!"

"Don't touch anything, this lab is not your fancy office," the man grumbled as he took the thing from her limp hands and placed it on a desk.

She pouted and apologised, and probably to get her out of trouble the Director called for her again.

"We're leaving. Come on."

The Asset followed her with his eyes as he watched them go, but she never looked up from the ground to meet his eyes again. He felt sorry now, that he did not smile at her when he had the chance.