Open Wounds - A Bucky Barnes Soulmate AU

Chapter Two

Two years later

"Nikki," Clint Barton yelled from the other side of the large cafeteria. He was the only one that called you that, a holdover from your days as Nicto. Everyone else called you by the name you'd chosen when Phil Coulson adopted you a year ago.

You waved your hand in the air so he could find you and kept eating your lunch. Phil was on mission so you were staying at the base until he got home. Even when he was around, you spent more time on base than anywhere else. You didn't like to be alone so he had a tendency to take you with him wherever he went.

Clint stopped in front of you panting and you glanced up at him with lifted brows. "What's up?"

His answer died on his lips as he frowned at you. "What the hell happened to you?"

You winced at the anger in his tone and ran a hand down your face which bore a smattering of dark purple bruises. You also had a scar on your side. It had all shown up a couple of hours ago. Coulson was going to flip if he got home before they healed. You sighed. "Soulmate."

One morning about six months ago you'd woken up with a ragged scar encircling your left shoulder just above the arm. Some other scars and fresh bruising when you hadn't been sparring made it pretty clear that you possessed a soulmate. Phil offered to help you find them but you weren't interested. Not yet, anyway.

Whoever they were, they got banged up fairly frequently but they healed fast. Faster than you'd thought possible. Of course, they probably thought the same about you, if they thought about you at all.

"Well, they got the shit kicked out of them this time, huh?"

You nodded. "Did you need something?"

He looked startled for a moment. "Oh, yeah. Nat's in the infirmary."

You were on your feet in a second and following Clint through the halls. There were four people in the world that you cared about. Phil, Fury, Clint and Nat. You assumed Nat wasn't in serious danger or Clint wouldn't give a shit about your face. "What happened?"

He shook his head. "She got shot. She'll be fine but I figured I'd come get you while they were fixing her up."

"Thanks."

"Sure thing, kid." He draped an arm across your shoulders and pulled you into his side.

You shook your head and rolled your eyes. He was the only one that got away with calling you that. Come to think of it, he was the only one that got away with a lot of things.

The two of you didn't have to wait long before they let you in to see Nat. She smiled when she saw Clint but it faded as her gaze slid to you. She held out a hand. "Come here."

You did as she instructed and let her turn your face to look you over.

"When did you get these?"

"Earlier today. Soulmate." Nat hissed in a breath and you jerked your head in her direction to look her over. She appeared fine but her eyes were worried. Her fingers found the edge of your shirt and lifted it to ghost over the scar that appeared with the bruises. Your brow furrowed as you frowned at her. How had she known it was there?

She dropped the shirt as if she'd been burnt before shifting her attention to Clint. "So, how's her training going?"

The archer huffed a laugh. "She kicked my ass. I've resorted to teaching her archery."

"Of course, she kicked your ass. She's been doing that for months."

He rubbed a hand over the back of his head. "I thought maybe it was a fluke."