Little Secrets, Little Bucky

Storms Inside And Out

It was only a few days later that Y/n was sitting awake in the middle of the night yet again, although this time not out of insomnia or stress about her brother. No, this time was voluntary. It had been raining lightly all day and it had finally peaked into a storm just a little bit ago. She had adored the rain since she was a little girl and could never resist the calming temptation of staying up to watch the raindrops trail down her window or listening to the thunder boom as lightning flashed across the sky. She was comfortably sitting in her bed, just gazing out the window thinking of nothing in particular, when Jarvis quietly interrupted her musings.

"Agent Rogers," the AI said softly in order to get her attention.

"What is it, J?"

"Sergeant Barnes has requested your presence in his bedroom."

She got out of bed slowly, stretching her legs as she asked, "Is everything alright?"

"He did not provide a reason for his request, although his vitals imply he is in significant emotional distress." Jarvis informed her.

That jolted Y/n out of her relaxed mindset immediately, she ran out of her suite and into Bucky's without a second thought, only stopping when she reached his bedroom door.

She slowly pushed it open as she said, "Buck? Jarvis said you needed me, is everything alright?"

The sight in front of her made her chest constrict. Bucky was sitting up in bed practically shaking with fear, clutching his blanket to his chest with tears streaming down his face. He opened his mouth to speak, although he had no way to explain what was happening, but a particularly loud bit of thunder resonated in his room and all that came out was a broken little sob as he flinched, curling up even further.

"Oh sweetheart," She whispered, approaching the bed, "are you afraid of the storm?" Y/n had to fight back the urge to pull the frightened boy into her arms, not wanting to scare him any more than he already was.

He looked up at her with teary eyes, clearly deep in his headspace and nodded, "'M sorry," he mumbled, and she felt that pain in her chest again at his tiny voice.

"You don't have to be sorry," she assured him, "You did such a good job telling Jarvis to come get me."

Another flash of lightning illuminated the room and the thunder followed soon after. Bucky reached for Y/n despite the alarm bells going off in his brain. He just wanted someone to make it go away and he was too little to properly weigh the risks of reaching for someone like that. But she didn't even hesitate to scoop him up and settle him into her lap as she sat on the bed. She began rocking him back and forth as the frightened boy clung to her, far too little and far too frightened to do anything but cry. He choked out tiny apologies through his sobs and her heart ached every time he did.

"You haven't done anything wrong, sweetheart. You don't need to be sorry." She said, but could tell her words were falling on deaf ears. The boy clinging to her chest was obviously used to being punished for his fears and she realized the best thing she could do would be to provide the comfort he so clearly had been denied.

And so she stood up, taking him with her and walked across the hall to her suite with him holding onto her like a lifeline. She went straight to her bedroom, gently shushing his cries and telling Jarvis to soundproof the room. Bucky had obviously been too little when he woke up to even think about doing that and Y/n asked Jarvis how long he had been alone and awake while the thunder was happening.

"About an hour and a half, Agent Rogers," the AI informed her. She winced. It was hard to even imagine how terrified he must've been sitting there all alone in the dark while the storm raged around him. So much of that time must've been spent deciding whether or not it was ok to call for her, it made her chest hurt just thinking about how desperate for comfort he must've been to take a risk like that.