Infatuation One Shots | Bucky Barnes

The Past

Of all the things that annoyed Bucky the most about the modern world was the school drop off/pick up line. No one paid attention. Too many of the parents took twenty minutes to say goodbye to their child. Other parents wanted to socialize with you. The teachers also enjoyed striking up conversations. Sometimes Bucky was astonished at the amount of people that came up and spoke to him given who he was and what he had done in the past. All he wanted to do was pick his kid up and go home.

Today was different though. Normally he would be greeted with an excited William. His son would run to the car, climb inside and start talking excitedly about his day. Bucky was surprised when he pulled up to his designated spot to see a teacher standing next to Will. His face was downcast. Bucky rolled down the window as the teacher opened the car door for Will to get in the back. When he was finally in the backseat, he caught his son's reflection in the mirror.

His left eye was bruised and slightly swollen. That certainly wasn't there when they dropped Will off at school that morning. Every one of Bucky's internal alarms were going off. His eyes flashed to the teacher who looked scared.

"What happened?" Bucky asked a little too harshly.

"He won't say, Mr. Barnes. He just came back from recess like that. He told us he fell." His teacher told him.

Bullshit, Bucky told himself. Bucky had seen and been in many fights and he knew exactly how his son achieved the black eye. What he did not know is why his son didn't tell his teacher. Catherine and him had always had a fear that their children might be singled out because of who they were and if anyone ever said anything to them, they needed to tell their teachers.

Bucky cleared his throat, trying to swallow the anger building inside of him. "We'll handle it."

And then he drove off. The entire time way home, Will didn't utter a word to him. He just looked out the window with a sad expression on his face and Bucky could feel his heart breaking. He never wanted his children to ever feel sad or upset or scared or like they couldn't talk to Catherine or him. Still, Bucky didn't want to prod him. He wanted Will to talk to him when he was ready.

When they got home, Bucky took Hannah and Winnie out of their car seats while Will unbuckled himself. His shoulders were hunched over as he walked inside of the house. Bucky had to do something. It was killing him seeing his son in such a state. He sat the girls in the playroom to the side of the kitchen and went to the fridge to get an icepack out.

"Sit." Bucky told Will just as he was about to go to his room.

His eight year old son turned to look at him. He looked as if he were going to protest, but he didn't. He sat at the kitchen bar reluctantly and pressed the ice to his throbbing eye.

"Will, you aren't in trouble. I promise, but when your mom sees that, she's going to have a fit. I need to be able to calm her down before she launches a full SHIELD investigation." Bucky told him.

"That's what I'm afraid of..." Will mumbled to himself. "I'll tell you, but please don't make a big deal out of it. It'll only make things worse."

"I will...try." Bucky told him.

His son sighed. "Some boys in my class figured out who mom and you are. They started off by just making fun of me, asking if I'll turn out to be a monster like you two. Today, they wanted to see if I could fight like mom and you. You can probably see how that went."

Bucky clenched his jaw and could feel every muscle in his body constricting. His son, while like both Catherine and him personality and look wise, was not dangerous. He was kind and sweet and would never hurt a person. He didn't understand why the other kids were singling him out just because of who his parents were.