Mostly short one shots covering Bucky Barnes in different situations and AUs, from the 1940s to the present. Some will be soft, some dark, and some hopefully humorous.
Previously published on Tumblr. All MCU characters are the intellectual prope...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
He promised.
When Diane last saw him, he promised to come back, promised that this was the last time.
"When I return, I'll retire and we'll buy that log house in the country, the one with the wrap around porch, so we can sit and watch the sunrise, then eat lunch while looking out over the valley. At the end of the day, we'll watch the sunset together before we go to bed and make a baby, or two, or three. I'll have a workshop where I can fix up cars or motorcycles while you write. You just have to let me go on this one last mission. Then I'll be done with it all. I promise."
So, she let Bucky go. She told Sam and Joaquin to make sure to bring him home in one piece. Then she waited for him to return. It was hard because this was a secret mission, so secret she wasn't told anything, except that it was vital to international security. Which was code for HYDRA. That much Diane knew.
One week passed, then another and on the 17th day after Bucky left, the doorbell rang. Thinking it was a delivery, she opened it in anticipation and saw Sam waiting on the other side, his face already telling her that something had happened.
"No," she said, before he even had a chance to say a word. "He promised. I told you to bring him home."
As Sam stepped in and tried to put his arms around her, she pushed him away, putting distance between them. He tilted his head, his face devastated, as she bent over, then slumped to the floor.
"What happened?" Diane asked, looking up at the man who had introduced her to the love of her life.
"He told us he was out and to blow the facility," he admitted. "The place went up, but he didn't show at the quinjet. We thought perhaps he lied and was still inside when he gave the order but there were no signs of him. None of the Red Wings detected any heat signatures or heart beats. We called in Scott and Hope, and they shrunk down to get into the small spaces but there was no sign of him. Right now, he's MIA but I don't know if he's alive or dead."
"What about the arm?" she asked. "There's a tracker, right? Shuri can detect vibranium halfway around the world, can't she?"
"She can't detect it as it seems to be blocked," said Sam, then he kneeled down. "We're not giving up. We'll find him, I promise."
He promised.
🦾✈️
There was no sound, no light, and he was cold, so cold. For a moment, Bucky flashed back to that minuscule moment when he was still aware before the cryogenic capsule froze him, when he was still the Winter Soldier. Panic almost overrode every rational thought in him, then he breathed and relaxed a little, knowing that if he were frozen, he would be unable to inhale and exhale. Concentrating on his hands, he flexed his fingers and heard the mechanisms in his left hand as it responded to his thoughts. Good, it was still functional. His right hand also moved but it was stiff, as it was so cold. First, he tried to extend his hands out to the side, trying to determine if he was enclosed in something. He felt a surface on both sides, then tried to figure out what he was touching. It was a fabric of some sort, but his left hand couldn't feel anything other than its presence and his right hand was so cold he couldn't tell what type of fabric it was. Raising his hands up from his body he felt a surface above him, perhaps six inches up, maybe a little more.
