Bucky Barnes Imagines Vol. 2

Love's a Joke

A/n: This is a DCU/MCU cross over featuring Heath Ledger's version of the Joker. This is a multi-part request, so expect a few more parts to this story. Hope you enjoy!

The compound was unusually quiet for mid-day on a Friday, but since most of the team was currently on their way back from a mission, you were soaking up the last bit of peace before your teammates returned. You were grounded for this particular mission because Fury believed it hit too close to home for you...literally. After you escaped the red room and before you reconnected with your older sister, Natasha, you landed in the underbelly of Gotham and made a home with one of the most notorious villains the town had ever known. While most of Gotham knew him as The Joker, for a few short years, he was your J.

Your relationship with J had its ups and downs, it was kind of part of the package when you were dating a sociopath, but when it came to you, there was nothing he wouldn't do to protect you. Everything had been good until Natasha had shown up in Gotham. She had tracked you down a year after she joined the Avengers. She wanted you to come back to New York with her and join the team, but that meant leaving the man you loved and the life you'd built with him. While you didn't partake in his particular brand of chaos, you still loved him and felt a war brewing inside you. How did you pick between the two people you loved the most?

In the end, your love for Natasha had won out. She was your sister. Your only family. She'd protected you in the red room, taking every punishment meant for you that she could while making sure you thrived and survived the terror you both endured, and you couldn't turn your back on her. The fight that your decision caused with J was what made your decision set in stone. He was understandably upset, but the things he said to you broke your heart.

"You aren't enough for me, so why should I care if you leave." He said coldly.

Your mouth hung open in shock. How many times had he whispered in your ear at night that you were his everything and not even the devil could come between the two of you? How often had he gazed into your eyes with those black eyes, his wavy green hair framing his white painted face, and told you that he'd lay the city of Gotham at your feet, letting you reign the city by his side? And now you were nothing to him?

"We both knew whatever this thing was between us, it had a shelf life. You aren't strong enough to be a villain, toots. I need someone who has the guts to ravage and destroy Gotham. To bring it into a new era...and that isn't you." J looked at you and sneered in disgust. "You're pathetic if you think you'll ever play the hero either. But they'll find out soon enough, so run along. Your sister is waiting and I'm honestly tired of looking at you."

The next few months proved to be the lowest point in your life since you'd left the red room. Along with learning how to play hero and trying to prove yourself to the team, you were trying to mend an unmendable heart...until you met him. Bucky didn't hand around the compound much even though he was part of The Avengers and had been assigned a room. He preferred his own space and only came to the compound for mission briefs or to head out on the jet with the rest of the team.

You'd seen him around, long dark hair skimming his shoulders, icy blue eyes constantly set in a glare, tanned skin smooth and stubbled by dark hair on his cheeks and chin. He was beautiful in a rugged and mysterious sort of way...and starkly different from J. He was quiet, stoic, and broody. J could be read like a book. Angry? He'd be yelling and stomping around. Happy? Laughing his ass off. Playful? Brows low and a wide grin stretching his reddened lips. But no matter what, he always had the ghost of a smirk on his face.

Your formal introduction to Bucky came when you were paired on a simple observe and report mission. Two weeks in a cramped, shitty Moscow apartment–in the dead of winter–with a barely working heater and the most boring mission you'd ever been put on. The days were spent with you and Bucky taking turns monitoring the activity at an abandoned train yard. All records indicated that the train yard had been closed for decades, but Fury had a reliable lead that a group of Russian rebels, led by a US extremist, were planning some type of attack in the heart of the city.