Ordinary (A Marvel Fanfiction)

Chapter Nineteen

I had been proud of myself for not crying during the entire exchange with the man, but as soon as Bucky appeared in the doorway, tears welled up in my eyes. Relief flooded my veins, causing me to choke up slightly, the knife pressing even harder against my skin.

Bucky was a fearsome sight. His face cold and impassive, his eyes hard, his fists clenched. This was the Winter Soldier the man had been so eager to meet.

It wasn't until his eyes met mine that a flash of the Bucky I knew appeared. It was gone as fast as it came.

"Hey." I said, my voice hoarse and quiet. "Welcome home."

The man pulled me even closer, the knife cutting into my skin again. The cut he'd made earlier was still bleeding and as the new wound began to trickle, I whimpered slightly.

Bucky's fists clenched, but he gave no other indication of being impacted by my pain. He remained silent.

"I'm going to need you to come with me, James — can I call you James?" The man asked.

"Bitch, even I don't call him that." I snapped.

"Oh, I'm sorry, do you know each other?" He asked, his voice a low hiss. "I was sure you mentioned earlier that you lived in this apartment by yourself."

I was trying to blink away the tears that refused to disappear, but I still managed to roll my eyes.

He addressed Bucky again, "Anyway, I'm sure you're familiar with the whole hostage scenario. If you do anything, she dies."

Bucky still didn't respond, but his eyes flicked to meet my gaze. He seemed as if he was trying to tell me something. The man continued to prattle on in my ear, but neither one of us were listening.

Then I got what he was trying to tell me. I needed to fight. He couldn't make a move without a knife to the throat, so I was out only chance.

I immediately balked. I had punched a guy before, sure, but that was in the heat of the moment. I had never acted on premeditated violence.

I was training to heal people, for goodness sake.

Bucky's eyes left no room for argument, though. We both knew there was only one way out of this.

I closed my eyes and began to run through all the self-defense I'd been taught. Nico and I took a class on it a couple years back, but I'd never had to use it before I met Bucky.

I knew I was taking too long when the man growled in frustration. He hadn't been getting a response out of either of us for awhile and was growing impatient.

"I will kill her, I prom—"

I cut him off when I jerked my head back to ram his nose in a violent headbutt. I heard an ugly crunch and he let go of me immediately, howling in pain.

I had broken his nose.

Without thinking, I immediately dived away from him, scrambling to the other side of the kitchen. Bucky, however, was bloodthirsty and ready to kill the man who had invaded his home.

He was across the kitchen in no time, slamming his metal fist into the man's rib cage. I heard a few more bones crack as the man flew across the kitchen from the force of the punch.

It was clear the man was no real match for Bucky. The fight was extremely one-sided, though the man did get a good hit in once or twice.

The battle was over with a quick twist of the man's neck. I gasped and closed my eyes, stunned at the sight.

Everything was silent for a couple minutes before I felt hands caress my cheeks — one metal, one flesh.

With a sob, I flung myself in Bucky's embrace without any hesitation. I knew he was stunned, but I was grateful as his arms wrapped around my waist, holding me close to his chest.

"I'm sorry." He murmured quietly. "This is my fault."

I didn't say anything. Even if I wanted to speak, I was crying so hard I knew words wouldn't have come out anyway.

When my sobs quieted, Bucky finally pulled away enough to survey the damage. His gaze lingered on the cuts on my neck and his eyes darkened.

"Let's get those cleaned up."

A couple minutes later, I was sitting on the kitchen counter with Bucky between my legs, holding a sack of frozen peas to a bruise on his cheek as he cleaned the cuts on my neck.

I watched his face as he focused on my wounds, amazed once again at the beauty of the man in front of me. It was crazy for me to think he was capable of killing when he was cleaning my cuts so gently.

With a sigh, he finally set down whatever supplies he'd been holding and looked up. He immediately froze as he met my gaze and realized how close we were.

I could feel my own breath catch as his piercing eyes gazed into mine. His hands slowly came to rest on my thighs and I gasped at the feeling, heat flooding my entire body.

We were so close our breaths mingled and I could see every fleck of green in his blue eyes. I unconsciously leaned forward, drawn in by his very presence.

His fingers tightened on my thighs caused my eyes to close briefly in pleasure. I dropped the bag of peas I had still been holding and slowly wound my arms around his neck. He stepped even closer to me, his eyes flickering down to linger on my lips.

This was it. I was going to kiss Bucky Barnes.

The thought was both nerve-wracking and exhilarating. I closed my eyes and leaned closer, fully allowing myself to enjoy the moment.

Just as our lips brushed, my phone blared loudly from the counter next to me. We both jumped apart, our eyes wide at what we had almost done.

In a daze, I answered the phone. "Hello?"

I watched at Bucky stalked into the other room, his hands running through his hair. I sighed and focused on the call.

"Girl, where have you been?!"

"Nico?" I asked dumbly.

"Of course it's me! Where are you? Your apartment is empty and your cat is hangry." He told me. "He's staring at me right now as if he wouldn't mind eating me."

"I—" I sighed. "I didn't make it home last night. I can get there in about 20 minutes?"

"You better hurry before Banjo sinks his teeth into a piece of my delicious ass!"