And Then I Wrote Marvel

What are You Reading? (pre-war!Bucky Barnes x Reader)

Round 3 of DisneyWorldInfoQueen 's contest. I flipped out when I found out that I got to write Bucky.

Steve wasn't feeling particularly well, and that was a problem. He had about 5 books due to the library that day, and he wasn't capable of returning them himself. This left Bucky to return them for him.

Libraries were definitely not his thing. He was all for going out dancing with some stranger girls, but being stuck for a few minutes in a place filed to the brim with printed words? Out of the question. He couldn't deal with the suffocating silence of the places. Yet, there he was, walking down to the library.

He stepped inside the big wooden double doors, and he was immediately overwhelmed by the lack of noise. He looked around for where he was supposed to drop the books of, and when he saw nothing, he searched instead for a front desk. Nothing, no one; not even someone to talk to. He swallowed and treaded deeper into the forest of bookshelves.

It was a few minutes of slowly creeping farther down the aisles before he saw someone else. A beautiful woman, about his age, with her (H/C) hair neatly pinned up, her dress pressed perfectly, sat alone at a small table, leaning over a book. He was enchanted.

He sat next to you, and asked you quietly, "What are you reading?" It was as good a conversation-starter as any.

Not even looking up, you simply raised the left side of your book for him to see.

"'Rebecca,'" he read out loud. "Sounds good. What's it about?"

You raised the right side of your book, and he got up from his seat and walked to the other side of the table to see it. He read that out loud, too. As he got into the second paragraph of the blurb, you became fed up enough with his slow reading that you shut your book firmly.

"Can you not read silently?" you whispered passive-aggressively.

He looked into your annoyed (E/C) eyes with a whole new level of admiration than before. "I-I'm sorry," he stammered. "I just have a habit of reading out loud when I'm with people, so they know when I'm done."

"Anyone with any manners would stay quiet when other people are trying to block out the world," you huffed. You opened your book again, quickly found your spot, and shut him and his lame excuses out.

He wouldn't stop staring at you, though, and it was rather unsettling. People had found you to be attractive before, but not to this standard. You eventually became so distracted by his steady gaze that you once again closed your book and whispered, irked, to him.

"What do you want?"

"I just couldn't help but notice how pretty you are," he explained.

"You're so sweet. Really, though, what do you want? Boys like you don't usually find their way this far into a library."

"Well, that's not very nice," Bucky said in a mocking tone. "I'll have you know that I'm returning some books that I got last week."

"For who? It certainly couldn't have been for yourself."

"Now you're just being plain mean."

"If they really were for you, which one was your favorite?" you tested him.

He picked a random book from the middle of the stack and held it out to you, proud. "'And Then There Were None.'"

You gave him a fake smile, still not buying his act. "Ah, yes. That only just came out a few years ago. Who was your favorite of the people on the island?"

"Well, I-I can't decide. I liked all of them," he answered, keeping a façade of intelligence.

"Oh, come on," you teased. "You must have at least disliked a few of them. I don't think that I'd get on with Ms. Smith very well personally," you tested him.

"Now that you say it, I didn't like her much, either."

You stood up quickly and gathered your books. "There was no Ms. Smith." You turned around to find somewhere else to sit.

Panicking, he grabbed your hand and shouted, "Wait!"

"Mister...ah, whatever your name is, this is a library. Quiet, please," you warned him. You yanked your hand away from his, and continued walking away.

He stood up, too, and followed you. "I'm James. James Barnes."

"I didn't ask." You sped up.

He matched your pace. "Well, I am. What's your name?"

"Why do you need to know? Leave me alone, please."

"You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, that's why. Please, what's your name?"

"Come back next week at about this time, having read this," you handed him one of your books, 'Emma,' and continued, "and then I'll tell you. Now go return your friend's books. There's a cart when you walk in."

Bucky went back home, unable to shake the thought of you. Your ability to not only resist, but rebuff his charms entirely was strangely attractive. He wanted to get to know you, but he didn't want to read the book at all.

Despite his nature, he opened the front cover and read the first few lines. After that, he threw back his head and groaned, but continued reading.

It was safe to say that Bucky Barnes was head-over-heels for you.