𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐒. ( 𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐓𝐒 ) ✓

xxxix. YOU'LL NEVER GET BETTER IF YOU DON'T REST

[REQUEST]

You groaned, rolling over in bed several times before leaning your back on the pillow behind you. You let out a frustrated groan and rubbed at your nose before burying your face in your bedsheets.

"(Y/N?)" Your head shot up upon hearing Bucky's voice when you heard Bucky's voice on the other side of the door. You scrambled to flatten your hair and push stray tissues of off your bed before mumbling a broken "Come in." to the super soldier.

"I heard you coughing and all so I thought I'd check if you were okay..." Bucky's sentence trailed off awkwardly as he stood, observing your room from the doorway. "Oh y-yeah I'm fine. You can come in."

Bucky enters your room and wanders over to the bookshelf near your bed. Tony gave everyone some standard decorations at the Avengers facility but you decided to spruce your room up a bit by decorating it with photos and art that you liked.

The corners of Bucky's mouth turned up after seeing a group photo of the Avengers encased in a frame, sitting perfectly polished amongst the others. Your cheeks flushed in embarrassment as Bucky eyed the picture of the two of you. He looked at you out of the corner of his eyes, smirking so you tried to busy yourself by picking at a fresh tissue out of the almost empty box beside you.

Admittedly, you'd had a crush on Bucky since he got here but he was so quiet and reserved that you thought there was no chance he'd be interested so you kept your crush on the down low. Or so you thought; it seemed most of the other Avengers knew about it.

Once he'd finished looking around Bucky came to sit beside you. He extended his human hand to your forehead before wincing at the heat. "Wow, that's quite a temperature."

Bucky swaps hands and the cold metal of his hand soothes the burning on your forehead. "Want me to get you something to eat?"

"Don't worry about it, I can get something myself." Just as you pull your sheets off of you, Bucky sends you a firm glare.

"Like hell you will. You need to rest." Your grumble of frustration returns as Bucky tucks you back into bed. He presses a soft kiss to your forehead and your cheeks heat. "I don't want to rest."

"You'll never get better if you don't rest."  And with that, Bucky sets off down the corridor to hunt for some food.

Minutes later, he returns with a bowl of soup and a few tablets on a tray. Your eyes roll up at the sight of the medicine and Bucky's playful glare lights his face again.

"C'mon doll, just one." He pushes a tablet towards you with pleading eyes and in an attempt to please him, you swallow it with a sip of water.

"I brought some films too." Bucky hands you the selection and you pick out the Star Wars box set without hesitation.

Bucky inserts the disk and seats himself in a chair beside you. "You can risk getting sick and sit with me if you want." You indicate the space you've created on the bed beside you and Bucky sends you a smile before getting comfortable beside you.

You feel your eyes get heavy as the movie is almost half way through and you nuzzle into Bucky's arm which he'd slung around you moments earlier. He looks down at you and when he sees you failing to keep your eyes open, he pauses the film.

"You wanna go to sleep?" Bucky's gentle tone makes your eyes flutter open. He moves him arm down your back to settle you into your bed before shuffling away. You grab onto his arm and look up at him with tired eyes.

"Can you stay?" Bucky nods simply and props himself up on his arm, facing you. He runs his hand through your hair as you lay peacefully beside him. "Hey, Buck?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks for taking care of me today." Bucky can't help the smile that forms on his face. Something about your gentle, tiresome tone and kind words makes butterflies erupt in his stomach.

"No problem, doll."

"I love you." Your words are casual and you don't even realise you've said it in your state but Bucky doesn't  flinch.

"Love you too."