Kidnapped - Bucky Barnes x Reader

Bucky x Reader- Awoken (Reader's POV)

[Author's note: this takes place in between Winter Soldier and Age of Ultron]

Fuck, my head.

Those were the first few words that ran through my mind. A dull, throbbing pain was making itself very known. I then quickly became aware of the fact that my hands had been bound together, along with my legs. Not my first kidnapping situation, I thought. Still didn't make the position any easier.

I went through the protocol that Nat had taught me. "Always try and remember what happened last, Y/N. Try and gather all of the information you can." The last thing that I remembered was going on a mission to Bucharest. Nat was busy doing spy shit since S.H.I.E.L.D. disbanded, Bruce was being a nerd, Thor was god knows where, Tony was supervising the construction of Avengers Tower, and Sam and Cap were going mad trying to find their friend Bucky, leaving me bored out of my mind. So when opportunity arose, I immediately took the offer to stay in Bucharest for 'charity work' (meaning I sat on my ass for most of the day and spent the rest  going off somewhere and visiting shelters for no reason.) Unfortunately, while I was overstaying in the city, the Winter Soldier was caught on a local convenience store security camera, which made Cap immediately call me and ask me to investigate. That led to me tracing the Soldier's location until, right before my plane to New York was about to leave, I eventually cornered him behind an apartment block at night. Then he punched me in the face.

And here I was. I kept my eyes shut tightly as the memories rushed back to me. I could hear the sound of cabinets opening behind me, bags closing, knives chopping. I realized that a thin blanket had been draped over me, and that I was laying down on a considerably soft couch. Is.... this some weird ass HYDRA post? I thought. I expected to be chained to a metal chair, a gun to my head. Not lying down comfortably on someone's sofa.

Finally, I spoke. "Duct tape?" My eyes fluttered open, taking in my surroundings. An apartment. Possibly part of the block I was punched behind. An unmade bed was visible a few feet away, along with some shelves. It definitely looked like it was lived in. "I didn't know HYDRA had a small budget" I mused, moving my tied hands above the blanket and sitting up on the small couch. The loud sounds of cooking halted, leaving the room in a stark (haha) silence. After a pause, a rough-sounding voice responded. "This isn't a HYDRA base."

I groaned. I recognized that stupid ass voice- the Winter Soldier. Not good. Why the fuck was I here then? "Huh. Then what the hell do you want, man? Money? The Avengers' attention? Or is this just kind of like an in-between thing and I'm going to be transported to a HYDRA facility later."

He resumed chopping something. "No." He grunted.

"No what?"

"I don't want any of that."

"Then why am I here?"

After a long pause, he finally answered;
"To protect you."

I would have given him a look of disbelief if I was able to turn my damn body around. The actual audacity of this bitch. "To protect me? Not sure if you're aware of this, Winter Jackass, but you punched me in the head and then proceeded to tie me up with tape. That's harming someone."

"HYDRA knows." Man, did this dude always respond with short ass sentences? He has the social skills of a fucking spoon.

"Knows what?" I asked irritably. "You gotta elaborate here."

"Project A.N.G.E.L."

"Well no shit, that's a given. S.H.I.E.L.D. was just HYDRA in disguise."

"They were coming after you."

Longest sentence I had heard from him so far- and the most concerning. "Okay. So why did you sock me in the head and then hold me hostage?"

"They were on your plane." Well shit.

"Doesn't answer my question. Why did you knock me unconscious? You could have just told me."

"You didn't have time." 

"Sure. Why am I tied up?"

"So that you wouldn't attack me when you woke up." He responded plainly.

This was stupid. "Dude. My best friends are a group of enhanced, self-righteous superheroes. Why am I suddenly safer here."

"I don't know." He grunted.

I groaned. This dude was completely mental. "Alright. Can you, at the least, untie me?"

He grunted again. He stalked towards me and knelt on the ground, his eyes cast downward. His metal arm gleamed, exposed in his torn-up jacket. He smelled like cologne and coffee mixed together, in an oddly comforting way. I heard a tear as he cut away the duct tape binding my feet. His large, rough hand brushed my small wrists for a brief moment as he sliced the remaining tape. He quickly got up and then went back to his kitchen.

I turned so that I could now face where he was. It was a nice kitchen- the cabinets were stocked with packaged food and assorted mugs and bowls. The whole apartment reminded me of a bachelor pad. Directly behind the couch was a wooden table, where I rested my (now free) arms. He had been making, of all things, mashed potatoes. He focused on the food before him, unaware of my gaze.

This dude was damn lucky I told Tony I might not make it on the flight. As an attempt to make a bad situation a little better, I decided to humor him. Any place was better than boring ass New York right now. "So." I started. "I thought that you were HYDRA. What happened?"

He didn't take his eyes off of the potatoes. "I got out."

"Real descriptive, buddy." I sighed. "Do they know that you live here?"

"No."

"Good." Still focused on his damn potatoes like they held the secrets of the universe, he added finely chopped chives and bacon bits. The dude could cook, I'll give him that.

Wait, fuck. I realized. Steve. I should call Steve. That's his friend. Making potatoes.

"I should call Steve." I said aloud, reaching for my phone. "He's been looking for you." This garnered the strongest reaction I had seen from him thus far.

He practically did a 180 to grab my wrist. "DON'T." He warned, his firm grip suffocating my tiny ass bird-arms. I stuck my tongue out in response. "You can't tell me what to do, old man!" The son of a bitch grabbed my phone and backed away.

"Hey!" I called out angrily. I got up and cornered him right next to his radiator. To my surprise, when I looked up I saw a look of desperation written on his face. His ice cold eyes were laced with fear, his deep brown hair hanging in his face. It was impossibly strange to see someone as fearsome as the Winter Soldier trembling, but there he was."Please." He begged. "Don't. I can't."

When I looked into his eyes for the first time, the first thing I noticed was how broken he looked. My powers are being able to evolve based on my current situation after a long period of time. When Tony developed PTSD and when I started to surround myself with people who had other mental health issues, I slowly gained the power of providing temporary relief to mental pain. Part of this power allowed me to feel a bit of people's pain by looking into their eyes, and god was this dude in pain. In that moment, I realized why he had brought me here. He was lonely, and traumatized. And afraid. Afraid to talk to his old friend. Afraid of HYDRA. Afraid that something like what had happened to him might happen to me too, if HYDRA gets to me. He felt like he needed to protect me. To stop another Winter Soldier from being made. And I understood.