Bucky Barnes / Steve Rogers Imagines

Out of Time (Bucky)

You had fallen in love with Bucky Barnes when you were just teenagers. You had never told him, you were devastated when you found out that he was shipping off to the war. You were proud of him, of course, but also terrified. You didn't have any illusions about the romanticism of war, no you knew it was awful, terrible business. War mangled land, humans, hearts and souls. Yes, you believed this was one worth fighting, but you didn't know if the one you loved would come home, or if he did who he would be when he got back.

None of that mattered really, as he had no idea you ever had feelings for him anyway, he was never in need of a date, so to speak. The last night before he shipped out you were determined to tell him how you felt, but when you saw him on a date with another woman, you lost your nerve. You knew in your heart that it didn't matter, if he had any interest in you, he would have done something about it by now. But maybe, just maybe you would have the nerve when he came back, you tried to make yourself believe that.

Everyday you watched carefully for the newspaper, you lapped up every war story, hoping that you wouldn't get word that he was dead. You got bits and pieces from his family, he had been behind enemy lines and his family was told he was dead, but then somehow Bucky's old friend Steve saved him. You didn't understand that one, as Steve was a small sickly kid, until you remembered the strange rumor that someone did an experiment on him and now he was Hercules.

The day Bucky's family received the notice that he went missing in action and was presumed dead from a fall from a train the word spread quickly throughout the neighborhood. You heard it two days later on the street while you were walking home from your job at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. You stopped dead in your tracks dropping your bag to the ground, a neighborhood boy came to help you pick up the scattered belongings. He was in a uniform too, your breath caught in your throat as you tried to thank him, before quickly turning and walking away, not noticing that he was trying to flirt with you.

You opened the door to your small studio apartment, a few cabinets hung on one wall, floral curtains waved happily in the breeze but there was no happy in your heart. You dropped your bag on the floor and kicked your shoes at it. You didn't make dinner, although you were starving, you climbed underneath the soft blue chenille bedspread and cried. You never had the nerve to tell Bucky how you felt and now you never would. You couldn't stop the tears as you wailed audibly, your neighbor slammed on the wall yelling for you to shut up, but you couldn't. You don't know how long you had cried, minutes, hours? Eventually you exhausted yourself to sleep.

___

You awoke to a strange melody, it sounded fake, mechanical maybe, you couldn't really understand what would make that noise. Your eyes flew open only to be shocked by strange surroundings. You had never seen the room you were in before. No one was in the room with you, your heart began racing, you weren't sure if you had been kidnapped or had lost your mind. The strange melody kept playing and at this point was driving you insane. You looked around frantically trying to find the source when you saw a rectangular flat, clock?... radio? You honestly had no idea what it was or how to work it. The front of the item showed the time and said snooze or dismiss. You poked at it seeing no buttons protruding. You touched the front where it said the time and somehow the music stopped. You let out a breath of relief.

Now that the annoyance had stopped you took time to take in your surroundings. You were in a room painted gray, with purple ruffled curtains. You were laying on a white bed that was low to the floor with a purple floral blanket over you, a matching white dresser was against the wall opposite you. The door was closed, you slowly climbed out the bed. You were wearing fuzzy pink pajamas pants and a matching shirt. You walked through the door to find a small living room. Nobody was there, the walls were yellow with a fireplace on one wall. There was a small couch on one wall and a table the opposite corner. You could see through another door a small kitchen, with four cabinets, same as your old studio, and a bathroom. On a side table in the living area there was a flat black box standing there.

You went through the kitchen and into the bathroom. When you looked into the mirror you were shocked to be looking at a person you didn't recognize. You looked similar to who you once were, but there were some slight differences. Your teeth were straighter, your hair was pin straight where you always had it curled, your face was slightly thinner, eye bluer, eyebrows bushier. You weren't you.

You had no idea what was going on. You decided it was best to get out of this place, you went to the closet but didn't recognize any of the fashions that lay inside. You found the most recognizable dress you could, a simple blue floral calico. You found the underwear and noticed that the bras were strangely rounded instead of the normal points you were used to. You quickly got dressed to the best of your ability and rummaged through the purse in the living room.

You found a wallet with a New York ID in it, it said "Kate Smith" the picture looked like the person that stared back at you in the mirror. This must be Kate Smith's home, but you were Kate Smith? It was all too much. You decided to go find a newspaper so you could try to figure out what was going on.

You stepped out onto the street. It was strangely familiar, yet different. You walked down the street taking careful notice of where you were going so you could find your way back to the apartment you woke up in. You had to still be in Brooklyn, the street names were the same but everything else was different, some of the buildings had the same shapes, same windows. But there were no businesses you recognized. You picked up a newspaper from a stand on the corner, your breath hitched in your throat when you saw the date. 2024.

"How?" you thought. You went to bed in the middle of a war and now 80 years had went by without you knowing about it. You were shocked, dumbfounded. You didn't look further at the newspaper and tucked it under your arm paying the man that ran the stand. You walked back to the apartment you apparently live in, numbly, slowly, in a daze.

You closed the door and locked it behind you before sitting down on the couch to read the paper in front of you, hoping that it could give any answers. The main headline read, "Winter Soldier Pardoned, Joins the Avengers." You glance down at the picture, your stomach did a back flip. "Bucky?" you whispered as you ran your hand over the picture staring back at you.

To be continued....