Bucky Barnes Imagines

Midnight Coffee

Six months, that is how long you and Bucky have managed to keep your relationship a secret for. Six long, beautiful months. It was a decision made by the both of you to not tell the team until you are both ready to do so.

Although keeping the both of you a secret means sneaking around in the middle of the night to see each other, you are okay with that. Many of your nights are spent by Bucky's side, lost in deep conversation as he holds you close. In the early hours of the morning, you tiptoe back down the corridor alone, returning to your own bedroom. The ghost of a chaste kiss lingering on your cheek.

After you reluctantly leave him in the dark confines of his bedroom, Bucky has one of the most sleepless nights he has experienced in a long time. He spends nearly an hour tossing and turning on his mattress, trying to fall asleep, but to no avail. Knowing it will be hours until the rest of the team are awake and bustling around the compound, Bucky leaves the four walls he often occupies in search of a distraction. Barefoot, he finds himself wandering in the direction of the kitchen, the thought of a steaming cup of hot, black coffee seeming perfect. If he couldn't fall asleep, he might as well keep himself awake and do something worthwhile.

On entering the kitchen, Bucky can sense that he is not alone, but he is familiar with the presence in the room. Turning to face the other restless Avengers, he is met with you, bundled in a soft blanket, a coffee cradled between your palms. You meet his eyes and smile tiredly.

"Couldn't sleep either, huh?" Flipping the switch to active the coffee machine he chuckles, shaking his head at your question. Without paying much attention to his own actions, Bucky rummages through the cupboard, looking for the cookies he knows you like that he hides on the top shelf, safe from the likes of Sam and Clint.

Once brewed, he takes his coffee and takes a seat on the stool next to you, pushing the cookie packet across the granite towards you, brushing his knuckles delicately against yours. Your heart flutters at the gesture as you softly take his open hand in yours, coffee long forgotten.

Bucky silently releases a sigh, a smile taking form on his lips as he watches you relax at his touch. After so long under the control of HYDRA, he never thought that he would be able to calm someone with his presence, let alone be in such proximity to someone in the middle of the night drinking coffee. His heart has never felt as full as it does in this moment looking at you in the dim lighting of the spacious kitchen, hair mussed and eyes glossy with fatigue.

"Why don't we go sit in the lounge, get you somewhere comfy?" Bucky's voice is hushed as he speaks to you and at his words you can't help but feel the need to get comfortable in a last attempt to get some sleep. It doesn't take any convincing as you let the man you care so much about guide you to the large couch that stretches across the lounge.

Once you are situated on the couch, blanket wrapped around you keeping you warm, Bucky takes a seat next to you, allowing you to lay your head on his thigh. He reaches for the television remote, knowing you prefer for there to be some background noise rather than silence when you sleep. Settling on some movie from the eighties that he's never seen, Bucky carefully places his metal hand on your head, running his fingers through your hair, soothing you as you try to rest your eyes.

"James?"

"Yeah, doll?"

"We should do this more often." Although your words are slurred with exhaustion, he knows that you are being sincere.

"Okay, sweetheart." He knows you can't see his face, but he nods as he thinks about the possibility of such a domesticated action on a regular basis, and the more the thought passes through his head, the lighter his heart feels in his chest.

"You promise?"
"I promise."

Unbeknownst to him, you fall asleep with a soft, serene smile on your lips.

The movie on the television has ended, the credits hypnotically rolling across the screen. Your head is still settled on his thigh where you have stayed for the last hour in a peaceful slumber.

"How long have you known?" The sound of Steve's voice cutting through the silence of the room causes Bucky to jump slightly in his seat. A rush of panic courses through him at the thought of waking you, yet there you lay undisturbed.

"Thanks, punk."

"How long have you known, Buck?" He watches tentatively as Steve walks further into the centre of the room, taking a seat across from his friend, face illuminated by the television adjacent to him.

"Known what?" Confusion is clear in his voice as he responds to his best friend of over ninety years.

"That you love her?"

"Steve, come one man."

"Seriously, Buck. You should tell her." Bucky opens his mouth, but no words come out as he tries to argue, but he can't find a valid point as to why he shouldn't tell you.

Under Steve's gaze, he admires the way you look and knows that he has fallen so deeply in love with you that he cannot bare to think of losing you.

It is a week after that sleepless night that you are running late for a meeting, running around the compound looking for your heels and jacket. As you enter the lounge area, you smell fresh coffee, which triggers an uncontrollable rumble from your stomach. How could you have forgotten to eat on a day like this? Debating grabbing yourself a croissant from the bakery down the street on your way to your meeting, you are oblivious to Bucky rushing into the room behind you. If not for his super-soldier speed and senses, you would have collided into his body, sending coffee and pastries flying across the room. However, he manages to dodge your rushed and clumsy movement, saving the breakfast he had purchased to surprise you.

"Shit, James. I'm so sorry."

"It's alright, doll."

He stops your frantic apologising by thrusting a takeaway cup of coffee into one hand and brown paper bag into the other. "I know your secret Y/N."

"And what would that be, Sergeant Barnes?"

As you glance into the brown paper bag, you gasp.

"You love croissants from the bakery on 34th."

"That's not exactly a secret, James." You giggle at his words, but seeing his gaze settled on your face, you begin to blush.

"I know, but I wanted to see what you'd do."

"You're such a dumbass." Without any hesitation, Bucky leans forwards, placing his lips against yours in a searing kiss. It is there and then, that you both realise, that you don't care about who sees you or what the others think. What matters is that you are together and you're both happier that way.

"I may be a dumbass, but I'm your dumbass."