#I’ll slather it in moisturizer and it’ll be fine but not healed then I’ll work too many days in a row and it’ll be shitty again

[cantofworms]

ohhhhh my cerave moisturizer we’re really in for it now

[maladaptive-ninja-returns]

J.B.B. (2)

Bucky x Reader Fluff

Warnings: Blood, broken jaws, violence.

Wordcount: A lot. A. Lot. But I had fun writing it so I don’t regret it.

A/N: Let me know how you find the chapter so I can give it a better direction as the story follows Bucky’s post-Hydra arc

MASTERLIST

^J.B.B., ^Part 2, ^Part 3, ^Part 4, ^Part 5, ^Part 6, *Part 7, !Part 8, ^Part 9, ^Part 10, !Part 11, ^Part 12, Part 13

"John Watson. Channel your inner John Watson." You persuaded yourself as you punished the slings of your bag with one hand, making it stick to your back higher than where it usually hung while tightening your other hand around your bottle. "Wait, no. That idiot likes danger. You're supposed to run away from it. God! You stupid girl!" The morning sun was a welcoming sight in the cool winter breeze that would leave cracks in your cheeks if you did not have a good layer of moisturizer slathered on you. But even this cold disturbed air couldn't cool down the heat rising at the back of your neck as you walked closer to the park. The City Park was a five-minute walk away from where you lived. Though it was one of the many parks inside the city, the locals preferred calling it City Park, it is the first to initially exist as a playground for children before the city was modelled. The park covered enough acres to have its own mini forest inside it. You would find it alive with people or their pets at any time of the day you went there. Even at night, one would find couples, students, tourists lost in their own world here- something you had discovered on one of your long walks during the days you would not be visited by slumber. This place had become your bubble of solitude with the starry skies for a roof. "Morning Y/N!" A voice called from behind you. You immediately recognised the voice, the tension in your shoulders dropping a little. "Kalisha! Morning!" Your voice almost cracked as you greeted the patrol officer you had befriended during one of your night outs in the Park. The green-eyed woman, who's African roots reflected through her beauty, would always greet you with a huge smile and kindness in her eyes. She was the same woman who had almost mistaken you for a homeless person lying on the park bench on your first encounter and had cautioned to go away until she saw your face and the tears that had left their marks on your cheeks. That had been one long night where the officer had sat down and listened to whatever you had to say and even bought you hot tea to help soothe your nerves after the breakdown you had. "Headed to work?" She asked, her braided brown hair neatly tied in a bun at the back. "Yes, ma'am," you smiled back before adding, "I just have to meet...someone here before going to work." Kalisha raised a brow at you as her open smile shifted into a smirk. "By someone you mean that guy?" She said as she pointed to a figure standing near the park pond under a tree. The familiar brown shirt, black trousers, black jacket and black cap brought back yesterday's events, making her neck and arms ache at the thought of his arms around you; his body heat emanating behind you, making your stomach weak. You could see him steal glances at you, clearly aware of the woman in uniform standing by your side. "How did you..." Your voice trailed off as you noticed a red ball come to rest by his feet, making him flinch lightly. "I know a face out of place when I see one, Y/N." You couldn't decide whether she was stating a fact or giving you words of caution as your eyes followed the movements of the man in front of you. He picked up the ball carefully and gave it to the golden-haired boy that came running towards him. The little one's high pitched, wide-grinned 'thank you' made the man smile involuntary- making your chest feel something fuzzy in turn. The smile vanished when his eyes turned back to the two of you. He couldn't decide between crossed his arms, putting on the hips of leaning against the tree as he waited for you, making you smile involuntarily. "Should I come with you?" Kalisha brought you back to where you stood. "Huh? Uhh...no. I'm good, thanks Kalisha." you confirmed as you took one lungful of air before walking towards him. "I'll be around if you need me." Kalisha announced, less for you and more for the man in front of her as she eyed him like a cat before walking away. The man took off his cap as you approached him, revealing his face to you for the first time. You confessed to yourself of not having seen such wondrous, soft eyes paired with a hint of a smile on pink lips surrounded by an uneven stubble. The man himself, held his breath for a moment as he saw you come towards him, tucking your hair-that was being teased by the breeze- behind your ear revealing the shimmer of your eyes in the morning sun. "Hi," you felt your voice speak as you finally stood before him, having to look up a little. "Hi," he answered, letting his lungs breathe easy for the first time as he brought forward his right hand. "I'm James." James. You let it run through your mind with the image of the man standing in front of you. "Hello, James. I-I'm Y/N." "Nice to meet you, Miss...uhh...Y/N." You stood there awkwardly smiling at each other till James offered you to sit on the bench behind you, cursing himself internally for not thinking about it earlier. The bench was big enough to accommodate the two of you. You sat down, trying to shift as much as you could to one corner, allowing him to sit beside you. And as he did, a gentle breeze blew towards you, bringing with it the familiar scent. James' scent. Focus, you scolded yourself. James couldn't help but notice the bags under your eyes that you tried to hide under your glasses. He noticed your eyes carry a familiar look behind them- the same look he would see in the mirror as he would wake up from a nightmare, never getting the sleep he craved- thinking to himself when was the last time he met someone who'd been so sleep deprived as to carry the same pain in their eyes as a monster like him. "I'm sorry about last night ma'am," his voice came out of nowhere. "I meant no harm." You really had no idea how to respond to that, your fingers digging into your coat in your lap as you still weighed the option of trusting this man. "Thank you for um...my Tupperware." you finally blurted out, finally looking at him and noticing something you hadn't yet. "Is that...?" You didn't finish your question, making James turn his head towards you only to find your fingers coming for the nape of his neck, making him flinch hard on your touch. "Sorry." You jumped, retrieving your fingers, screaming on the inside of touching someone without their permission. "It looks like a deep scratch. Oh my...did Panther do this to you?" "Who?" He turned to look at you, brows furrowed in confusion, sending a flutter down your spine for some fucking reason. "Right. Sorry. The black cat. He scratches. He's a scratcher." James brought his long pale fingers to the spot you'd just lit up, running them over the wound before running them through his long hair, forcing them to cover it. "It's fine. It'll heal quickly." You tried to hide the embarrassment burning on your cheeks with your own hair before turning to your bag. "I brought your journal. I didn't want it to land somewhere it wasn't supposed to be, that's why I took it with me," You explained handing it over from your tiny looking hands into his giant ones. "I swear I didn't read it," you assured James, whose eyes turned a shade lighter on seeing his lost treasure. "I know," he replied like a reflex action, making you raise your brows in question. "You wouldn't be sitting here if you'd read the all the wacky stuff I've spewed in there." He smiled nervously, lowering his head in what you thought was his way of embarrassment. "Oh good!" You proclaimed to yourself out loud, "I'm not the only one who thinks like that about their journal." James looked at you in confused surprise seeing you smile for the first time. He was not sure what emotion this warm uneasiness in his chest was supposed to be categorized under. "I'm...sorry for stabbing you." You finally confessed. "I didn't think twice ab-" You saw him chuckle, the warmth reaching his sparkling eyes. "It's fine. No harm was done. I uh...I deserved that. In fact, it was very brave of you." He didn't miss the surprise in your eyes. "Really?" Not believing that you could be brave. "Yes," he nodded as he looked at you with a hint of pride before reaching inside his jacket and taking out a roll of worn out leather. "Here," he brought it towards you, "this is for you." You hesitantly took the leather in your hands, fearing it to be some unreasonable gift- the inexpensive types you had gotten in the past that were of no value to you. You carefully undid the single string of rope keeping the leather rolled up and opened it, letting out a light gasp at what lay in front of you. "I accidentally broke your knife yesterday. So, I tried to find something similar but more sturdy for you." The knife in front of you was definitely bigger than the one you had but James was right- that sharp little thing wasn't sturdy. This, on the other hand, had tiny teeth on one side and a sharp blade on the other, resting inside a dark heavy wood that you weren't sure about. "Oh!" Words were failing you right now. The person you had literally stabbed last night, was gifting you a dangerous knife. Who does that?! "Thank you. I don't know what to say," you grazed your fingers over the metal, careful not to touch the edges, "I've never used-I-I mean for defence, of course, anything like this before." "I'm sure your friend can teach you," he acknowledged, casually pointing towards Kalisha, who'd been stealing glances at the two of you from behind the fountain. You couldn't help the smile forming on your face, bringing your fingers to press your lips and suppress as much of it as you could, not realising Bucky followed your every movement even the one were inviting unvisited shivers inside him. The vibration of your phone in your pocket made you sit straight. You looked at the screen to see Gina's name. "I should go," you apologised, turning the vibrations silent, as you got up. He straightened up as we, standing to his full height again, without even a moment's hesitation. "Thank you for the journal, ma'am. And I apologise again for the trouble I caused you." His words came out like a soft tune to your ears. You gathered your bag and coat in your hands. "It's okay, James," your lips vibrating at his name, "I'm sorry too. And thank you for the...uh...knife. Have a nice day." "You too." He answered, his voice wavering a little as he saw you leave, wrapping your coat around you as you went, almost missing the light bruises on your arm where he had held you last night. The warm uneasiness vanished, giving way to a small stabbing pain in his chest. He saw Kalisha leave too but not before she threw a suspicion-filled glance at him. Bucky stood there for a moment, hands tight around his journal, lost in the conflicting thought of him making you smile and him hurting you where the bruises now marked your arm. A regret filled breath left his mouth as he was about to leave when was stopped short, letting out a tiny groan of an inevitable circumstance about to come his way.

The walk towards your workplace was languid one today. You had ample amount of time to get to the bookshop-cum-library and the thoughts running through your head really needed to be organised before you could dutifully submerge yourself in work. James. That name was swirling around in your mind like a silent stream in the mountains meeting a cluster of rocks. Your mind tried to reason with this cold wave in your heart, building up low-key pros and cons list somewhere to see if it was alright to think about him. All the possibilities were laid out by your brain. Stalker, random thug, mafia's muscle, military-man, hitman, black ops, assassin- getting worse by the minute to pull out any tiny thread that would make him a danger for knowing where you lived. You really were scared for a moment before a realisation hit you- what's the worse he could do to you? Kill you? Yeah. And that won't be the worst thing you would have gone through. "Excuse me, miss," a voice next to you brought you back to the sidewalk of the tall buildings rising on the sides. "Could you tell me where this address is?" You took the small note from a pair of wrinkled fingers and read the address. "Oh I know this building." you looked up at the person asking for directions, "it is-" The face in front of you sent a chill down your spine as you tried to gather your nerves amongst the adrenaline rush building inside you. The man, who was being referred to as the 'boss' last night, stood in front of you with a devilish smile on his face. You backed away from him an instant only to run into his subordinate behind you, whose broken-toothed smile scared you more than it should have. You couldn't find your voice to scream for help and so, ran into the only exit you saw- a small alleyway between the two buildings standing by you. Cursing yourself, you reached for the knife inside your coat as you ran, swerving by the garbage bins. You could hear their footsteps rushing behind you despite the loud throbbing of your veins all over your body. "Hans! Get her!" You ran faster at that man's command, looking back at him getting closing the distance between you, only to run into the hurdle you missed in front of you. A pair of hands grabbed the life out of your arms, making you wince. But before any voice could escape into the cold quote stench-filled air of the alley, you were gagged from behind. The torturous arms were that of a six feet five building of a man, ripped everywhere; dead eyes carrying scars all over his face. "Put her in the van," the boss man commanded. As soon as the giant let go of one of your arms to push you towards the white van parked ahead, you got the knife out and went for his leg. His grunt nearly turned into a scream as you brought out the knife and swung it out towards the slim faced subordinate 'John', catching his ear and cheek. The arm that was still in the giant's grasp felt a jolt of pain as the strength in his hands tried to crush it. You winced as you turned towards him with the knife that he easily blocked, doing the same to your wrist until you let go of the one thing that you were holding on to for help. "Get this bitch inside," the boss hissed before turning to the front of the van. The giant picked you up by your hair and the bruised arm before throwing you on the vehicle's floor.

"You really should look around before crossing streets, Missy. You never know who's watching you run out of abandoned buildings at night." Your bloodshot eyes had been blurring and clearing themselves time and again for about an hour now. The cheek that had been hit by the 'boss' to stop you from resisting them pounded with pain. The cable ties dug through your wrists as they ran around the armrests of an old wooden chair they'd brought out from somewhere in the building opposite your house. They'd brought you back to this place. It was obvious to you what they were planning; you were soon going to accompany the poor fellow that was lying in the basement inside some body bag. Great, you thought to yourself, the one time I decide I wouldn't really care if I die today and some force somewhere moulds that specific thought into a reality. How convenient. Your phone vibrated on the table beside you where your blood smeared knife lay. The boss picked it up to show you the name on the screen. Gina. "I'll just text her you're busy. Is that okay sweetheart?" You felt your stomach nearly regurgitate at his cooing voiced smacking your ears with poison. You didn't look at him as he swiped away with the default text. "Boss what are we waiting for. Just kill this stupid slut already," John announced as he winced while covering his slashed side with a handkerchief. Your lips found a smile building behind the gag around them on seeing your handiwork on John's face. "Shut up, John," Boss snapped, taking your knife in a handkerchief and wiping it clean. You gulped at the flawless shining steel glistened in your eye, flashing all the Law & Order episodes that had anything to do with a knife. Two men entered the room and stood by the door with identical bags, making your heart race at the thought of your limp body inside them. Fuck. Your hands and feet wriggled inside the cable ties, cutting through at every harsh graze as the blood rushed to your brain to let the gravity of the situation seep in. "Did you get them?" the boss asked without taking his eyes off your knife, making of the new men open up their bag and produce another bag that he carefully placed on the table and unrolled. Your breathing grew erratic at the site of medical grade knives, forceps, syringes, cutters and slicers. This was worse than the Law & Order episode you had running in your mind. So much worse. "Now," the boss finally turned towards you with your knife pointed at your vein in the wrist, grazing it slightly with cold metal, while still covering the handle in his handkerchief, "answer my question sweetheart. Hmm?" Your eyes stung as the sweat running down your forehead entered and mixed with the tears in them. "Was anyone else here with you last night?" James. Your mind called out the name like a final prayer. You shook your head. "Good," he nodded, "good. I believe you." "Anyone know what happened here?" You shook your head again. "Does...Gina know?" Your lungs ached at the thought of Gina being heard. You shook your head as a whimper left your mouth. "Good. So you are the only one who was present here last night." You nodded, letting the tears fall down quickly. "Well, that was easy." He announced to the room before coming behind you as he carefully angled the knife on your dominant wrist. "I promise," he whispered into your ear, placing the tip where the vein was visible, "this will be quick." Oh for fuck's sake, you prayed in your head as you closed your eyes, if there is some stupid force looking out for you, please do something. "Here we go." Clank, clank, clatter. You jumped at the sound. So did everyone in the room, guns and knives drawn out. "Must be the cats," John mentioned casually, still pointing the gun at the door. Something had fallen down from an upper storey near the foot of the stairs. "Smith." The boss commanded, still standing behind you. You saw Smith walk out of the room for a moment, kneel down for something and come back with something shiny in his hand. You recognised it the moment he brought it forward to show to his boss. You weren't able to breathe as you tried to make sense of what was going on. "A broken knife? Who is this son of a bitch?" "I'll go take care of it." Smith's silent footsteps creaked the stair boards till they vanished two floors above. There was dead silence. All five of you waited with unspoken tension to hear something. Anything. A loud thud came from the entrance as Smith's body landed on the foot of the stairs, his neck twisted at an unruly angle, gazing into the room. Your mind went into a spiral of curses as the men around you rattled and took positions, aiming for the entrance, forgetting about you all together. The boss went to the table leaving your knife and picking up his gun. The giant placed himself with the wall, to land a surprise attack on whoever was out there while John stood aiming his gun at the door and the third guy did the same while shielding the boss. Your arms were shaking with fear as the silence grew louder around you. A creak of the stair boards alerted everyone, causing a reflex action inside you, making you wince through your gag to alert whoever was out there until a cold barrel rested on your temple, the boss shushing you with his finger to his pale lips. The creaks grew closer, making the giant loaded his firearm carefully, ending with a click. Silence. The wall around him broke as an arms came for his throat and dragged him back through the hole. Moments later the familiar figure in brown jacket and black trousers entered the room throwing the giant's gun right into John's forehead with uncomfortable ease, knocking him over as he blocked a shot aimed for him with his gloved hand and went on to throw the man at his left into the wall behind you, tearing it apart as well.

"Jbss," you mumbled through the gag, half relieved, half terrified. His eyes settled on you as his gloved hand moved on its own in front of his face to shield him from the endless silenced shots aimed at him by the boss, who kept moving closer to him to get a better shot. "Jbss nnhh!" You tried to warn him, as the boss drew closer to him, only to have the gun locked into his hand as it crunched in between his palm like a soda can. Bucky's eyes never left you. He kept moving closer to you despite your warnings, a fire igniting inside him on the fresh bruise he saw forming around your cheek. "Who did this?" He asked, his voice controlled but his eyes giving the building rage away. You saw his hand come forward towards your throbbing cheek, before pausing at a safe distance. Your eyes met his again before going towards the boss, who was recklessly trying to reload his gun. Bucky did not waste any time. He picked up an incision tool, driving it straight into the boss' shoulder as he stuffed his mouth with a rag and punching him just where it had hurt you. The latter screamed his soul into the rag as his gun fell from his hand. From where you sat, it looked like he had paralysed the man. He was quick to cut your hand ties with your knife and removing the gag from your mouth, instructing you to take a mouthful of air. "Breathe, Y/N. Brea-" A grunt left his mouth as John stabbed him in the upper back. Leaving the knife in your lap, he landed his elbow into John's face, turned and landed a punch into his jaw. You got your feet free and shoved yourself onto the man who had come out of the broken wall and was aiming a knife at Bucky. The man, in turn, shoved you down, his knife aimed at your chest before you felt yourself sliding away, slashing your knife through his calf muscles as Bucky brought you to himself, before attacking the man- who was now throwing curses at you- in his stomach and liver with perfect precision and ease before punching his voice box. "Who the fuck are ya?" The boss finally stood up taking the gag out of his mouth, his shoulder drenched in his blood. You kicked the gun away from the man as you backed away from him, your cheek burning just by looking at him. Bucky didn't utter a word, his breathing controlled and silent as he stepped in between you and the man, his long hair nearly masking his face. He walked towards the boss, startling him for a moment before he took out the man's phone from his pocket and brought it towards him. "Call your cleaning crew and tell them to clean up this mess." There was hesitation in the man's eyes for a moment before he took his phone and did what Bucky said. "How long before they arrive?" "Ten minutes." "Good," Bucky acknowledged before punching the man unconscious. You were pretty sure he was dead already.

"We should get out of here." Bucky stated as he picked up your phone, bag and coat and handed it to you. "Come over to my place," you responded without missing a beat. "Wh-" "You are in no condition to go around without grabbing attention to yourself. And I know for a fact you don't have a place to stay right now." Bucky didn't negate your words. "Come on," you said before stopping with a sudden jolt, "wait" confusing him for a moment. "Take off your jacket." He looked at you with questionable eyes. "Please, James, just trust me." And he did. You took his blood-spattered jacket and gave him your black coat to put on. "Glove." You gave him your pair out of your bag, "Yours is ripped. I can see the metal." Bucky couldn't help but be surprised at how your mind was working through the shock right now. You unfolded your green shirt's cuffs to cover your bloodied wrists and unfolded your jeans into your boots to hide your ankles. Taking your belongings, and Bucky by the arm, you moved out of the building. You crossed the street, him following behind you, both of your trying to be as low-key as possible. You thanked all the Gods when no one greeted you at the entrance, allowing you to quickly move toward the elevator. Ding. "Y/N!" Your heart came up to your throat as Micheal- Mr Kline's husband- stood in front of you in the elevator. "Hi, Michael!" Your voice trying to sound the normal enthusiastic self as you dragged Bucky inside the elevator with you, making Michael bring up so many questions in his mind. "What the hell happened?!" The glass walls of the elevator showed you your dirty clothes and coloured cheek while the only scratch visible on Bucky was the one left by Panther. "R-Rugby." "What?!" "We had a-a rugby match today. My friends and I. I took a pretty hard hit to my face. It isn't as bad as it looks, but uh...everyone was really worried about me. So...my friend... James brought me home." You wrapped your hands lightly around his arm to display some, if not overly, casual affection between the two of you. James nodded at Michael, you gave back a relieved nod. "Be careful honey." "I will."

The elevator door shut back up, leaving the two of you to breathe again. "Fuck." You rubbed your eyes under your glasses not believing you lied so easily to one of the two people who considered you as their daughter. The elevator moved slower than its usual pace making you tense up on the thought of meeting someone else on the way before Bucky's face in the mirrored wall distracted you. "How did you find me?" Bucky looked back at your reflection trying to form some words before giving up and bringing forward something in his hand that was away from you. "You forgot your bottle at the Park. I'd come here thinking I'd leave it at the reception but those suspicious looking goons distracted me." Your brows shot up in surprise as your eyes tried their best not fall out, the proceeding silence between the two of you making Bucky worry.

A tiny ‘huh’ burnt your voice box before you shut your mouth. No sooner a snicker left the back of your throat before it turned into a laugh, taking him by surprise. "All those people back there are messed up because of my bottle." You laughed again. Bucky joined you this time.

Let me know how it was before heading over to Part 3 :)

J.B.B., ^Part 2, ^Part 3, ^Part 4, ^Part 5, ^Part 6, *Part 7, !Part 8, ^Part 9, ^Part 10, !Part 11, ^Part 12, Part 13

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