#Normally i just go for near death brushes and would be fatal injuries because its fun to put someone in danger. makes for more drama

[elemental-daddy-neos]

Me in most aus: Nooo I can't kill them off for good, I like them and I'd be missing out on so many possible interactions :(

Me with the one I'm reviving rn: Sorry buddy I think it's actually better if you're dead for real this time

[buckybarnesdollface]

Bruised

Summary: It takes a rescue mission & a near-death experience for Bucky to admit how he feels.

Warnings: Violence, Smut

         With one final rough shove of my shoulder, the heavy metal door gave way with a groan of protest. Blinking a few times to allow my eyes to adjust to the dim lighting that the underground dungeon – unsettlingly medieval in its appearances – provided, I made my way along the damp, chilled corridor, keeping my eyes and ears trained for any sign of life.

           Spending my first Thanksgiving as an Avenger in the dungeon of a HYDRA facility in Austria had been the last thing I had planned to do, but when Steve had informed the team that Bucky had been captured during a mission him and Sam had been on, I had been the first person to agree to help Sam and Steve rescue him. The team knew Bucky and I were friends – the best of friends, actually – so they hadn’t been surprised at my insistence on helping. What they didn’t know, however, was that my feelings ran much deeper than friendship.

           About halfway down the corridor, I heard a low groan coming from one of the cells. My heartrate picked up its pace as I sprinted forward. In one of the grimy cells, slumped against the wall like a ragdoll, was Bucky.

           The barred door was locked, but the Stark tech laser in my pocket made quick work of that. As soon as I was inside, I dropped to my knees in front of him.

           “Bucky…?” I breathed, setting a hand on his arm. His normally-blazing skin was cold – apparently even a supersoldier was susceptible to the chill of a damp dungeon in Austria at the end of November. As I repeated his name, more urgently this time, his head lifted slowly.

           Even in the dim lighting of the single bulb outside the cell, I could see how pale he was. He looked sickly, dark smudges under his eyes that had sunken into his face. There were lines in his face that hadn’t been there the last time I’d seen him, and his dark hair hung limply in his eyes. I reached out to brush the dirty locks from his face and he let out a ragged breath.

           “(Y/N)?” he asked, his voice hoarse as recognition and then disbelief took over his features. “(Y/N), what are you doing here? You have to get out of here, they’ll be back soon and if they catch you here –”

           I silenced him with a finger against his lips. “I’m here with Steve and Sam,” I explained. “We came to rescue you, Buck.” I gave him a wry smile, though it didn’t touch my eyes. “No man left behind, remember?”

           The corner of Bucky’s mouth twitched, but when he tried to sit up straighter pain flashed across his face and he let out a sound between a groan and a gasp. Alarmed, I hovered over him, trying to pinpoint the injury. I noticed his right arm was circled protectively around his midsection, and without waiting for his permission I gingerly pulled his arm away and lifted his shirt to inspect the damage.

           I felt bile rise to my throat at the sight. The right side of his abdomen looked as if it had been beaten with a meat mallet, the flesh raw and oozing both blood and pus. The skin around it was black with bruises, and I knew he’d have at least a few broken ribs, if not one or two that were completely shattered. I looked up at him with horrified eyes.

           “Did they…did they just do this to you?” I squeaked, and Bucky shook his head with a grimace.

           “They did this two days ago, doll.”

           “Then why hasn’t it started healing?” One of the advantages of being a supersoldier was that his wounds healed rapidly, but it looked as if nothing had even begun to heal.

           “I think they’ve been poisoning me,” he rasped. “Not enough to kill me, but enough so that none of the effects of the serum work.” He gave a half-smile. “If I’m weak then they can control me. They did something to my arm, too; I can’t move it.”

           Sure enough, his vibranium arm hung limply at his left side. Anger surging through me, my fists clenched at my sides. “Can you stand?” I asked him through gritted teeth.

           “I think so,” he replied, “but (Y/N) –”

           I cut him off, pressing a finger to the comm in my ear. “Guys, I found him,” I said to Steve and Sam. “We’re in the dungeon. Let’s get him out of here.”

           I could hear them both sigh in relief. “Stay where you are, (Y/N),” Steve ordered. “This place is crawling with HYDRA. We’ll come get you.”

           “Change of plans, Cap,” I muttered as I heard footsteps echoing down the stone corridor. Bucky heard them, too; his head shot up towards the cell door. “We’ve got company.”

           Before Steve could say anything more in my ear, I had drawn my pistol from its place in the holster on my thigh. Bucky’s voice rattled from behind me.

           “(Y/N)…” he croaked, and I glanced over my shoulder to see that he’d stood up. I glanced frantically to the cell door and then back to him.

           “What are you doing?” I hissed. “You’re going to get yourself killed!”

           “So are you,” he snapped. “Give me a knife.”

           “Bucky –”      

           “I know you have at least three on you, (Y/N). Now give me one of them so I’m not unarmed.”

           Begrudgingly, I pulled the knife from my belt and handed it to him. Bucky took it, wincing as the movement disturbed his broken ribs, but then he straightened his spine next to me and gave me a curt nod. Injuries aside, he had my back and I’d be damned if I didn’t have his as well.

           The footsteps got louder, and then three men armed with pistols rounded the corner and came into view. Acting quickly, I lunged and kicked the pistol from the first man’s grip. It went flying a good thirty feet down the dim corridor, and although he was momentarily stunned from the unexpected assault the other two men wasted no time. One raised his pistol and aimed it at me while the other lunged for Bucky. I managed to dodge the bullet in time to raise my own pistol and shoot my attacker in the leg. The first man, having recovered from his shock, came at me with a knife as his comrade fell to the dirty stone floor with a strangled cry.

           He reached for my gun, and although I was quick, he was quicker. He grabbed my wrist in a vice-like grip and bent it backwards until I screamed in pain and dropped the pistol, which he then kicked into a dark corner of the cell. With a grunt I managed to twist away from the man and landed a well-placed kick to his groin. He crumpled with a curse in Russian and I chanced a quick glance at Bucky. The large man he was fighting still held his gun, but it looked as though he didn’t intend to use it – No doubt HYDRA wanted to keep Bucky alive so they could use him.

           Bucky, on the other hand, was losing both strength and balance quickly. His steps were unsteady and he was breathing heavily as him and the bigger man circled around like two dogs in a fight. My attention was quickly diverted, though, when the cell was filled with the deafening shot of a pistol once again. This time my reflexes weren’t fast enough, and the bullet grazed my upper arm. I let out a strangled curse as pain shot through me, but it wasn’t fatal so with a snarl I drew my knife from my thigh holster and lunged at the man.

         We crashed into the stone wall, both scrambling for the upper hand. I fought to wrestle the gun from his grip; he was a small man, roughly my size, but stronger. He managed to flip me around so my back was pressed to his chest as an arm tightened around my throat, constricting my air flow. I struggled to get free, and managed to sink my knife into a fleshy thigh. The man cried out and released me, and in a split second I spun around and elbowed him in the face, which in turn jarred his head against the stone wall behind him with a sickening crunch.

         I had time neither to catch my breath nor check to see how Bucky was doing before the other man was coming at me again. I had only one weapon left; a small knife tucked into my boot that I had now pulled out. I gripped it tightly in my sweaty hand, still gasping for breath as the man advanced on me. I chanced the first swing but came up short, earning me a hard blow to the stomach that knocked the wind out of me and definitely cracked a rib or two. I fell to my knees, but as I reached for the knife I had dropped a large brown boot kicked it away from me and then a large hand grabbed roughly onto my hair and yanked me off the floor and into the air. I screamed in pain, but he only grinned a yellow-toothed grin and tightened his hold as pain shot through my scalp.

        “Now you die,” he said, his Russian accent thick, but as he lifted his free hand to my throat another hand reached up and plunged a knife – my knife – into his own throat. The man’s eyes widened as he let go of me, and as I dropped to my feet he staggered back and collapsed lifeless to the floor. I noticed that the man Bucky had been fighting was also lying motionless across the cell. Bucky stood in front of me, his shirt soaked through with blood and a black eye already forming, his broad chest heaving with exertion. He staggered a bit, and I lurched forward to catch him as best I could before he crashed to the stone floor.

       Steve and Sam found us not long after, the two of them taking Bucky, now unconscious, from my arms and lifting his limp body out of the cell. I grabbed one of the discarded guns and followed, exhausted but on guard for any attackers jumping out of the darkness.

        We got Bucky to the quinjet, where Sam and Steve gently laid him down on the cushioned bench seat before making sure we hadn’t been followed. As Sam prepared to take off, Steve looked at me with concerned eyes.

       “Are you alright?” he asked, and I nodded.

       “I’m fine. I’ve had worse,” I answered. “I’m more worried about Buck. They did something to his arm, and they’ve poisoned him so he isn’t healing like he should. He has some shattered ribs and possibly an infection, among some smaller injuries. We need to get him back to the compound as quickly as possible.”

       Steve nodded, but then the look on my face must have been concerning because something in his own expression changed. He stepped forward to set a comforting hand on my shoulder.

       “He’s gonna be alright, (Y/N),” he assured me. “He’s been through far worse; he’ll get through this, too.”

        I hadn’t even realized I had tears in my eyes, but now I swiped at them fiercely with the sleeve of my tactical jacket. I glanced at the limp body on the bench and struggled to swallow the lump in my throat.

       “It just kills me to see him like this,” I finally managed to whisper. “He’s always so strong and fierce and healthy. Look what they’ve done to him, Stevie.” My face hardened. “I’m going to kill every one of them.”

        To my surprise, Steve chuckled. “He’s lucky to have you,” he mused, giving my uninjured arm a squeeze. “Don’t worry, kiddo; we’ll get him home and back to being your Bucky in no time, I promise.”

       My Bucky. My cheeks flushed at Steve’s words, and as I was overthinking what he had said he gave me a warm smile and then headed to the cockpit to accompany Sam. I was still overthinking when I heard a rustling coming from the bench behind me.

       “(Y/N)?” Bucky breathed, and I turned to find him looking up at me with weary eyes. I was kneeling beside him in seconds, my hand smoothing the hair from his face.

       “I’m here, Buck,” I murmured soothingly. “You’re safe now, it’s alright.”

       “Have you…have you been crying?”

        Ducking my head, I cursed for not doing a better job of keeping my emotions in check. Bucky went to reach his flesh hand towards my face, but when his outstretched arm caused him to grimace, he instead settled for laying a hand on my arm.

       “Don’t cry, doll,” he murmured. “I’m okay, I’m alive.” He cracked a weak smile. “You saved me.”

        I met his gaze. “But what if we were too late?” I retorted. “Buck, you could have died! Or they could have…”

        I trailed off, but I didn’t need to finish my sentence for either of us to know what I had been going to say. They could have made you the Winter Soldier again. A possibility all too real and all too frightening. I shuddered involuntarily and Bucky pursed his lips.

        “Come here,” he murmured, and I looked at him with my brow furrowed.

        “What?”

        “Come here,” he repeated, and when he started to sit up, I shook my head and pushed him back down gently.

        “Bucky, you need rest,” I protested, but when I looked at his blue eyes – really looked at them – I realized they were burning with an unspoken agony.

        “Stay with me?” he then asked, voice barely above a whisper. “Just stay with me, (Y/N), and hold me, please.”

        My heart broke at the sudden change in his tone, all broken vulnerability. Wordlessly, I stood, and with some effort Bucky lifted himself enough that I could slide onto the bench and then he laid back down with his head pillowed in my lap. His flesh hand held tight to my leg, and my own hands cradled his head and stroked through the tangles in his hair. It was like this that he eventually fell asleep, and I wasn’t too long after him.

        It was Sam that roused us when we got back to New York.

        “We almost didn’t want to wake you; you both looked so peaceful and I’m sure you both need the sleep,” he said with an apologetic smile, “but we gotta get Frosty here to the infirmary right away.”

        Bucky, who had sat up with the help of Steve, glared at Sam. “I told you not to call me that, Wilson,” he grumbled, and Sam flashed him a grin.

       “Would you prefer ‘old man’?”

       “Alright, that’s enough messing around,” I intervened, noticing the sweat beading on Bucky’s forehead. He was still in pain. “Let’s get to the infirmary so Dr. Cho can do her thing.”

       It took both Steve and Sam to hold Bucky up and help him off the quinjet and to the elevator, and even though they were doing their best not to jostle him I watched as his eyes tightened in a wince with every step he took. I wanted to push Sam away so I could hold him myself, but I knew I wasn’t strong enough to hold up half the weight of a supersoldier that couldn’t stand on his own.

       “F.R.I.D.A.Y., take us to the infirmary,” Steve ordered the AI as we all piled into the elevator.

       “Right away, Captain Rogers,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. replied, and then the elevator moved up. Bucky was now leaning heavily against Steve, breaths coming out ragged and hollow. When he caught me watching him, he forced a grin onto his tired face.

       “Don’t worry, doll, ‘s not as bad as it looks,” he told me with an attempt at nonchalance, but I shook my head and narrowed my eyes at him.

       “We’ll let Dr. Cho be the judge of that,” I retorted, just as the elevator stopped and the doors slid open to reveal the infirmary. Either F.R.I.D.A.Y. or Steve had warned of our arrival because Dr. Cho was already waiting for us, as well as a handful of nurses and Tony.

       “Bring him in here,” Dr. Cho said, motioning to one of the operating rooms. “We have to get that poison out of his system and do something about those shattered ribs.”

       “And I need to take a look at the arm,” Tony added, and Bucky nodded as Steve and Sam led him into the room and carefully laid him on the operating table. I followed, but as Dr. Cho administered a sedative to Bucky, Steve turned to me and shook his head.

       “Go get yourself seen to,” he said.

       “But Steve –”

        His large hand was gentle but firm as he steered me towards the door. “You have a bullet wound in your arm that needs to be disinfected and stitched, and judging from the way you’ve been holding yourself you’ve got a couple of cracked ribs. You aren’t a supersoldier; your injuries aren’t going to heal well on their own.”

        “Bucky’s injuries are more important than mine right now,” I protested in exasperation. I tried to twist away from Steve and duck past him back into the room, but the pain in my ribs stopped me and Steve arched a blonde eyebrow at me pointedly.

       “Bucky is in good hands, (Y/N),” he assured me. “If anything changes, I’ll come get you. But for now you just have to trust that Dr. Cho knows what she’s doing, and go take care of yourself before your own injuries get any worse.”

        I wanted to argue, but I knew he was right. With a sigh, I glanced once more at Bucky’s now-still body on the operating table before I let one of the nurses usher me out of the room.

        The nurse cleaned and stitched up the gunshot wound, and then gave me painkillers for the fractured ribs I had. As I slid stiffly off the table, Natasha came into the room.

        “How you feeling?” she asked, and I frowned.

        “Fine. It’s Bucky I’m worried about. I’m going to see him.”

         Natasha sidestepped me as I beelined for the door. I shot her my best death glare, but she stood her ground.

        “Steve told me what happened,” she said. “And while I understand why you’re worried about Bucky, you need to worry about yourself as well, (Y/N). I don’t think you’ve slept at all since you found out he’d been captured, and you probably haven’t eaten much either. I ordered pizza, it’s in the kitchen. Come eat some and then you can go upstairs and get some rest. You need it.”

        I shook my head. “I can’t sleep,” I argued. “I have to be awake when Steve comes to get me so I can see Bucky.”

        I could tell Natasha fought not to roll her eyes. “Fine,” she sighed. “We’ll grab some pizza and watch a movie in the common room, then. But you have to do something other than pace around worrying.”

        Begrudgingly, I agreed, following Natasha to the kitchen. We grabbed some pizza and headed to the common room. I picked at my food and paid little attention to the nineties romantic comedy she had put on, but eventually even my worrying couldn’t compete with my exhaustion and I fell asleep on the couch.

        When I woke up, I was in my bed; Steve must have carried me up to my room at some point. Sitting up, I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and glanced at the clock on the bedside table. Ten forty-two. The blackout curtains in my room made it impossible to discern whether it was ten forty-two in the morning or at night.

        “F.R.I.D.A.Y., what day is it?” I asked.

        “Tuesday, Ms. (Y/L/N),” the AI replied, and I swore softly. I had slept through the whole night. Jumping out of bed and ignoring the pain in my ribs, I stripped out of the tactical outfit I was still wearing and pulled on leggings and a t-shirt.

        “F.R.I.D.A.Y., is Bucky still in the infirmary?”

        “Sergeant Barnes was moved to his own quarters early this morning.”

        Relief flooded through me. That meant he was okay. I pulled open my door and made my way down the hall. The living quarters at the compound took up an entire floor, and Bucky’s room was on the opposite end of the building from mine. When I reached his door, I hesitated before knocking.

        “Come in,” he called from inside, and I opened the door.

        Bucky was standing at his dresser, back to me, wearing nothing but a pair of gray sweatpants that hung low on his hips. He was looking for a shirt to wear, but when he heard me come in he turned around.

        The breath caught in my throat and I couldn’t help the tears that sprung to my eyes at the sight of him. The flesh of his abdomen that had been beaten raw and bruised black and blue was once again the smooth, unblemished pale gold wall of muscle I was used to. The colour and life had returned to his face, and he held himself without pain. Tony had even managed to fix whatever had been wrong with the vibranium arm; it now once again moved with the same ease as the flesh one.

        “You’re okay,” I breathed, and the tears spilled down my cheeks. I couldn’t help it; after seeing him the way he was yesterday, seeing him now as strong as ever felt as if someone had breathed life into my own body as much as his own.

        A look of alarm crossed Bucky’s face, and then he was across the room and his hands were firm yet soft on my arms. “(Y/N), what’s wrong?” he demanded, his blue eyes searching my face. “Why are you crying, doll?”

        I reached up to swipe away my tears embarrassedly. “I’m sorry,” I mumbled. “I just…Yesterday I thought I was going to lose you; you were so weak when I found you. And now…” I shook my head in disbelief. “Now you look as if none of it happened.”

       Bucky’s face softened, and he reached up to catch a stray tear that had rolled down my cheek with his thumb.

       “Because of you,” he murmured. “You found me, (Y/N). You saved me.”

       “No man left behind,” I reminded him, and he chuckled.

       “Steve told me how worried you were,” he said. “He told me that you all but flew the quinjet to Austria yourself when Sam got back and told you what had happened, and how stubborn you were in the infirmary yesterday.”

        I blushed and ducked my head. “Of course I was worried,” I said. “You’re my best friend, Buck. I couldn’t let HYDRA have you, and then even after saving you, you were so weak, I wasn’t sure…” I trailed off and bit my lip. Frowning, Bucky gathered me in his arms. I wanted to melt into his warm embrace, but instead I let out a grunt at the discomfort in my ribs. Bucky immediately let go of me, and I cursed the HYDRA goon for my cracked ribs.

       “Are you hurt?” Bucky asked me worriedly, and I shook my head.

       “Some fractured ribs and stitches in my arm,” I replied breezily. “Nothing I haven’t handled before.”

       Bucky frowned, and then he led me over to the bed and sat me down on the edge of the mattress. “Can I see?” he asked me, inclining his head towards my torso. I nodded wordlessly, and with gentle hands he slid my t-shirt up enough to expose the mottled skin. He swore softly and then looked up to meet my eyes. “Are you sure they aren’t broken? There’s a lot of bruising…”

        “They’re just cracked,” I assured him. “The pain wouldn’t even bother me, except I forgot to take my painkillers in my rush to see you this morning.”

        “Jesus, doll,” he chuckled, and then he stood and sat on the edge of the bed next to me. He was quiet for a couple of minutes before he spoke again, and when he did his voice was softer. “For awhile, while I was trapped in there, I wondered what would happen if I didn’t get out,” he admitted, and my eyes widened.

        “Bucky –” I breathed, but he shook his head.

        “Let me finish, (Y/N),” he insisted, and I pursed my lips. He passed a hand through his dark hair before continuing. “I thought of what would happen if HYDRA had control over me again – What it would mean for me, for our team, and for the rest of the world. I thought about how I’d sooner have them kill me than turn me back into him.”

        Bucky’s jaw clenched, and I felt a lump in my throat. I reached over to set a hand on his flesh arm, and the tense muscles relaxed slightly under my touch.

        “I didn’t want to die, but I didn’t want Steve to have to see me like that again, either,” Bucky continued. “And I…” He swallowed hard and kept his eyes focused straight ahead rather than on me. “I couldn’t bear the thought of you seeing me like that, (Y/N). I know you’ve heard the stories, but seeing it firsthand is another thing entirely and I couldn’t risk you looking at me and seeing him instead of me.” He shook his head suddenly and then looked over at me, blue eyes intense and a small smile on his face. “Funny thing is, though, that worry is what kept me going. That, and…”

         Bucky trailed off and ducked his head, and my brow furrowed. A million things were racing through my head, and I needed him to speak and make sense of it all. “And what?” I urged softly. “Bucky, tell me.”

         “When it got really bad, I would think about you,” he finally admitted, in a voice so quiet I had to strain my ears to hear him. “About how your laugh sounded, or the way you smelled like rose petals, or the way you’d scrunch your nose and bite your lip when you’re concentrating on something, or the way your face lights up like a Christmas tree when you see a dog.” He let out a short huff of a laugh and shook his head. “If I focused on all the little things I loved about you, it gave me motivation to get through whatever torture HYDRA inflicted on me, and to come up with some plan of escape. But then you showed up in that cell like my goddamn guardian angel and I knew if we made it out of there alive, I couldn’t let another day pass of me lying to you.”

        At this point my head was swimming, unable to make sense of anything Bucky was saying. “Lying to me…?” I breathed, and he nodded, his cheeks tinted pink.

       “Here’s the thing, doll,” he said quietly. “I haven’t been entirely honest with you. You’re one of my best friends, and although there aren’t enough words in the world to tell you how much I appreciate your friendship, I’d be lying if I said I was truly happy with what we have.” My eyes widened and Bucky shook his head before I could speak. “No, that came out wrong. What I meant to say is that I don’t want us to be friends, (Y/N). I want more than that. I want us to be more than that.”

       Swallowing hard, Bucky stood up and knelt on the floor in front of me. He looked nervous, tongue darting out to wet his lips as he took my small hands in his larger ones. “The truth is…I’m in love with you, (Y/N). I have been for awhile now, but I didn’t want to tell you because you’re the best thing in my life and I didn’t want to lose you. I was already amazed you wanted to be friends with me, I knew there was no way you would ever want more. But after almost losing everything, I…I had to at least tell you.”

        Bucky was silent as he waited for my response, and I could tell he was growing increasingly anxious with every second that passed that I said nothing. My own emotions were a hurricane inside of me, trying to comprehend what he had said to me. This man – this beautiful, kind, perfect superhuman of a man – had just confessed that he was in love with me and that he thought he wasn’t good enough for me? The universe was a strange place.

        “You…you love me?” I finally managed to get out, sounding dumb to my own ears. Bucky nodded, eyes still searching my face anxiously for clues as to what I was thinking.

       “I love you,” he confirmed softly. “And if you don’t feel the same way. (Y/N), that’s fine; I just needed you to hear it, once –”

       He didn’t get to finish, because I had thrown my arms around him, causing him to stumble at the unexpected impact and land on the floor with me in his lap. His eyes were wide and questioning when they met mine, but when I leaned in to press my mouth to his he didn’t resist, moving his mouth against mine as his hands came up to rest on my waist.

        “I love you, too,” I said breathlessly as we broke our kiss for oxygen. I took his face between my hands; his skin was warm and his cheeks were stubbled and it felt so natural, as if it were a gesture I had done a hundred times and not just once. “God, Bucky, I love you. You have no idea how good it feels to finally say it out loud.”

        With a soft little groan that warmed me from head to toe, Bucky captured my lips in another kiss, this one much more urgent and passionate than our first. His hands pulled me closer to him, and because I was still in his lap this placed me right over the front of his sweatpants and the unmistakable bulge underneath them. I hadn’t been expecting it, but I’d be damned if I was just going to ignore it.

        My lips still attached to Bucky’s and my hands clutching at his biceps, I ground my hips experimentally against his. Caught off-guard, Bucky’s lips ceased their assault against mine and a low growl escaped his throat as his hands tightened just slightly on my waist.

       “Doll,” he said, his voice low, “what kinda game are you playing at here?”

       I pulled away enough to see his face. His eyes were blown with lust, the blue irises almost swallowed whole by the pupils. My teeth caught my bottom lip between them and suddenly I wanted him so badly I was aching.

         “I want you,” I whispered, grinding myself against him again, and Bucky’s eyes narrowed. The next thing I knew he was lifting me up and laying me on the mattress, crawling on top of me and capturing my mouth in a searing kiss. One thick thigh slid between my legs to rest against my core, and the contact felt so deliciously wonderful that I let out a breathy moan into Bucky’s mouth. It was at that moment that I knew I was no longer the cat in this game of cat and mouse that we were playing.

       “Bucky…” I whined shamelessly. He detached his lips from mine to trail them down my jaw to my throat.

       “Mmm, doll?”

       Between his kisses and the way his hands were kneading my hips I was dizzy, but I needed more. “I need you to touch me,” I breathed, and I felt him grin against my skin.

       “I am touching you, baby doll,” Bucky murmured, hands teasing the skin just below the hem of my t-shirt. “You’ll have to be more specific than that.”

       I bit back my sigh of exasperation. “Stop teasing,” I then said, and in response Bucky’s teeth grazed against the skin at the pulse point in my throat. I gasped, back arching off the mattress and in turn pressing my aching core against his thigh. This drew a sinful moan from my lips and I could feel the coil in my belly tighten.

         “So responsive,” Bucky murmured appraisingly. “Hard to believe that the same girl who can walk into a HYDRA facility without breaking a sweat is a hot mess after a few well-placed kisses and caresses.”

         “Barnes,” I growled, glaring up at him, “if you don’t take these clothes off me right now, I swear to god you will end up back in that infirmary. And you can explain to Dr. Cho how your dick got –”

        But my sentence was left unfinished because Bucky had silenced me with a mind-numbing kiss. His hands were slowly sliding my shirt up my torso, one hot flesh and one cool vibranium. The contrast had me squirming underneath him. Bucky grinned, but when he crawled down my body to kiss along the path his hands pushing away the shirt left, he stopped, frozen.

       “Buck?” I said, suddenly self-conscious. “Buck, what’s wrong?”

       “(Y/N), we can’t do this,” he said suddenly, and I felt my eyes go wide in confusion. Bucky shook his head. “Your ribs, (Y/N). You’re injured, I’ll just hurt you more.”

       And then I remembered the bruises that covered my abdomen. I shook my head quickly. “Buck, I’m fine,” I protested. “It isn’t that bad. You won’t hurt me –”

       “I don’t want to take that chance.”

        “We can go slow! Just…please, Buck…” I looked at him with wide eyes. “I need you, so bad that if I don’t have you pretty soon I’m gonna explode.”

        This may have been an exaggeration, but I sure as hell felt that way. Bucky had barely touched me yet, but electricity coursed through my veins so strongly that I was sure the only way to release it was him. I hated begging, but he was looking at me with doubt clouding his eyes. “Please,” I breathed.

        Bucky sighed, but a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “I never could say no to a pretty dame,” he murmured. “Especially one who’s practically beggin’ me to take her.”

        His Brooklyn accent came out and I could feel a fresh wave of heat between my thighs. Bucky pressed a few soft kisses to my bruises before looking up at me.

        “I’ll be gentle,” he murmured, and I frowned.

         “Bucky, I won’t break,” I protested, and he shook his head with a faint smile.

        “I said I’d be gentle, not that I’d be boring.” With that he slid my t-shirt up and over my head, revealing that I hadn’t been wearing a bra. He cocked a dark eyebrow at me playfully as he tossed my shirt to the floor, and under his gaze my body grew flushed. He cupped my breasts in his hands and I let out a soft sigh of contentment at finally being touched.

        “So beautiful,” he murmured, thumbs brushing over my nipples and drawing them to attention. I moaned, arching my back into his touch, and he chuckled before leaning in to take a nipple into his mouth. I squirmed underneath him, and when his flesh hand skimmed along my body to dip under the waistband of both my leggings and my underwear, I had to fight to keep my breathing even.

        “Oh!” I gasped as Bucky’s fingers swept through my slick folds and then found my clit. He groaned, mouth releasing my nipple as his fingers continued their exploration of my heat.

        “Fuck, doll, you’re soaked,” he said, voice husky. “Goddamn…”

        “I told you I needed you…” I keened as he slipped one, then two fingers inside me. “And fuck, Bucky, as good as that feels I need you, now. I can’t wait any longer. I want you inside of me.”

       In no time at all Bucky had stripped him and I of the rest of our clothes, and then he was pressing his lips to mine as he slid his hard length through my folds. I bucked my hips up into his, and he finally pushed the head of his cock into me, eliciting groans from both of us.

        He pulled back out until just the tip remained in me, and then slowly slid back in, sheathing himself a little further this time. He continued this until he was fully enveloped inside me, allowing me a moment to adjust to his size. His forehead rested against mine, hot breath fanning against my face, and I tilted my head up to capture his lips in a kiss.

         “I’m good,” I said breathily. His eyes met mine imploringly.

         “I’m not hurting you?”

         “No,” I assured him. “You’re doing quite the opposite, I promise.”

         Bucky grinned, and then he set a languid pace, dragging his length in and out of me tantalizingly slow. He had promised to be gentle and he was, his thrusts controlled and unhurried, but his hands and lips roaming the curves of my flesh as he moved inside of me had my body ablaze and I realized what he’d meant when he said he wouldn’t be boring. This wasn’t sex, this was love-making; every tender kiss and caress had me spiralling closer to release at a much quicker rate than I had thought possible for the pace we had set.

        Suddenly Bucky’s arms were circling behind my back and he was lifting me, still inside me, into his lap so we were face to face and my legs straddled his hips. With this new angle he filled me even more completely, and I bit my lip.

        Bucky’s strong arms were still curled around me, and he was looking at me with pure adoration. I reached up to trace a hand along his jaw softly and he smiled.

         “I love you,” he murmured, and I leaned in to kiss him.

         “I love you too, Bucky,” I whispered, and then he was thrusting up into me and I was gripping his shoulders to ground myself. Both of us already so tightly wound and drunk on each other, it only took a few thrusts before we both found our release. I let my body go limp against Bucky’s as we came down from our high, and then he smoothed a hand over my hair and pressed a kiss to my neck.

         “I should have told you I love you sooner,” he murmured, and I chuckled, nuzzling my face against his shoulder.

         “I have a feeling you’ll more than make up for it,” I teased. “You can start by getting me some food, Barnes. I’m starving.”

         Bucky laughed, the sound vibrating through his whole body and in turn through mine as we were still joined together. And in that moment I couldn’t think of a time I had ever been happier.

[clairekatswritingcorner]

Alien Encounter

Word Count: 2,135

Summary: Alexys hears an unusual noise rustling loudly in her backyard one evening. While she wants to think nothing of it, it’s hard for her to ignore. Considering the alien invasion that recently shook the town, part of her fears that if she fails to investigate, it could end up leading to her untimely demise.

*Author’s Note*: A commission for @bad-blue-moon-rising! This is a first meeting between herself and a character named Rudy from a horror movie I’ve never seen. The concept seemed very interesting though, and the alien designs were both comical and unsettling (at least, they were to me!) After surmising what I could about his species, I think I was able to do him justice, especially considering the rarity of the situation. I hope you enjoy!

The town had survived, somehow, which was a relief. It was hard to think that anyone wouldn’t call it that, considering the future and wellbeing of the area and all its residents was at stake. Alexys was one of the many individuals that hadn’t suffered much direct or irreparable harm; she knew that made her lucky. She’d seen the reports, heard personal testimonies, even been around to witness some of the brutal carnage firsthand herself. But now, a few weeks after the strange and devastating invasion, things were starting to wind down. Things were starting to return to normal. But not everyone was out of the clear just yet.

Even though she wasn’t present for many of the key events that had permanently altered the town and its citizens, fate was going to ensure she got her chance. Not to suffer, necessarily, but to come face to face with a threat that should have sent her fleeing the moment she laid her eyes on it. But Alexys wasn’t going to do that, because she wasn’t that type of person. Sure, she was timid and wary and could be overcautious, but she also had an inquisitive streak that often contradicted those aspects of her nature. Whether it was to her benefit or not, she couldn’t help herself; and this encounter would prove to be no exception of that behavior.

It all started when she heard something in the backyard. It was unusual for her to hear much of anything rustling outside the house, especially at this time of night. Sure, there was the occasional neighborhood cat or racoon or other scavenging animal that might decide to pass through the yard in the process of looking for food or just prowling along. This time the noise was much louder; a distinct sound that she’d never heard any small animals make. No, it was undeniably the movement of an animal more the size of a deer, or something similar…but she could tell that it wasn’t something as simple as that, either.

She knew it probably wasn’t safe to go snooping around. Well, actually she was sure of that, but the noise was starting to freak her out. It grew fainter after a few minutes, and she thought about letting it slide. It must have really just been some random animal passing through. Before she could confidently settle on this assumption, she started hearing something else. It was a sound akin to that of a groaning voice. Was she being haunted by some kind of spirit now? Whatever it was, it wasn’t in the house, so her best bet was to leave it be until it finally took the hint and left. But the groaning seemed to be agonizing; whatever creature was making it was truly suffering. Was her soft heart really going to push her to investigate against her better judgement?

She knew the answer before she’d even asked herself the question. Slipping on a coat and a pair of shoes, Alexys hesitantly made her way to the backdoor. She had a flashlight with her, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to turn it on yet. Her best bet was to play it safe and examine as much as she could of the dark scenery from a distance. She didn’t want to take the chance of disturbing whatever creature she may come across with the light, subsequently triggering a reaction that would put her in more danger than if she’d just investigated it while it was still shrouded by the cloak of night.

Displacing the door just a bit, she peeked out to see if she could observe anything without needing to venture outside. It didn’t seem like that was going to work in this case; she could hardly see anything for all the shadows, intensified by the clouds that blocked out the moon on this particularly eerie night. She took a deep breath and brought a hand to her chest, clutching both sides of her open jacket together as she hesitantly stepped outside. The flashlight was hanging heavily in her other hand, and she tiptoed her way off the back porch into the yard.

Near the center of the lawn, obscured by the greater density of shadows cast by the surrounding trees, something was curled up in the grass. It definitely wasn’t a small animal, another one of the roaming foragers that called every nook and cranny of this neighborhood home. No, it appeared to be the form of a human curled up in the fetal position, shivering and muttering something under their breath. Alexys couldn’t make out their speech, but she assumed that they were probably uttering words or sounds of pain to accompany whatever injury had put them in this state. Their groaning had ceased, but they were clearly far from alright; perhaps they’d gotten quieter simply because they didn’t have the strength to keep up their laments or call for help.

“Excuse me…is everything alright?” Of course it wasn’t, but she couldn’t come up with anything better to open with. “Are you hurt? Is something wrong? If you need help—”

She felt her stomach sink like an anchor at sea. This human…they weren’t an ordinary human. They might turn out not to be human at all. Violent flashbacks of the grisly incident that had shaken the town to its core only a short while ago flooded her mind, causing her to drop the flashlight in her shock. As it hit the ground, the impact displaced the switch, casting a blinding and unexpected light on the person she’d been unfortunate enough to come across. As expected, they reacted in an unfavorable way, one that startled Alexys even more than the light’s sudden presence.

She took a step back and ended up stumbling on an unsightly clump of dirt, a seemingly inconsequential thing that might have just ruined any chance she had to make it out of this mess alive. As she collapsed to the ground, scampering away from the creature as quickly as possible, she started to get lightheaded from the agitated rhythm of her lungs. This was one of the creatures that had tormented the town, that had taken lives, that had traumatized a countless number of people who some theorized would never manage to recover from the tragedy.

“Y—You’re…” her words were garbled, disrupted by the fog of panic overtaking her senses. Her muscles started to lock up, which was the opposite of what she wanted, and the opposite of what her fight or flight response had in mind as well. There wasn’t really anything she could do about it, though, so she was kind of just along for the ride. Things were going to play out around her, and however they did, she had no choice but to accept whatever consequences remained.

The creature she’d startled flailed and thrashed, trying to escape the light that blinded its eyes. It had a brightly colored face, droopy ears, and wild red hair that made it look like a roaring flame was burning on its head. The rest of its outfit was exactly what Alexys and many others had come to expect, recognize, and fear. A simple clown suit complete with a circular, vibrant cherry red nose. She’d heard rumors the nose was a weakness to these creatures, that if it was injured or popped it would send them into an uncontrollable frenzy that would destroy them in the blink of an eye.

That’s what she needed to do, then. However…something was holding her back. It wasn’t her frozen muscles this time, she could tell, but rather something in her mind that had shifted. She couldn’t help regarding this trembling, alarmed creature with a sympathetic gaze. It hadn’t tried to attack her yet, which was a relief, and a surprise. It was her understanding that these creatures—more specifically the aliens known as Klowns—needed to liquify humans and consume them to survive. They’d crash landed on this planet and started wreaking havoc on the first settlement they came across, which happened to be the place Alexys called home.

But right now, this Klown was defenseless and scared. And injured, if she wasn’t mistaken. When it held its arms up to shield its eyes from the intrusive light, she caught sight of a few painful looking wounds. None of them were lethal, but they might become that way if they weren’t tended to properly. She had a box of basic first aid supplies back in the house…if she brought him inside, would she be making a fatal mistake? Condemning herself to a slow and gruesome death at the hands of a bloodthirsty alien with the visage of a nightmarish circus clown?

Once access to her rational thinking was restored, or perhaps it was objectively more irrational, Alexys noticed she had full control of her motor functions again. Only a few seconds had passed, but she’d already gone through so much in her mind. She wondered if the Klown had done any of the same. Against her better judgement, or at least the judgement she knew she should be adhering to, she got to her feet and brushed off her clothes. She walked over to the defending alien, picking up the flashlight and switching it off. The moment she did, the Klown’s arms fell, and it made the surprising decision to look up and meet her gaze.

Foreign eyes unlike any she’d ever seen before…Alexys was more than a little captivated. And unbeknownst to her, the instant their eyes connected, the Klown realized he felt the same. Even if he didn’t exactly comprehend the experience, he somehow knew he could trust this person. And that he didn’t want to cause her any harm…she hadn’t done anything to him, unlike so many other humans had been trying to, which was how he’d ended up like this in the first place. Without a word Alexys offered the creature her hand, and he took it without question. Things seemed to be going smoothly so far, and as she led him back towards the house, he continued to follow her without complaint.

“Can you tell me your name?” Alexys thought exchanging such information was probably important and could even end up being beneficial. She was starting to feel a little uncomfortable with the heavy silence that kept them company. She’d brought her unexpected guest into the living room, directing him to the couch while she fetched the first aid kit. He got himself situated quietly, cooperatively. She wondered if all of this was just one bizarre dream. “My name’s Alexys. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Alexys…” Her name sounded so strange in his voice, but not in a bad way. “My name is…Rudy.”

“Rudy? That’s a nice name,” she complimented as she started treating his wounds to the best of her ability. “I honestly expected something more exotic. I’m just glad you can understand me. And that you didn’t attack me.”

“Attack?” Rudy raised an eyebrow, unable to help wincing and hissing as she hit a sore spot.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” she quickly exclaimed in apology, hoping she hadn’t just committed a blunder that spelled her inevitable doom.

Rudy huffed in annoyance but quelled his urge to conduct a more violent response. “I did not attack you…because you did not attack me.”

Alexys’s expression became heartwarmingly soft. “Well, of course. You’re injured, and clearly scared. I wouldn’t do something to hurt you. I think I have more to fear from you than you do from me. I mean, you and the rest of your friends are the ones who came here looking to ransack the place for the next living thing to devour.”

“Not many of us left now. Everyone that could went home,” Rudy explained, and the ache plaguing the empathic girl’s chest grew stronger. “Nowhere to go. Nothing to do. We can’t fight off this many people, all people who want us dead now.”

“You got left behind?” she reiterated for him, and the abandoned alien nodded. “I’m sorry to hear that. You can stay here with me for now, if you want.”

“Stay?” The redhead perked up, looking at her with eyes that displayed the most human expression she’d ever seen a Klown make. So, this is what they could be like when they weren’t acting so threateningly vicious. Alexys was starting to think these new circumstances might not actually be that bad. In this light, and this setting, she even found him kind of cute.

“Of course,” she reassured, presenting him with a smile that made his heart (or whatever alien counterpart he had of said organ) jump in his chest. Maybe there really was more to humans than he and the rest of his species thought. He was certainly going to find out.