The arm. He's always worried about the arm. He's not worried so much about what it can do, but what it looks like. He hates that it makes him stick out in a crowd so much, and after a life of ridicule, he hates the looks that people give him. The snap judgements they make. You do your best to show him that you love all of him. You try to make sure you sit on his left side sometimes and you hold his left hand when you walk down the sidewalk together, but he still never really feels good about the arm. He tends to wear long sleeve shirts or jackets in public and often has a black glove on to draw less attention.

Recently you've been babysitting a four year old girl named Bella for your neighbor down the hall every Tuesday, but today is Wednesday and you were asked if you could watch her at the last minute when you were on your way home from the store. Before going back to your apartment you stopped at the neighbor's door. You knocked and waited for an answer, and soon you heard the knob turning.

"Hey Y/N!"

"Hey Cassandra! How've you been?"

"I've been good! Bella! Y/N's here!"

As soon as the words were said, Bella ran to the door, grinning ear to ear in her kitten dress and pink shoes.

"Are you ready to go Bella?" you asked.

"Yep!"

She hugged her mom goodbye and grabbed your hand, then you both walked down the hallway back to your apartment. 

"Is Bucky home?" she asked as you were opening the door. It was right then that it dawned on you that today is Wednesday, and you forgot to tell Bucky that Bella was coming over. Before you could say anything else, Bella skipped inside and you quickly followed after her. Bucky was sitting at the dining table in a t-shirt, reading the newspaper, and when Bella saw him she stopped in her tracks, gasping loudly. Bucky lowered his newspaper and looked at Bella's shocked expression, then he followed the gaze of her wide brown eyes down to his arm, which was shining in the light of the chandelier. His eyes darted up to yours, and for a second you saw fear in them. He frantically started looking for something to cover his arm with and then finally grabbed the newspaper and hid behind it like a blanket.

"Uh... hey there Bella," he muttered nervously, glancing back and forth from you to her.

"Cool!" she beamed, running over to him and tearing the newspaper off of him. "Your arm is shiny! And it has a star!"

"Yeah... Yeah it does," he slowly replied. He kept glancing back and forth between you two as Bella lifted up his arm and inspected it.

"It's ok Buck. She's ok," you reassured him. The tension in his shoulders melted away and he gave her a small smile as she dragged him, or rather his arm, to the couch. She handed him the TV remote, which he knew was his queue to turn on Toy Story. You brought some snacks from the kitchen and joined them, and you all enjoyed the movie until Bella piped up and grabbed onto his arm again.

"Let's play robots!"

You froze. He hates being called things like that. It's a painful reminder of the days when Hydra used him as a machine.

"Bella, honey, we don't call people things like tha-"

"It's ok, Y/N," he chuckled. "Let's play robots. Do you want a robot arm?"

"YES!"

With that he scooped her up and carried her to the kitchen, opening a drawer and pulling out a roll of tin foil. He tore off a big piece and wrapped it around her arm a few times, then he picked her back up and set her on the ground. They both ran to the living room and started playing robots, voices and all. Your heart swelled at the sight of him truly embracing his arm for the first time, and you couldn't help but sneak some videos.

"I am Emperor Zurg! Here to destroy you!" Bucky bellowed.

"Not today Zurg!" she screamed, holding up her tin foil arm and pretending to shoot him with a laser. He grabbed his shoulder and fell dramatically to the ground while she did a victory dance.

Unfortunately, the day came to an end far too soon, and it was time to take Bella back home, but she was clinging to Bucky's leg for dear life.

"Pleeeeease can Bucky go with me?" she begged.

"Of course Bella," you replied. Bucky opened the door and let her walk ahead of him, and you realized that he was still just wearing his t-shirt. You quickly picked up his jacket from the coat rack and held it up. "Wait, did you want to put this on?"

He stopped to look at it for a moment, then he gave a small sigh.

"No, I'm ok," he smiled, kissing your forehead. You watched as they walked down the hallway, Bella's hand holding onto Bucky's left arm, which now sported a pink sticky note with a crayon heart.

-

A/N

Thank you so much for reading! I'm sorry if this wasn't long enough. I'm trying to get back in the groove lol!