Setting: Civil War/AU

For MrsBarnes107 (sorry it took so long hun) xx 

~

The cool winter air stung your skin as you hurried down the abandoned suburban sidewalk, your hands shoved deep into your jacket pockets and the bottom half of your face was shuffled down into the thick scarf around your neck. This was your desperate measure in order to let the remaining warmth protruding from the material to swelter your skin, whilst secretly cursing your boss for yet another late night in at work.

You hurried down the darkened street, the only glimpse of light illuminating your way was the old street lamps that were built all those years ago. You considered using your phone as a source of light, but that would mean bringing your hands out of your pockets, therefore resulting in cold hands.

You cursed yourself for your constant overthinking, rolling your eyes at yourself and sighed at having to put up with the realisation that you would have to walk in the dim light. You cursed yourself for your stubbornness.

You quickened your pace down the sidewalk, your head down before a vibrating sensation erupted in your jacket pocket. You snickered at yourself, as you had to bring your hands out of your pockets anyway.

Pulling your hand out of your pocket and into the cool air, you cleared your throat before answering your phone. "Hello?"

"Finally you bloody answered!," the bright sound of your best friend and roommate erupted through the phone, "Stayed overtime at work again?"

"Yes," you groaned, "I'm going to kill my boss one day, I swear,"

Your friend laughed into the phone mockingly, "babe, we all know that you couldn't kill a fly,"

With your constant chatter, you had no idea you were being followed.

* * *

Bucky sat in the warm bakery, baseball cap held tightly on his scalp and a large jacket covering his upper body to protect his identity and of course, his HYDRA constructed metal arm.

He kept the part that reminded him of his dark days hidden always, especially in the bakery that he went into nearly every day, or when the young barista was working.

He kept reminding himself that she would think he was a stalker or something, as she saw him every time she worked and ordered the same thing. Coffee.

He was in there so often, that she had memorised his order. Small cappuccino with half a sugar, extra chocolate on top.

Everyday she would greet him, ask how his day has been, but he would never give her his name.

James Buchanan Barnes, or better known as The Winter Solider. It was a name that everyone feared, and he didn't want her to think differently of him. He constantly told her that he hated his name, so she didn't pester the man with an obvious shady past. She let him be.

He had only known her for a short while, but he felt something for the woman who made amazing coffee and he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

After finishing his coffee and pushing the cup and saucer away from him, he studied the woman closely. Her face was littered with annoyance as she spoke to her boss, her fists clenched at her sides. He was probably asking her to stay overtime again, Bucky thought.

Bucky picked up the normal newspaper beside him and pretended to read it, he didn't want the woman to find out that he was staring at her. It had happened too many times beforehand.

The soft ring of the front door opening allowed Bucky's eyes to linger over the top of the newspaper that was placed in front of his face carefully. A young group of men, around the woman's age, walked into the bakery. The strong smell of cigarettes and alcohol hung around them like a cloud as they casually strolled up to the counter. One of them leant over the counter, his elbow propped up as he lazily looked the woman up and down, his way of 'checking her out' becoming obvious as the woman shifted awkwardly on her feet, catching the man in his act.

Bucky kept his intense stare on the man, before the woman casually walked up to the men and cleared her throat. "Can I get you anything?" she said brightly, desperately trying to hide her disgust in their actions.

"Yeah," one of the men answered almost immediately, "you can get me a piece of that ass," the man snickered, before the woman rolled her eyes and walked off, letting her boss do the talking.

Bucky's hands clasped tightly on the newspaper, sending it crumbling beneath his grasp. To prevent looks coming his way, he set the newspaper down immediately next to him. He searched for the woman to distract him, but found her walking over to the men. She gave the men their food as they snickered and engulfed her body with their eyes. As she departed their table, one of them decided it was okay to slap the woman's butt. The woman stopped abruptly in her place, calming herself from flipping out, before resuming her walk back behind the counter.

Anger brewed inside of Bucky as he mentally reminded himself to calm down, his breath hitching in his throat as he readjusted his sitting position from sitting extremely upright, to slightly slouching in his seat to make his presence seem more comfortable, not like he was mentally planning the men's death for touching his love interest.

A few moments passed before the woman collected her things and pulled her thick jumper over her body. She had stayed two hours overtime, and was receiving useless pay for it. She bid goodbye to her boss quickly before he could tell her any different, collected her bag and began to walk out of the bakery. Ignoring the despicable men's protests, she stopped just before the front door and turned to Bucky, giving him a small smile goodbye before stepping out into the cool winter air. Bucky watched her actions as her warm skin met the frosty atmosphere, she quickly wrapped her arms around herself after pulling her hood over her head. She looked both ways and made her way in the opposite direction of the bakery toward her home.

Bucky couldn't help but smile at their short interaction, but it quickly faded as he overheard the men muttering something about the woman.

"It will be fun to see her struggle," one of them hushed, before they all stood and followed the woman outside.

Immediately after their departure, Bucky flew from his seat and was outside in an instant, his anger boiling inside of him as he watched the men jog after the woman.

Without looking back, Bucky pulled his hood over his head and stormed after them.

There was no way in hell that they were touching his girl.

* * *

"Oh shut your mouth," you laughed, "Him asking me to work overtime again really didn't help my mood, especially the dickheads who walked in and slapped my ass," you grunted, angry at the mere thought of their childish snickers.

Your best friend laughed once more, "Oh wow, the people in this town are truly charming. Did your bakery boyfriend save the day?"

You blushed at the mention of the regular customer in the bakery you worked at. There was no doubt he was attractive, but he was so mysterious and barely spoke a peep. You liked that about him though, whenever he was in the bakery you sensed a protective aura around him. Thats why you weren't extremely terrified when the men walked in, as you knew you had someone who you knew would protect you at all costs.

"Oh wow," you gushed, rolling your eyes, "but he was awfully quiet today. Probably planning their deaths-"

You were cut off immediately with the abrupt smell of familiar alcohol and cigarettes. "Who's death babe?" the man spoke hoarsely, his eyebrow raised.

You stopped immediately in your tracks, your eyes and mouth left wide open. You heard on the other end of the line your friend calling your name questionably.

"You better tell your friend there that you'll call her back, you're fine," another man said, winking at you slyly.

You swallowed nervously, bringing your shaking hand holding your phone to your ear. "U-um I'll call you back hun," you said quietly, your eyes scanning the group of men standing before you, all of their expressions were laced with evil and lust, sending shivers to run down your spine. Ignoring your friends remarks, you controlled your breathing and resumed, "I'm fine, I'll see you soon okay?"

As soon as you hung up, a flash of light engulfed your vision as it was aimed near your stomach. Your eyes widened as you realised the man in front of you held a knife, pressing it ever so delicately on your jacket, enough to send you walking backward.

"Now we don't have to make a scene darling," the man snickered as he sent you backing into another man behind you, the mans hands instantly exploring your body with your abrupt interaction. With a burst of adrenaline, you turned around and punched the man as hard as you could in his face, your hand erupting in searing pain. You grit your teeth as you controlled your emotions and the man stumbled backward, blood seeping from his nose.

You flinched as you felt the knife was pressed even further into your jacket, so close you felt the point prick the shirt you were wearing underneath.

"Watch out boys, we have a feisty one," the leader laughed, resulting in an orchestra of quiet laughter from the remaining men. The leader turned all of his attention back to you, "now darling, do you want to live or do you want to die?"

Your breath hitched in your throat as you took in his statement. Your mental capacity wanted to scream as loud as you could, but that could result in being killed in the process. So you kept quiet, your expression firm as you stared the man straight into his eyes, nothing escaping your merely trembling lips.

"Well it wouldn't be as fun if you were dead, would it sweetheart?" the man grinned, receiving nothing but a cold glare from you. "Now, I want you to come with us and act as natural as you can,"

"And what if I don't want to do what you say?" you snapped.

The man smirked, twirling the knife in a circle on your stomach. It was enough to make your skin crawl and your heart beat intensify.

"This ugly knife will be jabbed right into your beautiful stomach," he said bluntly.

Your eyes widened at his immediate statement, and you knew the safest thing to do at that moment was to go with the men. You would figure something out along the way.

Without emotion, you pulled the knife away from your stomach heroically and began to walk forward along with the men, but were suddenly stopped.

A dark blur smothered your vision as you witnessed the men fall to the ground one by one, their groans were all that was audible in the midnight air. You flinched as you watched the man in front of you fell to the ground, he was knocked out cold. In an instant, you quickly picked up the knife the man was holding and threw it up in front of you.

"Who's there?" you snarled nervously. Your eyes scanned the perimeter surrounding you, before your eyes met with a figure hiding away in the darkness of the alley. You tightened your shaking grip on the knife and you asked the question again.

In the blink of an eye, the figure was gone. You flinched as the familiar sight of bright blue met your vision and flash of metal light, before it left you in the darkness.

You stood there in the alley, the knife falling from your shaking hands as your eyes scanned the unconscious men around you. Or at least you thought they were unconscious.

Your emotions overcame your senses as tears fell from your eyes in relief. You were alive, and you knew exactly who saved you.

* * *

You of course were called into work the next day on your supposed "day-off", but you were eager to come into work on this day. You knew exactly who had saved you the previous night, and you were going to confront him today.

Almost immediately, the familiar sound of the bell signalled the opening of the front door. You lifted your head from your coffee making and your eyes met with the familiar blue, similar to what flashed before you last night. You watched as the man in the baseball cap focused his attention on you for a moment longer, before leaving you and setting himself in his usual seat, which was fortunately unoccupied.

Smirking slightly, you picked up the cappuccino with half a sugar and extra chocolate on top and walked over to the man who nervously held a newspaper in front of his eyesight. Knowing the man wouldn't say anything, you took matters into your own hands and placed the coffee in front of him, before setting yourself down opposite him, your arms crossed over your chest.

Noticing your presence, his eyes met yours over the top of the newspaper, but yet, he did not bring the paper down.

"I just wanted to thank you," you spoke, easing the silent tension between you both, "for last night,"

The man raised his eyebrow, before setting the newspaper beside his coffee. "I don't know what you're talking about," his husky voice said simply.

You smirked before propping your elbows on the table, resting your chin in your palms. "Oh come on," you snickered, "I'm not stupid,"

Your eyes lingered on his for a while, unable to control what then fell from your mouth, "how could anyone forget such a colour," you whispered, mesmerised.

Obviously flustered, the man reached up to rub the side of his face, before you noticed the familiar glint of metal. His arm. But how? You thought.

He noticed you staring at the arm that seemed 'unusual' to be constructed on a human being, and flinched. Realising his discomfort, you reached out and grabbed his hand, intwining your fingers in his metal ones. You didn't ask what it was as he was obviously uncomfortable about it, so you saved your questions for another day.

His eyes widened at your actions, unfamiliar with emotions as he realised that you were not afraid of him, "Arn't you scared of me?"

You shook your head immediately, a small smile tugging at the side of your lips, "Not at all,"

You never broke eye contact with the man sitting opposite you, his eyes wandering yours in search of some sort of explanation. He couldn't embrace the fact at your sincere actions, usually people with flinch away or be scared of the man and his abnormal arm attached to his body. An arm used by the Winter Soldier for destruction.

"Its okay," you whispered, your thumb running over his metal knuckles, and he wished he had human feeling in his arm right at this moment, to feel your skin on his, to imagine the electric sensation that would've ran through his body at this time. "You'll never scare me,"

He smirked at your compliment, before looking down at his untouched coffee.

"Now since you kinda saved my life and all, could I at least know your name so I can tell everyone about my knight in shining armour?" You squeezed the mans metal hand, to at least show him how interested you were in him and how much you appreciated him saving your life.

He looked up at you then, the bright blue orbs peering into yours once more. You quickly blinked before you got lost in them once more, "My name is James," the man swallowed, waiting for your reaction. Once he received nothing but a wide grin from you, he resumed,

"But I prefer to be called Bucky."

~ 

Hoped you enjoyed your one shot as much as I enjoyed writing it MrsBarnes107 !! Sorry it took so long, much love x

How is everyone going?! Hope you have all been well :)

AND 5K?!?!?! WHAT?!?! Thanks for all the love and support everyone, I also love all the likes, votes and comments also! Means so much xxx