Looking at Bucky in such a forlorn state was making your heart ache for reasons unknown.

After everything that had happened since SHIELD had been compromised up until the Sokovia Accords and the team splitting down the middle, the only people genuinely worrying about Bucky was you and Steve. Everyone else with the Soldier in mind wanted him behind bars or dead. You had no idea who this man was, but from the way Steve spoke about him with such respect and love, you knew that him being responsible for the UN Vienna bombing had to be a lie.

After being captured by T'Challa and Rhodey, everything went straight to hell when the Winter Soldier escaped from the confining pod and tried to make off with a chopper.
Steve had pulled him out of the river after crashing the air vehicle and now you, he and Sam were watching as a damp Bucky slowly woke up. His metal arm was caught in an industrial vice, Sam's idea in case none of you could restrain him.

The look on his face was one of unadulterated pain.
Self-loathing.
Immense guilt.
Broken.

"Steve." He croaked.
"Which Bucky am I talking to?"
The man snorted with humorless laughter, a faint glint in his eye as he recalled past memories.

"Your mom's name was Sarah. You used to wear newspapers in your shoes."

Steve's tough facade melted immediately as the words left his best friend's mouth.

"Can't read that in a museum."
"Just like that, we're supposed to be cool?" Sam scoffed. You rolled your eyes and punched him lightly in the shoulder.
"Chillax, bird man."

"What did I do?" He asked quietly, making the two of you go silent.

"Enough." Steve replied.
"Oh, God, I knew this would happen. Everything HYDRA put inside me is still there. All he had to do was say the goddamn words."
"Who was he?"
"I don't know."
"People are dead. The bombing, the setup. The doctor did all that just to get 10 minutes with you. I need you to do better than "I don't know." Steve said gently.

Bucky paused, his face twisted with frustration.

"He wanted to know about Siberia. Where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where."
"Why would he need to know that?"
"Because I'm not the only Winter Soldier."
The three of you listened in shock as he explained how lethal the soldiers were, HYDRA's "elite death squad" as he called it.
"Well, that's comforting." You said, crossing your arms.

"You...you're the girl from the bridge."
He was staring intently at you and whatever you were about to say was lost as your feet developed a mind of its own, slowly moving you towards him. Sam caught your arm and gave you a warning look, but Steve nodded as permission.

"I'll tell you later." He mumbled to Sam as you knelt in front of Bucky. His eyes never left yours as you studied every part of him.

Dried blood clung to the top of his forehead and his dark hair cut across his face in wet strands.

It was his eyes that captivated you the most.
They held a lifetime of pain and suffering, locking away the man that used to be, but was no more. Not because he was entirely gone, but because the old Bucky was different from the stories Steve had told you about him.

The handsome and witty man that had his whole life stolen from him, turning him into a ruthless weapon for such selfish purposes. You wanted desperately to console him, to rid him from the chains of guilt that weighed so heavily on his shoulders.

"Who are you?" He asked in a low voice.

Wanting to test how far you could push, you tentatively raised your hand and very slowly laid it on his stubbled cheek. The tender psychical contact made him flinch, but you didn't move.
He slowly moved back into your touch and you brushed your thumb against the outside of his lower lip, never breaking eye contact with him.

"I'm Y/N."
"Why-why can't I get you out of my head? I saw it...I watched myself stab you...why?"

His question was more of a plea, a desperate need for it to be answered. You didn't exactly know how to phrase it and you were grateful when Steve pitched in and explained the situation.
How soulmates worked.

Bucky's face seemed to get more animated as you talked to him as you would anyone you'd just met. Steve and Sam left you two alone to prepare for the upcoming battle that everyone knew, without speaking, would happen and it gave you time to tell him little bits about yourself. You were even successful in pulling some answers from him as well.

"You don't have to pretend, you know." He said quietly, cutting you off mid-sentence.

You cocked your head in confusion.

"Just because you're my soulmate doesn't mean you have to pretend to like me."
"If you're insinuating that I don't, you must not have been listening to me for the past half hour."
"Of course I have. And I'm happy...no more than that. I'm thrilled to have met you."

"Thrilled?" You said, amused.
"I don't have an expansive vocabulary. Didn't come with the brainwashing." He tried to say lightly. Your chest clenched at how much effort he was trying to put into sounding upbeat.

"Bucky-"
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. You're probably just doing this for Steve. I believe you, that you're my soulmate. But I've done...I'm a monster. You deserve better than me. Than this." He gestured to his trapped metal arm. You opened your mouth to argue when Steve called your name from the front of the empty warehouse.
A little frustrated, you turned back to Bucky.

"If you think I deserve better than you, maybe I do."

He lowered his head at your words. You gently lifted his chin and cupped his face with both of your hands, slightly forcing him to look at you.

"But I could give a shit about what I deserve because its not what I want. And I want you. No matter how much you think like that, it'll always be you. And I promise that when all this is over, we'll get a more impressive date that doesn't involve your arm being caught in a vice."

Bucky laughed, a real and genuine smile spreading across his face and making your heart flutter erratically.

"You sure know how to make a guy feel better about himself."
"Its a talent of mine."
"Y/N, a little help over here?" Steve called.
"Coming!"

You leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek, drawing back to see a gleam in his eye and the features of his face softening.

"Don't do anything stupid."
"Don't think I could. That sounds familiar though." He said, furrowing his brows.

"Yeah, I tell that to your punk ass of a friend all the time. Stupid is his middle name."

"I heard that!" Steve snapped. You smirked and ran a hand through Bucky's hair, pushing it away from his face.

"See ya later, Soldier."
"Counting on it."

Bucky smiled as he watched you disappear around the corner, not knowing Sam had been watching ever since the little kiss.

"That was weird."
"How do you think I feel?"
Sam snorted and began to walk away in the same direction you had gone.

"Like shit, I hope." He called over his shoulder.

"Asshole."

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I love Bucky & Sam's tolerant relationship of each other. Thank you for reading! Comment and vote!<3