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Bucky would often come home covered in blood. That was not unusual. It was less common since the blip, but it would still not be a surprise to you. However, you covered in blood? That was new and terrifying. You were a shield scientist and a tracker. You were never in the field even when you had a dangerous job; no one was used to you getting hurt. Bucky only ever saw you bloody 3 times.
You fell in love with Bucky slowly, but incredibly. There were no words to describe how you felt about him. You met him after Steve had asked you to track him down. You found him rather quickly, but when Steve asked, you told him that your searches had turned up nothing. You hid with him in that tiny apartment in Romania. You were the sole witness that could prove his innocence to everyone about the UN bombing, but that wasn’t without a cost.
1.
You and Bucky had never labeled what you were to each other. You just knew that you were something more than friends, less than lovers at the time, and that was okay with both of you. Every day he got more comfortable with you, and every day your guilt about not telling Steve grew. The two of you had made a quick run to the store when Bucky heard something coming from the inside of the apartment. He told you to go wait in a hiding spot a few blocks away, that he would come get you when he made sure everything was safe. You tried to tell him it was silly, nothing was going to happen that day, but he insisted that you go. You trusted him with your life, so you gave his hand a tiny squeeze before heading out of the apartment building. You were sure everything was fine, but you didn’t even make it to the hiding spot. You were knocked out trying to fight off what you assumed to be some sort of secret police.
You came to some time later with handcuffs on, your hands trapped behind your back. You could feel the blood oozing down your face from a reasonably large cut across your forehead. “Good, you're awake. Fury wants to talk to you, Agent Y/l/n.”
You blinked a few times to try to orient yourself, but it was no use, “Fury? What the hell? He’s behind this?”
The officer grabbed you under your arm and yanked you up from the chair roughly. “How could you betray your country like this?”
“What are you talking about? I literally have no idea what’s going on. Where’s Bucky?” He started to lead you out of the holding room that you had been in, but your vision was incredibly fuzzy, so you had a hard time keeping up and continually tripped over your own feet. The officer was clearly annoyed but said nothing to you.
As you were traveling, you noticed a certain man locked in a clear box in one of the rooms you were passing. “Bucky!” You called out without thinking. You fought the officer off just enough to slip his grip and bypass the door. You locked it behind you by hitting your back up against the emergency lockdown button; you knew it would bide you a little time.
“Y/n…?” Bucky questioned.
You ran clumsily up to the glass. “It’s me, Buck. Do you know what’s going on?”
His eyes went from dull to full of rage, “who did this to you?”
“Huh?”
“The blood, doll. Who hurt you?”
“I don’t know; I was grabbed on the way to the hiding spot, I tried to fight them off, but as you can see, that didn’t go well.”
“I’ll find who did it. I’ll kill them.”
“Bucky, I’m gonna be fine.”
“Doll, you can barely keep your eyes open.”
You were interrupted by guards bypassing the lockdown and getting through the door. They stopped you from falling. You were weak and tired. Bucky was right, you could barely stand, but you weren’t going to let him worry anymore. “I’m okay, Buck! We’ll be okay,” you called to him as you were dragged away by the guards.
2.
You survived the snap, unfortunately (in your opinion). You felt like everything good had been ripped away from you with that snap. You and Steve had time to patch your relationship. You bonded over fond memories of Bucky and tried to move on. Steve and Natasha tried to set you up on as many dates as you would allow; Tony had you over for dinner a few times when you were in incredibly dark places, and you stayed with Clint for a while before he became a vigilante. Nothing filled the hole in your heart where Bucky had been, though. It was a long five years, but when Scott Lang showed up and revived the idea of bringing everyone back, you started to regain hope.
You had never been a fighter. You weren’t good at combat. The avengers refused to let you help collect the stones, so you watched over everything in the base until they (mostly) returned. You thought things might be okay, until Thanos came chiming back in. The avengers armed you with guns you had shot before during your time at shield. You fought as well as you could, but you were injured pretty badly by some of Thanos’ men. Your whole body ached; none of the bad guys bothered you after awhile. They assumed you were a corpse. You tried everything to get your body to stand up, but it was no use. Your body was screaming. I’m too bloody to move.
When the fighting calmed down, you hoped someone would find you.
“Where’s y/n?” It was Bucky’s voice. You could hear him faintly.
“I don’t know. She’s here somewhere, though.” Steve.
“Come on; we’ll help you look. I’m sure she’s alright!” The little spider boy. You had only met him once before—the airport.
You could hear them all calling out to you, but you could make anything more than tiny whines come out of your throat. Everything hurt, and it felt like it was never going to end. “Barnes! I found her. She’s over here.” Clint was soon kneeling down next to you.
“Shit, shit, shit. Y/n why didn’t you call for help.” You couldn’t answer him. “She needs a hospital. I don’t know how long she has if we don’t get her to one.” Clint called over his shoulder. You knew you were bad off. Clint pulled you up, so your head was leaning against his shoulder. He held you close. “It’s gonna be okay, Y/n. Just hold on. Keep breathing. We are gonna get you somewhere safe.”
You tried so hard to speak. “B-buck-y…” was all you managed to get out.
“Shhh, it’s okay. He’s coming. He’s not too far away now.” Clint looked over his shoulder again. “Barnes, hurry your ass up!”
Bucky and Steve were soon on either side of you. “Oh shit,” Steve mumbled. He looked past you and started yelling, but you couldn’t hear him. Bucky was leaning over you now. He looked like he was about to start crying.
“Can I have her, Clint?”
“Yeah, of course. We’re gonna do everything we can to get her through this.” Clint gently passed you over to Bucky, but it made your pain so much worse. You let out a small cry, and Bucky tucked your head into his chest.
“Stay with me, doll. Please…”
3.
Bucky had many nightmares about what might happen to you out in the world. His therapist found out pretty quickly that it had become his main source of nightmares. You were living a quiet life in New York City, in a care facility, still healing from your wounds caused by Thanos’ men. Bucky hadn’t had the heart to visit you. He knew he should have, but he couldn’t bring himself to. He visited you while you were still asleep, but he hadn’t gone back since Sam had left him a message saying you were awake. Sam said you were still in bad shape, and Bucky’s heart was broken. He knew he needed to visit you; he just was scared of what he might see.
Yori and him were sitting in the bar they always visited. It was nice to be out with a friend, but his mind was heavy and clouded. Yori tried to set up a date for him and the lovely hostess, but Bucky politely declined. “Why not?” Yori asked.
“I have a girl.”
“Oh really? Why have I not met her then? Why have you not talked about her?”
Bucky rubbed his chin. “She’s not doing well right now. She’s in treatment.”
“Treatment for what?”
“There was an accident. She was nearly killed. I’ve been too afraid to go see her. I don’t know what I’m going to find when I do.”
Yori huffed. “This is a time when she would need you most. Go, go now to see her.”
Leah, the barkeep, nodded in agreement, “Yes, I agree with Yori, and if you need someone to talk to after my shift is over in a couple of hours. Go.”
Bucky put his hands up in defeat and left the bar. He took a car to the center where you had been staying, picking up some flowers on the way. He peaked in your door before going inside and almost wished that he didn’t. You had a blood bag attached to you, and some of your wounds were still very bruised. The sight was almost too much for him. He took a deep breath and opened the door. When you turned to face him, his heart hit the floor. Your face was all kinds of color distorted. “I thought you might never come back. Sam told me you were here after some of my surgeries.”
“I was.” He set the flowers down on the counter. “I am so sorry, doll.”
“Don’t ‘Doll’ me, James Barnes.” Bucky flinched at the name.
He gently reached for your hand. You let him take it. “There is nowhere in the world I would rather be than right here, Y/n. It only took me so long because I had so much anxiety about seeing you again. I am so so sorry for keeping you waiting. If you want me here, I’m here. I won’t leave, no one, but you can make me.”
He was leaning down over you. You could smell his cologne. It smelled like home. You grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him down into a kiss. He braced himself on the metal bars on your bed. You could tell he was doing everything he could to be gentle. Finally, you pulled away, still tightly gripping his shirt. “You don’t leave this hospital unless it’s to take me home with you, got it?”
“Whatever you say, Doll, I’m yours.”