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You can’t remember when you got here. You don’t even know what day it is. All you know is that for the past however many days, weeks maybe, they have been coming into your room and injecting you with stuff you knew shouldn’t be in your body.
First it was bright green which only managed to get you a rash. Then it was blood red which again only gave you a rash, that time worse than the last. Then it was neon yellow which did absolutely nothing except make you really tired. After that it was kind of a blur. You’re suspecting they’re going to try the whole damn rainbow.
You know why they took you too. You are the daughter of some very influential and important people. Hell, your dad is Iron Man. Who wouldn’t want to kidnap you? But usually people kidnap rich people’s kids when they’re young, not when they’re your age, and when they do kidnap a rich person’s kid, they usually ask for ransom. You don’t think that has happened yet.
You can barely lift your head when the metal door creaks open. The same man walks in, you only know him as “the doctor”, but you have a fair amount of nicknames for him in your arsenal; none of them are that nice, though.
You’re so weak from all the injections that you’re surprised he’s still going. He’s probably trying to create a supervillain out of you as some ploy of revenge against your father. In his years on earth, Tony Stark has gained a lot of enemies. You wish you had been taken by some of his enemies that are actually good people like Hank or something.
At this point you can barely feel your arm, so when he inserts the needle, you can barely feel it. You don’t feel the liquid entering your veins anymore either. Really, it’s almost a blessing at this point.
When he finishes injecting you with the bright blue liquid, each of your muscles tenses up. Heart beating faster, you wonder if this is the one that finally kills you.
Tears form in your eyes as you begin to feel the first bout of pain you’ve felt in days or even weeks.
The feeling is so intense, you don’t even notice the door open again. You don’t notice the blood from the doctor getting shot in the head.
In your state of shock, you barely register your restraints being released and your body being carried out.
Tony clambers up behind Barnes, who has been the one to find you. Your left arm is marked with ugly purple and black bruises.
Bucky sets you down on a stretcher in the Quinjet and backs up so the doctor and nurse they brought along can do their job.
Bucky has tears in his eyes, and he can’t honestly remember the last time he’d cried.
Tony, on the other hand, was by your side in an instant. His hand holds yours and he mutters under his breath. He needs everything to be okay. He needs his baby to be okay.
“She’s not breathing! Stark back up!” one of the medical professionals yells. Tony freezes on the spot. His heart shatters hearing his baby isn’t breathing.
Bucky ends up having to drag him away from the scene as he starts yelling, “Breathe, damn you! Don’t do this to me! Please!”
Only once Tony is away from the situation, does Bucky let him go. Misplacing his anger, Tony shoves Barnes. “What the hell?”
“I should be asking you the same thing, Stark! You need to let the medical professionals do their fucking job!”
“You don’t understand, Barnes. Is that your child in there? Has your child been missing for the better half of a year? Has your child stopped breathing? Oh wait, you don’t fucking have a child.”
“I may not, but that does not mean I do not care for her.”
Stark scoffs and turns away, running his hands through his hair. “You don’t know what this has done to me… she is my child and you could never understand the pain of knowing she is out there and you’re helpless to do anything even though you’re a fucking superhero.
“Tell me what is the point of being a superhero if the ones you love aren’t safe? Huh? You wouldn’t know anything about that, though, would you?”
“Don’t tell me what I do and do not know,” Bucky mutters, “the person I love with all of my heart has been missing for the better half of a year and I had to spend that time going around as if nothing ever happened, okay?
“You got to be an asshole because your kid had been taken, but I had to carry on as if the love of my life hadn’t been ripped away from me before I even got to fucking tell them.”
“So don’t you dare tell me that I don’t fucking know what it’s like to be a superhero whilst the ones I love aren’t safe because I fucking love them and they weren’t safe and I was useless in finding them.”
Both men stare at each other, not uttering a single word after Bucky’s breakdown. They don’t exchange any more words thereafter.
When you wake up both of your parents are sitting next to you along with one of your best friends. That alone is practically a miracle given that your dad and your best friend are never in the same room.
Your dad calls out your name as soon as he sees you’re awake. Pepper, your step-mother that you consider your real mom, goes to get someone. Your best friend Bucky stays put in his seat, his hands twitching, aching to be near you.
“Hey, sweetheart, you’re okay. You’re safe now.” He’s crying. You know it’s serious when your dad is crying. How long had you been captured for?
You try to reach out for your dad but you still can’t feel your arm. Brows furrowed, you look down at the site of your injections to see it missing. Eyes blown wide, your heart starts beating faster. Tears form in your eyes as you panic. Where is your arm? What’s going on?
“Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay, just breathe for me, okay? Everything is going to be okay.”
“Dad, what… where… what happened,” you choke out.
“Your arm was really badly infected. The only thing they could do was amputate it. I’m so sorry, honey.”
“No, no, no, why?” you cried out. This isn’t fair.
Tony wrapped his arms around you, and you cried into his shoulder. The doctor comes into your room not long after, and checks up on you. She makes sure everything is alright before leaving you.
“Stark?” Your heart beats out of your chest, having forgotten that Bucky has been in the room this whole time. “Is it okay if I have a little time…”
Your father huffs, frowning deeply. “Fine, but just know I’m not happy about it.”
“I know,” Bucky dejectedly sighs. When your father is out of the room Bucky picks up the conversation. “So… I’d ask you how you’re doing, but I’m pretty sure you’d punch me for it.”
You both chuckle. Bucky has never been one to be real sappy, and you like that. Especially now that everyone is going to be asking you that god forsaken question nonstop.
“I missed you…”
You smile. “I missed you too, Buckaroo.”
He shakes his head, “I even missed that stupid nickname.”
You gasp, feigning shock.
“Don’t tell the others,” he warns, a small smile still on his handsome face.
“Your secret is safe with me.” You wink at him. You notice him shift uncomfortably as he frowns. “What’s wrong?”
Bucky opens his mouth to confess everything. To tell you how much he loves you. How much he cherishes every moment spent with you. He longs to tell you that you’re the only one he thinks about before going to bed and when he wakes up. He yearns to tell you how he needs you like he needs the very air he breathes.
Bucky’s past self would be kicking him if he could see him now.
He gets a text on his phone and ignores it. He has to tell you. Another ding from his phone and he wants to chuck it across the room. This moment is supposed to be perfect. Yet here he is standing like a bumbling fool with his phone going off like crazy. “Sorry,” he mumbles, taking out his damn phone.
Shock registers on his features when he reads “Stop staring at her like a gaping fish and just ask her already.” Bucky looks around the room with narrowed eyes.
“Buck?”
His heart stops hearing your small voice. How the hell is he supposed to ask you out when your father is watching his every move? Bucky take a deep breath and wipes a sweaty palm on his jeans.
“Iwaswonderingifyoumaybewantedtogooutwithmesometime!”
You blankly stare at him. In all the years that you’ve known Bucky, he has never acted like this before. What is going on with him?
“What was that?” You giggle a bit. He looks like he is going to be sick or something.
“I was… well I was just wondering if uh… if you maybe wanted…to go out with me sometime?”
“Is that why you’ve been so nervous?” You smile. He’s so adorable. “Of course I would, Buck!”
He breathes out in relief, shoulders realising their tension as if the weight of a thousand boulders have been released.
“And we already have something in common!”
Bucky furrows his brows. You smile at him and wiggle your stub of an arm.