Chapter Text
The smell of warm buttery popcorn fills your nose as you sit down on the soft couch for weekly Avengers movie night. You fit into your usual spot, right between two of your best friends, Peter Parker and Bucky Barnes.
Tonight it was Peter's night to choose the movie, hence the grin on his face when you finally sit down.
“Star Wars again?” You tease.
“It’s so good though.” He defends.
“But you pick it every time.” You whine with an over dramatized sigh.
“Quit arguing you two, some of us are trying to watch the movie.” Tony said from across the room seemingly fed up with the duo.
“Yes Mr. Stark” “Whatever Dad” You and Peter say at the same time.
Bucky, who hadn’t said much until now, elbowed you in the side. “I think the kid has made us watch A New Hope four times in the last two months.”
You nod in agreement and scoot a little closer to the man.
You take a quick glance around the living room, taking notice of the other Avengers.
On the couch next to yours is Tony, Bruce, and Pepper. Tony and Bruce are having a muttered discussion about the science behind lightsabers.
The two gods sat together, Loki looking mildly irritated as Thor kept stealing his popcorn. Natasha, Steve, and Clint had a couch, and were debating over who could take Darth Vader in a fight. Finally next to them was Wanda and Vision.
Refocusing your attention to the movie, your eyelids start to feel heavy. You close your eyes and the last thing you feel before drifting off is cold metal against your cheek.
—---------------------------------------------------
When you wake up you groggily scan your surroundings. “What?” You mutter to yourself. You are back in your room. How, wasn’t I on the couch last night. 7:00 the clock catches your eyes. I must have fallen asleep. Deciding to go get breakfast you wander into the kitchen.
Standing around the kitchen you spot Natasha and Peter. “Hey Nat, what happened last night?” You ask the red head.
“You fell asleep on Bucky.” She responded calmly.
“After the movie was over I told Mr. Barnes to carry you back to your room.” Peter cut in.
At those words you feel your face start to get warm. You knew you and Bucky were just friends, it was embarrassing nonetheless. “What?” You ask Peter not sure if what you’re hearing is true.
“Yeah he just scooped you up and carried you away."The boy replied.
Natasha says abruptly. “He likes you Y/N,”
“No! Nat, we're just close friends.” You scream defensively.
“Totally” Peter adds in sceptically as he takes a bite of cereal.
“Parker” You want to end this discussion and just eat your breakfast in peace.
“Fine, fine.” Peter gives up.
You pour your cereal into a bowl and go find a spot to sit. The Moment you do, another Avenger walks in. It’s Bucky looking as tired as usual. Once he enters the kitchen he immediately starts making coffee.
“Good morning Bucky.” You greet him enthusiastically.
“Morning”
“Thanks for carrying me to bed last night”
“No problem.”
You smile at him before taking one last bite of your cereal. After finishing your food you go back to your room, preparing for training.
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Later that day you’re training in the gym with Nat. Hit. Block. Hit. Block. The two of you fall into a rhythm of combat. As you fight, your mind starts to wander. That's when you slip, she lands a punch right in your stomach, knocking the air out of you and you fall to the ground.
Natasha offers you a hand up. “Here, let’s keep going.” You accept her help and begin sparring again.
Not long after, Natasha spoke. “You seem distracted.” She noted.
“I am?” You question.
She let out a slight laugh. “Do you think you would have slipped up like that if you didn’t have something on your mind?”
You pause, is she right? You certainly feel more distant as of recently, and you have been thinking about a certain someone lately. “That's true, I guess I have been preoccupied recently.” You say lowering your fighting stance.
Nat does the same, giving you a kind smile. “You know you can talk to me about anything Y/N.”
“Thanks Nat I really appreciate it but I think I need to figure out what's happening in my head before I start talking.” You look back at her, gratitude in your eyes. “Let's break for lunch.” She says, leading the way out of the gym.
—------------------------------------------
Your eyes shoot open as you wake from yet another nightmare. Head in your hands you check the clock, 12:00 am, you count the minutes as you start to pace. 20 minutes, 30 minutes, one hour. All you do is go in circles in your head, Nat’s right I should open up more. You think back to the movie yesterday, the calm feelings you felt right before you passed out. It was really kind of Bucky to carry me back to my room. A couple more minutes go by as you drift between sitting and pacing.
CRASH!
You freeze as a loud noise rings out from the kitchen. You start to panic, is it an intruder? Is someone breaking in? You grab a knife then carefully push open your bedroom door. Creeping down the hallway toward the kitchen an unsure feeling takes hold of your stomach.
The farther you go down the dark hallway the worse the feeling gets, your fist clenches tighter around the knife in your hand. Finally you reach the pitch black kitchen, you hear a footstep. You seize the opportunity to sneak up on the mysterious stranger. In the blink of an eye your knife is pressed up against the intruder's chest.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” You demanded. Still not able to make out a face in the dark.
Before they say anything, your legs are kicked out from underneath you. You hear them bolt to the other side of the room. Pulling yourself up on the counter you restate your question this time with more hostility. “Who are you and what do you want?”
“Y/N?” The stranger asks in an all too familiar voice. Followed by the click of a light switch.
“Bucky?” You say lowering your guard.
“Can I not make coffee in peace anymore?”
“I thought you were an intruder, sorry.”
“It’s fine, not that it’d have done much.”
“That's true… wait, why are you in the kitchen at one in the morning?”
“Coffee.”
“Doesn’t explain the crashing sound.”
“I dropped the coffee pot.”
He eased up and you two moved closer. That's when you notice the pile of broken glass on the floor. “Why are you up?” He asks, his gaze following yours to the mess on the floor. You state simply, “Can’t sleep.” “Won’t Tony kill you if he finds you up this late?” He teases. “Not if he kills you first for the coffee pot.” You tease back.
Before you get the broom, you turn the non-broken kettle on. You help Bucky clean up the glass and make the two of you hot chocolate. “What’s that?” He asked. “Hot chocolate. Seeing as the coffee pot is broken I thought I’d make something else.” You reply softly, taking a sip from your mug. You hand him the other cup gently smiling at the man. He hesitates, but carefully takes the mug from your hands.
“Hot chocolate, I don’t think I’ve had this since I was young.” He pauses briefly before taking a small sip. Once he does you watch him soften momentarily, but in an instant he’s back to his usual cold, guarded self. He takes a second to stare at the drink in his hands, as if any peace brought by it would be ripped away from him at any minute.
“My Mom used to make me hot chocolate during thunderstorms. We’d sit on blankets under a covered balcony and watch the lightning.” You murmur just loud enough to hear. Bucky turns toward you as you lean against the counter top. “That sounds lovely.” He says. “It was beautiful.” You stand there sipping hot chocolate, just the two of you, in a dark kitchen, together in peaceful silence.