Marvel One-Shots

Life's Unfair (Bucky Barnes x Reader)

TW: ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP, ABUSE, MENTIONS OF PTSD, BUCKY AND STEVE SAVE READER FROM ABUSIVE BOYFRIEND

Why is life so unfair? Why do bad things happen to you? Why don't you get a happy ending? Why do you have to suffer? Why do you attract bad people? Why are you so weak? These were all the thoughts running through your head as you laid next to your boyfriend board stiff. You were silently crying, if he heard you he would hit you more.

Life is unfair, that's a statement, a fact. At least you believe it is. In college you were a good student. You were smart, but you let people walk all over you. One of those people being Chad. It was okay at first, you really believed he loved you. But he didn't, and he still doesn't. In college you were a means of getting good grades and sex. Now you were a way to live rent free. While you worked as a sort of assistant for the Avengers he would party, drink, and cheat on you.

It wasn't like you didn't know. He didn't try to hide it at all. You would randomly find panties that weren't yours and acrylic nails that weren't your style under the bed, even sometimes in it. You didn't say anything though. You couldn't. Because if you did he would hit you and yell at you. Even if you acted good and stayed quiet he would abuse you.

It was a never ending cycle that you couldn't leave. He had control over you. He made you feel like shit every single day. He would tell you you couldn't survive without him and you would die if you left him. You were scared of him. He had physical power over you. It wasn't like you just pack up and leave.

What was even more unfair was that you were in love with someone. That someone being Bucky Barnes, a former Winter Soldier. You were assigned to help him adjust to his new life and you slowly but surely realized you loved him. He was kind and funny. Gentle, even though he had a dark past. He was intent on changing and you were there to help him. He found solace in your continued company, even when he was adjusted and could do things on his own.

You were a constant in his life and he was secretly in love with you too. But you had a boyfriend. That was the only thing holding him back. What he didn't know was that Chad abused you. You didn't tell anyone and made sure to keep it a secret. It was embarrassing to tell people that you had been in an abusive relationship for nearly ten years and you were too scared to leave it. So you suffered in silence.

You clocked into work at the Avenger base early the next morning. You left before Chad was awake. You didn't want to hear his empty apologies anymore. They didn't mean anything. He was a manipulative bastard that would abuse you at night and then act all innocent when he woke up. He blamed it on the alcohol. But if he really wanted to stop he could have.

It was humid outside and you were sweating bullets in your long sleeve blouse. You were usually dressed in long sleeves and pants, to cover the bruises. It was a miserable way to live, but you endured it. The Avengers didn't question your fashion, they just thought it was your personal style to dress modestly. It wasn't. If you could, you would dress more freely, sexy even. But even if you didn't have bruises Chad wouldn't let you. He would claim you were dressing for other men, trying to seduce them.

You were hired as a rehabilitation effort to help Bucky but all the Avengers like having you around and hired you as a sort of assistant. Even though they didn't need assistance and you mostly just talked to them and had fun. The only real work you did was sorting out their public affairs and sometimes talking them through tough times.

As you walked into the cool Avengers tower lobby you were greeted by the receptionist, who informed you that Bucky was in his room. You took the elevator up to his temporary placement while he looked for his own apartment, which you were doing today.

You knocked on the door and he immediately replied, "Come in." Once he saw it was you his face lit up.

"Hey-" your voice caught in your throat when you saw Bucky, who was shirtless.