The Feeling's Mutual | Bucky x Reader

1 | Hate at first sight

You quietly flipped through the pages of your book, sitting cross-legged in the Avenger's common area. Tony was most likely in his lab, Steve and Sam out for a morning jog and the others either sleeping in or training bright and early. Restless as you were, sometimes you forced yourself to sit down and read. Animal biology books, specifically. The more you knew you about your abilities, the better.

As you curiously read through a chapter on different snake venoms, a large figure passed in the corner of your eye. You recognized it immediately.

"Barnes," you muttered, not taking your eyes off the page.

Bucky hadn't noticed you sitting in the loveseat. Alert as he was, you were one of the few who could pass under his radar.

"L/n," he uttered back.

He went to pass you to get to the kitchen, but as he did you stuck your foot out and caught his ankle. He stumbled forward and caught himself on one of the couches. Apart from the initial surprise you could never manage to get him to fall all the way. Fucking reflexes.

"Oops," you said sarcastically.

Bucky shot you a glare. The two of you had been butting heads since he first moved into the Avengers Tower. After six months of bickering, yelling and heated arguments that had to be broken apart by Steve and Tony alike, you'd come to an understanding: you hated each other. The reasons for it were there, but neither of you were exactly keen on sitting down and talking about it. Steve had already tried that. In the end you simply caused each other inconveniences as an outlet. Bumping shoulders, setting traps, tripping...

Bucky got back to his feet and grumbled as he entered the kitchen, "You're a child."

"You're an old man," you countered, flipping another page of your book. "It's a wonder you trip all the time. Must be age."

Bucky didn't bother to look back at you, he just scrunched his nose in annoyance and reached for one of the cupboards. "Next time you stick your foot out I'll break it."

Your lips twitched. You barely spared him a glance, only you did a double take when you saw something different about him. The all-black attire was nothing new - it was the cap on his head. He wore it outside to avoid detection, but never inside.

Silently setting your book aside, you crept to your feet. While Bucky was busy opening a box of cookies you snuck up behind him and snatched the cap off his head. He whipped around with a "Hey!"

You stared at him, eyes wide at the sight of his short hair. Before it had always covered his face like a protective curtain. Now you could see his ears and eyes and everything. He looked like a completely different person.

"The hell happened to you?"

Bucky ran an oddly hesitant hand through his hair. "Haircut."

You nodded slowly, your surprise subsiding into an arched eyebrow. "Hm."

"What, what's wrong with it?"

You slipped past him with a shrug, taking a cookie from the box.

"I didn't say anything was wrong with it." You looked him up and down as you bit into your cookie. "You just look like a fifth-grade boy who thinks he's hot shit."

"I am hot shit."

You smirked with a full mouth. "Right."

Bucky gave you a look. He dropped his hand from his hair to gesture to you. "Give me my hat back."

The action made you instinctively pull away and raise the cap out of his reach. Bucky's face turned serious, his brows dropping dangerously low over his eyes. "Give. It."