100 Marvel One Shots✔️

Caught Me By Surprise >> James "Bucky" Barnes (Winter Soldier) X Reader

Title: Caught Me By Surprise

Paring: James "Bucky" Barnes (Winter Soldier) X Reader

Warning: none. female reader.

Spoilers: none. What do you think I am, an animal? No spoilers for CA:CW. I haven't even seen it yet!

Author's Note: Listen to the song I attached! It's by a local band, Boy & Bear, and I think it really matches up to Bucky Barnes really well.

I also want to say thank you so much for the 1K! It means a lot to me, thank you!

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When Steve Rogers came to him one rainy afternoon in the upstate New York facility knocking on his door, he had ignored him. Not out of spite, and not on purpose. Bucky Barnes was a man in a shell, a shell which protected him from lashing out like HYDRA had programmed him to do for the last seventy years.

He had expected his best friend to announce a meeting, or dinner being served.

Not that he had hired an assistant for Bucky.

The dark haired super soldier just wanted to break a wall, hearing those words. Assistant. What was he, a middle aged corporate in a tall building and a taller paycheck? Tony Stark had an assistant. That red-head, Pepper.

Bucky didn't need - or want! - someone to tail him. To assist him.

Yet, he held onto those words that day. The man in the memories that came slowly back, painfully, quietly; the memories of 1940's James Buchanan Barnes were not of an irate or grumbling man. He had been kind, and flirtatious - things Bucky didn't really find himself feeling anymore. He attributed his anger to the fact he'd murdered many, many people who didn't deserve it, and that he was just a sour old man in a twenty-nine year old's body.

"Buck?" Steve called through the door. It had been a week since he'd done the similar thing, except now it was nine o'clock in the morning, on the dot. "Remember that assistant I told you about? She's here ... are you coming out to greet her?"

At once, Bucky opened the door. The dark circles under his eyes told a telltale story of his usual sleep patterns mixing with the anxiety of his - assistant. What a title. Couldn't Steve had used a better word to describe this woman? Babysitter. Therapist. Anything was better than 'assistant'.

"C'mon, don't stare, I know I'm a mess," Bucky grumbles. "Is she already here, or do we have to wait outside?"

Steve shook his head, and clapping Bucky's back, began to walk down the way to the main area. "No, she's here. And her name's ______. Don't call her Ma'am or a Dame or doll, and never call her Miss _______ - she hates that."

The ex-Winter Soldier paused. "Wait, you know her?"

The blonde captain nodded. "Yeah, quite well. She helped me adjust into the 21st Century, as you can see." he winked, shoving his hands into his worn jeans. Steve must have been tinkering with his bike again, grease was all over his arms. "I'm sure it's going to be just fine. You're going to love her."

Bucky held onto his chuckle. He hadn't loved much in a long time. Maybe the first thing he had loved since his slow transition to himself was having a warm bed to sleep in every night. But he wasn't sure.

"...yeah, I know Sam! Didn't anyone tell you we were in high school together? Oh my - I bet he never told you he totally rocked the 'fro back in the day?" Bucky's ears caught onto a new voice.

A nice voice. It caught him by surprise.

Turning the corner, and half-hiding behind Steve (which was an easy feat now he became a meatball since the last time he had tried to hide behind Steve), he saw Sam Wilson, Tony Stark, Wanda Maximoff and Thor standing around a girl who seemed short in comparison to their hero-esque heights.