Revenge - the action of inflicting hurt or harm on someone for an injury or wrong suffered at their hands.
It was something you were all too well acquainted with. The Winter Soldier had killed your family; your parents, your brother, and even burned down your house to erase the evidence. But he forgot about you. You had spent your time since burying the fact that the Winter Soldier killed your parents and maneuvering yourself into not only SHIELD but his newfound life. It seemed that the rest of the world believed the facade that he had put up about him being cured but you certainly did not.
Today was the day that you would achieve access to his inner circle, the Avengers. You were to be employed as a researcher for the Avengers, helping to crack cases quicker. You could use this to study him closer and calculate when to strike. You were being shown around by Ms. Potts and were about to shake the hand of the man that had single-handedly ruined your life. You shook hands with the Avengers making your way purposefully down the line to HIS hand. Once you reached him you studied him while offering your hand, he took your hand briefly but gently and only made eye contact for a moment seemingly not recognizing you. He didn't look like the cold murderer you remembered, but you were in too deep to give up now. You moved on with Pepper to observe your office and living space only glancing back once at the man you couldn't get out of your head.
As the next couple weeks passed you studied Bucky and what you saw did not match up with what you had assumed. Bucky was not a murderous lunatic or even an aggressive person really. He always said hello to you in the mornings or if he passed you in the hallways and was pleasant to everyone, mainly keeping to himself. He had horrible nightmares, the kind he would wake up screaming to, and seemed to just be lost.
You couldn't hold a grudge on a person like this.
You decided that you just had to let it go, be the bigger person, the person that your parents would be proud of. You went up to the roof and cried all night grieving your family and coming to terms with the fact that the Winter Soldier and Bucky Barnes were two entirely different people.
After letting go of your revenge you tried to return Bucky's smiles and friendly greetings in the hallway and let yourself gradually join in on the "family nights" with the Avengers. Not only did you come to love the Avengers as your new family but over the months you found out that Bucky was actually a great guy. He's sweet, had the ability to make you laugh, and made sure that you were included. He made you feel special. You were developing a crush and that alone was a scary thought: Crushing on your family's killer...how do you rationalize that?! You skipped out on one of the "family nights" and visited their graves. You sat down and the story just spilled out of you. What should you do? Would they be mad at you for having feelings for a man that had brutally ended their lives even if he was brainwashed? How did your life get so twisted! Realizing that the headstones weren't going to give you any answers you said your goodbyes and headed back to headquarters ready to go to bed.
The next morning you woke up and walked to the kitchen only to be met with the addicting smell of blueberry pancakes. Natasha gave you a plate and you sat at the island savoring them. As more people spilled into the kitchen creating mindless noise Steve sat next to you at the island offering a "Good Morning" from behind his coffee cup and bedhead. Bucky strolled in and went straight to the fridge digging through in hopes of finding orange juice, but not before offering you a radiant smile and a wave to which you returned with an equally radiant smile. Steve looked on and turned to you, speaking in a voice only you could hear, "I followed you last night and heard what you said. Why are you so nice to him if he is the one who has caused you all this anguish?" You just turned to Steve while picking up your now empty plate and said, "Because it's about time we stop bearing our fangs and start offering our hand instead. Besides it wasn't his fault." You smiled quickly before washing your plate and walking to your room to get ready for the day.
Later that day after finishing the filing that you had to complete you were reading The Count of Monte Cristo in your room when you were interrupted by a knock at your door. You set your book down and answered to find Steve, you invited him in saying, "Hi Steve anything you need?" He turned and responded "I think Bucky should know." You were shocked. "Why would Bucky need to know? It would crush him! He would be so upset and it would make things very awkward between us! There is no need to cause him pain about something in the past that he can't change!" you exclaimed. "Your right. It would only mess him up. Thanks Y/N." said Steve as he walked towards the door. "No problem," you replied as you shared a smile and then he let himself out.
As the weeks passed you and Bucky grew closer and closer. You finally felt like you belonged in this makeshift family. Everything was going great until one night something no one saw coming happened.
You woke up to someone shaking your shoulder, gently trying to rouse you from your sleep. You sat up rubbing you eyes trying to determine who woke you. Your eyes settled on a wide-eyed, frantic looking Bucky kneeling next to your bed. You immediately were more awake and asked "Bucky? Are you okay? What's wrong?" He just kept looking at you as horror grew in his eyes, he slowly got up and staggered back facing back against the wall in a daze. You immediately rushed out of bed and over to him repeating your concerns. He just looks up at you and quietly says, "I killed your family" and you suck in a quick breath never expecting him to remember. He took your silence as confirmation and his expression changed to weakly concealed dread, self-loathing, and horror. However, something confused him which he voiced as he moved to the opposite side of the room "You don't look shocked, why don't you look shocked?!" and you just stood up and said, "Because I knew." His head whipped over to you and he stuttered out "T-Then wh-why would you be so nice to me? That makes no sense!" He dug his hands into his hair as he began to pace. You immediately started to explain trying to placate the expression on his face. "I hated you for a while but after coming here and really knowing you I realized that you are not the Winter Soldier. You are James Buchanan Barnes, a sweet, charismatic man who has more demons than anyone else I know. You are not the subject that deserves my ire because the things I once blamed you for were not within your control. They were not your fault." As you spoke Bucky stopped pacing and you walked cautiously closer to him, like someone approaching a wild animal. As you stood in front of him you placed your hands on either side of his face so that you could force him to look you in the eye, you repeated evenly, "They were not your fault." Bucky looked at you with complete adoration and said "I don't deserve you. I'm so sorry Y/N." But you just shushed him shaking your head, you smiled and said, "Didn't you just hear a word I just said? It was't your fault. Now it is in the past and I believe we should both move on from it. Starting with both of us getting sleep." Bucky nodded in agreement and said "Goodnight doll. I'll see you in the morning." He then walked to the door glanced back at you, smiled, shook his head chuckling, and then went back to his room. You sat on your bed with a smile on your face happy that it was resolved. You knew it would be a little awkward for a while but you knew that you and Bucky would get by it. It was the start to something beautiful.
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I feel like this is kinda sucky so I'm sorry!!
