These Arms of Mine (Bucky Barnes x Reader)

Chapter 1

I do not own these characters (I just write them as a way to love them and care for them).

|   Warning: mild language    |   Extremely hot Bucky, handle with oven gloves only   |

What a day. Everything hurts.

Tears started to sting at your eyes as you longed to rest your body. You couldn't remember ever being quite this exhausted after a mission before.

You dropped the needle on the record player and limped over to your bed, crashing onto the mattress with the force of a body dropping like dead weight. The old, familiar sound of the needle dragging over the record grooves instantly made you feel safer as you pulled the covers up to your chin.

It was your old standby record for relaxing yourself; These Arms of Mine by Otis Redding. Sometimes you wondered how much longer this record could last with how much it's been played.

Grandma loved this one so much...

Your record player and much of the collection associated with it had been inherited from your grandmother. The two of you had always shared the love of music and some of your favorite memories from childhood were being at her house with records playing.

The world and the battle started to melt away as your muscles calmed and you focused on breathing more deeply.

These arms of mine, they are lonely

Lonely and feeling blue

These arms of mine, they are yearning

Yearning from wanting you

You could actually feel yourself falling asleep, as if you were outside your own body watching.

And if you would let them hold you

Oh, how grateful I will be

These arms of mine, they are burning

Burning from wanting you

These arms of mine, they are wanting

Wanting to hold you

And if you would let them hold you

Oh how grateful I will be

Come on, come on baby

Just be my little woman

Just be my lover, oh

I need me somebody, somebody to treat me right, oh

I need your arms, loving arms to hold me tight

And I, I, I need your, I need your tender lips, to hold me

Together when I'm right with you

There wasn't much else that could calm you as instantly as that song. Middle of the day, painful injuries or not, you drifted off to sleep.

***

It was dark when you woke and you felt much better, now concentrating on the voices you could hear in the hallway. It sounded like Steve and the other person... you couldn't quite guess. You were positive Steve was about to knock on your door any second so you jumped up out of bed and tried to make sure you looked somewhat presentable.

You wrinkled your nose up in confusion when you heard them walk past your door. Slowly, you made your way to the door to listen and you were right, they had walked right by without stopping. There was nothing but an empty room at the end of the hallway, next to your room. No one ever came this direction unless they needed you.

Oh well, time for some dinner anyway... You brushed your teeth and checked the mirror once again then opened your door, about to head up to the kitchen.

As you closed your door, you heard Steve call your name. Turning back to look at him, his head was the only thing protruding from the doorframe of the empty room.

"Hey, gopher Steve," you smiled.

"Hey," he smiled back, his friendly blue eyes lighting up. You thought back to a time you'd considered asking Steve out and part of you still got chills inside when he was near. But you'd decided he was the captain and it probably wasn't a good idea... not to mention it felt like a schoolgirl crush to you. Lately, you'd been pretty sure it was starting to look like there would be no dating ever, with anyone at all... between training, missions and trying to maintain a normal life, there wasn't a lot of time leftover.

"Com'ere, I want you to meet someone," Steve said with the sweetest face. He looked excited.

Okay, crap... he's still adorable.

You felt your stomach do a little flip as you squeezed past him through the doorway. Standing in front of you was an equally tall man, a little scruffy, a little worse for the wear but friendly enough to give you a little smile.

"(Y/N), this is Bucky," Steve said. "Buck... (Y/N)."

You reached out to shake his hand. "Well, it's nice to finally meet the guy I've heard so much about all this time," you teased. He seemed to get nervous with that remark so you gave him a friendly smile and added, "Don't worry, it was just all the stories about you two chasing girls."

He laughed at that statement and looked more relaxed. You knew more about his history than that but you weren't going to bring it up when you knew it was all out of his control. You had imagined someone more angry looking but this guy was almost like a scruffy teddy bear with his honest laugh.

"It's nice to meet you," he said and then flashed a glance to Steve saying, "and don't worry, I can fill you in on plenty of similar Steve stories."

Steve smirked at him like only an old friend could. "Buck's going to be moving into this room," he said.

"Oh good, a neighbor," you said. "I've been on this floor alone since I moved in. It will be nice to have some company. You just let me know if I get too loud."

"That doesn't bother me," he said, giving you a hint of another smile from underneath his baseball hat.

"If you need anything... really, I mean it, please just ask," you offered genuinely.

"Thank you," he said.

"See? I told you you have the nicest neighbor in the whole building," Steve gave you a warm smile.

Steve is really going to have to stop looking at me that way... or I'm going to end up saying or doing something stupid.

"Bucky, I'm headed upstairs for dinner. Are you joining us?" you asked.

"We're actually headed out," Steve said. "We've gotta get Buck some stuff for this empty room."

"Okay, well, I'll catch you later," you said, giving a smile and limping out the door and down the hallway.