Captain America and Bucky Barnes Imagines

29. BUCKY: Fire and Ice

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The first time the Scarlet Witch let me braid her hair was after my first mission. My fingers had been shaking and quivering like a leaf after that fateful day. My powers were nearly out of control as my mind made my digits tremble. The room became warmer at the added heat and Wanda knew I had to do something to settle my anxiety soon or the whole jet would go up in flames. She had come up to take my wrists in her hands and then used her own powers to poke into my head to try and help calm me. That's when she saw the memories of sitting in my little sister's bed as I braided her long hair and hummed to her; the only times in my life I can remember being at peace.

"You can braid my hair," Wanda said softly. From next to me Clint raised an eyebrow, and Nat did the same. They'd been trying to calm me down with their words for nearly an hour now but nothing was working.

So Wanda sat on the floor and took down her long brown locks—letting me take strands between my hands and twist them together in intricate designs. The air suddenly became cooler, and the jet was once again at peace. My mind was numb with relaxation and concentration. And when I finished the braiding session, we had landed home and I was smiling again.

Wanda started letting me braid her hair whenever I became too stressed. Then the missions started affecting me less and I needed fewer distractions, but she'd still ask me to do her hair every now and again. Then I was in Prague with Nat and Steve once and watched a little boy bleed out in my arms. That night I didn't sleep—instead braiding Nat's red locks into crowns and plaits that would've made any little girl green with envy.

And then came the Civil War. I took Steve's side of things and never regretted it for a moment. My only regrets were losing friends to the cause. But still throughout it all I made another friend; one called Bucky Barnes. He was introverted and strange, to say the very least, but Steve assured him that I was one of the best team members to be had so he took Steve's word to trust me.

There was one night in the deepest, darkest part of it all that I found myself particularly lost in the stresses of what we'd all become. I'd spent the day fighting my friends: people I'd grown to love as family. Nat was like a sister to me. Tony? There was one time where he joked he'd liked to be my adoptive father. But then it all turned to ruins. I was sat broken on the floor of an abandoned warehouse with nothing left but the clothes on my back and the people who sat scattered all around.

"Y/N." I hear Steve say my name. I don't move my gaze away from the floor—only blink bit harder at his tone to let him know I've heard. "You did good today."

"Did I?" I question. The room, filled with familiar faces and some new, all tensed. They could feel the heat; seeping through their bones like wildfire and curling beneath their nostrils. "I gave Nat a third degree burn. That new kid? The one who sounded 15? I burnt straight through his suit to his skin. Tony's mask was melted, Rhodey was shot from the sky, and Vision tried to blow me up." I sit there in the wake of my little outburst with heat flaring up in my fingertips. I clench my fists to try and stop the burn. "It doesn't feel like I've done any good, Steve. It feels like all we're doing here is tearing ourselves apart."

I don't miss how Bucky shoots Steve a worried glance. There's sweat beading on his brow despite the frigid weather outside. Our little hideaway apartment is nearing 100 degrees.

"Y/N, I think you need to calm down ..." Steve tries to reason with me. He holds a hand out towards me.

I close my eyes. "I can't, Steve. You know it's not that easy." I push up from the floor. My hands leave ashen black prints where they burn the hardwood.