Avengers Imagines (Part One)

Bucky Barnes X Reader - The Greatest

A/N- This imagine is based on the song The Greatest by Sia and Kenderick Lamar. I hope you all enjoy it.

Your arms were aching before you had even reached the gym for your training, still tense from all you had put them through the day before, from the punches you had been throwing at the bag, one after the other for longer than was sensible. But still you had pushed yourself out of bed and pulled on your gym gear. You were not like the others, they had been training for decades, and you had barely even begun. But it was in your nature to be a perfectionist, and you weren't about to let yourself be bested in front of the rest of your collegues. 

You let out a soft groan as you shoved the door to the gym open, wincing slightly as you felt the pain shoot to your elbows, but still you perserveered, forcing a smile onto your lips as you hurried over to a bench, dropping your towel and waterbottle and beginning to stretch yourself out. The room was almost empty, Steve was in the corner on one of the punching bags with Bucky holding it still for him, and Nat was close by focused on softly counting out the push ups she was doing.

You winced again as you rolled your shoulders backwards, feeling them screech in protest as you forced them to keep moving. "You alright?" You hadn't heard the thud of Steve's punches stop landing, but his best friends voice had certainly knocked your consentration, causing your eyes to flutter open as you forced away the wince that had found it's way back onto your face without you noticing.

"Yeah," you answered quietly, giving him a quick, but unconvincing smile, as you moved away to the mats a few feet away, "you got time for some practise?" you asked, turning to face him as he followed close behind you.

"I'm not gunna fight you," he told you, his voice far more gentle than you had ever heard it, "no one should be today," he added and you furrowed your brows, letting out a small scoff.

You shrugged slightly, feeling your arms protest once more, "if you don't think you can keep up you can just say so," you taunted him slightly, watching as he frowned slightly.

"How many days a week are you in here?" The question caught you off guard, and he saw your cocky smile drop from your lips. The sound of the punches landing on the bag started again, and you quickly glanced over at Steve where he was now holding the bag for Nat.

"Every day, it's a part of my job," you started, pausing for a moment, "I don't have your super-serum, Buck, I need to keep in shape to be able to come on missions with you guys." 

"And how long are you in here for each day?" he suddenly asked, ignoring your comment, his eyes fixed on you and holding you in place.

You shrugged again, "I don't know, I don't keep a record of how long my work out takes each day," you muttered, moving across the mats and continuing your stretching.

"Then give me an estimate," he continued, following after you, and standing so close that you felt that you could hardly breathe.

You huffed in frustration as you glanced up at him, "just drop it, Bucky," you growled, your eyes shifting over to Steve and Nat when the thuds stopped again.  They had their eyes focused on you now and you let out a sigh as you saw Steve moving towards you.

"What's going on?" he asked, and you felt Bucky move away slightly as he got closer to you.

You shrugged, "nothing, I'm just trying to get my work out done for the day," you hummed, "Bucky won't leave me alone," you added, and you heard him scoff at your words.

"She's in pain and she's too stubborn to take a break," Bucky interjected, shrugging when you glared at him. 

Steve raised his brows when you looked back at him, "have you been to the medic bay?"

You shook your head, rolling your eyes, "i'm not in pain, I'm just a little achey, I'll be fine once I get going."

"You're going to damage your body if you keep training like this." Bucky's words caught your attention and you rounded on him, almost snarling as he watched you with unrelenting stubborness.

You practically hissed as you spoke, "you don't know my body like I do," you paused slightly, "and you don't get to give me orders when it comes to keeping myself healthy."

"No," Steve spoke, his voice soft, "but I do, and you aren't training today." The anger fell out of you, replaced by pure shock. "Go get some sleep, take a break, do anything but you aren't coming back here until tomorrow."

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," you yelped, your voice a higher pitch than you had been expecting. "You can't kick me out of a gym," you continued, watching as Steve placed his hands on his hips, becoming almost like a teacher as he watched you with a stern expression. "Fine," you huffed, shoving past the two men to grab your things from the bench.

"Get some ice on your shoulder, it'll help," Bucky told you, following close behind you as you stormed towards the doors.

You refused to look at him as you tugged the door open, flinching once more. "Go fuck yourself, Barnes," you spat back, dropping the door and hurrying down the corridor towards your bedroom.

*Time Skip*

You hated to admit it, but the two super-soldiers had been right, taking a day off to ice your aching body and catch up on some much needed rest had been good for you. You had spent a good portion of your day in your bed with an icepack strapped to your shoulder and you headphones fixed on your head as you watch episode after episode of a show you had been meaning to watch for months. 

You had intended to continue with your new plans until you fell asleep, hoping to wake the next morning as good as new, but it seemed someone else had other plans, and soon Bucky was shaking your leg in an attempt to get your attention. The feeling of his metal hand on your ankle made you flinch, spinning around to face him and tearing your headphones off in a panic.

"What the fuck are you doing?" you spat at him, lifting your hand to press it to your chest, feeling your racing heartbeat.

"Sorry," he started, shifting uncomfortably at the foot of the bed, "I just wanted to come and apologise for being a dick earlier," he added and you nodded slightly in understanding. "I shouldn't have gotten involved."

You shrugged, "I don't know," you murmured, "I get the feeling I over-reacted," you told him, chuckling slightly at the thought. "The ice pack really helped," you told him, gesturing at your shoulder awkwardly.

"Yeah, I do one of those almost every night, only way to stop the ache setting in before morning." You chuckled, patting the bed for him to sit down.

"I don't know why I can't just take the advice when you guys offer it," you muttered, shifting to cross your legs under yourself, "you've been doing this for so long, you're like an exercise expert by now."

Bucky laughed, "are you calling me old?" he teased slightly and you felt your cheeks heat up as you stumbled over your own thoughts, your mouth hanging open as you attempted to find some way to answer him. He left you like that for a moment, watching as you worried over your words. "I'm fucking with you," he told you softly, causing your cheeks to turn even redder.

"You are such a dick," you exclaimed, shaking your head as your brain returned to it's usual pattern of thinking.

He shrugged slightly, "yeah," he told you, "but I'm also an exercise expert so it all cancels itself out," he chuckled, throwing your own words back at you and causing you to release a surprised laugh.

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