When The Light Comes | Bucky x Reader

~9~

You woke up extra early to get in some extra practice with Steve. It was a fun, light-hearted morning lesson. Bucky had told him the two of you would be sparring today and apparently wouldn't shut up about it, which put Steve in a great mood. As you'd hoped, training had put you two on a collision course for friendship. Of course you spent plenty of time with Wanda and Natasha, but Wanda had Vision and Nat had Clint. Steve and you stayed up late and talked about silly things, and you introduced him to many wonders of the internet. Sometimes Bucky would stay up with you, he would sit and watch, and even laugh every once in a while. And Steve appreciated that you treated him like a human being. The others were starting to come around as Bucky started to open up, but it wasn't happening quickly.

You danced around Steve in the last half hour of you two hour practice. You were winded, but not nearly as bad as you had been weeks ago. And this practice was longer. You hit him with a hard right cross - left hook - right cross combination. He lowered his guard a little and you were able to get a hard left cross in his ribs. He laughed.

"That's it!!" He shouted and you allowed yourself a small smile. He lashed out with a right hook. You ducked it and caught him hard in the shoulder before kicking his feet out from under his unbalanced body. He exhaled as he hit the mat, a big grin on his face. You pretended to slam your elbow into him, throwing yourself across his stomach in a fit of giggles. He laughed alongside you shoving you off and onto the mat beside him.

"Alright I call it lets go get some food," he stood and helped you up off the floor, handing you your water bottle. "That was really good, ___y/n___. You'll have no problems with Bucky, I can pretty much guarantee it." You smiled at that, starting to unwrap your hands as you walked to the kitchen.

"Thanks Steevvee," you cooed. "You didn't do too bad yourself...for an old man." He glared at you as you tossed your hand wraps onto the kitchen counter and opened the fridge to rummage for food. "Okaaaay so we've got leftover pizza and some apples...can we just eat that? I'm not in the mood to cook." You leaned your body into the fridge, resting your forehead on the edge of a shelf. The cool felt incredible on your sweat soaked skin.

"Yeah I'm good." You pulled the pizza out onto the counter and threw and apple his way before taking one for yourself and sitting down to do some cool down stretching. You knew you would cramp later if you neglected it now. When you'd finished, you joined Steve at the counter and ate almost as much pizza as you could stomach.

"Hey! How's my two favourite people?" Bucky swaggered over and wedged his hips between yours and Steve's, draping his arms over your shoulders.

"You're in a good mood," You raised your eyebrows over your water bottle as you fought to keep yourself hydrated. It was never something you'd been particularly good at.

"Yeah, that's 'cause he's got a challenge this afternoon." Steve looked Bucky up and down. "Looks like you just got out of bed man." Bucky nodded enthusiastically, his eyes wide.

"Sam let me play the new Spider-Man video game with him." Steve and you rolled your eyes simultaneously. "What? It's really fun!" A cheeky smile that made your heart flutter danced across his face as you ducked out from under his heavy metal arm. Swiping your hand wraps off the counter you turned your back on them headed for your room.

"See you boys in a bit!" You flashed a smile over your shoulder and got waves in return.

*time break brought to you by a really nice bath and a cat nap*

It was time, and you were excited to prove yourself. You'd already warmed up and had your most sleek black on black spandex and sports bra combo on. You were ready to knock it out of the park. The metal arm thing did still concern you a bit and you hoped whatever wild emotions that had been plaguing you for the past little bit didn't stop you from focusing.

You wrapped your hands, seated on the edge of your bed. It had become therapeutic for you, and you'd even indulged and bought a set of soft elastic/cotton wraps in your favourite colour. You cleared your head and headed down to the training room.

Apparently word had gotten around that you and Bucky were going to be sparring, because almost everybody was in the training room. Sam was lifting some weights, but his heart wasn't in it, and even Banner was sitting on a bench by the wall. Nat grabbed your hand as you walked past her and gave it a squeeze.

"You kick his ass alright?" You gave her a wink and blew her a kiss as you walked away from her.

"You bet I will." Bucky was already waiting as you stepped onto the mats and flashed him a cocky smile. He narrowed his eyes in response and then you were at it.

All of a sudden he seemed so much bigger than you remembered him being earlier in the afternoon. You took a few breaths to calm yourself and he made the first move. You blocked it with ease. Nat had taught you so much about your defence that it was nearly impenetrable. You gained energy with every hit you blocked of his. A right cross, left jab, then a clumsy right hook. You took the opportunity to get a hard right cross to the inside of his shoulder. He staggered, took a step back with a shocked look on his face. As much as you enjoyed it, you took the opportunity to land a right side kick to his abdomen followed by a low roundhouse to the outside of his knee. He was ridiculously difficult to knock over. Steve would've been reeling by now.

You regrouped and he blocked your jabs, you blocked his. He took some harder swings and you retaliated. You landed another cross to his right shoulder and another kick to his ribs, but when you put your foot down your feet were too far apart. You rushed to correct it but he beat you to it and in less than an instant he was sitting on your hips holding your wrists above your head. He wore a triumphant smirk but only for a split second as you looped your feet around his. You twisted and thrust your hips as hard as you could, effectively rolling him flat on his back, your knee on his stomach and hands holding his biceps against the mat.

"Betcha didn't see that coming." You winked. As everyone tried to make their way to congratulate you Steve was convincing them there were better things to do, ushering them out the door. Forever the trusty sidekick. You stepped off Bucky and offered him an arm up, he took it gratefully, putting a hand to his stomach.

"Those are some hard kicks...you're a bit of a spitfire." You shrugged, shaking out your arms and your legs.

"Wanna go again?" You asked, a smirk sliding onto your face as you raised your fists to your face.

"Do I ever." You lunged first, playfully tapping his guard and flitting graciously out of reach. This ambled on until you could see the annoyance etched in the fine lines of his face, his beautiful blue eyes hardening with determination. You laughed lightly as he lunged too far and you struck his sternum, leaving him out of breath, his guard relaxing. A couple more jabs peppered his ribs and you saw his foot wander out to the side a few inches. Taking your opportunity you swept his feet and planted your knee on his chest as he grunted. No sooner had you landed, though, and he was right back sitting on your hips with your hands held out above your head.

As much as you wanted to flip the tables again, you found yourself frozen in place. His metal hand felt strikingly cold against your burning skin and his chocolate hair hung around your face like a curtain. His crystal clear eyes stared straight into yours and his body smelled like sweat and pine and winter. It seemed like an eternity before his lips lowered themselves almost onto yours. You could almost taste them when he sat up abruptly, brushing his hair back from his face with his hands.

"I'm sorry, I-I should probably go," he said as he stood and pulled you up with him, almost stumbling into his impossibly toned chest.

"Thank you for sparring with me," you said quietly. "Maybe we can do it again sometime?" He nodded before turning his back and leaving the training room. If it was even possible, you felt more tense since you'd sparred than before your encounter. You decided to stay and blow off some steam, practising kicks and punches on the punching bag, letting out grunts and shouts with every blow you dealt.