Animal instincts Avengers x male reader

Pep Talk

You ducked as Steve continuously threw punches at you. You both moved swiftly around the sparring ring as he kept trying to take you down. He had a certain rhythm when fighting and you were starting to catch on. You were on the defense right now as you hadn't really sparred with Steve before. You've seen him in action many times but not as personal as this.
 
"Come on (Y/N)," Steve teased, "show me what you got."
 
"Careful what you wish for Captain," you responded. You threw a few hits to test the waters and Steve easily blocked. You were starting to take the offense and he was happy to see it. 
 
When it came to sparring, he had limited partners to choose from. He always relied on Bucky or Thor, but Thor was busy on Asgard, and Bucky wasn't always in the mood. Natasha would occasionally humor him, but she preferred to train on her own. Everyone else did not have the stamina to go against a super soldier for hours so those sessions never lasted long. You on the other hand made a great partner. You had as much free time as him and being a super soldier meant you were able to keep up with him.
 
"You know," Steve said starting a conversation, "I can't believe this is the first time we've sparred."
 
"I didn't think I was your type," you joked as you threw a kick his way. "You usually do this with Barnes."
 
"Bucky doesn't like training a lot," he dodged a few more punches, "I understand. Hydra must have made him train whenever he wasn't in cryo freeze or forcing him to murder."
 
"If you aren't sleeping, you're fighting. That's what my handlers would say."
 
"Did you encounter the Winter Soldier in your time in Hydra?"
 
The question catches you off guard giving Steve the advantage. He threw a punch in your direction thinking you would block it, instead, it connected with your jaw causing you to fall. Steve quickly kneeled at your side. "I am so sorry I didn't-"

You pushed his hands away as he tried to get a look at the damage. "I'm fine Rodgers."
 
"Are you sure?"
 
"I just need some ice."
 
"Of course, let me-"
 
"No," you stood up and headed towards the door, "I can do it myself."
 
You stormed into the kitchen startling Clint and Pietro who were having lunch. They watched as you went through the contents of the fridge and then took out a bag of frozen peas to put on your face. Pietro cringed at the bruise that was starting form.
 
"That's going to look nasty," he commented. You flicked him off.
 
"I'm guessing sparring with Steve didn't go so well," Clint said.
 
"I got distracted," you told him.
 
"This is why we don't spar with him. He can get a little carried away with that super soldier strength of his."
 
Tony walked in while swiping at a tablet. "Who gets carried away?"
 
"Nobody, it's fine," you said.
 
Tony looked up at you and noticed the makeshift ice pack you were holding up to your face. "What happened?"
 
"Nothing!" you threw the ice pack in the sink and walked out leaving all three of them confused. A minute later Steve walked in looking for you.
 
"Whatever you did really put him in a bad mood Captain," Clint told him.
 
"What did you do?" Tony asked. He had never seen you so irritable before.
 
"I punched him in the face when we were sparring," Steve answered.
 
"Why?"
 
"It was by accident! I thought he would dodge it!"
 
"You should apologize."
 
"I tried! He keeps blowing me off."
 
"Maybe it was something you said," Pietro suggested.
 
"I mentioned the Winter Soldier."
 
"Does he have issues with Barnes?"
 
"Not that I know of."
 
"Maybe it isn't Bucky he has problems with, just his alter ego," Tony told him. "Who doesn't."
 
"(Y/N) doesn't like talking about Hydra, especially after you guys went on the mission. I think he's been spending a lot of time in his room since then," Clint added.
 
"Nobody likes talking about Hydra," Pietro agreed. Sometimes the team forgot he and his sister had a lot of experience with Hydra, typically because the siblings only really talked about it amongst themselves.
 
"(Y/N) never really told us what his connection to the Winter Soldier was," Steve reminded them.
 
"How do you know if he even has one? And if he did why is it even relevant at this point," Tony asked. He knew even after the mission went fine Steve still had some suspicion on you. He tried to ignore it, yet it got on his nerves.
 
"I can talk to him about it," Bucky said as he walked into the kitchen. He had heard their conversation from the sidelines. "I think out of all of us, we have a lot more in common."

"You're going to interrogate him?"
 
"No, we'll just talk. Barton is right, (Y/N) has been acting odd since the mission. Being back in that place must have triggered something in him." Bucky was thinking about how violently you reacted when you had been in your old room. Nobody else was aware of that as he promised not to tell.
 
"If it's out of concern then I don't see the problem," Tony agreed but he still glared in Bucky's direction, "Just don't say anything to upset him."
 
After their chat Bucky walked to your room and knocked on the door. He could hear you cuss as you hurried to answer the door. When you finally did you looked slightly panicked. Luckily, Bucky was distracted by the bruise on your jaw that was starting to get darker. 
 
"Steve really did a number on you," he said.
 
You scowled at him, "He got lucky. Are you just here to laugh at me?"
 
"No, I just came to talk."
 
"Did they tell you to come?" 
 
"No- kind of, but I was going to do it anyway."
  
You rolled your eyes and then moved aside so he could walk in. "What exactly do you want to talk about?"
 
"Let's start with how you're doing."
 
You resisted the urge to laugh. Bucky of all people came to give you a pep talk. "Fine."
 
"You've been spending a lot of time in your room."
 
The reason was that you were looking through the files you had retrieved from your old base. You were going by chronological order and so far, you haven't found much of interest. There were a lot of Dr. Abbott's notes but only he would be able to interpret them. "Is it a crime to want some alone time?"
 
He laughed, "For you, kind of. You're usually always by someone's side."
 
You shrugged, "I haven't been in the mood for any company, that's all."
 
"Steve said you got distracted while you two were sparring."
 
"He's the one who insists on talking the whole time," you defended. "I'm amazed he actually gets anything done."
 
"He does tend to do that." Bucky sat at the edge of your bed. "But he said it only happened after he mentioned the... Winter Soldier."
 
He noticed how you tensed at the mention of the name. You never acted like this around him, yet when he mentioned the name Hydra had made him go by, your demeanor changed.
 
"Did you ever meet...me, when we were following Hydra orders?" Bucky asked.
 
You sighed and sat next to him on the bed. "Not physically, but I sure did hear about him from my handlers."
 
"Like what?"
 
"You know the usual. He was a large figure in hydra even though he wasn't supposed to exist. Everything I did was compared to his achievements. Even Abbott would pester me, saying I had to do better than you- him." 
 
From training to missions, the Winter Soldier was a constant reminder you were not good enough for Hydra. Although Abbott would speak very highly about you to his superiors, you were still seen as second best. You were given minor assignments that Abbott claimed barely scratched the surface of your potential. It was frustrating every time you would do something right and were told 'the asset' did it better. Before you met Bucky, you would have gladly torn the Winter Soldier apart to prove your worth. It surely would have made the doctor proud of you.
 
"You didn't like being compared?"
 
"Does anyone like being compared to someone else?"
 
"True," Bucky agreed. He preferred to see the Soldier as a different being. Someone he didn't share the same goals as anymore. Although Bucky acknowledges he physically did what the Soldier did, he knows that he was forced to do it, and he isn't at fault. At least that's what Steve says.
 
"You know from everyone on the team you never really compared him to me," Bucky told you.
 
"Oh, trust me, the first few days I was planning on how to kill you in your sleep." You both laughed but Bucky was worried you weren't joking.
 
"What made you change your mind?" 
 
"Although you were a jerk-"
 
"Hey."
 
"-you're not what Hydra made you."
 
Bucky smiled, "Neither are you."
 
"You think so?"
 
"I know so."
 
You smiled back at him, "Steve should watch out, I think you can take his job with all that motivational stuff."
 
"I honestly don't know how he does it," he said walking towards the door, "It's exhausting."
 
Before he left you called out his name and he turned back around. "Uh, thanks, for coming to talk to me I guess."
 
"No problem. Surprisingly talking actually helps." Bucky closed your door as he left you by yourself.
 
You sighed in relief and reached under the bed where you had hidden your laptop. You were afraid he had noticed it when he came in, as you had been sloppy in hiding it. Luckily, he didn't seem to be suspicious. As much as you appreciated the pep talk it came at a very inconvenient time. Knowing that staying in your room for extended periods of time was drawing attention, meant you have to pause your search and start interacting more. You would start tomorrow, today you wanted to get through a few more.
 
You opened your laptop and clicked on the file you were about to look through before Bucky had walked in. Unlike the others, this one was a video. You put on some headphones and pressed play. The quality wasn't great, but it was clear enough for you to make out what was happening.
 
"After trial and error, I have finally made progress in my research. If the results are successful, it will make the Winter Soldier and Captain America look like antiques, and Erskine's and Zola's serum appear primitive in comparison," Dr. Abbott announced as he walked into frame. He looked younger than you remembered. His black hair wasn't greying, and he didn't have wrinkles in the corner of his eyes. This must have been in his younger days when he was starting in Hydra. "After today, we officially start human trials of my serum."