Broken (Tony Stark x reader)

1

Bucharest
2014

    I wiped down the counter of the diner, I was nearing the end of my 12 hour shift and was actually dreading it. I come to work to escape my boring and mundane life but my shift goes by so fast.
    Setting the small towel down I looked over to the far end of the counter at a man with shoulder length dark hair. I grabbed the coffee pot and walked over to him, refilling his cup.
    "Pardon me asking, but are you new 'round here?" I smirked.
    He looked up at me, his blue eyes wide- I could tell he was wary of strangers.
    "Yeah," he nodded. "Just got here in fact."
    I nodded and put the coffee pot back on the warmer and began to refill the napkin dispenser by him.
    "I've been here about a year myself, nice to come across another American." I smiled. "I can speak the language decently, just not fluently; I always mess up at least three words in every sentence."
    He chuckled. "Yet you have a job where you talk to a lot of people everyday."
    I shrugged. "Have to make money somehow."
    "You probably only have to deal with the basics though, you don't really need an extensive vocabulary to work here." He smirked as he raised the coffee cup to his lips.
    "Nope, just really need to know the menu." I chuckled. I held out my hand to him. "Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm (Y/n) (L/n)."
    He cautiously took my hand and shook it. "Bucky Barnes."
    "Nice to meet you, Bucky." I smiled.
    "So, if you don't mind me asking- what pushed you from America? What made you come here?" He asked tilting his head slightly.
    I shrugged. "Just needed to get away from things. Wasn't really making anything of myself there- but I'm not doing that here either." I chucked. "You?"
    His body tensed at this question, and his eyes focused on his coffee. "I needed to escape something's I've done and I need to remember who I once was. So I figured coming here would be better than being surrounded by everything I needed to get away from."
    I nodded. "So you're basically saying that you're on a journey to find yourself?"
    He chuckle slightly. "To find who I used to be, yeah."
    "Well, I hope you figure it out. I hear plums are good for your memory."
    Bucky smiled and picked up his cup again. "You don't say?"
    I turned as the bell dinged, alerting me that someone walked into the diner. A man in a red tracksuit entered and before I could greet him he just made his way over to another man already seated at a table.
    "So, you just arrived today? Are you staying in a crappy motel or something?" I chuckled. "Wait- no I didnt mean for that to be taken in a weird way!"
    Bucky smiled and shook his head. "I didn't really think of it in a weird way until you said that." He looked up at me. "I actually have an apartment about three blocks over."
    "Your landlord Karkaroff?" I asked crossing my arms.
    "Yeah." He nodded, squinting his eyes a little.
    "Well shit, we might be neighbors then," I smiled.
    "Really?" Bucky asked, and I nodded. "What's your apartment number?"
    "12A."
    "Mines 12B." He smirked. "Well fuck. Hi neighbor." He extended his hand to me and I shook it.
    "Howdy." I laughed. "Just an fyi if your heat doesn't work just give the radiator a swift hit with something blunt."
    "Noted."
    I opened my mouth to make some kind of quip, but was cut off by the sound of a plate breaking. We both looked towards the man from earlier and the person he joined, other than Bucky there were only a few people left in the diner as it was nearing midnight.
    Both of the men at the table were now standing, their faces inches apart and filled with anger. They were sharing an intense conversation and something was said that red tracksuit guy didn't like and he punched the other guy in the jaw.
    The rest of the patrons watched the scene intently. Bucky's fists were clenched on the counter.
    The two men began to throw punches and hurl insults and even broke another plate in the process. I shook my head and walked over to them.
    "(Y/n) I wouldn't-" Bucky said shaking his head, I held up my hand telling him I got it and walked over to the men, the counter separating me from them just in case.
(I don't know Romanian I'm using a translator so sorry if it's terrible)
    "Băieți, calmați-vă (Guys, calm down)." I said resting my hands on the counter.
    The man in the opposite red tracksuit pulled out a knife and sneered up at the man. "Ești mort, Ivan (you're dead, ivan)."
    "Opreşte-te (Stop)!" I shouted, gaining their attention, I held up my hand slightly, keeping my gaze locked onto the men. "Uite ce vei face: vei părăsi acest restaurant, vei merge două străzi mai departe și te vei certa în fața unui bar unde îi este locul (Here's what you're going to do: you are going to leave this restaurant, go two blocks over and have your fight outside of a bar where it belongs)."
    They looked at each other and laughed.
"Ai de gând să ne faci, fetițo (are you going to make us, little girl)?" Ivan asked.
    "Du-te acum (go now)." I ordered, I knew my eyes flashed magenta, but I doubt anyone caught it. Thet both stood a little straighter and walked out the door. I looked at the other customers and smiled kindly. "Totul e în regulă. Întoarce-te la treburile tale (Everything is alright. Get back to your business)." My eyes flashed once more and they acted like nothing happened as conversations resumed.
    I walked out from behind the counter and cleaned up the mess that the two brutes made, once I was done I walked back over to Bucky; who was staring at me, obviously trying to figure out what just happened.
    "Coffee?" I smiled holding up the pot.
    "What the fuck just happened?"
    "What do you mean?" I asked filling his cup again.
    "How'd you get them out of here?" He asked quietly, leaning in so no one else could hear.
    "I just told them to leave..." I shrugged, he stared at me clearly not believing it. I sighed. "Okay, how about this. My shift ends in fifteen, you wait, we'll walk home together and get to know more about each other."
    Bucky stared back at me, contemplating the offer. He opened his mouth but I stopped him.
    "Because we both have done bad things in the past that we'd rather forget. And I know you won't hold anything against me, and I won't hold anything against you." I gave him a smile then walked away to buss tables before my shift ended.

***

    Bucky and I walked out of the diner after my shift and made our way to the apartment building.
    "You... you know who I am don't you?" He asked after a few minutes of silence.
I glanced at him and saw that his jaw was clenched. Did I know who he was? Yes.
    "Bucky, I'm not afraid of you." I said putting my hands into my jacket pockets. "I knew who you were when you introduced yourself, but like I said at the diner- I'm not holding anything against you."
    He stopped and shook his head. I stopped as well and looked up at him.
    "(Y/n), I've done horrible things. And even though I was brainwashed into doing it I still did it." Bucky ran a hand through his hair.  "I... I'm a monster."
    "And I'm a mutant, what's your point here?" I  asked. "Look, you want to put what you've done in your past behind you because it was awful and you weren't in control of your actions." I shifted on my feet. "You want to remember who you really are, and that's all that really matters right now."
    He tilted his head and furrowed his eyebrows at me. "You don't care that I've killed people?"
    I shook my head. "We've all done things we're not proud of...  hell, I've even killed a few people in my lifetime. Just following orders, y'know?"
    "You worked for Hydra?" He asked.
    "Nope. Didn't work for S.H.I.E.L.D. either. There are other malicious groups out there," I shrugged. "I'm trying to escape all that and you're trying to escape your past. We can rely on and help each other." I shrugged.
    Bucky stared at me; he was obviously apprehensive about befriending anyone considering what he went through with Hydra and not being in control of his mind for so long.
    I stuck my hand out to him and flashed a smile. "Friends?"
    He smirked and shook my hand. "Friends."

A/N:
So this was basically an introduction chapter to the story. As you can guess we are starting with civil war; I just found it a bit easier than having to figure out what to do about Pepper if I were to do another movie so... CW was easy because they were on a break.
I just really wanted to establish a Bucky and reader friendship.
And it starts in 2014 because google says Bucky was in Bucharest for 2 years in hiding and civil war takes place in 2016.
Thanks for reading so far!