Red, White & Blue | Bucky x Reader

Chapter Two

We enter the small Brooklyn gym to find Steve standing in the middle of the room, his punches getting stronger and stronger as he pummels the punching bag in front of him. The expression on his face is one I know all too well, it's the thousand-yard stare, the look of a shellshocked soldier, and Steve fights the punching bag like he's fighting his demons, punching harder and harder and harder.

Like me, Steve is haunted by the past, the things we experienced during the war, and of course, the survivor's guilt we feel for making it out alive when so many others didn't, including our best friend.

After taking another punch, the chain of the bag finally breaks, and the bag soars across the room before landing on the floor in a heap, the sand within spilling out through a rip in the fabric. Steve takes a few deep breaths to steady himself before walking over to the lineup of punching bags on the floor, selecting a new one and hanging up to resume his training.

"Trouble sleeping?" Fury calls out.

Steve glances at us before returning his focus to the punching bag. "I slept for seventy years, sir. I think I've had my fill."

"Then you should be out," Fury reasons, "celebrating, seeing the world."

Steve finishes his routine and walks over to the nearby bench, unraveling the wraps from his hands and shoving them into his bag. "When I went under, the world was at war. I wake up, they say we've won. They didn't say what we lost."

"We made some mistakes along the way," Fury admits. "Some, very recently."

"You here with a mission, sir?" Steve asks, noticing the file in Fury's hands.

"I am," Fury confirms.

I sigh. "Trying to get us back in the world?"

"Trying to save it," Fury corrects, handing Steve a file.

I shuffle over as Steve opens the manila folder, revealing a photo of the Tesseract among the stack of papers. A glimpse of my past flashes before my eyes, but I blink the memory away.

"HYDRA's secret weapon," Steve says, lifting the photo from the file.

"Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you," Fury informs us. "He thought what we think. The Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs."

"Who took it from you?" I ask as Steve hands the file back to Fury.

"He's called Loki," Fury answers. "He's not from around here. There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know."

"At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me," Steve argues.

"Ten bucks says you're wrong," Fury states. "There's a debriefing package waiting for you back at your apartment."

Steve hoists a punching bag over his shoulder before following me toward the exit.

"Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?" Fury asks.

"Yeah," I reply, not bothering to turn around. "You should've left it in the ocean.

Back in the apartment, we find the debriefing packet on the coffee table. Fury must've put it there before following me out. Steve grabs it and heads for the kitchen table, dutifully filtering through the many pages and notes as I put the kettle on.

"Steve, are you okay?" I ask, leaning up against the counter. "I saw the look on your face as you were training."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Steve assures me, looking up from the file in front of him and noticing the dark circles under my eyes. "Just a rough night. What about you?"

I shrug. "I had another nightmare."

"I'm sorry," Steve says. "I should've stayed in the apartment in case you needed me."

I chuckle and roll my eyes. "It was just a nightmare, Steve. I don't need to be watched 24/7."

"I know," Steve replies with a small smile. "But I do worry about you, you're like my sister, and after everything you experienced during the war, and after losing Bu--"

"Don't!" I interrupt, blue wisps curling around my hands. I glance down at them in frustration and cross my arms, hiding my hands from view. "Don't say his name."

Steve's expression turns sullen. "I'm sorry, I won't say his name. But he would want you to find peace after everything you've been through... and I want that for you too, so it's only natural that I would be concerned and want to look out for you."

"I know... Good ole Mother Hen," I reply, giving him a small smile. It drops as I look down at my crossed arms.

Steve glances at my covered hands, and the power still lurking within. "How often does that happen?"

"Often enough," I reply, not looking him in the eye. "I don't know if I want to do this... Jump back into the fight, I mean..."

Steve carefully studies my face. "You don't have to. I'll go by myself."

I scoff. "You don't honestly think I'll let you go on your own, do you? After everything we've been through? You lost just as much as I did, Steve. Dugan, Jones, Falsworth, Dernier, Morita, they're all gone, and by some twist of fate, we ended up here. We just started to adapt to this century, to unpack our experiences, and now SHIELD wants to throw us back into another fight to fix a mess that they've created. We don't owe them anything."

"I know," Steve assures me. "But we know firsthand what the Tesseract is capable of, you more than anyone," he steals another glance at my covered hands, "so I can't just sit by while it's out there."

I take a deep breath and let it out with a sigh, finding logic in his words. "Okay, so we help them then, we'll help them track it down."

Steve offers me a small smile. "You don't have to come with me."

"Yeah, well... When has that ever stopped me before?" I question.