One-shots/Short Stories

Bucky Barnes - Part I

A/N: I don't own this photo.

Home - Part I
Like little boys, the only way they showed they liked a girl was through teasing. So during lunch at school, little James Buchanan Barnes ran up to Anastasia Smith and pulled lightly on her pigtails. "Bucky!" she yelped, hands flying to her head. "That hurt!"
   The thing was, she wasn't alone. She was sitting beside Steven Grant Rogers, the smallest and skinniest boy in school. And Anastasia was his only friend. A dear friend, which was why he stood up and attempted to defend her.
   "Leave her alone!" little Steve yelled at him. "All you've done is bully her! You should know not to treat a girl poorly!"

Unknowingly, that was the start of a beautiful friendship between the three of them.

***
"Bucky!" Anastasia quickly caught up to the handsome man, struggling to run to him through her layers of clothing. She hated dressing in dresses; she preferred wearing Steve's old clothes that fitted her. Sadly, society didn't accept that so she only wore them inside hers, Steve's or Bucky's place. At the moment she was wearing dark clothes that were for Sarah Rogers' funeral. Bucky was on his way to see Steve who did not wait for Bucky and his family so they could drop him off at his apartment.
   "Ana, are you alright wearing that?" Bucky asked concerned, watching as his crush huffed and puffed. "Man, dresses are getting crazier. . ."
   "You on your way to see Steve?" Bucky's small smile of amusement fell from his face at the mention of their little friend.
   "Yeah," he sighed, walking beside her with her arm looped in his, "didn't wait for my family and I to get the car so we could drop him off. I was thinking about -"
   "No, Steve would say no." Anastasia shook her head. "You know how independent he wants to be. He wouldn't want to burden you and your family by living there."
   "That's true." Bucky pursed his lips. "It's no harm in asking him still."
   "Whatever," she shook her head with a small smile, "just know that I am with you 'till the end of the line. Always."
   "Thanks." Bucky smiled at her in adoration - a smile she didn't see since she saw Steve up ahead.
***
"You did what!" Anastasia stared at him in disbelief. "Please tell me you're joking -"
   "Anastasia, I would never joke about the war." Bucky told her seriously. "I'm serious, I signed up."
   "You even used my full name." she grumbled. "Why?" she asked childishly. Secretly, she had not wanted him to sign up in fear of losing him. Only recently did she develop feelings for him - feelings that he returned yet both were oblivious to each other's feelings.
   "You know why I did - the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour! They could bomb Brooklyn next!" Bucky paced around in the small apartment of hers. "I need to do this. Our country needs defending and we need to attack the enemy. They can't mess with us Americans. Besides," he turned to her and gave a sad smile, "it's better signing up now than waiting for the people to come knocking on your door."
   "B-But. . ." her lips wobbled. "You could die. . ."
   "Ana. . ." Bucky went to her and placed a kiss on her forehead, enveloping her into his arms. "I am going to make a promise to you."
   "Don't make promises you can't keep -"
   "Yeah, well I am keeping this promise so shut your pretty little mouth and let me finish." he huffed. Anastasia hid her smile and instead stared at his chest. "I, James Buchanan Barnes, promise to come back home after the war. To come back to Brooklyn with open arms for my family and my best gal - which is you if you didn't get that."
   "Really, it's not Connie or Bonnie?" she asked teasingly, only a small hint of jealousy in her voice.
   "It's not Connie or Bonnie." Bucky chuckled. "No one can replace you, Anastasia Mary Smith."
***
They all stood at the train station; the whole place crowded with wives, girlfriends, mothers, and sisters saying their farewells to their loved ones. Steve and Anastasia sulked a distance away, letting Bucky and his family say their farewells. When it was the two's turn, Bucky chuckled at their sulking looks.
   "Come on, there's enough of me to go around for." he teased. The two merely rolled their eyes in response. "It's very creepy how in sync the two of you are." Bucky thought out loud.
   "Shut up." the two responded. The three laughed at how true Bucky's words were.
   "Ah, I'm gonna miss you, Punk." Bucky brought Steve into a hug, being careful to not squeeze him too tight.
   "Jerk." Steve mumbled back. "Don't win the war without me."
   "I make no promises." Bucky smiled. His smile faltered when he truly saw how heartbroken Anastasia looked. She was staring down at the ground, eyes welled up in tears. She was biting her lip in an attempt to stop it from wobbling. "Ana. . ."
   He brought the girl into a hug, saying sweet nothings into her ear as she cried on him. If people walked by they'd think they were lovers. That's how much they looked in love with each other. "Don't go. . ."
   "Ana, you know I can't do that." Bucky told her gently like she was a small child. "I made a promise to you that I'll be back. And I intend on keeping that promise."
   "Okay," she sniffed, "just make sure you come back home to me. And Steve. And your family. . ."
   "I promise." he pulled a curled black lock of hair teasingly. "I'm glad we met when we were little."
   "Me too." she smiled gently at him. The sound of the whistle going snapped them out of their small moment. Reality settled in. Fear and worry took over. "Please, try and be careful."
   "I'll try." Bucky hugged his family and Steve again, hopping onto the train. Bucky appeared above them through a window. Anastasia reached up and grabbed his hand. "I will be back." Bucky promised her. "I'll come back home."
   "Good," she gave him a watery smile, "because you're taking me out dancing when you come back." His eyebrows raised in disbelief.
   "Are you saying -" Bucky smiled widely. "I am definitely coming back." He leaned down and planted a kiss to her knuckles. "I'll be back." he promised.
***
"Missing in Action?" Anastasia choked out. "W-What are you doing?"
   "I'm going to the HYDRA base." Newly improved Steve told her. "I won't believe he's dead."
   "I want to come -"
   "No!" Steve refused quickly. "I am not losing you as well."
   "I came with you on this tour to be by your side and not lose my other best friend." she argued. "I am not losing you as well to this stupid war."
   "Anastasia, please," he gave her a pleading look, "just stay here. I'll come back, I promise."
   "That's what he said before he left for war." she mumbled, staring down at the ground. Steve brought her into his arms with a sigh - the picture different now. Instead of her holding him close to her chest, it was him holding her close to his chest.
   "Well I will promise you that I'll come back." Steve told her. "And I will come back with the prisoners and Bucky."
***
She waited outside of the tent Peggy was speaking to Colonel Phillips in, choking back tears at what was being said. When she heard 'Steve Rogers' and 'Missing in Action', that was when the tears fell. But then people started gathering at the entrance so being her curious self, she followed them while wiping away her tears. What she saw made the tears fall again. But in happiness.
   Prisoners from HYDRA were returning, and leading them at the front was none other than Steve Rogers, and beside him James Buchanan Barnes. He looked weak and injured, but other than that he looked alright.
   "James!" she cried out, gaining his attention. "Bucky!" She tried to reach him through the crowd of cheering men.
   "Ana?" Bucky wondered if he was seeing things again. During his time with HYDRA, he kept seeing hallucinations of her. Seeing her at an army base? Unlikely. "Am I seeing things?" Bucky asked Steve unsure. "Is she actually here?"
   "Go." Steve told him with a smile. "You both need it." Not having to be told twice, Bucky gave Steve his gun quickly and started running towards the woman that kept him motivated to stay alive.
   "Ana!" Bucky yelled, pushing his way through the crowd. "Anastasia!"
   "Bucky!" She jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. Bucky wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his face into her neck, twirling them into a circle. Both of them were crying tears of joy. "You're alive!"
   "My God you're actually here!" Bucky breathed out. He pulled his face away and planted kisses all over her face. "You're here. You're alive. You're here. I'm not hallucinating."
   "Don't scare me like that!" she exclaimed, hitting his chest halfheartedly. "I thought you were dead -!"
   Bucky planted his lips into hers - their first kiss ever. Cheers and whoops went all around them, Steve being the loudest. They pulled away with large grins on their faces. "I love you." Bucky told her, leaning his forehead against hers.
   "And I love you." Anastasia grinned.
***
"It's all my fault." Steve cried. "He's gone and it's all my fault." Peggy attempted to comfort him, while Anastasia stood in front of him frozen. Bucky? Dead? No, it couldn't be. . .
   "He fell off the train, I couldn't get to him quicker." Steve explained sadly. He looked up at his sister-figure. "Ana?"
   "I-I. . ." Anastasia blinked fast in an attempt to blink away her tears. Without another word she left the small bar her and Peggy found Steve.
   Everything was a blur to her; she felt numb and lightheaded, and couldn't focus on one thing. And because of that she was ambushed and captured by HYDRA.
***
Bucky faded in an out of consciousness; one moment finding himself in snow, being dragged by people and finding he had lost his left arm, to people drilling the rest of his arm off.
   This time, Bucky woke up for good. He looked around warily, his eyes trailing down to his bare chest and finding he had his arms strapped to his side, his left one being metal. He felt an urge to throw up. "So he's finally awake." Zola. How. . .
   "Just in time too, since there's someone who wants to see you."
   The table Bucky was laying in suddenly tilted upwards until his upper body was up, seeing better. But Bucky wished he didn't, because what he saw shattered his heart.
   Anastasia was in a similar position as him, except she was unconscious. A trail of blood poured down her face.
   "No. . ." Bucky croaked out, trying to get out of his grasp. "Please. . .no. . ."
   "Wake her up." Zola instructed some scientists. They pulled out a syringe.
   "No!" Bucky exclaimed, trying harder to get out. "Leave her alone!"
   Anastasia woke up with a gasp, looking around scared. Her whole form froze when she saw Bucky. "Bucky?"
   "Ana. . ." Bucky stared at her in fear. "I'm so sorry. . ."
   "B-But you fell. . ."
   "One of the perks of being in the process of a super soldier." Zola interrupted their small reunion. "I only brought her here to give you a warning."
   "What?" Bucky whispered.
   "You will cooperate with what we do or else she dies." Zola smiled at him slyly. "Painfully."
   "No!" Bucky yelled, banging his fist on the table. "Don't you dare touch her!"
   "Then you will not try to escape or anything." Zola told him. "Because if you do, we have your lover, and you don't want to see her in pain like now, do you?"
   "What do you mean -" Anastasia was suddenly getting electrocuted by a head piece, interrupting Bucky. "NO!"
   "BUCKY!" Anastasia screamed. "HELP ME!"
   "If you try to escape," Zola repeated, "harm shall come to her."
   Bucky could do nothing but agree for the past seventy years.