Take It Back - Bucky x Reader

Still Falling For You

"He was helping a group of children escape the orphanage that was being bombed."

"The kids had made it safely onto the refuge truck, but they took him before he could get on."

"His arm was merely hanging off by the nerves."

"Miraculously, they were all intact."

Sydney, Australia

Steve was finishing rubbing tanning lotion down your back when your gaze drifts over to Bucky and Ashlyn. Ashlyn was folding her towel and grabbing her sunglasses off the concrete ground of the pooling deck when you see Bucky unbuttoning his white dress shirt, revealing smooth skin.

You do a double-take as you take the lotion bottle from Steve. You realize this is the first time you've seen him without a shirt. He hadn't gone swimming in Montauk, so naturally, as a woman, you were a bit caught off guard by the manscape.

He was somewhat tan, his nipples significantly darker than the rest of his body, and it was obvious he worked out. He had subtle abs and toned arms that you never noticed before because they were always hidden under Henleys and plain shirts.

But that wasn't why you couldn't look away.

It was the rugged scars that started on his arm, just below his left shoulder.

They were deep, careless, spastic, and looked painful. You noticed him look down at it himself for a brief second as if wondering if he should put his shirt back on or not. He was self-conscious.

He quickly decided against it and sat down on the chair and grabbed his own sunscreen out of his backpack that sat on the floor between his feet.

You note another scar just below his armpit, it was deep and ran across towards the front of his chest but faded out just to the left of his nipple. As he sat back up, he involuntarily made eye contact with you, noticing your gaze on his scars. You were staring and he caught you. His eyes were emotionless as he stilled for a moment.

You felt the heat rise in your cheeks and you quickly looked away, ashamed.

You could feel his gaze still on you as you pretended to turn around to thank Steve for his help.

The moment passes and Bucky ends up laying on the chair for a bit, taking in a quick tan and some vitamin D while the other girls were on the poolside sipping their cocktails and giggling. You could hear the laughter through the air and the splashing of water.

You laid next to Steve who was also taking in some of the sun's rays. You didn't want to admit it out loud, but the truth was that you didn't want to admit that you were waiting for Bucky to leave so you could ask Steve the question that had been swirling in your head.

It takes about 45 minutes for that to finally happen. Ashlyn jumps out of the water and grabs onto his hand trying to drag Bucky in. She manages to pull him from his nap on the chair and to the pool.

You wait until he's out of ears length and with that you snap your head up from where it was resting on your crossed arms to look over at Steve. Before you can even get a word in he's already talking. His eyes are closed tight, a small damp white towel draped lightly over them, and his mouth is in a straight line.

"He got it in the war." He mumbles into the air. It was obvious that he was over relaxed and swaying in and out of a doze.

You gape at him, "What? How'd you-"

His eye remains closed and his feet are crossed at the ankles, his arms behind his head. He looked gorgeous as he laid tanning in the hot Aussie sun, taking all the glorious sunlight that the skies had to offer him.