In Love On Fire * Buckyxreader *

"That's cheating"

That night you couldn't sleep, from worrying about Barton's recovery, to worrying about the causes of his injury, to worrying about the press conference tomorrow, everything felt as though one wrong move would hurl the sun straight toward earth.

You lay in bed, staring at your ceiling thinking about every awful thing your sleepy mind could come up with, until you heard footsteps outside your door.

You slowly got up and grabbed the knife from your nightstand; sure, you could kill a man with your left pinky but from past experience in this tower, this was the safest way to go. You stepped out of bed, the cold concrete floor sending shivers up your spine, you slowly and carefully walked to the door, turning the doorknob to peek out.

Catching a glint of metal, you instinctively hit it out of the way, twisting them to hold the shadow in a headlock, your knife carefully pressed against their neck.

"Hey doll." A familiar deep voice rumbled in the silence as your eyes adjusted to the dark, you realized it was the metal arm of a friend.

The figure shifted awkwardly before you let go, "I'm so sorry, oh my god." You said dropping the knife on the nearby dressing table, your face slowly turning a deep crimson.

"It's fine" He chuckled, standing straight back to his towering height, turning to look his attacker in the face.

"When did you get back?" You asked concerned as to why the soldier was outside your door at 3am.

"Um.. just a couple of hours ago, sorry I didn't mean to wake anyone I-"

"No don't worry, I couldn't sleep" You cut him off, glancing behind you.

"Oh, same. You... wanna talk?" He asked rubbing at the nape of his neck.

"Sure." A smile crept on both your faces as you walked over to the chairs in the corner.

Hours past as you caught up, Bucky had been on a mission for a couple weeks; something about old SHIELD friends needing help, him and Sam were the only ones needed.

When you first joined the team the two of you took a while to really click, Bucky hadn't been with the Avengers for that long and even then no one really thought of him as an official member. He had only recently gotten the things Hydra put in his head under control and was mostly just staying at Avengers tower until he figured out what to do next, keeping to himself as much as possible.

More recently though as you became closer with Steve who also lived here, and Sam who would visit irritatingly often, you got closer with Bucky too. You eventually fell in love with the conversations you two shared and his outlook on things often intrigued you.

"So you two couldn't get out and your first instinct was to... insult him?" You spoke quietly.

"Calling him birdbrain is not insulting him" He replied incredulously, you both let out a laugh until you remembered the time.

"Shhh, someone's gonna hear." You said, biting back more laughter, quickly bringing your hand to cover his mouth.

He gripped your wrist to move it gently and whispered back, "Relax. It's almost morning, Steve will be going out soon anyway."

Rolling your eyes you scoffed, "God, I'm so glad that all my greatness comes naturally so I don't have to train as much as you guys" You gloated.

"Oh yeah?" Bucky retorted.

"Absolutely Sarge, I could take you out any day"

"You're gonna wish you hadn't said that doll," He stood up shaking his head before gesturing for you to follow and stepped out the door, looking both ways to make sure no one else was around and started walking downstairs toward the gym.

He sent the occasional glance over his shoulder to check you were following him, a smile stayed on his face the whole way there and you couldnt help but notice how the moonlight caught his baby blues when he looked at you.

"Now don't you worry, I understand you're getting older Buck; I'll take it easy on you." You smirked, readying yourself for the fight, taking off the fire protective gloves you had been conditioned to wear.

"Oh of course, and I'll try not to mess up that pretty face of yours."  He retorted, his tongue swiping at his bottom lip as he circled you.

With that, you dodged the fist he sent for your head and punched him in the gut, he doubled over in pain and you gripped the side of his stubbled face to knee him square in the nose, stopping right before impact and letting go.

"Come on Sargent that was too easy," You boasted.

He stood up straight, shaking his head, "I didn't know we started."

Mirroring his smile you bit down on your lip, "Liar."

Tilting his head in agreement, he dropped down and swept your legs from under you with his foot. Not missing the chance as you fell you shot at him with a small burst of fire, the red glow highlighting his sharp face as his jaw hung open. You wore a smile as you pulled his leg toward you with a red-hot hand, before you dashed toward him and brought your knee up to his neck as he lay beneath you. He rolled his eyes as you swept away a strand of hair that had fallen over his face, unapologetically basking in your own glory.

"That's cheating." He stated.

"No, no, I'm just leveling the playing field, Mr Metal Arm."

His hands ghosted along your waist as he lifted you off him, the chill from said metal arm sent goosebumps up your spine as you stood up.

You held a hand out to help him stand causing him to end up much closer than you had both anticipated, he chuckled awkwardly, taking a step back.

"We should get out before anyone else comes in." You looked out and noticed the sun creeping out from behind the other skyscrapers that surrounded this one.

"We should." You replied with a smile.