Bucky Barnes One Shots - EDITING

76. Care

~100k

This one's really negative, so ye

You've been warned

I already know that some of you are gonna cry at this lmao

I'm here for any and all of you, just remember that, okay?

Word Count: 2253

Over the past few days, you noticed that Bucky's appearance had been on a steep decline and no one knew why

Despite this, he had become much nicer to everyone and tried to make everyone happier

Because of this, he had forgot about his own wellbeing and starting to think of himself as only a prop to everyone's happiness

He was okay with this though- it gave him a new name and a new thing to be known for instead of all the fear and pain that he's caused

You had decided that you wanted to find out what was going on with him and if he was okay

You went up to his room and knocked quickly on his door, hoping he was inside

Once you heard him shout "Come in", you smiled and opened the door to see him sat on his bed, reading a book

"Bucky, put the book down" you said as he looked up at you, now with furrowed eyebrows

But, he did what he was told, as your voice was laced with concern and he knew that you wanted to speak to him

You walked forward and sat on his bed in front of him, his eyes following you and watching you with intent

You crossed your legs like he had and held both of his hands, examining how his face has changed

It was weird, but when you saw him up close, he looked much more exhausted than he ever has

"Bucky, why are you so tired?" You asked, rubbing your thumb over his knuckles on his normal hand

But, he just sighed and looked down, making his hair move forward "I don't know"

"Why don't you go to bed? You'll feel so much better" you said, trying to be helpful, but he shook his head, looked back up, and chuckled slightly, making his voice go a bit gravelly

"I'm the kind of tired that sleep can't fix, doll" he said sincerely

"That doesn't explain why you've suddenly become nicer to everyone recently - even Sam" you said this softly while moving the hair out of his face to see him better

"I don't want anyone to go through what I've been through, so I'm trying to show everyone that someone cares about them so they don't become like me" he said quietly, shrugging and going red

That was when you disconnected your other hand from his and put it on his cheek, rubbing his cheek now with your thumb, making him look you dead in the eyes

The pain that you saw behind them was incredible, and even though you were happy that he was trying to make everyone feel good about themselves, you noticed that he himself was struggling

He does it and asks for nothing but a smile in return, but this means that no one thinks to help him - they think because he's making people feel alright, that he's alright, and they're blind to Bucky's inner feelings

It seems like you're the only one who realizes that he needs help the most out of everybody, but to do this, you had to tell him the truth of what he's doing

"You spend so much time caring for other people that you forget to care about yourself" you sighed out, still holding his face gently

To this, he shook his head and scoffed "Why should I?"