Rapid Recovery (Bucky Barnes x Reader)

Chapter 28 : Lingering Stares

A few hours had passed and Y/n was now laughing to herself while sitting on the edge of the boat, attempting to scrape the crust off of one of the boat's poles. She was laughing to herself because she had been watching Sam try to pry a metal board off of the boat with the back of a hammer, for the past 10 minutes, when suddenly, Bucky had come over and completely tore it off with ease with his metal arm. He casually threw it to the side while Sam gave him a dirty look at Bucky's subtle cockiness.

Y/n smiled up at Bucky when he came over to her, her eyes lit up while she looked up at him. The sun was less torturous, since it was beginning to set, and the sky had been filled with a flurry of lit up clouds.

"How you doing there?" Bucky asked, gesturing to the pole with a smile.

"I can't get this off," Y/n sighed, pointing at the crust on the pole and throwing her head back in annoyance, closing her eyes, making Bucky chuckle at her irritation.

"Come on," he said to her, grabbing her arm and lifting her up so that he could take her place. She handed him the scouring cloth and moved to sit in front of him on the edge of the boat. The pole in between them. Bucky stood behind the short, thick pole, beginning to scrape it.

"If you can't do it, then I'll be convinced that this pole is indestructible," Y/n chuckled as Bucky concentrated on his job.

"You make it out like I'm perfect. I'm not that good," Bucky said to her, glancing up from the pole to look at her, still attempting to scrape the crust off of the pole.

"You're not perfect. No one is. You are that good, though. I happen to think you're a very admirable soldier," Y/n complimented with a proud smile while he laughed at her and shook his head.

"An admirable soldier..." Bucky repeated, looking up at her, deep in thought about her compliment, a smile on his face, "Is that why you called me Sergeant Barnes the day you so rudely interrupted my therapy session?" Bucky teased her, receiving a dramatic gasp.

"Ok, one, yes, and two, I was saving your ass. You are forever indebted to me," Y/n announced, theatrically, a laugh following behind her statement, along with Bucky's.

Bucky looked back down to the pole, continuing to scrub in silence, a small smile on his face. Y/n took the time to watch him, analysing every movement he made, how focused he was on getting the work done. She simply stared at him, a smile plastered on her face. After a long minute of silence, he looked up at her, the same smile still on his face, until it formed into a small smirk playing across his lips.

They were now boring into each other's eyes in silence, a slight blush flooding Y/n's cheeks from the intense eye contact.

"You know, I've heard it's rude to stare," Bucky finally spoke up, his smirk widening when she slightly narrowed her eyes at him.

"Says the 'bionic staring machine'," Y/n mocked, rolling her eyes and trying to hide her embarrassment from gazing at him for much too long.

Bucky shook his head as he chuckled at her response, setting the scouring cloth on top of the pole, and sitting down on the edge of the boat.

"I hate this pole," he joked, beginning to fiddle with a tool and looking down at it, while Y/n laughed at him.

"You've barely been at it for more than three minutes," she teased, playfully rolling her eyes at him as he continued to fiddle with the tool in his hand, giving her a small shrug.

Y/n watched intently as he began to flip the tool around, easily twisting it around his fingers, almost gracefully. It was as if he was acting out a small fight when he began to move his arms around with it. His movements showed how easily he could act out the movements, but his gaze also showed how concentrated he was. He was suddenly in his own world and she found it cute.

"Ok soldier, stand down, no one's gonna attack you anytime soon," Y/n joked, gesturing to the tool that he continued to flip.

"Bad habit," he explained simply, lowering his hands to his lap, the tool still in his hand while Y/n looked at him with a slightly confused expression.

"What's so bad about it?" she asked him as he looked up, staring out past her head, to their surroundings.

"'Cause in my head, this-" he lifted the tool up for her to see, still staring off into the distance, "-is a knife," he finished, lowering the tool once again.

Y/n lowered her gaze, slightly saddened by the fact that he felt so guilty of his habit. Although he hadn't used the tool to hurt anyone, he'd used a knife to hurt many. That skill was now engraved in his mind, partly a reminder of what he was controlled to do.

"Well, I don't care. It's a pretty cool skill to have. I would've dropped it on my foot by now if I had even tried to do that," she joked, attempting to lighten the mood. He stared at her in admiration for a few seconds while she looked to the side, out to the sun kissed water, gleaming under the warm rays.

He didn't know what he had done to deserve someone like her. He didn't know what he had done to be lucky enough to be the one living next to her in that moment of weakness that crept in during the night. At this point, he would do anything to protect her. Save her from her own nightmares like she had done for him, even if she didn't know it.

Y/n finally looked back to see him staring at her with a soft look in his eyes. She couldn't quite pinpoint what that look was trying to convey, but there was no doubt that she liked it. She had to stop herself from letting out a groan of frustration at her thoughts and feelings.

"Let's go see what Sam's doing," Y/n suggested, quickly, standing up from the edge of the boat, Bucky following her actions.

Bucky followed her over to Sam, who was now continuously lifting a bucket of water and throwing the water out of the boat.

"Hey," Y/n said, grabbing his attention while he continued with his job.

"You guys done flirting yet?" Sam asked with a raised eyebrow, not making eye contact with the two, only staring at the bucket, but they could hear the mischief in his voice.

"Whatever, Sam. Just tell us where the buckets are," Y/n sighed, her cheeks slightly warm from the accusation, trying to shrug off Sam's question and looking around for a bucket. Sam nodded towards a small pile of buckets near them, Y/n grabbing two, and handing one to Bucky.

As they began to dispose of the water, Bucky asked, "You think Karli's gonna throw in the towel?"

Y/n scoffed at that, "Hell no. Of course not," she knew Karli wasnt going to stop fighting until she got through to everyone.

"I think she's gonna double down," Sam added, all of them working hard to rid the boat of the water.

"Any idea how to stop her?" Bucky questioned, Y/n glancing over to Sam, awaiting an answer.

"I got Joaquin working on something."

"Well...Zemo says there's only one way," Bucky continued with his bucket, but both Sam and Y/n paused, looking at him with saddened eyes. Neither of them wanted to kill her...she was just a kid.