A Lesson In Hope (Bucky Barnes x Reader Fic)

Week Two

"Joey, you aren't-" YN groaned as the man on the other end of the phone interrupted her, yet again.

"YN, it's my ring." YN stopped, her eyebrows pulling together. "I bought it, it's mine. Besides, I want to give it to Jessica-" A knock on the door made YN pull the phone away from her ear, checking the time. 10:06. It was Bucky.

YN pulled the door open, smiling at Bucky tensely. "Well, Jessica can kiss my ass. You gave the ring to me, it's now mine. Now, I'm going to sell it to purchase myself an obnoxiously large flat screen TV that I will never use." YN huffed, hanging the phone up, and tossing it on her sofa. "Sorry, James. Come in."

Bucky entered her apartment with a hidden smile, trying to show YN she didn't find her argument with her ex amusing. "Good morning."

"It's okay, you can laugh." YN chuckled, running a hand over her makeup free face. "Sorry, I look a mess. I've had a long day."

"It's ten in the morning?" YN stared at the brunette, matching his raised eyebrows.

"I said what I said." Bucky laughed, shaking his head. "Go on through, I just have to grab my stuff." Bucky nodded, walking through to YN's office. He stood behind the couch, gazing around the office in intrigue. Spotting a photo frame, he checked to make sure YN wasn't coming, walking over to it, he picked it up gently. "It's my mom. From her birthday party, last week." Bucky jumped, not knowing how the woman had managed to sneak up on him.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to snoop." YN shook her head, sliding up next to Bucky to look at the photo. "She's very beautiful." YN nodded, her chest tightening. Bucky noticed the glassy look in her eyes, making the super soldier frown. "YN, are you-"

"Alright, let's get started." Bucky swallowed down his question, nodding his head as he sat the photo down and moved to the couch. "How have you been sleeping?" Bucky sighed, a bit disappointed YN had stopped referring to his problems as 'Steve's' problems.

"It started off great. I was waking up at two to shut off the alarm and then falling back to sleep until Steve got me up at six." YN nodded, jotting it down on her notebook. She had pulled her knees up to her chest, resting the notebook on her knees. Bucky smiled at the sight, it made her look like a school girl doing her homework. "Until the fourth night, that's when they started getting earlier and earlier."

"Like I said last week, this wasn't going to be a long term solution, your mind was going to revert back to night terrors anyway." YN said, letting her feet fall to the floor. "We have to really dig deep into your past to stop them altogether."

"What does that even mean?" YN sighed, getting to her feet, and stretching her back. She moved closer to him, standing in front of Bucky with her hands on her hips. "What are you doing?"

"What's wrong?" YN asked, leaning down with her hands on her hips. "Am I making you uncomfortable?"

"Yes, very." Bucky said, leaning away from YN's face.

"Good." Bucky blinked, watching YN step back and move to her seat. "So, you don't like people getting too close. Do you think you may have claustrophobia at all?"

"What the fuck just happened?" Bucky asked, throwing his hands up. "I don't know? Maybe? I was forced into a tube and frozen for decades at a time." YN gasped, dropping her pen down onto her paper. Bucky swore under his breath, rubbing his eyes. "Sorry, I didn't mean to dump that on you."

"You do know I'm a therapist, right?" YN asked, raising an eyebrow. "I want you to dump all of your shit on me."

Bucky puffed out his cheeks, a laugh bubbling in his chest. "What-"