Of Love and Mischief (MCUxReader)

Fifty Eight

Reg POV

Cocooned.

That's how you felt. Like you were waking up from the most restful sleep of your life, cocooned in a mound of the fluffiest pillows in the world.

But your cocoon was too tight. Sighing, you attempted to move around, limbs feeling heavy, head sluggish.

When you stretched your left arm out from beneath you, something pulled on your wrist.

It all came back.

Gasping, you sat up, pushing the weight off of you, taking in your surroundings.

You were in a room you didn't recognize completely. It looked slightly familiar, but in the dark it was hard to tell.

You were too busy freaking out to pay much attention to it anyways.

Looking down at the pull you'd felt in your arm, you found a fresh scar running the length of your left forearm. Bringing your right wrist up you found a matching one.

Movement in the bed next to you made you gasp and scooch away, only to fall right off the bed.

You sat deadly still for a moment, waiting for any sign that whoever was there had woken from the noise.

The only thing that happened was the sharp sensation of pain through your head. Reaching up, you held your temples in an attempt to hold the pain at bay. It didn't work, the increasing pressure was enough for you to squeeze your eyes shut and lean forward to rest your forehead on the bed frame.

"Hey."

Blinking, you turned to the familiar voice.

"Bucky?!"

You ran over to him and jumped into his embrace. He stumbled from the impact.

"Whoa there, Liv. Still haven't come down completely from whatever it is they gave me. Be gentle."

You realized just how tightly your arms were wrapped around his neck and loosened your hold.

"Sorry, sorry." You mumbled, sniffling through the barrage of tears.

"Hey, you okay?" He pulled back, holding your shoulders to look you in the eye.

"Yeah, um, I'm good." You wiped the tears away on the back of your hand. "Just relieved to see you." You half smiled.

"You sure? You usually only come up here when somethings bothering you."

"Huh?" You looked around, only just now fully realizing you were on the roof. "Oh."

Bucky's concern grew. "How about we take this inside, where it's warm? We have a lot to catch up on."

You shivered from the reminder of the cold. Early March in New York was no joke, and you were only wearing a t-shirt and light sweats.

Bucky put an arm around your shoulders and steered you towards the door to the stairwell.

"Maybe we can find some hot chocolate in the pantry. I always crave chocolate after- well you know." You felt his body tense up and reached your left arm around his waist as you walked.

"Yeah, hot chocolate sounds good." You took one last look up at the distant stars and winced when they began to glow brighter until you had to close your eyes from the near blinding light.

"Olivia. Please come down." Bucky's voice brought you back once again.

You looked over to where he was standing a few feet away, arms outstretched towards you.

"Down?" You whispered, looking down to where you stood.

No, from where you floated. Just off the edge of the roof, your shadows holding you up.

The sight sent a jolt of fear through you, enough to seize your shadows and you dropped. Quickly you sent them back out and lifted yourself back onto the ledge of the roof where you landed on shaking feet.

"Bucky?! What- what's going on?" You cried out as another wave of crushing pain filled your head.

"I'm not sure doll. But I've called for the others they'll be here in a moment." He inched closer, seemingly afraid to get close to you.

Weird.

~Not weird, good. Soldat should be afraid of you.~

"No." You whispered, shocked. "Oh no, no, no."

"Yes." You said aloud, pain spiking, tears rolling down your face you were helpless to stop the voice. Your voice. "This is exactly what Strucker planned."

"Doll?" Bucky asked from his place, growing ever nearer to you.

You took a step back, gravel falling off the edge of the roof to showcase just how close to it you were. He froze.

"Soldat, don't get too comfortable here. It's only a matter of time before they get you back." More tears slipped from your eyes as you fought against the smile forming on your own lips.

Soldat's face took on a look of confusion before realization struck. He opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by the rooftop door crashing open.

"Barnes, Olivia what are you doing up here? You're both supposed to be in recovery." Tony asked.

You held Soldat's gaze, smile deepening as you stepped back.

Icy wind whipped your hair up into your face.

Your arms pinwheeled at your sides, reaching up to grasp at empty air.

Falling this quickly, you couldn't do much else except watch as Tony, arms outstretched, dove after you.

His hand wrapped around your forearm just as the last piece of his suit snaked out from the arc reactor in his chest.

His other arm wrapped around your torso and he used his boosters to slow your fall, then change trajectory.

Landing on the penthouse balcony, neither of you spoke.

He stood there holding you in his arms as you both fought to catch your breath.