Book of Requests

Sweetheart [Bucky Barnes x Fem!Reader; 1940s]

Summary: Bucky gets his orders and you feel the clock ticking of your love.

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The war had just begun and it lit a fire within you. 

The boys, Steve and Bucky, were a piece of your life you were unwilling to let go of and now that was threatened by small minded men who sought power that was never truly there. Every waking moment you had since the start of the war, you've spent with them. There was some luck in that Steve was as thin as a rail and had the world's longest list of health impairments, but Bucky... Bucky was the ideal solider. 

He was the guy posters were made of. He was an American soldier if there ever was one and somehow, you just knew the war was going to snatch him up. Take him, shake him to make him that most admirable soldier there ever was but a boy who would be scared within. 

The thoughts of Bucky fighting in Europe or the Pacific frightened you. They invaded your dreams to make nightmares, they danced across your vision when you were supposed to be viewing a film with Steve on a Tuesday afternoon. 

Bucky was your best friend - perhaps something more if you dreamed in the right way - but Steve would always be there to have an empty shoulder. You could lean on him without saying a word regarding your sorrows and the pain you felt of the inevitable. 

"Get the movie started already!"  A brute of a man shook your thoughts away and opened your ears to the commotion around you. Popcorn thrown in the aisles, a spilled soda two rows down from you both. 

You looked to Steve as though either of you could do anything about the man but Steve had mustered whatever courage he could and was one step ahead of you.  

"Hey!" He turned in his seat just enough. "Would you shut up?" 

The man, large in height and angry, red in the face, stood like a figure from a horror film from his seat. Towering over the others watching the film, he dwarfed Steve and yourself in everything but courage and kindness. He strode over and grabbed Steve by the collar of his shirt, ignoring the objections that sprung from both yours and Steve's mouths in an apology. 

The last thing you needed on your mind was watching Steve being beaten to a pulp. 

"Sir, I don't think this is necessary," You ran up ahead of him and Steve and pleaded with frantic eyes. "We just wanted to watch the movie, right Steve? We just wanted to watch the movie!" 

"Move darlin'," his voice made your skin crawl just as much as his presence did. "You wanna get beat up too? My lady ain't afraid of hittin' no girls." 

"(Y/N) go get Buck," Steve struggled to get out the man's grasp. "Just go find him, ask-" he grunted as the man adjusted his grip on the jacket he was wearing, "-ask around and you'll find him."

There was a unfamiliar feeling of adrenaline pulsing through your veins when Steve sent you off. Your mind raced as fast as your legs to find Bucky in hopes that maybe a man in uniform or a man with a good build could end a fight before it happened. There was a brief moment as you turned the corner back toward the theater that you regretted not taking Buck up on those lessons he wanted to teach you. 

A girl should know how to fight - no matter who or where they come from. A girl should and can fight back. 

But you ran as you were told and hoped that with every window you passed, perhaps Bucky would be in one of them. He couldn't have been far from the theater because he had promised to take you and Steve home after it was over and well, Bucky Barnes never broke promises to his best friends. 

Peering into the window of a shoe store, you went to set off again but bumped into a body on the sidewalk. As you sputtered out half-empty apologizes to the man clad in a soldier's uniform his hands were firmly planted on your shoulders.