Soldat (Bucky Barnes x reader)

Atonement

You applied for the Army Nurse Corps shortly after the pageant. It was a formal four-week training course for all newly commissioned Army nurses. This program stressed Army organization; military customs and courtesies; field sanitation; defense against air, chemical, and mechanized attack; personnel administration; military requisitions and correspondence, and property responsibility. With your previous knowledge in all things nursing, the course came easy to you and you were without a doubt the top in your class. They would show bodies of the wounded and dead soldiers and many of the young women would twitch or gag, but not you. Blood and guts had never bothered you; you'd been around them all your life. Sometimes you would feel uneasy though, when you thought of the dreadful image of one of those soldiers being your dear brother or your darling Bucky.

When you passed other girls in the hallways, you became sick with their giggles and romanticizing of war. 'Maybe after nursing a cute soldier boy back to health, he'll fall in love with me and we will get married and have a little family and a little white picket fence and blah blah blah...' They had no idea about how bad the war actually was and that real life just doesn't work out like that. You were only 24 years old, but you felt as if the war had aged you. Almost as if your life was wasting away as you waited for what felt like an eternity, for your beloved to come home to you. It didn't seem like that was happening so the only solution was to go to him, and this was the best way to do it.

You were mostly quiet throughout the course. You didn't feel like socializing and started to cower away from the bubbly person you once were. Many thought it was because you had lost the pageant, since yes, many people recognized you. They always whispered and pointed in your direction. A few brave girls even asked you for your autograph. You always smiled politely and made conversation, but none of it seemed real any more. You wanted to get out of the school as quickly as possible in order to travel overseas.

The day of your qualifying exam arrived and you passed with flying colors. Because of your immense knowledge on the subject and ability to work without distractions, you were quickly shipped to Italy, 30 miles off enemy lines. You were to report to Colonel Chester Phillips, to get your orders. You had heard talk on your way to his tent that the reason that you and so many nurses were shipped there was because there was a major attack on the 107th...Bucky's unit. There were so many men injured, killed, or taken hostage, and all you prayed for was for Bucky to be alright. You kept bounding around anxiously, expecting to see just a glimpse of him through the the crowd, but you did not. You were afraid to ask the Colonel, but you had to know if your Bucky was alive.

In your frantic state and due to the monsoon falling around you, you were not fully alert of your surroundings and ran into a tall, toned man, sending you to stumble backwards, as you were both trying to enter the tent. When you regained your balance you mumbled "sorry sir."

"(Y/n)?" A deep voice said after a few moments. You recognized that voice but couldn't place it with the body. You slowly looked up and saw the image of the very one you grew up with.

"Stevie?" You asked, your eyes wide, unsure if they were deceiving you. He gave a small nod and upon seeing his face, your own lit up with hope and adoration. You had missed your brother more than you had let yourself admit and threw your arms around him. But when you did so, you realized that hugging him was different, heck, his whole physique was different. You threw him off and said astonished, "what happened to you? The army must really know what they're doing to be able to whip your scrawny bones into shape."

Steve laughed at your mocking words, "yeah it's nice to see you too, (y/n)."

"No seriously what happened to you? The last time I saw you, you could've been mistaken for my little brother."