bucky barnes imagines

xx. TRAINING

It was 6:30am on a Tuesday morning as you quietly shut the door to the training room behind you. You'd woken up early, deciding to stick to your strict schedule for once and get some decent exercise in before anybody else came to interrupt you.

Oddly, you enjoyed training. The time you spent alone with the gym machines and punching bags was your chance to forget about everything else that was happening in your hectic, chaotic life. No matter how badly your muscles ached afterwards, it was always worth it.

This time, you decided to start with something relatively easy – a ten minute warm-up on a treadmill. After stretching and turning up the volume on your workout playlist, you jumped onto the machine and began to jog. You focused on regulating your breathing while keeping a steady pace, savouring the slight burn that you felt in your legs.

After the ten minutes were over you took a sip of water and moved over to the weights. However, as you were choosing which dumbbell you wanted to lift, the door suddenly slammed shut, startling you. You looked up to glare at whoever had walked in so carelessly.

The cause of the noise turned out to be Bucky Barnes. Your glare intensified as you set eyes on the one person you would rather not see this early in the morning – or at any other time during the day, actually.

He caught your eye and smirked. "Whatcha staring at, doll? See something you like?"

You simply rolled your eyes and looked away, picking up the weights and trying to focus your attention on that instead, even though it was almost impossible as Bucky was loudly dragging training mats across the floor.

There was just something about him that you absolutely hated – you couldn't quite put your finger on it. Maybe it was how you could never speak to Steve without him being there. Maybe it was how cocky and confident he'd become recently, whereas he used to be quiet and relatively polite. Or maybe it was the way he always seemed to have something to say to you which left you speechless, nervous, stuck without a witty comeback, which was extremely unlike you.

To make matters worse, other people were beginning to notice. So you decided it was best to simply stay away from Bucky until you figured out what was going on. But evidently, that wasn't going too well, because there you were, stuck in the same room with him.

Unsurprisingly, after a couple of minutes, it became clear that you couldn't concentrate anymore. Sighing in frustration, you picked up your phone and drink before walking towards the door. As you reached it, you felt a hand grab your wrist.

"What now?" you snapped, turning around to face Bucky once again. You instantly regretted it, because now you could see how close he was standing; there was barely ten inches between the two of you.

He has pretty eyes, you thought to yourself. And before you even had a chance to berate yourself for thinking something complimentary of Bucky, he was speaking to you, asking you something, and the thought was gone.

"Where are you going?" For once, he spoke to you normally, without any snide comments or jokes.

"None of your business, Barnes," you replied rudely, hoping he would just leave you alone. He didn't.

"It is absolutely my business when I know you're only leaving because I'm here."

If you didn't know better, you would say Bucky looked a little upset that he had that effect on you. But that wasn't the case – it couldn't be.

You remained silent as you pulled your wrist out of his grasp, turned on your heel and walked away, intending to go back to your room.

But, much to your dismay, Bucky began to follow you; he really wasn't giving up. The walk to your room couldn't have taken more than thirty seconds, but it felt like whole minutes were passing with him constantly calling your name, trying to get your attention the entire way there.

After you opened your door, you attempted to immediately shut it behind you. However, Bucky could move faster than you. He abruptly stuck his metal arm through the doorway and forced the door open again.

"Why do you hate me so much, Y/N?"

You had no idea how to answer his question, since you didn't really have a reason.

"I-I don't know." You cursed yourself for stuttering and sounding weak. "You're just annoying! You always seem to be near me, making some dumb comment, and I never know what to say to you. It's like I'm nervous or something, but I'm not, I just..."

Your voice trailed off as you realised you were rambling; you also began to comprehend that maybe you were nervous around him. Maybe that was why you were always somehow left speechless.

Maybe there was a deeper reason for your nervousness, which would also explain why you'd suddenly thought about his eyes being pretty.

Bucky's facial expression softened slightly as you frowned.

"Can I come in?"

Feeling slightly guilty, you nodded and walked into your room, thoroughly confused. You sat on the couch, leaving room for Bucky to sit next to you, which he did as he began to speak.

"First of all, I'm sorry, okay? It's just that... God, this is embarrassing, but I should explain." He chuckled quietly before continuing. "Steve told me that... he said that if I got my old confidence back, then maybe I would finally have a chance with you. I think he was sick of watching me being all shy and scared to talk to you. But I wouldn't have listened to him if I knew it was going to turn out like this."

You blinked, unsure if you'd heard him correctly. "What? I don't get it," you muttered stupidly. He sighed in response.

"I'm saying that I like you, Y/N. That's why I'm always around you, being loud and annoying and trying to flirt with you or whatever. But I really messed up."

It took a moment for you to process what Bucky was saying, but when it finally sunk in, you felt weirdly relieved. It was good to know that he actually was the quiet, friendly person you'd thought he was before everything changed.

You sat in silence for a few long seconds, staring at the floor as you tried to figure out what you should do. Eventually, you looked back up at Bucky.

"Can I try something?" you asked quietly. He nodded hesitantly.

Before you could second guess yourself, you moved closer to him on the couch, so that your legs were touching. You could already feel the blush on your face as you leaned up and kissed him gently.

The kiss was short, but it was enough to give you butterflies. It was enough for you to understand that maybe the strong emotion you'd always felt towards Bucky wasn't hatred at all; in fact, it couldn't be further from it.

When you pulled away, you couldn't help but smile. Bucky shook his head slightly, almost as if he was trying to convince himself that he wasn't dreaming.

"So... you don't hate me? That's news to me."

You giggled as you happily intertwined your fingers with his, looking down at your joint hands. It was a strange sight, but you liked it.

You knew that, at some point, Bucky would expect an explanation from you; after all, your behaviour towards him had pretty much changed in a heartbeat. But until then, you were glad to sit with him, neither of you talking much, the two of you sharing kisses every once in a while.

You never thought that Bucky's annoying tendencies would turn into this, but you wouldn't change it for the world.