The next morning you burst in to Buckys room, "Morning Buck-A-Roo!"
"What the hell!?" He shouted, falling off his bed. "You don't knock?" Bucky shouted from the floor on the other side of the bed.
"Why? What were you doing?" You asked as he stood up, wrapping his blanket around his waist. He looked pissed off.
"Oh God!" You turned around and tried to hide your smirk, "sorry."
"Yeah, OK... wait. Did you just call me Buck-A-Roo?" Bucky sighed as you heard him fumbling around getting clothes on.
"Sure did. Now, get your fight gear on." You shouted over your shoulder, stretching out your arms.
"Why?"
"I want you to teach me."
"Teach you....?"
"How to fight." You turned round, Bucky right in front of you which caused you to jump back a little in surprise. "I need to know."
"No, you don't. It's why I'm here." He smiled, grabbing a t-shirt from the side and throwing it on.
"And what about when you're not?" You asked, trying to square up to him, but he was nearly a foot taller... so, it was difficult. "What about when you guys are off on some mission and I'm here alone and they decide to come back? I'm helpless!"
"I just don't think -"
"Please." Bucky shook his head. "Fine. I'll ask Natasha then." You turned to leave but Bucky grabbed your wrist.
"Fine. But I'm not going easy on you."
"Didn't ask you to." You smirked, happy you managed to convince him.
You were genuinely worried if it happened again you wouldn't be able to defend yourself. Again. You felt so helpless there with all these amazing people around you. All these heroes. And just simple you. Not being helpful in anyway.
You both made your way down to the gym, Bucky moved some mats onto the floor for the two of you.
"You're at an advantage already against anyone outside of these walls." Bucky said taking his hoodie off and walking onto the mat to stand opposite you.
"What do you mean?" You asked confused.
"The metal around your bones means you don't have to worry about them breaking. Nothing is going to snap out of place."
"Never thought of it like that."
"But your weakness; blood loss. That is probably what will kill you."
"Thanks for that pep talk."
Bucky rolled his eyes and moved right in front of you. "Your weak spots; main artery" he placed a finger on your neck, "cut that right and you bleed out. It's hard to get close enough to, and requires a cut in the correct place. So your main one..." he moved his hand down to your stomach. He jabbed his finger in and twisted slightly, "Jab and twist with anything sharp. If you're not quick enough, again, you'll bleed out."
"Protect neck and stomach. Got it." You smiled with your thumbs up.
"That's why I'm teaching you..." his hands left you and went into his pockets, pulling something out. "Knives."
He passed you one and turned around, walking away as he spoke . "I'm going to talk to Clint and see if he can teach you how to miss arrows."
"What about bullets? Next time it may not hit my arm."
"Natasha" he smirked with a shrug like it was the most obvious answer. In fairness, it was.
"There's no point going in high," he swung his arm around and up coming slowly down to you. You instinctively put your hands up but he stopped just before the blade stabbed them.
"High is easier to see and stop." He got close to you, spinning you around and pushing your back close to his body, his metal arm holding you in place.
"Go in low..." he started and you looked down to see the cold knife pressed against your stomach. "Out of eyesight, easier to do some damage."
Bucky let you go and you turned back round to face him. "I'm still pretty strong so if someone came at me without a metal arm, I think I could get out."
"Confident. I like it." He smiled and winked. He flipped his pocket knife over in his hand a few times, staring at you. "Think you'll use that confidence to ask out Steve?"
"Haha, no" you shook your head and fiddled with the knife in your own hands.
"How come? You like him so what's stopping you?" He frowned and shrugged.
You sighed, "I've never asked a boy out." The confession made you feel so exposed. So young.
Everyone treated you as an equal here. It felt great to be seen as an adult, which in fairness you technically were...but in your mind, you didn't feel it. You had no life experiences to look back on and learn from, apart from walk in groups; harder to kidnap. So it was moments like this, moments of vulnerability that made you feel as if you needed to be stronger in any way you could. And maybe that was learning how to fight. Maybe not. But it was still a good skill to have.
"But he's not a boy-"
"Yeah, I know! He's an actual man! And not just any man, fucking Captain America. All the girls panties are probably dropping for him."
You sat on the bench with a sigh, still fiddling with the knife. Bucky sat next to you, holding onto your hands to stop you fiddling. "There's this look Steve has, a sparkle in his eyes. I've only seen it twice. The first was back in the 1940s. In a crowd of people, he looked at her as if she was the only person in the room."
"And the second?"
"Last night, with you." Bucky nudged your shoulder, "come on Y/N. You must have noticed him staring at you for majority of the night."
"He wasn't." You sighed and got up again, "I'm just a new, interesting thing around here."
"And that kiss?" Bucky got up too and walked over to the mats.
"It was a pity kiss. I was crying."
"Hmmm. That was no pity kiss." Bucky smiled.
"I don't think I have the emotional capability to understand some emotions. I still feel like that 16 year old that was kidnapped. So please, don't mess with my feelings." You half smiled, trying to let him know that you still loved him and that was the end of the conversation.
"OK. Then brace yourself."
"Why?" You asked confused. But it didn't take long to find out; Bucky kicked the back of your knees and you fell forward, landing on your hands and knees. "Hey!"
"I said I wasn't going easy on you!" He laughed as you got up.
"Bring it Buck-A-Roo."
"That is not my new nickname."
"Oh yes it is. You know why?"
"Because it pisses me off?"
"Because it pisses you off." You repeated, laughing
After an hour, and you pinning Bucky down 4 times to his 28... you decided to call time on the training.
"Stretch my leg. I think I feel a cramp coming on." You said wincing as you lay back on the mat, your right leg bent.
Bucky came over, kneeling and lifting your leg over his shoulder, pushing down towards your chest to stretch out the muscles. You winced in pain, closing your eyes as Bucky held your knee close to your chest.
"You know, this could come in very handy." You opened your eyes to his face inches away from yours. He winked with his childish smirk.
"You're so disgusting." You smirked, trying not to laugh.
"Just making conversion."
"Making conversation is 'how's the weather' not 'look how bendy you are'!"
"Switch." Bucky let go of your right leg and took your left leg now, doing the same again. "I'm just saying, it'll come in handy!"
"Trust me, I know."
Bucky frowned and looked you dead in the eye, "wait...you're not..."
"A virgin? No." You shook your head. Bucky let go of your leg, standing up himself and taking your hand to help you up.
"When? Last night!?"
"No! It was another birthday. I told my mum I was having a birthday sleepover at my friends. Instead I went to a boys."
"Ooo naughty, lying to your parents. How was it?"
"It was..." you paused a second, realising you had nothing to compare it to. "Not what I thought."
"That bad, hu?" Buckys face twisted into this look of pity and horror.
"Well, I don't know. It just wasn't what I thought." You sighed, "after that I thought forget this, I'll be a nun." Laughing slightly.
"This trainings not very nun-like."
"I'll be a badass, crime stopping, knife wielding nun." You laughed
"There's a movie somewhere there."
"That would be a brilliant movie!" You sighed and patted Bucky on the shoulder, "cheers for that. Now I stink, so I'm gonna go shower."
You pecked him on the cheek and skipped out the gym, rounding the corner to the main entrance before you realised you left your own hoodie behind.
You wondered back to the gym and heard raised voices coming from inside.
"Do you like her, Buck?" Rogers voice came from inside.
"Of course I don't! She's a friend!" Bucky shouted back.
You managed to tiptoe to peek into the high window of the door. Rogers and Bucky were in each others face. You watched, and listened, as quietly as you could.
"Then what was all that about? You come down here so nobody sees you guys hooking up!?"
"Whoa! What!? I was training her!" Bucky shouted and picked up the knives you had been using not 5 minutes ago. "Why would I bring knives if I was hooking up with someone? And why down here!? I have a room for that!"
"Yeah, and I see you bringing girls back."
Bucky scoffed, "I bring the odd one."
"Still. If you like Y/N -"
"I don't!" Bucky shouted for a final time, "even if I did, it doesn't matter 'cuz she's so hung up on you!"
Your eyes went wide in shock. You could feel the heat rising in your body up to your cheeks. "Oh God. Bucky. Don't tell him!" You whispered to yourself.
"What?" Rogers said a little quieter but you could just about hear him.
"She likes you, Steve. She may not say it, but that kiss last night meant something to her. Did it mean something to you?"
"Yeah...of course." Rogers turned around and you ducked down a little, still slightly peering over the window. "But what is it with you two!? You seem to be so close. She trusts you with literally everything!"
"I don't know!" Bucky shouted before sighing and leaning against the wall. "I don't know. As soon as I picked her up on the road, I just felt something. Like, I needed to protect her with everything I've got."
He paused and Rogers leaned against the wall next to Bucky. "Do you like her? Like, really like her? Because she's not like others. She still sees herself as that 16 year old. And I don't want to see her hurt."
"I do. Like you, I saw her and I felt... something. I'd only had that feeling once before." Rogers looked down at the floor.
"More, less, or the same intensity?"
"More" Rogers looked over to Bucky, "seeing you dance with her last night... I was so angry, so jealous. And annoyed at myself for not asking her."
"There will be other opportunities to dance with her." Bucky smirked and winked.
Rogers laughed. You looked confused, missing the inside joke....