Warnings: anxiety, broken elevator, short chapter
Finished on 5/25/21
2026 Words
I was supposed to be meeting Tony Stark at the tower today to help him discuss some layouts for his new suits. No, I'm not some superhuman freak or anyone with a cool superpower, I'm just a boring girl who's really good at designing. Also, since me and Bucky are dating I feel like Tony felt obligated to let me help. I wasn't going to complain though, helping Tony work on his suits was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
So as I made my way into the tower I greeted the few people at the front desk along with Happy who happened to be waiting in the lobby to take Pepper to a press conference. "Y/n! Good to see you again. Tony wanted me to let you know that he is waiting for you in the lab."
I smiled at him and nodded my head. "Thank you Happy. Do you know if the team is upstairs?"
"They should be, I wasn't notified of any missions today." He replied as he checked his watch.
I nodded once again and climbed in the elevator. "Okay, thanks. And tell Pepper I said hi!"
The elevator doors closed and I pressed the button to take me up to the common floor. Even though I was supposed to be headed downstairs to see Tony, I figured I could stop by to say hello to everyone first.
When the elevator doors opened I walked right into Steve's chest and almost fell over. Thankfully, he caught me and placed me back on my feet as we both laughed. Bucky turned the corner when he heard all the commotion and I yelled out, "Babe come get your friend. He's trying to body check me and I haven't even been here for 2 minutes."
We all laughed as Steve hit my arm playfully. "What'd you come up here for doll?" Bucky asked as he kissed me softly. "Aren't you working downstairs in the lab with Tony today?"
"Yeah, I'm gonna head down there now. I just figured I'd stop by and say hi to you while I was here, because we both know Tony's probably gonna keep me down there all night."
Both boys gave me a sympathetic look and I chuckled, trying to hide how much I was already dreading it. "Well have fun. Text me if you need anything." Bucky said as he gave me one last kiss.
"Want me to walk you down there?" Steve offered as he pressed the elevator button. "I was just heading out so it's on my way."
I politely smiled and nodded at him as I walked into the elevator with him. "Sure. Thank you-"
Before I could finish my sentence the elevator shifted and dropped. I reached out to grab the railings to steady myself and Steve pulled me against him to keep me safe. Then we suddenly stopped, halfway between floors. The doors were still open and by the floor numbers written on the inner walls of the elevator shaft I could tell we had only dropped a floor or two.
"Holy shit." I muttered as I slowly pulled away from Steve.
He looked down at me and let out a deep sigh. "Yeah, don't thank me just yet."
Steve being the noble, lifesaving man he was, decided he needed to figure out why we fell before we tried to get out. So he opened the emergency exit on the roof of the elevator and pulled himself up so he could look at all the mechanics.
He didn't need to be up there for more than a few seconds before he climbed back in and shut the emergency door very carefully. "Okay, so I have a bit of bad news. I don't want to worry you but we need to get out of here." I stared at him confused as I watched him push open the doors on both levels that we could access.
Just as he got the top set of doors open Bucky came running down the hall. "Oh my god. Are you guys alright!?" He asked as he knelt down on the ground in front of the doors.
Steve gave him a look that I knew all too well to be his, 'We are very not okay but I need you to stay calm' look. "One of the pulley systems broke and the other one could snap at any moment so we need to get out, now." He said in a calm voice.
My eyes widened and I started breathing faster. "W-what?"
"Y/n, you're going to be alright just let us help you out." Bucky said as he laid down on the floor and stretched his metal arm out.
I shook my head as I looked at the much smaller gap than usual. "No. No, I don't think I can." I was trying to push my panic attack down as I backed up against the railing and looked down at my feet.
Steve quickly looked between the two of us and said, "Okay what if I get out to show you how and then we both help you out? That way you can see that nothing bad will happen."
After thinking for a moment I nodded my head and continued to focus on my breathing. I could hear him and Bucky working together to pull him out while paying close attention to the strain on the last elevator pulley. Once Steve was up and laying down as well, Bucky called out for me. "Babe...I know that you're really scared right now but I need you walk over here so that we can help you."
His words rang through my head and I forced myself to take a few steps towards them before the elevator started creaking. I stopped dead in my tracks and stared at Bucky in fear as they pulled their hands back out of the opening and we all waited.
When nothing happened they started trying to get me to walk towards them again. "Come on Y/n, you got this." Steve whispered, now having a small crowd of people gathered in the hallway watching and a few on the phone with 911.
"Babe, look at me." I did as Bucky said and stared into his beautiful blue eyes while tears rolled out of mine. "You're gonna be okay. We're right here, we got you. I just need you to get a little closer so that we can-"
Then my life flashed before my eyes.
I saw the color drain from Steve and Bucky's faces as the pulley snapped and the elevator began to fall rapidly. I'm sure they were probably screaming for me but I wouldn't have been able to hear them over my own as I was lifted into the air and slammed against the roof of the elevator.
Luckily, the emergency brakes kicked in just in time to slow my descent of the final few basement level floors. However, that only resulted in me being thrown back down to the floor and landing on my side.
My ears were ringing and my ribs were aching unbearably as I laid on the floor of the elevator fighting for my consciousness.
It was only a few short moments later that people were prying open the doors in front of me and rushing in on my sides. A few paramedics strapped a neck brace on me and rolled me onto my side before lifting me onto a gurney.
Just then Bucky pushed passed everyone and ran to my side, grabbing my hand tightly. "Hey..." He whispered as he brushed the hair out of my face. "You're okay. You're okay...You're okay." Was all that he would say the entire way to the ambulance until he finally turned to the people checking me and asked, "What all is wrong?"
One of them looked at him and said, "Well we won't know for sure until they can run some tests at the hospital but she definitely broke some ribs. She hit her head pretty hard but we don't suspect any signs of a concussion, just some bruising."
He let out a sigh of relief and then continued to sit there and argue with the paramedics about how they were no longer needed and that I would be taken care of here because 'we have a hulk'.
After a long few minutes and a few of the other team members getting involved, they finally gave me one last look over and unstrapped me from the gurney. Bucky gladly picked me up in his arms and carried me back into the building and headed down the stairs for the lab.
Tony was about to turn around and reprimand me for being late when he saw the state of me in Bucky's arms and hurried to help Bruce set up a bed for me. "What the hell happened?" Tony asked as Bucky laid me down gently.
"Fix your damn tower Stark. The goddamn elevator almost killed my girlfriend." Bucky spat at him as they hooked me up to a bunch of machines.
Steve rushed in and I could see some of the other team members waiting outside, probably so to not overwhelm me. He walked up to my free side as Tony and Bucky argued about what happened and Bruce worked the scans and machines. "I'm glad you're okay. We were really worried for you."
He grabbed a hold on my hand and I smiled weakly at him. "I'm sorry I didn't just get out. I should've just done what you guys said."
"No. No. You were scared, and rightfully so. I should've stayed in there with you though and made sure you got out first. You are my friends best girl after all." He shot me his cheesy smile and I couldn't help but chuckle at how ridiculous he was being.
When I felt the pain in my ribs from the laughter though I immediately regretted it and Bucky's attention instantly came back to me. "Aw baby..." He said as he grabbed my other hand and eye'd me cautiously. "Is this punk hurting you?"
I smiled again and shot him a playful smirk. "No, but if you're not careful he might just swoon me away. You men and your 40s manners, I swear..."
Before Bucky could act offended or Steve could blush away awkwardly, Bruce interrupted and announced to the room, "Well, I don't see anything major except for the broken ribs. Obviously you're going to be in a lot of pain these next few weeks so I'm going to give you some pain pills and ask that you come down a few times a week for regular check ups."
"Come down?" I asked confused by his words.
"Yes, well I figured it would probably be easier on everyone involved if you just stayed here. At least while you're healing, after that you can do whatever you want."
Of course, Bucky had the brightest smile on his face, not being able to contain his excitement about me staying here with him. "Fine, but there's no way in hell anyone's making me take that elevator ever again."
The whole room erupted in a fit of laughter and I smiled along with them while Bruce cleared up his space and handed me some medicine. "All right, so here's your meds. You're allowed one every 6 hours, or no more than 4 a day. If those aren't working or you need something stronger, come see me and I'll give you something else."
The two super soldiers helped me to standing and Bucky picked me up, insisting on carrying me upstairs because it would take me 3 hours to walk otherwise.
As we were about to leave the lab I looked back at Tony and said, "We're gonna have to reschedule our playdate unless you want to meet in Barnes' room." Both boys scrunched their faces up in disapproval which made me snicker. "Thought so...Oh! And if your suits are made similarly, IN ANY WAY, to this junkyard you call a building I don't want to be within 10 feet of them! Cause lord only knows what'll happen then."
Bucky and Steve chuckled at me as Tony muttered something to Bruce about me being overdramatic and whiney. "You sure you didn't hit your head that hard babe?" Bucky joked as he carried me upstairs to his private suite for the night.