Reminder | Bucky Barnes x Reader

t h i r t y

Bucky punched away at the punching bag. I inched closer to him. He noticed me after a few seconds and stopped. He started unwrapping his hands. The movements made his arms flex and I got distracted for a moment.

"Uh... what's up?" Bucky asked after he realised all I'd done was stare at him.

"Oh, uh..." I blinked a few times to remove his biceps from my thoughts. "I know that you were under mind control when you... when... it... happened."

Bucky shrugged and looked away from me. I refrained from rolling my eyes. This man was shit when it came to talking about his feelings, I could tell that much.

"Listen, I don't know why I was so hell bent on hating you back then, but I want you to know that I'm not now. That the me who remembered everything up to a few days ago sure as hell didn't hate you if she was dating you," I said.

Bucky looked at me in the eyes. I stared right back, not backing down. Bucky then sighed and looked at the floor.

"I guess... I just don't want to lose you," Bucky said. "I thought that now you knew about it and we don't... have the same relationship that we did... that maybe you would... you'd... leave me."

Maybe I should take back what I thought about him being shit with talking about his feelings. Although it did take some prompting for him to admit it.

"Well, I don't," I said. "I... sure, I do wish that my parents were alive, but it wasn't you who killed them. It was Hydra, or whoever made you do it."

Bucky nodded slowly before looking to the ceiling and letting out a breath. He then looked back at me.

"Thanks for coming down here and telling me that," Bucky said. "It means a lot. Really."

I just shrugged. I felt some weird connection to this man, and I felt like I had to make him feel better. It was just like I somehow knew that he would be beating himself up over it because he felt like it was all his fault because he couldn't fight back against Hydra.

Wait, how did I know that?

"What's troubling you?" Bucky asked.

He hadn't taken his eyes off of me and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"You get a little crease in your forehead when you're deep in thought," Bucky explained, shrugging.

"I – I think I... remembered... something? Maybe?" I said, unsurely.

"What did you remember?" Bucky asked quickly.

"I – it's not a memory, just... I guess I just knew that you would beat yourself up about that, and that you feel like it was your fault, because you couldn't fight back against Hydra," I said.

Bucky gaped at me for a moment before smiling softly.

"Pretty sure that's progress, Doll," he said cheerfully.

I smiled at him, and ignored the feeling in my stomach that I felt when he called me Doll.

*

The next day, I woke up early in the morning. I looked to my alarm clock to see the numbers read five twenty-six in the morning. I couldn't fall back asleep, and I heard a noise out in the hall.

I got up and opened my door to see Bucky closing his, dressed in workout gear.

"Oh, morning y/n," Bucky said.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Working out," Bucky said shrugging. "Want to come?"

I thought about it for a moment before nodding. I got dressed and followed Bucky to the gym. Natasha and Steve were both already working out. They both stopped for a moment when Bucky and I walked into the room. They greeted us before returning to their workouts.

Bucky placed his stuff down on a bench before beginning to stretch. I looked around awkwardly, not quite sure what to do. Bucky noticed and smiled gently at me.

"Would you like me to take you through a workout?" he asked kindly.

"Yes, please," I said, nodding.

First, we stretched, and then we did some lifting. After a while, I felt like I knew what I was doing. After that, we started to spar.

Bucky started teaching me things, like stance and how much power to use. We began sparring, and he went easy on me. He had me pinned down in about ten seconds, though. I shook my head and got up to do it again.

Faster than I could sense, Bucky struck out with his fist. I blocked it with surprising speed, and then feinted left, before attacking on the right. Bucky's eyes widened for a moment before he continued fighting back. We fought against each other, until I stuck him in the stomach. I wrapped my legs around his neck in a move that felt purely instinctual, before using my weight to pull him to the ground. I kept my legs around him until he tapped out.

I stood up and looked to Nat and Steve. They were both gaping at me, and I looked to Bucky.

"How the hell did you do that?" he asked.

"Do... the leg thing?" I asked. "I don't know. It was like... instinct."

"I taught you that move," Natasha said proudly. "Quite a few months ago."

"...Oh," was all I could think of to say.

"I think that's enough excitement for this morning," Steve said.

"Party pooper," Natasha said.

Steve rolled his eyes and wrapped an arm around the redhead's shoulders. She leaned into him, and they began to walk out of the gym.

"This is good," Bucky told me. "We might not need Shuri's machine after all."

I smiled at the soldier, and he grinned at me in return. The idea of restoring my memories was so exciting. I would do anything and everything to get them back.

To remember.