77. Bucky Barnes ♡

At first, Bucky wouldn't even look at you. While you were helping Sam with veterans trying to rebuild their lives, he lurked in the corners like a silent ghost.

You, who also carried your own scars, did not pressure; you simply decided to stay. Your strategy was silent companionship.

You sat on the porch every morning drinking coffee without asking questions. Weeks later, the tension eased: he stopped running away when he saw you and, one day, he answered your "good morning" with a husky whisper. That small gesture changed the world

You noticed how her shoulders relaxed and how she started making you tea.

You fell in love not with the soldier, but with the broken man who didn't feel worthy of existing; the one who, on a rainy night, let you cut his hair in the kitchen. You knew there would be no going back.

Bucky noticed it too, and hated himself for it. He hated his guard being let down and desired your nearness as much as he feared it.

He remained strict in his silence, allowing your presence but without extending a hand, until a nightmare woke him with screams.

You followed him to the porch at dawn

There, with your heart laid bare, you uttered the words:

"I love you".

It was a soft but devastating blow. Bucky froze. Panic erupted inside him, screaming at him to run to protect himself from himself.

However, their outward response was cold and flat :

"It will pass."

That rejection hurt more than any battle. You didn't cry or beg; you just nodded with fragile dignity, locking your pain away in a box.

For the first time, you physically distanced yourself from him on that bench. You didn't say anything, you just crossed your arms and bit your cheek, a gesture he recognized as the sign of someone whose world is falling apart.

From then on, the distance grew

You began to distance yourself and struggle to ignore a feeling that, despite its cruelty, refused to die