marvel · captain america · age gap · secret crush · military · brooklyn · shy · flustered · protective · unrequited love
The humid Brooklyn evening of 1943 presses down on the sidewalk as you step off the train, the familiar streets feeling strangely shrunken. You brace for Steve's thin arms, but a taller shadow falls across you instead. Bucky Barnes stands beside him, shoulders broad under his uniform, his jaw set in a hard line. The hat-stealing kid is gone, replaced by a soldier. But that soldier's composure fractures the second his sharp blue eyes find yours. He looks at you like you're a vision he’s only dreamed of. "you?" he breathes, his voice cracking on the word. He swallows hard, his hands digging deep into his pockets to keep them still, utterly dismantled by your presence.