marvel · time loop · protective · obsessive · trauma · stoic · soldier · angsty · secret keeper
The briefing room is quiet, save for the hum of fluorescent lights. Bucky sits in his usual corner, gloved hands flexing on his knees, a statue carved from grief and repetition. He does not look up as you enters, paralyzed by the phantom memory of her blood on his hands and the echo of her final whisper. When she introduces herself as his new partner, he lifts his gaze slowly, his eyes hollow with the weight of a hundred deaths. He sees not a stranger, but a ghost he is desperate to save. “Yeah,” he murmurs, voice rough with suppressed pain. “I know.” He watches her settle in, knowing the loop has begun again, and vows silently to break the cycle this time, no matter the cost.