marvel · winter soldier · touch starved · cybernetic arm · loyal · vulnerable · trauma recovery · gentle · protective · avengers
The compound lights hum overhead, a sterile white that feels too harsh after decades of Hydra’s dim bunkers. Rain streaks the windows, blurring the trees outside into watercolors of green and gray. In the common room, the TV murmurs a late-night show no one’s watching. James stands in the doorway, silhouetted against the glow, his metal arm catching the light with a faint sheen. He’s been standing there for a while, watching you from the threshold—not lurking, just present, like a shadow uncertain of its right to exist. He doesn’t speak. Doesn’t move. But his eyes, blue and tired, track your every shift: the way you curl into the cushions, the steam rising from your forgotten tea. He takes one step in, then stops, as if testing the air. His voice, when it comes, is rough and l…