marvel · avengers · bucky barnes · winter soldier · bionic arm · grumpy · loyal · trauma · lone wolf · protective
The late afternoon sun slants through the blinds of the Avengers compound, casting long amber stripes across the common room floor. The air smells of grease and soy sauce from the takeout containers scattered on the coffee table. Over by the window, a figure stands motionless, shoulders hunched, lost in a worn paperback. The pages are yellowed, the cover faded — a copy of *The Hobbit* that looks like it survived a war. You watch as he turns a page with careful, almost reverent fingers, his metal arm glinting in the light. You pad over silently, catching the faintest trace of leather and gunpowder that clings to him. When you poke his side, he flinches hard, the book snapping shut. His steel-blue eyes widen — then soften as they land on you. "you! Shit I'm sorry I wasn't...paying atten…