Arabella Wilkys closed up her bookstore for the millionth time on a Monday night. It was around 10 pm, and the streets were empty save for the few homeless men and women she'd grown fond of. If there were ever any books that weren't selling she'd make sure to give them some.
She had fallen asleep after stocking the store at 8 and had awoken to the hard pillow of a desk. Bella hadn't been sleeping as well of late because of her friend's baby she was looking after. She loved her dearly and the two month old bundle of joy was a delight to have around, except when she wouldn't fall asleep and wake her up at 3 am. Luckily, the sitter who for some reason liked to be looking after the baby during the days and nights had realised Bella had probably fallen asleep at work and had texted her to know that she would stay until she returned home.
Giving a huff, Bella began her journey home, plugging in her earphones and listening to some of her favourite music.
"Give me love like never before, 'cause lately I've been waking up alone..."
Bella sung quietly to herself while she listened to it. She found herself more content with the world as she blindly continued walking towards her home. Only a few blocks left. She began to walk faster, eager to get home. She wondered whether the sitter had gotten Rose to sleep.
She had been staring up at the stars, something she often liked to do on her walks home when she'd tripped over. Something hit her ankle and she went arms first onto the pavement. She could feel the skin on her bare arms strip away. Her knee throbbed from the pain of it hitting the ground, she knew there's be a good bruise by the morning. Crying out in pain and surprise she gritted her teeth and turned to see what exactly she tripped over.
She assumed it would be something stupid like a brick or rock. What she saw was not a rock however. It was a man. He was siting up with wide, incredibly blue eyes. Dark circles lay underneath them. Dark hair framed his face. She leaned back,frightened he would be one of the murderers that belonged in horror movies. Had he been lurking about waiting for her? No. But he had been on the ground, possibly laying down.
Her heart hammered inside her chest and she clutched at her injured knee, sucking in air trying to calm her heart down. She reasoned with herself that he was probably just bending down to pick up something and that he was probably a completely normal guy. As she began to stand he did as well. Her eyes widened as he did so. His frame was a lot more intimidating with all the dark clothes on.
He adorned a black t-shirt with a dark jacket, dark jeans, black trainers and leather gloves. She tried to swallow down the grin she felt emerging when she pictured him like one of her phases she had had back in high school. Goth galore!
She was well aware he looked nervous and anxious, although she had no idea why, maybe because he'd seemed to frighten her. His blue eyes darted back and forth between the ground and her. His eyes were the bluest she'd ever seen on anyone before. Arabella scratched the back of her neck and giggled, trying to stop the nervousness of the man.
"Sorry! I didn't see yo-"
"It's fine." His voice was low and gruff, it sounded like a dismissal. Like he wanted her to leave, which was exactly what she was about to do when she noticed the way he was holding the side of his stomach. Although it was dark, she could still see the shadow that glinted off of the t-shirt. It was darker than the material itself. He was bleeding. It was a thin trail but it moved all the way down to the bottom of his t-shirt and crusted flakes of blood were around it.
"OH MY GOD! Did I do that to you? Was there something on the ground or-or let me call the ambulance!" Panic surged inside her as she fumbled for her phone which dropped when she fell. Before she could get to it however, his voice interrupted.
"No. Don't call them." He said, it was monotone but she could hear the urgency in his request. She surveyed him with an arched eyebrow and once again glanced at the blood patch. Was he involved in some sort of...drug deal gone wrong? Had he been shot?!
"Okay, mister. Why don't you want me to call the ambulance? Are you shot? Are you a drug dealer?!" Arabella spat out. Well aware that she sounded crazy but she didn't care. She was frightened and rightfully so.
She watched the man hesitate for a moment and she saw his lips twitch, as if he were fighting a grin. Incredulously, she stepped back and stared at him. His movement had barely changed and she wondered if it was because of the pain, at least she hoped so.
"No. This happened...a week ago. It's a cut. It's fine." For the second time he'd said "it's fine" and from her experience it was usually the opposite when that was said. A relief had flooded through her when she realised he wasn't involved in the street druggies that often ended up like that.
"Well... I'm not gonna leave you alone like this. If you come with me... I can fix you up a bit. My great grandma was a nurse in World War 2, she taught my mum a bit and she taught me." Arabella said proudly. She watched his eyes widen a little at her and she feared that he was taken aback by her offer.
He hesitated and she noticed this. His eyes continued to flicker through his options and eventually his hard, blue eyes settled on her own and he nodded tightly.
She picked up her phone and noticed it didn't have any severe damage. Forcing a small smile at the stranger she stuck out her right hand and said,
"My name's Arabella by the way but most people call me Bella."
He paused for a moment looking at his own arm and then slowly stuck it out. The weight of it was more than she was expecting, the cool of his leather glove gave her goosebumps.
"I'm...James. Most people call me Bucky."
She smiled softly. James was a nice name but Bucky was even nicer. She could have sworn her best friends dad had been talking about some man named Bucky on exhibit in the Smithsonian, but she dismissed it.
"Alright Bucky, I really hope you don't mind babies."
The walk home with Bucky was as awkward as walking home with a stranger could ever been. However, she noticed his grunts of pain had taken up most of the silence.
"Do you want me to try and hel-"
"It's fine."
She decided that that phrase was his official catchphrase. Biting her lips, she shrugged and pressed on. She wondered how he could keep walking with it bleeding like that. Maybe an ambulance would be better but she assumed he would leave before they could arrive.
Tucking her blonde hair behind her ears she pursed her lips as they stepped in front of her home. She turned the small, black gate and let him walk in first. As she shut the gate behind her, enjoying the scent of her well looked after rose garden, the automatic light came on. She heard a small inhale of breath from Bucky and he stood frozen on the steps, his back was shaking a little. Suddenly, Tess, the baby-sitter opened the door with her mouth open about to say something before seeing Bucky. She leaned I the right to see Arabella standing a little ways away.
Tess was only just sixteen. Her auburn hair was twisted into a messy bun and she wore a simple jumper and shorts. Some may have found her quite childish. However, Arabella knew she could trust her, with the baby at least.
"Oh, Bella! You never told me you were going on a date! I didn't think you were into dating anymore, especially since the last one..." Tess trailed off, surveying Bucky the way Bella had when first seeing him. She thought he may be dangerous but then her eyes softened, 'most likely because of his own blue eyes staring right at hers.
Luckily, Bella realised he had covered the injured part of his stomach, knowing full well Tess would phone the ambulance. Arabella blushed at her younger friend's words and ignored the feeling of shame and anger from the past experience. Before she could explain she realised that was the only way to pretend like he wasn't a stranger.
"Well, uh, mum wants me home now, so I guess I'll see you tomorrow then. The baby's finally asleep, she's like a little angel. Have a good night you two." Tess said before stepping around Bucky and walking down the cobblestone pathway towards her friend. She let a wink at Bella before shutting the gate behind her and walking home, which was only a few blocks away.
Arabella noticed Bucky's obvious discomfort at not knowing whether to enter the door or not so she did it for him. Relishing the familiar scent of her home and the look of it. The TV was left on and a few slices of pizza lay inside a box. She couldn't help but smile at that.
As she shrugged out other coat she quickly retrieved the first aid kit from the kitchen. She left Bucky in the living room while she did so. A few burning questions were running inside her head and none of which she could truly answer yet. One of them, however, was the distinct fact she was letting a complete and utter stranger into her home.
She tied her hair up into a loose bun and set to work on finding Bucky. Hopefully, his cut wouldn't need stitches and she didn't need to make too much of a deal out of it. Walking into the living room, she saw he had not moved an inch. He stood staring at the TV not even realising she'd come into the room.
"Bucky can you take your shirt off, please?" She requested watching him spin around with incredulous and worried eyes.
"Ah no, I meant can you please take it of so I can see what's wrong?"
"I know what you meant. I can't." His reply was short and final. She wanted to grit her teeth but refrained from doing so.
"If I'm going to fix you then you have to take it off. You don't have to act like some scared teenager." Arabella protested putting her hand on her hips watching him.
A new emotion flickered in his tired eyes and she recognised it as anger. Suddenly she was against the wall and he held her in a steel grasp. She could barely budge an arm and all she could feel was the warmth of his breath on hers.
"I'm not taking it off. I'm lifting it up." It came out in a grit and a command. She winced a little as he let go of her as if only just realising what he was doing and took a step backwards.
Ignoring the hammering of her heart she cleared her throat and nodded, swallowing down the fear. She asked him to sit down on the table chair and he did so.
She really didn't know why taking his shirt off was such a big deal. Or his jacket, which he obviously wasn't taking off either. Kneeling on the ground she pursed her lips and opened the kit. She could feel his eyes on her and a blush adorned her cheeks.
Gingerly, she fingered the bottom of his t-shirt and raised it up a little. She tried desperately to ignore the hardness of his stomach or the way he had breathed in when she had touched him.
His skin was pale and smooth and cold. Ignoring the thin line of hair that adorned from below his belly button to down there, she focused on the point. And that point was a large point indeed.
A small, yet thick piece of metal was lodged in his stomach.
There was dried blood around the edges. Luckily, the piece seemed to be solid and no corners were cut sharply. Delicately, she pinched it with her fingers and dislodged it slowly. There was barely any sign of pain apart from the sharp intake of breath she felt afterwards.
Arabella inspected the piece carefully. It seemed to be something off of a platform. Dropping the piece, she inspected the wound to see it was already almost healed, and there was no sign of anymore bleeding.
"You're good, Bucky. There's not much damage. I'll just give you a patch." She said, unable to look into his eyes. As she blushed she patched him up and let go of his shirt so it fell down to where it had been. Clearing her throat she stood up with a small smile and looked to the side of him, she couldn't bare to look into his eyes.
"Thank you? I'll leave now." He said gruffly and the thank you came out as a question strangely, as if he'd never used the term before.
Pursing her lips she did look at him now and the dark circles that adorned under his eyes. She willed herself to get lost in the blue of his eyes and her heart tugged. Arabella was about to offer perhaps a place to stay when the interruption of the baby crying distracted her.
The high pitched wails alarmed her and she jumped even taller. Her heart pounded and she rushed to the nursery room, worried something may have happened. Panic overwhelmed her and the strange man, Bucky, was soon forgotten.
Venturing towards the cot she sucked a breath in and realised the baby had just woken up, nothing serious. Fighting a fond smile she tickled the baby's stomach lightly and began to sing to it softly.
She was so lost in the bundle of joy and singing that she hadn't noticed the sake silhouette of a man watching her from the doorway, a wary and heartbroken face adorned on his face.
This is my first Captain America fic! Really excited about this. Please give a review or follow if you enjoyed this and want to read more! Taking in any suggestions along the way. :)! Chapter 2 is already in the makes.