Instead of returning to your room you made your way to the gym. You needed to beat the shit out of something. You popped in the locker room and slid on your workout clothes before taping your hands. Wade was waiting for you when you came out. You sighed. "Thought I said not right now."

He grinned. "Figured you wanted to hurt something. What are besties for?"

"I don't want to hurt you, Wade."

"Sure you do, sweet cheeks. Everyone wants to hurt me."

You snorted a laugh, unable to help yourself. The merc bouncing on his feet in front of you grinned. You watched him for a moment as your lips twitched in amusement. Well, like he said, what were best friends for? You shrugged before landing a right uppercut to his chin.

Wade stumbled backward while you headed to the mat. "What the shit?" he yelled when he joined you. "That wasn't cool, princess. Not cool at all. You have to give me some warning."

You smirked at his dramatics. "But I feel so much better. You're right, hurting you is therapeutic."

He narrowed his eyes and stuck out his bottom lip in a pout.

"Either fight me or let me hit the bag."

Wade nodded and moved into a fighting stance. "You know how this works. We fight and you talk."

You dodged a swing then blocked another. "Talk about what? Pretty sure you heard it all."

"Yeah, and so did everyone else including pretty boy. How are you feeling about that?"

You advanced with a flurry of punches, more than one landing on his ribs. When you stopped, you backed off with a shrug. "It is what it is, Wilson."

"Mmhmm. Well, if you don't want to talk about that, how about we talk about what you're still hiding."

You froze at Wade's words, not expecting him to be so insightful. He managed to land a hit to your stomach before you snapped out of it. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Try again, sweet cheeks. This is Wade you're talking to."

You backed off the mat as you studied him wondering how the hell he'd picked up there was something you were still keeping back. Finally, you shook your head. "That's a discussion that needs to be had with my soulmate and only my soulmate."

Wade smirked. "So, you do intend to talk to him again at some point."

You frowned. "Why wouldn't I talk to him?"

He seemed speechless for a moment. You weren't certain you'd ever seen him that way before. "Now, don't take this the wrong way, princess, but I'm pretty sure everyone is under the impression that you're angry with him."

"I'm not mad at him. I'm angry at myself because I can't get past this." You moved over to hit one of the bags. Wade followed and leaned against the wall where he could see your face but was out of the way. "I know he's not the same person. I know it but my brain won't let me forget who he was. Just when I think I'm making progress I have one of my dreams."

Wade sighed. "If that's true, I think you need to talk to him. He was pretty messed up when you left."

You slammed your fist into the bag one more time. "Shit." You removed the tape from your hands as you moved across the room. "I'll see you later, Wade."

"I could just—"

"Go home, Wilson. I'll call you later." You tossed the tape in the trashcan as you passed by on your way to the elevator. You were sure your best friend was mostly just wanting to make sure you'd be okay, but Wade was also the biggest gossip. He wanted to know what was going on before anyone else.

When you arrived at Bucky's floor, Steve and Sam both turned to look at you. It appeared they'd been in conversation.

Sam smiled when he saw you. "Hey."

You gave him a small smile in return.

Steve, however, was not happy to see you. "What are you doing here? Don't you think you've done enough?"

You rolled your eyes. "Fuck off, Steve."

His brows lifted as his lips pressed into a tight line. "Excuse me?"

"I'm here to talk to Bucky."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

Sam stayed quiet, his eyes just moving between the two of you as you argued.

"Steve, I don't know how to tell you this but Bucky's my soulmate, not yours." You crossed your arms over your chest and bit back some of the more scathing things you wanted to say. Steve was just looking out for his friend, but you seriously didn't want to deal with his shit right now. He'd already made it clear on more than one occasion that he thought you weren't good enough for his bestie. You know, his bestie that had killed dozens of people. The Hydra assassin that shot Natasha. Sometimes you wondered what the hell Steve thought you'd gotten up to in your spare time.

When the man just continued to glare at you, you sighed. "Look, I'm going to talk to him. You can try to stop me if you want but it won't change anything." You clenched your teeth and worked a muscle in your jaw. "I didn't mean to hurt him, Steve. It's my story. All I did was tell it."

After a moment of thought, he stepped back and gestured down the hall. "Good luck. We can't get him to answer the door."

"Funny how you think I'll give him a choice."

You walked past them to Bucky's door and knocked lightly. When there was no answer, you tried the knob only to find it locked. Unfortunately for your soulmate you didn't give a shit about his privacy at the moment and you were one of the people he'd given full access to his room. "Jarvis, unlock Bucky's door please."

"Of course, Miss."

You slipped into the room, shutting and locking the door behind you. Bucky sat with his back against the headboard. His head leaned back against the wall with his eyes closed. He groaned in annoyance. "Damn it, Steve. I don't want to talk and I don't need a baby sitter. Just leave me alone."

"Not Steve."

He jerked his head up and his eyes flew open. When he moved to get up, you held up a hand to stop him. You tilted your head and studied him for a long moment. His muscles were taut, his eyes red and tired.

"What are you doing here?" he asked when you remained silent. "Have you come to reject me?" His voice broke along with your heart.

You stepped forward and climbed on the bed to sit facing him. "No, Bucky. I'm not rejecting you." You laid your hand on top of his and he shifted to intertwine your fingers.

His head dropped forward while his eyes locked on your hands. "You should."

You scooted closer and laid your free hand against his cheek. He sighed and leaned into it. A sob jerked through his body and you nudged his head up to look at you. "I wasn't trying to hurt you, Buck. That wasn't how I intended to tell you at all. Unfortunately, you pushed me on a shit day and I reacted without thinking. I'm sorry."

His face contorted into a look of pure disbelief. "What the hell are you apologizing for?"

Your hand dropped away from his face and you smiled softly. "It was a conversation we should have had in private."

He grasped your free hand in his so he was holding both as he shook his head. "It's fine, sweetheart. It kept you from having to say that shit more than once. I can't believe I didn't recognize you."

"I was a kid the last time you saw me in Hydra. And your brain wasn't exactly in the best shape."

He made a sound of agreement and leaned his head back against the wall while keeping his eyes on you. A tear or two ran down his cheeks. "I can't say enough how sorry I am. Hurting you was my biggest regret from my time as the soldier."

"It's not your fault. That wasn't you. I know that. You know that. It's just hard to compartmentalize sometimes." You weren't mad at yourself for telling your story, but you did regret not having a private conversation with your soulmate first so he was prepared. You sighed and pulled your hands away from him as you got back to your feet.

You started pacing the floor at the foot of his bed. His gaze followed you and he shifted so he sat at the edge with one leg hanging off while the other was folded beneath him. "What is it, doll?"

"There's something else I should tell you." You chewed on the tip of your thumb as you continued pacing. "When they rescued me, they had trouble determining my age. In addition to all the other shit Hydra did to me, they were pumping me full of hormones and chemicals."

"Why?"

You huffed a laugh though there was no humor in it. "They were trying to speed up my development so they could move onto the next phase. They wanted little super soldier babies. Soldat and Nicto combined in one little person."

"Shit," you heard him say moments before his chest pressed against your back to stop your incessant pacing. His arms wrapped around your waist and his face pressed into the curve of your neck as he took comfort from your presence. "Fucking Hydra."

You leaned your head back against his shoulder and took a deep breath. "When they went through the files from the base, they found files where they'd listed the pros and cons of all the different methods of conception. They intended to have you breed me."

Bucky jerked his head back to frown at you, his brow furrowing in anger and disbelief. "You were a kid."

"You think Hydra gave a shit? They'd been forming me into their tool since I was six. It was just another use for me." You rubbed a hand along his arm in comfort and his face found its way back to your neck.

"Anything else you need to tell me, doll? Let's get this over with all at once."

You turned in his arms and rested your hands on his chest as you looked up at him. "It really bothers me that you haven't seen Beauty and the Beast yet."

He grinned and leaned forward so his nose rubbed against yours and his lips were millimeters from yours. "Watch it with me then."

Then he kissed you. It was soft, searching. A touch and gesture you both needed to heal from the day and the damage it had done to your hearts.

When you pulled back, the two of you just looked at each other for a long moment. "I need to change first," you finally said. Your workout clothes weren't exactly the most comfortable to lounge around in.

"Okay." He released you and opened a drawer in his dresser to toss you a pair of cotton shorts with a drawstring waist. Then he grabbed a t-shirt draped over the back of his chair and handed that to you as well.

That wasn't exactly what you'd meant but you weren't going to complain. "You find the movie, I'll go change."

Once you were shut in the bathroom, you lifted the shirt to your nose and inhaled. It smelled like Bucky but with a fresh undertone telling you he hadn't worn it very long. You smiled and changed your clothes.

When you opened the door, Bucky ran his gaze over you from top to bottom and grinned as he licked his lips. He'd changed from his jeans into pajama pants. He was sat to one side on his bed, back against the headboard and remote in his hand. "Animated or live action?"

"They're both good but animated first." You climbed onto the bed with him. Rather than sitting beside him, you scooted further down and curled around so your head rested in his lap.

He went still beneath you and you turned to glance up at him. His eyes were wide and his mouth gaped just a little. "Is this okay?"

The question seemed to snap him out of it. "Yeah. Yeah, it's perfect."

You smiled and turned back to the TV as he started the movie. You hummed along with the music.

By the time the village finished singing about what a funny girl Belle was, Bucky had one hand resting on your hip while the other played with your hair.

And by the time Beast let Belle leave the castle, he had shifted so he was laying with his head propped up on his pillows and you curled into his side with your head on his chest. His arm wrapped around you and his fingers found the way under the hem of your shirt to rub the bare skin just above the shorts you wore.

That was how Steve found you hours later when he finally had Jarvis unlock the door in his worry for his friend. He was surprised to find you there. He'd assumed you'd said whatever you needed to say to Buck and headed back to your room. The sight of the two of you snuggled up together as you slept eased his most of his concern. He grabbed a spare blanket from the top of the closet and covered the two of you up before quietly leaving and telling Jarvis you weren't to be disturbed.