pairings: bucky barnes x reader, mentions of other characters
warnings: tbh i don't know if this is angst or sad but it's around there-
about: you know him
a/n: please send in requests lmao i have 0 ideas for my cm babies (although im about to rewatch the show so)

his eyes are blue and bright and so purely him, and as you're looking at them, looking into him, you realize he's lying.

it's almost laughable how unnoticeable it is, and you're almost impressed with yourself because, really, who else could tell? surely not natasha, in spite of her years of experience and training, and not even steve, with the decades of knowing him and learning his quirks.

no. none of them, only you.

you, who spends most of her waking moments with him, who wants to spend every one next to him. you, who has memorized the exact shade of his eyes.

despite the methods and instruction that hydra had drilled into him so many years before, he still had his tells, although subtle.

the moment you met him, you began to study him, and your knowledge of him only grew as you developed a relationship with him. you picked up on everything, his ticks and the silent things he says to you without speaking. he is it for you. the most important thing in your life, so, yes, you know him. very well, in fact.

you know the color of his eyes. and you know that they get impossibly brighter when he's excited, as much as he tries to hide it.

you also know his eyes go bluer when he's happy, and when he's frustrated, but not yet to the place where the words that cannot be taken back are said, they go greener.

when he's lying, no matter if it is good or bad, his eyes go a shade darker. a subtle change that you don't notice unless you're looking for it, and you're constantly looking at his eyes.

you learned about that one when he planned your surprise party two years prior-

his smile was wide as he wrapped an arm around your shoulder; your hand reached up to the one resting on your shoulder, playing with bucky's metal fingers while you looked up to him. "so," you started, walking to the compound after having lunch at the quaint cafe across from it, "are we going home?"

"not yet," bucky responded, "steve wants me to drop by and pick something up."

it was within a second that his eyes went darker, noticeable even through the sun making his eyes glitter.

you only noted the detail in your brain, but dismissed it, even through the sweet contradiction of his words, and the surprise of your friends waiting for you with cakes and presents in hand.

it only truly set in the third time it happened, you were at home, reading a book when bucky came in, car keys in hand as he told you steve needed you both urgently.

when you got to the compound, bucky surprised you with a puppy. a corgi who you named thorgi.

bucky rarely lied. he enjoyed honesty after all the years he was lied to and brainwashed, and he never had a reason to do it. besides, he knew you noticed when he lied, but he didn't know how and he didn't ask.

now, as you look at him, you're not sure if you wanted him to ask- to try to suppress his tell in some way; you're not sure if you want to know when he's lying, because all you can do is smile back at him as your heart breaks.

"i love you too, bucky."