"You never had a life outside of HYDRA Soldat. This is your one and only home."

"No... I'll do whatever you say, anything. Just please... keep those things away from me."

"We must start again. She must focus on the tasks at hand. She's distracted."

The electricity surged. Pulsing through like an angry current. Tearing through the memories like a fierce blade. No one would ever hear her plea, not unless there was something worth fighting for. Someone to save. For her to be saved.

By someone, who truly cared.

A scream ripped from Y/n's throat as she flew up from her bed, her elbows wobbling as she held herself up and hunched over. Whether it was luxurious beds, or a blanket over hardwood; neither could subdue the terrors. She slipped a silent 'thank you' to Tony for sound proofing everybody's bedrooms.

She rubbed at her tear soaked eyes before turning to her clock on the nightstand, revealing it to be a ripe 6:04. She let out a shaky breath and frowned at the empty spot on the other side of her bed, reaching out and wringing her fingers at the sheets.

If only he stayed.

She pushed herself off the mattress and hung her legs off the side, staring down at the cushiony bed beneath her.

This was definitely a first.

With one last sigh, she hauled herself off the bed and trudged to her closet, plucking a pair of workout shorts and a tank-top from the shelves and changing into them. After freshening up in the bathroom, she quietly exited her room and made her way towards the elevator, reveling in the solitude of the early morning.

That quickly changed however, when the sound of low grunting and the jab of the leather punching bag echoed from the gym as soon as she stepped out of the elevator.

Y/n hesitantly approached the entrance, teetering on the idea of simply leaving whoever it was alone, and retreating back to her room.

That was, until she heard the familiar voice, cursing low under his breath as he took a gulp from his water bottle.

"Guess the movie didn't have enough action for your liking."

Bucky casted a short glance in the direction of the familiar voice, returning his attention back to the bag. "Jus' wanted to let you sleep."

Y/n watched as Bucky grumbled to himself, irritated when the bag swung around after each punch. Clearly, he hadn't chosen the one that was "super-soldier proof."

She ignored his glare when stood on the other side of the bag, firmly gripping it with both of her arms and giving him a nod.

Bucky raised his fists back up and began jabbing at the bag, finally able to throw in small combinations now that the bag wasn't flailing about from each hit.

"You could've stayed." Y/n commented.

"It's fine." He paused for a quick moment. "My room was just across the hall anyways."

She shrugged. "I don't mind the company."

He continued to throw a few hits to the bag, before landing one last swing, nearly knocking Y/n off her feet. She pushed herself forward in order to resist the momentum, and looked at him, startled.

"You could've gotten yourself killed, you know." He said as he took a sip of water, slamming it down onto the bench. "You should've taken me with you."

"I was perfectly capable Bucky." She retorted, folding her arms. "You could at least be proud I managed to retrieve the files in only a matter of hours."

"Yeah? Well did you even bother to consider what would've happened if we hadn't shown up before they got their hands on you again?"

"Well for one, I'd be a shitty Avenger who can't even manage a simple undercover mission. And two: that would've been on me. I'm the one who snuck out."

A dry, humorless chuckle escaped his lips. "You seriously couldn't wait one more day?"

Y/n huffed and shook her head in disbelief, watching his face scrunch up in confusion. "Were you even paying attention, Buck? Those agents were on their way to the basement to backup the files so that the information would be accessible throughout the other four bases still left, not to mention they had yet to even read the contents of the files."

"Three bases." Bucky corrected. "Tony just found out that the one in Laos was already taken care of by Agent Johnson last night and her team. It was a small base."

Y/n opened her mouth to scold him again for dodging her statement, but saw that his expression had softened. He'd gotten the message.

"Then tell me." His voice dropped to a whisper. "What were you so scared of? What's on that file that you can't let HYDRA find out about."

Y/n raked her teeth over her bottom lip, pondering her answer. She'd always thought about telling him, every single day it came to mind. I remember it all. I still get nightmares, none of it is gone like you were meant to believe. There's something worse. Part of that was still there.

"Mine wasn't much different than yours." Was all she said, turning on her heel and making a beeline to the treadmills, before Bucky's hand latched around her wrist.

"Spar with me." He blurted.

"What?"

"Why not? There's no one else down here."

She felt a grin tug on the corners of her mouth as his cheeks flushed pink, awaiting her response.

"What if I kick your ass?" Y/n teased.

A cocky smirk formed on his lips. "I'll kick yours first."

"You're on."

Bucky led her to the ring in the middle of the gym where Tony would sometimes organize sparring matches for fun, which worked out best for him when Happy didn't feel like boxing every time.

Y/n exhaled sharply as she positioned herself a few feet in front of Bucky, slowly raising her hands in front of her face and drawing back one leg to a fighting stance.

Sparring with Bucky would be completely different. Sure, Nat was one of the best partners to train with, and she'd taught Y/n how to fight safely. Unlike HYDRA, who's methods were undoubtedly sloppier in regards to preventing injuries. What did it matter if you were a HYDRA super soldier, after all.

But Nat wasn't a super soldier, and each time they trained, Y/n couldn't help but hold back. Even if Nat was more than capable of dealing with her super strength, the paranoia prevailed.

"Earth to Y/n." Bucky waved a hand teasingly in front of her, causing her to blink.

Bucky's chuckle slowly fell when Y/n didn't respond. Instead, she began circling him around the mat, all humor temporarily cast aside.

Her eyes occasionally flicked back and forth from his fists, to his feet, and to his own gaze.

Bucky analyzed her own movements, fixating on the small adjustments she'd make while anticipating the first attack.

It had been a swift movement, one Bucky was frankly unprepared for. His fist had reached out for a simple palm strike, but Y/n had already blocked it with her forearm and jabbed his chin in a fraction of a second.

A smirked formed on her lips, which quickly disappeared when Bucky distracted her with a small punch that barely skimmed her face, before shifting behind her to pull her into a choke hold.

Y/n acted quickly and hooked her leg behind his, jerking her arms up to loosen his grasp and take him down to the floor.

Bucky managed to catch himself before he could collapse onto the mat, latching his hand onto Y/n's leg and pulling her down instead.

Okay, so maybe the term sparring had become a loose term for the match.

"It was a good try." Bucky laughed as he brushed himself off, soon cut off when Y/n swung her feet straight into his chest and knocked him onto his back, perching herself above him and holding him down with her elbow.

"You were saying?" Y/n cocked an eyebrow, amused at the baffled expression on Bucky's face.

She let out a gasp when he abruptly flipped Y/n over and replaced her body where he had been just a second ago. "Don't get distracted."

Y/n sunk her teeth into her lip, Bucky's sass causing her patience to stagger. Before she had a chance to make her next move to release his grasp, Bucky had already let go of her wrists and stood up, holding out a hand to help Y/n back up.

"That was just a warm up, let's go again." He said in response to her glare.

"You didn't let me finish, I could've gotten out of that." Y/n grumbled, grabbing onto his hand brusquely and pulling herself up.

Bucky huffed a small laugh. "Hey, I'm not saying you couldn't. Jus' thought I had the unfair advantage."

Y/n cocked an eyebrow. "What advantage?"

"More focus."

Y/n couldn't help the scowl that left her lips. The only person Bucky was this cocky with was Sam, and usually she'd just sit back and watch the two of them bicker. "Shut up, Barnes. If you hate having any kind of fun just admit it."

Bucky barely had any time to steady himself into a ready stance. Before he knew it, Y/n had stepped back and lunged towards him, spinning around him and hooking her legs around his upper body and taking him down flat on his face, holding him down with a knee on each arm. "So, how focused were you there?" She smirked when Bucky audibly held back a groan.

"I was... planning on going easy on you." He said hoarsely, which was enough for Y/n to loosen her hold on him, only for her to spare no time for him to fully stand up.

She shrugged, the corner of her mouth curving into a sly smile. "I'm not."

Bucky swung his legs up behind him and used the momentum to throw Y/n over his shoulders. She quickly flipped herself to land on her feet rather than tumbling ungracefully, sinking her hand into the mat in front of her. She quickly spun a turning kick to his leg while he was still staggering to stand back up. Bucky managed to slide out of the way, letting out a low huff.

Bucky loathed it. Sparring against anybody other than Steve, or occasionally Sam when he was in a bitter mood. It had taken weeks of Sam taunting Bucky with endless "cyborg" teases for Bucky to finally give in and kick Sam's ass, but today had officially broken the streak. Of course, there was always a lingering doubt that he could finally control his strength in a sparring match after years of using it without any restraint. Never any limits, no holding back.

Even now, even after Shuri and Ayo had done endless sessions and tests that ensured he was free from HYDRA's control.

"What if it comes back?"

But this... this was different.

Sure, he was holding back a decent amount at the beginning, seeming to have forgotten just how much strength Y/n possessed. Of course, he totally unprepared for her to fight back with an equal force to his own.

The only other members with super strength beside himself had always been either Steve, or that Parker kid who Bucky would rather slam his head in a car door than train with. Then there was Thor... but he could be a bit of a handful.

Bucky was immediately pulled out of his thoughts when he felt the side of his face smack against the mat.

"Don't tell me you're already tired, Barnes?"
Y/n had smirked from above him, taking the opportunity to step to the side of the ring and take a small sip of water. "It's not even group training time yet."

"Okay fine, you got me that time." Bucky said as he lugged himself off the floor, gesturing at the water bottle. Y/n passed it to him and grinned when he took a long chug.

He handed it back to her and frowned at her expression. "What? I gotta stay hydrated."

"Yeah, totally." She snickered, making her way back into the middle of the mat, while Bucky had been walking the opposite way towards the change rooms. He turned around when he noticed she hadn't been next to him, a small pout making its way across his lips. "Y/n... c'mon, I'm hungry."

"One more round." She protested. "Then we can go grab breakfast at that new Belgian Waffle place down the street and skip group training."

Bucky sighed audibly. "One more?"

"Just one."

Bucky reluctantly dragged himself back to the middle where she was already in a fighting stance, seemingly not tired in the slightest.

Bucky couldn't help his face grow pink from embarrassment. She was wiping the floor with him at this point, and he had yet to get a single win.

"I can't go too far, though. What if I hurt her?"

Bucky circled the mat slowly. Stalling.

"You've seen her fight. She can take a hit from you. She is a super soldier after all."

"Does she even remember any of the HYDRA training, though? Maybe she's no longer used to it. How much does Nat usually push her during their own sparring?"

Y/n frowned when she noticed the thoughts clouding Bucky's gaze. "You good?"

His head snapped up. "Yeah... I'm fine." Bucky then used the small interaction to his advantage while Y/n was still distracted. He hooked a punch under her raised arms towards her ribs, just managing to land a small jab before spinning and striking the same spot with a back kick. Y/n stumbled backwards, letting out a small groan, followed by a curse. Bucky wasted no time going in for another punch towards her face, which Y/n caught and used as leverage to haul herself on his shoulders. Before she could play the same trick as last time, Bucky flipped her over his head onto the mat.

His triumphant smile quickly disappeared when she grimaced from the impact. "Oh shit, Y/n did I-"

His expression softened when Y/n burst out laughing. "Now that's how you take someone down. Hats off to you, Buck."

Bucky let out a relieved chuckle and helped her up. "You're not... hurt though?"

Y/n scoffed, slapping him playfully. "The only thing I should be hurt about is the fact that you still doubt me."

"I doubt everyone I spar with, Y/n." He replied dryly. "But... maybe we could do this again. I can't always partner with Steve."

The corners of her mouth perked a small grin. She nodded knowingly. "I get it. There are times I hold back too much when I'm training with Nat. She always reminds me that she's fine but..."

"You're still afraid." Bucky finished. "That you'll lose control somehow."

Y/n stared at him blankly for a short moment, before nodding. "Yeah, exactly."

They're conversation was promptly cut short, when a familiar voice began booming from just outside the gym.

"Revenge tag in the park? Spidey-boy that's not a half bad idea!" Sam boomed from the door.

"SORRY SAM MAYBE TOMORROW!" Y/n hollered as her and Bucky zipped out of the gym.