Chapter Text
The head canon that started it all.
Still shaking as you stood outside the front of the police precinct, you took a few deep breaths to try and centre yourself. The adrenaline coursing through your veins since you and Bucky were pulled over hadn’t waned and you were scared it wouldn’t be much longer you fell in a heap on the sidewalk when your knocking knees eventually gave in.
In no way could you have ever imagined the evening end up the way it turned out. The last few hours seemed like an out of body experience – a hot date (God, he was sinfully hot), a little conversation (that was probably 99% fabrication in hindsight), a few drinks and you just threw yourself at Bucky Barnes: outlaw.
Then getting caught up in the drama of his arrest. Gee, that was a delight.
You were just collateral damage, the officers had explained. Bucky seemed to collect a lot of it, they added.
You had been texting a friend since your release, just to let someone (anyone) know that you were okay.
You: They released me without charge. Just interviewed me, they clearly hadn’t seen someone so pathetic get caught up with this biker guy. Think they just felt bad for me for being so easily suckered in.
You: This is, by far, the worst fucking date I’ve ever been on. You can quote me on that.
Amity: Trust me when I say this, I won’t be forgetting about this in a hurry. I just can’t stop laughing. I’m so sorry!
No, you aren’t, you realised. Taking a sharp intake of breath, it did nothing to ease the adrenaline that coursed through your veins. You felt like you’d been through the ringer. After watching Bucky’s arrest on the street, you were placed into a separate squad car and taken to a local precinct that buzzed with the thrill of potentially bringing in Barnes.
But you hadn’t seen him since he was cuffed and hauled off in the police car. He gave you a weak, apologetic shrug, chewing his bottom lip as the red and blue lights swirled around you, a crowd (and their cell phones) gathering to observe the scene. Bucky didn’t appear nervous, maybe just tickled at how his night had ended up. It was then you figured he was probably old hat in situations like this.
You hoped (and pleaded to yourself) that you would never have to see him again. You were questioned after a few hours in a lonely interview room, officers coming and going intermittently and it had made you feel even more ridiculous. Everything the police threw at you? You had absolutely no answer for. You were sure you looked like the human shrug emoji. They could tell you were swept up with the wrong guy who’d had probably sent a few nice lines your way, gave you some of that stony-blue eyed smoulder and you were done.
It felt cheap… but how right they were. You were just so embarrassed by the entire situation and it only made you angrier as you texted back.
You: I’m glad my humiliation is so pleasing to you.
Amity: I’m really sorry. Yes, you’ve had a shit night, I def agree. Do you want me to schlep to Brooklyn and pick you up?
Sighing, you texted back that you had driven and declined her offer but fuck knew where you actually were – Brooklyn wasn’t your borough. You’d have to Google the street you’d parked on and it only seemed to add insult to injury. Sifting through your purse, you cursed. You’d taken your keys and phone from it while still inside and must have left them in there after you’d been allowed to leave.
“Goddamn it,” you said, stomping and turning heel to walk back in, moving as close to the wall as possible as a disgruntled gentleman burst out, yelling expletives angrily. About what, you didn’t catch nor did you care. Pushing through the doors in the precinct, you weren’t too surprised to see the officer that had allowed you leave only 15 minutes earlier coming your way, jingling your keys.
“I was taking a wild stab in the dark that you may still be outside,” she explained as you held out your hand and thanked her profusely. “It’s no worries. Want some free advice?”
Not really, you wanted to reply but shrugged meekly instead.
“You didn’t hear this from me, but that Barnes? He’s bad, bad news.”
This wasn’t the first time that you’d heard this warning tonight. Whilst in the interview room, another officer had commented on the DA’s inability to pin a few major crimes on him and the MC but his lawyer always managed to find them a credible alibi, a way out. “Yeah, so I see…” you murmured.
“And this may not be the last time you hear from him. I suggest you change your phone number. He’s not dangerous to you,” she tried to reassure you even if she was failing. “Not in the way he is about protecting the MC. But be smart. Keep your wits about you on the street, to and from work, any phone numbers that seem unfamiliar.”
“Gotta say, I actually feel like I’m in more danger leaving here than I did on the date,” you tried to joke. The adrenaline was fading fast and you leaned back against the wall to avoid dropping. You just wanted to get out as fast as you could, lock the doors behind you and hopefully wake up from this nightmare.
The woman smiled a thin line. “He’s the kind of guy your mother never dreamed of warning you about because she hopes and prays you never meet him, sweetheart.”
You blinked. You’d never heard the analogy before and it seemed so… appropriate. “Grim.”
“Yeah,” she huffed a laugh. “Grim.”
You watched as she nodded before turning to leave. “Take care,” she called over her shoulder.
...and there you go, you realised as your knees finally gave way and you slumped to the ground. Rubbing your tired eyes, all you wanted to do was get the fuck out of there as soon as possible… as soon as you could stand again, get some caffeine into you and find your motherfucking car!
You couldn’t sleep – as exhausted as you were, rest just wouldn’t come. Your brain refused to stop attempting to process your night. Over and over, the fucking smirk of Barnes’ flooded your brain when you thought you were drifting off, only to wake you again with a start. The sun was starting to rise when you gave up on sleep and found yourself Googling all you could find on James Buchanan Barnes. His full name. Ex-US Army, the police continued.
It was shocking what you were able to round up on him and the MC.
Upon return from the Middle East, Barnes fell into the wrong crowd. You deduced his once-Army Captain, Steve Rogers, now the President the MC, got him hooked into the life and Bucky now found himself as Sergeant-At-Arms for The Avengers.
Seemed like a true fall from grace. So simplistic and even a little sad. But oft as these things are, it was anything but.
There was a lot of information online about various members (Rogers, Romanov and Wilson were names brought up frequently), court dates, crimes alleged against them. Drug rings, prostitution, violence, gun running. Some truly heinous things that scared you to the bone.
You made a mental note to change your phone number and the locks the next day. This wasn’t something you wanted to get yourself messed up in. Bucky Barnes was a bad, bad man.