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1.
Bucky hates Sam’s smile. Well, all of his smiles, to be more accurate.
You see, Sam seems to have an endless supply of smiles that are all different. Each of them are unique and all of them are unfortunately archived away in Bucky’s mind. They take up space.
The worst of all of those smiles is the exhausted one that comes after a successful mission. His shoulders are slumped; he’s bruised and battered, reeking of sweat and gunpowder, but there is this glint in his eyes, proud of the job he’s done and the lives he saved. The smile is barely there, his lips turning up ever so slightly on the sides but Bucky notices.
On those days, he’ll walk past Bucky without a sarcastic quip; instead he offers that stupid smile and claps a hand on Bucky’s shoulder with a nod as he walks past, “Have a good night, man.”
And yes, maybe Bucky could avoid those smiles if he wasn’t always outside of Sam’s room when he arrived. It was a coincidence, Bucky had trouble sleeping at night and sometimes he wonders the halls. That’s all. It is hard to rest when someone you care about – know – it’s hard to rest when someone you know is out risking his life.
2.
Bucky hates Sam’s voice.
He hates the way that that voice is stuck in his head, wiggling its way into Bucky’s ever day life like a parasite. That voice is deep, rich; it commands attention with the confidence of a true leader.
Which, honestly, is ridiculous. Sam isn’t a leader by any stretch of the imagination. Sam’s the kind of guy to spill cereal on himself on Saturday morning because he was laughing at something a cartoon character said on the television. Sam’s the kind of guy to shake his ass to some upbeat song while making rice krispie treats at two in the morning. That’s not leader material, who cares what Steve says on the matter. Seriously.
He hates the way that voice goes rough and gravelly when he’s irritated. Okay so, yeah, maybe Bucky should stop messing with Sam so much, then maybe he wouldn’t hear it as often. Except, Bucky will be damned if he’ll admit defeat so easily. That’s all, really, he just doesn’t want to lose to that birdbrain. If it means having to put up with that voice… so be it.
Besides, Sam would miss Bucky if he gave up; and why wouldn’t he? Buck is a joy to be around.
3.
Bucky hates the way Sam fights.
When it comes to Sam, there is no such thing as a fighting style, there is no pattern. One minute, he is an expert at stealth and strategy and yet in the next moment he becomes a bull, charging headlong at an enemy with a plan that amounts to ‘figure it out as I go’.
Sometimes Sam fights with the grace of a gymnast. His movements are precise and calculated as he analyzes the situation within seconds. In the next moment he is tackling an armed assailant to the ground like a football player.
They spar together sometimes, Bucky and Sam. It should be easy; Bucky is a super soldier with roughly seventy years of training as an assassin. Yet it is Sam that has the true advantage. He has picked up on Bucky’s weaknesses, grown accustomed to his tricks, and always seems to be a step ahead. It is with increasing frequency that Bucky finds himself on his back, staring up at Sam’s dumb smiling face.
“Luck, Wilson, it was just luck. I want a rematch.”
Steve always jokes after, digging his elbow into Bucky’s side with a smirk, “A perfect match; I mean, on the mat, of course.”
“Shut up, Rogers.”
4.
Bucky hates the way Sam is so damn understanding.
He hates that when Sam finds him, cowering in the common room in the middle of the night, he doesn’t say anything. He just sits on the floor next to Bucky and waits. Sam stays there until the sobbing subsides and then gets him a glass of water. As if Bucky deserves that kind of patience.
Wilson is kind. The world that Bucky Barnes lives in has no places for kind. Good, decent people are chewed up and spit back out until they turn bitter and resentful or are brought to their knees. Even Steve, with all his speeches on morality, has a side to him that is undeniably ruthless and even a bit selfish. Sam though – he’s good right down to the core of him.
“It’s not your fault y’know.”
Bucky flinches, “You gonna tell me it wasn’t me? Steve already covered that. Thanks.”
“No,” Sam says, shaking his head. “It was you doing those things, but it wasn’t your choice. You weren’t the killer – you were the weapon. Looking back, can you honestly tell me that you would have killed those people of your own free will?”
“No.” It isn’t much more than a whisper.
“That’s what counts.” Sam takes Bucky’s hand in his, “You’ve got one hell of a fight on your hands, Barnes. To heal from what they did to you – it’s not gonna be easy, but you have to know that you deserve it.”
5.
Bucky hates Sam’s snoring.
With enhanced senses, Bucky can pick up on those snores from across the hall. They’ve shared motel rooms on missions, they’ve slept in cars and bunked on the jet.
Bucky really hates the way those snores make him feel like he’s not alone on long nights. He hates that he needs him to sleep because they fill up the silence. He’s grown dependent on the sound to remind him that he’s not at the facility anymore.
Those snores drive away thoughts that maybe this all a dream, because really, why would he dream up something so annoying. That’s it. Nothing more.
Sam Wilson is a professional at getting under Bucky’s skin without even trying.