“Bucky!” Steve sat up with a racing heart. His hand instinctively reached out and grasped Bucky’s shirt beside him.
The man pressed himself flush against Steve, immediately. “Stevie, baby, you’re okay. Jus’ a dream, it’s not real, baby.”
Bucky swayed them slowly, bringing Steve back to reality.
When he felt Steve’s breathing return to normal, he pressed a kiss to the side of Steve’s face.
“Baby, what can I do for you?”
“Hold,” Steve murmured.
They laid back down, never once leaving each other’s arms. Bucky felt Steve’s legs come up to wrap around his thighs. He stroked his flesh hand through his boy’s hair. “Alright, we’re okay, Stevie. I’ve got you. You’ve got me.”
—
Bucky assumed they fell back asleep pretty soon after, because the next thing he remembered was waking up to Steve breathing heavily next to him. He turned, saw the furrow of Steve’s brows, felt the tossing and turning of his body.
“Steve,” he said softly. “Baby, wake up, you’re having a bad dream. Come on, honey.”
He saw the fluttering of Steve’s eyelids. “That’s it baby, I’ve got you, come on.”
Steve gasped. Eyes wide. He caught Bucky’s, and relaxed. Visibly.
“I’m so sorry,”
Steve was saying sorry for waking Bucky up. And so much more. He was saying sorry for that day. For everything that led to Bucky falling out of that train, ending up with Hydra, being brainwashed, forgetting Steve, all the pain he went through.
“No, baby. Got nothin’a be sorry for. My best guy doesn’t do nothin’ wrong,”
“Buck,” Steve started, and his tears were already stopping him. “Buck,” he said again, ten tears even more evident.
“I love you.” Bucky said firmly. “Always have, always will. I’ve got you, baby.”
“Buck,” it seemed to be the only word Steve was capable of saying at the moment. He looked up, watery eyes catching Bucky’s.
“I’m right here, honey. I’m not going anywhere,”
—
That night, after Steve and Bucky had a day of doing nothing, they sat together in the bathtub.
“Wanna talk about the dreams?”
Steve shrugged. “Same as always. I watch you fall, over and over and over again. And nothing I do helps.”
Bucky runs a gentle hand through Steve’s hair. “I get dreams too, Stevie. You know that. And there’s not much we can do, other than remind ourselves that we’re past that. That we have each other, and that isn’t gonna change any time soon.”
“I love you, Bucky,” Steve tilted his head back to kiss Bucky’s jaw.
“I love you too. So much,”