Stucky oneshots

Real Steve

Steve woke up and rubbed his eyes, groggily getting up and stumbling into the bathroom to go pee. On his way back into the bedroom, he heard whimpering.

"It's okay, Buck. You're okay." He spoke softly, getting back in bed beside his husband and comfortingly resting his hand on his chest.

Bucky seemed to calm down and Steve rolled over to go back to sleep. As soon as he fell back into a deep sleep though, he was woken back up by a blood curdling scream. He shot straight up in bed and turned on the light, his attention going to the source of the noise: Bucky.

The scream was immediately followed by gut wrenching sobs. "I'm sorry, Steve! Stop! W-what did I do? I-I'm sorry! I don't know what I did, Steve, please!"

Hearing Bucky's words made Steve's blood run cold. Was he dreaming that he was hurting him?

"Bucky, wake up. It's a bad dream. You're okay." He panicked, his voice still raspy with sleep. Bucky didn't wake up from his voice so he took to shaking him frantically.

"Buck, come on. Wake up. Wake up, babe." He spoke as he shook him by the shoulders until his eyes shot open.

The nightmare didn't end when he woke up though. He caught sight of Steve over him and fear shot through him.

"I'm sorry! Don't-don't hurt me anymore! Please, no more! No more!" He sobbed in terror, falling off the bed and crawling frantically as far away from his husband as he could get, ending up in the corner of their room.

Steve slowly moved towards him, intending to sit on the floor with him at a safe distance but the second he made an advancement towards him, Bucky screamed in fear.

"No! Don't hurt me again! I'll be good!" He screamed, trying futilely to get further away from him.

Steve froze, having no clue how to handle this. He'd never once hit his husband and felt mortified that, even though it was a nightmare, Bucky was scared of him.

He watched as Bucky sat on the floor with his knees to his chest, sobbing into his hands. He kept repeating, "No more. Please. I'll be good."

Before Steve decided on his next course of action, there was a knock on the door. Bucky didn't seem to even notice it so Steve slowly walked to the door and opened it.

"What did you do?! Did you hit him?!" Tony demanded, seemingly full of rage at the very thought.

Steve shook his head, taken back by the accusation. "Of course not! He had a nightmare and I-I have no idea what to do."

Tony's rage immediately disappeared. "Shit, okay. Do you want me to go get Sam?" He offered, genuinely worried for the men he teased everyday.

Steve's mind couldn't function fast enough to properly evaluate the situation so he just nodded. Tony hurried away and, within minutes, Sam rushed in.

By this point Bucky was still, if not more, hysterical and Steve was now crying helplessly.

"I don't know what to do! I didn't touch him, I never-I've never hit him but he had a nightmare and he's terrified of me! I can't get near him without making things worse!" Steve explained through sobs, wanting Bucky to trust him again. And it felt especially unfair that the trust was gone not because of anything he did, but because of a nightmare.

"Okay, okay. Take a breath, alright? Go get some water, calm down a bit. I'll try and help Bucky, okay? I'll call you back in when he can handle it." Sam spoke in an even tone, his experience with veterans kicking in.

Steve hesitantly left the room and Sam sat on the floor, a safe distance away from Bucky.

"Bucky, it's just me. It's Sam. There's no one else in the room. Steve's gone." He tried, Bucky still not removing his face from his hands. Sam knew that, right now, Bucky's mind couldn't differentiate between what happened in his nightmare and what happened for real. "What happened? What did Steve do?"

"He-I don't know what I did wrong! He just-he kept hitting me and I don't know why! It hurt and I don't know what I did!" He sobbed.

Progress. This was progress.

"That's terrible, man. I'm so sorry. What was happening before that?" He asked, moving slightly closer and seeing that Bucky didn't flinch at the movement.

"We were driving to Hydra and-and he was-he was gonna give me back to them. I didn't wanna go and he started beating me." He whimpered, peeking through his fingers to make sure Steve wasn't in the room. When he realized Steve wasn't there, he pulled his hands away from his face completely.

He looked around the room and then confusion came over him. "When did I get back home? We were-we were in the car and then on the side of the road."

He looked at Sam, his eyes pleading for answers. His sobs had reduced to whimpers, his breathing slowing ever so slightly.

"Bucky, it was a nightmare. You never left the room. Steve didn't hit you or drive you back to Hydra. He wouldn't do that to you." Sam spoke slowly, watching for signs of disbelief on Bucky's face.

Bucky shook his head, confused. "No...but-he...I'm safe?"

Sam smiled at him reassuringly. "You are safe, I promise. Look at yourself. Do you see any cuts or bruises or blood?"

Bucky looked down, seeing nothing on himself but a clean pair of black boxers. No blood. No bruises. No cuts or scrapes. "It wasn't real?"

"No, it wasn't real. I know it felt real, nightmares have a way of doing that. But it didn't happen, okay?"

Bucky nodded slowly, beginning to try to accept that.

Sam decided to use a grounding strategy with him. One that he was familiar with. "Give me 5 colors you see."

Bucky looked around, slowly naming colors in the room. "Blue, red, black, gray, green."

"Good job. Tell me four shapes you see."

"Square, rectangle, circle, another rectangle." He looked around, the distraction helping to get his breathing back to normal.

"Three people you trust or feel safe with?" Sam prompted, wondering if Steve would be on this list now.

"You, Natasha,...Steve? Real, not nightmare Steve." He clarified.

"Alright, good. Take two deep breaths with me." He instructed, taking them with him. "What one big emotion do you feel the most right now?"

"Fear." He decided, his body shaking despite his now mostly-regulated breathing.

"Okay. What can we do to help you feel more safe? Do you want Steve to come back in? Real Steve, not nightmare Steve."

Bucky reluctantly nodded. "Real Steve. But-but he's gotta tell me what song we danced to at our wedding because nightmare Steve didn't know it before he started taking me to Hydra."

Sam nodded. "Okay. Do you wanna get off the floor? You could get back in your bed. It might be comfier." He suggested, not going to push the issue if he didn't want to.

Bucky nodded. "Okay." He let Sam help him back into bed, sitting against the headboard and hugging his pillow to his chest.

"You ready for me to call Steve back in here?" He checked again, Bucky nodding. "Steve, you can come in." He called out, watching Bucky's face for any sign of fear when Steve walked in slowly.

"Hey Steve, what song did you and Bucky dance to at your wedding?" Sam asked as he entered, still studying Bucky carefully.

"All My Tomorrows. Frank Sinatra." Steve answered.

At the correct answer, Bucky immediately smiled. "It's real you."

Steve smiled back at him. "It is real me. I would never hurt you. Can I come near you?"

Bucky nodded, feeling safe again. Steve got in bed beside him, keeping a cautious distance until Bucky pulled him close and hugged him tight.

"You two gonna be okay now?" Sam checked, smiling as Steve hugged Bucky back and held him close.

They both nodded, so Sam, feeling accomplished, turned off the light and left. The couple continued to hold each other tight, Steve rubbing Bucky's back gently.

"I would never hurt you, my love. I promise. You know that, right?" Steve spoke softly, tears on his face once again.

Bucky nodded slightly, feeling Steve kiss his forehead. "I know."