Stucky oneshots

If You Didn't Want To Be A Burden

He didn't mean for it to happen. Why would he want to get stabbed? It just sort of happened. Bucky was on a mission and a knife got thrown at him, imbedding itself in his right side.

He didn't want to burden anyone, so he told nobody. Not even Steve. He just took it out, packed it with gauze, taped it up, and went on his way. Did it hurt? Like hell. But he'd built up a high tolerance to pain. Besides, he thought he already burdened everyone so much just by existing, why add to the pile?

He changed the bandages every couple hours once he returned to the compound, as they kept getting soaked through with his blood. It had been a day since it happened and so far, people just assumed he'd taken a hit and was sore.

As he began replacing the gauze yet again in the middle of the night, Steve walked into their bathroom. His face fell as he was frozen in place momentarily. "Bucky..."

"It's fine, Steve. I promise, I'm fine." Bucky tried, tossing the bloody, used gauze into the trashcan.

"This is fine to you?!" He yelled out of both fear for Bucky's health and anger that he hadn't said anything or gotten it treated.

"It's not that bad." He mumbled, reaching for new gauze to repack the wound.

Steve grabbed the gauze from his hand, setting it back down on the counter. "It's not that bad?! Do you have eyes? Have you seen it?!"

Bucky looked down at his wound, keeping his eyes there as Steve's yelling made him anxious. "I'm sorry." He whispered.

"You should be! You could have an infection or you could've bled out! I can't believe you didn't say anything! You can't sweep things like this under the rug and just take care of it yourself!"

"Okay." He spoke barely audible, feeling ashamed of himself as Steve shook his head. He'd just been trying to not upset anyone or feel like a burden, yet that's exactly what was happening.

"Jarvis, tell Banner to get up here now and bring his first aid kit."

Bucky's eyes went wide. Now he was going to wake up Bruce and bother him? "I could've waited until morning for Bruce to look at it. I don't want to be a burden on anyone."

"If you didn't want to be a burden, you should've gotten it looked at and treated the right way. But you didn't, so here we are." He said with an edge, the words stinging Bucky's heart. Steve just admitted he was being a burden, didn't he? But he always swore to Bucky that he wasn't.

Before anyone could say anything else, Bruce walked in. "What happened?"

"It's from my mission. I'm sorry, I didn't need it looked at right now. I didn't mean to bother you." Bucky spoke with his voice taut, tears wanting to spill down his face after Steve's words.

"You're not bothering me, Bucky. I promise. Why don't you come lie down and I can stitch it up?"

Bucky went to his and Steve's bed and laid down on as Bruce pulled up a chair and got out his supplies. He laid silently and bit his lip as Bruce stitched him up. 

"I'll check on them in the morning, just try not to move around too much tonight." Bruce instructed before leaving.

Once he was gone, Bucky turned his head away from Steve. "I'm sorry." He mumbled softly, feeling too ashamed to look at him. He was a burden and Steve pretty much said as much.

"Don't do it again." Steve said quietly as he laid down on his side of the bed, turning off the light. Bucky waited until Steve fell asleep before letting himself break. He got up from the bed and left the room, going to the living room as he began sobbing.

Steve thought he was a burden tonight and he always swore to him he never was. All he meant to do by not telling anyone about his injury was not be a burden yet here he was. Would Steve even want to stay married to him if he was a burden? Probably not, why would he?

Bucky picked up their framed wedding photo from the side table. It was the two of them after kissing at the ceremony, both looking at each other and smiling huge. He began crying harder as he got caught in his mind, replaying a single line from Steve's vows. Love is never a burden, Buck. "His vow was broken. He's going to leave me now." Bucky thought to himself, sobbing harder than he thought was possible.

Steve's enhanced hearing picked up the sound of someone crying and woke him up. He listened closer and heard a person sobbing hard, filled with agony and pain. He turned his head, saw Bucky wasn't beside him anymore, and put two and two together. He nearly jumped out of bed to go find him and calm him down.

He found Bucky sitting on the floor in the living room, holding on tight to their wedding picture and sobbing harder than he'd ever seen him.

Steve moved to sit beside him on the floor. He set his hand on Bucky's back to let him know he was there, but Bucky flinched away from his touch.

"Buck, what's going on?" He asked softly, genuinely confused as he didn't realize his words had stung so much previously. He had no idea that Bucky's anxiety had run away with his words and twisted and turned them into hurting worse than it had when they were spoken.

"I-I'm....I'm sorry!" He sobbed, dropping the picture frame and burying his head in his hands. "You said I wa-wasn't a burden...b-because love isn't a burden b-but....but earlier you said I was because....because I didn't get it treated right and...a-and now your vow is...it's broken and you're gonna....you're gonna leave me!" Bucky began crying harder, which neither man realized was still possible. He was on the brink of hyperventilation now.

"Baby, you need to breathe. You have to take a breath, come on." Steve coached him, trying to calm him down before apologizing and assuring him he wasn't going anywhere. He reached out to touch him but Bucky once again flinched away and continued to cry just as hard.

"Please, Buck, you're going to make yourself sick. I'm not leaving and you're not a burden, I promise. I shouldn't have said what I did, I was scared and didn't mean it how it came out. You're not a burden, nothing you do or don't do is a burden. I married you because I love you and I'm not going to stop loving you. I'm not going anywhere, ever. I'm not leaving you. But doll, I need you to breathe because you're hyperventilating and I'm scared."

Bucky looked at him warily, wanting to believe him and be in his arms. He reached a hand out towards him and Steve took it carefully, pulling him into his arms.