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“Bucky!” the sound of Steve’s screaming drowned out every other noise. His body was disappearing into oblivion, falling, falling faster and faster. The face of his best friend vanished into the darkness of the pit. His breathing stopped, his heart sank…
“Steve! Steve! Wake up!” His body bolted up to a sitting position. Bucky was gone. He fell. “Steve!” Bucky twisted his face toward his own. Steve was starting to hyperventilate. Bucky couldn’t remember the last time Steve had an asthma attack. This time, it was much more a panic attack. Bucky knew from prior experience in the war that they were much, much worse than a normal asthma attack. “Shh,” he was stroking his cheek, doing everything imaginable to drag Steve back to Earth.
“Oh my god, Bucky,” Steve put his face in Bucky’s neck, sobs shaking his whole entire body. His breathing sounded like a broken dog toy with a squeaker in it, becoming raspier with every attempted breath. "I don't- want to lose- I don't-"
"Shh, just breathe, okay? I'm fine, you're fine, just breathe. Come on, you can do this." With every second, Bucky's heart sank deeper into his stomach. The supersoldier barely slept anymore, and when he did, Steve woke up almost every night screaming or crying. And Bucky knew it was him; Steve called out his name in his sleep, yelled the things he never got to say to him. The Winter Soldier incident had caused buried emotions to come back from the grave and haunt Steve's daily and nightly thoughts. "Steve, please, do this for me, I'm fine, I'm okay. You need to calm down. I need you right now, and right now this is not helping me."
After another ten minutes, Steve breathing slowed down. His body still shook. He whispered into his ear, "It was just a nightmare, I'm still here. I'll always be here."
"It's-It's just, I can't- can't lose you again. The thought of it-"
"No! Shh, don't even think about it! I'm not gonna leave you ever, okay?" Bucky started laying kisses all of Steve's jaw and neck. He pulled himself and his lover down into a spooning position.
"Do you think you can go to sleep?"
"No."
"Do you want me to stay with you?"
"Yes."
They sat in silence for moments. "Do you want to talk-?"
"No," Steve said plainly. "Just, please hold me."
His grip tightened around his waist. "Til the end of the line, soldier."