Steve x Bucky x Clint drabble...
"Why are you breakin' my heart?" Steve whimpers, tears in his ocean blue eyes.
Bucky shakes his head, running fingers through his hair impatiently. "Don't cry, doll. Please don't cry."
Steve swipes at his runny nose hastily, "No! Tell me what I did! Tell me what I did wrong!"
"Steve-"
"I did everything I could to get you back!" Steve wails, "I just got you back-"
"Darlin'-"
The blonde grabs a hold of Bucky's metal wrist and squeezes. "Just tell me what to do, Bucky. Tell me and I'll do it, please- please don't leave me, please-"
Bucky exhales heavily, his eyes stinging. "St- baby, you don't understand. I have to go-"
"Then take me with you," Steve interrupts, eyes wide and so full of hope, it breaks Bucky's own heart.
"Only one of us can go back, sweetheart," he explains gently, as if Steve didn't understand.
"You don't! You don't have to go, Bucky, please!"
Bucky makes a disapproving sound again. It's sickening to Steve's ears.
Steve hears himself crying- bawling, really- and it doesn't even sound like him. He's never heard himself so distraught and broken before. It's like the wailing cry of a dying animal. His throat burns from sobbing, his eyes are sore and blurry. Snot and tears run down his face.
Can Bucky not see just how sad he's making him?
Did Bucky even know that Steve's heart felt like it was beating out of his chest? Like it'd jump out at any second and leave him cold and dead in the wake of Bucky's absence?
"Stevie..."
"Jamie please, please please please please..."
"Please-!"
*
"Steve? Sweetheart, wake up, you're having a nightmare."
Steve's eyes pop open and he's suddenly back in Avengers Tower. His eyes are wet, tear tracks drying down his cheeks. His chest is heaving as if he'd just run a marathon. And his body feels paralyzed in abject fear.
A gentle hand strokes his face and caresses his jaw, petting him softly.
"It's okay," Bucky whispers, "only a dream, darlin."
Steve, still traumatized from his nightmare pushes Bucky away with a petulant growl. He curls up against the headboard, arms wrapped around his bent knees.
Clint, who's sleeping on the other side of Steve, startles awake from the sudden movement, eyes on high alert.
"Whas'at?"
Bucky stops for a few, totally confused at Steve pushing him away. He turns and flicks on the bedside lamp, setting the room in an incandescent glow. Clint winces and turns to put on his hearing aids.
"Steve?"
The blonde is still curled up in a tight ball, trembling from some imaginary cold. Bucky can hear the stifled hiccups and sniffles, a soft whining in the back of his throat. He crawls closer but doesn't touch Steve for fear he'd push away from him again.
"Baby boy, talk to me. What's gotten you so upset?"
Steve shakes his head stubbornly. Then he mutters, "You left me..."
Bucky frowns and shares a confused look with Clint who still looks delirious from being woken up so abruptly. "I'm- I'm right here sweetheart."
"Yeah baby," the archer grunts, voice rough from sleep, "Bucky ain't going nowhere."
Steve shakes his head harder and finally looks at them with a teary glare. His blue eyes are steely and electric as he points an accusatory finger at Bucky.
"Daddy left... said he didn't wanna stay... went back to-" a sob escapes from Steve's mouth and he buries his face in his palms again, whining like a kicked puppy.
"Went back to what baby?"
"Brooklyn... when I was smaller..." Steve mumbles through loud sniffles.
Clint cuts Bucky with a disappointed look as if Bucky could control what Steve dreamed about. Then he leans against the headboard with Steve and wraps the blonde in his arms. Bucky tries not to feel the sting of rejection when Steve willingly accepts Clint's touch.
"Oh come here, sweetpea," he murmurs, giving Steve's temple a smacking kiss that makes him squeak in slight amusement.
Bucky can't help but feel a little bitter at the dream version of himself in Steve's head. Why'd he have to go and ruin things, dammit?
"You know Bucky loves you, right?" Clint asks their boy.
Steve goes suspiciously quiet before nodding twice, face still buried in Clint's bare chest.
"And you know he'd never leave you, right?"
"But-" Steve starts, the feisty little fucker, but Clint gently admonishes his outburst.
"Ah ah, Daddy's talkin'."
Steve bites his lip, eyes big and cheeks flaming with embarrassment.
Clint continues, "It was a nightmare, darlin. Scary? Sure. But real? Nah, Bucky's right here with you and me. Look at em."
Steve slowly pulls himself off of Clint's chest to look at Bucky, who's still looking a bit wary but more concerned than anything. He offers Steve a soft, encouraging smile and stretches out his metal hand on the bed. Steve's immediately drawn to the movement, blinking at the metal appendages thoughtfully. Then his brows furrow and his lips quiver- a telltale sign that he's about to burst into tears again.
Bucky almost pulls away but in an instant, he's got a lap full of a sobbing super soldier whose arms and legs wrap tightly around his body like a clingy spider.
"Thought you wanted to leave me for- ...for when I was tiny," he sniffs sadly.
Bucky absolutely melts and squeezes Steve tighter. "Oh baby doll, you're the same punk I loved all those years ago. Wouldn't make sense going back to the past when I've got you right here."
Steve mumbles something in response but it's all garbled and doesn't make sense. Clint chuckles and fondly pets Steve's downy blonde hair.
"Never gonna happen, sweetness. You're stuck with your Daddies forever."
Steve mutters out a quick, "'kay," and nods his head a couple times as if trying to reassure himself. Then he pouts and says, "Love you," in a small voice, pecking Bucky's lips shyly.
"Aw, you're so sweet, baby doll," Bucky praises, which makes Steve blush like crazy. He ducks his head and grumbles into Bucky's chest, sniffing.
Clint grins, then rolls his eyes. "Alright baby boy, let's get you tucked in to bed."
Bucky arranges Steve off his lap and back in his former sleeping space between himself and Clint. The blonde, clad only in soft lacy underwear and fuzzy blue socks snuggles back into Clint's waiting arms, while Bucky presses their chests together. He wraps his arms around Bucky's middle, while Bucky gently guides Steve's head to rest on his ample bicep. Steve's nose brushes the man's stubble, inhaling his woodsy scent and sighing in absolute comfort of being sandwiched by his Daddies.
"Good night baby," Bucky whispers into his hair, while Clint slips a warm hand past the delicate waistband of Steve's lacy underwear. He carefully avoids Steve's little prick and just rubs his belly in slow, comforting motions.
Steve doesn't have any more nightmares that night.
