Work Text:
~~~~~~
Bucky doesn’t need a body pillow, he has Steve. Whenever they nap or share a bed Bucky ends up with as much of his body as possible pressed along Steve’s side(and sometimes his front). Steve was surprised the first time it happened but he quickly adjusted; to the point where, if you were to look in on them in the middle of the night, you wouldn’t be able tell where Steve ended and Bucky began.
The night after Steve found out that Bucky was shipping out he was the one to instigate the snuggling, curling up in Bucky’s arms and laying his head on his chest, letting Bucky’s heartbeat lull him to sleep, a reminder that he was still here, that he was safe.
Steve didn’t sleep much after Bucky fell from the train. Even when he lined one side of his bed with pillows and pulled them to him it was wrong, they weren’t warm. They didn’t shift in the middle of the night or nuzzle under his chin in the morning. They didn’t press sleepy kisses to his face and chest and murmur how much they loved Steve. They weren’t Bucky and that was wrong.
When Bucky knocked on Steve’s front door one dreary morning, hair limp and stringy, onscuring part of his face from view. Shabby jackets and shirts layered one on top of another bulked him up, making him seem smaller than he was. His eyes were downcast and his face turned away slightly but the enormous dark circles were still visible. When Steve opened the door wider, a silent invitation, the look of hope and fear broke Steve’s heart. He resisted the urge to pull him into a tight hug when Bucky edged past him, automatically scanning the room for threats. He ended up staying on Steve’s couch and that was the first night in 70 years that Steve slept through the night.
Six months later Steve is yanked from his sleep by Bucky carefully laying on top of the sheets next to him. He slips down and over until his arm is pressing against Steve’s side. Steve stares for a minute until Bucky gives him a disgruntled glare and rolled over, stretching one arm over Steve’s stomach and laying his head on the pillow, turned to face Steve. He still isn’t fully pressed against Steve but, strangely enough, Steve doesn’t mind. When he wakes up in the morning and Bucky is still there, nose scrunched up a little in his sleep, the smile that spreads across his face threatens to split it in two.
~~~~~~