Bucky & Steve x Reader Oneshot Series

Mumford and Sons ➡ Steve

It's empty in the valley of your heart
The sun, it rises slowly as you walk
Away from all the fears
And all the faults you've left behind

One of the many reasons Steve loved you was your bravery. There was no denying you were brave; you had to be either brave or a complete imbecile in order to walk away from HYDRA. You had chosen to escape your captors, despite the risks.

The harvest left no food for you to eat
You cannibal, you meat-eater, you see
But I have seen the same
I know the shame in your defeat

Steve had seen you on your worst days, when the memories were the source of crippling migraines, when every unearthed memory was a cause for incessant mental flagellation, because you were a monster. Freedom had come at a price; you were defeated, broken, shattered beyond repair.

But I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck

Despite your best attempts to fall to the irretrievable depths of the dark abyss, you found that a particular Super Soldier was always pulling you back out, making you train, eat, drink, refusing to let you become the reason for your own demise. At first, he annoyed the living daylights out of you because of this.

And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

After many heated arguments and a few choice words, as well as days of sullen silence which made the tension in the air asphyxiating, you allowed Steve to help you. Sure, you had gone through more than your fair share of hardship, but you were slowly regaining (Y/N) (Y/L/N), the girl before HYDRA.

'Cause I have other things to fill my time
You take what is yours and I'll take mine
Now let me at the truth
Which will refresh my broken mind

There were times when you could tell that the truth would hurt. You often felt that Steve was keeping the thing you needed to know from you. Once, you told him straight out that you wanted the truth, no matter how hard to take, so you could rebuild your life.

So tie me to a post and block my ears
I can see widows and orphans through my tears
I know my call despite my faults
And despite my growing fears

After a mission gone horrendously wrong, you ended up in the talons of HYDRA again. When they  realised their falsities no longer had hold of you, they tried breaking you with the truth, telling you how many families you'd torn apart, how many loving wives you'd widowed, and how many children would never see their parents again because of your handiwork. When even this failed to make any  lasting impression, they wiped your memories.

But I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck

When the team rescued you, brought you out of the living hell you had become desensitised to, you were teetering on the edge. Steve knew that if you fell back into a dark place, you would drown in the detritus of your past. He couldn't, wouldn't, allow that to happen.

And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

You began reshaping your life for the second time round. You could recall very few things about yourself, and the threat of HYDRA hung like a poisonous fog over your life, but progress was being made, no matter how minute it seemed.

So come out of your cave walking on your hands
And see the world hanging upside down
You can understand dependence
When you know the maker's land

Your views on every single aspect of life, whether it be morals or even the food on the table, had been twisted and warped into an unfathomable mess. You were impatient with being unable to tell fact from fiction, but Steve knew that eventually, you would regain the ability to decipher one from the other.

So make your siren's call
And sing all you want
I will not hear what you have to say

HYDRA tried their hardest to regain you as an asset, by hook or by crook, but you ignored them, and in several cases fought them off. These were the times you were grateful that you had a common ally. Steve vowed to cripple HYDRA, an act of vengeance for both Bucky and you.

'Cause I need freedom now
And I need to know how
To live my life as it's meant to be

When HYDRA fell, when the beast would grow no more heads, you were tired of fighting, but satisfied that you could become your own person, get a reputation for the better, and not as some spineless entity of HYDRA. Steve was relieved that the monster was slain, and would claim no more people.

And I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck

You still had your relapses, Blue Room days, you called them, but Steve was always there to get you through them, as a friend, and eventually, as something more.

And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

You two were married now, with children, living proof of the fact that, although life tried it's damnedest to throw not just bricks but the whole house in your path, they could always be overcome.

***

12/16 uGH i strongly dislike all of my old oneshots.

Although Mumford and Sons may not usually be my taste of music genre, the song has a really poignant message that inspired the oneshot.

Hope you enjoyed!