December 6: "you're in the hospital for the holidays so i came in while you were sleeping to decorate your room i love you merry christmas"

Of course this would happen on Christmas. Steve didn't necessarily seek out trouble, but he didn't avidly avoid it either. Hence the reason he was in the hospital on Christmas day with a stab wound and recovering from a severe asthma attack. It hadn't been enough for the mugger to take his wallet and his phone, oh not, he had taken his inhaler, too. Someone had found him gasping and bleeding in the snow and the rest as they say, is history.

Sam had yelled at him when he had called, but there was little else he could do all the way from DC where he was visiting his family. Sam made Steve promise to tell Bucky to take care of him while Sam was away before he would let him hang up. Sam probably would have booked the next flight to Brooklyn like he threatened to do if Steve had told him that Bucky wasn't answering his calls.

Bucky was celebrating Christmas with his family and wasn't picking up his phone-if Steve had to guess, he would say that Winifred made him turn it off. So Steve had left a message telling him what had happened and that the hospital was planning on keeping him overnight.

Steve could feel whatever they had given him for the pain start to drag him towards unconsciousness and so he checked his phone on last time for any reply from Bucky-still nothing-before drifting off.

He came into awareness to soft Christmas music playing and someone rustling something. When he cracked his eyes open, he found Bucky cursing as he wrestled with a small Christmas tree. Steve smiled at his struggling friend before taking stock of the rest of the room. There was tinsel wrapped around the railing of his hospital bed and golden stars of varying size hung on strung from the ceiling. The was also a sprig of mistletoe hind on the doorway and the tree Bucky had finally gotten to sit on one of the chairs in the room.

Bucky turned triumphantly to survey the room when his eyes met Steve's

"Stevie!" he said before rushing to his side. "How are you feeling?"

"M'fine" Steve slurred, trying to sit up. He winced and fell back against his pillows. Bucky gripped him under his armpits and lifted him to hit up and then fixed the pillows.

"You don't know how scared I was when I turned my phone on and got your messages." Bucky said, sitting down beside the bed. He grabbed Steve's hand in both if his own. "I don't know if it was the drugs or if you were trying to be give me a heart attack, but you were nearly as vague as possible. All you said was that you were in the hospital with a stab wound."

Steve made an apologetic face. "Sorry. You know I wouldn't do that on purpose, Buck." He said. "Though I was little bit upset when you didn't answer."

Bucky squeezed Steve's hands once before releasing them and sitting back. "You know my mom." He said before twisting his face into a mimicry of his mother's scowl. "Phones are a menace to society and they are ruining our youth." Hi imitated. "So I didn't get your message until about an hour and a half ago."

Steve nodded, not completely listening; his mind was still kind of groggy from the medicine. He was glancing around the room looking at the decorations around the room. "And so you decided to decorate my room?" He asked.

"When I first got here, I just sat by you while you slept, but you were really out and so I had time to do something. I decided that if you had to be cooped up in the hospital on Christmas, I might as well make it festive." he said with a shrug. "I had remembered a small shop on my way over and went and grabbed some supplies and then this happened."

Steve smiled brightly. "Thanks for this, Buck." He said.

"Nothing is too much for my best friend." Bucky said, ducking his head with a blush on his face. "Also I wanted to see you smile."

Steve gave him another dopey grin. "I love you, Bucky." He said before his eyes widened. "Uh, I mean that I love you. No wait like a-I mean I-" He trailed off scrunching his nose with a confused look on his face. "I think that the medicine is still affecting me." He said.

Bucky chuckled before leaning in to press a kiss to Steve's forehead. "That's okay." He said after he pulled back. "You should get some more sleep. I love you, too."

Steve nodded as he laid back down. Bucky made to sit back in his chair but Steve grabbed him by his sleeve. "Wait!" He said before grabbing Bucky by the front of his jacket and crushing their lips together. It was sloppy, but it was also sweet. Steve pulled back with a contented look on his face. "I love you, Buck." He said before dropping back down onto his pillows and drifting off.

"Okay." Bucky said breathlessly with a smile on his face.

Part of a 25 part Christmas AU series. If there are any medical inaccuracies, please tell me so I can fix it (or so I can know for future reference but not fix this because I am too busy).