This was just meant to be something short and sweet, and then it ended up being nearly three thousand words. My bad...
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters. I just borrowed them for a little bit because I wanted them to be all happy...
Christmas used to be an important thing to Steve Rogers and James 'Bucky' Barnes.
They never had much, but they always managed to do something for Christmas.
Sarah Rogers would scrimp and save so that she could make them a special lunch and a small present. Bucky didn't ever get much for Christmas, since he had little sisters that were always growing out of their clothes and the money went on them, but Steve always made sure to get him something with the meager money he managed to put aside. After Sarah died and Bucky and Steve moved in together, they did what they could. Bucky would get Steve some nice paper to draw on and Steve would get Bucky a couple bottles of beer that didn't taste as though they were ninety percent water. Then they would curl up under a couple of blankets, trading kisses as they watched the snow fall outside their Brooklyn home.
The first Christmas that he spent once he had come out of the ice, he pretty much ignored what day it was. That wasn't particularly easy, given he was in New York, and everyone now had enough money to go completely overboard with decorations and advertising, but he managed well enough. He was catching up on TV shows that Clint Barton had recommended to him, and very stoutly refusing to leave his apartment. Clint, Natasha Romanova and Tony Stark all invited him to come with them to their various apartments or destinations so that he wouldn't be alone, but Steve turned them all down with a tight smile.
Christmas just wasn't Christmas without Bucky.
The second Christmas was just several months after he had found out that Bucky was still alive, and he and Sam Wilson were somewhere in South Africa tracking him down. Steve had told Sam to go home, to spend time with his family, but Sam had just shrugged it off. They had gone out and had some really good diner food, Sam had introduced him to Home Alone, and then they had continued their search.
The third Christmas was after he had found Bucky, but his best friend was still adapting to everything, detoxing from all of HYDRA'S brainwashing. Steve didn't even mention Christmas to Bucky, because he barely left Steve's room in the Avengers tower except for appointments with therapists and Bruce Banner. In all honesty, Steve didn't mind at all, because at least he had Bucky yet. Sure, Bucky didn't remember everything, but he remembered enough, and a few weeks ago, he had nudged Steve's arm around his shoulders and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth before they continued watching the second Jason Bourne movie. So he had everything—and more—than what he needed for Christmas.
But this year, things were a bit different.
Bucky remembered almost everything, sometimes even bringing up things that Steve had forgotten. They had left the Avengers tower about six months ago and were living back at Steve's apartment in Brooklyn. Bucky didn't come out on missions with the Avengers, stating that he had fought enough in his life time, but he was always there when Steve came home, smiling widely, happy to have him home.
So Steve wanted to celebrate Christmas this year.
Tony threw a big party every Christmas, where half the city of New York was invited. It was over the top and bordering on obscene, and while it was completely Tony, it was the opposite of what Steve viewed Christmas as. He thought of something small and intimate, only between family and close friends. Pepper Potts understood that, and she had talked Tony down when he had gotten all indignant about Steve saying he wouldn't be caught dead at the party.
Unsurprisingly, it was Sam and Natasha who came to the rescue, telling him where he could spend a perfect Christmas.
"Where are we going?" Bucky asked for the tenth time as he looked toward the cockpit, where Natasha was flying the quinjet.
"Just trust me, okay?" Steve rolled his eyes with a playful smile. Bucky gave him a lopsided smirk and leaned back into the seat, reaching out to tangle his fingers together with Steve's. He was wearing a pair of jeans, a grey teeshirt and a black blazer, looking absolutely delicious, just like he always did. He had had a haircut recently, so it was no longer as long as it had been before, but it was still longer than back in the forties. It looked good, and Steve liked running his fingers through it when they were rolling around in bed together, and it represented who he was. He definitely wasn't the Winter Soldier anymore, but he wasn't Sergeant Barnes either. He was just Bucky.
"Okay, we're here, Captain," Natasha called out from the front, flashing a smirk over her shoulder back at them. Bucky made a move to get up, but Steve just tightened his grip on Bucky's hand as the quinjet began it's descent. Sam, who was sitting up next to Natasha, grinned at the impatient noise that Bucky made as they finally hit the ground and Steve released Bucky's hand. "Let's go," Natasha told them as she got up from her seat and smoothed out the front of her blouse and pressed the button to lower the ramp of the quinjet.
"Where...Where are we?" Bucky frowned as they stepped out of the jet and looked around. They clearly weren't in a city, because they were surrounded by snow covered farm, and they were a couple hundred metres away from a farm house—also almost completely white from snow—with warm, golden light coming from the windows. They had left New York early that morning, and the weather here was terrible, the sky almost black and threatening to rain, thunder rumbling in the distance, it almost felt like night rather than ten o'clock in the morning.
"Come on!" Natasha led the way quickly up to the house, navigating the creaky steps and dodging around some toys that had been left out on the decking that surrounded the house as though she had done it a hundred times before. Come to think of it, Bucky glanced at Sam and Steve, who were doing the exact same thing, as though they were completely familiar with this place. Bucky's eyebrows pulled together as the front door swung open, and a homely looking woman was standing there, wearing an absolutely hideous Christmas sweatshirt and a wide smile on her face.
"Nat!" The woman cried, coming forward and throwing her arms around Natasha, pulling the assassin in for a tight hug. Bucky blinked and looked at Steve, who gave him a quick smile, before the Captain was also being pulled in for a hug. "So good to see you Steve! And Sam!" Then it was Sam's turn, before finally the woman was facing Bucky. "And you must be James," she stated, her grin not faltering one bit as she reached forward and wrapped her arms around Bucky. He startled slightly, but she didn't pull back, and then he relaxed into her grip. She smelt like sugar and cinnamon, and she felt comforting and warm against him. When she pulled back, he blinked in surprise, but she was already moving back into the house. "Come in, come in, it's freezing out here!"
The house kind of look as though a bunch of elves had just thrown up all over the place. There were fairy lights hanging from the ceiling, wound around the railing for the stairway and the windowsills. There were paintings of reindeer and Santa and Christmas trees all done by children stuck to the walls, and in the corner was a Christmas tree. The decorations were mismatched and a lot of them looked handmade, and it was nowhere near as fancy as the tree in the Avengers tower that Stark had probably spent thousands on, but it looked so much more special.
"Aunty Nat! Uncle Sam! Uncle Steve!" Came the voice of a young girl, also wearing a heinous looking sweatshirt. Natasha lowered herself so that she could pick the girl up, the little girl imitating a monkey by wrapping her legs around Natasha's waist. She smiled over the red heads shoulder at Sam and Steve, waving her little hand, and then she gave a more shy smile to Bucky.
"You're just in time," Clint spoke up from behind Bucky, and the brunette spun around to see Clint standing there, holding a baby in one of his arms. "Good to see you," Clint said, holding out his free hand to shaky Bucky's. "Welcome to our home."
"Your home?" Bucky blinked. Steve shifted to stand next to Bucky's side, nudging his elbow.
"This is Laura, Clint's wife," the blonde introduced. "And this is Lila," he nodded over to the girl in Natasha's arm. "Nathaniel," he waved at the baby in Clint's arms. "And Cooper is..." he frowned and looked around.
"Cooper is keeping an eye on breakfast," Clint concluded and made a face. "So I should probably get in there and make sure that the house isn't about to burn down." He walked over to his wife, passing Nathaniel over to her and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before heading toward a doorway on the other side of the room. Lila told Natasha she wanted to show her what Santa had brought her, and the pair made their way over to the Christmas tree, while Laura and Sam started talking, and Bucky turned his surprised gaze toward Steve.
"I thought..." Steve actually looked a bit nervous. "I thought that this was the sort of Christmas you would like. I mean, Tony is doing Christmas his way, which is fine, it's just—" he took in a deep breath. "It's just I thought that this was more us, you know? Just with family, and people that we love, and—" he cut off when Bucky reached up and pressed his lips hard against Steve's mouth. He felt the tension immediately seep from his lovers body as they stepped closer together, and they only pulled apart when there was the sound of someone clearing their throat next to him. A boy was standing there, a disgusted expression on his face.
"So do you guys kiss a lot, like mum and dad?" He asked, his nose scrunched up. "Nat and Sam don't kiss very much—you should be more like them. So should mum and dad," he added as an afterthought. Bucky couldn't help but let out a laugh, and he saw Steve's cheeks pink.
"And this is Cooper," Steve introduced.
"Hi," Bucky gave him a sheepish smile.
"Hey," Cooper nodded. "Do you work with my dad and Uncle Steve?"
"Uh," Bucky tilted his head to the side. "Something like that."
"Do you like Star Wars?" He asked.
"Yes," Bucky answered instantly and Steve snorted. They had watched all the movies over the space of a month, Clint and Sam both insisting that they needed to see them all since there was a new movie coming out. Steve had thought they were good, but Bucky had thought they were great, and he had dragged Steve along to the newest movie at it's premiere midnight release.
"Awesome!" Cooper's eyes glowed. "You've gotta see what dad got me then!" Bucky glanced toward Steve, as though asking if it was okay to leave, but Steve just made shooing motions with his hands, more than happy to watch as Bucky enjoyed his first Christmas in years. Bucky sat on the ground near the Christmas tree when Cooper picked up a BB-8 toy and a remote control. Bucky let out a surprised laugh as the little unit suddenly sprung to life, emitting a string of beeps before rolling off at high speed across the room. Cooper was grinning, eyes wide and mouth curved upward in a grin, and Bucky looked just as excited as they watched the robot. After a few minutes, Cooper gave the remote control to Bucky, showing him how to use it.
"You did good," Sam said in a low voice as he moved to stand next to Steve.
"I hope so," Steve murmured.
"No, you did," Sam assured him. Lila had moved to sit next to Bucky, not even thinking twice before reaching out to balance herself by putting a hand on her knee. Bucky's expression was soft as he looked at the younger girl, and handed the remote to her, letting her have a turn. Natasha got up and took Nathaniel from Laura's arms, the two woman heading into the kitchen after Clint.
When they were all called into the kitchen to swarm around the table for breakfast, Bucky blinked at all the food that was laid out. Steve could understand that, when they were younger they were happy just to have enough not to be starving, and even now, it could be a shock at what they could afford. Lila and Cooper dominated most of the conversation, Nathaniel joining in with high pitched squealing every now and again and banging his spoon against the side of his plate. Natasha and Clint teased each other over the table, and there was even the threat of a food fight breaking out at one point when Clint started flinging pieces of bread across at the red head, but Laura quickly put that to an end. Steve and Sam were talking about some baseball game they had just watched the night before, Steve's hand occasionally straying to Bucky to touch his arm or thigh.
Bucky was just content to watch.
The whole atmosphere was relaxed and warm and loving. Clint leaned over to kiss his son on his temple, and Cooper pretended to be grossed out and duck his head away, but there was a smile on his face. Laura had her hand resting against the back of Clint's neck, and they would look at each other lovingly every couple of minutes. Natasha was surprisingly adorable with the kids, who adored her, and she was leaning forward to help Nathaniel get food in his mouth rather than on his red and white Santa onesie. Sam was watching the red head with soft eyes, and was talking to Lila about a book that she had gotten that morning. And then there was Steve.
Steve who looked calm, and happy, his eyes crinkled a little in the corners, and his shoulders slumped as he spoke with Clint about some bet that involved picking up Thor's hammer.
Bucky's heart was so full it felt as though it might burst.
Sometime after an even bigger lunch, almost everyone in the house was bordering on a food coma, Bucky managed to find a quilt, pulling it around his shoulders as he searched out Steve. His lover was in a bedroom upstairs, which was apparently their bedroom for the night, and Bucky approached where he was standing by the window, looking out at the snow that had started falling again. He turned around when he heard Bucky approaching, and his adorable, boyish smile stretched across his face as Bucky shifted the quilt so that it was over his shoulders as well. They were facing each other, the window to one side.
"I know it's not what it used to be," he murmured quietly.
"Nothing's like it used to be," Bucky responded softly as he reached up to rub his nose softly against Steve's. Steve's throat clicked as he swallowed at the tender gesture. Bucky's lips met his for a brief moment before resting back down solidly on his feet. "But this is what we are now, and this is our family." Steve's heart beat faster in his chest at Bucky's words. "We need to make new traditions, and I think this is just right." Steve smiled, and the arm that wasn't holding the quilt in place over his shoulder reached out to twine around Bucky's waist, tugging him closer. They pressed their heads together, watching as the snow fell, warm and safe in each others arms.
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