"Your Birthday is on Thursday." Bucky said this like he was sure it was a fact, and since most everything he said now was a question, this statement got Steve's attention.
"You're right, that is my Birthday." Steve SMILED at his friend, but The Winter Soldier looked away avoiding eye contact. The random little things that had not been wiped from his friends mind never failed to amaze Steve. Bucky did not remember much of his time fighting in the war. He did not recall the first time that Hydra captured him. He didn't remember who he was. At least not at first. BUT Bucky did remember things like how Steve used to make breakfast for dinner in their Brooklyn apartment, because it was cheaper when they were running low on money. Or when Wizard of Oz came on the TV, and suddenly Bucky was asking Steve if he remembered when that movie came out, and they went to the theatre together to watch it. Bucky hardly rememberred where he was most of the time. But he knew that Steve liked to sleep with a window open at night. He didn't recall the names of his parents yet, but he remembered the time that Steve dared him to lick a frozen pole in the middle of winter, and Bucky was stuck to it for at least ten minutes.
He did not remember his own name half the time. But, apparently he remembered the day of Steve's Birthday.
They were having dinner when Bucky realized he knew when Steve's Birthday was, Cap had picked up a pizza on his way back from a meeting at Avengers Tower. Tony had asked the two of them to move into the tower with the rest of the team, but Steve knew Bucky didn't like being around a ton of people….. Asking him to live with the entire Avengers team was a bit much for him right now. So for now they were renting a small apartment, that was close enough to The Tower that if necessary Steve could get there quickly.
Steve was smiling at Bucky, and the other man had a rather pleased look in his eyes. He didn't smile very often, but at least for the moment he didn't look like he was lost in the twisted remains of his mind.
"So, what do you think we should do for my Birthday?" Steve asked, unsure if Bucky would even want to celebrate, not wanting to do anything that would make his friend uncomfortable. When Bucky was silent, Steve offered a few suggestions.
"We could just hang out and watch movies all day…. Or maybe we could go out and have dinner somewhere…. Or I am sure the rest of the team would be up for having a party. But I'm not sure I would enjoy that. What do you want to do?" Steve asked, trying to think of something that would make his friend happy, even though it was going to be his own Birthday.
Bucky continued eating for a couple of minutes, and silence filled the apartment. Steve was wondering if Bucky had forgotten what they were talking about- That happened sometimes. Then he looked up at Steve, with those haunted but still beautiful eyes, and he looked like he was about to smile. "Let's just wait until Thursday to decide what to do Captain. Maybe I'll surprise you with something."
Of course on Steve's birthday there had to be an emergency. Just his luck. Luckily it was nothing huge, just a bit of a Hydra scare that needed an emergency meeting with Shield. It had been an enormous headache, and made everyone feel tense, and doubtful of who they could trust. Steve almost wished he had told the rest of the team it was his Birthday, maybe then Tony wouldn't have spent most of the meeting yelling at him. Fury and other Shield people obviously knew it was his Birthday, but they hadn't acknowledged it. They were nice like that, and knew he wouldn't want to make a big deal out of it. And Steve was sure Romanoff knew what today was too….. Or maybe she had just brought him his favorite coffee and a donut to the meeting to be nice.
What with the arguing and stress of the meeting, and having to be in the same room as Stark for hours upon end, it had not been one of Steve's better Birthday's.
He tried not to think about a few nights ago when Bucky had mentioned his Birthday, and the possibility of planning a surprise for him. He had not mentioned it since, and had probably forgotten all about it. Steve didn't want to get his hopes up that his best friend would remember his Birthday, so when he got back from the tower he entered the apartment with no expectations that Bucky would even wish him Happy Birthday. Honestly Steve was just hoping he would have a day where he remembered Steve's name. He was not expecting any surprises today.
But when he entered their apartment, he certainly did get a surprise- Just not exactly the good kind….
The apartment was filled with smoke, and beeping smoke alarms, and the smell of something sweet burning. Steve would have been terrified about Bucky's safety, but he could hear him shouting in Russian, and he couldn't see anything actually on fire, and no guns were being shot, so he assumed everything was relatively fine.
"Bucky, James! Where are you, what's going on?!" Steve could hardly see through the smoke, he was trying to find a window that would let some of it out. and he heard Bucky swearing in Russian. "Damn it Steve, you weren't supposed to be back yet. Natalia- Natasha, said she would keep you there at least another hour."
Steve had opened the window, and now that the smoke was clearing he could actually make out what was going on. Smoke was still pouring from the oven, the sink was overflowing with dirty dishes, and Bucky looked like a mess. His hair was tied up in a messy bun but some was falling in his eyes, and some kind of batter was splattered all over the from of his t-shirt.
Steve turned off the oven, and began waving more smoke out the window. "What is going on? What do you mean Natasha was supposed to keep me there?" Bucky was scowling. "I called her when I found out you were having that meeting, and asked her to keep you there as long as she could. I guess that didn't work out. She called me and said she couldn't keep you there any longer- So I turned the heat of the oven up so it would cook faster….."
Steve thought about how Natasha had kept asking questions and raising topics that made the meeting longer, he thought she was just worried about Hydra and trying to be as through as possible but now he saw how she had been trying to make the meeting as long as possible. It also made sense to him now that after the meeting she had followed him out, and actually tried to make small talk with him for a few awkward minutes… But he had been eager to get back to Bucky, and clearly she had failed to stall him for long enough.
"Aw, gee Bucky, I'm sorry. She did try, I swear she made that meeting at least an hour longer than it had to be. She asked so many questions about stuff she already knew, heck I'm surprised she didn't ask Fury who Hydra was, like she didn't know anything about them." Steve was joking hoping to make Bucky smile though it was a long shot, but he was still scowling, as he dumped more dirty dishes into the overflowing sink.
"Come on, don't be annoyed at her Buck, she even tried talking to me after the meeting, but I was just eager to get back to you." Steve had not meant to say that, it just slipped out. So he was surprised when those words brought a smile to his friends face, just for a second. But then his eyes scanned the wreck of a kitchen, and the darkness took over his eyes again.
"Whatever. It was a stupid idea, I should of known I couldn't make anything. This was an idiotic idea." Bucky was fuming, he reached into the oven with his left hand, and even though that was his metal arm Steve still had to fight the urge at first to panic and warn him not to burn himself. James yanked a smoldering pan from the depths of the oven, and threw it onto the counter. It was a cake pan, and it looked like the charred remains and uncooked batter in the middle was chocolate, Steve's favorite.
"Bucky… Were you making me a Birthday cake?" James didn't look at Steve, instead he began furiously scrubbing at one of the pans in the sink. "It was supposed to be done by now. It wasn't supposed to be this hard. I just got distracted when I went shopping for ingredients…."
Steve was touched, "You went to the store without me?" He asked, shocked. Buck hated being around crowds, he usually asked Steve or Natasha, sometimes Sam to go with him. If he went out shopping alone, that was a pretty big deal. He didn't like to be around civilians. Now the soldier shrugged as he tried to scrape flecks of sticky batter out of the bowl he was washing.
"Yeah. It was supposed to be a surprise. I know Natasha can keep a secret, but obviously she was busy. And come on. Sam would have told you as soon as he figured out what I was doing." Steve smirked, "Ok, yeah can't deny that. Good call there. He's a good man, he knows how to keep the big secrets but he's bad with not blabbing about the little stuff like this."
Bucky shrugged. "Whatever. It does't matter, I failed. I can't do anything right." That broke Steve's heart. He knew from past experience that saying Bucky was wrong, and that he hadn't failed wouldn't make him feel a lot better. He couldn't just let him feel this awful though.
"Buck, this was really nice of you. Seriously, I didn't expect this." The Winter Soldier rolled his eyes. "You didn't expect to come home to find the kitchen a mess, and the oven about to set the oven on fire?" Steve laughed, "Hey, at least it was a surprise!" Bucky actually smiled for a second at that. "Yeah, great surprise."
They were quiet as they cleaned the kitchen for a couple minutes, then Steve noticed a bowl on the counter. He picked it up to wash it, then realized it was full of something. Something that smelled sugary and sweet, and sparked a wave of nostalgia in The Captain.
He turned to Bucky. "Hey, you made frosting too?" Steve asked, wondering if it could possibly be the same recipe he remembered. James glanced towards the bowl. "Yeah. I thought….. I'm pretty sure I remembered something. One year, back before you were like" Bucky gestured at Steve, and his science enhanced body. "Big. Back when you were smaller. And I think it was your Birthday, so I made you a cake. And I remember I wanted to buy some frosting, but I didn't have enough money. So instead I just bought a few hershey chocolate bars, and melted them with some milk and powdered sugar. I tried to do that again, I don't know if it turned out ok though."
Steve dipped a finger into the bowl, and tasted the sugary mixture. He grinned. "It's amazing Bucky, it tastes just like the first time you made it." This statement didn't seem to cheer the other man up, he just shrugged and glanced at the still smoldering pan he'd pulled from the oven. "Yeah? I bet it would have tasted better with a cake under it."
Steve pulled a spoon out of a drawer, and was scooping up some frosting. "No, really, it's awesome! Come on, try it Bucky! It will make you feel better!" The Winter Soldier looked annoyed now. "No! I don't want any, just let me clean up my stupid mess!"
Captain America sighed, and sadly lowered the spoon. "It's not your fault Buck, this was so nice of you. Here, let me help you clean up…" Steve threw the spoon towards the sink, but somehow it totally missed. Instead it flew towards Bucky's face, and though he dodged the spoon, he was not able to avoid the glob of chocolate frosting that was not stuck to his eyebrows.
For a second Steve froze. How would this new Bucky react to this? Would this trigger him into a horrible flashback, or one of his meltdowns where all he did was sit and refuse to talk or eat or do anything? Would this set him off, and spark another massive fight?
The frosting did not evoke any of those things. Instead of freaking out, Bucky wiped the frosting off of his forehead, and then stared at it in disbelief. Then he lifted a frosting covered eyebrow, and looked at Steve. And Steve's heart swooped up in his chest, because in that moment Bucky's eyes looked the way they used to. Back before Hydra, and war, and people messing with this brain. They did not look like the vacant eyes of the Winter Soldier, they looked like the mischievous eyes of Bucky Barnes.
Bucky flicked the frosting off of his hand, and it landed on the counter. He didn't care. "Did you mean to do that Steve?" He asked, as he reached for another bowl that was partially full of raw cake batter. Steve grinned, and shrugged, not committing to saying if he had meant to do that or not. (Had he? Did he think if he did this would happen?) "Um, it was an accident Buck!"
Barne's was reaching for a spoon now, he loaded it with the batter. "Huh, then I guess this is an accident too!" And suddenly Steve had cake batter pouring into his eyes. And he was grinning, like he was the happiest person in the world. Because bucky was laughing. Full fledged laughing, just like in the old days. And Steve never wanted him to stop laughing, so almost without thinking he loaded up the spoon and whipped more frosting at him.
And suddenly it was a massive food fight. Steve was throwing spoon after spoon of frosting, and using a cake pan as a shield. And Bucky was throwing handfuls of cake batter, and then suddenly he found a bag of powder sugar and was using that too. It was a mess, it would take hours to clean, two of the worlds top soldiers were sticky with sugar, and covered in food. And they were both unbelievably happy.
When things finally calmed down, Bucky suggested they go down to the nearest bakery and buy a cake instead. Steve agreed this was a good idea, and before they could even try and clean themselves up, Bucky had grabbed his hand and was pulling him towards the elevator.
The cake they bought was a bit dry, and they didn't even eat half of it. The paparazzi took photos of them covered in food and ran idiotic ridiculous headlines. Steve had to go to another meeting about Hyrda that night.
But it was still one of the best Birthday's he'd had in a very long time. Because he had finally seen part of his old friend shine through.