"Reach! Reach way up!" the super soldier instructed as he lifted the three year old high above his head. She giggled and grabbed at the sky, her thick honey brown curls bouncing as she flung herself sporadically at the blinking bugs in the air. Steve kept a firm grip, but Bucky couldn't help but worry just a little.
"Hey! Papa! Papa, look! I'm a airplane!" the girl giggled infectiously, "I can fly like Uncle Sam!" Bucky smirked despite himself.
"Peggy, are you a falcon," he asked playfully, sauntering over to Steve, who was pulling the girl closer to his shoulder.
"Mhm!" The child hummed proudly. "I'm a superhero!"
"Yes you are," Steve smiled fondly. He placed the girl on the ground to run around and collect more of the glow stick insects. "Remember what I told you, hold you're hand out in a cup and wait for one to land in it."
Bucky laced his metal arm behind Steve's back and spun the blonde to face him. He threw the super soldier a confused smile as he circled his husband's neck in a loose embrace.
"Why are we out here again," Bucky asked incredulously. Steve rolled his eyes.
"It's traditional to learn to art of catching fireflies," the taller man explained, "this is the first night I noticed them out this year. And if we had tried to do this last year, you know she would've tried to eat them." Steve leaned down to kiss the shorter man as he hummed in conceded agreement. The action was chaste and didn't have much time to evolve because as quickly as it began, Peggy was scrambling over her little green dress to show off her prize to her parents.
"Daddy! Daddy look! I caught one!" Steve broke the kiss, ever so slightly dazed, and knelt down to his daughter.
"That's great sweetheart! Can I see?"
Peggy opened he tiny hands and the firefly climbed up her fingers.
"It tickles!" she giggled, and the erupted motion urged the bud to take flight. "Wait no! Come back!" she cried and ran after the bug. Steve turned back toward Bucky only to find he was no longer there.
"Hey, Peggy?" Steve called after his daughter, "Did you see where Papa went?"
"He went inside!" the child called off-handedly, still focused on chasing down lightning bugs.
Steve turned toward the house just in time to see Bucky close the door behind him. He was carrying a mason jar with wholes in the top.