A/N: A follow up to "Happy Thanksgiving, Steve" that is more lighthearted and humorous. I am also taking liberties with Ebay's bidding process to enrich the humor. Yes, I did research the baseball factoids so it's possible this item could exist but probably not, but I was liberal with that too. Enjoy.
Merry Christmas, Bucky.
Steve picked a record from his extensive collection and placed it gingerly on the turntable, delicately placing the needle on the vinyl. The cheerful notes of "Winter Wonderland" filled the apartment. Bucky perked up from his fully reclined place on the couch, as he read the New York Times on the lazy Saturday morning, " I haven't heard that song in a million years."
"I know. Feels kind of strange doesn't it." Steve responded, stepping away to get a cup of coffee. "Refill?"
"Sure. Thanks." James replied and held up his cup for a top off.
"Really puts you in the spirit." Steve commented with a smile, putting down the coffee pot and crossing his arms over his chest, looking down at his pal.
"Yeah, I don't recall too many happy Christmases in Germany." Bucky recalled slightly bitter, folding up the paper and sitting up, pulling his knees to his chest, to enjoy his coffee. Steve gave him a kind look because after the train, Bucky had no Christmas again for seventy years.
"So what are you getting me for Christmas?" Steve asked with a smirk, half serious.
"I'm not sure you're on Santa's good list. I mean, all you've done is save my ass and the rest of the free world ten times over." Bucky returned, feigning a brusque tone.
Rogers looked down at the floor, replying humbly with a slight flush to his cheeks as if he'd been caught doing something good, "I'd do it again. Especially saving your hide."
"Well, thanks for the sentiment, Rogers." Barnes retorted feeling his newly recovered humanity stretch a bit farther, pushing away the darkness of the Winter Soldier.
"You're welcome." Steve smiled genuinely at his best friend, "But seriously. What are you getting me?" The impish grin on his face made him look ten years old again.
"I thought you didn't like the commercialization of Christmas." Bucky answered, swinging his legs down onto the wooden floor into a sitting position.
"I don't." Cap replied his tone growing softer, "But this is the first Christmas you and I have had… ever, really. And it's just us."
James thought about it for a moment as he saw the scrappy boy still inside the grown super soldier, "Well, that may be a challenge. I'm not exactly drawing a paycheck these days."
"You can work it off. Maybe polish my shoes every once in a while." Steve teased, feeling younger and younger as the Christmas spirit filled him.
"You punk." Bucky lobbed a throw pillow at him from the living room.
Steve ducked in the kitchenette, laughing, "C'mon Buck. Lighten up."
"I'll lighten up your head. How about that, wingnut!" James retorted, picking up his coffee and stomping off to his bedroom next door to Cap's.
Steve watched him go and instantly regretted his teasing. After all those years of Bucky caring for him, Rogers knew that James had a difficult time accepting the idea that he didn't need a nurse anymore. It also hurt Barnes' pride that he was unemployed, technically. In their time, a job meant so much more to a man that just income. It was what made a man exactly that: a man.
Rogers approached Barnes' closed door and knocked softly, "Buck. I'm sorry. That wasn't fair."
Nothing.
Cap waited a few more moments and then turned away, "I'll be out here. Thought it'd be nice to go pick out a tree. You know, one not all Charlie Brown-ish." Steve paused, "Did you get that refer-– Never mind." His shoulders fell a bit as he walked back to the kitchen, the Christmas spirit dimmed.
Bucky sat absolutely still at his small desk in his room. Besides the chest of drawers and the bed, there was no other furniture. A laptop screen glowed on the desk and a Facetime window was open. Steve thought Bucky wasn't too crafty with computers, but there he was wrong. There was a lot the Winter Soldier knew about computers that was actually useful. Let Steve think he was pissed at him, Bucky thought mischievously. In a sense, he was mad that Rogers had called him out on not having a job. Not like he'd been brushing up his resume for the last seventy years! Shaking off the ribbing, he focused on the task at hand; a Christmas gift for Steve.
Natasha's phone number was at the ready to connect once the super soldier had moved away from the door. The seductive redhead answered looking groggy, "Dammit, Barnes, I love you but it's before noon."
"Good morning to you too sunshine." Barnes grinned at the disheveled spy-assassin. He didn't know where she was or what time it was in her location, but he didn't care. Making Natasha feisty increased her appeal in his eyes.
"Whatever. Why are you calling me this early? Steve die or something?" she retorted digging the heels of her palms into her eyes. To James it looked like someone had too much fun last night.
Bucky paled for a moment and swallowed. He still had nightmares of that exact thing occurring from their childhood days. "No. No… I need your help though."
"For?" she was curt.
"Getting a Christmas gift for Steve." Bucky replied, watching her unfold herself from bed, red hair shooting off in crazy directions. Suddenly, he wished he could reach through the screen and kiss her.
"Go to a store. Get a gift. Wrap it and repeat." She growled, getting up and taking her phone with her to a small kitchen. Bucky got a delicious look at her abs for a while because she didn't hold the phone up to her face. Putting the phone down on the counter, she found some juice. Bucky watched her pour it and then drink half the glass. "So are you going to keep ogling at me or what? I thought your generation was too gentlemanly for such overt displays."
Bucky blushed slightly, a sly smile ghosting his lips, "Well, I'm not your typical old timer, I guess."
"You can say that again." Her tone was warmer as she glanced down at the phone, glass to her lips, eyebrow cocked.
"I want you to help me find this perfect gift for me." Bucky replied.
"And that is what? I mean what could a guy like Steve Rogers want? World peace, good will towards men?" Widow groused.
"A baseball glove." Barnes replied simply.
"A glove! You woke me for that?!" she snapped at the phone. Bucky noticed that the view on the screen suddenly became airborne. It abruptly landed somewhere hard. Flinching slightly, he was glad he was not the phone itself.
"Shhh! He'll hear you." James admonished, glancing back at the door to his bedroom.
"Go to a stupid sport store, nimrod." she hissed at him.
"It's not that kind of glove." Bucky was growing impatient, "It's signed glove by Babe Ruth!"
"So what?" Natasha grumbled, setting the phone back up to a more pleasant angle.
"Babe Ruth was famous for the Yankees, but he was signed as a first base coach for the Dodgers in the 1930's after he had retired as a player. It's really rare." Bucky breathed as if he could imagine the surprise on Steve's face when he'd open the box.
"So this is important?" Natasha vaguely recalled, since baseball was not her primary interest. She was Russian at heart, after all.
"Right. The Dodgers and Yankees hated each other and so that is why this is so rare." Barnes replied eagerly like this was the best gift idea ever.
"So what do you have to do to get it? Ebay?" Widow yawned.
Bucky regarded her for a moment darkly and tried to swallow his pride, "Actually, I need a loan."
Natasha looked back at him in the tiny screen and saw the tension in the lines of his face. Since they saw each other at Thanksgiving, she didn't have a lot of time to spend with James, but she knew him well enough to know that asking her for money must have just wounded him deeply. In a gentle tone she replied, "I gotcha. What do you need?"
James's smile was repayment enough.
Steve sat outside in the kitchen brooding, his coffee cold and chin in his hand, as Bucky steamed in his bedroom. His mind wandered to Christmas gifts for his friends and Barnes. Pictures of Christmases past floated through his brain when his mom was alive; the Lionel train set and the tin cars he'd push around the kitchen floor under his mom's feet as she made dinner. Thoughts blurred forward to the Barnes' household where he and Bucky played cowboys and Indians with cap guns and cowboy hats, galloping stick horses around the living room and chasing James' sisters. The girls screamed with delight and made such a racket Mrs. Barnes threw them all out into the cold to play. After working off their cabin fever, Mrs. Barnes would make them all hot cocoa to warm their ruddy cheeks at the kitchen table. Later, James and Steve would ditch the girls and go back to their shared bedroom and look at baseball cards and talk of manly things like the odds the Dodgers would win the World Series.
Steve smiled to himself, eyes unfocused lost in the daydream as his mind led him down the happier years of his life.
A light snow shower began to fall and it distracted him from the reminiscing. What to get Bucky? Looking at his phone, he held it carefully as he thought. Maybe Sharon would be help with this problem. A few taps after that, he was ringing her. "Hello, Steve." Her warm voice caressed him and he was again amazed how much he could feel with just the sound of a loving voice.
"Good morning, Sharon." he returned, trying not to stumble on his tongue.
"Well, it's closer to lunch than breakfast, but that's ok." he could hear her smiling at him and he began to grin himself, "To what do I owe the call?"
"I need your advice. Do you have some time?" Rogers asked hesitantly. He didn't want to be too forward.
"Well of course. I can always make time for you." she replied, "What's this about?"
"A Christmas gift. I need to use a computer and… James has ours at the moment." Steve cast a grouchy frown at Bucky's door.
"Sure. Be here in an hour. I'll whip up some lunch, if you're hungry." Sharon offered.
"I'll never turn down home cooking after too many years of MREs." Steve admitted and found his mouth watering. Hanging up, he took a quick shower and dressed. There was still silence from Barnes' room, "Hey. Buck. I'm going to Sharon's for a bit. I'll be back before dinner." There was no reply. With a huff as he slipped on his bomber jacket, Steve decided that Bucky was being extra recalcitrant today.
On the other side of the door, Bucky sat, listening to the door close and lock. Steve was finally gone. Inwardly, he regretted acting like a cantankerous old man to hide his true purpose, but it would be all made up in the end, he was sure of it. Now he could get down to some serious shopping.
Sharon's apartment was again, as always, immaculate and smelled faintly of
cinnamon, citrus and lunch. She was bedecked in jeans and an old S.H.I.E.L.D. sweatshirt, fluffy shearling slippers on her feet. "Steve. Nice to see you."
Steve smiled warmly down at his girlfriend as he stepped inside the door, closing it behind him. She wrapped her arms up around his neck as he wound his about her waist and kissed him for a long while. Thanksgiving dinner at Stark's had given a new meaning to thankfulness. Bucky had Natasha and Steve had Sharon. All seemed right with the world.
Finally, it was the growl from Rogers' stomach that separated them as Carter began to giggle, "Mom was right, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach."
Forehead to forehead, Steve closed his eyes and inhaled her delicate scent. She felt the radiant heat of his muscular bulk. There was a warm peace between them. A melted snowflake from Rogers' hair dripped down onto her nose startling Sharon. With a luminous smile, she reached up and ruffled his damp hair, while giggling.
"Hey! That took me time to do." Steve complained leaning away from her reach, still encircling Sharon's waist.
"Ok 'Captain Pomade'. I've seen worse." Sharon chided looking up into his eyes, "But let's get something to eat before we go 'shopping' for this gift." Separating herself from Cap, she moved to the kitchen and Steve felt a little colder standing there alone.
The growl reasserted itself and Rogers picked up the scent of grilled cheese and tomato soup. Hanging up his coat hastily, he moved to the kitchen and saw Sharon flipping the last of two goldenly toasted grilled cheese sandwiches from a fry pan. A pot of bubbling tomato soup simmered gently on the other burner. "Grab yourself a bowl." Sharon told Steve as he searched her cabinets. Expertly she lay the sandwich on the plate and sliced it into triangles, warm cheese oozing out from between the thick bread. With a smile, she took the two bowls from Cap and ladled the steaming red broth into them, "Help yourself!" she indicated a bowl of oyster crackers and some shredded cheese on the countertop.
Taking her plate and bowl, she sat at her small table adjoining her kitchen area and unfolded a napkin. Steve piled in a handful of crackers and a sprinkle of cheese. Joining her, he wasn't sure the last time he had felt so content besides the day Bucky had been found and began his PTSD therapy.
"This smells amazing." Steve complimented, looking almost like a shy boy.
Sharon smiled back, spoon poised above her bowl, "Thank you. You don't eat with your nose though. Dig in before it gets cold."
Rogers obliged her and then went back for two more bowls of soup after the first course. Carter was grateful she didn't have to stock Steve and Bucky's pantry. It would cost as much as her rent.
Finally sated, Cap leaned back in his chair, his belly full of warm goodness. Sharon still was working on her soup and a fourth of her sandwich, "So what do you want to get for Bucky?"
"A baseball glove." Steve said with a twinkle in his eye like there was some sort of inner joke there.
"A glove." Carter replied looking dubiously at him.
"Not just any glove. It's a glove signed by Babe Ruth when he was a first base coach for the Dodgers after he came out of retirement." Steve man-crushed. Sharon was suddenly reminded of Agent Coulson.
"Ah. Yeah, that would be a hard item to find being that those two teams didn't exactly get along." Sharon concluded, biting into her sandwich.
"Right. A one of a kind, just like Bucky." Rogers waxed poetic.
"And where did you find this treasure?" Carter inquired.
"Ebay." Steve looked pleased with himself as if he had pulled off some great technological feat, " Through Google."
"Hmm. So you need a Pay Pal account." She sipped her soup, "And a code name so bidders don't know who you are. Who knows how high they'd drive the price if folks new they were bidding against Captain America."
"I like that. A code name." Steve relaxed, looking more like a college student than a super hero.
"Ok then. Let's get started." Sharon said picking up her dishes and putting them into the sink.
Bucky had minimized the Facetime window into a small corner while he looked at the Ebay website. Widow had wired him the money into a Pay Pal account that they agreed the glove was worth, but that would also limit his bidding power. He knew exactly who was selling this item, an elderly man whose dad had worked as a ball boy for the Dodgers in the late 1930's. It was pure luck that Bucky found it while searching for this item because the guy wasn't using some big auction house for it, like most rare sports memorabilia.
Logging in, his user name appeared: RedStar and he began looking for the glove. "Sonovabitch!" James cursed out loud.
"What?" Widow's voice chimed over the Facetime window.
"There's some jerk bidding on it right now. User name 'Patriot'." Bucky growled.
"Then bid back." Natasha volunteered.
A few rapid clicks of the keyboard and Natasha could see a wicked smile on James's face like in battle. It quickly disappeared, "Dammit!"
"Fight for it, James." Natasha encouraged, enjoying watching the object of her affections compete for the glove. In her heart, she wished she could be there in person. It hurt as she stared through the small phone screen.
Bucky began to mutter things like "Take that, DogerFan1!" and "Not today, YankeeChick!" as he tapped and clicked counter-bids. Romanov clearly felt a battle brewing with the other bidders attracted to the rare glove.
"Oh no you don't!" Bucky shot back with clicks that sounded like machinegun fire, " 'Patriot' is probably some…. Scummy teenager or … commie jerk." His comments came as if he was in combat or playing an RPG, fast and furious sound bites.
"Hey, I resent that 'commie' comment." Romanov interjected good-naturedly.
Bucky briefly glanced at the Facetime screen, a small smile on his lips, "Sorry."
"Forgiven. Crappy way to govern anyway." she replied evenly.
Barnes' looked back at the Ebay site and blanched.
"No! No. No. NO!" Barnes' began to shout at the screen as if he was playing a video game. She heard a fist punch the table and hoped it wasn't his left one. Natasha stayed quiet, certain that she knew the outcome.
"Sharon, check out this guy trying to outbid me." Steve laughed, pointing at the screen.
" 'RedStar'. Hmm… Cold War is over buddy." Sharon added to the trash talk with a dismissive chuckle.
"Yeah. I already shut down 'YankeeChick' and 'DodgerFan1'. But this guy stayed until right now." And with a click, the bidding was done. The glove belonged to Steve.
"Nice job, soldier." Sharon reached down to the sitting Rogers, pecking him on the cheek, "Finish the transaction."
James sat there blankly at the screen. The sale was final and 'Patriot' had beaten him. Now what will he get for Steve?
"Hey. Don't get down. There are lots of other things that he'd like. C'mon Barnes, you're back from the dead. I bet that is the best thing you could give him." Natasha consoled looking at him through the minimized Facetime window.
"Yeah. Just…" Barnes trailed off, looking not at her but appearing like a dispirited kid, "I …guess I need to wire this money back to you."
"No. Keep it." She smiled, as he looked at her with astonished eyes, "Really. What am I supposed to get you for Christmas? I don't think your favorite color is red anymore. You have a lot of new things to enjoy in this century. Enjoy them."
"Natasha… I can't." he returned and found himself desperately wishing she was there in person instead through a computer monitor.
"I won't take it back." she said reading the wanting in his expression, "I wish I was there too. Soon. I'll be back in the US… soon." Her voice betrayed the depth of her emotion.
"Not soon enough, любимый *" he choked down and signed off the call. *beloved
Steve came home from Sharon's in a chipper mood. Parking his motorcycle, he whistled a nameless tune as he walked to the building door. Inserting his key and opening the door, he looked at his watch. There was time to get a tree after all. Hopefully Bucky was over his temper tantrum, Steve hoped. "Buck!? Steve called into the apartment. Bucky sat at the table, munching a sandwich and sipping a Coke as he read the paper.
"Hey." was his lackluster reply to Cap's salutation. His shaggy bangs barely moved as he glanced up at his best friend.
"Wanna get a tree?" Steve asked feeling that Christmas spirit fill him up again, "There is a Boy Scout troop selling some just a few blocks away."
James chewed, swallowed and took a drink of his soda, "Sure. I guess."
"You ok? I'm still sorry for this morning." Rogers said, looking closer at Barnes.
James put on his best lying face, which always fooled Steve, "It's ok. Everything is fine."
Christmas Eve darkness filled the windows and the apartment was finally quiet. Banner and Hawkeye had just left taking Thor with them, who complained he was not done with the revelry yet. Banner promised to find him some more. The neighbor next door had not so politely knocked and in classic no-holds-barred New York way told Steve and Barnes that the party was OVER and their friends needed to go home.
Maria, Sharon, Sam, Tony and Pepper had departed about an hour earlier. Natasha had Skyped in earlier and they had all toasted the Christmas and wished her well. Steve noted the pain that stretched itself across James' face, although he was smiling, it wasn't for real.
Bucky thought he had fooled Steve, but Rogers new him too well. Two weeks ago, when he asked Barnes if everything was fine after teasing him too far, Cap knew he lied. James had been moping around since and Rogers chalked it up to Natasha not being in town since Thanksgiving. Steve tried to be as sympathetic as he could and work with Sam to help him through the holidays, which were rough on all of them. Sam even took Bucky Christmas shopping so that Steve wouldn't be privy to what he getting.
And now, even as beer bottles and wine glasses littered the space, Steve couldn't wait to give Bucky the glove.
"Hey Buck. How about we open some gifts?" Steve said with the light of a boy in his eyes.
"I dunno." Barnes said in a low tone, picking up bottles and glasses, "You're supposed to wait."
"C'mon. I can't wait to give you your present." Cap persisted, picking up plates and napkins. The colored lights on their tree twinkled between them like mischievous fairies.
James looked so dejected at the sink doing the dishes, that it almost deflated Steve's upbeat mood. Moving to him, Rogers put down the plates in his hand, reached over and turned off the water running in the basin. Bucky looked up at him confused/annoyed/upset at the same time. Steve grasped Barnes by the shoulders and gave him a gentle brotherly shake, "Bucky, we've been through a lot in our life. And Christmas is always hard. But this Christmas, I got you back. And to me, that is the greatest gift I could ever in my life ask for. I have my best friend in living flesh right here with me." A lopsided smile tilted across Steve's face and Bucky smiled back a little, despite himself, "Money can't buy this, Buck. You're my brother."
Barnes took in a deep breath and leveled his gaze at Steve feeling as if his heart would burst at his words, "Ok. You can give me my present, then. If it will make you happy."
"You have no idea." Cap released Bucky's shoulders and scurried rather undignified to the tree. Pulling out a box he held it out to James. Shaking his head, Barnes came around from kitchen counter and accepted the brightly wrapped box.
James shook it gently and turned it over driving Rogers crazy, "It's not socks or underwear is it? Remember that year?"
"No. Of course not. Now open it!" Rogers commanded his best friend.
Bucky snapped the tape and peeled back the paper. Opening the box, his eyes flew wide and his mouth gaped open.
"Merry Christmas, Bucky." Rogers said softly, blue eyes dancing with mischief.
"You! You were 'Patriot'!" Barnes's head snapped up and he looked astonished at Rogers.
"Whaddya mean?" Steve looked confused.
"I … I was RedStar. I was going to buy this for you! And you out bid me!" Bucky laughed, " We were bidding against each other you moron!"
Cap finally understood what James was saying, "That was you!? You were mad all this time over losing the bid, weren't you?"
"It's a gift to both of us!" Bucky stood up, with the glove on his left hand, Rogers rising with him and they both embraced in a giant bear hug.
Separating, the two friends looked at each other, and then at the priceless glove adorning Barnes' left hand. "Merry Christmas, Steve." Bucky said still laughing lightly.
"Merry Christmas to you, Bucky." Steve replied, "Hey. Wanna look at baseball cards?"
"Sure. Just like old times." Barnes replied, turning the glove over on his wrist.
"Just better, because you're here." Rogers said over his shoulder as he went into his bedroom.
"Agreed, punk." James replied finally feeling the Christmas spirit fill him up for the first time in a long while. It felt good.
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