A/N: Reminder that these stories are not in chronological order. This would actually take place after next Saturday's chapter, but this is the holiday-related story.


Fireworks

Explosions of color burst above the royal palace, drawing appreciative hums and comments from the king's guests on the balcony and the citizens gathered on rooftops and in parks below.

The only one who wasn't smiling was Steve Rogers, though he tried valiantly. But fireworks always reminded him of Bucky.

Well, to be fair, at the moment almost everything reminded him of his friend lost, miraculously found and now frozen within view but out of reach.

The trouble was, Steve remembered far too many Fourth of Julys with Bucky Barnes at his side.


"You have the best birthday, Stevie!" 10-year-old Bucky said with enthusiasm as they sat on the bank of the East River watching holiday fireworks explode in the sky. "All those fireworks, just for you," the dark-haired boy said slyly, nudging his pal.

The skinny just-turned-9-years-old blond jabbed back with a pointed elbow. "They're not for my birthday. They're for the country's birthday," the serious-minded youngster chided.

"Nope, they're all for you, pal," Bucky enthused, throwing his arm around Steve's neck.

"Is it really your birthday?" asked a stranger, who was watching the fireworks with his large family.

Bucky wasn't afraid to talk to strangers — not when the Barnes family was two steps away, buying ice cream cones from a vendor.

"Sure is," he assured the man. "Stevie Rogers, born July 4, 1918."

"Happy birthday," the man told Steve. "Here, have a sparkler."

"Ask your father," Steve said sharply, when Bucky would have taken one without hesitation.

Bucky nodded, scrambled to his feet and darted to his father. Mr. Barnes looked over to meet the stranger's eyes. The man, a father himself, understood and held up a handful of unlit sparklers while gesturing at his family.

Mr. Barnes left his wife to complete the ice cream transaction and followed his son back to Steve.

"I hear it's this young man's birthday," the stranger said. "I wanted to give the boys a couple of sparklers to celebrate." The generous stranger was accompanied by four children scrambling around with sparklers, a harried but happy wife trying to keep the youngsters in line, and a grandma sitting on a kitchen chair that the man must have carried to the river on his back. The man's adorable 5-year-old daughter came and cuddled against her father's knee, which seemed to decide Mr. Barnes.

"That's very kind of you," Mr. Barnes said, which drew a whoop from Bucky.

The man just grinned, lit a pair of sparklers from a slow-burning punk, then handed them to the boys. "Happy birthday," he said again, and then moved off to distribute more sparklers to his clamoring crew.

Bucky and Steve waved the sparklers, making patterns in the air, to the delight of Bucky's younger sisters.


A bright flash and loud bang from above the Wakandan capital made Steve's memories abruptly shift to another July 4.


Artillery shells burst overhead. Sgt. Bucky Barnes dived into a ditch next to Capt. Steve Rogers, who raised his shield to protect both of them from flying rocks.

Cradling his rifle, Barnes rolled on his back, shoved back his helmet and grinned at his lifelong pal.

"Fireworks for the Fourth of July!" he shouted over the explosions.

"I wish they were fireworks," Steve retorted. "I wish we were sitting by the river right now."

A shell landed close, blasting them with mud.

"Born on the Fourth of July," Bucky teased, regarding the red, white and blue garb of Captain America. "And now you really look the part! Or you did before the mud bath."

Steve flicked a gob of mud off his shoulder and into Bucky's face by way of reply.

Bucky just laughed. "Happy birthday, Steve!"

"Thanks, Buck." Another shell blasted them with more mud.

"And many more," Bucky added fervently.

"From your mouth to God's ear," Steve answered, as they ran to a safer distance from the barrage.


"Cut it out," Sam Wilson ordered.

Steve blinked back to the present. "Huh?"

"I can tell when you're thinking about Barnes. So cut it out," Sam said. "The king went to a lot of trouble to give us a proper American Fourth of July celebration with hamburgers and potato salad and fireworks. We don't want him to think we're ungrateful."

"Besides, you're giving Wanda a headache," Clint called.

Still recuperating from her prison ordeal, Wanda had moved to the other side of the group, as far from Steve's turbulent emotions as she could get. Steve gave her an apologetic look. She smiled back, but didn't come closer.

"More importantly, Barnes wouldn't want you to brood," Sam scolded.

"Especially not on your birthday," Sharon Carter commented, as she leaned on Steve's shoulder. She knew everything about Steve, because he'd been her assignment when she was a SHIELD agent. And because she was Peggy Carter's grandniece.

"Wait? Captain America's birthday is the Fourth of July?" Scott Lang exclaimed.

"No," Sharon corrected. "Steve Rogers' birthday is July 4. Cap was born, I don't know, the day Project Rebirth worked? Or maybe the day that senator gave Steve the name Captain America."

"Or maybe the day Steve rescued the 107th from Hydra," Natasha suggested, appropriating Steve's other shoulder. (Yes, she knew more about Steve than she liked to let on.)

A bright shower of red, white and blue sparks lit up the sky overhead.

Steve smiled faintly.

"I'm sorry, guys. I just …" Steve swallowed. "I spent every Independence Day of my childhood with Bucky and his family. My mother was a nurse and she got a bonus for working the holiday. It's a big day for hospitals," he said dryly.

"I can imagine," Clint agreed. "Burns, food poisoning …"

"Ma always said it was an exceptional Fourth if no one lost any fingers," Steve said.

"When did you celebrate your birthday?" Scott asked.

"Ma's next day off," Steve replied. "She always used her bonus to buy me a gift or pay for an outing, places like the Bronx Zoo and the museums in the city. After she was gone, I still had Bucky. Even during the war we had fireworks — provided by the Germans."

The others chuckled.

"Happy birthday, captain." With his catlike tread, T'Challa arrived unnoticed (except by Natasha).

"How did you know it was my birthday?" Steve asked.

"Mr. Barnes told me before he went into the cryosleep," T'Challa said. "He commissioned me to organize this party and to obtain this gift for you." He handed Steve an envelope and a long skinny box wrapped in colorful paper.

Steve opened the present and gave an honest, heartfelt laugh.

Inside the envelope was a note, "Happy birthday, punk."

And in the gift was a box of sparklers — with a punk to light them.