Happy Birthday, Mr. Barnes

Kitty zipped up her blue leather jacket and shoved her hands in the pockets. She was fluuuuuuu-sh with caaaaaaaaaaa-aaash and had a real craving for tequila with a side of carne asada fries. She strolled through the Tower's lobby and waved to the security camera before stepping out into the chilly New York night.

"Heyyyyyy!"

Kitty glanced down at the person sitting on the ground with his back pressed to the side of the building.

"I," The man pointed to the Tower door and smiled. "I couldn't get in! Stark, he must've deacti-something my code because," He looked at the keycard reader with sudden but immense sadness. "It doesn't work now. Hadn't worked since that eval thing with that damn doctor."

"Bucky, are you drunk?" Kitty didn't even know why she had asked; He was obviously quite pissed. His cheeks were rosy pink and he had a white and blue bottle clutched in his hands.

Bucky's dark eyebrows drew together as he considered this. Then he looked up at her with a smile as he pinched his forefinger and thumb together. "Little bit, little Kit-Kat."

Kitty mirrored his grin and held out her hand. "Come on." She helped him up and took the bottle from his grasp. "Really? Pinnacle Vodka? What'd this cost ya, two bucks?"

He flung his arm around her shoulders and cheered, "$13.99 a bottle! God bless America!"

"Oh, you poor sad being."

"Hey!" His arm slid off her and tried to face her, despite looking very unstable on his feet. Bucky crossed his arms over his chest and stuck out his bottom lip. "I'm not a poor being!"

"Yeah," Kitty laughed and messed up his hair with her hand. "Yeah, you are. Come on, let's get you inside-"

"No!" He stumbled backwards but managed to catch himself. "No! The party's not over!"

"Pretty sure it is, hot shot." Kitty linked her arm with his and attempted to steer him towards the Tower.

Bucky pressed his face to Kitty's neck so his lips were almost touching her faded throat scar. He felt her shiver slightly as he murmured, "Let's go out, Sunshine."

"We're already out, Bucky." Kitty kept her voice down to a whisper because talking any louder than that felt like it might shatter the moment...If that's what this was. "And now we're gonna go back in."

Bucky groaned loudly, throwing his head back dramatically with the action. "It's my birthday and I'll drink if I want to."

Kitty paused and looked up at him. "It's your birthday?"

"Mmmmhm." Bucky smiled at her with sleepy eyes. His eyes flicked down to her lips and he quietly asked, "Does that mean I get a birthday kiss?"

Kitty smiled before she kissed his cheek. "Come on." They started walking away from the Tower and down the street.

"Where're we going?"

Kitty threw her arm around his shoulder and felt his hand on her waist. "Imma buy us a round, birthday boy."

What woke Kitty up was the headache. She didn't normally get hangovers, but she also drank more drinks than she should have last night...And this morning. Very long morning. Sebastián had kept the bar open a few hours longer, since she was such a loyal customer. Taking in the extreme headache and the bruise on her hand from trying to arm wrestle a frat boy, that was a very very bad idea. She won the arm wrestling contest though. She moaned a little and she buried her face further into the pillow. What a warm pillow, she thought as she ran her thumb over the pillow. Very smooth, little more solid than I usually like-Wait a second-

Her head shot up and she was stunned to see that her pillow was a shirtless, unconscious Bucky Barnes. His head was off to the side, his hair partially flopped over his face, and he was snoring. Kitty moved the blanket wrapped around her body and breathed a sigh of relief: She was still fully clothed, socks and everything. Curious, she pulled the edge of the comforter up and peered under at Bucky. Although shirtless, he was still wearing jeans. And what good genes they are.

No sex. Kitty took a deep breath and laid her head back down on his chest. Okay, good. That's good. Remember rule #26. No fucking your parent's friends, no matter how pretty you think they are. And how many times you've thought about-No. Bad Kitty. Don't think of Naked Bucky. Nothing good could come from Naked Bucky. He'll just break your heart, remember? You're nothing special, he'll just do what Bruce did and you'll be devastated. And it'll ruin your relationship with Steve, then you'd have to quit being an Avenger. And think of what that would do to Tony and Steve's relationship if that caused you to leave. It's not worth it. He is not worth it.

Bucky yawned and Kitty lay there, absolutely petrified. He pushed aside some of the hair on his face and rubbed his eyes with his hand. He ran his metal hand up and down Kitty's back. She idly wondered if he knew it was under her shirt, then decided that it probably didn't matter. Because you don't fuck your parent's best friends. Sadly.

They lay there for a few minutes, Bucky rubbing Kitty's back as she waited for him to realize what was going on. Suddenly, Bucky's eyes snapped open and he looked down at Kitty, then his naked chest, then to his hand on her back. "I'm shirtless."

Kitty smiled and removed his hand from under her shirt. "And?"

"And it's indecent." He looked aghast as Kitty rolled off his chest and sat crisscross beside him. "We're not married, in a bed together sleeping and I'm shirtless."

"Awh, J.D.," Kitty gently touched his cheek. "Your forties are showing." She straightened up and yawned. "Besides, weren't you kinda slutty back then?"

"I didn't care about them." He grumbled, almost inaudibly.

"I'm pretty sure your shirts over there," Kitty pointed at the corner of the room. "Because you threw up last night."

Bucky glanced over at the doorway and saw his shirt on the floor. He blushed from embarrassment and looked down. "Oh."

"Yeah, if I remember correctly," Kitty leaned back and put her head on the pillow next to Bucky. "It's because two guys challenged us to a drinking contest."

Bucky turned onto his side to face her. "Did we win?"

"Fuck yeah, we did." She laughed and high fived him.

He watched her smile, the way her eyes would light up with the action. Then he asked, "Wait, why'd you call me J.D.?"

"Ya know, James Dean. From last night?"

"Who?"

"Nevermind. We also stuck a bunch of magnets on your arm."

"What?" Bucky moved his metal arm and saw that there were a wide variety of magnets sticking to it; A strawberry, a Captain America magnet, a little American flag, a Hello Kitty wearing a pink tiara, a Princess Peach, a state outline of Louisiana… "Why?"

"You thought it was funny." Kitty giggled. "You were very drunk."

"So were you, if I remember correctly." He pointed out.

"Yeah, I try not to get quite that drunk since I have a habit of doing questionable things and people but ey," She shrugged and got out of the bed. "It was a special day."

Bucky waited a minute, trying to debate if he wanted to bring up the thing throbbing in the back of his head, right beside the hangover headache. "So, last night...When you were a few drinks in...I remember you, um...You said something about the scar on my eyebrow."

Kitty, who had been running the brush she found on the nightstand through her hair, paused mid-brush. "I asked you how you got it, nothing else."

"No," Bucky shook his head, his face appearing slightly confused. "No, you said something about me being hit too hard with a gun."

Kitty laughed, suddenly more relaxed. "Isn't that how you got it? Wilson's got the same one from our Special Forces days. It looks just like his, so I figured that's how you got it."

"Oh." Bucky nodded slowly. He watched her carefully brush her hair like it was the most interesting thing in the world. "You know, it's funny because I don't remember how I got it. I think it was one of the things they took from me."

Kitty stopped brushing her hair and looked him in the eyes. "I'm so sorry, hotshot."

"Why?" Bucky asked, honestly just curious.

"Because all those memories," Kitty sat down next to him and lightly rubbed his shoulder. "It must hurt bein' gone, taken, like that."

He shrugged. "I don't really know what I'm missing. Sometimes I get a feeling, like deja vu, and I see a person and it feels like I know them."

"At least some of them are coming back." Kitty smiled encouragingly. "That's gotta make things a little easier."

"Deadpool's voice was one of them, sometimes when he'd say certain words, it'd be like I'd heard them before...Like, one day, he had said something like 'A bullet in the head. Painless and they'll never see it' and I swear," He insisted. "I swear I'd heard him say that before but I hadn't ever met him. And I asked him and he got kinda weird and told me to leave. It was rather rude."

"He gets funny when asked about those kinda things." Kitty said weakly. "I think it's got to do with what we did-"

"And you. I felt like I knew you when I first met you," He gently touched her hair and trailed his thumb over her cheek. "You seemed so familiar, like I had met you before-"

"I should go." Kitty stood up abruptly, leaving Bucky on the bed. "My shift starts at eight."

"I can take you out to breakfast," Bucky got to his feet and looked at the clock beside the bed. "Or to dinner, since it's now dinner time-"

"No, I uh," Kitty started putting her shoes on. "I'm not that hungry and I should go-"

"Oh, okay." The room stayed silent as Kitty searched for her jacket. "Did I, um, did I say something wrong?" He asked, his eyebrows drawn together.

Kitty stopped searching and turned around to look at him. Bucky looked sad and confused and Kitty felt awful. "No, of course not. I just, uh, Tony and Steve don't know where I am and I try to check in with them-"

"Okay. I understand." Bucky nodded and he opened the door for Kitty to leave. "Well, I'm always here if you need someone to talk to, or uh, drink with." He added.

"Thank you." Kitty smiled and waved before leaving the apartment. She hailed a taxi and told him the address before relaxing in the seat. A tear slipped from her eye and she quickly wiped it away. She pulled out her cellphone and spoke into it, "Wilson, we have a problem." She looked over her shoulder, paranoid. "I think he might be remembering us."

"What do you mean?"

"A bullet in the head." She quoted Deadpool. "Painless, he'll never see it.'"

"Shit." Deadpool swore loudly through the phone. "Shit, shit, shit I knew I shouldn't have said that."

"I know." Kitty agreed. "He remembers that, but I don't think he knows anything else. Just remembers the words, the way you said it."

"What do you want to do about it?"

Kitty paused. "Just play it cautiously?" She suggested. "Act dumb?"

"You know that the more time you spend near him, the more likely he will be to remember everything. Are you prepared for that?"

Kitty sighed. "No." She admitted quietly.

"Let's just tell him, Kitty. Get it over with, rip off the fucking bandaid."

"No." Kitty said firmly.

"Give me a good reason why not."

"Because Sarge…" Kitty sighed and whispered, "I love him."

Bucky walked back over to his bed and flopped down on it. He grabbed his phone off the stand to check his messages and saw that the background of his phone had been changed. Rather than the usual plain blue picture, staring back at him was a picture of him and Kitty from last night. Kitty had her hand tangled in Bucky's hair as she planted a kiss on his check. Bucky had very rosy cheeks and a huge grin as he smiled for the selfie. He hugged the pillow to his chest and closed his eyes, alone with the picture burning in his mind. Just before he dozed off, he could hear Kitty say, "I said no, Wilson. And that goes for all y'all. Leave him alone...We'll see what the Big Guys want us to do with him…" Her voice lowered and he could see her face, dimly lit, deliberately avoiding his eyes. "You should go. Ain't got a lot of time and you need to be as far away as possible." Bucky felt a sharp pain where his eyebrow scar was before he was dragged into sleep.