"Turn Your Calendar Day"
It was the first of September, the start of a new month, and Phil flipped over the page of his wall calendar before hanging it back up.
Then he noticed something.
He used to rely on electronic calendars and a small one he had on his desk at SHIELD (since he was married to his work, he was there pretty much every day). But then when Bucky still seemed to be having memory issues, Phil suggested that he get a wall calendar – some kind of physical calendar, anyway – and cross off the days as he went. Or if it was a day-to-day desk calendar, he'd be able to turn over every day. Rather than just using technology, by having something he could touch it might ground him.
And it worked. Bucky started to become more sure of the passing days when he had something tangible. He even gave Phil this very calendar for Christmas. It wasn't a Captain America calendar – surprise of surprises – but one of Corvettes, mostly red Corvettes. Phil adored it, and each new month it was nice to see a new picture. He hadn't flipped through it, so he never knew what the next month might bring.
Now he was wondering whether this had been there all along, or whether Bucky had just given up, sneaked into his room at some point, and left the message there. Because scrawled right over the grid of days was 'I LOVE YOU, OKAY?'
"Oh," he said, off-centre. "Right. I… now know what I'm doing today."
And he smiled.
For the first day of September, Turn Your Calendar Day. I love the idea of Bucky getting fed up, sneaking into Phil's room, and scrawling a declaration of love over the days where Phil can't possibly miss it. If a calendar of Corvettes wasn't enough of a declaration, obviously he's going to get restless.
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