"Husband or Wife?"
"Phil, it's Wife Appreciation Day."
He glanced up at Bucky. "And?"
"…Didn't ya just hear me?"
"It may've escaped your notice," Phil said, removing his glasses, and he arched an eyebrow when Bucky bounced onto the bed in front of him, "but we're not married."
"We can change that whenever you want, but that's not what I'm gettin' at," Bucky said, waving away the casual mention of marriage like it wasn't a major thing. Phil raised his other eyebrow. "When we get married, who's gonna be the wife?"
Phil suppressed a sigh. "Were you planning on one of us undergoing a sex change?"
"No." Bucky gave him an 'Are you crazy?' look. "But someone's gotta be called the wife, right?"
"Oh my God, I'll kill whichever SHIELD agent didn't give you and Rogers the full talk," he muttered, and he set his book and glasses aside. He blinked when Bucky pecked him on the nose, again acting like it was nothing. "Okay. Wedding vows can be changed. It doesn't have to be 'husband and wife'. Same-sex marriage is a thing, which you apparently know. Neither of us tops exclusively, and we both tidy and cook and do DIY around the place. No labels necessary."
"But what if we adopt kids? Who's gonna be gettin' gifts on Mothers' Day?"
Seventy years of brainwashing clearly had some kind of detrimental effect on a person's perception of how significant an issue was. Talking about children already? (And in their line of work?) Bucky was watching Phil patiently, while he struggled for an answer.
"W-well, academic as it is," he said, "we'd both receive gifts on Fathers' Day."
"Oh." Phil let Bucky mull this over as he resumed reading. When his lover flopped down beside him, Phil spared him a glance.
"Did that help?" he asked.
"I guess," Bucky said. "Thanks."
"Did you want to get married?"
"Was wonderin' how this Saturday would sound?"
"You have a strange way of proposing."
For Wife Appreciation Day. Obviously. I don't know why I'm obsessed with these Days of the Year things, but they're fun, and they're great inspiration for stories, even if they're only one-shots. And hey, I have a WIP called 'Pianissimo', being posted bit by bit on the archive. It's in honour of Piano Month, a non-powered music shop/pianist AU. Lots of fun, I hope.
Please review!