Brooklyn, New York, December 1931
Every Christmas Eve, the Barnes family held their annual Christmas party that the Rogers and Howard families attended. Naturally, as the kids grew into teenagers, the party changed slightly. The adults mostly conversed with each other while Steve, Bucky, and Josephine kept to themselves or tried to entertain Bucky's younger sisters.
This year, Josephine and Steve were going to head down earlier than the rest of their families to help Bucky with any decorating. Josephine knocked on Steve's bedroom door.
"C'mon, Stevie, we're gonna be late!" Josephine complained.
"You sound like my Ma," Steve started as he opened the door, his eyes widening when he saw Josephine. "Wow."
Josephine's brows furrowed in confusion, and she looked at Steve as if he had grown three heads. "What?"
Josephine stood there dressed in a red cotton dress with white polka dots and white flats. The dress had puffy sleeves, a modest neckline, long sleeves with frills at the end, and came down to her mid-calf, flaring slightly at the end. Her long, chestnut brown hair was styled in soft curls and parted down the middle.
"You're just… really dressed up," Steve replied.
Josephine chewed on her bottom lip nervously. "Is it too much?"
"No," Steve shook his head. "Just not used to it, is all."
To be fair, Steve was telling the truth. Josephine rarely got this dressed up, usually preferring to wear her more casual clothing. However, now that she was 13 and becoming more interested in boys…well, one boy to be more specific, she decided to try something new with her appearance.
"Do I look okay?" Josephine asked nervously, fidgeting slightly.
Steve smiled at his friend and nodded. "You look real pretty, Josie."
Josephine immediately perked up and grinned at Steve. "Thanks, Stevie. C'mon, James is waiting for us." She grabbed her friend's hand and led him out of the apartment.
"You do all this for Buck?" Steve asked bluntly, nodding at her dress.
A blush quickly took over Josephine's face and she sputtered indignantly. "I—I did not! Why would you even ask that, Steve?"
Steve chuckled lightly and raised his brows as he looked at her. "Because of your obvious crush on Bucky."
"I… I do not have a crush on James," Josephine lied poorly.
"Sure. And I'm definitely gonna hit that growth spurt." Steve retorted sarcastically. "You're not exactly subtle about your crush on him, Josie." He added as they walked down the stairs.
Josephine's eyes widened at that. "D-Does James know?"
Steve snorted. "Surprisingly, no. He's just as oblivious as you are, apparently."
"What's that supposed to mean, Steve?" Josephine pouted as they got closer to Bucky's front door.
Steve pursed his lips slightly. He didn't want to completely betray Bucky's trust by telling Josephine about his giant crush on her. But it would also potentially move things along if he did. Steve just shook his head and sighed lightly.
"Nothing. Don't worry 'bout it, Josie." Steve shrugged it off.
"Whatever you say," Josephine muttered as she knocked on the front door.
Bucky answered the door and beamed at his two best friends. "Hey! Merry Christmas Eve."
"Merry Christmas Eve, James." Josephine smiled as Bucky stepped to the side to allow them to come in.
"Merry Christmas Eve, Buck." Steve parroted.
"Ma made hot chocolate," Bucky replied. "And we're just makin' paper chains to finish off the tree."
"Okay. I'll meet you both in the living room," Josephine replied. "I just wanna say hi to your sisters first."
"Okay." Bucky nodded, watching her as she left.
"You should tell her she looks pretty." Steve looked up at his best friend.
"What?" Bucky mumbled, still distracted.
"You should tell Josie that she looks pretty," Steve repeated. "'Cause she does."
"Of course she looks pretty, Stevie." Bucky retorted. "Her hair looks real nice."
"Okay, so tell her that," Steve stressed. "I bet she'd like to hear it."
Bucky shook his head at his best friend's antics. Bucky knew that he never should have told Steve about his crush on Josephine. Ever since he had, Steve had been trying to play matchmaker between them.
"Stevie, just drop it, please," Bucky practically begged as they sat down on the couch, each of them grabbing a mug of hot chocolate.
Steve just rolled his eyes and sipped on his hot chocolate. Josephine walked into the room with a smile on her face as she took a seat next to Bucky.
"Sorry," Josephine apologized. "Becca was raving about the Christmas list that she had sent to Santa."
"Oh yeah," Bucky chuckled. "She's been talkin' about that for ages to anyone who'll listen." He added before glancing at Josephine nervously. "You look really pretty, Josie."
Josephine felt a blush creep up her neck and she looked down at her lap, her hair thankfully covering her reddening cheeks. "Thank you, James. That's sweet of you to say."
"Well, it's true." Bucky smiled softly. "Where'd ya get the dress?"
"I saved up my allowance and bought from the shop down the street," Josephine answered, tugging at the sleeve nervously.
"Red's a good color on ya," Bucky noted.
Josephine looked up at him and smiled. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Bucky smiled back at her, blushing slightly.
Steve cleared his throat, catching his friends' attention. "Are you two gonna help me with this paper chain or what?"
~/~\~
A little while later, the rest of Steve and Josephine's families arrived, and the party was in full swing. Steve, Bucky, and Josephine were playing card games while Bucky's sisters sat and watched them.
Sarah walked into the room and smiled at the children. "Dinner's ready. Let's go wash up and sit down, okay?"
Bucky stood up and held out a hand for Josephine to take, pulling her to her feet. The kids all walked to the restroom, waiting for their turn to wash up. Josephine and Bucky were the last two to take their turns and walked to the kitchen together. Suddenly, they were stopped in the doorframe when Milton started chuckling.
"Would ya look at that," Milton looked up at the top of the doorframe.
"Daddy, what're ya talkin' about?" Josephine frowned.
"You guys should look up," Steve informed, trying to hide his laughter.
"Stevie, seriously, what's goin' on?" Bucky huffed in irritation.
"Just look up," Steve repeated.
Josephine and Bucky shared confused looks with one another before looking up. Josephine's eyes widened and Bucky swallowed nervously when they saw the mistletoe hanging from the top of the doorframe.
Bucky couldn't believe this. This was not how he wanted Josephine to find out about his crush on her. He couldn't kiss her in front of his, Josephine, and Steve's families! He wasn't ready to kiss her yet, he had never kissed anyone before.
Across from him, Josephine was having her own internal freak-out. She has never kissed any before in her life. How was she supposed to do it now? This was some cruel joke that the universe was playing on her, it had to be.
"U-uh… well, Josie you don't have to—
"Bucky, shush." Josephine hushed as she looked up at him.
Bucky swallowed nervously and looked down at her. Josephine took a deep breath before she stood on her toes and kissed Bucky's cheek gently. Bucky's face went beet red as he felt her lips brush against his cheek softly.
Josephine pulled away and smiled shyly. "Merry Christmas Eve, James."
"Merry Christmas Eve, Josie." Bucky breathed out, still in disbelief about what just happened.
"Well," Winnifred clapped, disrupting the moment. "Let's eat, shall we?"