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“Why are Christmas tree lights actually the worst?” Darcy complained. She was draped in several rounds of them as she and Steve had tried to untangle the ones she put away the year previous.

“Well, if you had wrapped them-”

“I don’t need your A-type right now, Steven,” Darcy snapped. “Right now, I need to not be covered in twinkle lights.” She heard a snort from the part of the room where Bucky was sitting and snapped her head in his direction. “What about it, Barnes?”

Bucky rolled his lips between his teeth to hold back an out right laugh. “I am the picture of innocence over here.”

“You haven’t been the picture of innocence since the time in 5th grade when Ma and Winnie had you and me play angels in the town nativity,” Steve retorted, tracing a few of the strands of lights around Darcy and managing to untangle a few.

“Oh, that was a truly bad call on their parts,” Darcy giggled. She cast a glance at her boyfriend, who was watching the three of them with a bemused expression as he kept one eye on the Patriots game. “The two of them could not stop giggling.”

“Well, that’s ‘cause they had you as the Virgin Mary and even then we knew that was wrong,” Bucky smirked.

“Oh fuck you,” Darcy retorted.

“Not until you grow a dick,” Bucky responded and the pair shared a smile. Old rhythms in new voices still felt like coming home.

The last six weeks of Bucky’s life had been both a whirlwind and completely settling. Between re-examining his entire life’s purpose (What is a legacy? What do I want mine to be if it’s not CEO of Barnes Limited? Can I be a different Barnes than Barney and still have that role? Do I even want to be CEO?) and starting to build or re-build something with Darcy, and Sam, and Stephen, and Tony, and…

Steve.

In the midst of his entire life re-writing itself, Bucky had been thrilled to discover that Steve was still solid, still the man he could wrap his panic around and who would anchor him on the days everything got to be too much. He’d squandered that once and so help him God, he was never doing it again.

There was a beautiful freedom in this season of their relationship, as well, not only because they didn’t have to physically sneak around anywhere - man, did he like just grabbing Steve and kissing him whenever he could - but because the pair had committed to transparency.

“I want to do this,” Steve said seriously one evening, with kiss swollen lips and mussed hair.

“This like-”

“Like us forever,” Steve said. “Cards on the table, we’ve been dating or whatever for, like, a month and it’s great, but I’m not looking for you to be my just-for-now boyfriend.”

“What have I done that makes you think I want that?” Bucky shook his head in confusion.

Steve grimaced. “Okay, that came out wrong.”

“You wanna make it come out right?”

Steve paused and ran his hands over his face a few times - a move Bucky had learned was a nervous tic - and began again. “I was destroyed when you left the last time. I’m not game for that again, but I’m also not on board with you not in my life. Like I told you, you’re it for me and I was getting pretty used to being the bachelor everyone in town kinda pitied but no one would say it. I want to start building something here with you that will last forever, but if you’ve got one foot out the door, I wanna know.”

“Steve,” Bucky tenderly reached his hand to cradle Steve’s cheek. “I was an idiot for a long time, and I’m sure it’s a permanent condition so I’ll be an idiot again, but I’m working as hard as I can with Dr. McClain to mitigate any future damage. Our mistake last time was that I didn’t talk to you, and we’ve agreed to not make that mistake any more.”

“So, you’re saying you’re in,” Steve breathed.

“Steven, consider this my pre-proposal. We’ve got some shit to work out, and I know I have to rebuild trust with you and Darce and everyone, and there’s logistics, but someday I’m gonna marry you and it’s going to be great.”

Bucky glanced around his apartment as Steve and Darcy continued to bicker about trimming the tree. It was the middle of December and he’d given himself until the 20th to wrap up all day-to-day operations in Manhattan he couldn’t oversee from Sanditon. Nat was going to take over as VP of Operations as they transitioned him out of being CEO. The board had not been comfortable with an immediate departure so quickly after his grandfather’s death, which he understood. He agreed to stay on and work remotely, traveling into the office for one week per month through July. There was noise about an executive headhunt, but he wanted Nat. He just needed to prove it to the board that she could do it.

And, well, if he’d been able to get Stevie back, a little corporate strategy was a piece of cake.

He didn’t really live in Manhattan anymore, which was going to make the papers he had sitting in his briefcase to sign basically a formality. The shelves in Sanditon were lined with the books he loved, his favorite running shoes were toed off by the door, and he was thinking about how to rearrange the living room to get the rescue dog he’d been eyeing at the shelter. Darcy, Tony, Sam, Steve, and Stephen all had “their spots” when they came over for movie nights or to watch a game or whatever. Both Darcy and Steve kept their favorite snacks there, just as his were in their cupboards as well.

Nat had been up the day before and he smiled at the memory of her commentary.

“There is more of you in this apartment than I’ve seen in the entire eight years I’ve worked for you. Sanditon is a good look for you, boss.”

“Bucky,” Darcy called. “Earth to Bucky.”

He shook his head and grinned. “Sorry, being sappy.”

“Oh,” she smiled and he noticed she was free of the Christmas lights. She plopped next to him on the couch and he internally winced at the distance she still kept between them. She had the Stark need for physical contact, just like Tony, but was still holding herself back a bit. He knew he needed to be more patient, it was just that every time she draped herself over Stephen or sat in Steve’s lap, it hurt. Her contact with Sam was different, of course - but he’d been the grateful recipient of platonic Darcy cuddles for nearly 20 years of his life. Now that he was close to her again, it was painful to not be getting them.

Soon, he reminded himself. She gets to do this on her time.

“Sappy is allowed,” she continued, once again pulling him out of a reverie. “What were you doing this time last year?”

He barked a laugh. “I was in a tux, I’m sure, because it’s two Saturdays before Christmas and I basically spent December at parties.”

“Are there,” Steve cleared his throat from across the room. “Are there photos?”

Bucky made eye contact with his boyfriend, and noticed Steve’s pupils were darker than they had been a few moments ago. “Why, yes, I do believe there are several hundred.”

“Good,” Steve affirmed as Darcy howled. Sam soon joined in ribbing on Steve good naturedly and Bucky lost himself again in the commotion of community.

“Hot chocolate stand,” Steve said.

“Check,” Wanda replied.

“Petty cash for the pony rides?”

“Clint has extra behind the bar.” Pepper stomped her feet to fight the cold.

“All lights on the Christmas Tree are working?”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Guys, is he this bad every year?”

“Worse, usually,” Darcy responded and rubbed her gloved hands together. “Stevo, we have run this festival for eight straight years without a hitch. Everyone will get a little too drunk on Clint’s mulled wine or the Bailey’s spiked hot chocolate, we’ll eat May’s cookies, and then crowd into the church for the midnight service and Reverend Carruthers will roll her eyes good naturedly at how loud I am, but be really excited that you and Sam do the harmonies on ‘O Holy Night,” she concluded. “Now, I’m fucking freezing and have an errand to run, can I go please?”

Steve rolled his eyes and waved her off, turning his attention back to Wanda. “There’s about three hours before everything kicks off, so go get something to eat and rest up and I’ll see you at 7.”

The Sanditon Christmas Eve Celebration was a 100ish year tradition. What started as a giant potluck prior to the midnight service had evolved into a three-part evening that started with a progressive dinner through ten houses that volunteered every year and lasted through the night. It all kicked off at 5pm when Clint opened his doors for all the drinks that anyone would need, as well as a warm place for folks to gather as they waited for the all-town nativity pageant, which always happened at precisely 8:30, before everyone packed into St. Andrew’s Episcopal for a ecumenical midnight service.

In between those tentpole events, kids could ride ponies, folks could wander from house to house and their way through bite-size portions of a ten-course meal, Clint would make sure no one ran out of their hot beverage of choice, and Sam would give all his deputies the night off and patrol the whole thing himself.

It was Steve’s favorite night of the year.

“Hey, boyo,” Bucky murmured into Steve’s ear once Wanda left them alone. “You got twenty minutes to give your very needy boyfriend?”

Steve laughed. “I believe I can work you into my schedule.”

The pair meandered through the main square and into Steve’s office. Steve started to launch into a set of questions when he noticed that Bucky had gone into the conference room and re-entered with an envelope.

“What?”

Bucky smiled. “I know you’re famous for the speeches here, but give me a minute?” He gestured to the couch and Steve sat obligingly.

“In all the years I was gone, this was the night I got the most homesick. I had a tradition - I’d go to church, cry at all the carols because I couldn’t hear you and Darcy on either side of me, and then go home, eat roast pork lo mein, and drink an entire bottle of Jameson 10 year.”

“Damn,” Steve breathed out.

“Yeah, not sad to not be doing it tonight,” Bucky smiled. “So I knew that when it was time to do this, to give you what I’m about to give you, I needed it to be tonight, because if I can be part of Sanditon again on Christmas Eve, then I can do it anytime.”

“You sound like one of those made-for-TV movies, Buck,” Steve quipped.

“I kinda feel like one tonight, Stevie,” Bucky confessed and handed Steve the envelope in his hands. “Merry Christmas.”

“What is this?”

“Why don’t you look with your eyes and not with your mouth,” Bucky suggested and rolled his eyes as his boyfriend tore open the manilla envelope.

“This is a real estate disclosure form,” Steve said slowly, “to an apartment in Manhattan.”

“Umhm,” Bucky hummed, waiting for Steve to read further.

“And it’s attached to a deed to your family house.”

“Yeah.”

Steve looked up at Bucky with a sheen of tears in his eyes. “You’re serious. You’re here permanently?”

Bucky nodded. “I sold the apartment in New York as of last week. When I need to go back for meetings, I’m going to stay with Nat.”

“But you could have kept that for-”

“No,” Bucky said emphatically. “No, I needed to get rid of it for me. It would have been too easy for me to run when I got scared, when things felt… Let’s just say I knew I needed to not give myself an escape route for the days when I’m an idiot.”

Steve smiled knowingly. “But you’re my idiot.”

“For as long as you’ll have me, yeah,” Bucky replied softly and leaned into Steve for a kiss.

“This is the best way,” Bucky said some time later, “to tangibly show you that I’m here to stay. I accepted the house, but I also asked Darcy if I could stay in the apartment for a little while longer.”

“Why?”

“Well, that’s the next part of this,” Bucky admitted. “It needs some work, some updates and renovations and I was thinking it could be ours.”

“The Barnes Mansion.”

“Yes.”

“Ours.”

“I mean, I like Barnes-Rogers Mansion,” Bucky said.

“I like my house,” Steve replied slowly.

“I know,” Bucky said quickly, “and we’re on no timeline here. But you have a two bedroom craftsman and that’s a twelve room multi-story with a huge yard. More room for dogs and woodworking and kids.”

Bucky’s voice wavered slightly on the last word, like he was worried the Steve he loved once upon a time had changed his mind about fatherhood.

“You still want five,” Steve smiled in response and Bucky let out a breath.

“I love you,” Bucky replied earnestly. “I want to do life with you forever if we have five kids and no dogs or if we have five dogs and no kids. I don’t care. I just want to be with you.”

“Well,” Steve replied, cupping Bucky’s jaw. “This is the best Christmas I’ve certainly ever had.”

Hands wandered and lips met and promises were whispered until Steve’s phone buzzed with an incoming call. Seeing that it was one of the city council members, he rolled his eyes and showed the phone to Bucky, who nodded.

“I’ll see you at Clint’s,” Bucky whispered and Steve nodded.

“Yes, Ralph, what can I do for you?”

Bucky knew that conversation wasn’t going to be a quick one as soon as he’d seen the phone screen and figured that Clint probably needed a few extra hands brewing the mulled wine. He grabbed his jacket and scarf and made the four block walk where Clint immediately put him to work. Before Bucky knew it, it was 5:45 and someone told him Darcy was looking for him out in one of the side rooms off the main dining area.

When he entered the small enclave, his feet simply stopped moving.

“Is that?” he whispered and gestured to what was in her hands and she nodded. He forced his feet to move slowly towards her as tears clouded his vision.

“Okay,” Stephen muttered. “Someone fill me in.”

The sound of his new friend’s voice was enough to break Bucky out of his reverie and he looked around in surprise. Their entire family was gathered, clearly waiting for this moment. Tony looked at Bucky and Darcy and nodded, as though giving them permission to tell the story.

“Well,” Darcy said with a shaky voice, “Bucky gave this to me when we were six. It’s from that old Pretty, Pretty Princess game.” She handed the old, battered tiara to Stephen for him to take a closer look. “Howard had beaten Tony pretty badly a few days earlier and I was in my cycle of reaction - which meant I was bossing Steve and Bucky around and they were being wonderful. I’d been wanting this game for months.”

“She talked about nothing else,” Steve offered. “Every commercial we saw, every time we passed it in the window of O’Toole’s Toy Shop on Main Street.”

“So we bought it for her,” Bucky replied, his voice scratchy with tears. “Me and Stevie went to Mom and Sarah and did a bunch of extra chores so that we could buy her the game because we wanted her to know she was our princess.”

“Who the fuck are you three,” Clint murmured and a few people chuckled.

“I opened it on Christmas Eve,” Darcy continued, “right before the festival. Bucky put the tiara on my head and told me that he and Stevie had made swords to protect me from the fierce dragon.”

“Lightsaber toys covered in tin foil,” Steve supplied.

“And we brought them to the festival and Darce wore the tiara,” Bucky continued. “There’s a picture somewhere of us fighting that Rumlow kid no one liked during the pageant.”

“I wore the tiara every single year until the year Bucky left,” Darcy continued. “I was the town Christmas Fairy for years, handing out candy to little kids and generally being ridiculous.”

“The last thing she yelled at me, when I went to say goodbye to her and Tony, was that I had ruined the Christmas Fairy because she’d never be able to wear my tiara again,” Bucky took Darcy’s face in his hands and kissed her forehead.

“You put it on me every single fucking Christmas, you asshat, how was I supposed to?” she whispered, though loud enough for everyone to hear.

“And today?”

“Well, don’t you know that the best stories are when the cursed prince remembers who he is and comes home?”

Bucky didn’t bother to hold back the tears at that point, as he took the tiara back from Stephen and lovingly placed it on Darcy’s head. “Well, now, I suppose all is right in the kingdom again.”

The pair stood for a few seconds before they motioned for Steve and Tony to come into a group hug. The quad cried for a few seconds together before hands reached out to grab Sam, and Stephen, and Clint, and Pepper, and everyone else who had gathered in that small space, where the ordinary became the extraordinary. In which a fairly simple act of memory became a remarkable symbol of restoration and when - on the night where the world held its breath, anticipating the arrival of love wrapped in skin - they were all reminded that happily ever afters are real and that love always wins.

“Get up,” Darcy called as she blew into Steve and Bucky’s house.

“It’s 7:30 on a Monday night,” Bucky called back as she found him in the living room. Steve was at a school board meeting and he was hoping to get a few episodes of The Good Wife in before Steve got home. He was catching up on all the television he’d missed while being a - to quote Darcy - “sycophantic pod person workaholic”.

“It is also April 17th,” Darcy replied and brandished four jackets on hangers. “Good to know you’re aware of your surroundings. Now, pick one.”

“Why?” Bucky said, not moving from the couch.

“Because you can’t interview for a job as Sanditon High’s new economics teacher wearing Tom Ford and I double checked this morning and those are still the only suits you have. I drove all the way to the Macy’s in Danbury for these, so pick one.”

Bucky got up from the couch slowly and stared at his best friend. “But I don’t have a job interview to be the new economics teacher, I didn’t even know that Frank retired.”

“He gave notice last week, now fucking pick one.”

“The brown one,” Bucky said. “Why am I just finding out about this now?”

“Listen, when I was managing your life when we were growing up, everything was wonderful. You left me and it went to shit. Figured you’d want me back,” Darcy grinned at him.

Bucky blinked away a surprising rush of tears. “You ain’t wrong, Stark. You gonna pick out my shoes for me, too?”

One Year Later

“Should I apologize or say you’re welcome for suggesting this idea to them?” Stephen raised an eyebrow across the table to Steve.

“Well, I guess we’re the entrepreneurship widowers,” Steve grinned back and took a bite of his burger.

On the nineteenth night in a row that Bucky and Tony had told their partners to eat without them, the pair had decided to grab dinner together at Clint’s to compare notes.

“I mean,” Steve continued once he finished chewing, “it’s a genius idea. With both of the connections, and Bucky’s business knowledge and Tony’s ability to raise capital, they’re basically born to be their own version of Shark Tank.”

“You know the seed money is that first check Bucky gave Tony?”

“No,” Steve grinned. “But that makes complete sense. He’s worked it out so that he’s basically living on his salary from the school and about 1/10th of his advisory salary from the company and everything else is going into investments and savings.”

Stephen took a sip of his drink. “I got to listen in on the Zoom call with the first company, that mom and daughter hair product game out of Atlanta?”

Steve raised an eyebrow to indicate he was listening.

“Well, first of all, I learned a lot about hair care and weaves and black hair versus white hair versus indigenous hair and so on. I thought, you know, hair, but I was wrong,” Stephen smiled. “And I looked over at them and they were just… Tony couldn’t stop asking questions and Bucky was taking notes so fast that his hand was a blur and they were so kind to these women who had clearly had every door shut in their face.

“They’re going to give those two women mentoring, support, connections, and $5 million and I was so proud I could probably actually burst.”

“And no one will ever know,” Steve smiled. “That’s my favorite part, once Bucky explained it to me. That most investors want credit, and that most angel investors don’t but are hands off, and they’re combining the two.”

“It’s, what, one straight year of no profit before they take over?”

“I think so,” Steve nodded. “I heard a call between Bucky and Nat and Pepper a few months back when they were first starting. The women had some pragmatic tips to ground our dreamers.”

Stephen laughed. “You know, every time someone tells me that marriage is just two people, I think about how I actually would have killed Tony or myself by now if I didn’t have you, Pepper, and Darcy.”

Steve thought of the the ring nestled in his woodworking supply drawer at work. “I certainly hope to find out for myself soon.”

Nine Months Later

“Dearly beloved,” Tony intoned and grinned at his two best friends. “Because you all are, truly, in this room, dearly beloved. Not only by these two idiots, but by their family. We are gathered today to affirm the covenant of James Buchanan Barnes and Steven Grant Rogers and I know I’m not the only one who feels like this day is a lifetime in the making.”

Darcy peered around Steve’s back to see Nat standing just behind Bucky. They’d become quite close over the past several years and Darcy was grateful - she’d never had many close female friends. Now she had Nat, and Pepper, and that new science teacher the school had hired - Jane.

They were at the Riverside Farm in Vermont with 25 of their closest friends and family. Tucked into the Green Mountains, the venue was exactly what they’d been looking for - away from Sanditon, low-key, and visually stunning. As born and bred New England boys, nothing made them happier than New England in the fall, so an October wedding was a no-brainer. Darcy and Nat had picked their own best women dresses - coordinating with the wine, cream, green autumnal theme Pepper had designed for the day. Darcy had been particularly thrilled that her dress came with pockets.

Focus, Wilson, she berated herself and caught Sam’s grin out of the corner of her eye. He’d told her she wouldn’t be able to focus and she’d argued with him. He pointed back at Steve with his free hand and placed a kiss to their daughter’s head while he was at it.

“I’ve been married for many blissful years, right honey?” Tony called to Stephen, who rolled his eyes while the congregation laughed. Grinning, he continued. “And I’ve learned a thing or two. First, and boys, look at me.”

The two turned their heads towards Tony. Darcy remembered Tony telling them the night before at dinner that they’d forget most of the day, but he was going to make sure they remembered the ceremony.

“You are about to make some vows that you’ll make every day, over and over again, for the rest of your natural lives. You will vow in sickness and health every time one of you gets a cold, or heads in for surgery. You’ll vow to forsake all others every time someone flirts with one of your fine asses, you’ll vow richer or poorer the first time Buck and I screw up one of our investments and you’ll vow for as long as we both shall live every single day.

“The people that say marriage is hard aren’t lying, but they’re also not telling the full truth. Marriage is easy. It’s just two folks legally co-habitating and the government gives us some tax breaks because heteronormative patriarchy blah blah blah. So, marriage is easy.

“Covenant is not. The vows you’ll recite in a few minutes are not marriage - you did that at the courthouse when you got your license. No, my beloved boys who I have loved for nearly all of my life, no. The vows you’re about to make are covenantal and that takes all the work of all the breath in your body for as long as you both shall live. You ready for that, Stevie?”

Darcy could hear Steve swallow as his shoulders shook slightly with tears. She placed a hand on the middle of his back and he leaned into it slightly. “Can’t wait.”

Tony smiled and Darcy could see the sheen of tears in her brother’s eyes. “Buckaroo?”

“Not throwing away my shot here, Stark,” Bucky replied, drawing laughs from the crowd.

“Good, good, you’ll get that shot in a few moments. But first,” Tony raised his voice slightly and looked at her and then at Nat, “I have some words for those of us gathered here. We are a part of their vows. I mean, if you’ve been to a wedding before you’ve probably noticed that, that there’s a bit where we all agree to help them keep their vows, and I think we rush over that too much.

“These absolute muppets,” Tony smiled affectionately as the boys laughed, “are going to need our help. They’re going to need some of us, sometimes, to carry their vows for them when they can’t remember this day or why they chose each other. They’re gonna need you, Darce and Nat, and us, honey, and and everyone else here who calls them family - we’re gonna need to step up sometimes. Marriages might be two people, but covenants can’t be. Covenants are made in community, so are you all up to being community?”

The small crowd all affirmed they were and Tony grabbed Steve and Bucky’s hands.

“I’ll be honest guys, I recommend the covenant. What do you say?”

“I say,” Steve said, his voice shaking but strong, “that I chose him when we were kids and I ain’t gonna stop now.”

“And I say,” Bucky grinned, tears spilling down his cheeks, “that I am my best self when I’m with him, so I definitely choose covenant.”

“Well then,” Tony released their hands and wiped his face. “Let’s go.”

As the sound of Etta James’ At Last swirled around them, Steve tightened his grip on his husband as they swayed around the dance floor.

“Hey husband,” Bucky whispered. “I love you.”

“Hey husband,” Steve smiled and pressed a kiss to Bucky’s lips. “I love you, too.”

They swayed in quiet for a few minutes before Bucky spoke again. “What Stark said back there, that was something.”

Steve smiled and pressed his forehead to Bucky’s. “Stephen made him write most of it down and they’ve framed it for us. Darce said it’s already in the house.”

“Good,” Bucky affirmed. “Good.”

A few more moments - Steve heard the DJ announce that the floor was open to everyone else, the song changed, and saw Pepper drag Nat to the floor out of the corner of his eye - and Bucky spoke again.

“So, after this, whuddya say we bunk off to Costa Rica for two weeks?”

“Can we go to one of those places with a swim up bar?”

“You know, I had this other guy booked on a trip with me to one of those, but you’re pretty handsome, so I’ll take you instead.”

“Works for me,” Steve smiled and pulled Bucky in for another kiss.

“Then, after that,” Bucky said, “how about we live happily ever after.”

“God, do I like the sound of that,” Steve laughed.

“Me, too, Stevie,” Bucky grinned. “Me too.”

Achievements earned as part of the Holiday Movie Challenge 2019. Click here for more info!