Work Text:
The Winter Soldier was on a mission.
He stalked through the store, glaring down little old ladies and anyone else who dared cross his path. Not even the salespeople approached him, which wasn’t entirely unexpected, given that they seemed to be making themselves scarce anyway. It was just… Bucky was so pissed at himself.
He counted himself as pretty good with technology most of the time. He was better than Steve, at least. He never had any problems with his cell phone or tablet. Hell, he managed his own social media pages, which most of the Avengers had foisted off onto Tony’s team of professionals. Bucky had a damn Tumblr account.
He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten to read the shipping information on his gift for Tony.
It was just… This was their first Christmas together as a couple and Bucky’d wanted to make it special. He knew Tony would go over the top anyway because that’s just how he worked, and Bucky wanted to maybe spoil him a bit. He’d started looking for the perfect gift in August, and finally tracked down this tiny little craft shop online that created these amazing sculptures out of recycled computer hard drives. And they had an Iron Man in stock. It was entirely impractical and ridiculous, but it was also so fucking perfect that Bucky couldn’t stand it. He’d ordered it on the spot, too excited to realize the issue.
He’d found it halfway through November… and the statue was coming out of Japan with a 3 – 4-month shipping window.
He hadn’t even really started worrying until Christmas was just two weeks away, and even then, he didn’t do more than just confirm that the statue had been shipped out. Bucky was kicking himself for it now, because it was Christmas Eve and he still didn’t have a replacement gift for Tony. He’d been searching for days now, but the stores were already well-picked over and it wasn’t like there was anything there that appealed in the first place. Tony didn’t exactly normally buy things ‘off the rack’.
He snarled in frustration, sending a harried-looking businessman back out of the aisle with his Barbie clutched to his chest like a shield. Bucky didn’t even care. He was just so pissed at himself. He knew Tony would understand his gift coming late, but he shouldn’t have to. Tony was amazing! He deserved to have an amazing Christmas with his gift from his boyfriend under the tree like everyone else. Hell, Bucky’d had to beg Natasha to run interference for him just so he could come out and do this shopping run. Technically, he should’ve been at the Avengers Holiday Gala with everyone else. He’d been really looking forward to dancing with Tony. He wasn’t even sure what he was doing in a three-piece suit in the toy section of a Walmart of all places, anyway. It was Christmas Eve. He could be spending it with his boyfriend and chosen family, even if he was the worst boyfriend on the face of the planet.
With a sigh of defeat, he turned to leave, only for his eyes to catch the endcap display a few aisles over. ‘Make this Holiday Season AMAZING with the AMAZING SPIDERMAN!’ it proclaimed in a myriad of bright colors. The display was a little less than half-full of cheesy, cheap Spiderman action figures. A few steps closer revealed the aisle itself was full of even more superhero (and villain!) figures. An idea started to form in Bucky’s mind.
If he hurried, he might even get to have that dance, after all.