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Steve smiles when he walks into their living area and sees Bucky’s pulled his favorite armchair to the windows to watch the rain fall. It’s definitely a good day for rain watching; it’s chilly outside, and the rain is coming down in these odd, blustery waves, so you can see it falling over clusters of buildings. Bucky must be eating this up. Steve walks over to him, stepping as lightly as he can so he doesn’t disturb Bucky too much, though he knows Bucky can hear him. He leans down over the back of the armchair and smacks a kiss to the side of Bucky’s neck, right where he’s most ticklish. Bucky yelps and swats Steve away, turning his head with a smile to show he doesn’t really mean it. Steve leans down again and kisses Bucky on the lips, a slow, lingering kiss that Bucky hums into appreciatively. Steve pulls away eventually, leaning back with a smile on his face.
“You have any plans for the day?” Bucks asks around his own smile.
“Nah. Think I might curl up on the couch and knit for a bit.”
Bucky perks up a little when Steve says that. “What are you working on?”
Steve chuckles at Bucky’s eagerness. “Yes, I’m starting another pair of socks for you, is the question you didn’t ask.”
“Yay!” Bucky cheers, tugging his lap blanket up enough for his wiggling toes to peek out the edge. He’s wearing a pair of socks Steve finished knitting for him last week, and Steve feels his face go all dopey at the sight. Bucky’s constant enthusiasm and delight about the things Steve knits for him is probably the main reason he keeps knitting him stuff. Steve loves knitting, and he’d do it anyway, but having his work appreciated so unabashedly is...well, it’s kind of intoxicating, really.
“Cozy feet,” Bucky says around a smile, and Steve just has to get his lips on Bucky immediately.
~~~
Steve can still remember the first time his mother knitted him something: it was a maroon hat, the wool slightly scratchy until he’d worn it in enough. It was too big on him, too, and kept sliding down his forehead. His mom had tutted at herself and tried to take it back, but Steve grasped it tightly and frowned so deeply that his mom just laughed and let him keep it.
He wore that hat until it fell apart in his hands.
Some of the women in their apartment building used to come over when his ma had a rare day off, and they’d all sit and knit and talk. Or gossip, if the mood struck. Steve would go into the bedroom for a while and try to occupy himself, but inevitably he’d creep back out, peeking around the doorframe so he could watch the women work, needles and hands flying around as they knitted.
After a couple of months of peeking, Mrs. Horvath turned her head toward the doorway and looked him dead in the eyes as she said, “are you going to come learn how to do this or are you going to lurk in the doorway forever?”
Steve had squeaked a little and fell on his ass, right on the hard floor, which had stung like hell. The women all chuckled at him like they thought it was cute, and his hackles had raised right up, so he’d marched into the room all ready to say something mean. But when he got there, his ma raised an eyebrow, and Mrs. Byrne held up a pair of needles and a ball of yarn, and he’d been so distracted and excited by that sudden development that he forgot he was mad at all. As is the way of things sometimes when you’re 8 years old.
~~~
He hadn’t started back up again right away after the ice: it took a few weeks before he was able to sit in stillness with his own thoughts, then a few weeks more before he realized his hands were itching to do something. He wasn’t ready to start drawing again, if the few sketches he’d done to test the waters were any indication. But then he decided to go for a walk one day, explore the city around the Tower, and he realized they were right by the garment district, with its fabric stores and textile mills and yarn shops. He ducked into one as he was walking by, and the employee’s eyes had widened but she didn’t say anything other than, “is there something I can help you with today?”
Steve had taken a deep breath and said, “yes. There is.”
Knitting now is so different. There are all these specialized tools and needles and gadgets, and the yarn! Oh, the yarn is so soft and sumptuous, splashed with vibrant colors. It feels so nice in his hands. He made himself more hats than he could count before he decided he wanted to move on to something else, and he settled on socks. A person could never have too many hand-knitted pairs of socks, in Steve’s opinion.
An opinion which Bucky seems to share. As long as he lives, Steve will never forget the look on Bucky’s face when Steve gave him his first pair; it was a mix between elation and surprise and delight, and it settled something deep in Steve’s chest. He’d gone right back to his yarn stash, grabbed more sock yarn, and cast on another sock for Bucky.
Bucky’s got a whole drawer full now, and Steve does as well, and it feels incredibly indulgent considering how they’d both grown up, but Steve figures as far as indulging goes, it’s pretty tame, all things considered.
~~~
Steve’s right in the middle of the heel turn on his latest pair when Bucky comes over and nudges his shoulder enough to get his attention but not so hard that he messes up his stitches.
“Hey,” Bucky says, “it’s time to go. Inaugural Avengers movie night starts soon. We need to get to the communal floor.”
Steve pouts and holds up his knitting. “But my heel turn.”
Bucky shrugs. “Bring it with you.”
A rush of adrenaline surges through Steve. “I don’t...um…”
Bucky frowns, his eyebrows furrowing together as he takes in Steve’s reaction. He sits down next to Steve on the couch and puts a gentle hand on Steve’s thigh. “Hey,” he says. “Talk to me.”
“It’s just...no one else on the team knows that I knit.”
“Oh. Are you worried about their reaction?”
“I guess I am a little? You know Tony, sometimes his mouth gets away from him.”
“Then keep it here.”
“But my heel turn,” Steve whines.
Bucky chuckles and leans in to brush a kiss to Steve’s forehead. “I don’t think anyone will care. Or if they do, they’ll think it’s cool. Mostly I bet they’ll just be happy to learn something about you. Give them the chance to surprise you, in a good way. And if they don’t, we can leave and come home and watch a movie together, and you can tell me you told me so while you finish your heel turn. How’s that sound?”
Steve’s stomach is still fluttering a little, but it’s a solid plan. He’s willing to give it a shot. “Okay. Yeah, okay, let’s do that.”
Bucky nods and gets up off the couch. Steve packs his knitting into his favorite little project bag, and they head to the communal floor. They’ve barely even said their hellos when Clint clocks the bag in Steve’s hand.
“Hey, what is that?” Clint asks, and Steve feels Bucky squeeze his hand. Oh, right, he can probably hear how Steve’s heart feels like it’s about to beat out of his chest.
“It’s my project bag. For my knitting.”
“Holy shit, you knit? That’s awesome! What are you making?”
Steve can practically feel Bucky’s smile as it blooms across his face, it’s so wide. “Socks for Bucky.”
“Can I see?” Clint asks, and he seems genuinely excited to see the socks Steve is knitting, so he shrugs and opens up his project bag to pull out his needles. The rest of the team has gathered around, apparently interested too, and they all sort of coo when Steve holds up his work in progress.
“I thought you said you were knitting?” Tony says. “Why are there...wires?”
“Oh, these are circular needles, so this wobbly part is the cable, and down here is the needle tip, see. This is so I can knit things in a circle. But I’m using two together like this so I can knit both socks at the same time. That way I make sure they’re both exactly the same size, and I don’t get Second Sock Syndrome. Which is where you make one sock first and then don’t feel like making the second one.”
Steve looks at his teammates, and every single one of them is staring at him with unreadable expressions on their faces. “Um…” he says, flicking his eyes toward Bucky, who gives him an encouraging nod.
“Steve, that is awesome!” Clint whoops, breaking the silence. “I’ve always wanted a pair of knitted socks, they look so comfortable.”
“I have a whole drawer full,” Bucky chimes in, which makes Clint gasp.
“I want a pair of knitted socks!” Natasha whines at the same time Sam tries out his best puppy eyes.
“I...can make you all some?” Steve hedges, and everyone cheers, clapping Steve on the back as they head over toward the TV to pick something to watch. Tony glances back with a small little smile on his face before turning back around to give Bruce shit about the movie he suggests.
Steve feels like little bubbles are working their way up his chest, and he wiggles a little to let them loose. He can also feel Bucky beaming in his direction, and when he looks at him, there’s a huge smile splitting his face.
“Want me to help you go through your yarn tomorrow and pick something nice for everyone?” Bucky asks as he wraps his fingers around Steve’s wrist.
“Yeah,” Steve breathes. “I’d like that.”