Archive of Our Own

Steve sat on the end of his daughter bed and held her tiny hand between his oversized ones. Her brown eyes and hair were like her mothers, and every time she cried Steve was pretty sure his heart was ripping out of his chest. She was crying now, although trying to hide it with a hiccupping cough that hurt more than the tears.

“Baby Lou,” He soothed, running his hand over her soft brown curls. “Come on, you gotta tell me what’s wrong.”

“S’nuffin.” She snuffled, turning away so he wouldn’t see her tears. Steve wanted to crawl under the bed and never show his face again. His own daughter wouldn’t even talk to him about what was bothering her. He would have bet his whole pay check that Peggy would have been better at this kind of stuff. Not that she got much practice – Louise didn’t remember her mother any more, too young to understand what was going on, she was only a year old when Peggy passed away. Steve did everything he could to keep Peggy in her mind, pictures around the house, a stuffed toy gently scented with her perfume, stories at bedtime about how much her mommy loved her, but he knew, logically, that she didn’t remember.

He really wished Peggy was around.

“It’s not ‘nuffin’ if you’re upset.” He told her, squeezing her hand gently as he petted her hair. “You can tell me anything, you know that, right?” He paused. “I’m not gonna get mad.”

Louise buried her head deep into her pillow and mumbled something completely ineligible, before bursting into fresh tears. Steve wasn’t equipped for tears before dinner. Obviously something at school had set her off, she’d come home upset and it had only gotten worse. Louise, like Peggy, was wicked smart – she adored school and reading and her teachers. She wasn’t exactly super popular, but she had friends she played with at recess and after school, Steve was really good friends with Louise’s best friend Kate parents – the Romanov-Barton’s lived across the street and proximity had meant that Kate and Louise were as thick as thieves since they were old enough to play together. Maybe Kate and Lou had fallen out?

“Lou, you know I can’t hear you when you talk into the pillow.” He pointed out, only to have his daughter sit up and glare at him, jaw set firmly. Sometimes she looked so much like him that it was impossible to see any Peggy in her features – and he knew that stubborn look well.

“I said,” She snapped. “Armin Zola said my hair looked like a bird slept in it, and Maria said that,” She hiccupped, losing her stubbornness a little in the wake of a wobbling lower lip, “That it’s not my fault mommy can’t do a good braid, cause she’s dead – and Armin laughed!” She all but wailed at the end, tears falling anew. “Then Howard Stark punched him in nose and he got into trouble for fighting.” That last part sounded a little too pleased about the fighting, but he wasn’t sure what to respond other than:

“Armin got into trouble?”

“No,” She said, looking disgusted. “Howard did. And Miss Potts gave Howard a bad mark on his behaviour chart and his daddy came to school and Armin pretended that he was really hurt though he wasn’t and Howard won’t be allowed to come to Kate’s birthday party because his daddy said so, and it’s all my fault!”

Steve was lost. “Why is that your fault?”

“Because my hair looks like a bird slept in it!” She wailed, before burying her face into her pillow and refusing to move even though Steve promised her that he’d sort things out.

Miss Potts was, Steve was sure, some kind of saint. She had taught Louise for almost a year and he couldn’t have thought of a better teacher for his daughter. She made time for all her students, made sure that parents got involved if it was needed, and didn’t put any one student ahead of another.

When Steve asked her if go could have a chat, she was more than happy to oblige – and as the kids played outside during recess, Steve paced the room. “I don’t want the Stark boy to get into trouble for something that really wasn’t his fault.”

Miss Potts nodded, sipping her tea and looking more like a high powered CEO than a teacher. “Howard knows the rules against fighting.” She told him, “So he’ll still get a black mark on his chart, but I will let his father know that the situation was not as described.” She smiled gently. “Armin Zola will also get a black mark for bullying – and I’ll make sure that we focus an afternoon on anti-bullying, our last one was a few months ago – a refresher won’t hurt.”

“Thank you, Miss Potts.”

“Just doing my job.” She said, getting to her feet. “Louise is a wonderful, well-adjusted little girl. I wish all my students were half as interested in their lessons.” She gave him a pointed look. “You’re doing a good job, Mr Rogers. Trust me; I would let you know if there were any issues popping up.”

Steve went home after his meeting with Miss Potts; aware that he’d done everything he could to protect his daughter at school. He couldn’t do much more against little assholes like Armin (and yeah, he knew it wasn’t exactly fair to the kid, but when someone picks on your children it’s really hard to stay neutral) but he could perhaps lessen the causes for it.

Louise had lovely hair, thick, soft brown curls that she took after her mom. Steve mostly made sure that it was brushed at night and before school, perhaps sometimes tying it back with a ribbon or something if it was a picture day – but he knew that when she got back from school, most days her hair was a bit wild.

She was only 5 years old though; surely messy hair wasn’t something kids spent a lot of time thinking about? However – Steve bit the bullet. How hard could it be to learn some hair styles suitable for a little girl? He wasn’t gonna do it professionally, for crying out loud.

He opened the laptop and typed in ‘hair styles for little girls’.

“It’s insane!” He told Clint as he stood to one side and watched as Louise carefully worked through her routine. Her little cream coloured tutu bobbed up and down as she moved, not half as gracefully as her best friend. The reason for that, of course, was that Kate’s mother Natasha had been a rather well known ballet dancer in Russia before she’d met Clint. Louise didn’t seem to care that she wasn’t quite as good as her best friend and Steve felt bad for noticing – surely he was supposed to think his daughter was the best at everything? – but he also knew that Kate had issues with learning her numbers, which was somewhere that Louise excelled.

“Tell me about it.” Clint agreed, head bobbing along to the music. “Natasha does all the hair stuff. She’s good at that.” He grinned, “Wait till she starts wanting make-up, then you’ll be fuc- uh… fudged.”

“I don’t get it!” Steve said, deliberately ignoring the make-up issue. Christ only knew what he was gonna do then. “Everything looks like it’s gonna be so easy, and then you look at the drawings, and it’s… it’s…” He waved a hand in misery. “Nuclear physics for hair.” When Clint laughed, Steve shot him a look. “I’m not kidding, there was a ‘simple braid’ and it needed three hairbrushes, two clasps, a misting conditioner and working knowledge of fractions.” He sighed. “I’m not cut out for this.”

When the music ended, he clapped along with the other parents, winking at Louise who beamed at him from where she was standing. Kate was in the front with the older girls, obviously her skills were more advanced for her age, and once the practice was over, they ran towards one another chattering excitedly.

“Oh Steve!” An attractive blond woman said, sailing over, just as Clint muttered ‘incoming’ under his breath. “I was just saying to Janice, you remember Janice, don’t you? I was just saying that we never see Steve Rogers at our little get-togethers anymore!” She beamed at him, looking far too dressed up for a dance practice for her daughter, red lips and a figure hugging top that displayed her cleavage. “And here you are! It’s a sign!”

“Oh, you’re having another little party, Lisa?” Clint asked, grinning over Steve. “I’ll have to let Natasha know, she loved the last one.”

Steve managed not to choke on his own tongue at that. Although he got along just fine with Natasha, she had little time for the ‘women of the pta’ that pretty much ran the social circle in their community. They used words like ‘community’ and ‘networking’ and ‘do you remember my friend who just happens to be single?’ a lot, and Steve spent most of his energy trying to avoid going to anything where he could hear those particular words. Because Natasha was arguably the most famous person in the street, they had spent some time trying to initiate her into their circle. It hadn’t worked – Natasha found their conversation dull and their interests duller, and never shied away from letting them know. Needless to say, after the last dinner party when Natasha had clearly and loudly announced that the only reason she’d ever attend a Tupperware party was if she had her brain physically removed from her body, she wasn’t invited to any more events. “Oh, um, we’ve not arranged anything yet!” Lisa said, paling a little. “But as soon as we do,” She said, looking back at Steve like a shark that scents blood in the water, “I’ll let you know.”

When she swayed away, Clint gives a snort. “Jesus, if I wasn’t a married man…” He pauses, “I’d get fudging eaten alive out here. I don’t know how you manage it.”

“I don’t understand!” Steve hisses. “I’ve made it quite clear I’m not dating.”

“Dude, you’re like… 450lbs of pure wholesome milk. It doesn’t really matter if you want to date or not, good-looking widowers are hard to come by.”

“Thanks, Barton.”

“You are welcome, Steve.” He smirked, “You are welcome.”

After Ballet, Louise played over at Kate’s, the two girls never seeming tired of each other’s company, leaving Steve free to get the after school destruction of their home out of the way. It didn’t make sense that a girl as tiny as Louise could make such a huge mess in such a short period of time. He found himself humming along to ‘Mother knows best’ which was probably a sign that he’d watched Louise’s favourite movie faaaar to much as he cleaned away the dolls and legos from the living room. He’d only just finished when Natasha appeared at the door, Kate pouting and Louise looking like someone stole her last candy. “One delivery for Rogers.” Natasha said, her voice only slightly accented, nudging Louise through the door with her hand.

“Did you behave yourself?” Steve asked, not expecting any other answer than the eye roll from Natasha and the ‘Duh’ from the girls. “Okay, okay!” He said, holding up his hands. “I just gotta check, you know that.”

“Here.” Natasha said, before turning Kate away from the door and back over the street. “Clint said you needed it.”

He didn’t get a chance to look at the note that Natasha had handed him until after he’d gotten Louise bathed and sent to bed, her favourite story (He’d retired ‘go the fuck to sleep’ once she was old enough to talk, and she’d asked to read the Harry Potter ones, which he actually loved) and another round of cleaning up.

He was half terrified that it would be some link to a porno or something, but when he typed in the YouTube search, it had been so much better.

“Hey, I’m Bucky, and this is Natalia,” An extremely attractive man said, nodding to a pretty little girl with dark brown hair that matched his. “And today we’re going back to basics and are going to show you how to do a simple braid in a couple of easy steps. What are we gonna call this one, comrade?”

“Simple braiding for single dads!” The little girl said, in an accented voice. Russian, Steve guessed, as the screen went black. When it restarted, the girl was facing away from the camera, the back of her head clearly on display. “Okay, you wanna make sure that the hair is dry. I know it looks easier with wet hair, but trust me, it’s a bad idea.” He grinned at the camera and Steve felt himself smiling back in return. “Right, so you’ve got your torture victim sitting nicely,” He pointed to the little girl, who giggled, “And all you need for this is a hair tie and your fingers, we’re keeping it old-school today – master the easy steps before diving into the harder stuff.”

“Uh, Lou?” Steve asked, as the both sleepily ate their breakfast in the kitchen. He’d watched the YouTube videos over and over again, staying up waaay too late – he was paying for it now. ‘Hair Styles For Single Dads’ was a YouTube series that had Bucky (the good looking dad) and Natalia (his 5 year old daughter) working through a selection of hairstyles that were east enough for dads to master. It wasn’t exactly the most popular channel, but it had enough viewers that a few videos were ‘requested hair styles’ from other subscribers.

Louise looked up at him from her bowl of popped rice and milk and blinked owlishly. Neither of them were morning people, it turned out. Even though Steve kept her to a pretty tight bedtime routine, she was always a nightmare to wake up in the morning – not helped out by the fact that he wasn’t much better.

“I thought if you wanted, I could do your hair in a braid this morning for school.” He said, trying to sound like that was something he offered every other day. “If we have enough time.”

“Yes!” Louise said, popping out of her chair, excitedly.

“Hold up!” Steve said, pointing back to the half-eaten bowl of cereal. “If we’re going to do this, you gotta eat all this, and we’ve got to have all the morning stuff out of the way first.” He said, telling himself that he wasn’t putting it off. “So you need to get washed and teeth brushed and clothes on before we start.”

“Yes daddy.” She beamed, spooning cereal into her mouth too quickly, eyes sparkling.

“Okay,” He said, wielding the brush in his hand as Louise sat in the dining room chair, laptop open on the table as they watched through the video once more. “I think I see where I went wrong.” He said.

He was glad they’d made sure that everything was ready for school in advance of starting the ‘simple braid’ because it had taken about 4 times longer than he expected it to. He was also completely floored by the fact that Louise was still happy to sit and watch the video along with him – she hadn’t so much as wriggled in the chair as he worked. His first attempt was terrible – half of the hair was sticking out of the edges and he dropped one of the three strands he needed to actually work the braid. His second and third attempts weren’t that much better, but he was pretty sure that he knew where he’d gone wrong. “Ok, hit play.” He said, and flexed his fingers.

“Do you think I look like Elsa?” Louise asked, spinning around. The braid had loosened through the day, so that when he picked her and Kate up from school, it was sitting lower on her head, a few strands falling out. He’d popped out to the store through the afternoon as he worked on his latest project. There was now a little plastic box with a pack of 50 ‘no tug’ elastics which promised that they wouldn’t damage hair like the regular elastic he’d put in her hair that morning. The rubber had made her wince as it pulled and he suddenly realised that the ‘supplies’ video that Bucky had put up might actually be important.

“So, although you technically don’t need anything other than a hair tie, it’s always a good idea to have the following.” He’d said, smiling at the camera with his ‘beautiful assistant’ Natalia. “So, obviously you’ll need a brush. Always use a good quality anti-static brush, and never brush wet hair.” He said, “You can comb through damp hair, but use a conditioning spray.” He held up a bottle of store brand stuff. “It doesn’t have to be anything expensive, you can get them for a dollar if you shop around, although the fancy ones have a nicer smell.” He also ran through a list of other things – the type of combs you might want, hair ties, and ribbons. Steve had bought a spray (leave in conditioner stuff that smelt like mangos and was apparently the best one the girl in the store could recommend) and a new comb and brush as well as hair ties.

“Once you get better you’ll end up picking up ribbons and fancy hair ties – I’ll show you how to put these through hair, here,” and he’d pointed to a more advanced video box showing up on the screen – but until you’ve worked out the basics, stick with these, here.” Another box had shown up, on the left of the screen. “And remember – it’s a great way to spend some time with your kids if you’re pretty busy after school or you’re working full time – so maybe ask them to pick out their own hair ties or ‘play hairdressers’ and talk to them while you do their hair.” He grinned. “Being a single parent is hard, and you want to make the little things as fun as possible.”

Steve had re-watched that a few times, thinking of how he mostly let Louise play with her Legos and dolls as he worked. He always made time for her, but maybe it would be a good idea to play with her more often – like he had done when she was younger and needed full time entertainment.

“I think you look just like Elsa!” He said, holding out his hands for Louise and Kate to hold on to. He always parked a little bit away from the gates so that the girls could walk a bit, but they would need to cross the street and he had nightmares about speeding cars.

“Howard Stark said I looked just like her even if my hair isn’t yellow, and he said that Kate is Anna and we’re like sisters anyway.” She said, holding onto his hand and half hanging off his arm, swinging madly.

“And he said he was Kristoff, but he’s more like Olaf.” Kate giggled, swinging off his hand too, as they walked. Both girls erupted into mass hysterics at that, and kept laughing all the way to the car, doubled over and their shoes scraping over the sidewalk.

“A small braid like this,” Bucky said on the screen, waving a hand dramatically over his daughters head as she sat smiling up at him. “Is a great way to keep hair out of the eyes while still keeping most of the hair free. What are we going to call this one, comrade?”

“Sweeping side braids!” His daughter said, as the screen went black.

“Daddy!” Louise screamed from over the play yard, completely forgetting all about Kate who was trailing behind, looking unhappy. Today the school had taken them to the zoo, and Louise had been looking forward to it all month, because she’d get to see an iguana. Steve had no freaking idea why she was so excited to see one – or even where she’d heard about them, but he dutifully listened to all the iguana facts she had. He didn’t doubt that he was about to be bombarded with more. “Daddy! Guess who I saw today?” She said, running into his arms and wriggling like she used to when she was younger and far too excited to keep her body still.

“I don’t know.” He told her, playing at looking confused. “Maybe… an iguana?”

“No one cares about stupid iguanas.” She shot back, “Guess who I saw!”

“A stupid head.” Kate said, catching up to her friend. “An ugly stupid head.”

“You take that back!” Louise screamed, suddenly. Steve knew right away that he’d have to do something drastic to get in between the two. They didn’t normally argue but when they did, it was hair pulling, kicks and bites and he really couldn’t go through that more than once a year.

“Okay, girls!” He said, clapping his hands once. “Right. We’re going to walk to the car and no more shouting at each other unless you both want to get into serious trouble.” He commanded in his sternest voice.

Obviously, it didn’t work.

“She’s just jealous because Natalia said my hair was lovely and didn’t say nuffin about her hair!”  

In the end, Steve had to just wrangle them both into the car and drop Kate off sooner than normal. When Clint had taken one look at the girls, red-faced and pointedly ignoring each other by glaring in opposite directions, he nodded. “Roger that, Rogers.” He said before Steve could even explain what had happened. Steve still wasn’t sure what had happened himself, but he nodded back and escorted Louise back to their house with a firm hand on her shoulder.

“Okay,” He said, once the door was shut and the neighbours less likely to complain if she started screaming blue murder like she’d done in the playground. “What the heck was that all about?”

Louise jaw jutted out further, erasing all traces of her mother from her face and looking so much like the pictures of Steve as a skinny 5 year old that he needed to blink. “Kate is a big meanie because I was excited at the zoo.” She shot back at him, folding her arms across her chest and glaring. “She wanted to go and see the turtles and I was gonna go with her, but then I saw Natalia.” She said, her voice going awed at the name. “From the internet.”

“The little girl?” He asked, frowning – and Louise’s face lit up like the fourth of July.

“Yes!” She gushed. “And she had her hair all up and looked like a princess and I said, ‘I know you from the internet, my daddy copies your daddy!’ and she was really nice and she held my hand and she was so nice!” Louise gushed. “But then Kate came over and she said that we had to stay buddies together, and I know that,” Louise said, rolling her eyes. “But then Natalia said my hair was nice, and she’s got a tiny little voice and she didn’t say nuffin to Kate and Kate is a stupider head than anyone for being jealous!” She snapped. “Just because I made a new friend, and I don’t get mad at her or call her dancing friends ugly stupid heads because they’re not my friends.” She said, stomping her foot. “And Natalia got upset and her daddy came over and Miss Potts knows him because Natalia is going to start in our school!” she said, dancing on her tiptoes. Steve wasn’t quite sure if she was excited or mad or both.

“Are you sure it’s the same girl?” Steve asked, because he was fairly sure they lived overseas.

“Yes, daddy.” She said rolling her eyes. “Her daddy was there and he is nice too.” She said. “But Natalia is going into Miss Danvers class, not our class.” She paused. “I told her Miss Danvers was a nice teacher.” She said, looking proud. “But I’m not going to play with Kate ever again if she’s mean to Natalia.”

True to her word, Louise managed a full three days of not talking to her best friend before Steve arrived at the school gates to find them skipping over hand in hand, chattering away like nothing happened. He was going to ask why they’d suddenly started being friends again, but decided against it – he wasn’t sure if he could cope with another three days of a moody 5 year old.

“Natalia started in Miss Danvers class today.” Kate told him as he checked they were both strapped into their seats. “She had her hair fancy like a party, we saw it at recess.”

“Oh?” Steve said, pretty unsure if asking more questions was a good idea.

“Yeah,” Louise said, smiling. “And we played skipping with her and the little kids to make her have new friends.”

The little kids were, of course, anyone not in Miss Potts class, some of them a full year younger than the girls – normally a horrified squeal would accompany the idea of playing with the babies.

“And she’s only a little bit younger than us.” Kate added, tugging at her belt to show she was safely buckled. “And when Armin teased her for being little and having a little voice, we told him to go away or we’d tell.”

“And he didn’t.” Louise said. “So I kicked him in the leg and he ran off.”

“Louise!” Steve said, horrified. “You don’t kick people!”

“It wasn’t hard.” She pointed out, which really wasn’t the point.

“That’s not the point, Lou!” He said, turning to face them both. “It’s not acceptable!” He paused, wracking his mind for a suitable punishment. “No TV for a week.”

“Fine.” She shrugged, not looking in the slightest bit concerned. “He’s a bully and I won’t let him be a bully.” She said. “I’ll kick him again if he’s mean about the way Natalia talks.” She said, sounding proud. God, Steve was a little proud too – he always hated bullies and he was glad that Louise was standing up for her friends, but he couldn’t let that behaviour carry on. “And anyway, he didn’t run away because I kicked him.” She carried on. “He ran away because he said that girls don’t kick as good as boys and Howard Stark said that if he didn’t think so then I should kick him again, and then he ran away.”

“Cause he’s a big coward.” Kate added.

“Howard Stark seems to be around a lot.” Steve noted, starting the engine.

“We’re getting married.” Louise told him, perfectly seriously, and Steve was glad he hadn’t pulled away because he would have definitely crashed the damn car.

That morning as he walked the girls to school, hand in hand, giggling and talking to one another about Kate’s birthday party taking place the next day – when a very familiar little girl suddenly ran up to them, a big smile on her face. “Natalia!” they both screamed, the enthusiasm of youth taking over, hugging her madly like they hadn’t seen her in a thousand years – not the day before. She was smaller than he’d been expecting, not as confident as she looked on the YouTube videos – although her hair was expertly done.

“This is my daddy, Natalia.” Louise said, tugging at Steve’s hand. “Daddy, say hello.”

Steve grinned and knelt down, holding out his hand. “Hello Natalia.” He said, trying to look as non-threatening as possible. He was aware he was far too large for children to feel totally comfortable around him. “I want to say thank you for making the videos to show me how to do Lou’s hair, you were very good in them.” He said, smiling when she sheepishly took his hand and blushed.

“Thank you.” She said, her accent strong.

“Hey, Comrade.” A strong, deep voice said, from above them. “Everything okay here?”

Bucky Barnes looked different in person, just like his daughter. Where she seemed smaller and shyer, he seemed more vibrant and much more attractive. Steve hadn’t really thought about anyone being attractive since Peggy had died – although he still had eyes in his head he never really seemed to have the time to look at people as dating prospects. He was seriously re-considering that.

“Oh,” He said, getting to his feet, aware he was probably blushing. He could almost hear Peggy laughing, the way she’s tease him when he’d blush over her smiles. “Steve Rogers,” He said, holding out his hand. “Um, I was just thanking Natalia for helping me learn how to braid Louise’s hair.”

The other man seemed surprised at that, and then grinned. “James Barnes,” He replied, shaking the hand Steve was holding out. He had a firm grip, not too tight – just enough for Steve to know he had some strength in his hand. “Although it seems that you already know that.”

Steve smiled wryly. “Well, you did kinda save my skin.” He admitted. “I’m pretty useless at hair.”

“Natalia, come play with us, this is boring.” Louise said, grabbing the smaller girl by the hand.

“Don’t forget to ask him!” Kate called over her shoulder, before all three of them ran off to play.

“Ask me what?” The dark headed man said, leaning against the rails of the gate. Steve could already see the women of the PTA throwing glances their way, and he wasn’t quite ready to give up Bucky’s attention just yet. “Oh, Kate is having a birthday party tomorrow.” Steve said, pulling the invite from his back pocket. Natasha had asked him to give it to Natalia’s dad if he saw him, because Kate wanted her to come. “I know its a little short notice,” He apologised, “But I think Kate would really like her to be there.” He paused. “They’ll have a BBQ and stuff for the adults – so it’s not an excuse for more chaperones, honestly.”

Bucky looked at the paper invite and nodded. “Uh, sure, okay.” He said, before looking up at Steve. “I assume you’ll be there.”

“Yes.” Steve nodded, blushing again. “Definitely.”

“Well look what the cat dragged in!” Natasha called out, all heads swivelling towards the doors. Bucky was there, looking (in Steve’s opinion) utterly stunning in a pair of jeans that hugged everywhere just enough to get the mind turning over – he was suddenly really pleased he wore his only good pair of jeans, the ones a little too fitted for every day wear, and a cobalt blue shirt to bring out his eyes. “You look very nice, daddy.” Louise had said, when she’d come down after putting on her party dress. He knew though, that he didn’t look half as good as Bucky.

“Yeah, yeah,” Bucky said, before walking up to Natasha and enveloping her in a huge bear hug, lifting her right off her feet.

“You know him!” Steve hissed, as he managed to corner Natasha in the kitchen under the pretence of helping with the cake while Clint kept the kids entertained with his bow and arrow trick shots. “You didn’t tell me you knew him!”

“Of course I know him.” She said, looking completely unruffled. “Natalia is named after me.” She smirked, before waving a hand at the fridge where pictures were stuck. Steve saw them every time he went over, never really paying them much attention. “Her mother was a very good friend of mine – Alayna – we trained together, we danced together. The girls don’t know one another, Bucky kept her in Russia to be near her mother’s family.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Does it matter?” She shrugged. “James is here, Alayna is not.” She glanced over at him. “You are here, Peggy is not. These things happen.” She turned back to the cake, “Perhaps you can be here together.”

“I don’t even know if he’s interested.” Steve pointed out, before glaring at her. “You told me to invite him here.”

“I did.”

“You knew he was already going to come.”

“I did.”

“You set me up!”

She turned to him, cake in her hands, six candles burning brightly on top. “I did.” She smirked.

“Oh, we always notice a new face at the school gates,” Someone was saying, and Steve could hardly make Bucky out in the crowd of PTA moms that were surrounding him. “You’re little Natalia’s daddy? She’s adorable.” Someone else said.

“Mommy around?”

“Ah,” Bucky said sounding unsure of how to respond, and Steve gave him a wave over the hair sprayed heads. “Oh, Steve!” He called, squeezing between the ladies, heading right for him as Steve stood feeling awkward. “Sorry ladies, um, Steve was gonna show me that new part for the carburettor.” He glanced at Steve, “Right?”

“Oh, uh, yeah.” He managed, grinning winningly at the sea of sharks watching him, “Uh, its part of the customised refit on the piston valve.” He said and sighed when they politely declined to know more.

“You know absolutely nothing about cars, do you?” Bucky smirked, suddenly at his elbow with a grin.

“Not a darn thing.” He admitted. “I’m not even sure there is such a thing as a piston valve.” He paused. “But you don’t know a thing about avoiding the PTA moms, so I expect no shift from you.”

“Shift?”

“Shift.” He agreed. “I have a whole range of fudging hecks for every situation.” He said, grinning when Bucky laughed out loud, getting more looks sent their way from the women of the PTA. “Louise feels very strongly about cussing in the house.”

Bucky laughed again, dark eyes sparkling. “Oh, you have no idea how many times I’ve had to edit out me swearing a blue streak on the tutorials,” He admitted. “Every time I do, Nat gets a fit of the giggles.”

“I’m working my way through the ‘easy’ section.” Steve admitted. “I’m not so great with my hands.”

The look that Bucky gave him couldn’t be described as anything other than flirty. “Oh, I dunno, pal.” He grinned. “You look like you’d be plenty good with those.”

“Fancy meeting you here.” Steve said, standing at the school gate and waiting for the young kids to come rushing out. Bucky was leaning against the metal grate and had been watching him with sharp eyes ever since Steve had rounded the corner from where he’d parked his car. Bucky always managed to look effortless, and Steve had to admit he appreciated that a whole heck of a lot.

“Small world.” Bucky grinned, like they hadn’t spent the previous night watching  Frozen on the couch while their daughters pretended not to be delighted at their fathers lame attempts to keep all flirting strictly PG. So far they hadn’t gotten past a single goodnight kiss after dinner – Natasha and Clint offering to babysit for the night while the two single dads ‘got their heads out of their asses’. Steve didn’t care that they were moving at a glacial pace, it was nice just to be interested in someone for a change, to have someone who understood what it was like to be a single parent, who went through the same thing (although Bucky and Alayna were divorced when she had  passed away, it hadn’t changed the fact that Natalia was growing up without a mother) and who didn’t think Steve wasn’t committed to the relationship because he would always put his daughter first. “Must be a sign.”

“Hmmm.” Steve grinned, remembering the feel of Bucky’s hand on the back of his neck as they’d watched the kids movie, the girls transfixed to the screen with their matching ‘Queen Elsa hair’ that Bucky had done for them both. From the back, they looked like sisters, their dark hair and little bodies pressed together as Hans betrayed Anna, hands clasped. He knew that both girls had seen the movie enough times that Steve could recite the whole darn thing, but the fact that they were still transfixed meant that they didn’t notice when Bucky pressed in a little closer on the couch.

“Oh, Steve!” A voice said, and Gail appeared in a waft of scented air. “And Bucky too – oh, boys.” She said, clutching her hands to her chest. “It’s just outrageous that the two most eligible bachelors in our community are still single!” She told them, “It’s been a whole two months since Bucky moved into the heart of our little network and we really do need to introduce him to all the ladies.”

“I’m already seeing someone.” Bucky said, cutting through the same speech that Gail had given Steve about 4 months after Peggy had died. Her face didn’t even move as she looked at him before blinking. “Well, I don’t think it’s all that serious,” She coo’d, “Else you’d have already introduced us!”

“No point,” Bucky pointed out, grinning widely. “You already know em.”

“Oh?” She smiled, “I’m sure the lucky lady would have told me!” She said. “I am, after all, the head of the PTA.”

Steve wanted to roll his eyes and laugh, but he managed to keep a straight face when Bucky looked scandalised. “You mean you didn’t tell her, Steve?” He said, clutching at his chest comically. “I thought you loved me!”

It wasn’t until Gail had clipped away on her high heels, bursting with new gossip to spread to all of her little ‘network’ that Steve allowed himself to laugh.

“You don’t mind?” Bucky said, looking at him questioningly.

“God, her face was the best thing I’ve seen in years.” He laughed. “I don’t think we’ll have to worry about her pestering us to join her little dinner parties anymore.”

“Oh boys!” A familiar voice said, clipping over to them a year later. “Oh, it’s just a sign that you’re both here. I really had to let you know about the dinner that we’re having on Friday. Of course I said, we have to invite our newlyweds!”

“Gosh darn it, Steve!” Bucky hissed once they’d been railroaded into attending and Gail clipped off, buoyant in their acceptance. “I thought we’d escaped this fudging shift when we got together!”

“Clint and Natasha are going.” Steve pointed out. “It’ll be worth it just to see what she does.”

It totally was worth the cost of the babysitter, in the end, when Natasha emptied her glass of red wine over the head of their host when Gail announced that they were so happy that ‘her favourite gays’ had shown up.

Steve managed to get out of the house before he collapsed with laughter – but Bucky and Clint had no such luck. He doubted they’d be invited again.