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Bucky smiles as he steps inside the kitchen and closes the french doors behind him. He toes off his shoes (he's been working in the garden all day and doesn't want to get mud on the hardwood floors of his and Steve’s brownstone). Steve is playing a record as he is making them dinner, singing a long terribly. For all his gifts, he had never been a gifted singer. Bucky doesn't mind. He loves listening to his sweetheart anyway, loves that Steve feels free and safe enough to do every little thing that brings him joy.
Bucky walks up to Steve and wraps his arms around his waist. He nuzzles his head in Steve’s neck, pressing the lightest kiss to his skin.
"I'm cooking," Steve grumbles half-heartedly.
"I know," Bucky presses another kiss to his neck, "smells good. I just wanted to hold my baby before I freshen up and feed Alpine."
"Of course," Steve says, "I hate to make you hurry but dinner's in fifteen minutes. You can have your snuggles after." He turns around and presses a kiss to Bucky’s forehead.
“Snuggles after dinner? Okay then,” Bucky grins. He kisses Steve’s cheek and then walks into their bedroom to change his clothes.
He takes off his sweater and his jeans carefully, then folds them and puts them on the chair they put in the bedroom specifically for this purpose. He has some more gardening to do tomorrow and these clothes will do just fine. He puts on sweatpants and then grabs one of Steve’s sweaters and pulls it on. He loves wearing his boyfriend’s clothes. It’s like being hugged by him.
He walks back into the kitchen and fills Alpine’s bowl with food. She immediately trots over and begins to eat. Bucky smiles and snaps a picture. He has a massive folder than consists of pictures of Alpine on his phone and he and Natasha have taken to swapping cat pictures daily.
Bucky also has a folder of Steve pictures on his phone, but he doesn’t share those with people that often. Their love… that is for them. And there is already so much people know about them - things they have no control over - and they don’t get to know this. They don’t get to know that sweet little smile on Steve’s face when he wakes up from a nap. They don’t get to know what Steve looks like when he’s making Bucky breakfast. They don’t get to see Steve when he’s hit with inspiration and is painting until the morning sun rises. They don’t get to see Bucky’s Steve. The one who loves him more than anything. Sure they might see a glimpse sometimes, but they don’t know the whole story. From Brooklyn in the 1930s ‘till the end of the line.
Bucky sets the table while Steve finishes up dinner. Then they sit down to eat together. They make sure to eat together as often as possible. Officially they have both retired but when things are bad enough Steve sometimes still gets called in either to fight or to pick his brain about tactics. Most days, though, they spend together. Bucky has his garden, Steve has his art, and they’ve built a good life together. Back when he was a boy in Brooklyn, he longed to have this with Steve. He didn’t think he could have it then and after he was turned into the Winter Soldier, the dream seemed even further out of reach. But he has it now and it’s good.
After dinner they wash the dishes and then settle down on their enormous couch. It was the first thing they bought once they became owners of their brownstone. They wanted a couch that could fit them both comfortably with enough space to cuddle. An obvious priority.
Bucky snuggles into Steve’s chest and Steve wraps his big arms around Bucky.
“Mhm, I love you,” Steve says before pressing a kiss into Bucky’s hair.
“I love you too,” Bucky says. “You’re very warm tonight, ‘s nice.” He smiles.
“Always gonna be here to keep you warm, Buck,” Steve says sincerely.
And Bucky knows he will. No matter what the world throws at them they will always fight for each other and find their way back. Their love is stronger than anything that could go wrong. But for now Bucky hopes they can stay like this together. Snuggling in the home they made for themselves.