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Once upon a time, on this very day long, long ago, a child was born. This child was a curly haired sass box who gave his mother constant anxiety. He climbed out on the fire escape at a time when he was still learning to walk. His mother considered barring the windows, but knew that would be a death sentence for the whole family if there were a fire. Instead, what she opted for was to tie him to her very apron strings, in the most literal sense.
In school, the curly-haired child had trouble with only one thing, tying his shoes. He aced each subject, and once a skinny sickly kid showed him an alternate method for tying his shoes, he could even do that effortlessly.
Those kids were friends from that day forward, even if the curly-haired boy regretted it each time his scrawny friend found his way into some altercation or other.
Possible regrets never swayed his loyalty as a friend, and the two grew up to have very strong opinions of right and wrong. War split the friends temporarily and later permanently, or so the friend thought when he watched his other half fall into a deep ravine.
Fate, of course, had other ideas and the boy survived many hardships before he was found again by his better half.
Nearly three quarters of a century later.
In the years since, the once curly-haired boy, found himself again and started making up for things he’d been forced to do against his will. His friend watched with pride as the man became a multidimensional and reluctant hero.
This is on video because if I tried to deliver this speech in person, I’d be put in a choke-hold and forced to promise to shut up. Happy Birthday Bucky, Here’s to you!
🥂 🥂
Bucky raised his glass to the Steve on the video, then to Steve standing next to him in person, and finally to the guests at his birthday party.
“Thank you everyone, Steve’s right, I would have stopped him. I nearly stopped the video in a less than civilized manner.” He smiled as people tried to determine if they should laugh.
Taking their cues from his smile and Steve’s laughter, the titters and chuckles started like a wave.
“I see a cake over there,” Bucky said in an effort to change the subject. Subtlety wasn’t required. If he let everyone know that he was nervous too, maybe they’d all be able to meet in the middle.
The crowd was made up of Steve's friends and a few he’d gathered on his own. Okoye and Shuri were there as well as Sam and his family. They returned his toast and followed his lead to the More inclusive portion of a birthday celebration, the food.
With most people’s attention off of him, Bucky turned to Steve with a scowl that he couldn’t hold for the life of him as his traitorous lips made a tender smile take its place.
“Thank you, Steve. For the embarrassing video, for the sentiments in it, and for this horrible idea of a party. I’ll get you back, if its the last thing I do.”
“Yeah, I know.” The mook didn’t even have the cojones to appear humbled. His dopey face was soft and lovestruck. “I’ll be right here waiting.”
Bucky pulled Steve close with both hands on his face, planting a quick kiss, atypically disregarding his reluctance to publicly share his affections. Steve had no intentions of it being a quick kiss, however, pulling Bucky closer with a hand on the small of his back and searching Bucky’s mouth with his tongue. A fleeting wish that people were filling their plates with hors d'oeuvres and refilling their glasses with Stark’s expensive champagne and not watching the elderly couple in the room necking was quashed by the buildup of emotions the evening had churned up. Bucky wasn’t the one to end the kiss, and wouldn’t have if Steve hadn’t become self-aware when he did.
“More later,” Steve promised in a hushed and husky voice.
“Yeah,” Bucky chuckled, understanding implicitly. “People to please, cake to eat.”
They straightened their shirts and quickly tousled their hair back into place before rejoining their friends for cake that was thankfully not on fire with a realistic representation of his age in candles. Somebody was kind enough to simply use number candles to denote his centenarian-plus age.