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Becca reappeared just as Bucky finished piping the last bit of royal icing snow onto the gingerbread barn. She nodded her approval as Bucky sat back with a sigh, rolling out his shoulders and tossing the piping bag into one of the many plastic tubs they’d brought all their decorating supplies in. He chose to consciously ignore that without being properly wrapped up and stored, the remaining icing would dry harder than fucking cement and be a bitch to clean later, instead accepting the cup of coffee Becca was holding out and looking around for the first time in hours.
The Grand Ballroom of the Plaza Hotel was currently packed with probably the most unglamorous group of people to ever hold a gathering there: bakers, candy makers, pastry chefs, and sugar artists from around the country had come to compete in the National Gingerbread House Championship. Everyone in the room was dressed in jeans or sweatpants, and most were covered in something sticky.
Their creations, though, would have been at home at the Museum of Modern Art across the street. The creativity, artistry, and feats of engineering on display were incredible. Bucky glanced back at his and Becca’s creation and wondered if they were playing out of their league, should’ve stayed in Brooklyn-
Becca interrupted his thoughts by flicking him with her thumb and middle finger on the side of his head. “We belong here,” she said, “We earned it.”
And they had.
Bucky’s dad had been a master baker and sugar artist who created wedding cakes so elaborate that some brides and grooms ordered a second, plainer cake to actually cut into, leaving the first as a showpiece for the entire evening. It was George Barnes who had taught his son chemistry and physics using cake flour and melted sugar.
His mother, although she handled the business end of the bakery, was no slouch at baking herself. Winifred Barnes loved Christmas, and every December she, Bucky, and his little sister, Becca, would spend an entire day baking, shaping, and decorating a gingerbread house.
After the accident, though, Bucky had never wanted to see another cake, cookie, or homemade candy ever again. He’d joined the army and left as soon as he could, leaving Becca behind to deal with owning and managing the bakery alone. But Becca had had her own dreams, dreams that didn’t involve fondant flowers, so eventually she’d sold it. And eventually Bucky had realized what a shitty move he’d pulled, and apologized. So things had been ok.
And then he’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time (if there is such a thing as a right place or right time in a warzone) and he’d ended up back in Brooklyn with a shiny new arm and a tiny apartment filled with boxes of his stuff.
He and Becca had been unpacking a box of books when they came across it: a small envelope that had been stashed inside the front cover of The Martian Chronicles. It slipped out when Becca went to put the book on the shelf and fluttered to the floor. Bucky picked it up and opened it, pulling out a photograph.
It was the family, the whole family, on their last Christmas together, standing around the dining room table. On the table in front of them was a beautiful gingerbread house.
Becca came around behind him to look at the picture too, and murmured a sad, “Oh,” when she saw what it was. They both stood silently looking at the picture, remembering.
Bucky was hit with a familiar wave of feeling, something that felt like a mixture of homesickness and grief. In the past he had run from that feeling, because it hurt so much, but his therapist at the VA, Sam, was apparently a good one because this time Bucky recognized he just really missed his parents and let the feeling wash over him.
“Let’s make one, “ he said suddenly. “A gingerbread house,” he clarified at Becca’s confused look.
Becca looked down at the picture again. “ I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head slightly. “Why?”
“Because…” Bucky faltered, trying to understand the impulse himself. “Because I’m tired of avoiding good memories. Because Mom would want us to, you know she would.”
Becca gave a tiny smile, “You’re right,” she said. “Okay.”
So they had made a gingerbread house, but between Bucky dealing with controlling his new prosthetic arm and both of their lack of practice and experience, it was definitely that gingerbread house on the end of the block that was condemned by the gingerbread city police.
Bucky had never been one to quit easily, though. He watched YouTube videos, read baking and candy blogs, bought professional equipment and ingredients. And his enthusiasm swept Becca along as well. She did her own research both on the internet and in person, visiting bakeries and sweet shops across the city. That was how she found out about gingerbread house competitions.
They’d laughed about it, but visited the competition displays every year anyway to get ideas and advice. They’d joke each time about how their home creations were just as good as or better than some of the professional ones.
Until one year it stopped being a joke because they actually entered. And came in fifth, which just made gingerbread-obsessed monsters out of them, which in turn actually ended up working out in their favor, because the next year, they won.
And continued to win or place high enough in each competition thereafter to make it here to the National Gingerbread House Championship.
Despite the name, competitors didn’t actually have to build houses, or even buildings at all. The only main rules were that the piece had to be at least 75% gingerbread (some of which had to be exposed) and that everything had to be constructed or composed of edible materials. It also could not be more than 2 ft x 2ft x 2ft.
This time, Bucky and Becca had made a scene entitled, “Holiday Hoedown”. It had a two-story gingerbread barn with a sloping roof and a rooster weather vane on top. The barn had been painted with icing to look like it was made of wood, and it was red, of course. In the upper story of the barn, an open window showed three chickens dancing on some hay. In the lower story, the barn’s double doors (classically painted with the white X on each) were thrown open to reveal two singing cows and a horse. Throughout the barnyard, pigs, dogs, cats, sheep, rabbits, mice, donkeys, ducks, geese, frogs, turtles, and swans danced, while on a gingerbread wagon nearby various animals played various instruments and sang. Edible dirt, rocks, and hay covered the ground. A gingerbread fence surrounded the scene, and a gingerbread Christmas tree stood in the middle. Wreaths and garlands decorated the rest of the scene as well.
“Mom would have loved it,” Bucky said softly as they admired their finished work.
“Dad, too,” Becca nodded. Then she grabbed his hand. “Come on, let’s go look around. There’s a couple of these you just have to see!”
Bucky followed Becca as she dragged him around, stopping to admire other entries or chat with other contestants. Finally she stopped and whirled to face him, putting herself between him and another entry’s table.
“Ok, I saved this one for last because it is so. awesome,” Becca said, then stepped out of the way.
Bucky found himself looking at the a gingerbread replica of St. Basil’s Cathedral that was possibly the most intricate thing he’d ever seen. Bucky couldn’t even imagine the number of tiny gingerbread pieces that had to be baked and then painstakingly put together to form the octagonal columns and the breezeways in between, not to mention the columns and archways that surrounded the entire piece. And what looked like gazillions of tiny windows weren’t just drawn on, but actually cut out. And then there were the domes, perfectly shaped and painted with bright colors and different textures, topped with crosses covered in edible gold leaf. Everything was outlined perfectly with royal icing, and when Bucky peered closer, he saw that it was piped as miniscule dots instead of lines.
“This is fucking amazing,” Bucky said, once he’d picked his jaw up off the floor.
“Thanks,” came a voice to his left, and Bucky turned to find out that the gingerbread cathedral was not, in fact, the most gorgeous thing in the room.
“I’m Steve Rogers,” said the man whom God had apparently built straight from Bucky’s sexual fantasy list- tall (at least 6 foot), tan, blond hair, blue eyes, ripped as hell- the guy’s t-shirt was tight enough that the sleeves were stretched to their breaking point and Bucky could see he definitely had 6-pack abs.
Despite the guy’s epic hotness, Bucky’s brain managed to not short out, and he stuck out his hand for Steve to shake and replied, “I’m B- James Barnes, and this is my sister, Rebecca.”
Becca gave him a weird sideways look and added, “Yeeeeees, those are our given names, but I go by Becca and he goes by Bucky.”
Steve laughed, and he got even more beautiful, something Bucky hadn’t thought possible, but the little crinkles at the corners of his eyes and his sweet smile made Bucky want to make him laugh up close. Like real close.
“Bucky, huh?” Steve asked, turning his smile on Bucky and it had shifted, there was something extra in it now.
Bucky rolled his eyes but smiled back. “Yeah, my dumb kid sister,” he said, jerking a thumb at Becca, “thought it would be funny to give me a nickname based on my middle name, which is Buchanan, and once the whole of Brooklyn is calling you something, you kinda have to give up and just go with it. You’re not from my old neighborhood, though, so you can call me James.”
Steve smirked and said. “Well, I actually grew up in Brooklyn too, so I’m pretty sure I have to call you Bucky.”
Bucky nodded. “Ok, Stevie,” he said, and Steve laughed again. “Punk,” Bucky added.
“Jerk,” Steve rejoined, and they probably would have stood there goofily smiling at each other forever if Becca hadn’t jumped in.
“Sooooo, Steve, this cathedral is kind of insane, you must be like some kind of gingerbread genius,” she said.
Steve chuckled and shook his head. “Nah, I mean, I handle the art side of the projects, but Tony is an actual certified engineering genius and he can come up with how to build anything.”
Bucky’s heart sank a little at the mention of Tony.
“Tony’s your partner?” Becca asked. Steve nodded and Bucky’s heart sank further. He saw Becca sneak a quick glance at him before she continued, “How long have you been together?”
Steve looked confused for a second, and then his face cleared. “Oh, not partners like that. Tony’s married, and even if he wasn’t, totally not my type. We’ve been gingerbread, and gingerbread only-” and he met Bucky’s eyes when he said that part, “-partners since we were in college.” He turned to look back at the cathedral. “This is probably the craziest thing we’ve ever attempted, but we figured since it was our last year, we’d go out with a bang.”
“Last year?” Bucky asked. “You’re quitting? Dude, you are incredible at this, why?”
Steve gave a sad smile. “Tony and Pepper are moving to Malibu in February. It just won’t work out for us to work together on it anymore, and there’s no way I could do this all by myself. Well, without quitting my job.”
“What an interesting coincidence,” Becca said, voice syrupy sweet, and Bucky turned to her, puzzled, because she was being weird and he had no idea what she was talking about.
Steve looked at her oddly. “How so?”
“I just got a big promotion at work and I won’t have time to help Bucky with this next year, and God knows he won’t be able to pull it off on his own-”
“Hey! And when the hell-” interjected Bucky, but Becca silenced him with a fierce look that clearly said, Be quiet, you moron.
“So,” she continued, turning back to Steve. “You and Bucky should join forces!”
Steve looked at Bucky, who was too dumbfounded to say anything intelligent, like yes, great idea, how about I take you to dinner tonight to talk about it?
Steve must have taken his silence as a no, because he smiled, but it was fake, Bucky would tell, somehow, and turned back to Becca and started to say something just as an announcement came over the PA system.
“Competitors, please head back to your tables. Judging will begin in five minutes.”
“Look, just exchange phone numbers,” Becca said hurriedly. “You can talk it over and then decide what to do, right?”
Bucky looked at Steve, who shrugged and nodded, so Bucky pulled out his phone. Steve did the same, they exchanged numbers, said polite goodbyes and good lucks, and then Bucky practically yanked Becca’s arm out of its socket as he pulled her back towards their table.
“What the hell?’ he hissed. “When were you going to tell me you’d be bailing on me? Or that you got a promotion, for that matter?”
Becca rolled her eyes. “I didn’t, you idiot. I just wanted you to have a reason to see Steve again. Or at least get his number. Because I don’t know if you noticed, but that guy is seriously hot.”
Bucky pulled his sister into a tight hug and she giggled as he smacked a kiss on the top of her head.
One Year Later
“Bucky, this is so cool,” Becca gushed as she examined his and Steve’s gingerbread creation. Bucky grinned at Steve and threw a tired arm around him as he said, “Thanks,” and Steve echoed it.
After last year’s competition, Steve and Bucky had started texting and decided to work together on this year’s project. At first their texts had been limited to just gingerbread talk, but slowly they had branched out to other things, until they were almost constantly talking, all day every day. They’d also hung out more than a few times, but nothing romantic had happened.
Oh, make no mistake, Bucky still thought Steve was searingly hot. But at first Bucky was afraid of making their fragile partnership awkward, and then Steve had become his best friend and Bucky had been wary of risking that and their creative partnership, especially as the competitions heated up and the NGHC drew closer.
Because he and Steve together were a gingerbread force to be reckoned with, that was for sure. Their creations enchanted viewers by being both stunningly beautiful and also seeming to defy gravity. And today was no different.
They’d been texting about their mutual love of Daenerys Targaryen when they’d come up with the idea for a dragon. Sitting on a hoard of traditional gingerbread Christmas cookies, he was posed uncoiling to breathe fire at those who came to steal his treasure. Each scale was a separate gingerbread cookie, from the tiny ones on his head to the large ones on his back. They were outlined in red, yellow, and brown icing, and Steve had painstaking painted an incredibly realistic face of icing onto the plain gingerbread sculpture. Gummy worms made the lining of his underbelly, and the fire he breathed was made of Twizzlers. They’d added a small forest background for scale as well.
Becca was examining their creation all over, contorting her body to see it from every angle. All of a sudden, she gasped and popped back up straight, hands over her mouth and eyes shining as she looked at Steve. Steve grinned and winked at her. Bucky was about to ask what was up when Becca’s face became serious and hurried around the table and pulled him over to her side.
“Bucky, this all looks great, but I think you missed a spot down here,” she said, gesturing vaguely.
“What? We did not. Where?” he grumbled, getting down to check anyway. Scanning over the project, he didn’t find anything left unfinished, but he did find something that hadn’t been there before.
On one of forest tree trunks, painted to look like it had been carved in with a knife, was a heart with “S.R. + B.B.” inside it.
Bucky quickly got to his feet and found that Becca was nowhere in sight and Steve was standing right next to him. Bucky wasted no time grabbing him around the neck and pulling him into a kiss. Bucky really had no intentions of keeping it light, and apparently neither did Steve as it turned long and deep pretty quickly, the only thoughts Bucky could form being yes and fucking finally.
“Fucking finally,” Steve gasped out when they stopped to breathe for a second. And for that, Bucky just had to kiss him again. Not that he wouldn’t have anyway. But still.
In that moment, life was sweet.