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This might just be the best way to wake up, Gale thinks to himself. It was a good night last night. Both he and John had slept through the night with no nightmares in sight after having a wonderful evening just enjoying each other’s space.
He was awoken from a dreamless sleep by the feeling of someone brushing his hair to the side and kissing his forehead.
“Mmm” was the only noise that came out of Gale as he started to wake up fully.
“Good morning my sleeping beauty.” Bucky crooned, and even with his eyes closed he knew John’s eyes had a fondness in them.
He sniffed about to remark on the sleeping beauty comment when he realized something. He sniffed again and smelt something so delicious that his stomach growled in response.
“Well, it looks like I woke you up at the perfect time. From the sound that came from your stomach, it was almost a competition of who could eat you first.” He finished with what he already knew was an exaggerated wink. The only dignified answer that he could come up with at that moment was a snort.
His sleep-addled brain finally caught up with him when he finally opened his eyes to see Bucky standing over him with a tray filled with food, a huge breakfast to be exact (eggs, pancakes, bacon, the whole nine yards), a glass of orange juice, a cup of coffee, a little tiny bowl of fruit, and to top it all off, a beautiful sunflower.
“What’s all this?” He asks groggily, still trying to fully wake up.
“Breakfast in bed for the love of my life of course,” Bucky answers back, with a smile that could light up the darkest room.
Filled up with a newfound warmth, he asks “Is there a special occasion?”, as he began to worriedly wonder if he had accidentally forgotten an anniversary, any special holiday that would warrant this.
“Nope.” John answered back, while he put the tray to the side so he could help Gale sit up and get comfortable.
“Then why?” He asked once he was finally settled against the bed, John making sure he was comfortable.
Don’t get him wrong, he’s very grateful that John went out of his way to do all this for him, he’s just trying to figure out why. It’s not like Gale has had any big accomplishments aside from a turning in few assignments, so he’s still just a bit confused.
“Can’t I do a special thing for the person who makes me the happiest, hmm?” is Bucky’s response.
“Of course you can, I’m just trying to wrap my head around what I did to deserve this, today of all mornings. It’s not like I’ve passed any big exams.” Gale replied, looking down and fiddling with the blankets while he said it.
He hears more than sees John walk over, feels the bed dip right next to him, feels two fingers grip his chin and raise it until he’s eye to eye with those soulful blue eyes. Those eyes who have saved him more times than he can count, those eyes that he could find even in complete darkness, those eyes who make him feel safe even in the dimmest of times.
“Buck, I wanted to do this for you just cause. There’s no other reason behind it than just wanting to do something special for you because you deserve it. You already do so much for me, and I like taking care of you.” Bucky started, noticing the faint pink that started to spread over Gale’s cheeks.
“I’m crazy about you doll, always have been, always be. I love you with all my heart and more, Gale Cleven, and if I could, I would shout it from the rooftops, but I will settle for telling you every single day and reminding you every moment in between.” Bucky finishes, with so much love and certainty in his voice, who is Gale to ever doubt him?
Overcome with so much emotion that makes him tear up just from those words alone, he moves so quickly that John is surprised for just a second when he feels the press of Gale’s lips against his until his brain catches up and kisses him back. Gale tries to put all of the words he can’t get out, all his appreciation, his love for the man in front of him who went out of his way to learn how to make all of this for him, into that kiss.
“I love you too, ya big sap”, is what Gale states between kisses.
“Yeah, but you love me for it.” And Gale can’t deny that so he kisses Bucky one last time before he finally breaks away and faces this special concoction that his husband went out of his way to make before it got cold.
The first thing Gale turns his attention to is the single big sunflower, and he can’t help the small smile that fights its way onto his face when he reaches for it. He lifts it to his face so he can smell it, “Where’d this come from?”
“Oh I saw it yesterday on my way home from getting the groceries, and I immediately thought, ‘Buck needs to have this’.” Bucky replied.
“It’s very pretty, thank you Bucky.”, Gale thanked him, “Think you’re the first person to ever give me flowers.”
“And it won’t be the last time, going to make sure there’s always a vase full of flowers just for you.” Bucky told him, in the most serious tone, that he knew from now on he’d have to make sure that they had extra vases and all the things one might need to take care of flowers.
“Do I want to know why you picked a sunflower?” Gale had a feeling it was probably going to be something very cheesy but it would probably still make him blush, and he was proven right when he heard Bucky’s response.
“Well doll, if you must know, the sunflower reminded me of you cause you brighten up my days no matter what, and just like how the sunflower always looks towards the Sun, I know every time I look at you I feel like I’m looking at my own sun, washing away all the darkness.” Bucky tells him bashfully, a pinkness becoming prominent on his cheeks, adding “and since I can’t give you the Sun, well this is just the next best thing.”
Gale could only feel pure love for the man in front of him and couldn’t help but give him one more kiss. He then put the sunflower on the side of the tray before turning his eyes back towards the food.
“This all looks so delicious but I don’t think I can eat all this by myself.”, he said while looking at the big tray, seeing just how much there actually was on the plate.
“Don’t worry doll, I’ll help you.” Bucky responded, with a winning smile, from where he had settled on his side of the bed.
Once he had taken a couple of sips of his coffee and a couple of bites of the eggs, the same way that John usually makes them, a little undercooked (but Gale wouldn’t change it for a thing), some fruit does he focus on the main event. The Pancakes.
But when he takes a closer look he realizes something, “Are these chocolate chips?”
“Yeah, I remember you mentioning how it’s been a long time since you’ve had them and that you still had your mom’s recipe but hadn’t gotten around to making them yet.”, he then continued saying, “You know cooking ain’t my strong suit so I asked Mrs. Beverly if she could help me make sure I didn’t burn them or accidentally poison you with uncooked batter.”
Mrs. Beverly is their neighbor, an elderly woman, whose house is a little farther down from their own. She is always super sweet to the both of them whenever they do run into her and had even had dinner at her house a couple of times, so knowing that John had gone over there to learn how to make him one of the only good things he associates his childhood with, makes his heart want to burst.
He quickly starts to pour some syrup (drown them if you were to ask John) on the pancakes, cut a piece, and try it before the tears that have gathered in his eyes start to fall.
It was useless anyway, because the moment that Gale puts the piece of pancake in his mouth, he’s instantly transported back to his kitchen in his childhood home, sitting at the table and making his mom laugh when she sees the syrup spilling out of the corners of his mouth.
Gale doesn’t realize that he has started crying until he feels John’s hands wipe away the tears that have stained his cheeks.
“Was it really that bad? I could’ve sworn I followed all of her instructions to a tee. I’m so sorry Gale, I just wanted to do something nice and here I’m making you cry.”, John started and he quickly opened his eyes when he began to hear the guilt in his voice, Gale knew he had to quickly shut down any negative thing John may be thinking about his wonderful surprise.
“John look at me, you didn’t ruin anything, alright? These are tears of joy, and well nostalgia. You did such an amazing job that I took one bite and I instantly remembered one of the last times I had them with my mother. Everything is perfect Bucky, don’t know what I did to deserve you.” Gale finished, making sure he extinguishes any doubt Bucky’s mind may have created.
The smile he was rewarded with could’ve lightened up the entire property.
“You sure?” Bucky asks, still wanting to make sure Gale’s not only saying this to protect his feelings.
“As sure as I can be.” Gale assures him with enough certainty in his voice that John has no reason to doubt it.
“So what you’re saying is that I am now chef-level worthy?” John asks, a smirk making itself home on his face.
“Don’t count on it.”
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They ate the rest of the breakfast together, a couple of words exchanged here and there but they mainly just ate in silence, content to just be in the presence of the other, free of stress and worries. In this moment, they were the only two people in the world, safe inside their home, their sanctuary, where no harm could reach them. Gale and John. Bucky and Buck. Just like how it’s supposed to be.
Wiping his mouth as he finished taking his last bite he sat back against the bed once again, not remembering the last time he felt this full, and he knew that a lot of that feeling had nothing to do with all the food he ate, but more the feeling of contentment, of warmth and safety, the feeling of being able to share this wonderful morning in bed with the love of his life and allowing himself to forget for just a moment of the world outside.
He hears John groan beside him and when he looks he can see the same look of happiness and relaxation. Moments like this make everything worth it.
Gale gets up and grabs the tray to put on the bureau before making his way back into bed. It’ll most likely be a relaxing day in with them doing absolutely nothing but enjoying each other’s presence and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
As he makes his way back into bed, crawling underneath the covers that John has lifted for him. Laying his head down on John’s chest, he can’t help the smile that spreads across his face as his eyes catch the sunflower gleaming in the sunlight that has started to spread through the curtains, another feeling of fondness rising in his chest.
“Thank you.” Gale says quietly into the room breaking the silence that had fallen over them. He tried to put all his emotion into those two words, tried to put everything he wanted to say but didn’t know how into those two words. Thank you for the breakfast, thank you for going out of your way to do all of this, thank you for staying, thank you for loving him, thank you for everything.
John, who always knew what he meant, looked down at him with a soft, relaxed, loving smile reserved for Gale alone. “Always.”
Gale looked back up at those eyes, those beautiful blue eyes, full of life and love, all directed at him and Gale knew he was home.