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In 1939, Bucky Barnes took Steve Rogers to see the new Wizard of Oz movie in theatres as a late birthday present. Steve was a massive fan of musical theatre, and Bucky had made it his life mission to take Steve to see as many of them as he could.
They had bought popcorn, soda, treats—had the full theatre experience—and Steve couldn't believe that he had a friend like Bucky. He was the only one who got to see this side of Bucky—not any of the friends he had made throughout the years or the dames he had given time and affection to. No, it was a side that only he got to see.
When the war came around, and Bucky was deployed, Steve had told himself he wouldn't go to the theatre without Bucky. It just didn't feel right without him there beside him, holding the excessively large bag of popcorn on his lap and spilling it everywhere whenever he'd laugh.
So when Bucky fell from that train, Steve never wanted to watch one ever again.
That was, until, Bucky came back.
He was different, of course, but still Bucky, and Steve was determined to help him remember that.
He'd tried everything to help his friend back to normal—or, as normal as they could be—but there was just something missing, so in a way that was probably more comfort to himself than Bucky, he put on The Wizard of Oz.
The beginning scenes were playing where Dorothy was running home when Steve heard a quiet shuffling behind him. He slowly turned his head to see Bucky standing in the entryway, his head titled as if trying to place where he had seen this before.
As Dorothy began to sing on the screen, Bucky slowly crept closer and eventually sat down on the sofa beside Steve.
They sat through the entire movie like that—side-by-side and softly humming along with the music.
When the credits finally rolled, Bucky turned to Steve and said two simple words, “Thank you.” He said them with such emotion that Steve couldn't help but pull Bucky in for a bone-crushing hug. He softly rubbed his back as Bucky finally allowed himself to cry with his face shoved in the crook of Steve's shoulder—where it belonged.
A few months later, when Steve heard about their local theatre putting on a live performance of Wicked, he immediately bought two tickets. He surprised Bucky with them, hoping and praying that they could go together like they had back then. He knew it wasn't the same—nothing would ever be the same as it was back then—but he was damn sure determined to make it as good of an experience as he could.
Years later, when Bucky heard of the movie adaption being released, he surprised Steve with the tickets as another late birthday present—just like when they were younger. Natasha had taught him to pre-order them so they were sure to have tickets—he didn't want the day to come and him not have them. He wanted everything to be perfect.
When the day finally came, Bucky bought them both soda, treats, and a bucket-full of popcorn they were definitely going to finish before it was even halfway over. They sat side-by-side in the theatre with their treats, and as the opening scenes began to play, Steve looked over at Bucky and took his hand in his, pressing a gentle kiss to the back of it. They felt like themselves again, finally.