#hc: bucky is a whittler

[sunnysideprincess]

Steve's mysterious birthday gift

Post CACW, fluff, angst, sweet, no salt

There is an extra package sitting on top of the loosely assembled pile of gifts. He has counted them all one by one. Nat's beautiful, hand knitted shawl was delivered from India. Wanda's coloring book for adults came from Hamburg. Bucky's hand made (from goat hair?) brush set was delivered by a surly looking undercover Wakandan spy. While Sam's collection of records was handed by the man himself.

But this one, this tiny unassuming one gave Steve a pause. If his treacherous little heart was right—god, he hoped he was right, and it came from where he thinks it did? Then Steve swore to himself he wouldn't waste any more days staring at the horizon. Just waiting and yearning for the startling streak of red to appear.

But if he was wrong and this little silver box turned out to be a bomb or toxic package or a homing signal...

Sam nudged his ribs, eyes wide and worried.

"Want me to send it to the Dora?"

The thought of Wakandan security tearing this unknown thing apart sent a terrible shard of pain through his chest, making him snatch it from the pile in haste.

Ignoring Sam's surprised flinch, Steve tore through the packaging.

Inside was a carefully crafted pocket watch. A little silver thing with a key that stole his breath away. Cheap metal scarred over and over. The kind which was invaluable.

It was an expensive, terribly expensive gift. Not of money but of time and resources. He doesn't even know how the sender got his hands on it.

He had known it to be lost with many things. Forgotten. A passed away relic nobody cared about. The one thing his mother carried with her. Her last connection to the home she left behind when she came to Brooklyn. The remnant she had to pawn off to survive one of the harshest winters they had ever known.

Steve remembered talking about it under the influence of Thor's Asgardian drink. He recalled curious eyes, sharp and focused. Eyes of the man who knew the value of memories, but not money.

"Oh," Steve breathed over the watch, thumbed it along the edge. He closed his eyes and took a moment to send out a prayer for his mother. Then pressed his lips over the watch.

Sam's eyes were on his. His silence not prying, not pressing for answers like Nat would. Only eternally patient and calm like he always was.

"This was my mom's. Well, my Nana 's I think. She had to pawn it off before. I thought -" His words caught up in his throat, so he cleared his voice and tried again. "I didn't..."

He closed his eyes and laughed silently.

"God, Tony's just- he's so stupid."

They were worlds apart. Ripped away from each other by their own volition. Unable to reach out because Steve was a criminal and Tony was still hurting, still curling around the wound over his heart. And yet...

Yet ...

Steve could almost hear it whispered over the immortal flame of a lone candle. A hand that held a tiny burnt cupcake smelling too strongly of vanilla and orange. A man torn between the past and the present confronted by a man always looking at the future.

Sam held out a card for him, looking solemn and pained, and a little bit jealous.

Steve would come to mull over it later, about his friend's distant gaze settled over the sky and the gun metal greys of his wings.

But right then, he took the card with gentle care, saw the generic wish written in familiar chicken scratch and ended up staring at the idiotic frowny face at the bottom for a long time.

He felt warmth bloom across his chest. Like his mother's gaze. Bucky's hand on his shoulder. Nat's smile. Wanda's humming. Sam's steady wisdom.

It was a bit like morning hope.

The kind that brought a streak of red and gold.

#i wrote this so fast i cramped my finger #and also smashed my face with my phone #hc: tony gives the best gifts when he's hurting #hc: bucky is a whittler #hc: steve spends his first bday after siberia gettjng packages from around the globe and makes his temp neighbors really curious #would you look at that? #i wrote a post cacw fic with no salt #only fluff #and a bit of angst #steve rogers #stevetony #tony stark #stony #ficlet #ficlets #steve x tony #superhusbands #sam wilson #because he's awesome #fic #mcu fic #stevetony fic #one shot #short fic #birthday fic #Steve's birthday fic