Work Text:
Bucky breathed deep. Fall. It was a perfect day. The air was cleaner somehow, and crisp in that way only October could be. Central Park was bustling for a Tuesday afternoon, he and Tony kept to the side of the sidewalk to let others pass. Arm in arm and free hands wrapped around steaming coffees, they made their way through the park. It felt so normal, like they both hadn’t lived through enough horrors to make the bright colors of Mother Nature’s palette fade to gray.
And what a palette she had. The trees had begun to change and the park was a riot of beauty and color with the late afternoon sun casting a golden glint to everything. Bucky took a sip of his coffee. It was a gloriously sweet and nutty concoction that Tony ordered for him because he knew what Bucky liked and liked chatting with the baristas. The heat from it spread out through his chest, warming the parts that weren’t tucked up close to Tony.
A sense of peace washed over him, a feeling of contentedness that he used to struggle to find, to hold to, but now crept up and made itself at home without him even noticing. Tony looked over and smiled and those feelings grew, settled in like a cat curling up in the center of his chest. Tony’s warm brown eyes were home, his smile was safety and love, his voice the one Bucky heard when he needed to reassure himself that all of this was real and not some terrible dream that could be ripped from him.
Bucky leaned down and met Tony rising up to meet him. His lips tasted like the crumbs of the cinnamon pretzel from a cart they shared earlier and the deep roast he’d been sipping. He took another deep breath as they pulled apart, the air turning to steam between them. Tony’s kiss held a promise, a hint of love and other things that tingled on Bucky’s lips. They started walking again, Bucky steering them towards home. He wanted to be in front of the fireplace with his love, getting warm from their chilly walk in the park. It would be the perfect ending to such a perfect day.