Work Text:
They had been dating for a year. An entire year. A full three hundred and sixty five days. Plus a bit, if Bucky was being precise. Which he was, because he was a scientist and his job had long since invaded every other part of his life.
Anyway. A year. A lot had changed, in that year. Bucky’s team finally got the metal arm they’d been developing through to the production stage, for one. He’d met Sam Wilson and received a few thinly veiled threats that would probably haunt him for the entirety of his natural life, for another. He was controlling his PTSD more effectively than ever.
He’d fallen in love.
His love was reciprocated.
Everything was good.
Except Bucky was currently curled up on the sofa freaking out with his phone half shoved in his mouth because it was Valentine’s Day and he had no idea what to do apart from continuing to find and spam Steve with increasingly nerdy renditions of the comic sans Valentine’s card meme. The messages seemed to, for all his artistic taste, be amusing Steve, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t expecting something a little bit more romantic after work. Should Bucky make dinner? He could make dinner. Except he broke his arm a week ago so he’d have to cook something that involved no mixing. Or cutting things....yeah, that wasn’t going to work. Bucky sighed, banging his head against the back of the sofa. A romantic movie, then. Except he didn’t own any, neither he nor Steve actually liked them, and even if they did any cinema in a ten mile radius would already be booked up. Great.
“Commercial crap.” Bucky muttered. Who decided Valentine’s Day would be such an ordeal anyway? Didn’t they know there were simpler ways to let someone know you loved them? Like just telling the- oh. Okay.
Grinning, Bucky wiped his phone on the front of his hoodie, unlocked it, and typed out a message to Steve: YOUR EYES ARE LOVELY.
Ten minutes later, Bucky’s phone chimed with a reply: THANKS! YOURS TOO ;) JUST HEADING TO THE STATION
Bucky snorted. Of course Steve would reply to his all caps with his own all caps plus punctuation. Show off.
He shot off another message.
YOUR SMILE IS GORGEOUS.
And another.
YOU’RE THE KINDEST PERSON I KNOW
Another.
AND THE BRAVEST.
It wasn’t exactly hard to think of Steve’s good qualities.
YOU’RE AN AMAZING ARTIST.
YOU’RE REALLY CLEVER.
AND FUNNY.
AND UNDERSTANDING.
BUT ANNOYINGLY STUBBORN.
IT’S OKAY THOUGH.
I’LL FORGIVE YOU.
BECAUSE I LOVE YOU.
SO SO SO SO SO MUCH.
MORE THAN SCIENCE.
AND I FUCKING LOVE SCIENCE OKAY.
Bucky winced. That one might have wanted some review before he sent it on its way through cyberspace. Steve replied.
Stevie: Are maybe a tiny bit drunk????
Bucky: Drunk in Love, maybe?
Stevie: Wow.
Stevie: Answer me seriously though, are you drunk?
Bucky: No. I’m just trying to be romantic.
Stevie: Well it worked- you made me blush like a lunatic and everyone in the carriage must’ve assumed I was watching porn or something.
Bucky: But if you watched porn on your daily commute wouldn’t that imply you watched it a lot? So therefore it wouldn’t make you blush?
Stevie: idk
Stevie: but if you’re not drunk that means I can give you alcohol
Stevie: I’m at the door
“Just ring the bell!” Bucky sighed, even as he unfolded himself and crossed the room to let Steve in anyway.
“Hey.”
Bucky smiled contentedly, enveloped in the fuzzy settled feeling only Steve could bring, before relieving the latter of his work satchel in exchange for a soft kiss.
“Hey yourself. Go sit on the sofa, I’ll make you a coffee.”
Steve caught Bucky’s sleeve as he turned to leave, tugging him gently to face him again “Hang on. I’ve got something to give you, and I’ve been worrying about it a bit so I want to get it over with.”
Immediately, Bucky’s anxiety spiked. Steve was going to break up with him. Or he needed to move away for work and Bucky would be forced to choose between his own job and their relationship. Maybe Peggy Carter was back from the dead or-
“It’s a present.”
- or it was a present from his boyfriend on Valentine’s Day.
“I haven’t got you anything.”
“You bought me the ticket to the convention last week, I’ll count that as my Valentine’s.”
“Okay.”
“I didn’t technically spend any money on this anyway.” Steve said, as he took an A4 sized cuboid coated in garish heart patterned wrapping paper out from...somewhere.
“Where were you hiding this?” Bucky asked as he took the package.
Steve tapped the bridge of his nose, grinning impishly. Bucky rolled his eyes fondly and tore the wrapping paper off the present without finesse, revealing a framed canvas on which he, his sister, his parents, and Natasha were all accurately and beautifully painted. Bucky gasped, eyes darting from Steve to the painting to Steve again like a cartoon character caught in a loop.
Steve chuckled sheepishly “I know it might seem a bit weird, but I thought you’d like it, especially with how you get so caught up in work and everything. I was going to sketch it, but you were encouraging me to paint and saying I was a real artist and everything, so...”
Bucky set the painting down carefully on the side table then launched himself at Steve, cutting off his words with the most impassioned kiss he had ever given in his life. Steve let out a surprised squeak that morphed into a small noise of pleasure, soon turning into an embarrassed half-cough as certain parts of his anatomy responded to the change in pace. Bucky withdrew, laughing.
“Do I need to give you two some alone time, or...?”
Steve shook his head, a hint of awkwardness still evident in his expression “It’ll sort itself out.”
“Okay. In that case your second present is deciding what to watch while I make the drinks.” Bucky was halfway to the kitchen, still silently glowing, when he remembered what Steve had mentioned earlier “And where’s that alcohol?”