Winter Is Coming (A Bucky Barnes Fanfic)

Bonus Chapter: Aurora Borealis

"In your hands winter is a book with cloud pages that snow pearls of love." -Aberjhani

***

Harley cringes as someone knocks on the apartment door very loudly. Running over on her tiptoes to open it, she hopes that the racket didn't wake up Bucky. She swings the door open to reveal an extremely smiley Steve holding a big circle.

"Hey-" he says too loudly, earning a shushing noise from Harley. "Sorry!"

"I don't want to wake him up." Harley waves Steve inside and closes the door quietly, pointing to the table when Steve asks where he should put his present. "What even is that?"

Steve grins. "You'll see. Do you need help with anything?"

"There are some decorations I wanted up higher, but I couldn't reach," Harley explains, gesturing to some streamers.

"I got it." Steve starts decorating, and Harley goes back into the kitchen to continue making breakfast. She isn't sure what Bucky would want for a birthday breakfast-it's not exactly a topic that comes up every day, and she knew if she asked him he'd insist she make nothing-but she did what her gut told her, which was bacon and confetti pancakes.

"Steve, can you-" She's cut off by the sound of the bedroom door opening and a very sleepy Bucky coming out. "Never mind."

"Happy Birthday!" Steve says, apparently a little too loudly as Bucky cringes at his voice.

"Thank you, but I'm still half asleep, so just...tone it down." Bucky before any coffee is probably Steve's favorite kind of Bucky because he can tell that the worries of the day haven't yet fallen upon his shoulders.

"Happy Birthday, James," Harley says softly, pressing a kiss to his cheek and a mug of coffee into his hand. He takes it gratefully and reclines at the table, eyeing Steve's gift suspiciously.

"I almost forget what birthdays are like," Bucky admits. "What are we gonna do all day?"

"Whatever you want to!" Steve exclaims, sitting across from him. "Open my present!"

"Later, I'm starving." Bucky sips his coffee and the trio eats in comfortable silence until every piece of food is gone. "Dude, how many pancakes did you eat?"

Steve looks up, counting on his fingers, trying to remember. "Twelve? Thirteen? I wasn't counting. Either way, it's a good thing Harley knows how to cook for us."

"I grew up with you two, of course I know," Harley responds.

"Open my present now!" Steve says, bringing it over with him as they migrate to the living room. He hands it to Bucky who tests the weight of it curiously, still oblivious to what it could be. "Harley, c'mon!"

"Go ahead, I'll be right there!"

Bucky waits for her anyway, not ripping the paper off until she's seated next to him with coffee of her own. Underneath the paper is something Bucky never thought he would ever need: a shield. It's just like Steve's, only this one has a red star in the middle surrounded by pure silver. Around the edge is a short quote in small letters that Harley tells him later is from Emily Dickinson.

"For love is immortality."

Bucky moves his gaze to Steve, completely speechless.

Steve seems bashful. "I thought the quote was appropriate because, y'know, we're pretty much immortal, and I still love you through everything, and-" Bucky cuts him off with a strong hug, thanking him over and over again.

"I've never gotten something with so much meaning before. This is perfect, I can't even-wow."

"Anything for a fellow soldier."