𝚂𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝 • 𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚁𝚘𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚜

15 • Birthday Boy

Millie Mae ripped off a piece of tape and stuck down the brown paper, wrapping around the bulky box. Steve would be turning 24 today, and Millie spent months saving for this gift.

And by months, she meant years.

As things became more difficult, work and money was dissipating, but Millie was determined to get Steve the gift, a gift for their memories.

It started off as a fun little idea, but with the growing war, it became more of a sad idea. If something were to ever happen to one of them, Millie wanted the other to have memories, as many as possible.

Millie was currently at Bucky's apartment with him, who was laying out as much beer and food as he could afford, although he made sure that the invite for the party was clearly labeled as BYO.

Bucky came to Millie just a couple weeks ago, saying that with everything going on in the world, he wanted to shed a little bit of sunshine, and what better way than with a 4th of July party. It just so happened to also be Steve's birthday, so Millie and Bucky decided to combine the two.

Steve would never let a party go on just for him, he'd assume that he wasn't important enough, and that nobody would come to celebrate. Of course, a 4th of July party? Well, that was a different story. Millie figured if she could get Steve to come around, at least she could treat it like it was for him, and hopefully that would make him feel as special and celebrated as he deserved.

"Do you think Marco will come?" Bucky asked as he hung up red, white, and blue streamers.

"I have no idea," Millie shrugged. "It's his last night, he might want to spend it with family."

Bucky nodded, pursing his lips. "I can't believe he enlisted."

Millie sighed. "Me either." She paused and looked up at him with suspicious eyes. "Bucky... would you ever enlist?"

Bucky paused, letting his shoulders fall as he looked to his feet. "I don't know, Mills. I guess that all depends on how desperate they are. I mean, wouldn't we all enlist for the better of the world?"

Millie nodded, even she couldn't argue with that. Her graduation was coming up soon for nursing, and there was already talk about the war effort needing nurses to help the wounded soldiers. She didn't want to leave Steve, however, she didn't think she could.

"Do you know when Steve is getting here?" Millie asked, checking her watch which was nearing 7pm. She hadn't been able to see him all day because the workaholic was working on his birthday.

"Uhhhh," Bucky craned his neck to check the clock on the wall. "Any minute now, really."

Millie stood and placed Steve's gift on a side table. "I hope he likes it..."

"What did you get him again?"

"A camera," Millie said. "A real nice one."

Bucky rolled his eyes. "Are you kidding me, Mills?" He gave her the side eye. "He's going to love it. Probably use it to take photos of you naked."

Millie smacked Bucky's arm. "Shut up!"

"Maybe I should open up a dark room." Bucky chuckled but ran away as if he was anticipating another smack. "So then I could finally sneak a peak."

"Oh my god, Bucky!" Millie screeched.

Next thing the pair knew, Bucky's front door had swung open and in walked Steve. "Uh oh, what did Bucky do now?"

Millie scrunched up her face in disgust and waved her hands around. "Nothing, just being...Bucky."

Bucky smiled a cheeky grin and enveloped Steve in a hug. "Happy birthday, pal." The two men embraced, and it made Millie's heart swell to know that they didn't suffer from toxic masculinity, and could show their love for one another so openly. "You're old as fuck."