Who Am I? » [Stucky]

15. A gift

There were two hesitant staccato knocks at the door of Steve's flat.

Steve whipped his head up from where he was reading on the sofa, sprung off the couch, tossed the book back onto the settee and rushed towards the door. He was hoping and praying to see only one face in particular.

Praying to the heavens with his eyes screwed tightly shut, he yanked the brass handle and swung open the rigid wooden door.

"Hey!" Steve was like a puppy who had been cooped up inside for days, jam-packed full of immense energy and ready for anything life threw at him. "How's it going?" He cheerfully asked, grinning down at his tousled haired friend.

"Good..." He replied monosyllabically, no inflection in his tone.

"Come in, come in, come in!" Steve spouted the words in quick succession, stepping to the side of the door to hold it open like a courteous chauffer, trying to avoid bouncing up and down on his toes. He felt so overjoyed that he fear he might skip or do a dance.

Bucky gave a grateful muted nod and quietly stole into the flat with his hands hidden behind his back. Steve shut the door behind him and beckoned him into the living area.

"What's been goin' on?"

Steve tore about the place recklessly, picking up tiny trinkets and paraphernalia of all kinds and colours, cups, books, pieces of paper and stationery; dashing back and forth between the stuffy cramped utility room and the sitting room, trying to hide away the catastrophic mess that he had let accumulate in the absence of guests.

"Not much..."

Bucky could feel his face heating, he prepared himself ready for what he was about to do; mentally preparing himself for what he had been dwelling on for the last forty-eight hours. He had been wrongly avoiding visiting because he was so apprehensive. It was almost his moment.

"I saw you at the Lincoln memorial... Were just out for a stroll or-"

"Yeah... Just droppin' by, y'know, it's a peaceful spot and it was a nice day." Bucky's eyes scanned the floor.

Neither said anything of the distance between Manhattan and Washington, but knew it was more than serendipity.

Steve nodded absentmindedly, tidying up the last few things littered about in awkward places, trying to balance whole armfuls of items. He picked up the Sherlock DVD boxset and placed it in the shelf with his other DVDs, many of which still remained in their PVC packaging, unopened, lined up and ready to be watched when he found the time or the motivation.

"You haven't watched more of that without me, have you?" Bucky saw an opportunity and moved in.

"No! Of course not!" Steve quickly promised him, severely shocked by the allegation.

"Good..." Bucky muttered, gnawing at his wind-bitten lips.

Steve finally flopped down and smiled up at Bucky. He looked him up and down. Bucky had stood in the same spot with his hands behind his back from the moment that he had got in. Steve narrowed his eyes, making deductions about what was going on. Bucky continued to shuffle on his feet nervously and took long drawn out breaths to try and sooth himself.

"Hey... Uh..." He felt his cheeks flush and his heart started beating at a million miles per hour, he was pretty sure the throbbing organ was going to burst right out of his chest. "I know you said you liked the show... And uh..." Pink was creeping across his cheeks, colouring them lightly and the more he thought about how he didn't want to blush, the deeper the colour got. "I thought perhaps..."

Steve rocked forwards in anticipation, willing him on to keep talking with his unjudgemental and curious expression.

"Maybe..." He tangled a hand in his tresses and toyed with it to distract himself, rearranging it between his metal fingers. "You'd like to read the book." His face had graduated to crimson from his cheeks to his lips. He removed his hands from where they were positioned behind his back and presented Steve with the book abashedly.