July was soon upon you, and everyone was preparing for Steve's birthday. Tony had wanted to do a big blowout like how he had done for Bucky, but Steve had put his foot down. He wanted a simple party with just friends. But it's still Tony we are talking about here. Tony decided to fly everyone out to his newly built mansion in Malibu for a pool party. But just like Steve had requested, it was only the team.
July 4th was a bright sunny day and the perfect weather for a pool party. When you walked out to join the team, you saw Steve and Tony grilling hotdogs and hamburgers while Natasha was sunbathing. Vision, Wanda, and Bruce stood in the shallow end while Bucky, Sam, Clint, and Thor seemed to be trying to drown each other. Steve waved when he spotted you. You sat down next to Natasha and enjoyed the happy atmosphere.
"Hey y/n, come join us," Sam shouted and waved. You shook your head and laughed. "Come on! We're going to play chicken!"
"I'm only getting in if Natasha is," you told him.
"Come on, Nat," Clint yelled. "It's for the good of the team! I need to kick Sam's ass." Natasha looked over at you with a small smile playing at her lips.
"Should we put them out of their misery?" You let loose an exaggerated sigh before smiling.
"I guess." You moved to take off your cover-up when you heard Sam whistle.
"What is that?" he asked. You spun around yourself and looked for anything out of place.
"What is what?"
"That," he said as he pointed to your shoulder. "Is that a tattoo?" You blushed and wrapped your arms around yourself.
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"Yes," you answered softly.
"That's hot! What is it?"
"Dog tags," you murmured. You looked up to see Sam motioning you closer. You reluctantly got in the pool and made your way over to the boys. You could feel everyone's eyes on you as they inspected your tattoo. Sam motioned for you to turn around once you were close enough. With a sigh, you showed him your tattoo.
The group went quiet. After a few minutes, you turned back around. Most of the group had smug looks on their faces except Bucky. Bucky looked at you with such a look of wonder that caused you to blush even more. He slowly made his way over to you and gently traced the tattoo.
"When did you get this?" he whispered in an awed tone.
"3 or 4 months after I was thawed out," you told him. "Nat and Tony helped me pick out the design, and Steve went with me to get it." Bucky nodded but said nothing. "I wasn't allowed to have the originals, so I decided I would make my own," you told him.
when you were first unthawed, one of the first things you did was try to get Bucky's dog tags back. You had argued with the Smithsonian museum for months that those dog tags were rightfully yours because you had been Bucky's fiancée, and it was one of the few things you would have left of him. However, in the end, you had no legal standing to the dog tags since you two hadn't been married. You had been so angry and so heartbroken that you decided to get a tattoo of them so that they would always be with you.
Bucky stayed silent as he continued to trace your tattoo almost as if it might disappear. The quiet moment was soon ruined by Sam.
"So are we playing or not?" You both broke away from each other at the question. You smiled at Sam.
"Of course we are." No one dared mention for the rest of the day how Bucky clung to your side or how during the fireworks he had pulled you into his lap.
