Outside MCA #-4, Monday Morning

[weirderthanthou]

Someone had been doing some routine check-up in the records department - it was in the basement, it qualified as a department - and someone had found out that someone else may not have shared some crucial information about dates.

Specifically, his birthday.

If only I'd checked a week earlier, I could've made it in time.

Still. The best time to do this might have been last week, but the second-best time was now. And so Jesse showed up on Bucky's doorstep with a gift-wrapped package under a shoulder and a strawberry plant in a little pot with artificial light in her other hand.

She knocked.

[[ for that guy ]]

Comments

[shapethecentury]

And Bucky answered, unaware of... any of it, really.

He smiled, but it was brief: his eyes were immediately drawn down to the things she was carrying, and that was a cause for mild confusion. "What's going on?"

[weirderthanthou]

Jesse smiled, holding up the strawberry planter. "Happy belated birthday!"

[shapethecentury]

Bucky blinked.

Then he did the math in his head.

"... Huh."

He'd get to other reactions in a second, honest.

[weirderthanthou]

"Am I allowed to come in?" Jesse asked, amused.

Very amused.

[shapethecentury]

Bucky snapped his attention away from whatever he'd been thinking about (time, mostly), and raised his eyebrows to give her a dry look.

"Depends. Are you going to crack jokes about how old I am?"

[weirderthanthou]

"I was going to give you gifts and maybe kiss you a few times," Jesse said. She took a teasing step back. "But I can go if you want me to?"

[shapethecentury]

Bucky snorted, hanging (poorly) onto whatever this grumpy old man act was.

And waved her in. "Come on."

[weirderthanthou]

"Thanks," Jesse said, and managed to peck him on the cheek on her way in with a little difficulty, but enough grace to make herself feel good about it. "You are going to have to unpack some of it, though."

[shapethecentury]

Bucky managed to steal a peck on more or less her temple, with not much grace involved at all. Really, he was just making her look better in comparison.

He closed the door behind her. "You really didn't need to get me anything."

[weirderthanthou]

"That tells me I absolutely did," Jesse said, setting the planter down on the table.

She turned towards him with a flourish, presenting-- something shaped like a painting or a poster in a frame, covered in gift-wrap.

[shapethecentury]

Bucky reached for it, after a second's worth of hesitation. "What is it?"

Yeah, yeah, he knew that wasn't how it worked. Hence why he was making his best attempt at tearing through the wrapping paper as soon as he was holding the present.

[weirderthanthou]

"Another chapter in my quest to make your apartment look like a place you actually live," Jesse teased.

It was a poster. Neatly framed.

[shapethecentury]

Bucky's process of unwrapping the thing was the most inelegant affair of all, considering he had to kind of prop it against the table to have helpful use of his hand.

But none of that mattered. He did it, and just revealing the upper third of the poster gave him an idea of what it was. And as he peeled it back further, he couldn't entirely fight a little smile.

[weirderthanthou]

"I'm not sure if that's the first one I ever saw at the theater," Jesse said, because of course she'd worried about her memory on that one. "But I know it was a good one."

[shapethecentury]

"It is a good one," Bucky agreed, looking up. His smile grew a little, but there was a kind of gentleness to it. Rarely seen.

Even more rare outside of present company.

"Thank you."

[weirderthanthou]

"And the strawberry plant is just because it's good for you to get your vitamins," Jesse teased.

She had to duck her head at the sight of that smile.

[shapethecentury]

"So you're looking out for my place and my health?" Bucky teased.

Watching her duck her head like that.

[weirderthanthou]

"Somebody has to," Jesse said, finally looking up at him again.

She was smiling too.

[shapethecentury]

Bucky set the poster fully down on the table - carefully.

Then he stepped up closer to her, reaching for her. "And you're the right person for the job?"

She absolutely was.

[weirderthanthou]

"I think I'm doing a decent job," Jesse said, taking a step closer to him just as he was reaching for her. "Do you?"

[shapethecentury]

Bucky's hand landed on her waist. Very convenient for tugging her in the rest of the way. "I think," he said, "that I am a terrible judge of this."

Hence why he could use the help.

[weirderthanthou]

"Just a little bit," Jesse said, grinning. "But you're getting better."

[shapethecentury]

"Am I?"

Funny how that was more of a joke now than even just a year ago. Not all the way one, but still.

[weirderthanthou]

"A little bit," Jesse said, sliding her arms over his shoulders. "One step at a time."

[shapethecentury]

"Think I've heard that's how it's supposed to go," Bucky mused, not serious about it at all. The hand on her waist slid to the small of her back, so that might've been a factor, too. "Steps."