A Very Merry Marvel Thanksgiving

[wasafreak]

Thanksgiving hadn't been something Teddy anticipated celebrating, and even now that he's here, it feels odd. Not just the fact that his jaw is wired shut and he's got a brace on his leg, but the fact that he was invited to Captain America's house and arrived to find the original Cap and Bucky and alternate universe Peggy Carter setting up a pretty impressive Thanksgiving buffet is just so surreal. Steve greets them at the door with a genuine smile and pats Billy on the shoulder and ushers them in to get drinks, and Teddy tells himself he's paranoid and Bucky isn't shooting him and Billy a sideways look warning them off of getting caught making out in any more closets, and then reminds himself that this is real life.

Kind of.

Instead of agonizing over what an appropriate tropical island equivalent of 'nice Holiday sweater' was, he let Billy dress him (also literally, see again: brace) and thinks they made the right call- the house is all warm wood craftsman, and the three heroes already there are dressed casually but nicely, and there are old photos and some pretty incredible drawings hanging up, which distract Teddy and Billy to the point of rudeness, except Steve seems all too glad to tell them stories and answer questions. Bucky chimes in to remind him of details and it's... it's maybe the coolest thing that has ever happened, other than discovering his connection to the Avengers.

It relaxes him, and Teddy types up short phrases and sentences on his iPad when he feels really compelled to contribute, keeps "Happy Thanksgiving" on his clipboard to copy and paste it when new people arrive. It doesn't take more than an hour for a pretty respectable number of people to show up, the chatter growing in volume, and even though it's been a pretty crappy couple of months, and a pretty rough couple of years, Teddy finds himself feeling pretty good.

Comments

[onlyapassenger]

He's gone more years without celebrating Thanksgiving than he cares to remember, but there are a lot of things from his past that Bucky tries his best to push back to get through the day. For every person in attendance, there's another missing he'd kill to see, but he's not one to dwell on what he can't change. The Island's still a mystery and two years later he's still here, and he's damn lucky there are familiar faces to see at all.

His smiles come slowly, but they're there -- for Steve's sake, if no one else's. It's because of him that this whole thing came together, and with the year they've had, it's not hard to feel grateful for any scrap of home. Beer in hand, he waits for everyone else to take their portion before grabbing his own, tucking in with gusto.

[the_wasp]

"Was that a strategy?" Jan leans in closer over the table, her own plate half done but far from empty.

"Wait until everyone else has gone so they don't notice how much you take? That's sneaky. I approve, but if I go for a second slice of pie later and it's completely gone, I'll know who to blame."

[onlyapassenger]

"I won't take all the pie," Bucky replies, lifting his right hand in a solemn promise. He shakes his head soon after, picking up his fork to keep eating.

"It's just habit. Officers eat last. Better for morale that way. I mean, how'd you like it if all the hosts ate everything first? Wouldn't really be fair to invite you all over and then have you watch us eat."

[the_wasp]

"You don't have to be first. You could be somewhere in the middle and we watch you eat as we eat," Jan counters.

"But I get it. I would remind you that you're not in the army anymore, but you and Cap'll always be soldiers, huh?"

[onlyapassenger]

The ITF's not the army by any stretch, but it's still an organized militia. As far as he's concerned, he's active military to this day.

"Hard habit to beat," he says with a shrug. "I grew up on army bases. It's the only world I really know." Or at least the only one he feels comfortable in. Serving with the Avengers had been an experience and a half, but he did for Steve's sake more than his own. "And Cap's Cap."

[the_wasp]

Jan just nods at the last statement. There's really no other words to describe Cap other than... Cap.

"So it's good that I order you onto the beach sometimes?" she surmises with a playful look. "Something different combined with something familiar. A little bit army and a little bit party."

[onlyapassenger]

"I wouldn't go so far as good," he says, affecting a pinched expression that breaks into a brief, if genuine smile.

"Honestly? If you didn't, I'm pretty sure I'd just find an excuse to work some more. All army, no party. Not much of a life."

But maybe all that he deserves. He's been a weapon for too long, and without Natasha here to temper his darker tendencies, it's sometimes all he remembers how to be.

[the_wasp]

Jan wrinkles her nose in distaste, but smiles at the same time, and shakes her head.

"Not much of one at all. How lucky for you that a pushy young lady came barreling into your life. How are you at parties? I mean, dance-y parties. This is a get-together. Do I need to supervise you there, too?"

[onlyapassenger]

Somewhat abruptly, Bucky backs away from the table and gets to his feet, his body working faster than his mouth. Upon realizing that he's already standing and hasn't said a word, though, he juts his chin towards the far wall, the one boasting most of Steve's collection of old photographs.

"Let me show you something."

[the_wasp]

For a split second, with eyes wide, Jan wonders if she's insulted him somehow. Been a little bit too pushy with someone she really doesn't know very well at all. It wouldn't be a surprise, but it wouldn't have made her run away either.

The words come as a relief and her smile returns easily. "Sir, yes, sir," she chirps, slipping out of her seat as instructed and heading to the wall.

[onlyapassenger]

Of all the photographs on the wall, there's only one featuring Steve and Bucky out of costume. It's a rare shot, fuzzy with age, but there's no doubting it's them, both decked out in their dress uniforms. Steve was built like a tank even back then, but Bucky was more slender than he is now and hadn't quite hit his growth spurt yet, placing the top of his head somewhere just past Steve's shoulder. The biggest difference, though, was in young Bucky's smile, a brilliant grin that stretched ear to ear as he tugged on Steve's arm, like he was trying to drag him off towards something more interesting than posing for another camera.

"I used to be a terror," he says, reaching up to pull the frame down from the wall. "Trying to get Steve to dance at these things. We got so little leave that I always wanted to make sure he enjoyed himself, you know? It was a miracle just getting him to show up."

[the_wasp]

Hovering at his elbow, Jan looks down appreciatively at the photo. Like every kid, she grew up knowing the story of Cap and Bucky, the glory and the tragedy of them. She was never a die hard fan, which made it easier to talk to them now, but she appreciated the stories, the pictures all the same.

"You're so cute," she says. "The both of you. You must have had lines of ladies wanting to dance with you. How was that not enough to convince him to go?"

[onlyapassenger]

"He always wanted to be at his best," says Bucky, voice growing distant the longer he stares at the photograph. Things were so much simpler back then, and even with the opportunities he's had to relive those happier times, it hasn't been the same. Just another one of the Island's tricks.

"It was almost impossible to get him to stop working. I used to think I was the only person who understood him. The other guys kinda thought he was a stick in the mud sometimes, but I got it. That need to prove yourself." He shrugs. "He really did miss out, though. Everyone at that party would've danced with him."

[the_wasp]

Jan's quiet for a moment, because she's kind of one of those. She gets it, sorta. She understands that Cap takes everything so seriously because he cares so much, and she wouldn't want him to change, not fundamentally, not for the world.

But he's also a major stick in the mud sometimes.

"Maybe a little more than dance," Jan suggests with a playful, but sweet, twinkle in her eye. She glances back at the party, picking out two people. "Though I bet once Peggy came into the picture, that would have been an even more hopeless quest."

[onlyapassenger]

"I never really knew her," admits Bucky, following Jan's line of sight. "The one from our universe, I mean. I knew her niece a little better. A nice gal." He clears his throat. "Woman."

[the_wasp]

Her mouth twists into a small smirk.

"Who trained you?" she asks, finding his change of terms adorable if not entirely necessary. "Or is that Cap's influence sneaking in?"