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We all put our names in the hat one by one. Vision, the person we could trust to make sure everyone was being fair, was currently shaking the hat mixing up everyone’s names.“Come on, Vision. Let us pick already.” I was getting antsy just waiting to see who we got.“What are the rules? We have to set a price. Not all of us have the amount of money Tony does.” Sam declared side-eyeing Tony.“Maximum of $100?” Steve questioned looking around for disagreements. Tony scoffed.“That’s it?” Tony asked as if it was hard to find a good present at that price. I rolled my eyes as and smacked his arm.“That’s more than enough,” Nat spoke up.“And not everyone is as rich as you, Tony. So shut it.” I snapped, as Tony looked fearful. I sarcastically smiled at him, he chose to ignore it.“Let’s start choosing.” Vision chose the first one and began passing the hat around.Little cheers of excitement could be heard as the hat got to me.“I got the best one,” Tony spoke as he put away his name.“Well, don’t tell us who or I swear I’ll hurt you for ruining secret Santa.” I smiled at him sweetly after as everyone started laughing.“Not a problem, sweetheart.” He walked off, probably already knowing what he was going to buy.I was the last one to choose and smiled as I read the name. I had gotten Bucky for secret Santa and couldn’t be more excited. I immediately ran up to Steve to brainstorm with him what I should get him. He was currently talking to Bucky so I waited nearby them as they spoke quietly to each other. Bucky saw me and waved me over, smiling.“What’s up, doll?” I looked at Steve despite Bucky being the one who spoke first. I had to decide this and needed all the help I could get as soon as possible.“I had questions I need to ask Steve,” they both looked at me waiting for me to continue.“Alone.” Bucky tilted his head in confusion but nodded. I looked back at Bucky. “It can wait though. I didn’t want to interrupt you guys.” Steve shook his head and placed his arm on my shoulders to lean on me. Steve and Bucky did this often as I had been the perfect height for that. Thor even went as far as resting his arms on my head. I was short but incredibly talented in the skills needed for this team so I was needed. “It’s not a problem, (Y/N). Bucky has some training to catch up on anyways. Isn’t that right, Buck?” Bucky nodded as Steve slapped Bucky lightly on his shoulder urging him to go.“See you both later.” Bucky smiled at me and hastily made his way to the elevator where Sam was waiting for him.“Are they training together today?” Steve nodded.“They get along with each other well. Even despite how they were with each other when they first met.” I whispered a small oh, as I feared Bucky replacing me with Sam. It was ridiculous to think as such but if I didn’t mean as much to Bucky as he did to me, who wouldn’t be concerned about losing their place? “Don’t worry, (Y/N). Sam isn’t taking your place. We’re the people Bucky is most comfortable with and that won’t change anytime soon.” My lips curved upwards as I processed what Steve said. I bit my lip as a reaction to prevent questions about anything related to why that made me feel so happy. “Thank you for that.” Steve knew just what to say and knew what I was feeling by just a few seconds of looking at my reaction. He always calmed my worries, especially when it came to Bucky. I nodded letting out a relieved sigh. Steve knew Bucky better than anyone which is why chose to believe him. “He’s one of the closest friends I have in my life and I don’t want to lose that.” Steve’s eyes narrowed as he looked at me.“You don’t seriously believe that Bucky doesn’t feel the same way as you right?” I shrugged. What was ridiculous about thinking that way? Many people don’t reciprocate the same feelings, it was common.“It’s not the most outragest thought for ones crush not to like them back.”“Take it from me, his best pal and yours. I know how he feels, I wouldn’t lie to you.” I let out a small laugh.“You sure are and I’m sure it’s because of you being old. Being honest is a thing of the past.” He gasped and began to pretend he was offended which caused us both to laugh. We walked towards the kitchen since he told me he was hungry. “So what’d you want to talk about?” He raised his eyebrow at me, arms crossed over his chest. Steve always gave people his full attention and I appreciated that.“I’m his secret Santa and I’m not sure what to get him” Steve stepped forward.“Wait, really? What a coincidence!” Steve’s eyes widened in shock but then a wide smile appeared on his face. My eyes narrowed as I tilted my head. “Coincidence? What is?”Steve’s eyes widened and he cleared his throat trying to distract me from whatever he meant. “Nothing, forget I said anything.”I nodded deciding I’d find out later. “It’s his first Christmas after everything, Steve. It has to be special. I don’t want to get him something that’s not good enough. Can you please help me?” I begged, holding my hands together and giving him a little bit of a pout. He smiled at me, placing his hands flat on the counter.“Of course I can.” He made grabbed a quick snack and sat next to me.“What do you have in mind?” I asked, hoping we’d come up with something quickly. I rubbed my hands sitting up and waited for his answer.“Give him something from the heart. He’s a sucker for anything homemade so maybe think about that.” I made a mental note of everything Steve said.“I got it!” I jumped up from my chair and ran out after hugging Steve in gratitude. “Thank you, Steve.” I knew exactly what I was going to get Bucky.“I don’t know what to get her. She’s too perfect for anything.” Sam chuckled at what Bucky said.“You’re going soft man.” Bucky glared at Sam.“So what? You know I’m right.” Bucky weakly defended. Sam shook his head as he raised his eyebrows questioning Bucky’s last statement.“That’s what love does to you man but you deserve it and so does she. She definitely has a thing for you, Buck. Don’t let your doubt in the way of that.“ Bucky paused thinking about what Sam said. He began thinking maybe he did deserve her, maybe she was the calm after the storm. One hell of a storm that it was.Sam continued to speak which drew Bucky’s attention to him once more. "She’s not a material type of girl. Tell her your feelings and get her something small. She’s gonna love it no matter what it is as long as it’s from you.” Bucky and I fist pumped as we began to box in the ring.Today was the day of the party. A week after we all chose names from a hat at random. Tony and Pepper had outdone themselves for a Christmas party meant just for the Avengers and their closest friends. Music was being blasted, drinks served and spilled, whole meaningless conversations were spoken and would mostly be forgotten. That is if F.R.I.D.A.Y. had decided not to save any of them.“Merry Christmas, everyone,” Tony announced as he stood on top of his table holding a glass of champagne. Tony was most likely already tipsy and Pepper must have wanted him to calm down. I leaned into Pepper. “That’s what you agreed on marrying.” I joked. She only smiled and took a sip of her wine. With one glance into her eyes, you could tell how much Tony meant to her and I had found myself wishing for Bucky to look at me the same way.“I wouldn’t change him for anything.” Tony came over and pulled her closer to him.“What are you beautiful ladies talking about?” I looked at Pepper.“Nothing important. Just congratulating you both. I really am happy. You both deserve this after everything.” I smiled at them as Tony kissed her head gently.“I do, don’t I?” I smacked Tony’s arm at his joke. He faked his pain as if I had broken his arm. “Grow up.” I began to laugh as he began walking me to the bar, which was currently empty.“Be right back, Pepper.” She simply nodded at Tony who winked at her. What was that for?I sat at the bar as we arrived and he began to pour two shots. “Tony, I don’t drink.”“Which is why I didn’t ask if you wanted one.” He downed both shots and smiled at me like he didn’t just down two shots. I laughed shaking my head at his behavior. “Sometimes you amaze me.” He laughed crossing his arms and sitting next to me. “What’s up?” I asked, wondering why he dragged me away from his fiancée.“When are you going to tell him? It’s Christmas. Blame it on the spiked eggnog or mistletoe and just kiss him.” Tony was the only other person besides Steve that knew about my crush on Bucky.“Right ‘cause that’s completely logical.” I snapped at him. “I can’t be honest with him, Tony. It’s his first Christmas being back and I don’t wanna ruin that with possible bad memories for either of us.” Tony sighed.“You are so difficult, (Y/N). He likes you just as much as you like him and you both are hurting each other as you keep on hiding it from one another. It’s either going to be like paradise or blow up right in front of you both.” I placed my head down on the counter, closing my eyes.“I know, Tony. I’ll tell him soon. Just not today.” I looked back at Tony who had stood up and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.“I just want what’s best for you.” I nodded.“I know you do.” I got up and side hugged him. He left me to go back to Pepper who had looked at me questioning if I was okay. I gave her a thumbs up and received one back.“Time for present exchanges.” Wanda declared as she stood on a chair clinking a fork against it. Vision helped her back down as everyone grabbed their presents.“Okay, woman give their presents first and then the men.” Tony groaned.“That’s rude, don’t you think?” Everyone sighed at him.“It’s an easy way to make this happen, Tony. Otherwise, everyone will be moving all at once. It’ll be a huge mess of things.” Everyone began exchanging their gifts as the music started playing once more. I had walked up to Bucky who was watching Steve as Wanda gave him his gift. He turned around and smiled once he noticed it was me.“You look beautiful tonight, doll.” I could feel my cheeks redden at his comment and tried to look away. He placed his hand on my cheek and caressed it, pulling back my attention to him. We looked into each other’s eyes for a moment longer than normal until Steve cleared his throat. He looked at Wanda who spoke up.“Steve, I forgot I left something over with Vision. Come with me.” She pulled Steve away leaving Bucky and me alone.I faced Bucky once more as I lifted my present towards him. “I got you for secret Santa. I don’t know if you’ll like what I got you but I made it with love and if not I got something else there too which I didn’t make but it means almost as much.” His eyes widened in shock as he gently grabbed the box and unwrapped it.“Is this what I think it is?” I nodded as my heart began to race. His smile caused my heart to beat faster as I watch in anticipation. Did he actually like it?“I tried to replicate it as much as I could from everything you told me. I know you said you lost it when you were younger and you were really attached to it. Plus I made it bigger so you can use it even now.” He lifted up the blanket and looked at it. Bucky had told me about a blanket he’d been attached to when he was younger when Steve had said it when they were reminiscing about the past during one our nights out. Bucky had said something embarrassing about Steve which caused Steve to says something in response. Causing Steve to bring up Bucky and his blanket. Bucky had been young and attached to a blanket that his mom had made from hand. It had Bucky sewed on it in cursive with black thread on a blue sheet. Bucky had said that even until this day he had no clue what had happened to it but he always thought about it for comfort.“It’s almost like the real one. It’s amazingly soft. Darling, thank you so much for this.” Bucky had smiled brightly and folded it back up gently.“There’s one more thing, remember?” He looked down at the box which had a picture framed. It was Steve, Bucky and I going on our first official mission together. We had all trained together for months and had easily completed the mission. There was no better team than when we were all united but Steve, Bucky, and I were a second best. Bucky had since begun to feel like he was somehow paying for what he did and started to let go some of his guilt. He had told Sam to take a photo of us because he was as happy as he could be. He had never gotten it printed and I had the idea to do so knowing that he had always forgotten to.“Jesus Christ, Doll.” My eyes widened in fear that he hated it.“Did you not like it?” He whipped his head up immediately and walked towards me holding my hand in his empty one. He placed the picture on top of the blanket gently and moved closer.He began shaking his head. “No, how could you think that? They’re the most thoughtful gifts I’ve ever received. Thank you, (Y/N). I mean it.” He had rubbed his arms along my arms and I slowly leaned my head on his shoulder.“I care about you a lot, darling.” My eyes widened and I slowly took a step back. “Did I hear you correctly?” The shock was clearly evident in my voice.“You did. I also got you for secret Santa, and I technically didn’t buy you anything but I did have to do a bit of searching. Plus, I’m sure it’s worth a lot more than what the price limit we had.” I chuckled now realizing that was what Steve meant by coincidence. Bucky grabbed a box that typically carried necklaces. The box was black velvet and Bucky slowly opened it watching my reaction.“Holy hell, Bucky,” I whispered. I gently went to touch it noticing the small details. The necklace was absolutely beautiful.Bucky continued, grinning at my reaction as he spoke. “So when I give you this necklace that once belonged to my grandma and took me forever to find again, I want you to know how much I care for you.” His hand released my wrist but he stood behind me. He placed his hands on my waist from behind, moving my hair gently to place the necklace on my neck.“Your grandma? I can’t take something like-“ He shushed me, pausing my thoughts.“You are worth so much more.” He had whispered, softly in my ear as he placed a gentle kiss on my cheek and moved to face me admiring the necklace I now wore.It was a silver locket in the shape of a heart. It was engraved with a beautiful floral and vine design that swirled around the front on one edge of the heart. A white diamond was placed in the middle of where the locket hung from the chain. "It’s so beautiful, Bucky. I can’t take this from you.” I held my hand over the locket to lift it over my head. He placed his hand on mine preventing me to remove it. I gave him questioning eyes as he nodded.“I’m sure, doll. I don’t want this to go to anyone but you.“ I knew I was blushing madly with every word he spoke to me but I decided not to care, not at that moment where everything seemed perfect. "Open it.” I heard him say, stopping me from any argument I was coming up within my head.He removed his hand once again watching me. I gently opened it and saw him on one side and me on the other. I smiled and almost began crying. How had I ever doubted his feelings for me? He had cared for me in every way I cared for him. I closed it gently to see "Your J.B.B. Always” engraved in a cursive flowing font. I slowly ran my thumb over it and looked up at him. “This is way too beautiful, Bucky.”“Not nearly as beautiful as you have always been. I wanted to tell you that I care for you like no one before. Every time you laugh or smile, I want to be the cause of that. I want to comfort you through everything and be the reason that calms you as you do me. I know it’s selfish of me to want you but I can’t help myself. I want to be with you, (Y/N). So will you do me the honor of letting me call you mine?” I few tears spilled from my eyes as I kissed him. His hands slowly rested on my cheeks, which served to only deepen the kiss.“It’s not selfish of you.” I kissed him softly once more. “Of course I’ll be yours, Bucky.” We had our foreheads against each other as we leaned into quickly kiss each other. “It’s so beautiful, Bucky. Thank you for this.” I looked down at the locket once more as he kissed my forehead.“Anything for you.” He whispered in my ear. My eyes closed as we embraced each other. I knew I smiling madly and blushing even more than I could imagine.Tony suddenly shouted from across the room where everyone was standing and watching Bucky and me. “About damn time.”I sighed but laughed it off as my skin flushed with embarrassment as I realized everyone was watching us. Maybe Tony was right though.Being honest about feelings is way better than keeping them to yourself.