mitternachtsblau

Bonus:

Jane Hollander wips

what if bucky barnes, once he starts his recovery, realizes that a.) it’s the holidays and b.) they’re not poor as a couple of fucking crumbs anymore. like, would this matter?? does bucky barnes give a fuck about christmas?? what if bucky barnes Very Much Fucked With Christmas but he was trying to keep it together. just quietly going around the tower with a mug of eggnog. eating roasted chestnuts from a cart in the park and humming under his breath. wrapping things in newspaper and hiding them in the closet and being brusque and self-mocking later about his INCREDIBLY THOUGHTFUL gifts like he manages to find this old delicate secondhand snowglobe of saint basil’s cathedral for natasha. and she unwraps it and is totally silent and her face does the Thing where natasha is Having a Feeling and she’s like, “thank you” in english for the benefit of everybody else at the party but then also “Я собираюсь убить тебя,” smiling, her eyes a little wet, and bucky knows he has been a Good Elf

meanwhile obviously steve rogers doesn’t give a fuck, steve rogers is clearly the kind of person who’s like “i don’t need anything for christmas i am rich i already have three whole sheets of paper and this sock” like Jesus steve, let somebody buy you a candy bar, it’s christmas eve i don’t need you to recite upsetting passages from “The Jungle.” probably back when they were rubbing nickels together to keep warm he was like “please remember the less fortunate” and bucky was like HOW MUCH LESS FORTUNATE COULD THEY BE, FOR LUNCH TODAY WE STOOD DOWNWIND OF THE BAKERY AND JUST SMELLED BREAD

steve: buck, i-

bucky: wear the fucking hat i swear to god, we are going to have a jolly holiday if i have to shove this mistletoe up your ass

steve: …

steve: fine

Jane: Are we still on for tonight?

Jane: ???

Jane: Rozanov.

Jane: Fuck you I'm not going to just wait around for you all night.

Jane: Asshole.

Ilya just smirks to himself and replies with a room number.

And the thing is that they do actually have to be a bit sneaky. It wouldn't do for someone to draw some false conclusions about why one half of the most scrutinized marriage in the NHL is loitering in a random hotel lobby in Ottawa on a Thursday evening. Ilya doesn't want that kind of publicity and he does not want to try to explain that it's not what it looks like to his in-laws.

So there's a thrill to it when he scans the keycard into the reader and Shane is sitting there in the dark, breath heavy like he's nervous or like he's just run up six flights of stairs to avoid elevator cameras.

(It's both)

And yeah maybe it breaks kayfabe a bit that Shane already had the room key or that he's wearing his Centaurs team crewneck instead of the Metros one that he would have been wearing in this scenario years ago (because he threw them all out in a fit of pique and Ilya cheered him on) but the hotel room is dark and the only difference in the crewnecks is that the number 24 over the breast is red instead of blue.

He's even combed his hair down over his forehead. Fuck.

"Where the fuck have you been," Shane says, cornering Ilya as soon as the door is closed. "I've been sitting here like a fucking idiot, Rozanov."

does not matter what shane is doing: chopping up a salad, sorting out supplements for the week, actively using the stove where hot oil is involved ilya this is DANGEROUS-

ilya is doing Barnacle Behavior and staying attached to his back. he'll move with him. he'll even fully cross the kitchen with him. but he's not letting go.

and shane will roll his eyes and complain and act like this is SO annoying, but if ilya started to let go, shane would be the one grabbing his arms and putting them back in place.