#capszn

soRRY this took so long!! i’ve got a big presentation next week at work and i have to nail it ugh, lots of pressure. anyway, here it is! hope you like (and i hope you don’t mind that it’s pre-serum!) 🌺

***

During the winter after Bucky turned 20, Steve gets tossed a challenge: Bucky catches a cold and it’s definitely a nasty one. He’s got the chills, the fever, the cough, and...

“Huh’NNNGT!”

... the sneezes. And he’s got ’em bad.

“Oh, Buck...” 

Hanging out with Bucky is on his usual routine, but this morning, Steve takes the initiative and goes to Bucky’s apartment, only to find him sweating out a fever in bed. Steve pokes his head in the bedroom and sighs. Bucky never gets sick.

Bucky hears the tiny sign and cracks an eye open. 

“Oh shi—” The curse drifts off his lips and never quite reaches the air. “Steve, I’m sorry, you can’t... can’t come in today,” he mumbles.

“I’m sick and we both know what would,” he coughs harshly into a fist. “What would happen next.” 

He’s of course referring to Steve’s practically non-existent immune system.

Steve takes a step inside the room but Bucky’s shaking his head.

“No, no, nuh huh. You can’t—”

“Bucky, Bucky... listen to me. It doesn’t matter.” Steve’s halfway in the room and he can see that Bucky’s face is glistening.

“But you’ll—”

“I’m gonna get sick anyway, okay? It honestly does not matter, okay?” 

He’s sitting on the bed now, pulling back Bucky’s sheets. “Besides, I might as well get sick sooner rather than later, right? It just makes sense. Here.” 

Steve helps him sit up and gently lifts the damp undershirt over his head. Like clockwork, Bucky’s already got a fresh shirt on and Steve is brushing his hair back from his forehead. Bucky puts a strong hand on Steve’s chest and pushes him away, perhaps a bit too roughly.”Godda sd-sdehhh... sdeeze...”

Steve watches, transfixed and amazed at how beautiful Bucky could possibly look at this moment, even doing something as simple as sneezing. His long eyelashes flutter shut and he grabs for his collar, sneezing inside his shirt. 

“Hup’GGNT! Ahhh... hahH! Hh’XXXT!” Bucky shakes his head afterwards, as if to clear it. His eyes are red and watery and Steve is lost in them.

“B-bless you, Buck,” he stutters.

Bucky sniffles, rubbing his tickly nose on his wrist. 

“By dose itches ad I’b hot... ad cold,” he adds, flopping down into bed. 

Steve secretly lets himself smile; it’s not often he gets to see this helpless, childlike side of Bucky. “How about I put on a record and lay with you until you go to sleep?”

“Mm’kay.”

Steve returns with a carefully selected record: “The Way You Look Tonight,” a Fred Astaire tune. As soon as it starts playing, Bucky smirks. 

“A bid robantic, hmm? I didn’t kdow you were a robantic, Stevie.”

A romantic. Steve blushes his words, even though he knows it’s just the fever talking. Bucky’s even humming along by the time Steve climbs in bed with him. “You feelin’ sleepy yet?”

Bucky smiles, closing his eyes. “Baybe a little.” 

He frowns. “Id would be a lot easier if I didn’t hafta... hafta...” His eyes start to water again and his nostrils twitch, begging for a release. “Hahhh... hih’XXXXT! Nn’SHHT Huh... huh!” 

The last one leaves his breath hitching and him unsatisfied. “Dabbit.”

Steve tries not to find Bucky’s congested voice cute or funny. “It’s okay, it’ll come back.”

“Hah! Hah’SHHHP!” Bucky’s head snaps forward and he looks dazed. 

This time Steve does laugh. “Bless you. Wanna handkerchief?”

Bucky shakes his head no. “Doe, id’ll only bake be sdeeze ahhh... hoo. Agaid.” 

He scrunches his nose up like a rabbit, trying to get the inevitable itch out of there.

“Just try to get some sleep, okay?”

Bucky nods, his eyelids giving in. “Mm’kay.”

***

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01/16/1996 🎉 I'm grateful to have been living this long. Many people don't make it to this age, so growing older for me is considered a blessing. Thirty years on this earth is mind blowing to me. I've made it!!! I've learned so much about myself being on the earth this long. I still have a lot more learning and a long way to go!!! I just gotta take what I've experienced and keep moving forward. To more life lessons, more blessings, and less stressing 🎤➡️

Finally 29!!! [01/16/1996]🐐

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Today I turn twenty-nine years old👑

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I don't celebrate holidays, so this isn't a celebration. This is just a normal day for me.🙏🏽

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I'm happy that at this age, I can be unapologetically myself!!!🗡