Summary: Your brother stood you up. His best friend jumps in.
Pairing: Biker!Bucky Barnes x fem!Reader
Warnings: a little angst, brother’s best friend trope, fluff, Christmas fluff, mentions of the death of loved ones (no description/past)
You follow your brother around your parents’ house. This year, he agreed to celebrate Christmas together, only for him to let you down right after you arrived.
“What’s more important than choosing the Christmas tree? You promised to come with me to keep our tradition alive.” You bemoan as your brother is halfway out of your parents’ house. “Please, after we lost Dad, and now Mom, we should at least try to get the tree they would’ve loved.”
“I told you this meeting is important. We can buy a tree any other day,” your brother huffs. “They are both gone and don’t care about a Christmas tree any longer. I've got work to do and no time for this Christmas nonsense.”
He was out the door before you could bring another word out. Your parents are gone; that’s true, but this doesn’t mean you’ll forget about your traditions and that they won’t be happy that you got the nicest tree you can find.
You harrumph before grabbing your purse, hand gloves, and jacket. If your brother doesn't come with you, you’ll buy the tree yourself.
Right when you step out of the house, you bump into Bucky Barnes, your former neighbor and your brother’s friend. “Watch your step, doll.” He grins when you roll your eyes. He always called you Doll because you were his friend’s younger sister. “Where are you heading to? Why the hurry?”
“I want to buy a tree,” you sniff and look at the snow that fell last night. “It’s the last Christmas at our childhood home. Y/B/N wants to sell it as soon as possible.”
“Sorry, I didn’t know,” Bucky says, and awkwardly looks at his boots. “Can you tell him I came around to give him the keys back?”
“Sure,” you reply and nod. “You can put them inside if you want to. I didn’t lock up yet.”
“Ah, no,” Bucky shakes his head. “You can just give them to him. I’m on my way, and—” He trails off, watching you shift on your feet. “I was about to take a look at the Christmas trees too.”
“Oh,” you gasp. “You want to get a tree this year too? I thought you were too cool for a tree, Barnes.”
“You’re never too old to change your mind,” Bucky says. He stuffs his hands in his pockets. “How about we take a look at the trees together? I can help you get one here. I heard your car broke down.”
“I didn’t know you had a car. You only ever drove a bike.” You lick your lips. Bucky never warmed up to you, not in all the years he lived next door. Now he wants to help you get a tree. “That would be nice.”
“It’s a date,” he grins and immediately wraps one arm around your shoulders to guide you toward his truck. “Do you want a big tree or a small one?”
“I don’t know,” you sniffle. “My parents loved to buy the one no one else bought. You know, to give the tree a chance to shine.”
“Hmm…no. This one is pretty, but everyone would buy it,” you say and move past the majestic tree. It’s perfect, but you don’t want it perfect.
Bucky follows you hot on your heels, looking left and right for the perfect tree.
“What about the one to the far left? He looks a little…sad,” he says and places his hand on the small of your back to guide you toward the tree. “See, his branches look a little odd, and it's smaller than the others.”
“BUCKY!” You gasp and clasp your hands together. “You found the one!” You jump up and down, giggling, like you used to do when you were a kid. “I love it!”
While you hug the tree and sniff at it, Bucky pays the owner of the Christmas tree farm. He shakes his head when you talk to the tree. “Doll, you can take it home. I paid for it.”
“What?” You dip your head to look at Bucky. “Wait, I’ll give you the money back.”
“How about this,” he says, and looks at the tree, “you invite me over for Christmas, and I’ll help you decorate the tree.”
“You only want free food,” you snicker, but the way Bucky looks at you makes you feel warm.
He shakes his head, making his hair fall into his face. “I don’t want to come over for the food, doll.” Bucky grabs your hand to hold it. “I’d like to come over to see my favorite neighbor.”
You nervously giggle. “I’m not a good cook, though.”
“Me neither,” he replies. “Let’s put our knowledge together and make the best out of it.”
“Only if you help me bring Treeothor home,” you grin when Bucky rolls his eyes at the awful name for the tree. “Do we have a deal?”
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prompt: "we live in an apartment." "so?" "babe that's a ten-foot tree" "...oh."
How Tree-mendous
Aelin Galathynius x Rowan Whitethorn - Christmas Tree Shopping
“We live in an apartment.” / “So?” / “Babe, that's a ten-foot tree.” / “...Oh.”
Masterlist | Read on Ao3 | Wintery Collection
1297 words
*******
“What about this one?” Aelin asked, looking at a tree to her left.
She felt Rowan’s presence behind her and could practically hear the wheels in his head turning as he scrutinized the green, bundled up tree.
“The branches are uneven, see over there,” he pointed to an open patch on the bark, “they’re missing. It’ll look crooked.”
Aelin held in a smirk at the seriousness of his assessment. Rowan had taken their trip to pick out a Christmas tree far more seriously than she imagined he would. She’d suggested they do it during breakfast that morning, and by then time she’d gotten out of her shower—alone, seeing as her fiancé apparently had something better to do than shower with her; an absurdity—he had showed her a list of Christmas tree farms within driving distance along with their reviews and ratings.
By the time they drove up to the top-rated shop with its lights strung up on every roof and gable, Aelin begrudgingly commended his research that had taken him away from their round two in the shower. When she told him as much, Rowan had smirked and promised to make it up to her later.
The two had been wandering around the large snow-covered field, traipsing through the rows of potential Christmas trees, for over an hour. Some of the trees were already cut and wrapped, but most were still standing tall just waiting to be picked and wrapped-on-demand.
Thankfully it wasn’t too cold, and with her hat, scarf, and gloves, Aelin was happy to keep looking for while longer. It also helped that she’d made Rowan wait before they started looking to buy a large Hot Cocoa with extra peppermint from the small café inside the shop.
“What was wrong with that one?” She called up to him as he turned away from a tree he’d been staring at for a good minute. Rowan looked over his shoulder at her and stopped until she was at his side.
“The branches looked too frail,” he explained as he slung an arm wound her shoulders when they started walking again. “The ornaments would fall right off.”
“We don’t want that.” Aelin hummed in agreement. “Although it would give us an excuse to throw away those hideous ornaments Aedion gave us last year.”
Rowan chuckled and squeezed her shoulder. “You know you love those.”
She grumbled something unintelligible under her breath, masking her small smile with the cup of cocoa. They got to the end of the row of trees, not seeing a single one that passed Rowan’s long list of acceptable criteria, and walked around the corner to examine the next rows of trees.
A little ways down, Aelin spotted a large tree that in her quick scan seemed to have all its branches, was a pretty deep green, and looked strong. She beamed at it and skipped ahead of Rowan, bouncing to a stop in front of the gorgeous tree.
She spun to face him and held her arms out in front of it. “This one. Its perfect!” she faced the tree again as Rowan walked over and looked at it. “We have all those gold shimmery lights that’ll look great on this one, and we can hang the ornaments all over, feel this, the branches are sturdy.”
She expected to see a matching grin on Rowan’s face, but when she met his eyes again, he was watching her with a fond expression coated in amusement.
“What?” she asked, furrowing her brows.
Rowan smiled and leaned down to press a quick kiss to her lips. When he pulled away Aelin pouted, and Rowan gave her one more with a chuckle. “Fireheart, we can’t get this tree.”
She scoffed. “Rowan, this one is perfect.” She arched a brow and counted off all the reasons he vetoed other trees. “it’s the right color, it's not patchy, it won't fall over when we decorate it—”
Rowan grabbed her hands in his and held them together as he cut her off. “Aelin, we live in an apartment.”
“So?”
He huffed another laugh. “Babe, that’s a ten-foot tree.”
She opened her mouth to respond, but twisted so she could eye the tree again. It was tall, she supposed it would be kind of hard to get it into the apartment and up without it hitting the ceiling. Okay, very hard. And even if it did fit, they wouldn’t be able to put anything on top of the tree.
Aelin’s shoulder’s slumped as she realized this wouldn’t be the tree they took home. “Oh. Right.”
“Come on,” Rowan squeezed her hand and pulled her along the path, “let’s keep looking.”
It took another thirty minutes, a dozen more reasons why Rowan deemed certain trees unacceptable, and a brief, steamy interlude of making out against a bare tree trunk before they both saw the perfect tree.
Rowan spotted it first, and it took a second for Aelin to realize he’d stopped walking. His hand was still wrapped in her and she was tugged back when he halted. She was about to ask what had caught his eye when she saw the tree he was staring at.
It was beautiful. The tree was deep, sage green with darker needles interspersed among the branches. There weren’t any open spaces, and the branches were firm and bounced back into place when moved. And it wasn’t too tall.
Rowan pulled Aelin in front of him and he wrapped his arms around her middle while resting his chin on her shoulder. She leaned back into his touch as they looked at the tree.
“What do you think?” he murmured into her ear, and she tried not to shiver at the feel of his breath on her skin.
Aelin narrowed her eyes and pretended to think about it. “I don’t know,” she shook her head. “Is it too perfect? Maybe we want something with a bit of character.”
Aelin laughed as Rowan pinched her side. “Menace.”
“I’m kidding,” she smiled and lifted her cup of cocoa up to her lips. “I love it.”
“I do too.” He agreed and snatched her cocoa away before she could take a sip.
“Hey!” she reached for the drink, but his arms were too long, and he grinned as he held it out of reach before taking a long sip, ignoring her protests about how it was her cup of magical holiday goodness and he should’ve thought to buy one before they came out here.
Rowan just laughed, and Aelin couldn’t keep a straight face as she grinned back. He handed her the cup and she greedily clutched it in her gloved hands. “You can buy me another one of these before we leave, Buzzard.”
He rolled his eyes as he pulled out his phone to take a picture of the lot number so the workers could come back out and cut the tree for them. “Yeah, yeah, keeping you stocked up on chocolate is one of the things I agreed to when I asked you to marry me. I know.”
She grinned at his long-suffering sigh. “And don’t you forget it.”
“How could I?” he grumbled into her hair and he pulled her into his side, and they walked back to the shop. “You adore chocolate as much as you adore me.”
Aelin snorted. “You think mighty highly of yourself.”
Rowan raised a silver eyebrow down at her, daring her to contradict it, and smirked when she just rolled her eyes and pressed closer into his side.
“You’re wrong.” She said into his jacket.
“What was that?” His smirk widened.
“You’re wrong,” she pressed up on her tiptoes and kissed him. “I adore you more than chocolate.”
"You know, when you asked me to go tree shopping, this isn't what I had in mind," Buck said, gesturing down the aisle of boxed trees. Nearby a small forest of fake trees twinkled.
"Real trees are nothing but fallen pine needles and fire hazards," Eddie said, examining the pictures on several boxes. "What do you think of this one. It has snow frosted needles."
"So a fake tree wasn't enough. You need fake snow, too?"
Eddie rolled his eyes, but pushed the box back into the shelf. "Well, which ones do you like? You're not exactly helping here, Buck."
Buck hummed and pointed to a box. "What about this one? I like the long needles."
Eddie moved across the space between Buck and the trees to examine the box. "It isn't too tall, either."
"I know how high your ceilings are."
Eddie gave Buck a strange look, but only said, "I know you do." He pulled out the long box and, with Buck's help, settled it in the cart.
"Do you need to get ornaments, too?"
"Nah, we've got those. It was just the old tree that decided to break last night." He pushed the cart down the aisle toward the registers. "Do you want to help decorate after Chris gets out of school?"
Buck's grin was both immediate and immediately shadowed. "Are you sure you don't mind?"
"Wouldn't offer if I did."
"Then I'm there."
As they passed the ornaments, Eddie slowed.
Buck frowned. "I thought you didn't need anymore?"
"I don't, but why don't you pick some out so that you have some of your own to add to the tree? Unless you have some at home you can bring?"
"You want me to add my own ornaments to your and Chris' tree?"
Eddie flushed. "You don't have to."
"No, I want to. Just, let me pick some out. I didn't exactly carry ornaments around with me during my travels. And the ones I have at home are nothing special." He patted Eddie on the shoulder as he moved past him and into the ornaments aisle.
Eddie watched as Buck carefully scanned the aisle looking for the perfect ornaments. This his face widened with a smile and he plucked a box off the shelf. He showed Eddie the box as he walked back to the end of the aisle. It was a set of three dog ornaments.
"This one looks just like you," Buck said, pointing to the middle dog.
"I don't look like that," Eddie said, squinting at the dog.
"You totally do," Buck answered, slipping the box into the cart. "Chris will back me up."
"Of course he will," Eddie said in a huff, but his smile belied his annoyance.
They walked to the front of the store and checked out.
"Are we picking up Chris on the way home?" Buck asked.
Eddie glanced at the clock. "We're early still. Finding a tree didn't take as long as I thought it would."
"Because of my keen eye."
"Right. Do you want to come with me or should I drop you off at home first?" Eddie asked.
"I haven't seen Chris in a while," Buck said, "But--"
"No 'buts.' Let's go get Christopher. And, by the way, no matter how cutely he asks, we are not getting ice cream on the way home."
"But Eddie, kids need after school snacks," Buck said as Eddie pulled out of the parking space.
"Then you can make him something healthy when we get home. No sugar."
"Fine. You said we're early, right?"
"Yeah, why?"
Buck gestured to a nearby supermarket. "I want to grab some celery and raisins. I'll make him ants on a log. You have peanut butter?"
Eddie turned for the supermarket. "Probably better to grab that, too."
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Well this is certainly a convincing English description of a tree species:
Black Gum Tree is a beautiful tree with glossy dull takes off. This tree is discovered developing best in the dirt like soils and full daylight; this tree can't deal with inordinate shade. At the point when the tree is youthful, it has dark, marginally flaky bark, yet as this tree ages the bark turns out to be thick and faint, taking after crocodile skins. This tree's foliage is dense and dull also, with much darker leaves than different trees have. These leaves are oval formed for the most part.
These blooms are a critical sustenance hotspot for some pollinators, for example, honey bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds that feast upon the blossoms nectar. The organic product is a dark blue shading and is an exceedingly pined for the natural outcome for fowls. This gum tree is local to North America and can be discovered developing in the hardwood backwoods of the eastern part. This tree favors clammy grounds and can regularly be observed developing adjacent marshes and wetlands. This tree likewise inclines toward acidic soils to develop in. This tree is similarly utilized as a part of the home building for a great mixture of winged animals, rodents, squirrels, raccoons, and even bumblebees. The wood is esteemed for being hard and cross-grained making it extraordinarily dependable and essential for things that go under great everyday stress. The Black Gum is a beautiful tree with a straight trunk and around the crown. The leaves of the black gum tree change to different colors as the seasons change. It turns from shiny green, to yellow, orange and purple in weeks. The tree is native to North America. The tree reaches a height of 30 to 50 feet tall and its branches can spread to reach 20 to 30 feet weight. Therefore, thriving in dry soils and even though saturated with water. Also, it's tolerant of alkali and salt soils. Black Gum
Jamie and I had decided to take a few days to ourselves. He needed to fit in a bit of work before Christmas, I didn’t want to be apart from him. Not even for a day. How had this even happened? I’d only met him a few days ago but already I was betraying my own words. I promised I wouldn’t fall in love with him.
Well, you failed at that, Beauchamp.
Sitting around in Jenny’s living room, I felt absolutely pitiful. Every time I tried to read, my mind drifted to Jamie and what he was doing. Every time I tried to watch TV, I couldn’t help but wonder if he was thinking about me.
I looked at the clock on the wall, it was only 7pm, surely he wouldn’t be working this late at night. Maybe I should just pop over and say hi…
Before I had time to think about what I was actually doing, I found myself standing outside Jamie’s door. He had told me his address, Lallybroch and it wasn’t hard to miss. Christmas lights covered every window and the snow on the ground made it seem straight out of a book.
I knocked on the door and waited.
“Surprise!” I smiled as Jamie opened the door, his eyes almost bulged out of his head.
“Aye, it is, Sassenach.” I could hear the sounds of plates clinking together and noticed how he was standing with his body in the doorway, making it impossible to see inside.
“Oh, you have company? I shouldn’t have come.” Looking down at my feet, I avoided his gaze, heat flashing up my neck.
“No, Claire it’s —“
“Who is it daddy?” There was a small brown haired girl that appeared out of nowhere and clutched onto Jamie’s leg.
“Daddy?” Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ.
“Aye, I am… daddy.” Jamie looked down at his daughter and then back up to me, his shoulder slumping. He was a father, it all explained so much and yet.
“Claire, this is Faith.” His face lit up and he stroked the top of her head.
Another sound of two little feet and the door opened wider to reveal another little girl with blazing red hair, “Wanna come in?” She asked.
“My youngest, Brianna.” Jamie sheepishly smiled.
Oh. The names I had seen on his phone from our first two nights together. They weren’t other women he was hooking up with, they were his daughters. A weight lifted off my shoulders that I didn’t know I was carrying.
“Daddy!” Bree tugged on Jamie’s pant leg.
“Oh yes, come in, Sassenach.”
He held the door as I walked in, my eyes roaming quickly over the interior of his home. It was warm and welcoming. The kind of home I could see myself in.
The girls ran off, assuming towards the kitchen as they started shouting “Hot Chocolate!”
I grabbed Jamie’s arm, “Are you married, Jamie?”
He shook his head, “No. Widower. Two years ago, she was sick.”
“Oh, Jamie… I’m sorry.” I pulled him into a hug, his arms wrapped around my back.
More shouts demanding hot chocolate came from the kitchen and Jamie pulled back, taking my hand and led me into the kitchen. “Hope ye like hot chocolate.”
“Love it.”
I sat down on the kitchen bench as Jamie set a steaming cup of hot chocolate down in front of me. “This looks delicious, thank you.”
“Da, she has more marshmallows than me!” Bree pointed her finger at her sister’s cup.
“No, she has five, just like you Bree. Dinna go makin’ up lies.” It was so different to see Jamie in ‘Dad mode’. He was always gentle and kind but to see him with his children, it was heartwarming.
Faith crawled up into Jamie’s lap and settled her little bum against him. “Da, do Mr. Napkin Head.”
“Yes, Da please do Mr. Napkin Head!” Bree echoed her sister.
Jamie looked at me, a deep red covering his cheeks. I smiled and said, “Please Jamie?” For encouragement.
“Aye, I’ll do it, only because we have a guest.” He winked, kind of, at me and I watched as he picked up the cloth napkin and his glasses from the table. Jamie laid the napkin over his face, set his glasses on his nose and then stuck a spoon in his mouth. Both of the girls lost it, falling into fits of giggles.
“Hello, I’m Mr. Napkin Head!” He shouted which made me burst into giggles along with them. “Who is that pretty lass over there?” He pointed to me, I knew he couldn’t possibly see me through the napkin.
“That’s a Sassenach, Da.” Faith said, smiling as she looked up lovingly at Jamie.
“Och, a Sassenach? Who let her in?” He joked.
“You did, Da!” Bree laughed.
“Aye, I suppose I did.” He laughed and then took off the glasses and napkins, Bree and Faith started clapping and I joined in.
“Very good, Jamie.” I smiled, making him blush even more.
“Claire,” Bree said to me, “We have a tent in our playroom. Would you like to see it?”
“Well of course I would.”
The girls held my hands as they led me up the stairs and into their playroom. “This is so impressive.” And it was. A tent had been set up in the middle of the room, equipped with fairy lights and paper stars hanging inside.
“Did you do this?” I asked Jamie.
“Aye, only helped a little.”
I followed the girls into the tent and laid down, Jamie followed behind me and laid beside me. Bree and Faith lay on either side of us. I felt Jamie’s hand reach for mine and I took it.
“Claire, if you wanted to sleep over that would be alright, we could push our beds together.” Faith said, her little voice warming my heart.
“Thank you very much for the offer but maybe another time?”
“Alright.” I heard her sigh and felt Jamie turn his head to look at her. I could’ve sworn I heard him say “good job” but maybe I was mistaken.
We all lay in the tent, looking up at the paper stars covered in glitter. Jamie was a father. When we first met he had told me he always hurts the people he’s with simply by being himself. Perhaps he had tried to date before but at the mention of kids, they ran away.
Once Jamie saw that the girls were tucked into their beds, he came to find me. I stood in his study, admiring the collection of books on his shelves.
“I canna imagine anyone bein’ a bigger hit wi’ my children.”
“That’s a relief,” I smiled. “Jamie…”
“Why didn’t I tell ye about them?”
“Yes. That’s a rather important thing… children.” I leaned back against his desk.
“Until I get to know someone — it’s easier for me to pretend to be a normal lad,” he ran his hand through his hair, “I’m a full time dad, Sassenach. I spend my weekends buying tu-tu’s and I have a cow in the backyard,” He laughed.
“Claire, before you… before this, I hadna slept with a woman since my wife died. I dinna take this lightly, what it is between us.”
“I get it, Jamie. I do,” I walked over to him and placed a hand on his chest, “To introduce them to someone they may never see again. It would be hard.” I sighed, “I’m sorry I came.”
He put his hand under my chin, “Dinna be sorry, Sassenach. Ye didna know. Besides… I’m glad they met ye. Ye’re very important to me, Claire.” Jamie kissed me, slow and tender.
“I have a question to ask ye.”
My heart started racing, surely he wouldn’t ask me to marry him, Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ.
“Will ye go Christmas tree shopping with us, me and the girls, tomorrow?”
Oh. “Yes, Jamie. I’d love to.” I kissed him and thought of the possibilities of future Christmases to come.
___________________________
JENNY FRASER
Joe was at my place again, like he was almost every other day. We had become fast friends and I enjoyed his company. We’d been spending the last hour going over and over a speech that he needed to make in a few days. He was retiring from the hospital and they were having a dinner in his honour.
“I don’t know, Jenny. I mean, I don’t want to make a big deal out it. Why don’t I just say ‘thanks very much’ and they get off the stage?”
“Because ye’re bein’ honoured Joe, ye’ve given more than thirty years of yer life that place, to those people. Ye need to say a little more than that.” I gave him a stern look and he pressed his lips together.
“Let’s go over what ye have so far.” I read over the speech, so far it was brief, mentioning a few people he had worked with and patients that had meant a great deal to him. It needed work but I could see today we weren’t getting anywhere.
“Tell ye what, ye go home and put this out of yer mind. Tomorrow we’ll start fresh and maybe tonight I’ll even look over it again.”
Joe stood from the couch, grabbing his cane, “You’re the best, Jenny. Couldn’t do this without you.” I hugged him and walked him to the door.
I had to admit, my brain was beginning to turn to mush just thinking about going over the speech one more damn time.
“Ye need a nice relaxin’ bath.” I told myself and went upstairs to the giant tub I hadn’t found a chance to use.
Settled into the bubbles and warm water, a glass of wine on the side, I closed my eyes and leaned back.
The peace didn’t last long as my phone rang. I gave a short huff and looked at the caller ID: Ian Murray. Christ!
“Hello?” I said, suddenly painfully aware that I was sitting in the tub naked.
“Hello, Jenny. I was just callin’ to see if ye wanted to make those plans?”
He remembered, oh Jesus.
“Uh, sure yeah that sounds nice.” Play it cool, Jenny.
“Are ye free tonight then?”
Was I? Was I?! Of course!
“I think so, should be. What did ye have in mind?” He paused and I thought he’d hung up but then he said the two best words I think I’d ever heard him say just then.
