Peanut Butter And Burnt Toast
You pulled the burnt bread out of the toaster, spreading peanut butter only over it. You put in on a plate and handed it to your daughter at the table. This was exactly how Stephanie liked her toast and if she got it any other way there she would instantly refuse it. You then put in two more pieces of toast to burn and put peanut butter only on, this time for Bucky. That was exactly how he liked his toast and if he got it any other way, he’d deal with it...stubbornly.
Your family was weird, but you loved them.
Today your five-year-old was dressed for school in a blue Captain America shirt and a pink tutu. Your other five-year old was still in sweatpants and a t-shirt, despite the fact that it was his day to drive Stephanie to school. You slid him his own toast at the head of the small, square table, diner style, and went to make your own toast next. “So, princess, what’ve you got going at school today?” he asked her.
“Mr. Schmidt said that today we were going to do more reading,” Stephanie said with her mouth full.
“What’re you reading?”
“In class, we’re reading some dumb picture book about the zoo. But I got Charlotte’s Web from the library. Maria told me that was good,” she said.
She was at least three years ahead of her class reading-wise, and she and her friend Maria agreed that the picture books read in Mr. Schmidt’s first grade class were boring. So Maria stole books from her brother, Howard, who was in third grade, and read those.
You thought it was great. But the school thought they shouldn’t be reading high-level books. Bucky had a few choice words for the school, as did Maria’s father, Tony Stark himself.
The school let them read high-level books after that.
“Yeah, that’s a good book,” Bucky said, taking a bite of his toast as you sat down with yours.
After a brief silence, Stephanie grabbed Bucky’s hand and asked, “Hey Daddy, why do you have a metal arm?”
He took a breath, looking at you briefly. The day he found out you were pregnant, he started writing out and rehearing an explanation. Today he would finally get to put it to use.
“Way back before I met Mommy, Uncle Steve and I were in the army. One time, I was out on a mission, on a train on a mountain. And I fell off the train, and on the way down, my arm hit a branch and–” He made a chopping noise and motioned across his shoulder. Stephanie gasped. He nodded passively. “Yeah. Then a bunch more bad guys found me and gave me this arm,” he said, flexing it and grinning, before becoming more somber. “And for awhile, they made me do some bad things with it. Some really bad things. And I used to be uncomfortable with my arm, because of all the bad things I did with it. I used to hate it. Then I did a lot of good things with it. I married Mommy with it, I made you with it. I got happier despite it. All ‘cause you guys,” he said, placing his right hand at the back of your head, and his left at the back of Stephanie’s. “I love you guys so much.”
“I love you too, Daddy,” Stephanie said, squeezing his forearm with her right hand. “And I think your arm is really cool, by the way. No one else’s daddies have cool metal arms like you, Dad.” Bucky’s face broke out in a grin. “For the record, I love you too, Momma,” Stephanie said, earning a smile from you. “I don’t want you guys to think I have a favourite or anything.”
“Well, it’s good to know you don’t have a favourite,” you said, glancing at Bucky. “And I love you too, darling.” You checked your watch. “Hey, you guys had better get going, you’re gonna be late.”
“Oh, right,” Bucky said, standing up and kissing you on the lips before following Stephanie, with her Avengers backpack, out the door.
His lips had tasted like peanut butter and burnt toast, and that was exactly how you liked it.