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Christmas season was always a sad time for her – she usually spent it alone, since she didn’t have any family or friends. Well, she did have friends from work, but none of them were close enough to be spending Christmas with. But that year was different, she had someone to spend the holly holiday with – Bucky Barnes. They had met on a coffee shop by accident. She was there to meet her boss, who had an emergency meeting and couldn’t show up, and he was there to meet a date that ended standing him up. Bucky gathered all his courage to go talk to the pretty girl who was sitting alone in a table across his. And that was how they became friends. And for that year, they decided to spend Christmas Eve together, since neither of them wanted to be alone again, but they also wanted to spend more time with each other. Anyone who saw them could easily gather that they were in love just by the looks they gave each other.
She was supposed to cook dinner, while he was gonna get some nice red wine. While she was cooking in the kitchen, she heard her front door being opened. It was Bucky – she had given him a spare key to her apartment a few weeks prior. That showed how much she trusted him.
“Merry Christmas!” he happily said as he entered the kitchen.
“It’s not Christmas yet, Buck” she chuckled.
“Is dinner almost ready? I brought the wine.” He said while putting down the bottle of red wine in the counter.
“Yeah, just five more minutes. Maybe we should open the wine?” She suggested. Bucky grabbed the corkscrew from the table and opened the wine. The woman already had two glasses ready. “It’s good. You picked a good one.” After taking a sip, she put the cup on the table and went to the oven. Dinner was ready. “It’s ready!”
“Great, I’m starving.” Bucky rubbed his hands together.
The dinner was filled was laughter and old stories about each of them. Bucky shared many stories about the 40s and the time he spent with Steve. He told her about his past two weeks before, since he didn’t want to keep secrets from her. At first, he was afraid that she was gonna think he was a monster and leave him, but her reaction was quite the opposite – she told him she didn’t care about his past, she knew that wasn’t him anymore.
After cleaning up the kitchen and doing the dishes, they decided to go watch a Christmas movie. Luckily, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” was playing on a random channel, so they decided to watch that. Bucky was lying against the arm of the couch, with his legs wide open. She was in the middle of his legs, with her back against his chest. He decided to take this opportunity to draw small circles with his thumb on her tummy. Both of them were enjoying this proximity, even though it was something unusual for them.
In the middle of the movie, she started getting bored.
“Buck?”
“Yeah?”
“Can we do something different?”
“What do you mean?”
“I have an idea.”
“Spill it then.”
“I have the keys to the building of my company and the rooftop there has an amazing view. We could go there, bring some blankets and the rest of the wine. Maybe some snacks even. And just lay there, watching the stars.”
“That sounds nice” Bucky was excited, even though he tried to hide his emotions. Laying under a sky full of stars on Christmas Eve would be the perfect opportunity to finally kiss her.
She quickly turned around. Since she was basically lying on top of Bucky, when she turned around, it made their lips almost touch. There were just a few inches separating them. To her, this seemed like the perfect chance to finally kiss him, so she started to get even more close to him. Although Bucky also wanted to kiss her, he wanted their first kiss to be more romantic, something she wouldn’t forget.
“Oh, we should go now.” He got away from her, which made her sad. She thought Bucky felt the same way about her.
“Yeah, we should.” She quickly got off his embrace. “I’m gonna go grab the blankets and the snacks. I’ll be right back.”
Bucky and her got out of the apartment complex and waited for the cab they had previously called. The trip to her work building was quiet. Bucky saw how sad she was after he rejected her kiss, so he intertwined her hand with his in the back of the cab, making her flash a small smile.
As soon as they reached the building’s rooftop, she spread the blankets on the floor so they could lay down. When she was done, Bucky laid down first and patted the place right next to him. She laid next to him but leaving a few inches away from him. He wanted to be as close as he could to her, so he moved himself in order to be right next to her. He then carefully put his arm under her head.
“It’s not too cold tonight, otherwise we couldn’t lay here” she said while looking at the stars.
“Yeah, it’s alright. I’m glad I’m here with you.”
“I’m glad I’m here with you too, Buck.” They stayed a few minutes in silence, enjoying each other’s company and looking at the starry sky, before she decided to speak. “Buck? Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Do you like me?”
He was surprised by her question. “Yes, I think it’s pretty obvious.” He chuckled. “Do you like me too?”
“I thought it was pretty obvious too.” They both laughed. She got up and sat, soon followed by him.
Without even realizing it, Bucky started to get closer and closer to her. “I’m gonna kiss you right now. Is that okay?” She quickly nodded. He placed his hands on her shoulders as his lips met hers. Bucky’s lips were soft. It was magical, it felt like everything in the world disappeared and it was just the two of them. After a few seconds of kissing, they pulled away. Their foreheads were against each other’s and their eyes were closed.
“Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas Buck.” she buried her face on his neck, trying to hide her embarrassment.
“Why are you hiding?” Bucky asked. “Was it bad? I haven’t kissed anyone in decades, I’m so sorry.”
“No, it was perfect.” She mumbled against his neck. “It’s just… I never felt like this in my whole life.”
“Me neither, doll.” She took her head off his neck and stared at him. “I think I’m falling in love with you.”
“I think I’m falling in love with you too, Buck.”
He decided to lean in for another kiss, and she gladly kissed back.
“This is the happiest Christmas ever.” She said after they kissed.