Mission... failed. Unintentional exposure.
Natasha had made it abundantly clear to Tony that she did not want a birthday party, Tony had elected to ignore her - his exact words were And I disagree with your decision so I'm choosing to ignore it - and no amount of threats she'd issued had dissuaded him much to her dismay and there had been plenty, if Tony were smarter he'd have probably listened to her.
Her next notable line of defense against his idea of forced celebration was to refuse to go.
That hadn't worked either, Pepper had gotten involved and asked her to just surrender for the sake of giving everyone something to celebrate after all of the bad that they'd been through, Natasha was informed they could sure use it and she could hardly argue; Bucky knew by that point she was internally swearing to herself that Tony Stark would meet an unpleasant end or at the very least a rather brutal ass kicking for this.
She'd conceded for Pepper. She had also made it abundantly clear she was going to hate every second of it. Natasha really did not like parties, she'd never been one for being in a room full of people making fake pleasantries, it reminded her too much of her missions.
Bucky had apologised quite profusely for getting her into this mess to start with as much as he might not have meant to do it, he'd also pointed out in his own defense though that no one would've known a thing if Clint hadn't said anything but that didn't stop any of them sitting in the den at the avengers facility the night of Natasha's birthday while she tried her best to pretend she didn't want to kill Tony for making her be there.
Once she'd gotten over the fact that she'd rather be anywhere but here tonight, she actually started to have fun, they both did. Bucky - clearly amused but not feeling dumb - watched Natasha challenge Tony to a drinking competition. Steve had informed them he simply couldn't get drunk so it was pointless and Barton bowed out because he already knew he couldn't out drink his best friend.
He also informed Wanda that it was a bad idea and to sit it out.
Bucky thought he was smart.
Tony realised after about a half hour that he'd made a huge mistake and called the whole thing off reminding everyone that birthday parties meant gifts, watching Natasha literally grimace made Bucky feel worse but Tony seemed to look triumphant. Bucky offered her a small smile as she walked past him and his hand bumped hers.
Retrieving a box, Tony handed it to Natasha who studied it curiously before she opened it. Inside were a pair of cuffs that she lifted up as she glanced toward him with a questioning look on her features.
"New weapons." He explained "I'll show you how they work tomorrow when I'm sober."
"Figured that out already, genius." She couldn't help but laugh. "Thanks Tony."
Next, Steve walked over and handed her his gift, he'd gotten her a copy of Anna Karenina in Russian which earned him a hug, not many people knew that Natasha loved to read; she was one of those people whose hobbies were seldom guessed correctly because contrary who whatever Tony Stark might believe, she didn't go around killing people or being as scary as she possibly could for fun, she actually quite enjoyed reading, dancing... She even sung a little occasionally.
When Natasha was comfortable enough to be casual she was very different.
It was clear that she was uncomfortable as hell at being the center of attention but she was also putting up with it because everyone had gone to a whole hell of a lot of effort for her so she didn't say a single word about it, she just smiled.
Clint and Wanda had combined their efforts to get her customised guns which she also loved naturally, she pulled them out to study them and grinned; there were webs on the grips of each and where her finger rested by the trigger were spiders. It was clever and Bucky found the use of symbolism cool, clearly Wanda and Clint hadn't known what to get her either and then everyone turned to look at him.
He looked around the room with a clear apprehension as he reached down beside him to hand her a box that had been sat by his feet.
She opened it carefully and pulled out a snow globe with delicate engraved words written in Russian below the ball, inside was a ballerina. She studied it with a smile playing on her lips, she knew that no one would understand the personal significance to what he'd gotten her, no one would know that it told a story, a story decades old but still just as important to them this day as it had been back then.
"Touch the bottom." He smiled.
She complied with a curious look, her finger running across a button on the bottom and around the figure inside that moved when she touched the button sprung stars projected from beneath the ballerina with small lights that projected onto the walls around them too. Natasha's eyes widened with awe as she turned on the spot and looked around her.
She looked amazed. He couldn't help but smile. The smile on her face was his favorite sight in the world. Her smile made his heart race.
"The stars as they were the night you were born." He explained quietly, he wasn't looking at a single other person in the room but her.
He'd forgotten any of them were even there.
He'd gotten it specially designed for her, the projection was exactly as beautiful as he'd hoped it would be. He watched the wave emotion on her face as she studied the stars around her and the careful inscription which read quite simply My beautiful Natalia and he could tell she was overwhelmed, he found himself wondering if had gone too far and if this was too personal to have been given so publicly.
She placed it down gently on the table.
Wordlessly as everyone else stared in clear confusion at how personal his gift had been and they both knew that they'd have a thousand questions about it, as far as anyone was aware the two of them didn't know one another all that well besides a casual friendship but as she moved around the table to place one hand on his cheek as she leaned up to kiss him.
"Thank you James, it's perfect." Her voice soft and filled with love.
James. She never called him Bucky, she did around everyone else but when they were alone she always used his name; it was the first time that he'd heard her call him by his real name around anyone else in... Well, in a very long time.
No one spoke as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug and in truth none of them would've heard them even if they did. None of them cared what was happening around them in that moment, she glanced up at him as he leaned down to place another soft kiss against her lips.
"You're welcome, beautiful." His hand brushed her cheek gently with his knuckles.
This tenderness, this closeness was something that they kept personal to them and to them alone. They had spent months now protecting what they were, months hiding away in a perfect little blissful existence away from everyone else but that pretense had slipped and fallen away with something as simple as a well thought through birthday gift.
"I love you." She replied softly.
"I love you too." He was speaking solely to his girl, to the woman he'd loved for as long as he could remember.
The only woman besides his mom and Rebecca that he'd ever loved. Bucky Barnes had never fallen in love before Natalia.
She'd never fallen in love before him either. He was her heart and she his. To both of them the outside world seemed to cease existing as he held her in his arms.
He looked down into those beautiful green eyes and a blissful smile touched his features.
"You're so beautiful."
"My gift is beautiful. I love it, it's perfect." She replied. You could practically hear the smile on her lips.
"I wanted to get you something personal to us. Something we'd understand." He explained "And I knew that all I wanted to do was give you the most perfect gift I could."
She kissed him again and then shook her head gently.
"You already did: you came back to me."
After that long and against so many impossible odds he'd come back to her. They could finally have the life they'd wanted together all those years ago...
First they just had to explain this to a group of stunned onlookers. Great. None of them minded one bit, they both knew they were worth it.
If he could he'd have asked her to marry him then and there if this situation wasn't complicated enough, in truth he still hadn't wholly ruled the idea out. It wasn't like this whole situation could get any more confusing for every one else.
As selfish as he thought it made him the only thing he cared about was her. It was her birthday and she was his life. His forever. He'd gladly tell her that there and then too.