“I’m not going to have any feeling in my limbs before this is over.” I stood shaking in an attempt to keep warm.
“Stop being a party pooper,” Sam replied.
“I thought you were the one who loved snow?” Bucky added.
“I do, it’s beautiful and makes everything look magical. But that doesn’t mean I want to stand in a foot of snow in the middle of the night.”
“Um, it’s not the middle of the night,” Sam looked at his wrist as if he had a watch on, “It’s fun o’clock.”
Bucky laughed as he patted snow down into a firm mound.
The blizzard conditions had passed and the snow had temporarily quit falling. Fourteen inches of white powder covered the ground creating a beautiful winter wonderland. The hill behind the compound looked like a slide all on its own, but now Bucky and Sam were using various shovels to flatten and smooth the snow for the “perfect sled slope”.
“How long until you’re done?” I pleaded.
“Five-ish minutes,” Bucky replied. “You could wait inside.”
“Someone needs to supervise the two of you, you already tried to build this towards the lake,” I replied skeptical of their sudden bonding. “This perfect sled slope,” I mocked the name, “seems like a perfect way to get hurt.”
Bucky stood up and leaned the shovel against the four-wheeler. “We’ll be fine.”
“You maybe, you’re a super-soldier. He’s very breakable.”
“So are you,” Sam said throwing snow at me.
“I’m not getting on that thing.”
“What if we did it together?” Bucky asked coming to stand in front of me.
I shook my head, “You know that irrational fear you have about ice skating?”
“Yeah,” He nodded,
“Well, I have one too. But with sleds.”
Bucky’s forehead squished together in confusion, “You have a fear of your hand getting taken off by a sled?”
I laughed, “No, but that I’ll crash and break my neck. It’s evolved since my childhood, I used to think my head would pop off.”
“Like a barbie?” Sam interrupted.
I shrugged, “what’s it to you bird brain?”
“We’ll do it together,” Bucky took my gloved hand. “I won’t let you crash.”
“It’s done,” Sam stated.
“He’s going first.” I pointed at Sam.
From the top of the hill, you could go one of two ways, into the courtyard of the compound or into the lake. It had been below freezing for almost three weeks now, so the lake was frozen, not enough to skate on but you could definitely walk along the edges. When I came outside to find out what they were doing they were building the slope towards the lake, neither of them could see the issue since the lake was frozen, it took almost ten minutes of arguing to get them to change the direction.
The slope was at least thirty yards long, they had done a pretty good job defining a line and smoothing it. It was an impressive feat that they accomplished in just a short hour and a half; it was equally impressive that they did it with minimal snowball fighting. There were three sleds next to the four-wheeler but there was no way I was going down alone.
Sam sat on his sled at the top of the slope, the smile on his face was that of a small child on Christmas morning.
“If you sit there much longer, I’m going to push you,” Bucky stated.
I stepped around Bucky so I could see the full length of the slope before walking over to Sam. Turning my back to him, I made eye contact with Bucky and winked.
“Hey Sam, remember a few months back when you scared me in the gym, and I fell off the treadmill?” I questioned.
“Is that how you got hurt?” Bucky asked.
“What about it?” Sam challenged.
“I told you that I was going to get you back for it.”
Sam looked at me and then Bucky, he opened his mouth to speak, but it was already too late I shoved the sled with my foot, hard enough to start it down the slope. It took him a few feet to finally get stable on the sled, but when he did, he slid at a quick pace. Bucky was laughing so hard he was grabbing at his chest.
“Bet he didn’t see that coming,” I said to Bucky.
“I didn’t see that coming,” He replied honestly. “Is that how you ended up on crutches?”
“Yep, it was unintentional, and I knew better than to run with my headphones in. That’s why we have a giant sound system in the gym.”
Sam fell off the side of the slope in a fit of laughter.
“Clearly he’s not mad,” I chuckled.
Bucky picked up the sled in his hand, my nerves started to go wild. I knew he would do everything to keep me safe, and I just watched Sam go down without any problem. I kept trying to silently remind myself it would be fine.
“Hey you, c’mere,” Bucky said pulling me into his side.
I laid my head on his shoulder breathing in his warmth.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” He promised.
“I know,” I mumbled into his chest.
Sam was still laughing as he sat on his sled at the bottom of the hill.
“I’m taking the world’s hottest shower after this is over and going straight to bed,” I whined.
Bucky laughed softly, “Guess that means you’re not cashing in on that bet tonight?”
“Nope, you’re just going to have to stew on it, waiting and not knowing when I’m going to.” I pulled back smiling up at him.
He kissed my forehead and pulled away.
“Are you gonna go or what?” Sam called out.
“Yeah, yeah. Aren’t you supposed to fly south for the winter or something?” Bucky shouted back as he climbed onto the sled.
I laughed waiting for him to signal for me. It didn’t take long for him to settle and hold out his hand for me. I sat in front of him, between his legs, his one hand wrapped around my front, he squeezed ever so softly making sure I was held securely to him.
“Ready?” He asked.
One last deep breath.
“Ready,” I replied.
He pushed off, sending us down the slope at a way to fast of a speed. The weight of two people and the perfectly smooth snow made for a quick trip. When Sam got to the bottom his speed dwindled and he scooted off, our speed it wasn’t dwindling. The mountain of snow at the bottom of the hill came up quick, but not so quick that a scream didn’t escape as we crashed into it.
It was soft and dry snow, so it didn’t hurt, but it certainly wasn’t comfortable. Bucky laughed as he pulled me close to him in the snow. It was hard to be mad at him for crashing when it was completely unavoidable, not to mention the amount of snow in his hair made him look like Jack Frost. It quickly became a fit of laughter between the three of us, there wasn’t anything that funny. Late nights, well, in this case, three am, and being overtired could lead to these kinds of fits, they were common for me.
When they finally settled and we all sat amongst the snow, I turned to Bucky with a smile and a small poorly shaped snowball hidden behind my back; he leaned down at placed a quick peck to lips. As he pulled away, I threw the snowball at him.
“That’s for making us crash.”
Sam burst into laughter again. “This is my queue to go get the shovels.” He got up and started to walk away.
Bucky kissed me again, this time with more heat and need. When we finally pulled apart, I laid my head against his shoulder.
“I’d do it again if meant I could hold you so close.” He whispered in my ear.