Days Gone By

“Winter, look what Dad got for you!”

Winter lifted her head from where she’d been grooming her paw on his bed, watching as Bucky bounded across the room and hopped up onto the mattress. He’d only had her for two weeks, but they were already inseparable. The only time she wasn’t with him was when he was eating dinner with his family, since his mom said the table is no place for pets, James. Bucky was positive she was just trying to stop him from sneaking his kitten some stuff off his plate that he didn’t like.

Otherwise, Winter was never far from his side; she even followed him into the bathroom while he was taking a shower. Steve had laughed pretty hard at that when Bucky introduced the two of them on their last Skype night, along with the fact that Bucky had maybe been cuddling Winter up to his neck the whole time—but it was so obvious Steve was just jealous of the fact that Bucky had gotten a pet while Sarah was still resolutely set on no animals in the house (which Steve had immediately blamed on his allergies and asthma when Bucky told him so).

In spite of what his dad had said about Winter being his cat and his responsibility, he was suspiciously open to buying her things—if by open you meant spoiling her rotten. He came home from work almost every day with a new toy or treat for her to try, and Winter had taken to scratching at Bucky’s wrist until he took her down to wait by the door for him to get home. Today, Bucky had been downstairs with his mom helping her cook dinner (because apparently that was something he should learn to do now that he was growing up so fast) when his dad got home holding the one thing they hadn’t gotten for Winter yet: a purple collar.

Which he was now dangling in front of his kitten’s utterly unimpressed face.

Winter squeaked out a tiny meow before turning her head to nuzzle at his knee the way she always did when she wanted cuddles. Laughing, Bucky plucked her up and held her to his chest so she could see her new collar in spite of her best efforts to ignore it.

“Isn’t it pretty?” he cooed, bouncing her up and down a little. “It’s even got a bow in front and a little bell with your name carved on it and everything. I guess that’s so Mom doesn’t almost step on you like last week.”

That had been entertaining. Well, it had been entertaining in hindsight. His mom had just gotten home from the Ministry and was walking into the kitchen when Winter, who was finishing the dinner he’d put in her bowl, decided to dart across the kitchen to where Bucky was sitting at the table. One shout and a frightened yowl later, Bucky was kneeling on the floor with a trembling Winter in his arms while his mom leaned back on the counter until her near-heart attack abated. A bell would definitely be a good idea, especially when Winter was still so small that she didn’t make a sound when she moved.

“Let’s see how it looks, huh?”

Winter struggled a little when he tried to put the collar around her neck, but he managed to attach the clasp so it was snug without being tight, the little bow and bell off to the side.

“That is absolutely precious!” exclaimed his mom, and Bucky whirled around on the bed to see her grinning in his doorway.

“Yeah, I just don’t know if she likes it,” he muttered, glancing back down at where Winter had gone still in his arms. Her usually wide, round eyes were flattened out in a passable imitation of human disdain, and they were zeroed in on him.

His mom made a small noise of sympathy before suggesting, “Maybe she just needs some time to get used to it. After all, she’s never worn one before.”

Shrugging, he replied, “Maybe.”

“Give her a bit to figure it out. Dinner’s ready anyway.”

Bucky plastered his most innocent expression on his face and began, “Could I pl—“ before he was abruptly interrupted.

“No, you may not bring your cat,” was the deadpan answer, and then his mom was disappearing back downstairs.

“Well,” sighed Bucky, scratching behind Winter’s ears one more time, “it was worth a try anyway.”

Normally, Winter would meow in commiseration. Not today, though. She just kept staring up at him as he set her down on his pillow where she’d been before and stood up; her eyes followed him all the way out the door.

Dinner was an uncomfortable affair, although Bucky figured it probably only felt that way to him since his mind was still upstairs with Winter, wondering how she was acclimating to her collar. He practically inhaled his food so he could ask to be excused, but then his dad asked (see: told) him to do the dishes and his mom wanted him to take the trash out—by the time he made it back to his bedroom, it had been almost an hour since he left.

“Sorry, Win,” he panted after running back up the stairs. “I had to…”

Bucky trailed off with a frown, slowly approaching his bed to make sure he was really seeing what he thought. Sure enough, Winter’s collar was sitting in the middle of his bed while the kitten herself was up on his pillow, fast asleep.

How did she do that? he mused, picking up the collar to check the clasp. It was still closed, so it wasn’t like she’d managed to open it somehow. Maybe it was faulty? Or perhaps he just hadn’t tightened it enough and it slipped off.

Whatever had happened, it was pretty obvious that Winter wanted nothing to do with the collar. Now that he looked a little closer, it was a little big for her—she was still able to fit in just one of Bucky’s hands, so the bow probably rubbed against her cheeks too much for her to be comfortable in it.

We can always get her something else, he decided, tossing the collar on his computer desk and resolving to tell his dad in the morning. For now, he figured if Winter was asleep he could take advantage of having two free hands to play Forza.

***

Bucky was lying on the couch, watching Winter run after her toy mouse where it was skittering around the living room floor, when his dad got home from work with a plastic bag in his hand.

“Hey, Dad,” he mumbled, not bothering to look up. He was still angry with both his parents after they’d broken the news to him last night that they wouldn’t be going to Brooklyn this summer. Apparently his mom needed to go on some trip around half the world and his dad would be in Scotland for a few weeks, which meant Bucky and Becca would be dragged along for the rest of the summer. They were leaving in two days, and Bucky knew he was supposed to be packing for the trip but decided to wait until the last minute out of spite.

“Hey, Buck,” his dad sighed tiredly, dropping his messenger bag by the door and walking around the sofa. “Got something for Winter today.”

Bucky just barely managed not to roll his eyes. If his dad thought he could buy Bucky’s forgiveness, he would be sadly mistaken. Still, he couldn’t deny he was curious, so he sat up to give his dad room to sit and watched him remove a little box from the plastic bag he’d been holding.

“I figured this one might fit her a little better,” he commented with a shrug, holding up another collar. This one was orange and looked pretty ordinary; it was simple canvas with a buckle rather than a fancy one like the purple collar had been. There wasn’t anything extraneous on it that would irritate Winter, either, not even a tag—her name was printed on the material itself in blue with his dad’s phone number right next to it.

“It’s cool,” Bucky decided as he tried to remain as aloof about it as possible. He was supposed to be mad!

Smiling like he knew exactly what was going through Bucky’s head, his dad started pulling the collar out of the box and nodded in Winter’s direction. “Why don’t you grab her and we’ll try it on.”

That part was easy. What wasn’t so easy was getting Winter to stay still after she saw what they had for her. His dad cooed to her gently as he attached the collar, muttering things like it’s not so bad and there’s a good girl, which didn’t seem to help at all.

Just like last time, once the deed was done, Winter just went limp in Bucky’s hands and let them admire the collar where it stood out starkly against her black fur. The purple one had been nicer, but this was just as good. As Bucky had figured, there was nothing that could be causing her irritation; the thick canvas was low enough that it wasn’t anywhere near her face. Remembering what had happened last time, however, Bucky tried to stick a finger between her neck and the collar only to find that there wasn’t enough room. It wasn’t tight, but it was snug enough that she wouldn’t escape it this time.

“I think we’ve found a winner,” his dad crowed with a grin, throwing an arm around Bucky’s shoulders.

In spite of himself, Bucky couldn’t help smiling back. “Yeah, I guess this one works.”

It worked for all of two hours.

They were in the middle of dinner when something grey and tiny came streaking across the floor, a black blur close behind chasing it under the table. Bucky’s mom shot him a flat look and he cringed, apologizing under his breath as he slipped out of his chair to follow Winter when she sprinted after her toy into the living room. He thought he’d put it away, but apparently he hadn’t.

“Win, come here!” he called right as the toy slipped underneath the couch. Winter looked like she really wanted to follow it but stopped to see what Bucky wanted with a reproachful look on her face.

“Sorry, but it’s not playtime anymore,” he sighed, getting down on all fours and reaching under the couch to grab the mouse. He thought he felt it and pulled his hand out to find that he was holding Winter’s collar.

Wait… It can’t be…

Glancing over, he found that it was. He hadn’t even noticed she wasn’t wearing it, but Winter’s neck was just as bare as the day he got her.

“Uh…Dad!”

There was a sound in the kitchen like someone scooted a chair back and then his father appeared in the doorway, frowning when Bucky just held up the collar in silence.

“Did you take it off?”

“No, it was under the couch.”

“How did it get under there?” he questioned, coming closer to examine the collar like it might be some other cat’s.

Bucky shrugged. “That’s just where I found it.”

They stared at each other for a long moment before his dad called, “Hey, Winnie.”

“Yes, darling?” his mom’s voice answered from where she was beginning to clear the table with Becca.

“Cats can’t do magic, right?”

The look they got for that would at least give Bucky something to laugh about while they were running around Europe.

***

“Okay, this time it’s going to work,” his dad declared. He had on his Mission Face, so he meant business as he pulled the little blue collar out of its package. “I got this in Scotland while you guys were away. I’d love to see her slip this one.”

“Don’t say that too loud,” grunted Bucky, holding Winter steady in both hands. She’d grown a bit in the last month, so when she struggled to get away from the collar, it was actually a little harder to hold her.

Snorting, his dad just slipped the leather collar around her neck and attached it on the snuggest setting that fit. They double and triple checked to make sure it was both firmly attached and nowhere near loose enough for her to slip her head out before they exchanged nods of satisfaction.

This time, it lasted almost all day.

No matter how hard he tried, Bucky couldn’t get Winter to do anything. She wouldn’t play with her toys, wouldn’t follow him around the house like she normally did—she wouldn’t even check her bowl to see if there was food. All she’d do was mewl sadly until Bucky picked her up and snuggled with her; then she fell silent and curled into a ball underneath his jaw like it was the safest place in the world.

His father periodically came to check on them and make sure his latest purchase was doing its job, a smug little smirk twitching up the side of his mouth when he saw Winter still wearing the band of blue around her neck each time.

Bucky honestly didn’t mean to fall asleep. He didn’t even feel tired, but perhaps the stress of following his mother all over the continent had gotten to him more than he’d realized. The sound of his mom’s voice woke him, calling that it was time for dinner, and Bucky stretched his arms and legs in front of him after having been curled up around his kitten for the last three hours.

Winter, however, was nowhere to be found.

“Win?” he called, glancing around him to see she wasn’t on his pillow where she liked to sleep at night. “Win, where are you?”

Hopping off his bed, Bucky knelt down to look underneath, but she wasn’t there. He proceeded to check all of her usual haunts and hiding places to no avail as well before he ran down the stairs and announced that he couldn’t find her anywhere.

“She’s right there,” his dad told him, jerking his head in the direction of her food bowl with a look of frustration on his face.

Bucky whirled around on his heel, not bothering to give a second thought to why his dad looked pissed when he was so worried he’d lost Winter. He realized it a second later, however, when he saw her chomping on a little piece of kibble.

Her collar was floating in her water bowl.

***

“A chain collar, Dad? Really?”

“What? I’ve heard they’re fashionable.”

“Yeah, if you’re in a biker gang.”

“Hey, it’s hot pink,” grumbled his father as if that was all the argument he needed.

Bucky just rolled his eyes, sighing as he held up Winter one more time for yet another stupid collar. “Dad, why bother? She’s just gonna get out of it anyway.”

“Because pets get collars, Bucky,” his dad insisted, tongue between his teeth as he focused on keeping his fingers away from the sharp little claws trying to maim them. “You’re going to Hogwarts in two days. Do you really want her running around the castle for anyone to pick up just because no one knows she’s yours?”

Bucky grimaced. He honestly hadn’t needed the reminder that September first was so close. Steve had already left for Ilvermorny a few days ago, which meant he hadn’t been able to Skype last night, and Bucky’s mood was in the toilet as a result. When he was already facing going to a school where he didn’t know anyone and wouldn’t be able to talk to his best friend so easily anymore, the last thing he needed was to imagine Winter getting lost or stolen.

“All right…got it!” his dad exclaimed victoriously.

Winter glared at him as if she were plotting his demise.

His father appeared to be immune to her kitty irritation and continued, “I think this one’s a keeper. I just have a feeling.”

Bucky didn’t bother telling him that that was what he said last time. He was even kind enough not to say I told you so when they walked into the living room after dinner and his dad’s jaw hit the floor.

Winter was in the middle of the couch, her furry face pressed into the fabric with her neck stretched taut while her forelegs kept her steady. Both of her hind legs were reaching out to push at the bottom of her collar as she tilted her head to the side just enough to give her some leverage. Bucky thought there was no way she’d get the collar over her ear—then her tiny ear twitched slightly and pulled closer to her head to slip right up under the edge of the collar. After that, it practically fell off.

That. Little. Brat.

Meanwhile, his dad was watching with his mouth hanging open and an expression of sheer disbelief on his face. When he eventually managed to find his voice, he just breathed, “You would find the only contortionist cat in history.”

Bucky’s snort of laughter caught Winter’s attention, and she froze in place as she realized she had an audience. She let out a pitiful, innocent little mewl, and Bucky felt his heart melt as she hopped down from the couch and came to sit at his feet. Pawing at his ankle, her big eyes looked up at him until he picked her up and let her nip affectionately at his fingers. The way she was opening her mouth, Bucky would swear she was grinning.

“Okay,” he sighed, kissing the top of her tiny head. “We surrender.”