Enough is Never Enough

Mini shorts pt. 1

March 10th, 2024

      "Happy birthday!" Bucky walked out of the bedroom, half awake, and Clara was already up. She had made him a full on breakfast of foods he hasn't had in a long time, or even ever. It took her at least an hour to do, and in the process, she had to stay quiet in order to not wake him up.

       Bucky smiled tiredly as he stared at the spread. "You didn't have to do this." He said humbly.

        "Are you kidding. It's the first time in how many decades you get to celebrate your birthday like a normal person would. Last year...well last March you along with how many other people weren't even existent. And before that, we were always on the run or doing other things. I just thought, finally we can do something as normal as celebrate a birthday." Bucky walked over to her and hugged her. She felt his metal hand scratch her head softly, and she breathed in his scent.

       "Oh!" Clara pulled away suddenly. "I almost forgot." She ran over to the freezer and pulled out a mini Oreo ice cream cake. She placed it down on the table. "TA-DA!! I know how much you love ice cream cake, so I bought us mini one. However, I wasn't sure if I should put 107 as your age, or 33. So I kinda put both."

        "Gee, Clara. I can't even remember when I celebrated my birthday last. When the war happened, it was a matter of celebrating birthdays, but celebrating another day of living. You are really the best Clara."

        "Well, I just assumed that a after all we've been through, that you've been through, you deserved it. Now eat up! It's getting cold." Bucky sat down dig right I got he pancakes and the bacon. Clara went into the other room, and she went into her closet. She pulled out a box from Sam and walked back out.

          "This is from Sam." She placed it down on the table. "You know how he is. Busy being Captain America as well as being a good brother. He would've loved to come to pay a visit but he is a busy man now." Bucky laughed a bit and Tony he box. He opened it, and he reached into the box. He pulled out a book. The Hobbit. Bucky started to chuckle. He looked into the box and reached in again. This time he pulled in a piece of paper. He read it out loud:

          "Happy Birthday. I realize that you probably haven't read The Hobbit in almost a century, so I though you should reread it. And maybe as you read it, you understand that Dr. Strange is in fact a wizard, just like Gandalf, and being a "sorcerer" isn't any different. Have a good 236th birthday. Sam."

         "Well that's nice of Sam." Clara grabbed some sausage and bacon. She looked at Bucky, but he was just staring at the book. He rubbed the spine of the boom gently with his fingers and stared at the cover. "Are you okay?" Bucky nodded.

        "Yeah just....I don't even remember the last time I got to read a book." He sounded little sad, but Clara tried to cheer him up.

           "Hey, now you'll have plenty of time to do more than just read a book. You can do whatever you want now. Just as long as another worldly disaster doesn't come along." She and Bucky both laughed, and Bucky finally placed the book down, and they continued eating.

June 23, 2024

      "Hey Bucky, watch this." Bucky was on his third book of the month. He was obsessed with reading. But if she ever called him over, he would stop reading, even if he wasn't done with the page, and go see what she wanted.

        "Yeah, what is it?" He says down next to her.

        "Have you ever seen a Broadway musical?" Bucky shook his head.

         "Nooo...partly because I never had much exposure to Broadway. Why?" Clara struggled to hold in a laugh and she unpaused the TV. Together they watched a trailer for a new musical: Rogers: The Musical.

          "Hey, your a musical character now. Looks like they even gave you and Steve a duet together." Bucky just stared at the TV. She could feel that he was feeling some kind of second hand embarrassment or something lien that.

          "We are never seeing that. I don't need to watch my life be played out through song." Bucky got up and started to head back towards the table.

          "Yeah about that..." Clara got up from the couch and she opened up a drawer of a cabinet. She pulled out two yellow tickets. "We were kinda...invited." Bucky stared at the tickets.

          "This was delivered to us, and they want us to be the VIPs at the show. These tickets can be used whenever, but I think the sooner we see it the better." Bucky continued to stare at the tickets.

          "I don't want to see the worst parts of my life sung through song. And I don't want to see a musical about Steve. It's...weird."

            "Come on Bucky. I'm sure several other Avengers got invite to this show as well. And VERY rarely does Broadway just hand out free tickets. Plus, it would be disrespectful to the actors. You really want to be that guy?" Bucky stared at her and sighed.

           "God, you are too good as convincing me. I really need to get better at standing my ground."

            "Or you just know deep down that I am always right." Clara smirked, and Bucky smiled back.

           "Hey Clara. Why don't we go somewhere to eat tonight? A little date night wouldn't be so bad, huh?" Clara blushed and nodded.

            "I better start getting ready then."