Come Back To Me

Chapter 39

July 2018

"Baby I think you're going overboard with this."

I frowned, looking down at all the food and decorations. "I am?"

Wanda slapped Bucky across the back of the head. "No you aren't honey. Steve will love this."

Bucky scoffed, rubbing his head.

"That's what you get for being mean."

Bucky grabbed my hand and kissed the back of it. "I wasn't trying to be."

"What time will the love birds be back?"

Wanda looked at the time. "The plan was for Nat to keep him busy until 6 so hopefully two hours."

"Good. FRIDAY can you please have the team come to the main kitchen please?"

"Yes Mrs. Barnes."

Wanda, Bucky and I started sorting through everything waiting for everyone to arrive. Today was Steve's birthday and he thought he was only spending the day with Natasha. We all acted normal this morning, wishing him a simple happy birthday while me and Wanda cooked everyone breakfast. Nat and I thought it would be fun to throw him a small surprise party. Tony bought a ton of fireworks for tonight too. It's still humorous to me that Captain America was born on July 4th.

"We're ready for our assignments ma'am." Tony entered the kitchen with the rest of the guys behind him.

"We need to put up decorations outside and inside. Then once we get closer to them arriving we can start cooking the burgers and hot dogs. Wanda and I will work on the sides and desserts."

The guys nodded and grabbed all the decorations and got to work. Clint stayed behind to help me with the food while Wanda worked on the desserts. Almost two hours later, we walked outside with all of the food and saw the guys playing with the fireworks. We placed everything down on the table and they still hadn't noticed we were there.

I cleared my throat, crossing my arms over my chest. The guys stopped and looked at me. "Are you having fun?"

Bucky gave me a cheeky smile, nodding his head. I laughed and looked at the decorations. They actually did pretty good.

"Nat texted me and said they're 10 minutes out."

Tony and Bucky got the grill ready to cook the hamburgers and hot dogs while Wanda and I set out the food on the tables and made sure everything looked nice. I felt my phone vibrate and saw another text from Nat.

"They're about to walk outside!"

Everyone crowded together and waited. Steve walked outside and a smile immediately grew on his face.

"Happy Birthday!" We all yelled and cheered.

He joined us and thanked everyone. Steve wrapped me in a big hug. "Was this your idea?"

I smiled. "Yeah and Nat. We knew you wouldn't want anything extravagant so we settled for a fun night with the team."

"This is perfect. I'm really glad that I get to spend my birthday with my best friend again." He kissed the top of my head.

I felt tears in my eyes. "Me too Stevie." My arms wrapped around his waist tighter as I stuffed my face into his chest.

"Are you two having a moment?"

I lifted my head to see Natasha with a smirk on her face. I laughed, wiping away a tear that fell. "We're just being emotional losers."

She smiled and held out her hands to us. We both took one and walked with her to the table to eat with everyone.

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"Having a good birthday so far?" I asked Steve, taking his empty plate from him.

"Of course. Who made the cake? It was delicious."

"Who do you think?" I threw the plate into the trash can and sat down across from him.

"Wanda?"

I nodded.

"She loves doing that stuff. When she was first brought onto the team, she told me how she wanted to have her own bakery one day."

"It could still happen."

As if on cue, Wanda came by the table and sat on my lap. "Were you two talking about me?"

"Yeah we were talking about how awful the cake was."

Her mouth fell open and she stared at Steve. I bit my cheek, trying to hold in my laughter. Steve stared back at her with a straight face but I could see him beginning to break. His lips curved up at the corner and he began to laugh.

Wanda groaned, placing her head in her hands. "That really hurt my feelings."

"You should have known he was lying since the guys ate the entire thing." I pointed to the empty cake tray. "I didn't even get a piece. I tried to take a bite of Bucky's and he smacked my hand away."

Wanda and Steve laughed. "You two have serious issues when it comes to sweets."

I shrugged and smiled.

"You guys think I can hold onto this while it goes off?"

All three of us turned to see Thor standing with a firework in one hand and a lighter in the other. Bucky and Sam were egging him on, telling him to try it.

Idiots.

I patted Wanda's leg, signaling for her to stand up. The three of us walked towards everyone.

"If something happens, don't ask one of us to take you to the hospital." Natasha said, shaking her head with her arms crossed over her chest.

"I won't need to. We have Banner."

Bruce snapped his head to Thor. "Uh no you'll definitely need a hospital."

Tony walked over and snatched the firework out of Thor's hand. He had set up everything through a computerized firework display. Instead of lighting the fuse, the pyrotechnics are detonated by electric matches. These are triggered remotely and we can either have individual fireworks or a batch can be fired simultaneously.

Everyone grabbed a blanket and picked a spot on the ground as Tony and Bruce got everything ready for the firework show. Bucky placed our blanket on the ground and sat down with his legs spread open. He smiled and patted the spot in front of him. I sat down and nestled in between his legs, leaning back against his chest. He wrapped his arms around me, kissing my cheek.

The fireworks started and of course the first set were red, white, and blue. I had always loved watching this stuff and I instantly felt like a kid again. I smiled watching all of the different types of patterns and colors. My favorites were the willow and chrysanthemum. I could feel someone watching me so I turned my head slightly to see Bucky looking down at me with a loving smile on his face.

I felt my cheeks heat up. "What?"

"You're beautiful."

My heart melts at his words. I smiled and grabbed his chin, bringing his lips down mine. "Thank you."

He hugged me tightly, bringing my body closer to his. I sighed contentedly and relished in this moment. I looked around at the team, everyone smiling and laughing and having an amazing time together. I felt so happy and at peace knowing I had these people in my life. I intertwined my fingers with Bucky's, lifting his hand and kissing the back of it. I relaxed in his arms, resting my head on his shoulder and continued to watch the fireworks.