𝔹𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕋𝕠 𝔹𝕣𝕠𝕠𝕜𝕝𝕪𝕟 | Bucky Barnes⁽¹⁾

04 | You Still Have Family

July 1939 - Brooklyn

"Happy Birthday, Steve!" Bucky and Ella sang in unison as Steve walked through the door of Porter's. 

"Guys," the blonde blushed as he saw other customers looking over at the sudden commotion. "Do you have to be so loud?"

"It's your birthday, Steve," Ella shrugged. "Yes, we do."

"Come on, come and sit," Bucky encouraged, patting his friend's shoulder. "We already ordered cake."

"Yeah, like twenty minutes ago," Ella spoke loudly and pointedly, looking over at Maggie behind the counter.

Maggie stood up straight and gave the girl a blank look. "I am finishing the icing. I don't want Steven's cake to be a mess. You can't rush art, Elenora."

The trio sat at their usual booth, Bucky and Steve sitting side by side while Ella sat across from them. They already had some plates out on the table with snacks like chicken wings, a pizza, cookies, and brownies. Their usual booth had been decorated with red bunting on the wall, with paper napkins to match. Bucky and Ella had come to Porter's an hour earlier than they agreed to meet Steve, so they could set up before he arrived.

"I really appreciate this, you guys," Steve smiled softly. "But I can't stay out for too long. I gotta get home to Mom."

Sarah Rogers had recently come down with tuberculosis. She'd had to stop working her job as a nurse at the hospital and struggled with leaving the house. Steve had been really down about the whole situation with his own parent, spending most days in his home taking care of her. For his birthday though, Sarah had convinced her son to go out and enjoy his day with his friends.

"She called me this morning," Ella told her friend. "She said to make sure you had a good time."

"And I'll be damned if we fail," Bucky added. "We'll eat here, then go and do whatever you want."

"Thanks guys," Steve chuckled, reaching for a chicken wing. "But I don't really feel like doing much."

"Steve," Ella sighed, reaching across the table to take his hand. "I know it's hard being happy at the moment. But take this one day to just enjoy yourself? Come on, your mom made me promise that you'd enjoy your birthday. So, name something. Anywhere you wanna go today?"

"Hmm," Steve hummed for a moment. Part of him was feeling guilty for celebrating his birthday when his mother was sick at home, but he knew that she wanted him to enjoy the day, even if she couldn't be there. "Maybe we could go to the museum?"

"Sure," Bucky tapped his friend's shoulder. "We'll eat lunch and go straight there afterward."

"Great," Ella grinned and took a bite out of a cookie. "Now, onto presents."

Bucky was quick to reach for the gift bag he had under the table, and he handed it to Steve. With a slight chuckle, Steve pulled the gift from the bag and unwrapped the tissue paper. Bucky had got him some new, better art supplies.

"Buck, these are great," Steve smiled genuinely. "Been needing some new stuff for a long time. Thanks."

"You're welcome, buddy," Bucky gave him a playful punch on the arm.

Ella was next with her gift, pulling an A5 size envelope from her bag and sliding it across the table for Steve to take. Inside was a small notebook completely filled with writing, notes, and bullet points.

"'Zombies of Brooklyn'?" Steve read the title page.

"It's a short story I wrote," Ella explained. "It's about this guy from New York called Scott who wakes up in the apocalypse, the city is filled with zombies. He has to find his two friends, and the three of them escape Brooklyn. It's kind of a comedy, little bit of action."