Stranger Who Knows All My Secrets [A Marvel FanFic]

Chapter 45: There Is Hardship In Everything Except Eating Pancakes

The smell of apple cinnamon pancakes hit Bucky's nose first thing in the morning causing a feeling of nostalgia to settle into his stomach. For a moment he swore he was home in bed, that is, the bed in his childhood home with his sisters down the hall, an evil tabby cat lurking about somewhere, his dad in the den, and his mom in the kitchen. The sound of Steve mumbling from the other side of the pull-out couch only solidified the illusion, his friend even woke in the same manner he used to when they were kids and the smell of breakfast filled the air; suddenly and with a jolt.

"Pancakes," Steve mumbled and screeched at the same time, sitting upright at a comedic lightning speed.

Bucky chuckled from his side of the couch, eyes half open, bacon on the breeze, and his face buried in a pillow because he didn't want to get up yet. It was almost too easy to pretend that he wasn't on Sarah's couch hundreds of miles and a century away from his boyhood back in Brooklyn but the sound of Sam yawning loudly upstairs and stomping about like an elephant was a little hard to ignore and broke the illusion he was trying to hold on to. Bucky rolled onto his back, wiping the sleep from his eyes as he looked over at Steve, who was groggy and slightly embarrassed at having called out a food item in his sleep, probably because he hadn't done that since he was about ten.

They stared at each other for a long moment, silence punctuating the room until at last the smell of coffee began to permeate the air causing them both to bolt from the sofa bed and past the dining table toward the kitchen like they used to when they were kids. Bucky even pushed Steve out of the way forgetting the blonde was twenty times larger than he used to be and never afraid of pushing back. When he did, they nearly knocked over a lamp which caused Sarah to glare at them harshly from the bottom of the stairs where she stood dressed and going over a list in her hand of all the things she had to do that day.

"Do not make me yell at Captain America on Thanksgiving," Sarah warned them both as Sam and Lorraine began descending the stairs and moving around her.

"Wait, if you're all here... Who's cooking?" Sam asked realizing his nephews were missing along with a cooking-challenged Romanian and lazy-ass Russian.

Both Steve and Bucky had a clear view of the kitchen and carefully glanced between it and Sam.

"Oh my God, Sarah grab the fire extinguisher!" Sam panicked dramatically, throwing up his arms and rushing down the remaining steps, pushing past everyone at lightning speed.

The look on his face was priceless when he entered the kitchen to find Natasha making coffee and Elena at the stove with the boys. She was making pancakes with Cass on her right standing tall as he handled the popping, crackling bacon like an absolute pro while AJ stood haphazardly on a chair to Elena's left haphazardly scrambling the eggs on the burner behind the one she was using. It was truly a magnificent sight especially because Elena looked nervous as hell flipping each pancake with AJ whispering helpful hints like that one's not ready yet and nobody will know you burned it if you put the crispy side down when you plate it.

"We're all going to die of food poisoning," Sam declared and Elena quickly shot him a look over her shoulder.

"I don't care, it smells good." Lorraine chirped, beelining to the dining room to claim her seat.

"That's Bisquick right?" Sam asked a little worried.

"Believe it or not they're from scratch." Natasha laughed as she began taking plates to the dining room and everyone began to settle in around the table.

"Are we sure we want to take this risk?" Sam noted as he sat between his sister and girlfriend, eyeing the sausages and cinnamon rolls hungrily.

"I can cook!" Elena hissed childishly as she held up the spatula like it was a trophy while carrying over the platter of pancakes with the boys right behind her with their contributions.