stamina (bucky barnes)

10

**This will be part 1 of thanksgiving and part 2 will be chapter 11!!**

Thanksgiving was amongst the Avengers Compound and Bri was less than excited.

Pepper had told her the catering company had backed out due to the overflow of orders they were receiving, so now she and Bri would have to magically come up with enough food to feed a little over ten people. They woke up at four in the morning to go grocery shopping and scope out any other supplies they needed. 

Bri and Pepper had learned to cook together when Tony finally joined the Avengers. The late nights making lasagna and the early mornings waffles made it worth it. Since Tony was gone at the most random times, the two ladies became bored of takeout and Pepper took it upon herself to buy top celebrity cookbooks and try out every single page. It was fun at first, but neither one of them liked washing dishes. 

"So everyone is bringing their own dessert, or dish, that they please. We might just pull this off." Pepper said, closing the fridge door. "We can just move dinner an hour later and we'll be fine."

"I hope you're right about this." Bri muttered, sticking the pre-made turkey in the oven. "I still have to make Sam's cherry pie or he will murder me in my sleep."

"We can start cooking around eleven. I'm going to go sleep in Tony's office and try to make myself presentable." Pepper said, turning into the hallway.

Bri leaned over the island in the kitchen, letting a big breath out. She knew Pepper would end up on a work call and she would be stuck doing all this by herself. If only other people in the compound could volunteer and take the burden from her. Bri didn't want to ask Wanda because she already volunteered to help clean up afterwards and she was buying a platter of cookies for the team. There was literally no one else that knew how to cook.

"Hey, doll." Bucky entered the kitchen. He made a b-line to the fridge, extracting the orange juice and pouring himself a glass. When Bri didn't answer him, he slid his sock covered feet over to her and nudged her with his knee. "Woah, you don't have makeup on." He grinned, reaching to rub her cheek.

Bri's eyes widened and she immediately pulled her shirt over her head to cover the exposed area. "Pepper and I had to get up early."

Bucky furrowed his eyebrows at the girl who made herself into a human tortoise. "Uh, whatcha doing there?"

"Shielding you from the ugly."

Bucky simply laughed, sipping the rest of his orange juice. "You? Ugly? More like prettiest dame on the block."

"Shut up." She said, "That oil diffuser in your room must be working like a charm for you to flirt with me at six in the morning."

Bucky and Bri had grown really close since she helped him with his arm, took him to the library, and even shared her record player with him. When Bucky noticed a real difference in the nights he slept breathing in the fresh scent of whatever oil Bri used on his shoulder, versus the nights he didn't, he told her he desperately wanted to use them every night. Bri had bought out every scent and a diffuser from the store near her old house.

She convinced Bucky to occasionally put the oils directly on his arm two times a week and sleep with the diffuser running on his bedside table. He was reluctant at first, but after asking Sam to "google" how many different scents there were, he realized how disgustingly expensive each bottle was. And he had used two of Bri's since the first night.

"The one last night reminded me of home. Like when my mom would bake fresh pies and leave them on the window sill to smell up the whole house." Bucky laughed at the fond memory. "One time she baked a cherry and a blueberry pie at the same time, so Steve and I tried to have an eating contest. We got our asses handed to us when my mom found out."