[i]So this is Christmas...[/i]

Festive music wafted through the air as snow fell lightly. The sounds of shoes scraping the icy sidewalk filled the atmosphere as people hurried through to cold to get where they were going. One man, however, didn't seem in a hurry at all. He walked with his shoulders slightly hunched, wearing a dark brown, leather coat with a white star on either shoulder. His boots didn't scrape the ground. In fact, he walked in a way that made almost certain of it. Under each arm, he held brightly wrapped boxes. 

Bucky didn't have much in the way of friends or family, but what he [i]did[/i] have, he held dear. He'd spent most of the day shopping for gifts for the two most important people in his world: Natasha Romanov and Steve Rogers. Natasha was pretty easy to shop for; he knew her almost as well as he knew himself. Hell, maybe even a little better. A necklace with a personal message engraved into a heart, a set of festive unmentionables that he had mostly gotten as a joke...mostly, and a handgun that he had modified himself. Jewelry, lingerie, and weapons. 

Steve was a harder nut to crack. What do you buy for the man who wants nothing? Cap had told him several times that Bucky didn't need to get him anything this year, but dammit, this was his first real Christmas back in the real world, and he was going to do it right. He didn't really count last year; spending the holiday with the [i]Sub-Mariner[/i] wasn't exactly what James would call joyous. Still, he had respected the Captain's wishes for him to not spend too much money and got Steve a goofy holiday sweater. He would wear it; Bucky knew he would. 

His boots sloshed through the slush as he approached his temporary living quarters. The headquarters these kids had wasn't the fanciest, but James had definitely lived in worse places. His presents balanced precariously as he freed one hand to open the door. The inside of the base was warm and lit up with Christmas decor. A tiny tree sat on a table off in the corner, tinsel was hung here and there, and some joker had taped a piece of mistletoe above the doorway. 

James set his presents down on the table before shrugging off his coat and hanging it on the coat rack. The leather was slightly wet with melted snow. His left arm gleamed in the light as it moved, completely silent and surprisingly natural. If it weren't for the fact that it was obviously made of metal, one may not have noticed that Captain America 2.0 was an amputee. Bucky reached his flesh hand up to rustle the melting snowflakes from his brown hair. He sniffed, his nose slightly red and runny from spending too long out in the cold. The man walked quietly yet casually down to hall and to his own living quarters. 

Bucky's room had about as much personality as a rock. The walls were bare and it was almost devoid of decoration. It was clear that this place was not thought of as his home. He stepped out of his boots as soon as he was inside the door and bumped it closed with his socked foot. James pulled off his jeans and replaced them with his much more comfortable sweatpants. Had he any less shame, he probably would have changed into a tank top to complete his 'I don't plan on leaving the house any time soon' look. Instead, he padded back out as he was and headed for the kitchen. 

Bucky turned the stove on and set a cast iron skillet down on the eye. While it heated, he went to the pantry and began pulling out pancake ingredients. The box of instant pancake mix that sat on the top shelf went completely ignored. James didn't consider those [i]real[/i] pancakes. Just because the rest of the modern world liked their food pre-made didn't mean [i]he[/i] had to. It only took a few minutes for him to mix up the batter and start cooking. One had to wonder where a guy that spent most of his growing life on an army base learned to make decent food.

Pancakes quickly began to pile up on the plate he had set to the side. He made far too much for just himself, mostly because he had a feeling that the smell of food would draw the kids from the woodworks. It typically did.