(no subject)

[darkwolverine]

At first, Daken didn't notice anything amiss when he let himself into Bucky's apartment. The trans-Continental flight from California to New York and then dealing with the chaos of the Big Apple two weeks before Christmas left him feeling vaguely irritated at the world and the whole concept of Christmas.

His adopted parents had raised him in the Shinto faith to begin with but since the age of ten, Daken had been an avowed atheist. There was no kind and benevolent God out there or even a wrath-filled one just waiting to punish you for the slightest mistakes waiting on high in the mutant's opinion. You were on your own and it was up to you to forge your own destiny.

It was the lights that gave it all away. He could see them glowing on the ceiling before he'd even entered the living room. A groan escaped the mutant as he kicked off his damp shoes and wandered down the hallway. At least Bucky's ridiculous display of 'Christmas Cheer' was fairly modest and not completely over the top.

"Those had better not be presents under that damned tree." He grumbled as he wandered into the living room in search of his so-called 'husband'. "I'm not celebrating this outdated ideal of a holiday. Not when I spent two hours trying to get from the airport because of the idiots out on the streets worshiping their own God of Capitalism."

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[mywinterstorm]

Last Christmas, Bucky drank spiked eggnog and listened to Christmas records alone. It was a strange thought that he and Daken hadn't been together yet last Christmas, that they hadn't even been together for an entire year yet.

This would mark the first time in over twenty years that he wouldn't have to spend Christmas alone, and he was kind of giddy over it. Bucky himself had been agnostic for a long time. He wanted to believe in a God; at his core, Bucky really did want to believe in the best in the universe. But he wasn't sure if he could believe in a God. Nothing had been simple since his dad died. His faith had lapsed soon after, and he'd never quite gotten it back.

But even though he'd stopped following the faith, Bucky had never stopped celebrating Christmas. He had a tabletop tree that was maybe two feet tall with the stand. He put it up and decorated it every year, even if he didn't have any presents to put under it. This year, he decided to get a little bit extra festive since, for the first time in decades, he had someone to spend Christmas with. He twisted red crepe paper streamers, taping them around the border of the living room in arcs from the ceiling.

When he heard Daken's ridiculous rant about Christmas, Bucky laughed. He headed into the living room, smiling at the man, not trying to mask his fondness and love for the man. "Are you ever not grumpy, babe?"

[darkwolverine]

He'd faced more than his fair share of Christmas parties over the years. Sometimes he'd been there on a job, or to sell his cover. Sometimes he'd been there in the shadows waiting for his target to stray away from the herd. Always under Romulus's orders however. The ancient mutant had ruled Daken's life since before he'd even been born.

This would be the first Christmas he'd ever spent completely free of his former master's orders and constraints. Sufficing to say he'd just wanted a quiet one away from all of the madness. Which explained why he was in Christmas grand central station in New York.. "I tell you what, you fly across the country and claw your way through millions of Christmas shoppers jay walking, clogging up the streets and generally being a nuisance and then you can talk to me about being grumpy."

Daken wandered over to Bucky and leaned in to kiss him because he wanted to. Not because they were acting out some ridiculous romance or anything. But just because it had been weeks and he'd been celibate the whole time. Something that got under his skin and scratched at him incessantly.

He was not in a relationship, dammit. That phony piece of paper from Las Vegas meant nothing. Daken tried to convince himself he just kept coming back because he was using Bucky just like he'd used every other person in his life. It even worked sometimes!

[mywinterstorm]

If he knew that after all this time and all they'd been through, Daken was still trying to rationalize this and convince himself they weren't in a relationship, Bucky would have felt discouraged to say the least. But, as things stood, he didn't know, and he returned the kiss.

"Missed you," he said, then kissed the man again. "And I appreciate the horrors you had to endure to get here."

He sat down on the couch, indicating for Daken to join him. "Tell me about your trip. Apart from the nasty humans."

[darkwolverine]

But these were private doubts and concerns the mutant didn't let register on his face. He was too good an actor to let that doubt show. Instead, he smirked blandly into the kiss.

"You can make it up to me later." Daken assured him at a near purr.

The younger man shrugged languidly and prowled across the living room to look outside where the wave of humanity huddled down in coats and jackets flowed along the street. "Mostly uneventful, the kid gloves only had to come off once or twice." Which was to say he'd only had to resort to subtle violence a couple of times while spreading his criminal empire currently at a stranglehold over most of LA.

[mywinterstorm]

"Well, that's good. Always easier when things don't have to get messy."

Bucky watched his lover watch the people below. He himself looked out the window a lot this time of year. Watched the citizens of this city go about preparing for Christmas. It didn't make him feel sad or left out to watch other people do things he didn't do. On the contrary, it made him feel like a part of something. Like by the simple of act of living in this city, he was a part of something bigger.

"Come over here. Sit with me."

[darkwolverine]

He stubbornly stayed by the window for a long moment and just studied the city tainted by his father's presence. New York was a terrible place for a 'villain' to hide out. The Fantastic Four, the Avengers, Spiderman, Daredevil, they all called this city home.

"Why do you stay here?" Daken asked with a passable impression of curiosity. "There are so many 'super heroes' around here and you're not that sentimental. Is it because Captain America lives here?"

The mutant didn't understand Bucky's complicated relationship with Steve Rogers. At least, that's what he told himself. On silent feet he wandered away from the window and headed over to his lover.

"You do realize I've sat down for pretty much the last seven hours, right?"

[mywinterstorm]

It was clear Daken wasn't going to sit down, so Bucky stood back up. "I am that sentimental. New York is my home." It was a major hitch in their bicoastal relationship. Bucky could spend days, weeks, even months in California, but in the end, it would always be New York. Even after working in Russia for decades, the second he quit, he found himself back in New York. He would always gravitate toward this city.

He rested a hand on Daken's waist, one corner of his mouth quirking up. "Well, then I'd suggest a walk, but there are people outside, and I know how much you hate them."

[darkwolverine]

Daken's upper lip didn't curl per se but his disdain was clear all the same to someone like Bucky who could read his various tells and tics.

"How can it be? You're dodging your friend Rogers and his merry band of idiots. You've got the bug boy and all sorts of other meddling superheros." The mutant didn't move to knock the hand away from his waist however. ""They are very irritating." Bucky being a human and all.

[mywinterstorm]

"They are. Luckily, I'm pretty good at staying under the radar." His other hand rested on Daken's waist, as well. "So? What'll make you feel better?" Because even for Daken, this seemed cranky.

[darkwolverine]

"And you get off on thumbing your nose at them on the sly, don't lie." Daken's hand came to rest against the soldier's hip lightly in a mirrored gesture of the embrace the older man had on him. He was cranky because somehow he'd left his comfortable home on the west coast, braved holiday travels and came all the way to New York just because James happened to find the climate appealing. Or something. The mutant didn't get attached to places, what was the point? You could easily go somewhere next week and then onto better and brighter places. "I can think of a thing or two."

[mywinterstorm]

He chuckled. "Yeah, I do." He would be lying if he said he didn't get off on managing to escape their notice. It was part of the narcissism that made him so charming. Or so he thought.

He also got off on how super handsome his lover looked in winter wear. "Oh yeah? A thing or two like what?"

[darkwolverine]

"Perverse. And that's going to blow up in your face one day. Don't look at me to rescue you when you get snagged by the Avengers or the Fantastic 4."

Daken managed a blase look when his lover repeated the words back. "One, maybe two, yes."

[mywinterstorm]

He snorted. Daken had saved him in the past. Why shouldn't Bucky believe he'd save him again?

"Daisuki." He pecked the man a kiss before stepping away. "Well. If you don't tell me what those things are, I can't be any help."